Four years ago, I noticed that the Pan Am Games were on ESPN Deportes [the Spanish Language version of ESPN in the US] and I realized that at some point between the early 1980's and 2011, the games had basically slipped entirely out of the sports narrative in the US. The Pan Am Games used to be a big deal with prime-time network coverage. Yet somehow the US sports broadcasting industry has decided that video of someone doing a radio broadcast is better content than actual international competition by elite athletes.<p>This despite more than a ten fold proliferation of cable sports networks. The Gold Cup has better coverage. Professional lacrosse has better coverage. The NBA off season has better coverage.<p>And then I read the article and I realize, it perhaps may be only by force of will that ESPN Deportes broadcasts the games, so thick does the stupidity of the games' organizers appear. And it is a shame, because the athletics is amazing and the stakes are so high.