Let's get serious for a second.
Last week got me thinking. As I sat there and read/listened to all of the Cowboy drama, I wondered to myself, is ESPN good for sports?
I mean on the pro side, ESPN is a straight superpower, which means that there is always something sports related on any of their 24 hour stations. I'm not going to lie it's nice watching football 7 days a week.
However, on the flip side look at what ESPN was and what it has become. As a kid I used to wake up 30 minutes earlier than I had to just to watch Sportscenter and all of it's witty glory. Eggs, bacon, and Dan Patrick. (yes even that pompous ass Olbermann) That was the life.
Now we're exposed to team assclown. The biggest thing that pisses me off about Sportscenter is all the hyped bullshit. The older 30 minute version was 90% highlights and 10% dry humor. Now we have the Bud Light/Coors Light/Live Free and Die hard hotseat. I think the breaking point for me was the "Who's Now" segment where the WWL constructed a tournament which would determine the coolest athlete in the world. (Honorable mention: The time they declared the 05 USC Trojans the greatest team in the history of College football...you know a week before they lost to the UT Vince Young's)
Which brings me to another point. Instead of making you think, ESPN tells you what to think. Just look at the Heisman Trophy, do you really think Bradford is the best football player in the country? Maybe you do, but I bet you didn't even consider a guy like Shonn Greene who is averaging 144 per game. What about Nate Davis? Brian Orakpo? Andre Smith? Do you know who they are?
However, there is still hope. Guys like Jason Whitlock, and really most of the blogs out there, are making fans think.
Ok let's start the revolution.
Shit Storm begin.
Posts
ABC bought the rights to the Big XII. So we may be seeing more and more of Bradford and McCoy.
ReplyDeleteMichael Crabtree?
Sportscenter back in the day was great.
ReplyDeleteRemember how great the old commercials were?
Fox Sports gets the better of ESPN on two things. First, it's regional sports coverage, so for me, it's nothing but Astros and Big XII, which is ok with me. Another thing is that they actually have quality programs that seem to require some kind of effort to produce, such as Beyond the Glory, Best Damn Sports Show, and Sports Science. Motherfuck a 'who wants to be an anchor' or PTI or Around the Horn or whatever.
ReplyDeleteAlso, look at the people they get to be on Around the Horn. Jay Mariotti? Really?
ReplyDeleteThe only halfway decent human being on ESPN these days is Woody Paige, and they always tell him to shut up.
Woody Paige said the Longhorns were going to win in '05. It's because he watches sports, unlike people like Kornheiser, who watch American Idol.
FSN regional is great. The national channel sucks. I also think sports century was/is better than beyond the glory.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd like to add that just because you are a hall of famer does not mean you are a great analyst (Emmit Smiff). Look at Jamie Dukes on NFL network, the guy was a 3rd stringer and he's one of the best on TV. Mike Mayock is also excellent.
ReplyDeleteActually
NFL network > ESPN
If you can you should try to find some old Woody Paige stuff. He used to be good, now he is the ESPN dancing clown.
ReplyDeleteand I like the fact that you mentioned "watching sports" Other than journalism school, what makes these a holes qualified? I mean if I was a Hockey beat writer/analyst you could bet your ass I would study the shit about hockey and try to actually learn the game.
We should kill Jay Mariotti.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Chris Mortensen just makes shit up when he doesn't have anything else.
Okay, so the formula seems decent enough. There are sports in this country that are popular, mainly football, baseball, basketball, and golf. There are also other, less popular sports, such as hockey, soccer, and a myriad of others. So why then would one exhaust themselves on the infinite minutia of one sport without giving the other sports their due?
ReplyDeleteI get it; football (for example) is the current hotness. But why do I care if T.O. thinks T.O. is getting the ball enough? Why do I care if Brett Favre is thinking of retiring? Again?! Why do I care about anything except the stats and maybe some colorful personalities that make the game BETTER, not worse.
ESPN can be so great, but in the same vein, so Brett Musburger-ishly terrible.
He just repeats what Jay Glazer breaks.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do hate Jay Mariotti, I hate Skip Bayless more. With a passion actually. There is something about him that makes me want to hit him in the face with a baseball bat. I really can't explain it. Maybe its his effeminate mannerisms or his general obnoxious nature but someone needs to get rid of him immediately. Woody Paige would be alot cooler if they would put him on shows that didn't also feature sacks of shit that I can't bare listening to.
ReplyDeleteZack,
ReplyDeleteUnderstood. However I was kinda referring to people who cover a specific sport.
I also get the personality thing, however it becomes a problem when the coverage of those personalities overshadows the actual game/sport.
Sky Sports News is the best.
ReplyDeleteESPN is a monopoly. The absence of competition makes their product shittier.
ReplyDeleteSports Illustrated is firing writers, so it's bound to get worse as well.
This all may be a problem of the same faces being there too long, covering the same people, the same teams, the same sports and so on... the on air personalities are becoming to familiar
ReplyDeletealso they have a large demographic to appeal to who all want to know whatever they can to gain some sort of "INSIDER INFO" so they can place bets or decide on who to sit/play on their fantasy teams
It's an unfortunate turn of events
J.A. Adande has down syndrome.
ReplyDeleteI think my point is this. Watch an ESPN basketball segment (or really just ESPN in general) then go read Free Darko.com.
ReplyDeleteAnd we can't have an ESPN hate post without mention of firejoemorgan.com. Although they are no longer with us (archives are still up...read them) they were the first to turn hating on media members into an art form.
ReplyDelete