ESPN’s ‘Who’s Now’: Why tell kids dollars, ‘buzz’ best measure of success?

ESPN, bless its profit-making soul, has joined the growing list of media that negate my need to think for myself. And if you’re a young athlete, ESPN is giving you all the advice you need on how to determine what constitutes “success” in sport and life.

This month, ESPN is conducting “Who’s Now,” a bracket-based, fan-voting competition to determine the “ultimate” sports star based on both “on-field success and off-field buzz.” This morning, courtesy of the SportsCenter hosts, I learned that these criteria for the “ultimate” star include size of athletes’ contracts and attendance at “hot” events (you know, those tony bars ‘n’ such). The 32 finalists were based on fan nominations. (Adam “PacMan” Jones didn’t make the cut.)

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