It's the "media" part of the term "sports media" that has the significance

Great Larry O'Connor piece at the Washington Free Beacon on the controversies that have overshadowed the actual football at the onset of the 2014 NFL season:

Listen, I understand that these stories were big and important and they were what everybody was talking about. ESPN had to cover the topics. But did we really have to get the tears and the emotion and the histrionics? Could we just discuss the issues and then the larger ramifications for the teams this weekend and the sport as a whole?

No, because this is the world ESPN has made for itself.

ESPN used to be about sports, but the self-important sports journalists who barely made it through journalism school and always had delusions of grandeur about the profession they chose can’t wait to inject controversial political, racial or “lifestyle” issues into their work whenever they have the chance.

The dirty little secret is that most sports journalists are just as left-leaning as their counterparts in the “real” newsroom. They went to the same “J Schools” and they vote for the same party.

There’s a reason why two of President Obama’s favorite golf buddies are Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, both of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” and both former Washington Postjournalists.

ESPN loves to throw money at political documentaries that focus on gun violence and race. The network loves tackling “important” issues on its “Between the Lines” program where the topic usually involves the latest politically correct issue in the sports world.

The network went into full “CNN Malaysian Airliner” mode during the LA Clippers/Donald Sterling controversy.

ESPN has also done its fair share of race-baiting through the constant coverage of the complete and total non-story revolving around the Washington Redskins name.

It’s become an enormous part of the network’s programming. They devote hours of reporting and discussion to the “important issues” in the sports world, and less and less time covering the actual sports of the day.

It’s too bad. It didn’t used to be this way. ESPN used to be a sports network that covered sports and wasn’t a delivery system for the social and political message of the day. But, that’s what it’s become.

He goes on to point out that, with ESPN's new-found obsession with sociopolitical relevance, there is no place to go in this society that that crud has not permeated.

Which is just how the overlords would have it.