ESPN Is Pathetic

daveuk

¡el ticos son estúpidos!
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Jul 15, 2005
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So I try to visit espn.com this evening here in the UK, and instead I'm automatically rerouted to www.espn.co.uk, with no obvious way of getting back to the US site. I know ESPN has tried very hard over the years to finally push me away, but this may actually succeed in doing so.
I'm in Spain this week and since there isn't a Spain specific site, no redirect. I want straight to .com.

Edit......*went, not want.
 

OrlandoMerced

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Jul 23, 2005
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So I try to visit espn.com this evening here in the UK, and instead I'm automatically rerouted to www.espn.co.uk, with no obvious way of getting back to the US site. I know ESPN has tried very hard over the years to finally push me away, but this may actually succeed in doing so.
Not that I'm encouraging you to go back, but if you click on the square in the upper right (looks like 6 dots near the "fantasy" and " login" links), it drops down and gives country selection.
 

RedOctober3829

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Jul 19, 2005
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deep inside Guido territory
Skip Bayless and Mike Tirico are not the only broadcasters leaving ESPN’s Bristol Campus.

NFL TV sources say Trent Dilfer, one of ESPN’s most engaging NFL analysts and member of the “Monday Countdown” crew, is likely headed out the door. Spies say money is the issue.

And according to published reports, Brad Nessler, one of ESPN’s top college football and basketball play-by-play voices, is headed to CBS to work NFL games.

The speculation is Nessler will eventually succeed Verne Lundquist on CBS’ SEC football package.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/espn-nfl-analyst-trent-dilfer-network-article-1.2619936
 

E5 Yaz

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The amount of hours ESPN will devote to Berman's farewell season would seem unbearable ... even to those who will watch it.
 

ifmanis5

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The amount of hours ESPN will devote to Berman's farewell season would seem unbearable ... even to those who will watch it.
Nobody circles that wagons like the Hotel California, that's why they play the game, what a long strange journey its been.
 
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E5 Yaz

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Nobody circles that wagons like the Hotel California, that's why the play the game, what a long strange journey its been.
Let's tack you back, back, back to the early days in Bristol when viewers were left to wonder whether that sideline reporter who had The Catch, Montana to Clark, happen just over his shoulder -- look at that hair on Chris I won't be your beast of Berman -- could that sideline reporter last very long in the business ... could he go all the way
 

Dummy Hoy

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Jul 22, 2006
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Most of the complaints here seem to be typos, which is stupid.

ESPN is pathetic because they have massive in depth front page features on things the most FAMOUS athlete, and because they have features such as "Shaq goes undercover as Lyft driver...hilarity ensues (3:01)" and it's a video still of what is clearly (fucking obviously...who else that big and distinctive looking?) Shaq with a fake beard in a car with some girl. Not undercover, and while Shaq is great- probably not "hilarious."

ESPN sucks balls for a lot of reasons, making typos isn't one of them.
 

axx

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The box score is still screwed up too. Tends to happen when unusual things happen in a game.
 

E5 Yaz

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johnmd20

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Skip Bayless Is Zee Worst. Just trolling Lebron and Cleveland *after* they won last night. What a dark, dark man who. I know he's leaving ESPN but he's still there for now, so it fits in this thread.

He is the amalgamation of all the things that are wrong with sports talk. It's all hot takez, without analysis or objectivity. Just making outrageous claims to be a part of the story.
 

Pandemonium67

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Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Great bit of Newspeak here.

"ESPN's Chris Mortensen is this year's recipient of the Dick McCann Award, the highest honor given by the Professional Football Writers of America."
...
"Chris is one of our profession's greatest treasures," ESPN's John Clayton said. "As a reporter, he is masterful. Like Will McDonough did, Chris shows that accurate information can educate a fan base."

Full article here, but keep your barf bag handy. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/16424083/chris-mortensen-gets-professional-football-writers-america-highest-honor-dick-mccann-award

For accuracy's sake, they should drop "McCann" from the award title.
 

joe dokes

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Skip Bayless Is Zee Worst. Just trolling Lebron and Cleveland *after* they won last night. What a dark, dark man who. I know he's leaving ESPN but he's still there for now, so it fits in this thread.

He is the amalgamation of all the things that are wrong with sports talk. It's all hot takez, without analysis or objectivity. Just making outrageous claims to be a part of the story.

Deadspin thinks vanPelt was referring to Skippy here:
http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/safe-to-say-scott-van-pelt-wont-be-missing-skip-bayless-1782263113
 

HurstSoGood

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Young Red Sox mastering art of baserunning
Buster Olney speaks with Boston third-base coach Brian Butterfield to find out what makes Mookie Betts, Xavier Bogaerts and others such good baserunners. Watch Red Sox-Yankees on ESPN & WatchESPN at 8 p.m. ET.


Editing standards are just depressingly low.
Or non-existent.
 

Kliq

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How does ESPN.com have a page on WWE now? it's fake. it's not a sport. Are they crazy?
Despite the fact that pro wrestling has arguably never been less popular than it is right now; it has managed to garnered more mainstream media coverage over the last couple years. I suppose the thinking is that pro wrestling has a small but consistent fanbase that will tune into ESPN when they normally would not if Coachman is interviewing someone from WWE (which he does every Tuesday). ESPN is not the only company that is doing this, Sports Illustrated, FS1, Rolling Stone and others have dedicated coverage to pro wrestling recently.

Personally, I think it is a dumb idea. Most fans of professional wrestling already have their own insider websites and newsletters that they visit frequently for wrestling news, really ESPN has come across as a bizarre business partner with WWE where they produce their news, which is often worked (fictitious) news that isn't necessarily enlightening to any experienced fan. Not unlike their coverage of the NFL.

Another issue is that their is absolutely no standard whatsoever for the quality of their reporting, because as you say, it's all fake. SI recently released a list of the 101 Greatest Wrestlers of All Time and it was ghastly, like actually hurt my eyes to look at it, and was roundly laughed at by wrestling fans. They don't really try very hard to make it look like real news or real reporting, so it comes across as a big joke to anybody with a brain.
 

cheech13

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There is a certainly an open avenue to cover WWE from a journalistic standpoint if they want, but it doesn't appear that's the approach they are taking. Dave Meltzer has been the only actual journalist covering wrestling for the past 30 years and 99% of the info that floats around the internet comes through him.
 

Kliq

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There is a certainly an open avenue to cover WWE from a journalistic standpoint if they want, but it doesn't appear that's the approach they are taking. Dave Meltzer has been the only actual journalist covering wrestling for the past 30 years and 99% of the info that floats around the internet comes through him.
Meltzer is the most prominent source but he is far from the only relevant one.
 

SoxFanInCali

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I thought the E:60 they did on the guys down in the development system was really well done, and gave the viewers a good look at what some of these guys go through to get to WWE. Things like that, and maybe mentioning something about the results of Wrestlemania is one thing, but playing along with the storylines as if it is a legitimate sporting event is pretty ridiculous.

The cover story they had today about the evolving role of female wrestlers, and noting the timing corresponded with the success and popularity of the US Women's Soccer team, Ronda Rousey, and Serena Williams, was fine. That's more comparable to the E:60, and is worthy of a story. Having a dedicated page where they do recaps of the TV shows and regularly featuring wrestlers in character on SportsCenter is pretty lame on ESPN's part, though.
 

JimBoSox9

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What you guys don't understand is that ESPN (and a certain League) bought into the basic concepts of "sports entertainment" years ago. Sure, yes, it is in fact the literal moment of death of mainstream sports journalism, but hey, it was inevitable.
 

Kliq

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I'm not opposed to ESPN covering WWE, even if it is just for covering results and interviewing wrestlers and not necessarily "reporting" on it the way the Observer does. What offends me is that ESPN is working as a glorified PR firm for WWE, already repeating tidbits that WWE likes to throw out, regardless of whether they are true or not. For those who are unfamiliar with wrestling, WWE rewrites its own history and plays loosely with the facts. They already repeated the erroneous statement that Monday Night RAW is the longest running weekly-episodic program in history, something WWE mentions at least once a week. Of course, RAW isn't even the longest running weekly-episodic program in WRESTLING history, let alone the history of television. They probably think there was really 100k+ at WrestleMania and that wrestling wasn't popular until the 1980s. The whole point of the media is to not go along with the company narrative, but ESPN is incapable of doing that, which is staggering because WWE needs ESPN a hell of a lot more than ESPN needs WWE.
 

cheech13

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The mainstream media and by extension, ESPN, don't treat wrestling with any modicum of respect and therefore the resulting coverage only parrots the same carny lies that have built the entire WWE mythology. Covering wrestling doesn't necessarily make ESPN look ridiculous, but doing so in a manner that shows they can't distinguish kayfabe half-truths from reality does.

Why can't ESPN (or Fox or Rolling Stone) find someone to cover the business aspect of the sport in a nuanced and credible manner? In an era where NBA free agency dominates a week plus of headlines, they should have someone on staff reporting on wrestler contracts (length, salary, etc.) and movement as well as overall business performance. That is a completely ignored aspect of wrestling coverage that a credible news organization should seek to fill. It would definitely take someone a little more forward thinking to implement this and you can tell that this project is more about PR and synergy than anything remotely legitimate.
 
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Kliq

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I think the attitude is that since wrestling is fake it doesn't really matter if they are covering it with the utmost sincerity? Who cares if attendance was 76,000 and not 93,000; it's fake! I think an issue with really covering and investigating the industry is that most of the mainstream companies are not hiring real, wrestling reporters but rather someone already in their newsroom who is a fan of wrestling, but is probably a novice when it comes to reporting and interpreting news, especially coming from the BS factory that is WWE. That is why you have a guy like Coach rattling off last week with nonsense, like that WWE protects all of their former employees and pays for their medical expenses and it works because 90 percent of the audience watching believes him because they don't know any better.

They could higher real reporters that know the business and it would be completely different, but they don't because they are not interested in that. They only to post quick soundbites and stories to try and attract some of the 4 million or so fans in the US.
 

cheech13

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I think the attitude is that since wrestling is fake it doesn't really matter if they are covering it with the utmost sincerity? Who cares if attendance was 76,000 and not 93,000; it's fake! I
Oh, I think this is 100% correct. They had David Shoemaker covering wrestling for them for a while and while Shoemaker is a gifted and talented writer his articles often contained errors or perpetuated urban legends. That's the kind of stuff that an editor or fact checker should have caught, but I doubt there is anyone there who would even know where to look to verify the stuff. In that sense it literally doesn't matter if what they print is correct because the only people that concern themselves with accuracy in wrestling reporting are, in their minds, mouth-breathing hicks and booger-eating nerds (hat tip Colin Cowherd).
 

JimBoSox9

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Who gives a shit? This is like being critical of EW because they don't do hard hitting critical reviews of the Bachelor.
Because like it or not, ESPN is the alpha and omega of the 'legitimate' sports journalism world. When the lines get fuzzy about what they'll stretch where, it's severely problematic.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Live interview with Conner McGregor, via satellite from the news desk at Sportscaster, where they are literally blotting out every third word he speaks because it's profanity and somehow when the studio host asks "What have you learned about being late for press conferences?" they somehow allow him a very clear "Well, ya know, fuck everything". GJGE guys.