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OT ESPN is garbage

steel_curtain

steel_curtain

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Nov 9, 2014
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-There is no secret why. Lost almost 1 million subscribers in a single month last year a lone.

-My favorite channel as a kid growing up, just talking about sports and teams and showing highlights and talking greatness regardless of team or player.

-Now its all about promotion, All Alabama, the Patriots, the greatness of the Ball family and how finding Tom's stolen Jerseys are the greatest thing since sliced bread, total garbage, all of it,all garbage.

-Why take something so simple, so great, and ruin it with biased over hyped garbage. Cant wait until a new network destroys this channel permanently.

-When the sun rises tomorrow there will be 8 more Alabama related posts, the greatness of New Englands Top 5 backup QB's, and how the Washington Capitals are the greatest NHL team to ever live that cant sniff a cup in its lifetime

-Dam this channel was destroyed by terrible management. Shake my head at this sad lunacy.
 
It was destroyed by advertisers having so much control and pandering executives who bent to the wishes of they rather than viewers.

This type of corporate thinking destroys business and bastardizes the creation of wealth.
 
They took away sports center at 6 pm and replaced it with Jemele Hill and Michael Smith giving commentary and showing very few highlights. Programming on ESPN has gone down the toilet in recent years and people are leaving in droves. I'm cutting cable this month and going with PlayStation Vue/Netflix. I don't watch enough TV to justify a 175 dollar cable bill.
 
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Once Youtube and smartphones took off, there was no need for most people to watch an hour-long sports highlight show. Every great catch or dunk or TD gets retweeted within seconds of it happening, and if I want to see game highlights, I can go on youtube the next day. The new SC format of talking about Lebron's underwear and Odell Beckhams vacation really does suck, but I don't think I'd watch the old version anymore either, because there is no need to.
 
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Their selection of analysts is terrible.
Players who cant think or talk fast enough to keep pace with the show!
Get better analysts!
 
Well technology has rendered their platform obsolete save for possibly broadcasting actual games, and even then you have other outlets.

But as far as content...they all have gone this way. I truly wonder if these marketing/ad folks really understand their audiences and understand their content and why these channels follow their lead.

MTV. No longer plays any videos.
Food Network. Just a bunch of schlocky food "competitions" and shows that are dumbed down and even below my skill level.
History Channel. No more history, just a collection of reality type shows.
A/E. Whatever it is....
CNN and Fox have become (or the latter was borne as counter balance of the other) nothing more than party shills

This is the way all of these cable channels have become. And I don't believe the public wanted them to do this. What they become, they already had outlets for the most part on other networks. Again, not sure what these Ad people or Marketing analysts look at to determine these are the right things to do. It reminds me of Beano Cook talking about local news. He said they will send out a survey and say "do you care about the Cubs/Reds score?" Most local people will answer "no". And they will interpret this as, "ok, cut back the sports segments, people aren't interested." Same with "weather". They will get feedback "the weather is important to me", and they will interpret this as "we need more weather!".

The great Beano...he nailed this well over 20 years ago.
 
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steel_curtain said:
-There is no secret why. Lost almost 1 million subscribers in a single month last year a lone.

-My favorite channel as a kid growing up, just talking about sports and teams and showing highlights and talking greatness regardless of team or player.

-Now its all about promotion, All Alabama, the Patriots, the greatness of the Ball family and how finding Tom's stolen Jerseys are the greatest thing since sliced bread, total garbage, all of it,all garbage.

-Why take something so simple, so great, and ruin it with biased over hyped garbage. Cant wait until a new network destroys this channel permanently.

-When the sun rises tomorrow there will be 8 more Alabama related posts, the greatness of New Englands Top 5 backup QB's, and how the Washington Capitals are the greatest NHL team to ever live that cant sniff a cup in its lifetime

-Dam this channel was destroyed by terrible management. Shake my head at this sad lunacy.
Click to expand...
gonna take Caitlyn-like courage and resolve to turn things around at the old 4-letter....
 
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recruitsreadtheseboards said:
Well technology has rendered their platform obsolete save for possibly broadcasting actual games, and even then you have other outlets.

But as far as content...they all have gone this way. I truly wonder if these marketing/ad folks really understand their audiences and understand their content and why these channels follow their lead.

MTV. No longer plays any videos.
Food Network. Just a bunch of schlocky food "competitions" and shows that are dumbed down and even below my skill level.
History Channel. No more history, just a collection of reality type shows.
A/E. Whatever it is....
CNN and Fox have become (or the latter was borne as counter balance of the other) nothing more than party shills

This is the way all of these cable channels have become. And I don't believe the public wanted them to do this. What they become, they already had outlets for the most part on other networks. Again, not sure what these Ad people or Marketing analysts look at to determine these are the right things to do. It reminds me of Beano Cook talking about local news. He said they will send out a survey and say "do you care about the Cubs/Reds score?" Most local people will answer "no". And they will interpret this as, "ok, cut back the sports segments, people aren't interested." Same with "weather". They will get feedback "the weather is important to me", and they will interpret this as "we need more weather!".

The great Beano...he nailed this well over 20 years ago.
Click to expand...

One big weakness of cable channels is that the potential audience is so large that they target less their core audience and cast a wider net in an attempt to get more people to watch. It's harder to get anyone other than a history buff to watch an actual history show, but much easier to get a random person to watch Pawn Stars when they see the father and son arguing. Now the Food Network has Cooks vs. Cons. WTF? Who actually watches that nonsense? Probably people who don't care much about food or cooking, which is a larger audience than the people who actually want to learn about cooking and new recipes. It's so nice watching a channel like Create where they have actual cooking shows demonstrating how to do something.

Some people are worried they will lose all of the choices, but the vast majority of those choices are total crap.
 
I agree - All I want is an update on all of the sports scores and relevant player news (i.e. injuries, trades, free agent signings, etc.). ESPN used to have that. Now its all puff pieces and arguing about what might happen - totally skipping over what just happened.

Also, I understand that ESPN has a contract with the NBA, but I have no interest in the NBA and during the winter that is all ESPN talks about. How about some hockey?
 
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Never really dug "old" ESPN any more than new, only really tune in for live games. So haven't really noticed any thing different.

As for the changing of content of niche channels to cast biggest net, I agree for sure this has happened. It's a travesty to me that the History Channel has no history shows at all. As a buff of sorts it was always such a great chanel in the past. Now, it's all Pawn shops and ice road truckers and ancient aliens. Perhaps now and then there might be a legit show, but I'd never know, as I never tune in any longer. It's even sadder commentary that apparently it takes such drivel to 'catch' the viewers.
 
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Revenge Of The Noise said:
Never really dug "old" ESPN any more than new, only really tune in for live games. So haven't really noticed any thing different.

As for the changing of content of niche channels to cast biggest net, I agree for sure this has happened. It's a travesty to me that the History Channel has no history shows at all. As a buff of sorts it was always such a great chanel in the past. Now, it's all Pawn shops and ice road truckers and ancient aliens. Perhaps now and then there might be a legit show, but I'd never know, as I never tune in any longer. It's even sadder commentary that apparently it takes such drivel to 'catch' the viewers.
Click to expand...

That's it. The one poster said "to cast a wider net" and he was not wrong. But in order to bring in more casual viewers, you have turned off the hardcore viewers who were your original audience. I like to cook (and eat) and fancy myself as somewhat of a foodie, and what does it say when the actually own hardcore food show on the Food Network is Guy Fieri's Diners, Dives and Drive Ins. Even that has a high degree of schlock level. If Anthony Bourdain was still on the Food Network, they would have him pimping 10 year olds baking cupcakes against each other. He obviously ran far, far away.

I would think whether it is Food, or History or MTV (which in my opinion as now old guy, but also someone who's generation was the first to grow up with MTV) I think MTV's mission statement is to corrupt as much youth as possible. Anyways.....I would think if they went back to what they were, with some obvious updates, their ratings would be at least no worse, and they would be providing a service and the people on those networks could actually feel good about themselves.
 
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Agree on the premise, but the supporting reasons are the least of the problems. The focus on social justice, political correctness, following celebrities, and every tweet NBA players send are by far the worst parts. Beyond live games, ESPN is 20% sports and 80% other junk. ESPN has gone unbelievably liberal and they will pay for it with their demise, eventually.
 
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Need to hear the 2 hipsters at the six o'clock sports center read more NBA tweets.

Then do a movie review
 
recruitsreadtheseboards said:
That's it. The one poster said "to cast a wider net" and he was not wrong. But in order to bring in more casual viewers, you have turned off the hardcore viewers who were your original audience. I like to cook (and eat) and fancy myself as somewhat of a foodie, and what does it say when the actually own hardcore food show on the Food Network is Guy Fieri's Diners, Dives and Drive Ins. Even that has a high degree of schlock level. If Anthony Bourdain was still on the Food Network, they would have him pimping 10 year olds baking cupcakes against each other. He obviously ran far, far away.

I would think whether it is Food, or History or MTV (which in my opinion as now old guy, but also someone who's generation was the first to grow up with MTV) I think MTV's mission statement is to corrupt as much youth as possible. Anyways.....I would think if they went back to what they were, with some obvious updates, their ratings would be at least no worse, and they would be providing a service and the people on those networks could actually feel good about themselves.
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uh, yeah all that and not putting European soccer scores on the bottom line such that I do not have to wade through a nil-nil Barcelona United vs Prague Central District barn burner just to get to see real sports info such as who got the save in the Yankees game...
 
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recruitsreadtheseboards said:
That's it. The one poster said "to cast a wider net" and he was not wrong. But in order to bring in more casual viewers, you have turned off the hardcore viewers who were your original audience. I like to cook (and eat) and fancy myself as somewhat of a foodie, and what does it say when the actually own hardcore food show on the Food Network is Guy Fieri's Diners, Dives and Drive Ins. Even that has a high degree of schlock level. If Anthony Bourdain was still on the Food Network, they would have him pimping 10 year olds baking cupcakes against each other. He obviously ran far, far away.

I would think whether it is Food, or History or MTV (which in my opinion as now old guy, but also someone who's generation was the first to grow up with MTV) I think MTV's mission statement is to corrupt as much youth as possible. Anyways.....I would think if they went back to what they were, with some obvious updates, their ratings would be at least no worse, and they would be providing a service and the people on those networks could actually feel good about themselves.
Click to expand...

I am convinced that the two most evil people in America are Mark Burnett and Mary Bunim. Bunim(?) is the one who started all this "reality" TV with the Real World on MTV. Burnett then took the concept and expanded it with Survivor and Apprentice. And now everyone is in on the reality schtick since it is cheap TV to produce. So you have the Food network no longer giving us Emeril or Mario Batali but instead show those stupid cupcake contests. Plus the Apprentice spawned you know who and.....I'll just leave it at that.
 
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Also, I disagree youtube and twitter have made the true highlight show obsolete. I would absolutely watch sportscenter again, if it returned to giving you full stats and 1-3 minutes of highlights of each game instead of 2 plays and 3 truncated player (who the decide is the name and not even a top or particularly poor performer) stat lines.

At least 1.5 hours of sportscenter a day were necessary as a kid. Now? I can't remember a month where I watched more than 15 minutes total.
 
Slick Manager of Champs said:
I am convinced that the two most evil people in America are Mark Burnett and Mary Bunim. Bunim(?) is the one who started all this "reality" TV with the Real World on MTV. Burnett then took the concept and expanded it with Survivor and Apprentice. And now everyone is in on the reality schtick since it is cheap TV to produce. So you have the Food network no longer giving us Emeril or Mario Batali but instead show those stupid cupcake contests. Plus the Apprentice spawned you know who and.....I'll just leave it at that.
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Food Network not as bad as a lot of others as they have not entirely left the premise of their existence....At least on Saturday mornings you have ......Southern at Heart, Farmhouse Rules, Brunch at Bobby's and Pioneer Woman (my personal favorite as she spends her entire day planning and cooking culinary delights that are ready in a timely fashion of her hard working husband who provides for her).... now excuse me now as I have to sit down to pee.
 
Jpripper88 said:
Agree on the premise, but the supporting reasons are the least of the problems. The focus on social justice, political correctness, following celebrities, and every tweet NBA players send are by far the worst parts. Beyond live games, ESPN is 20% sports and 80% other junk. ESPN has gone unbelievably liberal and they will pay for it with their demise, eventually.
Click to expand...

This is true. And look, I am not trying to make this a political rant. I don't care what side of the alter that you pray. But it is undeniable that we are split 50/50 (or 50.050/49.950 or whatever) and when you have such an obvious slant and lean, you are going to turn off half of your potential audience, which they have. I know especially today these lines run so deep, that people are losing friendships over this (which is ridiculous) and everyone loves a good underdog sob story once in awhile, but ESPN has just carried their bias too far. I mean Brucelynn Jenner, "Courage" Award? You couldn't find anyone more deserving? James Conner maybe?
 
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recruitsreadtheseboards said:
This is true. And look, I am not trying to make this a political rant. I don't care what side of the alter that you pray. But it is undeniable that we are split 50/50 (or 50.050/49.950 or whatever) and when you have such an obvious slant and lean, you are going to turn off half of your potential audience, which they have. I know especially today these lines run so deep, that people are losing friendships over this (which is ridiculous) and everyone loves a good underdog sob story once in awhile, but ESPN has just carried their bias too far. I mean Brucelynn Jenner, "Courage" Award? You couldn't find anyone more deserving? James Conner maybe?
Click to expand...
Well, and, let's be honest, which "slant" do you think houses more of your sports audience? I don't think it is even close. Hell, just go by tv market data and voting results and it is unbelievably clear. Very, very dumb by ESPN and their powers that be.
 
Slick Manager of Champs said:
I am convinced that the two most evil people in America are Mark Burnett and Mary Bunim. Bunim(?) is the one who started all this "reality" TV with the Real World on MTV. Burnett then took the concept and expanded it with Survivor and Apprentice. And now everyone is in on the reality schtick since it is cheap TV to produce. So you have the Food network no longer giving us Emeril or Mario Batali but instead show those stupid cupcake contests. Plus the Apprentice spawned you know who and.....I'll just leave it at that.
Click to expand...

There is a book out about the Food Network and I forget the lady alot of people blamed (I thought her name was Mary so might be her) how they kept on taking off the real chef driven "how to" shows, but kept Emeril and Emeril was their flagship and then basically replaced Emeril with the Iron Chef, then completely dumbed it down to cupcakes and grocery store games. Just horrible.

The Real World when it first came out, was edgy and interesting. But at some point it morphed from like 6-8 fairly smart kids from different backgrounds and geographical areas to basically being a frat party drunken orgy. Which trust me, if they wanted to go full cable and show all the nudity, great. But back to be serious, it turned into utter crap. Then Teen Moms and all of this other crap, all the while trying to determine when the new Beastie Boys video would come out. Do they even have the Video Music Awards? At one point, those became as big as and maybe even more relevant than the Grammys. But they were another that decided that this was not enough.

History? Loved the WWII and Vietnam in HD. Just absolutely fantastic series. The Men Who Made America. Tremendous stuff on the Rockefellers, Carnegies, JP Morgan's etc... Really top notch. And occasionally these will be on. Now we get Pawn Stars. Or Swamp Men. Or crap like that.

You wonder why we get Hillary vs Trump? Why Bernie the Socialist rose to power? Look at how the networks feel about America and how they continue to dumb down America.

Watch the movie "Idiocracy". It is a horrible movie, but with each passing year, hell now week, we are fast speed headed to exactly that.
 
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recruitsreadtheseboards said:
There is a book out about the Food Network and I forget the lady alot of people blamed (I thought her name was Mary so might be her) how they kept on taking off the real chef driven "how to" shows, but kept Emeril and Emeril was their flagship and then basically replaced Emeril with the Iron Chef, then completely dumbed it down to cupcakes and grocery store games. Just horrible.

The Real World when it first came out, was edgy and interesting. But at some point it morphed from like 6-8 fairly smart kids from different backgrounds and geographical areas to basically being a frat party drunken orgy. Which trust me, if they wanted to go full cable and show all the nudity, great. But back to be serious, it turned into utter crap. Then Teen Moms and all of this other crap, all the while trying to determine when the new Beastie Boys video would come out. Do they even have the Video Music Awards? At one point, those became as big as and maybe even more relevant than the Grammys. But they were another that decided that this was not enough.

History? Loved the WWII and Vietnam in HD. Just absolutely fantastic series. The Men Who Made America. Tremendous stuff on the Rockefellers, Carnegies, JP Morgan's etc... Really top notch. And occasionally these will be on. Now we get Pawn Stars. Or Swamp Men. Or crap like that.

You wonder why we get Hillary vs Trump? Why Bernie the Socialist rose to power? Look at how the networks feel about America and how they continue to dumb down America.

Watch the movie "Idiocracy". It is a horrible movie, but with each passing year, hell now week, we are fast speed headed to exactly that.
Click to expand...

Just wait until Starbucks starts selling "Brawndo" and the conversion of life imitating art will be complete.
 
Jpripper88 said:
Agree on the premise, but the supporting reasons are the least of the problems. The focus on social justice, political correctness, following celebrities, and every tweet NBA players send are by far the worst parts. Beyond live games, ESPN is 20% sports and 80% other junk. ESPN has gone unbelievably liberal and they will pay for it with their demise, eventually.
Click to expand...
Amen brother....We can only hope!!!!! HTP/Foever!!!!
 
recruitsreadtheseboards said:
This is true. And look, I am not trying to make this a political rant. I don't care what side of the alter that you pray. But it is undeniable that we are split 50/50 (or 50.050/49.950 or whatever) and when you have such an obvious slant and lean, you are going to turn off half of your potential audience, which they have. I know especially today these lines run so deep, that people are losing friendships over this (which is ridiculous) and everyone loves a good underdog sob story once in awhile, but ESPN has just carried their bias too far. I mean Brucelynn Jenner, "Courage" Award? You couldn't find anyone more deserving? James Conner maybe?
Click to expand...
Until Mickey Mouse divests ESPN it will continue to su-k!
Once Disney got involved ESPN has been a trainwreck!
 
Lots of salty old dudes in here whining about the good old days.

Anyway, I tend to stick with the ESPN podcast network. Most of the podcasts I listen to are exceptional.
 
recruitsreadtheseboards said:
There is a book out about the Food Network and I forget the lady alot of people blamed (I thought her name was Mary so might be her) how they kept on taking off the real chef driven "how to" shows, but kept Emeril and Emeril was their flagship and then basically replaced Emeril with the Iron Chef, then completely dumbed it down to cupcakes and grocery store games. Just horrible.

The Real World when it first came out, was edgy and interesting. But at some point it morphed from like 6-8 fairly smart kids from different backgrounds and geographical areas to basically being a frat party drunken orgy. Which trust me, if they wanted to go full cable and show all the nudity, great. But back to be serious, it turned into utter crap. Then Teen Moms and all of this other crap, all the while trying to determine when the new Beastie Boys video would come out. Do they even have the Video Music Awards? At one point, those became as big as and maybe even more relevant than the Grammys. But they were another that decided that this was not enough.

History? Loved the WWII and Vietnam in HD. Just absolutely fantastic series. The Men Who Made America. Tremendous stuff on the Rockefellers, Carnegies, JP Morgan's etc... Really top notch. And occasionally these will be on. Now we get Pawn Stars. Or Swamp Men. Or crap like that.

You wonder why we get Hillary vs Trump? Why Bernie the Socialist rose to power? Look at how the networks feel about America and how they continue to dumb down America.

Watch the movie "Idiocracy". It is a horrible movie, but with each passing year, hell now week, we are fast speed headed to exactly that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that first season of Real World wasn't bad. I think since it was about 7 people who were actually trying to make it in NYC in sort-of real professions and the show was about filming their experiences in succeeding or failing. As you said, it morphed away from that premise into just putting young good looking people together who don't have jobs but are horny as hell and want to party and film their crazy exploits.
 
Back to steels OP....

Absolutely correct. For me.....I tuned out after too many sunday night baseball games with the Yankees / red sox....

And no one else.....
 
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And.....not to mention....espn manufacturing of Duke/Carolina the last sat night of the season.....

Too teams .....always tourney bound....playing for essentially nothing.....

When other tournament ready teams get far less exposure......

And then kick ass in the tourney.....

Their mission these days sucks
 
Las Panteras said:
And.....not to mention....espn manufacturing of Duke/Carolina the last sat night of the season.....

Too teams .....always tourney bound....playing for essentially nothing.....

When other tournament ready teams get far less exposure......

And then kick ass in the tourney.....

Their mission these days sucks
Click to expand...
They do that in every sport. It's way over-the-top. 4th place Yankees playing 2nd-place Red Sox for the 15th time this year? SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL again. MIchigan vs. Ohio State gets hyped for a month.

Did you know that Jake Arrieta eats kale and does yoga? Or that Lebron James got a new landscaper? Tune in to SC to find out more about Lebron's new tupperware!
 
Ski11585 said:
Lots of salty old dudes in here whining about the good old days.

Anyway, I tend to stick with the ESPN podcast network. Most of the podcasts I listen to are exceptional.
Click to expand...
I am not old, my friends are not old, almost all of them are big sports fans and NONE of them like ESPN/Sportscenter.

If you are an actual sports fan, there is no way you prefer the current version of sportscenter or ESPN's non live sports broadcasting.
 
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Ski11585 said:
Lots of salty old dudes in here whining about the good old days.

Anyway, I tend to stick with the ESPN podcast network. Most of the podcasts I listen to are exceptional.
Click to expand...

Spoken by some punk kid that never watched Aussie Rules football, debated endlessly with your buddies whether Gayle Gardner was hot or not, stared at wonderment at the size of Tom Mees's (RIP--attended same swim school as Joe Delaney back in the day) head or knew of a time before Keith Olbermann was known to be a douche....respect your elders Sonny!
 
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Slick Manager of Champs said:
I am convinced that the two most evil people in America are Mark Burnett and Mary Bunim. Bunim(?) is the one who started all this "reality" TV with the Real World on MTV. Burnett then took the concept and expanded it with Survivor and Apprentice. And now everyone is in on the reality schtick since it is cheap TV to produce. So you have the Food network no longer giving us Emeril or Mario Batali but instead show those stupid cupcake contests. Plus the Apprentice spawned you know who and.....I'll just leave it at that.
Click to expand...
Good idea. ;)
 
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