OT: MOAR HOT TAKES

[Pittbaseball11]

ESPN shuts down Grantland, further proving that stupid hot takes, cliches, and arguments about nothing are what drives sports viewership/readership in this day and age.

Really hope that guys like Zach Lowe, Jonah Keri, and Ben Lindbergh land on their feet somewhere. They were/are outstanding. Basketball coverage, as I'm sure some here are aware, took a big hit today losing Lowe.

Meanwhile, guys like Berman, Stephen A, Skip Bayless, Wilbon, Kornheiser, Mike and Mike, and Chris Broussard continue trucking along, offering literally nothing to sports coverage.

The true beauty, though, is in these 2 sentences written back-to-back in ESPN's statement:

"After careful consideration, we have decided to direct our time and energy going forward to projects that we believe will have a broader and more significant impact across our enterprise.

Grantland distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking and fun."

I don't think ESPN is clever enough to subtly skewer its consumers like that, but even unintentionally it more or less sums up where we are at this point.

 

[levance2]

ESPN isn't meant to be smart, it is meant to be consumed easily by as many people as possible. I wasn't a daily reader of Grantland, but they had some really niche stuff on there that certainly didn't help their case.

ESPN is a really interesting case study in a brand/company that is has such a high level of engagement with its audience, yet decides to do some really horrid things at times. I have a hard time coming up with a similar company in other industries.

 

[Pittbaseball11]

I agree, I think I'm just mostly frustrated that they have the platform to try to push a better product to the forefront and chose instead to just toss it aside and double down on the trained monkeys who just spit platitudes and remarks that are irrelevant to today's sports.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

ESPN shuts down Grantland, further proving that stupid hot takes, cliches, and arguments about nothing are what drives sports viewership/readership in this day and age.

Really hope that guys like Zach Lowe, Jonah Keri, and Ben Lindbergh land on their feet somewhere. They were/are outstanding. Basketball coverage, as I'm sure some here are aware, took a big hit today losing Lowe.

Meanwhile, guys like Berman, Stephen A, Skip Bayless, Wilbon, Kornheiser, Mike and Mike, and Chris Broussard continue trucking along, offering literally nothing to sports coverage.

The true beauty, though, is in these 2 sentences written back-to-back in ESPN's statement:

"After careful consideration, we have decided to direct our time and energy going forward to projects that we believe will have a broader and more significant impact across our enterprise.

Grantland distinguished itself with quality writing, smart ideas, original thinking and fun."

I don't think ESPN is clever enough to subtly skewer its consumers like that, but even unintentionally it more or less sums up where we are at this point.

Don't throw Wilbon and Kornheiser into that group, please.

 

[Pittbaseball11]

Don't throw Wilbon and Kornheiser into that group, please.

To be honest, I think they look better than they are because they're surrounded by dreck. ESPN could find people who are more knowledgeable and informative, IMO.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

To be honest, I think they look better than they are because they're surrounded by dreck. ESPN could find people who are more knowledgeable and informative, IMO.

Not every sports journalist has to be an expert. Those who can paint pictures, provide provocative takes, that is journalism. Wilborn and Kornheiser definitely are of this ilk.

I see a lot of you forget that at the end of the day, sports is entertainment. It is okay to be romanticized. Some of you who want everything, every angle broken down 23 different analytical and statistical methods, well that is just not very fun.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

To be honest, I think they look better than they are because they're surrounded by dreck. ESPN could find people who are more knowledgeable and informative, IMO.

I love kornheiser... Even his radio show . He's smart and funny .
There is a reason Bill Simmons, who i also like a lot, calls him Uncle Tony. He was grantland before grantland.

 

[Pittbaseball11]

I don't necessarily disagree that it's entertainment, but I think it's just as boring to have 5 different pairs of people talk about what game X means for Team Y's heart/grit/mental toughness/clutchness.

Sports are advancing. The media is more or less staying the same. Possibly even regressing. They're yelling about things that are completely irrelevant when it comes to how teams are operating and it's leading to uninformed fans getting bent out of shape over nothing.

I think there can absolutely be an entertainment aspect to these thing, and I absolutely respect people who just want to watch and be entertained. But, when it comes to evaluating teams and players and talking strategy, you're leaving the entertainment-only realm and in those instances I want something more substantive and more in line with what is relevant.

RE: Kornheiser -- to be honest I don't even like Simmons much. So maybe that has something to do with it. I think Simmons brought in a ton of progressive thinkers who are more in line with where sports are today, but he can only blow so many predictions using his "body language Doctor" prognosis before I stop taking him seriously as a sports guy.

In full disclosure, I really enjoy the Dan LeBatard show for the 95% of the time he isn't race baiting. I think that's a good confluence of sports and entertainment. But, again, I wouldn't want him analyzing and diagnosing what ails my favorite team.

 

[KiwiJeff]

I don't necessarily disagree that it's entertainment, but I think it's just as boring to have 5 different pairs of people talk about what game X means for Team Y's heart/grit/mental toughness/clutchness.

Sports are advancing. The media is more or less staying the same. Possibly even regressing. They're yelling about things that are completely irrelevant when it comes to how teams are operating and it's leading to uninformed fans getting bent out of shape over nothing.

I think there can absolutely be an entertainment aspect to these thing, and I absolutely respect people who just want to watch and be entertained. But, when it comes to evaluating teams and players and talking strategy, you're leaving the entertainment-only realm and in those instances I want something more substantive and more in line with what is relevant.

RE: Kornheiser -- to be honest I don't even like Simmons much. So maybe that has something to do with it. I think Simmons brought in a ton of progressive thinkers who are more in line with where sports are today, but he can only blow so many predictions using his "body language Doctor" prognosis before I stop taking him seriously as a sports guy.

In full disclosure, I really enjoy the Dan LeBatard show for the 95% of the time he isn't race baiting. I think that's a good confluence of sports and entertainment. But, again, I wouldn't want him analyzing and diagnosing what ails my favorite team.

Sports in general is becoming less and less important to me, other than Pitt. Especially sports talk radio. i really can't have enough energy to feign anger about what some player said about the fans, what guy hit his gf or what some guy tweeted about his teammate, gays or marijuana smoking. It's all just nonsense that has nothing to do with my life. It's like a soap opera for men, but who really has the time or emotional reserves to give a rats arse about any of that. You might as well be watching General Hospital and getting g mad about Jack leaving his wife for his secretary who was presumed dead ten years.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

his secretary who was presumed dead ten years.

Damn! I had 11 years, 3 months in the pool.

 

[Ski11585]

Bomani Jones and Dan Le Batard are the best ESPN has.

As for Grantland, good riddance. Keri and Lowe were great, but the pop culture takes were atrocious and Simmons stopped writing quality stuff once he moved to LA.

 

[NTOP]

Bomani Jones and Dan Le Batard are the best ESPN has.

As for Grantland, good riddance. Keri and Lowe were great, but the pop culture takes were atrocious and Simmons stopped writing quality stuff once he moved to LA.

I have absolutely NO IDEA who those people are. I watch sports, not "sports" gabfests. Won't waste a nanosecond listening to pre- or post-game shows. (Except after Pitt games.) As for all the stats geeks....I hope you use your prodigious math skills in productive ways, too. Methinks it's all gambling related.
ESPN jumped the shark about 20 years ago, IMHO. I do enjoy Gameday a bit, though.....always nice to see smaller schools get some pub, like JMU or ND State.