ESPN Is Pathetic

ifmanis5

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E5 Yaz

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garlan5

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Billy Baldwin was doing interviews for espn during their coverage of ncaa wrestling last night. He was does have a wrestling background but it was still weird and creepy
 

Ed Hillel

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ESPN has now partnered with Pro Football Focus, and is including their shitty rankings inside their articles. Yay for that.

Edit - Oh boy, actual PFF articles now!
 
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ifmanis5

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ESPN's follow up to the great OJ doc sounds... fairly standard reality tv-ish to me:
http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/espn-next-documentary-we-the-fans-chicago-bears-1202013625/
Next month the sports giant will flood the zone with what it’s hoping will be another culturally resonant, super-sized docu-project: “We the Fans,” a multiplatform package chronicling the lives and relationships of a tightknit group of Chicago Bears season-ticket holders in section 250 of Soldier Field.
 

Harry Hooper

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What a wonderful world:

At a standing desk in a corner office, King, 54, is staring at a screen that displays what looks like a stock chart. It’s ESPN’s “Producer Panel,” custom software for tracking what viewers are talking about on social media. A blue line represents the Brady story; a yellow one represents the upset by South Carolina over Duke in the college basketball tournament. King hits a few keys and adds Houston Rockets guard James Harden to the mix of trending topics. Harden made news the day before by wading into a debate about rest for NBA players; today he’s gaining ground on the missing jersey saga, which makes him prime fodder for the evening broadcast.

“One of the cool things about all this digital disruption is that you can know things about your fans,” says King, a former newspaper editor and 13-year veteran of ESPN who took over SportsCenter in 2014. “You don’t have to guess so much.” If you, loyal ESPN viewer, have ever sat in your living room wondering why you’re being subjected to yet another Talmudic discussion of “Deflategate,” King would argue it’s because that’s what you asked for.

Although he concedes that sometimes this approach to “social listening,” as he calls it, can lead to stories that seem overcooked, King points out that if ESPN ignores what’s happening on social media, it will simply lose viewers to Twitter and Facebook. “To me, it’s about respecting the audience,” he says. “Because they’re more sophisticated, and more ready to start digging into their own storylines, than we give them credit for.”
Bloomberg
 

ifmanis5

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"This is the widget that makes us to do more Tebow and Manziel stories" said an employee suffering from Digital Stockholm Syndrome. "Time to shovel more coal into the buzz generator" as he pulled on a pair of goggles and grabbed a shovel. "Pull up the 2010 Sugar Bowl again...."
 

DJnVa

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That story looks interesting, but why do designers still insist on using reverse type?
The article mentions His & Hers (the horrific Smith & Hill show) and talks about how it shows ESPN is adapting.

The ratings are down fellas.
 

Harry Hooper

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"This is the widget that makes us to do more Tebow and Manziel stories" said an employee suffering from Digital Stockholm Syndrome. "Time to shovel more coal into the buzz generator" as he pulled on a pair of goggles and grabbed a shovel. "Pull up the 2010 Sugar Bowl again...."
Yeah, and this "sophisticated" approach leads to talking heads yelling at each other.
 

Captaincoop

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So much spin from ESPN in that article. But this part was great:

To illustrate his point, King searches in the clutter on his desk and picks up a black-and-red Sanyo flip phone with an ESPN logo above a 1-inch screen. The phone, which ESPN introduced in 2006 as part of a mobile plan that included scores and highlights, is often cited by outsiders as the height of corporate embarrassment. The device cost $150 million to develop, including a $30 million Super Bowl ad, and attracted a grand total of 30,000 customers. ESPN scrapped it after seven months, less than a year before Apple introduced the iPhone. According to the 2011 oral history, Those Guys Have All the Fun, ESPN’s then-President George Bodenheimer approached Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer (and Disney board member) Steve Jobs at a Disney board meeting in 2006. “Your phone is the dumbest f---ing idea I have ever heard,” Jobs said.
 

kenneycb

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On the spectrum of potential mistakes, a Tweet that forgets a word is not "bad". As are most of the [insert graphic error here] pictures that get posted.
 

E5 Yaz

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ESPN guru Jim Miller appeared on the SI media podcast in an episode published Thursday and offered some details into the upcoming round of layoffs (which will reportedly affect only on-air talent) at the Worldwide Leader.

Miller then mapped out what he expects weekdays on ESPN will look like based on deals the network has already made, saying that these personalities can feel safe but that everyone else might need to sweat a bit.

6 a.m. — Re-air of Neil Everett and Stan Verrett’s SportsCenter from the night before
7-10 a.m. — Mike Greenberg’s newly announced show, which, as Miller points out, will feature only one on-air personality
10 a.m.-noon — First Take, presumably still featuring Stephen A. Smith, Max Kellerman and Molly Qerim
Noon-1 p.m. — A widely rumored but yet-to-be-unveiled show featuring Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre
1-6 p.m. —”The normal kind of coverage of what they’re doing, and Around the Horn and PTI
6
p.m. — SC6 with Jemele Hill and Michael Smith
Evening — Live sports
11 p.m. — SportsCenter
Midnight — Scott Van Pelt’s SportsCenter show
1 a.m. — Everett and Verrett’s SportsCenter show

“If you’re ESPN talent and you’re looking at a schedule that’s something like that, based on the commitments they’ve made, if you’re not on that, then you’re starting to feel a little shaky,” Miller said. “That’s not to say everyone else is gone, but I think those are the people that should take a deep breath, and those are the people that should feel immune.”

http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/jim-miller-espn-will-lay-off-40-50-employees-air-personalities-nervous.html
 

Average Reds

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The fact that ESPN would select Greenberg over Golic is pretty damnable in its own right.

Amazing how quickly those long term rights deals are causing the network to unfold.
 

Kliq

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Torre might be my favorite personality on the network, always think he has something insightful to say on ATH and PTI. Jones I generally like but I lost some respect for him during the Jae Crowder/Gordon Hayward situation.
 

Clears Cleaver

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The fact that ESPN would select Greenberg over Golic is pretty damnable in its own right.

Amazing how quickly those long term rights deals are causing the network to unfold.
The Wingo-Golic pairing has been a disaster. And Golic deal is expiring.

Good luck to Greeny. The self deprecating "I'm a geek" plays when your are cohosting w former athletes. But won't on a talk show. Be interesting to see how that works out
 

Lose Remerswaal

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So I'm not sure what's gone from that list? They still have ESPN2, so Greenie is moving from the Deuce to the mothership? And what goes on #2, reruns of SC, so it's just a flipflop?

Does NFL Live and The Jump survive? SportsNation? LeBatard's unwatchable shows?
 

E5 Yaz

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So I'm not sure what's gone from that list? They still have ESPN2, so Greenie is moving from the Deuce to the mothership? And what goes on #2, reruns of SC, so it's just a flipflop?

Does NFL Live and The Jump survive? SportsNation? LeBatard's unwatchable shows?
Yeah, it's incomplete for certain. It looks as though Greenberg's show replaces the painful SC Coast to Coast in the mornings

ESPN employs about a 1,000 announcers, commentators, reporters and analysts for TV, radio and digital.
Different "talent" are reacting different ways to the looming layoffs.
The ex-athletes-turned analysts are more mentally prepared, said sources. At some point in their careers, the Turk came knocking at their door and told them to hand in their playbooks.
Anchors and commentators, on the other hand, are more used to job security and annual raises. They're burning up the phone lines to their agents in New York and Los Angeles.
"The analysts are responding very differently than the non-athletes," one source said. "Ex-jocks are used to coming and going. The non-athletes are more panicked."
http://www.sportingnews.com/other-sports/news/espn-layoffs-bristol-john-skipper-sportscenter-anchors-talent-analysts-jemele-hill-michael-smith-adam-schefter-buster-olney/1kjlyr9edm8hb1axnytj86pdt1
 
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snowmanny

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So some mornings I listen to Mike and Mike, but never watch it. Lately they bring on Bomani Jones, Stugatz and SAS for a segment each and with each of them just run through the day's headlines and get hot takes from each of them ("What do you think about what LaVar Ball said?" "Who do you like in the Final Four?" "Are the Cavs vulnerable?"). It's weird and seems like some combination audition/promotion. I've been wondering what that's all about.

M&M is pretty vanilla and the schtick is old and the ads that include them are insufferable. Greenberg isn't as smart as he thinks he is and he plays both sides of a lot of fences and he has a lot of long John Dennis-like preambles before he gets to a point/question, but he doesn't completely annoy me to the same degree as a lot of other radio talk show hosts. (But he is somehow pompously self-deprecating, which is indeed a special type of annoying feature.)

That all being said, what's the advantage in dumping Golic, or moving him to a show that will presumably run concurrent to Greenberg? And why would Greenberg work better as a solo show since one of the current problems with the M&M show is that his voice is heard way too much?
 

JimBoSox9

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If ESPN is trying to take away my morning coffee hour from Toucher & Rich, they'd come closer with a combo ATH/PTI rerun then a three hour Mike goddam Greenberg solo act.
 

dcmissle

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I was home sick today, so watched the panel shows. Shocked how bad they are. Talked about the same things 3 consecutive shows.
NBA mvp
Romo dressing for Mavs
Apart from event programming, an important exception, they are dying. Paying Greenie to hold the mornings won't turn the tide. The internet killed them. It just took a while.
 

deanx0

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Apart from event programming, an important exception, they are dying. Paying Greenie to hold the mornings won't turn the tide. The internet killed them. It just took a while.
It's not a question of will the new Greenie deal be a disaster that ESPN regrets--it's how quickly it happens. He's got to be making big money for what position they are putting him in and it's going to be a disaster. He would possibly appeal to an AM viewing crowd but they won't tune in to the network. The whole thing makes no sense
 

Kliq

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This is just my personal thing and I have no idea if it means anything for the general viewing audience, but at night I never watch Sportscenter. I understand with the advancement of the Internet and smartphones that they had to change things; but dumbing down the programming with Michael Smith and Jemelle Hill and SVP and First Take doing long-form personality driven shows isn't going to do it for me.

You know what I do watch all the time though? NBA Gametime and the MLB Network's show in the evening. Just a host and a couple of ex-jocks and coaches bouncing around from game to game and talking about stuff. It's often light and unscripted but it's a great way to get caught up with everything that is happening and they will always cut in to live-feeds of big moments. It honestly doesn't even matter that much to me who the analysts are (Harold Reynolds is on MLB TV all the time and I don't even care that much). If ESPN were to do something closer to this in SC, they wouldn't have to pay "marketable" personalities big money and I might actually watch it.
 

ifmanis5

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Stephen A. Smith's take-based Phil Jackson TL:


Stephen A. Smith Predicts Carmelo and LeBron Will Team Up In 2014 ...
sportsnaut.com/2014/06/lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-teammates/
Jun 10, 2014 - Stephen A. Smith is getting after it early when it comes to his LeBron James ... Knicks making huge mistake by opting into Phil Jackson's final two years.

Stephen A. Smith rips Phil Jackson & the Knicks for Porzingis pick ...
forums.realgm.com › ... › NBA Team Forums › New York KnicksJun 26, 2015 - 20 posts - ‎13 authors
http://thefanaticsview.com/basketball/stephen-a-smith-rips-phil-jackson-the-knicks-draft-selection/ Pretty serious rant from Mr. Smith. I agree in some points but ...

Stephen A. admits 'Phil Jackson has done a good job' - ESPN Video
www.espn.com/video/clip?id=14658824
Stephen A. Smith explains how impressed he is with Phil Jackson for turning around the Knicks from last year to now, and why he believes Thunder forward ...

Stephen A.: Phil Jackson's 'posse' comments were 'highly disrespectful ...
www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18063070
Stephen A. Smith takes offense to Phil Jackson describing LeBron James and his business associates as a "posse" because of the work they have done to not ...

Stephen A. calls Phil Jackson a 'bully,' blasts his lack of humility ...
www.espn.com/video/clip?id=18227311
Stephen A. Smith calls out Phil Jackson for riding the coat tails of superstars and not acknowledging their role in his success.

Stephen A. Smith on Phil Jackson: Get Him the Hell Out of New York ...
www.realclearsports.com/.../stephen_a_smith_on_phil_jackson_get_him_the_hell_out...
2 hours ago - Stephen A. Smith doesn't just want Phil Jackson gone from his job as president of the New York Knicks. Smith wants Jackson out of the entire ...
 

kenneycb

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Something similar happened when Brady was practicing at Foxboro or something like that during the suspension. I imagine it happens every couple months.
 

ifmanis5

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PedroKsBambino

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Knowing Boston fans, years from now (hopefully many, many years!) after Belichick and Brady have both retired fans will still be saying similar things to ESPN..

Speaking of which, fuck you Grady!
 

JimD

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Not sure why anyone would let a major for-profit media company use their images or video for free.
 

johnmd20

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Not sure why anyone would let a major for-profit media company use their images or video for free.
Because you either let them use it for free and get an attribution or they wouldn't be used at all. These pictures aren't quite "Flag Raised On Iwo Jima".
 

Kliq

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The ESPN person who has to ask for the Patriot pics is essentially the Twitter version of a Jehovah's Witness going door-to-door.
 

ifmanis5

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Winter is coming soon. Some are begging.
http://www.sportingnews.com/other-sports/news/espn-layoffs-espn2-mike-greenberg-mike-golic-sportscenter-am-katie-nolan-charissa-thompson-fs1-jamie-horowitz-john-skipper/1qyp55nrppaub1omvedncxtmfg
"This could be a bloodbath," warned one source.

ESPN's corporate campus was "eerily silent" Tuesday, said another source, as staffers anxiously waited to see who'll survive what management is euphemistically describing as a "right-sizing."

"It's like the dead calm before a horrible storm," said the source.