The Onion Spoofs ESPN (Again) With ‘Sportology’

The world of sports is one of The Onion’s favorite targets, and with its latest web series, the satirical publication is firing another salvo in that direction. It has launched Sportology, a series that mocks ESPN’s over-the-top Sport Science segment.

In Sport Science, a group of researchers hired by ESPN explore and define the amazing feats performed by the world’s best athletes. Individual episodes, for example, may attempt to empirically explain Kyrie Irving’s quick first step or Marshawn Lynch’s dominant brand of power football.

The Onion version of this concept applies the Sport Science method to ridiculous scenarios that are only barely sports-related. How, one episode asks, do Olympic archers resist the urge to turn their bows a few degrees to side and loose their arrows upon helpless spectators? You have probably never asked that question, but Sportology has the answer. Even if you’ve never seen a Sport Science

segment, you can still laugh at the goofy graphics and deadpan delivery.

Sportology is the latest in a long line of sports comedy initiatives from The Onion. Over the years, the two-decade-old digital publication has use projects like Onion Sports Network and Onion SportsDome to lampoon the super-serious attitude with which we treat our favorite sports teams. Those efforts have continued through the current Olympics, where The Onion has used Instagram’s new Stories feature to provide up-to-the-minute mockery.

In total, Sportology will consist of four episodes. The first two episodes are currently available, and according to Splitsider, the final two will arrive next week.