Why all the animosity towards ESPN?

[Robideaux]

I was reading the thread about Neyer's 50 best players over the next 5 years and came across a few digs at ESPN. This isn't the first time I've come across this...here and at other sites. I was just wondering why those of you who hate ESPN feel that way.

 

I've got no reason to defend them; I am simply curious. It seems like Red Sox fans hate ESPN because all they do is hype the Yankees. Yankee fans hate ESPN because they overhype the Red Sox. And fans of every other team hate ESPN because all they do is cover the Yankees and the Red Sox.

 

Do I ever get annoyed at ESPN? Sure. That whole "Who's NEXT" thing was pretty obnoxious. Some of their weekday programming is a bit too much entertainment and not enough sports (ie. around the horn and that annoying Skip Bayless guy) , but overall it's probably the television channel that I watch more than all others. I like sports and its a channel devoted to them.

 

ps. in my opinion Rob Neyer is generally fairly competant about baseball, but the list he made was not his best work. Melky? C'mon.

[bacon06]

My last straw with ESPN came a few summers ago when the Lakers had a vacancy in their head coaching position and it was rumored that Coach K from Duke was being considered for the job. Of an hour long edition of Sportscenter, I would have to say that, no exaggeration, 90% of the show was dedicated to this rumor and the other 10% a few baseball highlights.

 

ESPN cares more about flashy, big time athletes, teams, and games than the actual sport itself. In a roundabout way, a reason young athletes don't want to do the fundamentals anymore is because they aren't spectacular enough. Most athletes want to get their highlights onto Sportscenter. Eventually, ESPN will destroy the sports world.

[jwill535]

there are many reasons. There is a huge Sox/Yankee lean which is understandable if you are in TV(ratings per capita) but to a fan of any other team it is sicking. Secondly they trumpet themselves as the haven of sports news but have a huge track record of being factually wrong and put out stupid segments like "Whos next" instead of highlights which 90% of the audience wants to see. The fluff stuff is to draw in the other 10%. There are others that other people can add.

[RyDogg66]

My main reason is because they have become to sports reporting what MTV has become to music videos. Its just a lot of over produced fluff and very little news, and most of the people they hire just speak in cliches all the time. They really seem to mail it in these days.

[OOOverbay]

Well for one... all the "Analysts" they have on never actually give real opinions. ESPN just force feeds opposing opinions to them so one guy will always be arguing the opposite of the other guy. I feel insulted half the time that they treat their audience like it's a bunch of 10 year olds that can't see that these experts are just fake dopes that are just talking out of their you know whats. That's my biggest problem... their entire programming that isn't live sports is all fake. I only watch if I want to see some Brewers, Packers, Badgers highlites.

[OOOverbay]

RyDogg, that's funny... I was thinking the same thing with the MTV comparison when I was writing my response.

[honuswagner21]

I think that for actual game production they do a decent job getting good camera angles and having quality equipment. Their HighDef production is of exceptional quality.

 

I don't care for how during all of the Monday Night Football broadcasts they brought some actor into the booth to pimp their new movie every week. If I want to know about what is going on in Hollywood I will check out Extra or read People. I am hoping that doesn't carry over into the baseball broadcasts.

 

I also agree with the force feeding of opinions. Most everyone can see that the bulk of these ex-players are just reading off of a teleprompter and aren't really telling their side of the story.

 

On the flipside, I think that even though he pushes the Red Sox way too much (and I do like the Red Sox) that Gammons does a pretty decent job. Same for Kurkjian and Jayson Stark. I think that those guys actually have connections to the front offices, have helped write some decent books, and have decent general insight that guys like Kruk and Vina don't have.

 

So, while I get annoyed by many of the antics of ESPN, they are still a good place to go for highlights - as long as you watch Baseball Tonight. I barely watch Sportscenter anymore.

[trwi7]

I agree with honuswagner. I'll watch the baseball games they broadcast, NBA, college basketball and all that stuff. Where I stop watching is all the fluff pieces and stuff. So no 1st and 10 or Cold Pizza (or whatever it's called now.) I first started getting ESPNEWS last June and I'll just watch that for sports highlights.

[cubfan1126]

Eastern Seaboard Programming Network almost says it all

 

Joe Morgan is a baseball analyst - that wraps it up.

[joepepsi]

A friend of mine call the network YESPNESN. I will watch the actual games but otherwise I agree with everyone else's criticisms. Like almost everything else on TV, it's a network geared to idiots. Of course it wasn't always this way, but marketers got a hold of the network and realized there are more idiots in the world than smart people. So, pandering to idiots increases viewership which increases ad revenue.

[endaround]

The biggest problem is they borrowed the NBC Olympic telecast idea--sports fans will watch anyway how can we get everyone else? So instead of narrowcasting, albeit to a huge segment, they wanted to be a destination for everyone. So you get gossip shows, movies, countdown lists meant to snare channel surfers, and the fake argument shows that took sports reporters (which died when the reporters decided to just regurgitate their columns/radio pieces) and dumbed it down.

[sheetswannabe]

I watch ESPN for the top 10, thats the only thing I like.

[nate82]

I only watch or listen to Mike and Mike in the morning. I used to watch NFL Edge when it was on that was an actual sports show and they showed what went on in the game and why it was successful and what the next team they are going to play would have to stop. That was one of the best NFL shows more so than NFL Live which is just a Cowboys, Colts, Patriots show or whoever is making the most noise that week. Baseball tonight has gone down ever since they switched it from an hour long show to a 30 min and then to 15 min.

 

Plus adding Kruk and the other losers that they replaced with some of the people on the Baseball Tonight crew. The Best Dam Sports Show also killed things. Yes it was funny and the people on the show had their opinions but after awhile it just became a what can we do next to bring in the most viewers sort of thing. The majority of the shows that ESPN and Fox have are so watered down with opinions that they really don't make sense to anyone who is a true sports fan. I just hope ESPN doesn't touch the Mike and Mike in the morning since it is one of the better radio shows on ESPN that I get to listen to.

[brewerinvegas]

I despise that I have to pay for content on their website.

[Brewguru2]

Reasons to hate ESPN.

 

-Their daytime programming is just people who shout at each other.

They started with 2 guys that yell at each other, then started another show with 3 guys and then 4 guys.

-They employ Skip Bayless.

-After the success of the Olberman-Patrick team in the mid-90s on Sportscenter, ever since their anchors try to outdo each other by being "witty" and "cutting edge".

-They employ Stuart Scott.

-"Who's Now"

-Everytime a Disney movie comes out, amazingly the stars are all over ESPN.

-The ESPY's

-Their analysts don't really analyze. The producers just make them say something controversial. For example, last May, John Kruk said the Pirates would be in first place by Memorial Day in the division. A week later he was on a Madison radio show and he admitted that a producer made him say that because he wanted something that people would talk about.

-"The Greatest Highlight" in which they erase the announcers calls and have Chris Berman talk over them.

-Chris Berman

-Their east coast bias. Last week on the website, on the right hand bar where they list the top 8 stories, 7 of the 8 had to do with the Red Sox, Yankees or Mets (on the main page, not the MLB page). From ESPN's coverage, you wouldn't know the Red Sox played the A's in Japan, rather it was an intersquad scrimmage.

-Their destruction of Monday Night Football.

 

 

That's just off the top of my head.

 

I now only watch live games on their network. The rest of it can go away as far as I'm concerned.

[jhartzell2]

50 states in 50 days was one of the worst things i have ever witnessed on television. It usually took up about half of the show.

[JJHardy7]

ESPN doesn't bother me at all. It's ran like a good business is run. Obviously enough people are tuning into what they do and they really don't have any competition. If you hate it that much, don't tune in. I've also wondered why there is so much hate from some about ESPN. Are they really going to do a ton of features on the Brewers? That would be using the resources on one of the smaller fan bases in baseball and that wouldn't make sense nor interest the "average" fan.

 

There are some fluff and some other stuff, but no network is perfect. They do things that annoy me, but I'm not going to say I hate ESPN. I really like Mike & Mike in the morning and I also hope they don't mess with it.

 

I really disagree that ESPN destroyed Monday Night Football. I'd blame that on NBC for taking the good game. Most of the MNF games weren't even worth watching because of the matchups.

[DatHoser]

Brewguru2's post says it all.

 

I tend to watch the last 5 minutes of SC for the top 10 plays, and even then they usually aren't the true top 10. They still show the Eastern Sports Promotional Network's bias.

 

Plus, like cubfan1126 notes, they employ Joe Morgan.

 

EDIT: I forgot to add that ESPN is a monopoly that will have to crumble from within before it gets any new competition. The crumbling has already begun.

 

Also, the "trifecta" garbage during last summer that cut Baseball Tonight down to 20 minutes.

 

And speaking of BT, they employ Steve Phillips.

[joepepsi]

They also employ Colin Cowherd, who is a borderline human.

 

If you hate it that much, don't tune in

As I said above, I don't tune in.

[BrewCrewForever]

My main reason is because they have become to sports reporting what MTV has become to music videos. Its just a lot of over produced fluff and very little news, and most of the people they hire just speak in cliches all the time. They really seem to mail it in these days.

That really does sum it up why I hate ESPN, and Chris Berman. I do watch Baseball Tonight to get a little baseball fix, but I hardly even watch Sports Center anymore because it sucks. The only SC anchor I like is Scott Van Pelt. the east coast bias is so strong it's just sick.

 

[Bruce Ciskie]

They also employ Colin Cowherd, who is a borderline human.

 

Not sure I can agree with this, no matter the definition of "borderline".

 

(NOTE: Unless you define "borderline" as "not in any way".)

[joepepsi]

They also employ Colin Cowherd, who is a borderline human.

Not sure I can agree with this, no matter the definition of "borderline".

 

(NOTE: Unless you define "borderline" as "not in any way".)

That's a workable definition for me!

 

[JJHardy7]

They also employ Colin Cowherd, who is a borderline human.

 

He is pretty annoying. If he wouldn't bend everything so extreme, he'd actually have some pretty good points. He said one thing one time about Florida State football. It was something like:

 

"Great offensive high school players go to Florida State -- to die. They don't have coaches and their offense is lousy. They go to the NFL then and are stars. Why? Because of the coaching."

 

What he's saying makes a lot of sense, but being so extreme really hurts the point he's trying to get across.

[JimH5]

SportsCenter really isn't a sports news program anymore. It's yet another vehicle for them to cross promote programming and content within their empire. I long for the days of Tom Mees running scores and highlights.

 

That show became must see tv because in the pre-ESPN days, all you had was 5-8 minutes of sports coverage at the end of the local news. They recognized that wasn't enough, and it was so innovative to have a 30 minute show with all the games every day.

 

Now it's 60 minutes or more, with so much fabricated content. ESPN News is a little more tolerable, but even they veer from the old SportsCenter model to do player interviews and silly commentary.

[JimH5]

I agree with the Cowherd complainers. He seems like the annoying sports know-it-all in the bar who fills the air with nothing but declarative statements, and talks at you, instead of talking with or to you.

 

It's not so bad to have someone to act the part of the rabble rouser, but the stuff he brings up just isn't that compelling.

 

And how many times is going to tell stories about Las Vegas or strippers? Tiresome.