ESPN Is Pathetic

[Drocca]

I also think Windhorst as a reporter is just hilarious. Yesterday or a few days ago, doesn't matter, he wrote an article about how sources inside the locker room were telling him that players were beginning to question Platt. Then he went on the radio and television and said the same thing.

I really wanted someone to just cut through the charade and say, "your source is Lebron because that's literally the only reason you are employed."

And then the thought of Lebron calling up Windhorst with the, "ok, run with it." That's so weak. You are Lebron Fucking James. Walk your ass upstairs and tell Dan Gilbert to fire the Coach and then tell him who you would like hired.

 

[soxhop411]

Dennis Dodd ‏@dennisdoddcbs  13m13 minutes ago
 
Kinky Friedman right now on ESPN: "Jerry Jones & Chris Christie have the most latent homosexual relationship since Sherlock Holmes & Watson"

 

[soxhop411]

Dennis Dodd ‏@dennisdoddcbs  14m14 minutes ago
 
Bob Ley now apologizing in the moment for Friedman comment. Kinky goes on to call Christie "a thin-sock-wearing son of a bitch."

 

[soxhop411]

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[Marciano490]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/feature/video/_/id/8652210/espn-hall-100-ranking-all-greatest-mlb-players
 
Pedro the 41st best player of all time. Clemens 7th.  Jeter 31st.

 

[glennhoffmania]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/feature/video/_/id/8652210/espn-hall-100-ranking-all-greatest-mlb-players
 
Pedro the 41st best player of all time. Clemens 7th.  Jeter 31st.

 
My friend sent me that list and we've been arguing about it for the last two days.  I pointed out to him that ESPN didn't seem to use any actual stats, analysis or math to come up with their list.  Who the hell came up with this crap?

 

[DJnVa]

And Jeter climbed from 33 to 31 this year.
 
Insane.

 

[Darnell's Son]

And Jeter climbed from 33 to 31 this year.
 
Insane.

It's not insane, it's intangibles.

 

[Vandalman]

 
Wonder what Vince Smith thinks of this...

 

[Leather]

 
Wonder what Vince Smith thinks of this...

 
LOL. I see.

 

[ifmanis5]

 

[Tito's Pullover]

Still more insightful than about 95% of all tweets.

 

[Hendu for Kutch]

Still more insightful than about 95% of all tweets.

 
Yes, one of the few factually correct tweets you'll see on an ESPN show.

 

[joe dokes]

Still more insightful than about 95% of all tweets.

 
I'll bet that tweet will be the subject of tomorrow's debate between Bayless and Stephen A.

 

[Kliq]

What is unacceptable is that ESPN hasn't evolved to the point of using GIFS on their website. Anytime I click on a link titled something like "Syracuse Player throws down ridiculous dunk" I have to sit through a 30 second ad to watch a 10 second clip, and then if I want to watch the clip again, I have to sit through ANOTHER 30 second ad. It is nickel and diming fans and makes the site demonstrably less user-friendly. 

 

[kenneycb]

What is unacceptable is that ESPN hasn't evolved to the point of using GIFS on their website. Anytime I click on a link titled something like "Syracuse Player throws down ridiculous dunk" I have to sit through a 30 second ad to watch a 10 second clip, and then if I want to watch the clip again, I have to sit through ANOTHER 30 second ad. It is nickel and diming fans and makes the site demonstrably less user-friendly. 

Not sure about normal articles but they're on Grantland pretty frequently.  And you have to press the "Play GIF" button so it doesn't freeze your computer up as you load a page.

 

[Kliq]

Yes, I have seen that on Grantland, and it is great with Zach Lowe, who breaks down a lot of subtle stuff in certain players games using GIFS. I am talking about the normal site, just for random stories on the front page, highlights and whatnot.

 

[cromulence]

Just saw this when checking out the recap of the Caps blowing a lead:

Spoiler

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

You're really Julian Tavarez, aren't you?

 

[cromulence]

You're really Julian Tavarez, aren't you?

 
Busted. Chrome just added that thing last week or something and I don't like it. Now I'm gonna make it say something else.

 

[ifmanis5]

Mike and Mike were so bad this morning. Roger and Kraft had dinner together! The League needs to make a statement! Jerry Rice is right!
Greenberg is a die hard Jets fan, and loves every second of this.

 

[DJnVa]

Greenberg is a die hard Jets fan, and loves every second of this.

 
Would he prefer the Jets current situation or the Jets in the Pats situation?

 

[glennhoffmania]

I'm amazed that their show has survived this long.  The two of them are idiots and Greenberg is both an idiot and really annoying. 

 

[ifmanis5]

 
Would he prefer the Jets current situation or the Jets in the Pats situation?

Not sure but he had full Cheatriots grins and Spygate drops every 10 seconds.

 

[Granite Sox]

Eh... Greeny is a tool, but he opened the show by saying it didn't have anything to do with on-field performance, it was more a question of "Why is it always the Patriots?".
 
I think he was rightfully challenging the potential impact to the Pats' legacy of these off-field controversies.
 
The laziness comes into play by continuing with the overall narrative without command of the actual facts of any of these "situations".
 
Golic has said multiple times this doesn't have anything to do with on-field performance and coaching/player skill, and is more annoyed that this off-field inanity impacts the perception of on-field dominance.

 

[ifmanis5]

He may have opened that way, but he closed it a very different way with Goodell and Kraft having dinner together and the Pats getting special treatment etc. and rehashing typical Sports Take history. No matter how the Deflategate plays out this is another log on the fire for guys like Greeny and the rest to point to for the rest of their lives. The asterisk is firmly in place.

 

[Granite Sox]

The dinner thing is ridiculously stupid.
 
Didn't hear that, but totally agree with your comments.

 

[Corsi]

 

[E5 Yaz]

I realize it's Twitter and therefore thoughts get compressed, but this was a particular poor way of teasing this story:
 
ESPNCBB ESPN College BBall
Survivor of plane crashes that killed his family & pilot father, Austin Hatch realized his dream to play for Michigan
 
I mean, I might think that after that tragedy, Hatch could have other things he'd want more

 

[Corsi]

 

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

I find all the ' ' annoying. They aren't reporting anything other than quotes.
 

 

[Vandalman]

 

[CarolinaBeerGuy]

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but Dick Vitale won't be calling the UNC-Duke game for ESPN this Wednesday. I can't stand him, but for some reason it just feels a little wrong.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/dick-vitale-won-t-call-north-carolina-duke-this-week-190707547.html

 

[Vandalman]

 
Really?

 

[DLew On Roids]

The relentless cross-platform pushing of the Cricket World Cup has elevated ESPNing to performance art.

 

[SydneySox]

Shut up jerk

 

[ifmanis5]

They're really trying to make fetch a thing.

 

[E5 Yaz]

 
Really?

 
That was the also-ran list. 

 

[SydneySox]

They're really trying to make fetch a thing.

 
I don't know what Fetch is - but that was a massive win for India last night.

 

[dirtynine]

It's from Mean Girls. One character is constantly trying to make "fetch" a new popular catchphrase - as in, "that's so fetch".  She's constantly using it.  Eventually somebody gets frustrated, turns to her, and screams "stop trying to make fetch happen.  It's never going to happen."
 
so, in this example,
 
"fetch" = cricket
the annoying girl = ESPN
 
I'd venture ESPN is pushing it in the States because they have the rights to it.  It's pretty likely they'd ignore it otherwise.  That said I think it's kind of cool that we're getting some exposure to it. 

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Yeah, I hated when they did that with International Soccer.  Boy did that flop!

 

[deanx0]

It's from Mean Girls. One character is constantly trying to make "fetch" a new popular catchphrase - as in, "that's so fetch".  She's constantly using it.  Eventually somebody gets frustrated, turns to her, and screams "stop trying to make fetch happen.  It's never going to happen."
 
so, in this example,
 
"fetch" = cricket
the annoying girl = ESPN
 
I'd venture ESPN is pushing it in the States because they have the rights to it.  It's pretty likely they'd ignore it otherwise.  That said I think it's kind of cool that we're getting some exposure to it. 

 
I don't think it's fair to say ESPN would ignore it if they didn't have rights to it. After all, they don't have rights to NHL hockey and look at all the coverage it gets!

 

[SydneySox]

It's from Mean Girls. One character is constantly trying to make "fetch" a new popular catchphrase - as in, "that's so fetch".  She's constantly using it.  Eventually somebody gets frustrated, turns to her, and screams "stop trying to make fetch happen.  It's never going to happen."
 
so, in this example,
 
"fetch" = cricket
the annoying girl = ESPN
 
I'd venture ESPN is pushing it in the States because they have the rights to it.  It's pretty likely they'd ignore it otherwise.  That said I think it's kind of cool that we're getting some exposure to it. 

 
I mean... ok on quoting mean girls.
 
But also it's a World Cup and the India-Pakistan game drew an estimated 1 billion viewers. http://www.cricket.com.au/news/feature/india-pakistan-more-than-a-game-world-cup-match/2015-02-13 for instance.
 
Just because Americans aren't into it doesn't mean ESPN is doing the wrong thing by giving it any time. And by any time, I mean some time. And by some time, I mean maybe linking to their very popular cricket sister sites like once or twice a day. During the World Cup.

 

[OCST]

Yeah, I hated when they did that with International Soccer.  Boy did that flop!

That built up organically, over time.

Not saying there's not a cricket audience in the USA - it's a varsity high school sport in NYC - but I would think it is limited to folks who come from cricket countries. I detect almost zero interest in cricket otherwise, unlike soccer.

 

[kenneycb]

That built up organically, over time.

Not saying there's not a cricket audience in the USA - it's a varsity high school sport in NYC - but I would think it is limited to folks who come from cricket countries. I detect almost zero interest in cricket otherwise, unlike soccer.

Organic growth that was greatly supported by ESPN having the rights to the World Cup and Euros.

 

[dynomite]

 
That was the also-ran list. 

But that doesn't make sense either, unless you're kidding -- Duke/UNC isn't on the real Top 5?

 

[SydneySox]

That built up organically, over time.

Not saying there's not a cricket audience in the USA - it's a varsity high school sport in NYC - but I would think it is limited to folks who come from cricket countries. I detect almost zero interest in cricket otherwise, unlike soccer.

 
You know more people than the US read espn.com right?

 

[E5 Yaz]

But that doesn't make sense either, unless you're kidding -- Duke/UNC isn't on the real Top 5?

 
this is weird, because here's the list i remember seeing, and Duke-NC is on it
 
https://twitter.com/finebaum/status/568496553704472576/photo/1

 

[DLew On Roids]

 
You know more people than the US read espn.com right?

 
You know that the point is that ESPN wouldn't put it on the front page if they didn't have the US rights, right?
 
No one is kicking your cricket binky. 

 

[SydneySox]

Yes, DLew. Thanks man.
 
I think that's the point. They have the rights. That's a good thing.
 
I'm kicking your stupid face binky. In my mind.