Why ESPN sucks

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

- Constant 'Bottom Line' throughout SportsCenter, live games, everything. It's so annoying.

 

- Cramming too much into too little. Today there were about two clips of each game they were showing. Maybe that had something to do with the first twenty or so minutes devoted to Bonds, but it's usually like that anyway.

 

- They give away what is going to happen on a highlight before it comes on the screen ("Here's A-Rod who hit his first home run of the game and went 1-3. [While showing A-Rod atbat]" - Home run clip - )

 

- 'Budwieser Hot Seat' It's just too cheesy. "You are officially now on/off the Budweiser Hot Seat."

 

- The pimping of Dan Patrick on the 6:00 SportsCenter. I'm pretty sure nobody watches it for the hosts.

 

- That goon Mike Greenberg. Not only do I have to avoid him when he's on TV, but he's also on NY ESPN radio. Good God I hate that voice and his gay ass face. Keith Russel has a very goofy voice, he is only on ESPNews however and I never see him anymore.

 

- Stat Boy hosts Around the Horn. It's not that that's that bad. It's that he uses Max's catchphrases like "These four things I know are true"

 

- On PTI a few weeks ago, they had a segment where they make rankings on a felt board. They have a bunch of different onest which they have to come up with a top 5 for. Well, they were doing it on the top sports championships. They had to choose from Super Bowl, BSC Title game, NCAA tourney, World Series, Masters, Olympics, Daytona 500, World Cup (Soccer) and NBA Finals. There list was Super Bowl (1), NCAA Tourney (2), Masters (3), NBA Finals (4), and Daytona 500 (5). A show that constantly blasts racing and talks nothing but baseball and football and WORLD SERIES DIDN'T MAKE THE LIST. I was rather irked.

 

- The baseball games have too much going on. They have the players and managers mic'ed up. They talk to the pitcher in the clubhouse. They have guest announcers. The Bottom Line is constant. Graphics are all over the place pimping other things on ESPN.

 

AHhhhhhhhh it hurts my head. What else you got?

[nl5xsk1 0]

Why I hate ESPN:

 

Too much baseball.

Too much NBA basketball.

Too much NCAA basketball.

Not enough hockey.

Sportscenter wasting time on "Budweiser Hot Seat", Outside the Lines-type stories, that horrible SAT-inspired test. (I watch Sportscenter to see highlights of yesterday's games and get previews of today's games. Not see Clinton Portis guess who won the British Open last year).

Playmakers - I don't turn to ESPN to watch fiction.

Too much World's Strongest Man; Not enough World's Strongest Woman.

 

That's it ... for now. I'm sure that I'll have more later.

[Guest OctoberBlood]

Everything. The shows (PTI, ATH, and most of the .. "Tonight" shows, like Baseball Tonight, NBA Fastbreak, etc) give no real infomation. They just have their little opinions and favorites. All they know is mainstream (or so it seems, ESPN.com writers need to host a show). They act like experts when they really aren't. Little Joe across the street could probally host one of those shows and you would confuse him with Wilborn or one of guys on ATH.

 

As for the games, I like them. It's not like they have a game on everyday of the week, so it's neat to see different things, and hear different things once or twice during that week. I no longer watch Sportscenter, ATH, or PTI anymore - just the occasional Fastbreak and Baseball Tonight. The rest is just annoying.

 

ESPNews is pretty solid. I'm glad I get that.

 

Edit: One thing I do like, is Outside the Lines.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

"Not enough hockey."

 

That's because no one watches it. It gets ratings that would get wrestling kicked off of cable...and that's in the playoffs.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

"Not enough hockey."

 

That's because no one watches it. It gets ratings that would get wrestling kicked off of cable...and that's in the playoffs.

Hey, someone had to say it.

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

Stuart Scott.

Scott Van Pelt lifting his entire repertoire from Tenacious D.

The ESPN agendas against Pete Rose and Bob Knight.

Michael Wilbon is a racist punkass.

East Coast bias.

[Guest MikeSC]

Stuart Scott.

Scott Van Pelt lifting his entire repertoire from Tenacious D.

The ESPN agendas against Pete Rose and Bob Knight.

Michael Wilbon is a racist punkass.

East Coast bias.

Tom Jackson is a bit of a whiny little bitch.

-=Mike

[Mik 0]

I like ESPN and can honestly say it doesn't piss me off in any way. I watch it maybe 1 hour every 3 days unless a baseball game is on, so that's probably why.

[sfaJack 0]

- Constant 'Bottom Line' throughout SportsCenter, live games, everything. It's so annoying.

I don't mind the constant Bottom Line, but do they have to list every player's complete stat lines with the score? It takes way too fucking long to get through all that. I just want the scores and winning/losing pitchers for baseball games, for example.

 

- For me personally, I find ESPN's dogged determination to shove their own "original" programming down our throats. Dream Job...Playmakers...it all sucks.

 

- Page 3.

 

- Stuart Scott. Somebody please kill that motherfucker.

[OldSchoolWrestling 0]

The Bottom Line has too much info. I miss the days where it just showed what the score was and the major sports stories. Now for every score they show they have to tell you who got the win, the loss, how many points certain people had, etc, etc.

 

edit:Jack and I had the same thought

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

I have went from disliking to feeling bad for hockey. The state of that league i just absolutely pathetic with some of the dullest non-action in the history of organized sports.

 

But yes, now for the ESPN hate

- Wacky Sportscenter anchors~! Goodness gracious, he has a nickname for a dunk and 7 more for a homerun, he surely must be very popular among the kids.

- Stuart Scott's eye.

- Steven Smith and Greg Anthony. WE ARE LOUD! WE ARE VERY LOUD! THERE FOR WHAT WE SAY IS IMPORTANT. LOUD. IMPORTANT. WE ARE LOUD.

[2GOLD 0]

-The New Sportscenter anchors. You couldn't find a bigger group of assholes on the planet.

 

 

- The kissing of the ass of certain players, such as Donovan McNabb during football. Yeah, I know the guy is good but he's not god's gift to football like ESPN tries to make him out to be.

[razazteca 0]

Too much baseball.

Too much NBA basketball.

Too much NCAA basketball.

Not enough hockey.

 

Baseball and basketball are fine the way it is but without it there would be Aussie Rules Football, soccer, and even more pool on tv. Not enough hockey? Sorry nobody but Canadians care about that sport.

 

The only problem I have with ESPN is the 4 hour repeat of Sportcenter in the morning and all of the Hot Seat type segments. Stuart Scott tries too hard to be "down wit the homies" if you ever seen the Ray Romano SNL skit then you know what I mean.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I only watched Dream Job's last two episodes, but every single time a contestant did something, Stuart Scott would do the "homeboy handshake." I hate people that have to do that every 5 seconds.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

--Chris Berman picking the Bills to win the Super Bowl every year (wait - he still does that, right?)

 

--1 more thing on the scroll - when ESPN goes to commercial, the scroll doesn't freeze, and pick up where it stopped when the show comes back on. I'm looking for a particular score, and when the show comes back on, I have to wait through women's college basketball scores to finish (also - who the hell cares about women's college basketball scores anyway? why do they make the scroll?). Then, by the time my score almost comes up, they go to commercial again.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Chris Berman picking the Bills to win the Super Bowl every year (wait - he still does that, right?)

No.

 

The last three years he's picked other teams than Buffalo/San Fran.

 

This year he picked Pats/Eagles and came real close.

[2GOLD 0]

Chris Berman picking the Bills to win the Super Bowl every year (wait - he still does that, right?)

 

Bills vs 49ers.

Every damn year.

 

If that stuff ever happens, his head might explode like that scene in Scanners.

 

Edited to add: Bills vs Niners is his joke pick, which he now just kinda mentions offhand and doesn't make a big deal out of anymore.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

SC anchors constantly being more concerned with getting their catch phrases over instead of the games.

 

Ignoring certain teams completely. You know it's a bit much having 4 Giants games the first week. I would like to actually see other teams once and awhile.

 

The constant Warren Sapp air time.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

What they should be:

 

ESPN: Games, matches, races, bouts, you name the athletic contest, it should be on ESPN.

 

ESPN2: Original programming, alternative "sports" such as World's Strongest Man, the Lumberjack Contest, maybe Poker.

 

ESPNews: SportsCenter, NBA Fastbreak, Baseball Tonight, etc (ya know, NEWS SHOWS).

 

 

Doing that would end all hate I currently hold for the ESPN networks.

[sfaJack 0]

What they should be:

 

ESPN:  Games, matches, races, bouts, you name the athletic contest, it should be on ESPN.

 

ESPN2: Original programming, alternative "sports" such as World's Strongest Man, the Lumberjack Contest, maybe Poker.

 

ESPNews: SportsCenter, NBA Fastbreak, Baseball Tonight, etc (ya know, NEWS SHOWS).

 

 

Doing that would end all hate I currently hold for the ESPN networks.

The problem with that is that not all cable/satellite providers carry ESPNews, or even ESPN2 for that matter. Confining Sportscenter solely to that chennel would probably limit its audience.

 

I have NO problem with moving all that "world's strongest" bullshit to one channel and leaving it there, however. What a waste of airtime. They can take that World Series of Poker with it, too (and I know Dr. Tom and some others will hate that idea )

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

What they should be:

 

ESPN:  Games, matches, races, bouts, you name the athletic contest, it should be on ESPN.

 

ESPN2: Original programming, alternative "sports" such as World's Strongest Man, the Lumberjack Contest, maybe Poker.

 

ESPNews: SportsCenter, NBA Fastbreak, Baseball Tonight, etc (ya know, NEWS SHOWS).

 

 

Doing that would end all hate I currently hold for the ESPN networks.

The problem with that is that not all cable/satellite providers carry ESPNews, or even ESPN2 for that matter. Confining Sportscenter solely to that chennel would probably limit its audience.

 

I have NO problem with moving all that "world's strongest" bullshit to one channel and leaving it there, however. What a waste of airtime. They can take that World Series of Poker with it, too (and I know Dr. Tom and some others will hate that idea )

You leave the World Series of Poker right where it is.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

I enjoy watching the World Series of Poker myself, but the whole point is for ESPN to be their main SPORTS channel.

[nl5xsk1 0]

My response to those who support the "hockey gets shitty ratings so is shown enough" mentality. I think the exact opposite is true: "Hockey isn't shown enough, so it gets shitty ratings."

 

Why would your average sports fan watch hocky when they don't know the players, don't know the teams, and don't know what's going on? If ESPN dedicated as much time to hockey as it does to the NBA, ratings would improve. The average fan would learn to appreciate a big hit, or a pretty goal, or an amazing save. But instead, all ESPN shows is the Bertuzzi incident. Give more coverage, show the average fan the skills of Iginla, or Nash, or Forsberg. Or the goaltending prowress of Brodeur or Belfour. Will it ever be as big as the NFL or MLB? No. But it would be bigger than a tractor pull or Arena football.

 

It's a catch-22 when you think about it. They don't give hockey the attention that it deserves, so not many people care about it, and since not many people care about it they don't need to give it much attention. (repeat ad nauseum)

 

On a related tangent, I like how ESPN claims that they bumped Wednesday night hockey because "showing games every week would saturate the market and then less people would watch" ... and then immediately play NBA 3-4 nights a week and MLB 6-7 nights a week.

 

Fuck ESPN.

[Mik 0]

I think that's false. Everyone knows who basketball players are and they don't get the best ratings either. Face it, hockey, as a sport is just never going to be that popular on a mainstream level.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I don't buy that either.

 

People just don't like Hockey. And the way the game is played right now with the trap dominating isn't going to win any new fans anyway.

 

To top that off...they're heading towards a bad bad year.

[starvenger 0]

I enjoy watching the World Series of Poker myself, but the whole point is for ESPN to be their main SPORTS channel.

- As long as WSOP stays on ESPN or ESPN2, I'll be happy.

 

- I also loved Beg, Borrow and Deal. Hate on reality shows if you want, but this one was pretty sweet. Dream Job, not so much.

 

- The problem with hockey on ESPN was illustrated last night. The first period of Detroit/Nashville had the TSN feed, and the rest of the game was ESPN's guys. Well, I could notice the difference in quality. Seriously, you OWN part of TSN, make some use of it for a product you don't care too much for.

 

- Sports commentary shows. I miss watching Off The Record. PTI, Around The Horn et al all exist so that the sports journalists can get themselves over as part of the "I'm smarter than you" crowd. OTR has celebs (and pseudo-celebs) who may or may not have clue one about what's going on (see Walker, Jimmie) but are still entertaining to have on.

 

- TSN shows MMA. ESPN doesn't. 'Nuff said.

 

- Not enough Thea Andrews. Someone tell ABC to make her the new MNF sideline reporter.

[Guest Wildbomb 4:20]

I am a fan of PTI. Around the Horn, definitely not. I live in Boston, I have my share of Holley, thanks.

 

Because most people don't get ESPNews (unless you have NESN...then you get both), I think it should be broken down to:

 

ESPN: SportsCenter, all your main games, recap show for baseball and football

ESPN2: Original programming, other games, alternative sports.

ESPNews: Other recap shows and the 24-hour sports news.

 

I think that'd work for more people.

 

I like a couple of anchors, but there are some new ones that deserve to get the Vince McMahon treatment:

 

YOU'RE FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRED

[Guest Jimbo]

I like ESPN and can honestly say it doesn't piss me off in any way. I watch it maybe 1 hour every 3 days unless a baseball game is on, so that's probably why.

That's my feelings as well....

 

I only hate Around the Horn and some of the newer Sportscenter anchors who force their "funny" joke lines and only care about their schtick, not the games.

 

Oh, and they need more stuff iwth Bob Ley, as well as the Sports Reporters on Sunday Morning. Those shoes rule.

[Damaramu 0]

The only thing that really hacks me off is the bias they have.

 

And it wouldn't be bad if the bias is constant. But they f'n hate something different every year! They seem to go after whatever is "hip".

And then these Top 100 lists they usually put on ESPN.com seem to have no actual factual or statistical backing. I mean.....why the fuck is Missouri's QB ranked #1 on there top 100 list!? I mean he was a nice runner but it's not like he set the world on fire or anything. Jeez. That Justin Vincent kid from LSU is a better football player than this guy.

And then they have some real morons writing on that ESPN.com website.

I mean look at the Top 5 Football teams for next season:

1)USC

2)LSU

3) Georgia

4)Oklahoma

5)Miami

Yeah and let's not forget that you originally had it go USC, LSU, OU. But for some reason he decided Georgia was better than an OU team that is virtually intact from last season. A team that went 12-2. And yeah you put a lot of thought into that one. You just put the same damn teams who finished 1,2, and 3 the same originally. Then you move Georgia up I guess so it didn't seem like you did that. And your reasoning sucks to.

*smacks forehead*

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Oh god...he's starting already.

 

Shouldn't you wait until closer to the season to start this OU crap again?