ESPN Is Pathetic

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
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Usually when you look back at some disaster like that, you find that a bunch of seconds could have been wasted by the team leading and were not. Or, maybe in this case you don't punt the ball if there's any threat of it being blocked. The other team has to go 50 yards in 20 seconds if you do that. And, then, do all the other things they did. Impossible.
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
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Dec 7, 2008
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Among others released from ESPN recently was Sam Miller, one of the co-hosts of the not espn affiliated effectively wild podcast, but also one of if not ESPN's best baseball writer. I'm sure they'll replace him with some random guy to write terrible hot take articles.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
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Jul 15, 2005
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You gotta get that memorialized somehow - the ESPN.com front page. Your kid is the featured face of ESPN.com right now. That is unreal!!!
 

TrapperAB

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Nov 25, 2002
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West Hartford, CT
You gotta get that memorialized somehow - the ESPN.com front page. Your kid is the featured face of ESPN.com right now. That is unreal!!!
It’s kinda nuts! We’re going to frame up a screen shot for his wall. Immortalize a photo he doesn’t like, because that’s a parent’s sacred duty.
 

Phil Elliott

New Member
Aug 12, 2020
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It’s kinda nuts! We’re going to frame up a screen shot for his wall. Immortalize a photo he doesn’t like, because that’s a parent’s sacred duty.
For what it's worth, I thought that it was a great read which reflected very positively on your son, you and Pop. It also casts a most favorable light upon Hockensmith's mom...
 

TrapperAB

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Nov 25, 2002
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West Hartford, CT
For what it's worth, I thought that it was a great read which reflected very positively on your son, you and Pop. It also casts a most favorable light upon Hockensmith's mom...
Thank you for saying that — Ryan is a great guy, and my #1 concern was that the experience be positive for Bentley. To everyone’s credit, B’s had a blast — the photographer and video crew were kind and thoughtful (explaining everything they were asking of him), and the producers were wonderful from first to last. Warms a father’s heart.

And the fact that Pop wrote what he wrote — echoing all the things we emphasize at home (education, honesty, humility, empathy, humor) — is incredibly powerful.

Edit: Gotta love that Boddicker story...

The video version of the story will be on ESPN’s Christmas Eve show — so the boy will get mortified anew!
 

santadevil

wears depends
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Aug 1, 2006
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Thanks for sharing that with us @TrapperAB

I know I've mentioned it before, but I really enjoy Ryan's articles, so pass along a thanks from me for this one as well. Good stuff and it's good to see Bentley taking this in stride for a kid his age. My kid is a year older and I don't know how he'd do with something like this, so good on you as parents
 
I was listening to Zach Lowe's NBA preview podcast with Jeff Van Gundy this evening, and at the start of the pod Lowe asked Van Gundy about how he got home from the Orlando bubble to his home in Houston. Van Gundy said he drove for 17 hours without stopping except to go to the bathroom and get some food (which he ate in the car while driving), and - this is the part that kinda freaks me out - in total silence the whole way, excepting his participation in a telephone therapy session with a team psychologist/psychiatrist. How anyone can drive for 17 hours on less-than-scenic highways without listening to a podcast or music is utterly incomprehensible to me.
 

Cotillion

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Jun 11, 2019
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I was listening to Zach Lowe's NBA preview podcast with Jeff Van Gundy this evening, and at the start of the pod Lowe asked Van Gundy about how he got home from the Orlando bubble to his home in Houston. Van Gundy said he drove for 17 hours without stopping except to go to the bathroom and get some food (which he ate in the car while driving), and - this is the part that kinda freaks me out - in total silence the whole way, excepting his participation in a telephone therapy session with a team psychologist/psychiatrist. How anyone can drive for 17 hours on less-than-scenic highways without listening to a podcast or music is utterly incomprehensible to me.
I sometimes found it very relaxing... particularly on drives that took you through dead areas for radio stations and stuff (pre podcast days) and just letting your mind wander and think about things.
 

TrapperAB

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Nov 25, 2002
3,030
West Hartford, CT
Thanks for sharing that with us @TrapperAB

I know I've mentioned it before, but I really enjoy Ryan's articles, so pass along a thanks from me for this one as well. Good stuff and it's good to see Bentley taking this in stride for a kid his age. My kid is a year older and I don't know how he'd do with something like this, so good on you as parents
I have passed along your appreciation to Ryan -- he says thanks! He's been overwhelmed by the positive feedback he's received about this column -- and it's done really well (400,000 hits in the first 24 hours -- average reading time was two and half minutes, which is extremely high for ESPN).

And thank you for the kind words about Bentley -- he's a great kid (all credit to Mrs. B) and has handled the whole thing really well. And as a dad, seeing my kid beaming for hours after getting to talk with Woj for 15 minutes (he couldn't have been nicer) -- warms the heart. Even if he doesn't seek out hoops as a career (although I think he might), he's got a heck of a story to tell.
 

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
3,163
Did Mortensen really say this about the Eagles' curious qb move last night? ""The NFL isn't going to make the mistake of starting an investigation during the playoffs like they did during deflategate!" Wasn't he one of the ones making sure the NFL did exactly that 6 years ago?
 

ifmanis5

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Sep 29, 2007
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Kellerman gets a lot of deserved crap but whenever he talks about race relations and social injustice he is very good and was so again today.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Sep 21, 2007
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What the hell is this uncanny valley Pete Rozelle and Al Davis narration of a documentary on Davis’ lawsuits against the NFL?

They’re periodically showing uncanny valley Rozelle sitting in a dark stairwell and uncanny valley Davis sitting on a couch in a darkened room, narrating us through the documentary with impersonator voiceovers close but not close enough to mimicking their voices.
 

kenneycb

Hates Goose Island Beer; Loves Backdoor Play
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Dec 2, 2006
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Tuukka's refugee camp
I assume that's a play to get less crappy games on MNF. They have the digital rights to PGA Tour Live but have to imagine Nantz would want to do more than call the featured groups on Thursday and Friday.
 

Humphrey

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Aug 3, 2010
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Is it written into Mike Greenberg's contract that every day he must mention (or invent himself) another Russell Wilson trade rumor, none of which seem to have any substance whatsoever?
 

johnmd20

mad dog
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Dec 30, 2003
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Is it written into Mike Greenberg's contract that every day he must mention (or invent himself) another Russell Wilson trade rumor, none of which seem to have any substance whatsoever?
The content machine is hungry and must be fed.

It's must be exhausting to constantly have to come up with made up bullshit and claptrap just to fill hours on the air.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Jan 23, 2009
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Does ESPN have any high quality PBP broadcasters under contract for any sport? Seems like these are the best they can do without springing for a network A-team lead guy (a Michaels/Buck/Nantz type). Is their top NBA crew good (I don't watch so I don't know)?
 

bibajesus

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Jul 15, 2005
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Does ESPN have any high quality PBP broadcasters under contract for any sport? Seems like these are the best they can do without springing for a network A-team lead guy (a Michaels/Buck/Nantz type). Is their top NBA crew good (I don't watch so I don't know)?
Their Cornhole announcers are unparalleled.
 

soxhop411

news aggravator
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Dec 4, 2009
46,274
ESPN announced Monday that its scheduled Astros-Yankees Major League Baseball game Tuesday night will be “Star Wars”-themed, with the broadcast team of Karl Ravech, Tim Kurkjian and Eduardo Perezdressed as characters from the series (Luke Skywalker, Yoda and a Jawa, respectively). A Darth Vader-clad Steve Levy is to handle studio updates.

The rationale for the broadcast is that Tuesday is May 4, or “May the Fourth” — a play on the Star Wars line “may the force [be with you].” As should go without saying, ESPN parent company Disney owns Star Wars.
Unlike Monday’s planned “Marvel”-themed NBA broadcast of Warriors-Pelicans, which will be a separate, alternate presentation on ESPN2 and ESPN+, the Star Wars-themed baseball broadcast will be ESPN’s primary presentation of the game. It will include custom on-screen graphics and Star Wars-themed segments, including Clinton Yatesdiscussing MLB names that have Star Wars ties and Kurkjian highlighting his “favorite FORCE plays of all-time.”
https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2021/05/espn-star-wars-mlb-astros-yankees-marvel-nba-synergy/
Thankfully this is not during a Red Sox game.