ESPN Sportscenter anchor Scott Van Pelt thinks anyone who stops watching ESPN because of the political controversies generated by its far-left bias is a "chickens---" and are "so dumb that I can't even pray for you because you're beyond hope."

Van Pelt rejects the idea that people have legitimate grievances with the network.

Sports Illustrated:

This make-believe world where everyone talks [s---] … this [s---]-talking, poke-you-in-the-chest virtual whatever it's just there's nothing more chicken [s---] than that, because it's the easiest thing in the world to do and again, if that's how people really felt, somewhere along the line, I would've intersected with someone that felt that way and came up and said, 'Hey, I think your show sucks. I think ESPN sucks and I think you guys are doomed.' Never. Not once.

This is hysterical.  A guy who lives and works in one of the most liberal states in the union – New Jersey – has never come in contact with someone who says he stinks and the network stinks?  Duh. 

No doubt he hasn't come in contact with too many people who voted Republican either. 

If you truly wanna boycott the NFL and you wanna boycott ESPN, the notion that some guy sitting out there, or gal, and they decide, 'you know what, I'm gonna cut my entire cable package because ESPN gave an award on a made-up show in July because there's no sports, to a woman who used to be a man, so I'm now not gonna have any cable TV at all and I'm gonna sit around at night and read books by candlelight like olden times because of that,' that's not happening. And if you did that, then you're so dumb that I can't even pray for you because you're beyond hope. If that was your reaction to this, was to deny yourself the ability to watch television, I mean that just hasn't happened and didn't happen, so I boycott them.

Hey, Scott: What about those of us who simply refuse to watch or rarely watch ESPN?  You don't have to "cut the cord" to avoid being included in Nielsen ratings.  You make a conscious decision not to watch anything on ESPN if you can help it.

I am a sports fanatic and used to turn on ESPN when I got up in the morning and watch numerous broadcasts of live sporting events.  No more.  Van Pelt doesn't understand that the network has become unwatchable – even for fanatics.  Nobody wants to have some know-nothing ex-jock or empty-headed host get in his face about one political issue or another.  If I want ignorant political opinions, I will visit a far-left or far-right website.

Van Pelt has set up a straw man and knocks it down expertly.  He has chosen to respond to the most extreme ESPN critics who fantasize about the end of the network.  ESPN is a Walt Disney company – one of the richest media conglomerates in the world.  It is not going under anytime soon, if ever.  What Van Pelt doesn't address is the very real and very serious loss in viewers – and not just for NFL broadcasts.  ESPN fired 100 on-air personalities, and word on the street is that they are going to fire dozens more before the end of the year, for Pete's sake.  That isn't a sign that the network is bleeding viewers and revenue?

Since he's so isolated and cocooned in his little liberal bubble and oblivious to the massive damage done to the network's brand by its relentless inclusion of politics in sports programming, I certainly hope Van Pelt doesn't wake up one day soon and find himself a casualty of the network's stupidity.