Official Steve Phillips is an idiot thread

[Nearsighted Views]

ESPN is doing to itself what MTV did to itself long ago. The previous poster was right on--it's not about good sports info anymore--you can get that anywhere.

 

But Who's Now? Only on ESPN.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I agree...it's too bad ESPN's version of entertainment is garbage. Anyone seen the "Who's Now" segments of Sportscenter recently? I hope the producer who came up with that idea to force on viewers is now working for animal control somewhere.

 

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[Roscoe Chill]

If you look at without bias, Kruk is right about Braun admiring his work a little too much. I really don't care if he keeps raking like he is, but if you don't see that he's got a bit of cockiness in him, you're either not paying attention, or just a tad in denial...again I couldn't care less if he keeps playing the way he is playing.

[faede2black]

If Ryan Braun admires his shots too much.. what about a comment or two from Kruk and/or Phillips about Aramiz Ramirez posing and posturing for a home run that was actually a double last night?

 

 

Strangely silent.

 

Yankees (The Bronx is Burning????). Red Sox. Mets. Cubs.

 

 

The rest are afterthoughts.

[hauser42]

Now with all the competition ou there, ESPN feels information isn't good enough. In fact information isn't anywhere near a priority. They want talking heads that the masses find to be entertaining.

 

Hit the nail on the head. It really stinks for the viewers that glued to ESPN for years and now it has gone from a very informative news channel to a bunch of fluff pieces. Who's Now is the worse thing I may have ever scene on this channel, it use to be the spelling bee.

 

I give them credit for the My wish series that is some great stuff and touches my heart to see people giving back to the less fortunate.

 

 

I usually try and watch ESPN News more than sportcenter , baseball tongiht, and the football shows. Although gameday has gone more fluff over the last couple years and less info.

[pretendastronaut]

I don't think I've found one single person who doesn't hate that Who's Now segment.

[splitterpfj]

They were making fun of "Who's Now" on Madison's ESPN radio station yesterday...that says it all.

[crewcrazy]

There's even ESPN employees that hate the Who's Now segments...Bill Simmons complained about it in one of his recent chats.

 

As for BBTN and the rest of ESPN, I'm not so much annoyed with the on-air personalities as I am with the producers. To me, it's pretty clear that the producers are scripting everything on BBTN (which is supposed to be a largely ad-libbed show) when you see guys like Kruk look less than enthusiastic about sharing their "opinions" -- remember the whole Kruk predicting the Pirates to be in first by June debacle? It's gotten so bad that the only reason I watch BBTN is for the game updates and highlights...the analysis pieces are phony and are basically done for ratings.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

I like the way this thread is morphing!

 

Here are a few cogent thoughts I admired:

 

"ESPN is doing to itself what MTV did to itself long ago. The previous poster was right on--it's not about good sports info anymore--you can get that anywhere.

 

But Who's Now? Only on ESPN. "

 

This is SO true.

 

I just wish there could be a way for the FCC or Congress or the Ladies Red Hat Club to unlock this monopoly that ESPN has on sports.

 

The latest ugly trend for the BackBackBackBooYa network is contracting with trash sports leagues, in deals which, to no one's surprise, are ridiculously in their favor, as they control advertising, content, scheduling, etc. regardless of whether the American public WANTS to see this crap anyway. NASCAR, the WNBA, the X Games, indoor football...are all given better coverage than the NHL, because they can.

 

It's a slippery slope when one network, THE only choice for daily sports coverage, decides what it wants to cover and what it wants to marginalize.

 

I mentioned it before, but on The Dan Patrick Show, when the Stanley Cup Finals were going on, the show featured a mocking 10-second bit of "coverage" where resident screw-up Phil The Show Killer read results from the prior night's game, before being interrupted by the blaring saxophone theme from The Benny Hill Show. This suggested that it's a sport by and for, screw-ups, which is marginalized to a 10-second comedy bit.

 

Why attack the NHL? Because they dared to lock out for a salary cap, their TV ratings are low, and most importantly, because they couldn't sign away their souls in a sweetheart deal for ESPN. So, in a self-fulfilling pre-emptive move, ESPN tries to portray the league as backward and amateurish.

 

I'd like to never watch ESPN again, but in many cases, there's no alternative...

 

" I agree...it's too bad ESPN's version of entertainment is garbage. Anyone seen the "Who's Now" segments of Sportscenter recently? I hope the producer who came up with that idea to force on viewers is now working for animal control somewhere. "

 

The "Who's Now?" segments are begging for a parody.

 

They're based on a made-up formula which is supposed to incorporate the athlete's success on the playing field, along with, get this, her/his off-court "appeal factors!"

 

It just gives them an excuse to fill dead airtime with more Michael Jordan-tongue-out dunks, Barry Bonds homers and Roger Clemens taking bows in front of dimwit fans who are convinced THIS was the season he retires.

 

Sickening.

[BCZF]

Geno Johnson is right!

 

Problem is there is no alternative, so they feel free to feed you chicken-you-know-what and call it chicken salad, because what alternative do you have?

 

Fox has that nightly roundup show (I forget what it's called) and Best Damn Sports Show, and that's about all. Other than your local news (ugh) you got the 4 letter. I usually get my baseball news from MLB Radio (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/radio/mlb_radio_index.jsp). Where all of the shows are email/call driven and they have no problem talking about any team.

[44Fishy]

I'm still waiting for BBTN to somehow get Bobby Valentine back-

He was the best on air personality they ever had-

 

As for Who's Now, I can appreciate that the All-Star break is the slowest few days of the year for sportswriters (no football, hockey or basketball stories to fill the void), but this was the biggest piece of garbage I've ever seen-

[TooLiveBrew]

Quote:

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ESPN is doing to itself what MTV did to itself long ago

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Amen! This is the best way to summarize nearly anyone's frustration with this network.

[CportBadger]

Couple of thoughts ...

 

Bill Simmons is very good. He's not afraid to say something in a chat if he doesn't like what the company is doing.

 

I can't stand it when people complain about Gammons. The guy still gets a ton of info. I remember a thread last June on the trade board where a bunch of people were tearing on Peter for mentioning the Rangers using Mench as a piece to land Carlos Lee. We all know how that turned out.

[Brian the Automator]

[ The guy still gets a ton of info. ]

 

He does, and he gets even more bad info.

[homer]

Quote:

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He does, and he gets even more bad info

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I think if every rumor Gammons reported came true there would be about 500 trades a year. He just reports what he hears - obviously not all of them are going to happen.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Brian's putting it lightly! These are only some of those I could find...

 

"Arizona will use De La Rosa, who's ready right now, in their rotation to replace Schilling!!...........Roberto Alomar to sign with St. Louis to replace Vina..........A-Rod's complicated trade to the Red Sox will be finalized this weekend............Jorge Posada for Tim Hudson........The Yankees are looking at sending unhappy Javier Vazquez to Florida for AJ Burnett.......The A's will give up Joe Blanton for Paul Lo Duca.......Bill Mueller to wind up with the Twins....Greg Maddux will likely sign with the Cardinals.......Andy Marte will thrive in Cleveland, a superstar, waiting to happen.......Gammons on ESPN.com: "Big Unit to LA Makes Sense"..........The A's are in the lead on signing David Wells......Boston will trade Alex Cora for Kaz Matsui............and the perennial favorite: Manny Ramirez will be traded this weekend! No, really, this time!"

 

Meh.

[jazzytrav]

Quote:

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They're based on a made-up formula which is supposed to incorporate the athlete's success on the playing field, along with, get this, her/his off-court "appeal factors!"

---

 

The problem with this entire idea is that ESPN then essentially controls what makes them "appealing". That disgusts me. How does Kobe Bryant even make this list? I can't say I really found his alleged rape and court case all that appealing. And as much as I loved watching MJ play, what exactly did he do off the court that "should" increase his appeal? He sold stuff, and made a lot of money doing it. What about the great athletes that are giving back to their communities? What about players that are fighting for social justice? The important thing now is the fashion designs from whatever Williams sister does that crap.

 

ESPN has taken sports and gone Hollywood, and unfortunately it often feels like America is going along with it because they think ESPN is the only thing out there.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Nice venom there, Jazzy. Keep posting here!

 

The reason Kobe makes their list, is because he's got playa cred. He was doing some very NC-17 things with a girl who was age 17?, and how did he play it? By dropping $4 million in bling on his woman in exchange for her silence. He was able to get away with it!

 

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5861379/

 

Michael Jordan? Juanita eventually divorced him, but not until she got their estate here in Highland Park. Court testimony

 

www.state.il.us/court/OPI...032152.htm

 

shows that Karla Knafel indeed had an intimate relationship with MJ, and he paid his way out of that mess, too.

 

Tom Brady's new girlfriend's birthday is on the same day his baby with another woman, is due, and ESPN laughs.

 

These guys sell attitude, image....and apparel and other merchandising to the coveted 18-34 male demographic. And if you can score high Q ratings with that group, up goes your ESPN Who's Now? rankings.

 

I'll bet you that if you took a gander at the weekly covers of ESPN The Magazine, at least half feature a scowling athlete, in a menacing pose (usually with arms judgmentally folded) often framed by darkened "ominous" lighting, looking down at you (multiple tattoos optional, but encouraged!). The tough-guy image is what they're peddling.

 

And if an athlete is a New York player, all the better.

 

This latest effort by ESPN to fill airtime with old highlights of players they want us to watch is just another way to push their various agendas.

 

Want to bet that no hockey player makes it past Round 1 of Who's Now? And my money says they'll have a final 4 which features some combination of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Terrell Owens, Kobe Bryant, Roger Clemens and/or Barry Bonds.

[Sepolevne]

On a similar note, the other day I'm driving home at 3AM on Sunday morning from a friend's house and had the displeasure of listening to Tim Montemayor on Sporting News radio who proclaimed the the Brewers were "done." That, "We saw this happening to Sheets." "Capuano is done." "Rickie Weeks sucks." and that "Suppan was horrible and will be awful next start."

 

I'd suggest not listening to the moron who didn't back up his claims that the Cubs were the second coming.

[pebadger]

Not to rain on the parade of ESPN hate, which I would love to be lead down Wisconsin Avenue, but you really can't rag on them about hockey and NASCAR. NASCAR is huger than the mainstream team sports peoplefans ever want to acknowledge. ESPN had to get involved in that bonanza

 

As for hockey: one of the Stanley Cup games on NBC lost in the ratings head-to-head against 'Build a Better Burger' on the Food Network. The NHL cut its own throat long before ESPN dumped them.

 

As for the "jocks", I always liked HR more than any of them on BBTN.

 

As for the Cub love, anyone who compares teh brief fling that ESPN had with the Crew as they embarked on teh NY/Philly road trip with the constant 24/7 attention the Cubs have gotten on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNews all season, even as they were losing, needs to reexamine their thinking. It's pretty plain that ESPN would love nothing better than for the CUbs to be teh new Red Sox.

 

Most national "journalists" are hypocrites. They say "I don't root for teams, I root for a good story" but that's pretty much false. They root for the easy story that appeals to the biggest audience. The Brewers are a good story, but they simply wouldn't be as big (in terms of audience) or easy a story as the Cubs finally winning.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

"As for hockey: one of the Stanley Cup games on NBC lost in the ratings head-to-head against 'Build a Better Burger' on the Food Network. The NHL cut its own throat long before ESPN dumped them.'

 

Of course, pe, but as I wrote up the thread, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy with ESPN vs. the NHL.

 

If the controller of all things sport in the US were to devote more than just a cursory 10 minutes a week, Thursday nights at 9 PM with Barry Melrose, that would help right there. If their talk shows (radio, TV, web) were to ever bring in NHL stars and let America get to know them better = better TV ratings, the sport would stand a chance. And especially if they'd stop trying to marginalize the sport out of existence, by mocking it, hockey could have at least had a chance to rebound.

 

But the game broadcasts are NOT licensed to ESPN, so the network does nothing to give them the light of day.