I had the good fortune to watch a good portion of today’s Congressional Hearing on the steroids allegations made by Brian McNamee toward Roger Clemens. I’m not going to spend any time on the details of the testimony or who I think was telling the truth. If you have followed the story you can make your own decision. I want to focus on ESPN’s coverage of the proceedings.

Overall I feel ESPN did a very good job in trying to educate sports fans about the nuances of the law and the workings of a Congressional hearing. Let’s be honest here; those who generally tune into ESPN usually do so seeking anything but hard news. Here’s one person’s report card on the hits and misses of those who worked on ESPN’s coverage…

Bob Ley- HIT. I’ll keep this simple. Is there any doubt that Ley continues to be one of the shining stars at the Worldwide Leader? His hosting abilities have always been solid. Old school works, even on ESPN. A true pro.

Karl Ravech- MISS. Ravech wasn’t awful in his role as co-host with Ley. He just seemed out of place. He really wasn’t needed when the panel of talking heads were on the air for only a short period of time over the 6 hours of coverage.

Steve Phillips- MISS. I fail to see what insight he brought to today’s coverage. Phillips has already provided what he knew about the Steroids Era of baseball when he served as a General Manager. He added nothing and wasn’t needed. Save him for the action on the field.

Buster Olney & T.J. Quinn- HITS. Olney and Quinn have done much investigative reporting in their day and it showed today. The only objection I have is that maybe only one of them should have been deployed today (Quinn)

Roger Cossack- HIT. I never understood why CNN let him get away. He does a great job in taking complex legal issues and simplifying them for the common fan.

Mark Schwartz- MISS. Sharing the remote role with Quinn at the Capitol, Schwartz did nothing to add to the conversation.

In summary, ESPN could have done a credible job with just Ley, Cossack, and Quinn. Another example of ESPN flexing its muscle by over-staffing an event just because it can.