“I’m sort of like, ‘Is this really a story?’ ” says Rob King, a senior vice president responsible for SportsCenter and ESPN’s news operation.

But, as the story points out, despite all our whining about it, they seem to know their market:

“One of the cool things about all this digital disruption is that you can know things about your fans,” says King, a former newspaper editor and 13-year veteran of ESPN who took over SportsCenter in 2014. “You don’t have to guess so much.” If you, loyal ESPN viewer, have ever sat in your living room wondering why you’re being subjected to yet another Talmudic discussion of “Deflategate,” King would argue it’s because that’s what you asked for.

Of course, maybe there's something of a chicken and egg problem there. And there's just not much to talk about in sports on a 24/7 schedule.