ESPN Is Pathetic

CarolinaBeerGuy

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Watching at the bar today, the topic of discussion on the WWL: Would you rather watch Tebow or Judge? Thank god the volume was off and there was no captioning because I'm sure the talking heads were siding with Timmy.
 

joe dokes

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Watching at the bar today, the topic of discussion on the WWL: Would you rather watch Tebow or Judge? Thank god the volume was off and there was no captioning because I'm sure the talking heads were siding with Timmy.
Watch them doing what?
 

dcmissle

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Rubber game at Fenway -- dwarfed on the website 5 minutes ago by Lonzo's footwear tonight.

When Stephen A. Smith says it's time to "pump the brakes" on the Lonzo hype, it's past time for network execs to check out -- then check into -- the Betty Ford Clinic.

When this empire crashes finally -- and it's almost inevitable -- it will be so sweet.
 

TomBrunansky23

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Rubber game at Fenway -- dwarfed on the website 5 minutes ago by Lonzo's footwear tonight.

When Stephen A. Smith says it's time to "pump the brakes" on the Lonzo hype, it's past time for network execs to check out -- then check into -- the Betty Ford Clinic.

When this empire crashes finally -- and it's almost inevitable -- it will be so sweet.
There's also the little matter of the greatest tennis player of all time winning the biggest tournament of the year as a 35 year old...but hey, NBA summer league it's fantastic.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Rubber game at Fenway -- dwarfed on the website 5 minutes ago by Lonzo's footwear tonight.

When Stephen A. Smith says it's time to "pump the brakes" on the Lonzo hype, it's past time for network execs to check out -- then check into -- the Betty Ford Clinic.

When this empire crashes finally -- and it's almost inevitable -- it will be so sweet.
How do you have a rubber game in a four game series?

Edit: sorry, that was unnecessary to your point. I'm not hugely upset that Sox Yankees doesn't get so much attention as it used to. Not that Ball's sneakers should fill that void, I agree with you, but the amount of hype these series got annoyed just as many people as Ball does and it's not The Rivalry anymore. I guess I just don't watch espn enough anymore to notice or care. I'm ok with that.
 

dcmissle

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(I entirely forgot about the afternoon game and thought it was a Fri-Sun series)
 

bosoxsue

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There's also the little matter of the greatest tennis player of all time winning the biggest tournament of the year as a 35 year old...but hey, NBA summer league it's fantastic.
I worked 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET yesterday and edited at least six Fed stories. The match and his win led the site for most of my shift. I’m not going to get into a conversation about Ball, as I stay out of anything controversial on this searchable open topic because I actually work in Bristol. This got me out of the weeds, though, as saying that Fed got shortchanged or overlooked is patently absurd.
 

TomBrunansky23

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I worked 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET yesterday and edited at least six Fed stories. The match and his win led the site for most of my shift. I’m not going to get into a conversation about Ball, as I stay out of anything controversial on this searchable open topic because I actually work in Bristol. This got me out of the weeds, though, as saying that Fed got shortchanged or overlooked is patently absurd.
No, what is absurd is the leading sports website featuring exhibition rookie league basketball as the lead story over a) Roger Federer winning Wimbledon and a 19th major title and/or b) a Sox-Yanks DH with the nightcap the Sunday nighter with both teams in contention (to say nothing of the game of the year in MLB on Saturday and its effects on Sunday's games). I shouldn't have to scroll past Lonzo Ball at 9:15 pm to see either of those stories.

Perhaps the real point is that I'm the fool for going to espn.com in the first place
 

kenneycb

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The newscycle is significantly shorter nowadays. By the time mentioned above, the Federer match had ended about 11 hours before (~10:30 AM) and was old news.
 

pedro1918

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It really just makes me feel old. I guess maybe more "old fashioned" than just old. I assume ESPN does this stuff with Ball (and Tebow and LBJ) because that is what gets them "hits" and ratings. I can't blame them for that. They are aiming for the biggest audience. I'm just not part of that target audience. I hate when they broadcast the Sox or the Pats, because when I watch I have to put up with the peripheral ESPN stuff that doesn't interest me in the slightest.

But they aren't real interested in old farts like me. So be it.
 

ifmanis5

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It really just makes me feel old. I guess maybe more "old fashioned" than just old. I assume ESPN does this stuff with Ball (and Tebow and LBJ) because that is what gets them "hits" and ratings. I can't blame them for that. They are aiming for the biggest audience. I'm just not part of that target audience. I hate when they broadcast the Sox or the Pats, because when I watch I have to put up with the peripheral ESPN stuff that doesn't interest me in the slightest.

But they aren't real interested in old farts like me. So be it.
No question. Every site does that. Playing to your audience is part of every media outlet's MO, no matter what platform.

I'm sure Ball's online material (a hyped NBA player, which is a popular sport in america, playing in one of the biggest media markets on one of the most high profile teams) got way more clicks than Federer (Swiss national who plays a sports that is much less popular in America in a European tournament) and ESPN will adjust coverage to suit that. And sure, Roger got his due to some degree but even one of the all time greats of the sport, winning its highest profile tournament in historical fashion, got less coverage than a rookie who twisted an ankle in a exhibition game that meant nothing. ESPN is a shill for clicks and for drumming up stars on public teams to further future clicks but that's part of their business model. To deny that would be weird.

Edit: Furthermore, Wimbledon is currently an ESPN property so of course they are going to push out quite a bit of Wimbledon material. It's literally part of their exclusive contract. If this had aired on NBC (like it used to) there would have been even less content about it. All networks will push news for properties that they own or are broadcast partners for; they're legally required to. Plus, competing networks coverage in many cases (definitely with Wimbledon) are also legally strictly regulated in the amount of footage they can and can't use.
 
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TomBrunansky23

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No question. Every site does that. Playing to your audience is part of every media outlet's MO, no matter what platform.

I'm sure Ball's online material (a hyped NBA player, which is a popular sport in america, playing in one of the biggest media markets on one of the most high profile teams) got way more clicks than Federer (Swiss national who plays a sports that is much less popular in America in a European tournament) and ESPN will adjust coverage to suit that. And sure, Roger got his due to some degree but even one of the all time greats of the sport, winning its highest profile tournament in historical fashion, got less coverage than a rookie who twisted an ankle in a exhibition game that meant nothing. ESPN is a shill for clicks and for drumming up stars on public teams to further future clicks but that's part of their business model. To deny that would be weird.

Edit: Furthermore, Wimbledon is currently an ESPN property so of course they are going to push out quite a bit of Wimbledon material. It's literally part of their exclusive contract. If this had aired on NBC (like it used to) there would have been even less content about it. All networks will push news for properties that they own or are broadcast partners for; they're legally required to. Plus, competing networks coverage in many cases (definitely with Wimbledon) are also legally strictly regulated in the amount of footage they can and can't use.
It would be supremely naive to argue any of what you say, it's all 100% on the mark. I guess where I fall is that despite the four-letter's claims to be the "Worldwide Leader in Sports," I as a consumer of content need to stop expecting them to adhere to some sort of high journalistic New York Times-esque practice of prioritizing the importance or significance of stories based on their merits over pushing the stories and personalities that a) drive clicks and/or b) are part of the rights packages that they truly care about (NBA, NFL, CFB, and International Soccer, period). Baseball, tennis, golf, hockey, etc. - and even CBB anymore - to the extent any attention is paid are simply filler material on SC and in off-season or non-prime broadcast slots.

ESPN no longer exists to cover capital-S Sports as a whole. It only exists to push their preferred content. Capitalism, I suppose.
 

Kliq

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ESPN signed a big big contract with the NBA and shows games in prime time throughout the season; the traditional being east coast/central game at 8 pm and the west coast/mountain game at 10:30. Because of the lack of WC teams and the popularity of the Lakers, the Lakers are on national television on all the time. Since the Lakers have fucking sucked, I imagine the ratings for their games have been disappointing, especially without Kobe to draw viewers. By pushing Ball and hyping him up as a superstar before he has done anything meaningful, they are trying to get people to tune in to those late games. If you are looking for journalistic integrity forget about it; this is all about ESPN hyping up a player for their own personal gain.
 

Sportsbstn

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ESPN is nothing now but a series of hot takes, with the next guy trying to out do last. This gimmick will too fail. There are incredibly few knowledgeable people left on the air at ESPN so it's easy to tune them out.
 

DamageTrain

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So I've been checking ESPN.COM as my primary "general" sports news site since the mid 1990s. It's gotten so bad now, it's true, as detailed in the posts above.

So what is the best alternative for my daily visit? Not a big fan of SI.com -- too many swimsuit pictures which I'm not looking for. Any advice? Sports.yahoo.com? Maybe google news sports?
 

Kliq

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For basic stories and scores I switched from ESPN to CBSsports.com. It's fine; they do some of the same click-bait stuff that ESPN does but it isn't overwhelming.
 

johnmd20

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I think CBSsports is a great site and it's my goto site for quick sports news, schedule checks, and daily recaps. There isn't much click bait at all, you can find what you want pretty easily, and the information is spelled out clearly.

One thing I love about CBS (and other sites might do this and I just don't know) but when you check scores, CBS highlights the network the game is on, if it's on. This is very helpful, especially during college football season.
 

AlNipper49

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I follow CBS on Facebook, thy have the perfect amount and type of posts IMHO.

(Thought they do seem to consider WWE a sport for some reason)
 

soxhop411

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How long has ESPN Been broadcasting the cornhole championship on on its main channels?

(It's on now)
 

Buck Showalter

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I haven't watched ESPN on a Sunday morning (during the summer - as opposed to NFL season) in years.

Today I wake up early.....I'm all by myself and decide to put it on.

Interviews with - what looked like a - medicated Mike Tyson who couldn't answer if he was now at peace (after revealing he was molested as a child). Just a bizarre segment.

And the always interesting Brittany Griner...who now lives (most of the year) in Siberia where she plays women's hoops for almost 10-times her WNBA Salary.

We are left to infer that she has done this to help pay for the twins that her ex-wife (not a typo) gave birth to - the same wife she had a much publicized domestic incident with just a short time before their wedding.

TMZ, Inside Edition, and Wide World of Sports all rolled into one here on the Sunday Morning Edition of ESPN......your worldwide leader in sports.

*shaking head*
 
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kenneycb

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It's the deadest time in sports right now. There's not a ton to talk about unless you want to talk baseball 24/7 (they don't) or a British Open final round that was already underway on NBC.
 

The Napkin

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The sports don't matter. It was the married now divorced women that really bothered Buck. That's just plain icky and unnatural.
 

richgedman'sghost

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So you implying that Buck might not be into same sex marriage or LGBTQ rights? That's not surprising..Has anyone seen Plympton91 and Buck Shoewalter at the same time and place? LOL
 

nattysez

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Went to ESPN.com this morning for the first time in a long time (why I don't know):

Top Headlines

1) I don't know who Woodley or White are.
2) I don't know who Adams is.
3) If I didn't know about the Gray trade, I'd have no context for DD re: Warriors.
4) Nothingburger nonsense.
5) Again
6) Oh, hey - news.

And the entire page is festooned with ads for ESPN's terrible fantasy football offering.

Bless you, Greg Bedard.
 

kenneycb

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We consume media differently now. I would argue the Darvish thing is the least relevant bit up there since it's 14 or so hours stale. Then again, it's July/August so there's not a ton going on in sports right now.
 

ifmanis5

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If you watched any of SportsCenter Sunday into Monday it was 24 hours of praising Jerry Jones. What was the special occasion? Unclear. Just know he's a great guy.
 

Sportsbstn

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We consume media differently now. I would argue the Darvish thing is the least relevant bit up there since it's 14 or so hours stale. Then again, it's July/August so there's not a ton going on in sports right now.
Yes everything is a hot take with no substance. That's pretty much defines much of society now.
 

kenneycb

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If you watched any of SportsCenter Sunday into Monday it was 24 hours of praising Jerry Jones. What was the special occasion? Unclear. Just know he's a great guy.
He's being inducted into the HoF this weekend. I am going to guess they addressed that upfront somewhere in the program.
Yes everything is a hot take with no substance. That's pretty much defines much of society now.
That has nothing to do with how we consume media, unless you want to make the connection the rise of Twitter leads to more hot takes. My point is that we are in more of an instant news phase. Unless it's a gigantic news story, anything that's 12+ hours old is old news, hence my comment about Darvish.
 

nattysez

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We consume media differently now. I would argue the Darvish thing is the least relevant bit up there since it's 14 or so hours stale. Then again, it's July/August so there's not a ton going on in sports right now.
I am a pretty diehard sports fan. If I have no idea who the top two headlines on your site are referring to, that's a problem, solvable by better writing.
 

kenneycb

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We're not talking about the same things though. I agree the headlines were poorly written and deleted it from my prior post (just trust me). My point was more on the validity of the headlines, which I think were relatively valid given there's not much going on right now.

Regardless, even if the top two added full names, I don't think it would be much help but that's more my ignorance of UFC and not caring about a Jets rookie.
 

j-man

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ESPN plo is too much NFL/NBA Sec College football their MLB convage is Bad baseball tonight only once a week unacceptable
 

nattysez

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We're not talking about the same things though. I agree the headlines were poorly written and deleted it from my prior post (just trust me). My point was more on the validity of the headlines, which I think were relatively valid given there's not much going on right now.

Regardless, even if the top two added full names, I don't think it would be much help but that's more my ignorance of UFC and not caring about a Jets rookie.
"Fighter demands apology from UFC's White"
"Jets rookie draws ire of ex-wife of CTE victim"

Now I have a better sense of what these stories are about. If you're, you know, a professional news organization, this shouldn't be that hard.
 

cromulence

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I think that's intentional - they want you to click on the headline. It's not quite as bad as the clickbait you see on a lot of news sites - "This Celebrity Just Got in HUGE Trouble!" - but it's the same idea. If you're not a UFC fan, you might click just to find out WTF the article is about, and that's all they want. If you know who Woodley and White are, then you're interested in the story anyway and will probably click.
 

Infield Infidel

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Kudos ESPN, this is funny
http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2017/08/espn-transforms-espnu-espn8-ocho-august-8/#.WYN0AVbxGKU.twitter

Drawing inspiration from the 2004 hit movie “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” featuring Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller, ESPNU will become ESPN8: “The Ocho” on Tuesday, Aug. 8, or more appropriately, 8/8. For one day only, the faux network will feature a line-up of unconventional sporting events
Time (ET) Title Network
Midnight 2016 American Disc Golf Championship ESPN8: “The Ocho”
2 a.m. 2016 WFTDA Roller Derby Championships ESPN8: “The Ocho”
4 a.m. 2016 Sky Zone Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball ESPN8: “The Ocho”
5:30 a.m. Firefighters World Challenge XXV ESPN8: “The Ocho”
8 a.m. 2016 Kabaddi World Cup Final ESPN8: “The Ocho”
9 a.m. World Darts Championship ESPN8: “The Ocho”
11:30 a.m. Arm Wrestling: Best of WAL 2016 Championship ESPN8: “The Ocho”
12:30 p.m. 2017 Championship of Bags ESPN8: “The Ocho”
2:30 p.m. EVO 2017 World Championship – Street Fighter ESPN8: “The Ocho”
5:00 p.m. Moxie Games ESPN8: “The Ocho”
7 p.m. U.S. Open Ultimate Championship ESPN8: “The Ocho”
 

joe dokes

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Kudos ESPN, this is funny
http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2017/08/espn-transforms-espnu-espn8-ocho-august-8/#.WYN0AVbxGKU.twitter

Time (ET) Title Network
Midnight 2016 American Disc Golf Championship ESPN8: “The Ocho”
2 a.m. 2016 WFTDA Roller Derby Championships ESPN8: “The Ocho”
4 a.m. 2016 Sky Zone Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball ESPN8: “The Ocho”
5:30 a.m. Firefighters World Challenge XXV ESPN8: “The Ocho”
8 a.m. 2016 Kabaddi World Cup Final ESPN8: “The Ocho”
9 a.m. World Darts Championship ESPN8: “The Ocho”
11:30 a.m. Arm Wrestling: Best of WAL 2016 Championship ESPN8: “The Ocho”
12:30 p.m. 2017 Championship of Bags ESPN8: “The Ocho”
2:30 p.m. EVO 2017 World Championship – Street Fighter ESPN8: “The Ocho”
5:00 p.m. Moxie Games ESPN8: “The Ocho”
7 p.m. U.S. Open Ultimate Championship ESPN8: “The Ocho”
This is like Dan Shaughnessy announcing that he will act like an asshole on National Asshole Day.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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For the sake of the sport, thank goodness the disc golf show is airing at midnight. It does not portray us in the best of lights, at all. This particular tournament (played in May 2016), and the guy/company behind it, was seen as a big joke from start to finish. He was essentially trying to be the XFL of the game, only he didn't remotely have the financial clout of Vince McMahon. In fact, the company went bankrupt shortly after and very likely as a result of the event and no one in the disc golf world shed a tear.

The only reason ESPN is airing it to represent the sport is because they were paid to stream the final round (a six hole "showcase") on ESPN3, so they technically own the rights. Which is probably the case for most of this Ocho fare...stuff to which they sold streaming time on ESPN3.com. Hopefully those sports are excited and happy to be a part of the Ocho day. Disc golf isn't, and least not with this tournament.