If you have watched any sporting event the past few days on ESPN, odds are you saw quite a few Aaron Judge walks — whether you wanted to or not.
NFL RedZone’s Scott Hanson wanted to be clear that none of that would be happening on his watch.
As Judge pursues the American League single-season home run record, ESPN has made a habit of split-screen look-ins for every at-bat. Now, the AL record is a big deal — they’ve been playing American League baseball for 121 years. But it’s not the MLB record. And you’re not going to find much fan crossover for a Kentucky-Ole Miss game. ESPN seemingly ignored that fans are tuning into football games to watch football.
Hanson — to his credit — knew that and poked fun at ESPN in the process.
NFL Redzone’s Scott Hanson taking shots at ESPN’s Aaron Judge cut-ins pic.twitter.com/EOuPP2LmmT
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) October 2, 2022
He said during Sunday’s Week 4 coverage when the screen had a double box:
“Let’s go double box for the first time today. You’ll notice that no pitcher is pitching around Aaron Judge in this double box.”
Confirmed. Will NOT cut away from the 🏈 to show chicken pitchers throw 4 balls nowhere near the plate. https://t.co/jyXrAg79f6
— Scott Hanson (@ScottHanson) October 1, 2022
NFL fans appreciated that RedZone was going to stick with its football coverage.
This was how Twitter reacted
— Justin (@TigerJustin13) October 2, 2022
lol that's awesome https://t.co/YoByOhXFKU
— Jordan Kramer (@jordan_kram) October 2, 2022
ESPN watching today like https://t.co/mf1dIMtUwh pic.twitter.com/qwqDS8UVCt
— 𝕋𝕣𝕖𝕪 ℕ𝕠𝕖 🏴☠️ (@TreyNoe55) October 2, 2022
— Allie Gehring (@agehring91) October 2, 2022
I love Scott Hanson so much lmao. 💀 https://t.co/31ccrTROGD
— 🍁SliceOfFallAlex//🍁 (@SliceOfLifeAlex) October 2, 2022
this one hurts https://t.co/yDu6MreKVz
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) October 2, 2022
https://t.co/sLSm9rNS5A pic.twitter.com/vXhtrEkzfi
— Mike (@mike5_5_5) October 2, 2022
Scott Hanson is my hero https://t.co/0ay7886BB7
— Matthew Kreh (@TheKreh) October 2, 2022
Respect 🫡 https://t.co/kqPkd80iLJ
— Max Perry (@MackswellPerry) October 2, 2022
ESPN could have just shown a replay update if Judge hit No. 62. It would have prevented all of this frustration.