John Ourand of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL has a piece this week on the sniping ESPN is now enduring from various sources, including rival sports media operations, advertising outfits and sports leagues.

It’s much the same that we’ve been writing about for years: that ESPN has gotten too big to be able to manage quality control. And that the now-overgrown network is arrogant, misguided and prone to exaggeration in its reportage and marketing approach.

It’s ironic that this exhaustive treatment by SBJ comes out now, because we actually see ESPN starting to make slow improvements. Hiring and promoting bloggers like Henry Abbott was a good start. And we see SportsCenter starting to come back onto our radar screen thanks to emerging star Scott Van Pelt.

But the piece focuses more on the backroom dealings by ESPN executives. Those who control advertising and editorial behind Bristol’s closed doors.

Let’s face it, ESPN is a monopoly in the electronic sports media business. And ESPN/ABC/Disney is also an overarching player in the sports play-by-play arena. With that kind of leverage, SBJ suggests that ESPN execs are now making their own rules when it comes to selling advertising. And because they’ve changed the rules of the game, many folks in the ad business are unhappy.

So now ESPN’s competitors for ad dollars have fed into that fact by producing a widely-circulated Powerpoint presentation spotlighting the WWL’s alleged exaggerations in claims to potential advertisers. Of course, this sort of negative approach by companies happens all the time in other industries when it comes to vying for clients. We’re surprised it took so long in the sports biz.

SBJ also reports the old story that sports leagues like the NHL are upset that it doesn’t get enough coverage emanating out of Bristol. Of course, if it weren’t for the OBVIOUS, colossal blunder of jumping to Versus, the LNH (that’s French, kiddos) wouldn’t have this problem. The reality of the sports reporting business is that ESPN is, again, a monopoly, which the TV ratings-challenged NHL should’ve taken into account before jumping to Versus. And yes, we know, it isn’t fair. It’s business.

Regardless of what you think about the methods of the personalities in charge, when it comes to electronic sports reporting, ESPN is still the biggest and best. There are things we don’t like about ESPN, and probably never will. And the only thing that can fundamentally change the way ESPN does business is competition.

Hear that, Rupert?