ESPN Is Pathetic

dcmissle

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Until the leader closes out today’s round at -20, yes.

Then bloggers and analysts will scheme leader’s collapse tomorrow, and in the morning the answer will remain yes.

This isn’t mere catnip. It should be a Schedule 1 narcotic.
 

dcmissle

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We return now to regular programming — and detox — until mid June.
 

ifmanis5

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[Dick Vitale voice] Are you serious?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/inside-espns-upfront-jimmy-pitaros-debut-cord-cutting-a-rod-kobe-bryant-1111966?utm_source=twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral
Kobe Bryant was there to talk up his ESPN digital series Detail, admitting “it’s a little weird to be here because I always, when I played, called ESPN the Evil Empire. And now here I am.”
Who washed Kobe's balls more and more often than ESPN? They're still doing it now and he doesn't even play anymore.
 

ifmanis5

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In case you forgot about this lawsuit: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/espn-analyst-argues-network-wasnt-media-company-publishing-fake-texts-1113643

Adrienne Lawrence, who spent two years at ESPN as an on-air legal analyst, is defending the relevancy and admissibility of her allegations of decades-long misogyny at the sports network.

She's suing ESPN for allegedly permitting a hostile workplace rife with sexual harassment and retaliating against her after she objected to supervisors and the human resources department. Her 93-page complaint, which recounted everything from employee porn-watching habits to how the network once kept a New York City apartment that supposedly became a sex-and-drugs hotspot, was attacked by ESPN's lawyers a month ago as "stale gossip" falling fall short of federal pleading standards.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Just a horrid, gag-inducing puff piece of Jeter’s tenure with the Marlins, with nary a contrary opinion or pushback to be found.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24364953/the-education-derek-jeter-baseball-ceo

My favorite part:

IN THEIR PUBLIC and media interactions, Marlins officials walk a fine line. They want fans to understand the magnitude of the challenge they face in building a competitive team. Yet they're hesitant to engage in too much Loria-bashing, because it runs counter to Jeter's mandate that people need to be "accountable'' and refrain from excuses. He never has been, and never will be, a "sun got in my eyes'' kind of guy.

But as Jeter finds his footing, he makes no apologies for the direction of the franchise.

"The bottom line -- and I can't reiterate this enough -- is that we took over an organization that was broken,'' he says. "They hadn't been to a postseason in 14 years or had a winning record since 2009. That's black and white. If we came in and didn't make any changes, people would think we were crazy.
They don’t want to blame too much on the previous regime, but Jeter “can’t reiterate enough” how bad the franchise has been under the old regime?

I’d accuse the team of paying off ESPN for this piece, but they’re too cheap.
 

scottyno

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Not to let facts get in the way of a good story but 2 years ago the Marlins were in the playoff race pretty much the whole season until Stanton got hurt in mid August and then they kind of fell apart, and if Fernandez didn't die they probably would have been in the race last year too. The 2016 and 2017 lineup was full of good to very good or better young players in their prime, they were going in the right direction and now they're far more broken than ever.
 

Spacemans Bong

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Crasnick isn't smart enough to do this, but if he wanted to hang Jeter with his own rope he couldn't have done a better job.

My takeaway from that piece was this guy's ego is so out-of-control he thinks he's God for doing standard operating procedure at other organizations. Ethnic night? Life skills that don't involve actually playing minor leaguers more? Sherman couldn't have picked a better buffer between his penny-pinching (since he was undercapitalized, and MLB never should have approved the sale) and the fanbase in Miami. Jeets is gonna napalm his reputation like Michael Jordan did and Sherman's going to be cashing checks and laughing.
 

ernieshore

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The ticker is being updated. It looks to me like they are making sure they can cross-promote more of their own programming.

https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2018/08/espns-bottomline-will-have-new-look-come-monday/

I hate the ticker. I just want to watch the games and not be distracted by something I've seen for the 100th time. On my old TV, I created a cheap blocker using a yard stick, black vinyl, and magnets...I miss that TV.
 

kenneycb

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The ticker was amazing back in the day before smartphones and is still useful today as a way to not have to be on your phone to see information. It's also basically no distraction IMO. You're nuts to hate it.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I find the "rundown" shit on the side of the screen way more annoying than the ticker. I don't watch ESPN, but MLB does it too (I'm sure they all do now). All it does is shrink down the part of the screen showing what I actually want to watch...the games.
 

luckiestman

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The ticker was amazing back in the day before smartphones and is still useful today as a way to not have to be on your phone to see information. It's also basically no distraction IMO. You're nuts to hate it.

I used to be like a junkie waiting for scores to flash many years ago but I don’t see the need for it anymore and would prefer it to go away.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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They're re-tooling Greenberg's morning show, reducing it from three hours to two, and shipping Beadle out. Not really a surprise about Beadle after she admitted she no longer will watch college football or the NFL.

 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

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They're re-tooling Greenberg's morning show, reducing it from three hours to two, and shipping Beadle out. Not really a surprise about Beadle after she admitted she no longer will watch college football or the NFL.

She's the only one on the show with any personality. Now it will really, really suck, IMO.
 

E5 Yaz

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She's the only one on the show with any personality. Now it will really, really suck, IMO.
It seemed clear to me that she and Greenberg didn't get along. Of course, how anyone could get along with him is an open question.

How Golic stood his personality for as long as he did was a mystery
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

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It seemed clear to me that she and Greenberg didn't get along. Of course, how anyone could get along with him is an open question.

How Golic stood his personality for as long as he did was a mystery
I think you're right, I just think she's so much more talented and entertaining than he is. But they've cast they're lot with him, so they'll go down with him.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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God bless Mike Greenberg, played vanilla company man for about 20 years and how many millions has he cleared? Just for Get Up it is $6.5 mil/year (not sure length of contract).
 

E5 Yaz

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I think you're right, I just think she's so much more talented and entertaining than he is. But they've cast they're lot with him, so they'll go down with him.
She's way too smart for what they've given her. I always get a "I'm getting paid for this crap show?" from her and I appreciate it.

Greenberg would be perfect as the captain of the USS Callister
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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She should have taken over for Beadle with Greenberg.
I honestly haven’t watched/listened to ESPN in a long time, outside of live games or ATH/PTI maybe once a week, so can’t comment on Greenberg or Beadle. I just know I think of Hill as being awful, I’m not armed to make comparisons. I barely consume the four letters anymore, mostly because I think their talent is at an all time low.
 

ifmanis5

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ESPN is cleansing themselves of the perceived lefty bias that formed around the Skipper years. Repairing their relationship with the NFL is very important to them and shedding political baggage is part of that.
 

TheYaz67

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Oh what a long strange trip it's been. Boomer may be coming back...
https://nypost.com/2018/08/16/a-changing-espn-is-working-on-bringing-back-chris-berman/

And that's why they play the game. Teeej...
Wonder if this idea is now going to go by the wayside, with the recent revelations about the driving "accident" that Berman's wife died in last year (was not an accident, she drunkenly killed herself and an innocent elderly motorist, and her sister lied up and down about the whole thing at the time it turns out, I guess trying to "protect" her). Still waiting on ESPN to make some acknowledgement about these recently revealed facts since they made numerous statements in support of the Berman's in the immediate aftermath of the event, but doubt any will be provided given the lack leadership they frequently display these days....
 

PC Drunken Friar

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Wonder if this idea is now going to go by the wayside, with the recent revelations about the driving "accident" that Berman's wife died in last year (was not an accident, she drunkenly killed herself and an innocent elderly motorist, and her sister lied up and down about the whole thing at the time it turns out, I guess trying to "protect" her). Still waiting on ESPN to make some acknowledgement about these recently revealed facts since they made numerous statements in support of the Berman's in the immediate aftermath of the event, but doubt any will be provided given the lack leadership they frequently display these days....
I mean, I don't like the guy's persona, but I can't blame an employer for publicly supporting him during that time
 

TheYaz67

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I also have no problem with them publicly supporting him at the time (when they and everyone else were in the dark about the facts of the wreck) would just be nice if they now also acknowledged what actually happened, instead of pretending we now don't know what we know - that she would have been prosecuted for manslaughter if she had not also died, given it was not an "accident"...
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I also have no problem with them publicly supporting him at the time (when they and everyone else were in the dark about the facts of the wreck) would just be nice if they now also acknowledged what actually happened, instead of pretending we now don't know what we know - that she would have been prosecuted for manslaughter if she had not also died, given it was not an "accident"...
How would you like ESPN to acknowledge that their biggest star, someone who has been with their company since day one, wife was involved in a drunk driving accident where she killed someone and herself?

Press release?
Leading off SportsCenter?
In the ticker?

I used to like Berman when I was a kid, but his act got real old, real fast. But I'm not sure why you think that it would be "nice" for ESPN to rehash up the worst day of Berman's life just so that they can say "something" about it. "Sorry that we fucked up and stood behind one of our employees who just lost a wife to a tragic accident. Turns out she was a drunk driver and had we known that we would have publicly flogged Berman for being married to such a terrible, terrible person." Who is that serving? Not Berman. Not ESPN. Not the person who Berman's wife killed. To me, it sounds like you want ESPN to bring this back up so the knife can be twisted a bit more into Berman's back.

That's not a good look.
 

axx

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So I'm watching the tennis and ESPN for some reason flash cuts to a fat lady struggling to get into her seat. I thought it was sorta funny that they broadcast that but seems completely unnecessary.
 

Section30

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The most recent iteration of the front page of the NFL section has a left to right bar with the upcoming games. The problem is they place it under the search bar and above the masthead and don't leave enough vertical space to see the two teams that are playing in each listing box. You only get the date, time, and TV station, plus the first team. The second team is covered so you don't know who it is without clicking each game individually.
It kind of ruins the whole, " at a glance" purpose of the information bar.
 

Reverend

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The most recent iteration of the front page of the NFL section has a left to right bar with the upcoming games. The problem is they place it under the search bar and above the masthead and don't leave enough vertical space to see the two teams that are playing in each listing box. You only get the date, time, and TV station, plus the first team. The second team is covered so you don't know who it is without clicking each game individually.
It kind of ruins the whole, " at a glance" purpose of the information bar.
Ask the geeks in the tech forum?

Capture.JPG
 

ifmanis5

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Not that I'm surprised but the top story on all ESPN shows this morning is the Lakers loss. Red Sox are a distant second. Totally understood from a strategic standpoint but also pretty pathetic.
 

NYCSox

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Not that I'm surprised but the top story on all ESPN shows this morning is the Lakers loss. Red Sox are a distant second. Totally understood from a strategic standpoint but also pretty pathetic.
Pathetic considering that's going to happen at least 40 times this year.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Baseball gets zero coverage. This is nothing new and will not change anytime soon. ESPN and FS1 spend an overwhelming amount of time on NFL, College Football, or LeBron coverage. MLB’s slow as molasses efforts to address its game presentation and fan demo issues rob me of any empathy.
 
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ifmanis5

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Baseball gets zero coverage. This is nothing new and will not change anytime soon. ESPN and FS1 spend an overwhelming amount of time on NFL, College Football, or LeBron coverage. MLB’s slow as molasses efforts to address its game presentation and fan demo issues rob me of any empathy.
Totally agreed and understood. ESPN is protecting its brand, its alliances and ratings. Pumping up LeBron and the Lakers is their number one goal right now.

It's just sad that the two best teams in baseball played a memorable (albeit short) high stakes series and it's basically buried by a meaningless regular season game. I still remember wall to wall coverage on ESPN (an everywhere) of the Giants/Braves 1993 pennant race. That race would be buried today and we know that because it just happened. As much as I love the NBA this is sad and wrong. The two best teams in the sport played a very compelling and memorable series and it's an afterthought.
 

Kliq

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If ESPN was broadcasting the World Series you would see a lot more coverage on it. Part of the reason they cover the NBA, CFF and the NFL so much is because those are the sports who are going to be broadcasted on the network in prime time. ESPN’s baseball coverage is done for the year but they have about a dozen LeBron games this year coming up so they have to start talking about that. They are very transparent about that, imo.
 

Vinho Tinto

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I clearly love baseball. I didn’t join the site to talk soccer ;-) I also get that baseball today doesn’t resonate nationally. The local ratings across the league are fine, but games involving teams from outside a viewers local area doesn’t drum up interest. Felger made a point that I hadn’t considered: Did FOX give up ALCS/NLCS coverage to cable to help their local affiliates? Prime time playoff baseball goes routinely to midnight. FOX stations airs their local news at 10 PM. By reducing their commitment to the World Series, those stations are assured a minimal amount of interference from MLB.