ESPN

[johnnycando]

 

[PLACforever]

I have a love hate relationship with them. Some of the shit they say or do is stupid as hell, but at the same time I like their dedication to everything sports.

While I very much appreciate a one stop shop for all my sports news and information, similar to most news networks, Espn has fallen away from just reporting news and seems to focus in injecting their own opinion /agenda into what they report. It's a shame.

I'd love to see a setup with sports similar to what we have now with FoxNews/CNN/MSNBC.

I'll celebrate the day a strong competitor rises.

 

[johnnycando]

My problem with ESPN is the inflation and impact they have on the polls.

It is a conflict of interest to boost their conference, the SEC, to the pedestal they do.

Is Alabama and LSU great programs? Absolutely. Uncontested.

But the affinity for affecting outcomes for $$$ and then not putting their conference in the limelight for sucking greatly is squarely on them.

Why do I tune in!?

They are damn near a monopoly. Sorry, Fox cannot compete.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

ESPN's CFB commentary is far less nauseating than their coverage of pro sports.

 

[IrishLion]

I stay away from ESPN, aside from live game coverage, simply out of principle because they continue to employ Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith, and Colin Cowherd. They role out the shock jocks to appeal to the brainless masses that buy into the "debate."

 

[PLACforever]

I say we pool all our money and start a new network... WHO'S IN!?!

in all seriousness, it will happen eventually.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

I say we pool all our money and start a new network... WHO'S IN!?!



in all seriousness, it will happen eventually.

If Donald Trump didn't take a bath on the USFL he'd be our guy....

 

[BobD]

I say we pool all our money and start a new network... WHO'S IN!?!

in all seriousness, it will happen eventually.

It would take funding from the likes of Exxon and Wal-Mart. They've cornered the sports market.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

It would take funding from the likes of Exxon and Wal-Mart. They've cornered the sports market.

I heard somewhere close to 50% of your monthly cable bill is for ESPN. Anybody care to elaborate?

 

[wizards8507]

My problem with ESPN is the inflation and impact they have on the polls.

The only poll that matters is the selection committee. If the selection committee is listening to Jesse Palmer and David Pollack to make their rankings, then that's the COMMITTEE's fault, not ESPN.

It is a conflict of interest to boost their conference, the SEC, to the pedestal they do.

How many "big games" were on SEC Network? The answer is zero. The big games were on ESPN and ABC. The biggest SEC games were on CBS, since CBS has "dibs" on the SEC game of the week. Hyping the SEC would drive viewers AWAY from ABC/ESPN to their competitor, CBS. They even brought College GameDay to the campus of that week's CBS game on multiple occasions this season. The SEC Network is not a place where they stick marquee matchups, it's a place for Kentucky alumni to watch a noon game against UT Martin, or for LSU fans to catch the Sam Houston State game. Auburn-Alabama and Mississippi State-Mississippi are CBS games.

I heard somewhere close to 50% of your monthly cable bill is for ESPN. Anybody care to elaborate?

That's not true. Not even close. ESPN is the single biggest line item on your cable bill, but it's not 50%.

What drives up your cable TV bill: Sports and lots more

Disney's ESPN, according to the Charlottesville, Va.-based research firm SNL Kagan, charges cable operators by far the industry's highest fees -- $5.13 per month. Virtually all other channels charge less than $1 monthly, such as CNN (57 cents) and MTV (39 cents). And ESPN insists operators carry the channel on basic cable -- so they can't recoup their costs by putting it on a pay tier.

The $5.13 is for the full slate (i.e. not just "regular" ESPN).

 

[PLACforever]

If that last part is accurate, whoever is running espn deserves their paycheck.
Glad I have Disney stock.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Yeah I just read ESPN is over $5.00, and other channels average 0.26 cents each.

 

[ickythump1225]

F**K ESPN and their decision to air the two semi-final games on cable. ESPN is the main driver of turning CFB into a giant business. On one hand it has made college football more accessible but it has corrupted the game. Not single handedly mind you but they are the biggest player in the sports media business. Like anything with billions of dollars involved CFB has become corrupted and commercialized.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

They have an NFL playoff game Saturday too.

 

[ickythump1225]

The only poll that matters is the selection committee. If the selection committee is listening to Jesse Palmer and David Pollack to make their rankings, then that's the COMMITTEE's fault, not ESPN.


How many "big games" were on SEC Network? The answer is zero. The big games were on ESPN and ABC. The biggest SEC games were on CBS, since CBS has "dibs" on the SEC game of the week. Hyping the SEC would drive viewers AWAY from ABC/ESPN to their competitor, CBS. They even brought College GameDay to the campus of that week's CBS game on multiple occasions this season. The SEC Network is not a place where they stick marquee matchups, it's a place for Kentucky alumni to watch a noon game against UT Martin, or for LSU fans to catch the Sam Houston State game. Auburn-Alabama and Mississippi State-Mississippi are CBS games.


That's not true. Not even close. ESPN is the single biggest line item on your cable bill, but it's not 50%.

What drives up your cable TV bill: Sports and lots more
The $5.13 is for the full slate (i.e. not just "regular" ESPN).

 

[kmoose]

Here's my big beef with ESPN:

How many of you remember when ESPN first premiered, and they used to REALLY show highlights from the NFL? I mean, they would tell you the story of each NFL game. They showed big plays by the offense AND big plays by the defense, not just the touchdowns and de-cleaters. You could miss your team's game, watch Sportscenter that night, and really have a good feel for how the game played out, and how your team played. Now, we have touchdowns, cheap shots, and a bunch of talking heads giving me their opinion as if it were fact. Whoever thought to put Jesse Palmer in the booth at an actual game ought to give over to ISIS in a "I Fvcked Mohammed" tshirt.

They've also tried to shove so much stuff down our throats......... Kornheiser and Wilbon had a great reparte' going, on PTI. It was somewhat heated debate, but founded in great respect for each other. The ratings were great, and suddenly ESPN was trying to reproduce this dynamic on all of their shows......... from Sean Salisbury and John Clayton, to Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. The problem? ESPN assumed that the conflict was what drew the eyeballs. Well, it wasn't. It was the chemistry between Kornheiser and Wilbon that drew the eyeballs. And you can't force chemistry.

Bottom line is that ESPN panders to the lowest common denominator. They want the non-critical thinking, reactionary, shallow minded audience that they can hook on trash shows. ESPN programming is becoming daytime soap operas, attracting the male version of the bored housewife.

 

[BobD]

I like that they still show bowling.

 

[MJ12666]

F**K ESPN and their decision to air the two semi-final games on cable. ESPN is the main driver of turning CFB into a giant business. On one hand it has made college football more accessible but it has corrupted the game. Not single handedly mind you but they are the biggest player in the sports media business. Like anything with billions of dollars involved CFB has become corrupted and commercialized.

One could argue that ND started the ball rolling by signing an exclusive TV deal with NBC.

 

[dshans]

One could argue that ND started the ball rolling by signing an exclusive TV deal with NBC.

Howsomever:

NBC is an over-the-air (ergo "free") broadcast.

I've experienced Saturdays when the ND game has been preempted for games perceived to be of more "local" interest by ABC, CBS or NBC. Whether OTA or cable did not matter.

What I don't appreciate are the ESPN-ABC incestuous ties. Who is the Dominant and who the Submissive? Makes no matter, when all is said and done. The (interested) consumer, without a fat wallet (or clear economic) vision, is the loser.

 

[Cackalacky]

Here's my big beef with ESPN:

How many of you remember when ESPN first premiered, and they used to REALLY show highlights from the NFL? I mean, they would tell you the story of each NFL game. They showed big plays by the offense AND big plays by the defense, not just the touchdowns and de-cleaters. You could miss your team's game, watch Sportscenter that night, and really have a good feel for how the game played out, and how your team played. Now, we have touchdowns, cheap shots, and a bunch of talking heads giving me their opinion as if it were fact. Whoever thought to put Jesse Palmer in the booth at an actual game ought to give over to ISIS in a "I Fvcked Mohammed" tshirt.

They've also tried to shove so much stuff down our throats......... Kornheiser and Wilbon had a great reparte' going, on PTI. It was somewhat heated debate, but founded in great respect for each other. The ratings were great, and suddenly ESPN was trying to reproduce this dynamic on all of their shows......... from Sean Salisbury and John Clayton, to Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. The problem? ESPN assumed that the conflict was what drew the eyeballs. Well, it wasn't. It was the chemistry between Kornheiser and Wilbon that drew the eyeballs. And you can't force chemistry.

Bottom line is that ESPN panders to the lowest common denominator. They want the non-critical thinking, reactionary, shallow minded audience that they can hook on trash shows. ESPN programming is becoming daytime soap operas, attracting the male version of the bored housewife.

So basically they are

Fox News Sports.

 

[Classic Irish]

I didn't read the above posts but I hate ESPN. Yes, I like the fact that they broadcast multiple college football games. I hate that they view CFB as no more than a minor league for the NFL. I don't give a shit what someone's draft prediction is. These are (allegedly) college student athletes. Years ago, CFB broadcasts included stating line-ups that included what years players were in college (e.g. sophomore, junior, etc...). academic majors, graduation rates, etc... When was the last time ESPN mentioned graduation rates??? Now, given ESPN's notion of viewing CFB as an NFL minor league, that info goes out the window. I know I'm the exception, but I hate it.

 

[dshans]

... I know I'm the exception, but I hate it.

Nope. You're not the exception. There are many baying at the moon.

We howl, howl against the dying of the light!

We have seen the best minds of our generation destroyed by madness ...



Embrace the madness
Bask in the moon wax or wane
Incur the boldness

 

[wizards8507]

Like anything with billions of dollars involved CFB has become corrupted and commercialized.

Funny how we're so naive to the history that happens before we were born. You want to know who corrupted and commercialized CFB? Knute Rockne and the University of Notre Dame.

So we should start in the 1920s, because before then there wasn’t really much of anything...

Which brings us to a classroom at the University of Illinois, and to an economics instructor named Frank G. Dickinson, who had, as a hobby, developed a mathematical system to rate all of the college football teams in America...

And hereupon we stumble across the first deliberate corruption of The Argument: Hearing about Dickinson’s system, Knute Rockne invites the professor and the clothier to South Bend and asks if perhaps they might consider making their trophy a national trophy, so that Notre Dame could be eligible to win it. And while you’re at it, Rockne says, how about you predate the system by four years or so, and make the 1924 Irish with the “Four Horsemen” the first official national champions?

Frank Dickinson obliged. The Four Horsemen were retroactively elevated into myth. His ratings — which, like most, did not consider postseason games — became the first of the gospels, and he was joined by a host of imitators and pretenders to the throne.

The Birth of ‘The Argument’ «

 

[Guest]

So basically they are

Fox News Sports.

Monkey pirate drummers?

 

[Guest]

ESPN is the large corporate bent on making money, damn the costs (in integrity). This is America. Not what America started out as being, but largely what it is becoming. This; however, is a sociopolitical argument that goes beyond the scope of what we want to talk about here (typically).

 

[GoIrish41]

I like that they still show bowling.

Can't get enough of their coverage of poker tourneys.

 

[wizards8507]

What a joke.

If they had any sack fortitude, they'd be calling out the crappy SEC West.

"Sack fortitude."

 

[IrishLion]

Of course Skip is gonna call them out after riding their nuts; it means the brainless masses of the south will tune in to watch Skip "embrace debate," and the brainless masses over the rest of the nation will tune in because they actually believe that Skip has his own beliefs.

 

[wizards8507]

Of course Skip is gonna call them out after riding their nuts; it means the brainless masses of the south will tune in to watch Skip "embrace debate," and the brainless masses over the rest of the nation will tune in because they actually believe that Skip has his own beliefs.

Skip actually defended the SEC, saying he's never seen a stronger conference. He blamed their bowl losses on the rigor of their conference schedule. It was the producers (i.e. "ESPN") who put the "overrated" question on the table with the mocking "SEC you later" tag.

So... your entire post is incorrect.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Skip actually defended the SEC, saying he's never seen a stronger conference. He blamed their bowl losses on the rigor of their conference schedule. It was the producers (i.e. "ESPN") who put the "overrated" question on the table with the mocking "SEC you later" tag.

So... your entire post is incorrect.

Pretty standard ESPN procedure: put a headline that 90% of people who watched the bowl games agree with, and then have a talking head explain why their thinking is wrong.