that sucks for Nink.
So is ESPN's plan basically to make Stephen A Smith 16+ hours of TV a day?
Thoughts about media types who don't have their own threads
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So is ESPN's plan basically to make Stephen A Smith 16+ hours of TV a day?
Not sure. When I questioned the wisdom of that strategy some months back, I was told every viewer loves SAS and such decisions are always data-driven and not the whim of some Zaslav-like corporate overlord.
Isn't that the current model for cable channels? MTV & Ridiculousness. Tru and Impractical Jokers. NESN and Charlie Moore.
You ride the monster into the ground.
Aaron Schatz is leaving Football Outsiders.
View: https://twitter.com/ASchatzNFL/status/1676950123237056513
View: https://twitter.com/ASchatzNFL/status/1676950123237056513
Wow, I had no idea what had happened to FO. Here's some background: https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/football-outsiders-aaron-schatz-champion-gaming.html
Football yes. NBA is just not his space at all. This informant is hilarious. He also has a very specific way of saying Daryl Morey.
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Kendra Middleton is now on 98.5 (I didn’t really know who she was before) but is 27 and I feel so old at 41. I understand what she’s saying but it’s so clear she’s a completely different generation. She’s got her own Twitch gaming channel, says things like “it slaps” not ironically. She’s been good so far, very different energy but I’d rather this than whatever retreads WEEI is rolling out like Ken and Curtis.
If you want to take a break from watching baseball and read about it instead, I recommend "The Tao of the Backup Catcher: Playing Baseball for the Love of the Game" by Tim Brown with Erik Kratz. Kratz was a Red Sox for a hot minute in 2015. Brown leans a little too hard into the "folksy life lessons from catchers" shtick, in my opinion, but the parts about the actual baseball are very interesting.
That's a pretty great line about making a bat out of the tree.
One of the great baseball movies.
I see that and raise you -
View: https://twitter.com/backaftathis/status/1688962513537273873?s=46&t=1S4eWjX_rzBBrpPNddRPAg
View: https://twitter.com/backaftathis/status/1688962513537273873?s=46&t=1S4eWjX_rzBBrpPNddRPAg
View: https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1699455958127198367
“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” is coming to an end at HBO after 29 years.
“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” is coming to an end at HBO after 29 years.
Not sure where this goes but just terrible news.
https://nesn.com/2023/09/chris-snow-ex-red-sox-reporter-with-als-suffers-catastrophic-event/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ
https://nesn.com/2023/09/chris-snow-ex-red-sox-reporter-with-als-suffers-catastrophic-event/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ
Not sure if he counts as "media," but Kurt Benkert's content on YT and TikTok is really great. He is a former NFL QB who does a great job nerding out, especially about QB play. I assume a tv network will snap him up at some point, as he is easy on the eyes and is (as far as I can tell) a really good analyst.
Pete "the Meat" Sheppard announced that he was let go from his ESPN/ Beasley afternoon radio show yesterday.
It's amazing to me how some journalists are showing their entire asses in this "controversy". Why is this a thing?
I don't get it. It's the playoffs. There are fewer teams involved, fewer games being played. Isn't it always the case that there are more credentialed media at these games (and in the clubhouse) than would be if it were a random day in July? Players need to be aware of that and their surroundings at all times. If they're going to say things in front of a reporter, especially one they might not know/recognize, they can't expect the reporter won't report what he heard.
Exactly. And the clubhouse is closed for x amount of time before reporters are let in. You want to talk shit about Bryce Harper then? Go for it. And TBH, what he said wasn't that huge of a deal. Harper did fuck up and he looked kind of silly racing back. Then Harper didn't look so silly on Wednesday. It's sports. Every one needs to take a minute and breathe.
I thought the whole thing added a bit of fun to game 3, with Harper staring Arcia down each time he rounded the bases. As long as it doesn't get physical, I like to see players get chippy and talk smack.
Listening to other reporters....there's a MEDIA section of the clubhouse and a private NO MEDIA portion. It's "common knowledge " that anything you say in the MEDIA section is fair game.
Arcia ran his mouth around 10 reporters and also there were cameras rolling. There is one person to blame for all this, and it ain't the reporter
Arcia ran his mouth around 10 reporters and also there were cameras rolling. There is one person to blame for all this, and it ain't the reporter
Bringing this over from the LCS thread. Mad Dog was always a wild card, but pulling this kind of Morning Zoo nonsense at age 64 seems pretty pathetic. Did he not save his money? Mad Dog isn't exactly a Nobel laureate, but he has got to have made enough money in his career to be beyond needing to debase himself like this.
IDK, I think it's kind of fun when a broadcaster does something like that. I mean we all knew that he wasn't going to retire, but the donation and the bikini thing shows that he can have some fun. Pathetic seems to be an awfully harsh word but YMMV.
Debase? That’s a lot. Like, listening to his infamous 2003 rant did you think he really meant that he’d give up his kids to non existence for a SF Giants championship?
https://nypost.com/2023/10/31/sports/chris-broussard-on-james-harden-trade-is-the-man-r-d/
Man the clip is so weird. After asking if James Harden is "r**arded", he then appears to stumble on his words to talk about his mentally disabled first cousin, and I swear he was about to say said cousin had to be put down.
Surprised, but not really.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/11/16/charissa-thompson-fabricate-sideline-reports/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/11/16/charissa-thompson-fabricate-sideline-reports/
Am I alone in thinking that many of these reports are made up? Maybe it’s the way she just casually mentioned it like no big deal. She obviously felt comfortable confessing it.
If they're not, they might as well be with how boring and clichéd most coaches are in sideline interviews. Chances are even when she (or any other sideline reporter) gets real quotes, they're not far off what she/they could have made up anyway.
This is shitty on a number of different levels. The first being that it demeans women sideline reporters who work hard to get these positions. It also is yet another reminder of what happens when you engage in token stick bullshit like the NFL does by using a somewhat meaningless position to add to the diversity of your program. Which, of course is exactly what you would expect from the NFL. Which sucks..
Or just simply, "Coach Asswipe didn't stop to talk, Joe, but based on what we've seen, the Nimrods need to tackle better and stop turning the ball over. wouldn't you say?"
I'm sure coaches would get fined if they're obligated to do these sideline reports. I bet they'd rather have anyone of any gender say "well coach X said he really hopes his team fights harder in the 2nd half" than pay $25000.
I'm sure it's an open secret and it wouldn't surprise me if a coach or some PR person reminded the sideline reporter before the game "Coach X isn't gonna do the halftime run by as always. Just give a generic rah rah thing"
It's why no coach has ever called out a reporter and why no reporter has (until now) admitted they're garbage
I'm sure it's an open secret and it wouldn't surprise me if a coach or some PR person reminded the sideline reporter before the game "Coach X isn't gonna do the halftime run by as always. Just give a generic rah rah thing"
It's why no coach has ever called out a reporter and why no reporter has (until now) admitted they're garbage
Agreed.
Other professional sports use a sideline reporter as well, but it isn’t nearly as fluffy. Abby Chin on NBC Sports Boston does an excellent job interviewing the players, who clearly like her, and she really knows her stuff. Likewise, the sideline reporters in the major-league baseball world, while they tend to be clearly a change of pace thing, are valuable given that the pace of the game can be slow.
In the NFL, it’s as simple as “we want to soften the image a little bit so we’ll put a woman in this completely meaningless role.” Some—like Salter and Andrea Kramer—rise above it. Others, like Thompson, sink to that level. Fuck her but more importantly the league she works for.
The Athletic is doing a series of stories on the Frick nominees. Here's Steve Buckley's story on Joe Castiglione
https://theathletic.com/5097679/2023/11/29/can-you-believe-it-joe-castigliones-four-decades-of-improbable-unbelievable-moments/
https://theathletic.com/5097679/2023/11/29/can-you-believe-it-joe-castigliones-four-decades-of-improbable-unbelievable-moments/
Terrible update from Doug but thankfully in the best part of the world to kick this thing's ass for good. Go Fund Me link as well.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-kyed-family
View: https://twitter.com/DougKyed/status/1732417353411895608
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-kyed-family
View: https://twitter.com/DougKyed/status/1732417353411895608
Big Al is not in the NFL playoff rotation.
View: https://twitter.com/AndrewMarchand/status/1734591995639726183
NEWS: Al Michaels out on NBC playoff coverage, The Post has learned.
View: https://twitter.com/AndrewMarchand/status/1734591995639726183
NEWS: Al Michaels out on NBC playoff coverage, The Post has learned.
He'd only have been calling one post-season game for NBC, right? Sucks for him that NBC couldn't communicate better but he had to have known this was possible.
On the SportsHub moments ago, Ted Johnson said: "I get a little movement in my little johnson watching the Celtics play these days."
Recorded for posterity at 11:14 EST, December 30, 2023.
Recorded for posterity at 11:14 EST, December 30, 2023.
