(Hat tip: Dave Sez.)

Ok, so this blogger just got put in charge of figuring out why people don't pay for ESPN Insider.

I don't for several reasons.

First: Everything on the Insider page implies you'll get to Know Big Things Behind the Scenes! or Hear Informed Opinions from Talking Heads! The former reminds me or those 11:30 AM football gambling shows with their own 1-900 number, and no one cares about the Talking Heads. DO YOU HEAR THIS ESPN?? NO ONE CARES WHAT TREV ALBERTS HAS TO SAY. IN FACT, HE IS UNIVERSALLY REGARDED AS AN IDIOT.

Essentially, there are much better writers on many different topics I can read for free than the ones I would pay to read at Insider. Every media outlet suffers from this, not just ESPN. Bill Simmons is entertaining, but access to his stories is stupidly crippled. (You can read his current story but not the archives.)

What I DO enjoy on ESPN is content that they have already marginalized. I LOVED Monday Night Matchup. It was cut, merged into the pregame show (which means I have to watch all the other interviews and crap to try and catch what I want). Now it is split into its own separate show again but isn't as good as it was. College Football News at the above link is usually a pretty good site, but it's obviously been a labor of love from the start for the authors, not paid punditry.

Monday Night Football has become a three ring circus of TV promotion, crappy music artists, and boring sideline interviews. I don't care about any of these other things, I just want to see football.

I know that it is very, very hard to find quality sports writers, or people who could provide coherent, insightful analysis, but if ESPN can't do it, who can?

Also, (this is VERY IMPORTANT) ESPN spams you. More politely, ESPN fails to respect my choices regarding email solicitation. Every email address I've used with them got mailed, regardless of what boxes I unchecked or unsubscribe requests I sent.

The only sports site I pay for is The Sabre, and only because they're struggling, obviously love their jobs, and produce content and private forums that are exactly what I want to use. I don't think the site is designed the greatest, but it gives me the content I want. And that's ultimately the difference. Give me what I want, not what you have available, and oh yeah, here's a promotion for our other product.