In the food web of sports media, ESPN is something like a giant squid. There are networks that compete with The Worldwide Leader in Sports for big events, like the World Series and Super Bowl on Fox and the Master’s golf tournament on CBS. Those are like whale sharks to ESPN — way too big to engulf, but not really a threat. After all, ESPN provides hours of “secondhand coverage” of the Super Bowl — analysis, highlights and commentary — before and after the big game. Rather than struggling to digest these big-ticket events, ESPN nourishes itself by covering the more mundane, day-to-day sports happenings. Baseball pennant chases, athletes marrying Kardashians, T.O.’s weekly shenanigans — ESPN thrives by dramaticizing and adding value to these various goings-on. Problem is, these smaller events used to be the dish of choice for the sperm whales in this marine analogy: the newspapers.

 In April, when ESPN launched its Chicago-oriented website, ESPNChicago.com, it was a warning shot across the bow of sports sections of local newspapers. On Sept. 14, they launched ESPNBoston, and the battle officially began. ESPNDallas is the next wave, probably within the next few weeks. ESPNNewYork and ESPNLosAngeles will come early in 2010. Newspaper sports sections are faced with competitors of all shapes and sizes, and their historical competitive advantage — access to the teams and athletes — is eroding.

ESPN’s “hyperlocal” sites are just one threat. Fan blogs, like the 200 on the SB Nation network, are increasingly popular because they offer commentary that’s often more colorful and less “objective” than that of the local paper, as well as an outlet for the casual fan to even contribute to that commentary. The mythical uninformed blogger eating Cheetos in his mom’s basement while starting unsubstantiated rumors is a dying breed. Many fan blogs are accurate, well-written and able to “color outside the lines” a bit more than sports writers for a newspaper.

We at the Sun’s sports section are lucky in many regards. Despite all the Cornell-Sports-Are-Important pom-pom waving in my last column, ESPNIthaca is probably pretty far down the list of hyperlocal sites to establish. But we face competition in the form of bloggers, and of course other newspapers and media outlets that cover the same teams. The Sun’s sports section’s unofficial charter is somewhat vague and archaic: cover all 36 of Cornell’s varsity sports. We’ve expanded recently to include features on club teams, local Ithaca sports events and diaries from the student-athletes themselves. Our internet presence, in addition to the Sports section on Cornellsun.com, includes a Twitter account (twitter.com/dailysunsports), which is updated at least daily and provides live commentary during many football, basketball, hockey and lacrosse games, and a blog. While it might be far down the line, eventually the Sun might see ESPN’s tentacles moving slowly down I-81 after it gorges itself on Syracuse basketball coverage. We depend on our readers and Cornell fans everywhere to keep us on our toes and make sure we’re always on top of our game, so if we’re missing something, let us know. And if anyone from ESPN stumbles across this article while doing research for a potential ESPNUpstateNY expansion, consider this column a little bit of journalistic urine on the Big Red fire hydrant of Cornell Athletics: this is our territory, and we’re ready.