Sports Center or Saturday Night Live?

Any one else repulsed by the Jimmer Fredette highlight piece from last night's Sports Center -- a 90-second lead-in of various ESPN personalities offering up lame ways to stop the scorer. How about just showing us the highlights? Oh wait, that would make Fredette the story, not the ESPN guys. We couldn't have that.

Sports Center used to be must-watch...last night it was background noise while I was getting some work done. After that piece, I switched the channel to some jazz music.

 

SportsCenter hasn't been a must-watch since the late '90s for me and I'm in my 30s.

 

You used to need SportsCenter to get the scores, stats and highlights.

You don't anymore.

That's not SportsCenter's fault. A "90s" version of SportsCenter can't give you anything you can't get on your iPad. So they have to give you something else . . . them. Usually lame, but that's the quandary all of us are in. What can we give that they can't get easier and quicker somewhere else? And the answers are usually either "nothing" or "something, but lame."

 

ESPNews has replaced SportsCenter for me.

 

Which probably contributes to the change in SportsCenter.

I'll tell you guys what I can't find on my iPad though. Who's Now. Valuable information right there.

 

The intro to the Fredette piece was simply awful. It wasn't clever or interesting or funny — just 30-45 poorly thought-out seconds. But there's a ton of worthless stuff on ESPN.

 

It's gone downhill steadily since Kilborn left, although Patrick and Olbermann were great as well.

 

What Sports Center gives you are dumbed down, made-for-the-more-general-fan versions of the analysis they give on their sport-specific shows (College Basketball tonight, Baseball tonight, etc.). I, for one, would love to see Bob Knight break down highlight tape of Jared Sullinger. But to do it justice, I think it neds to be at least a couple of minutes.

I do think some of their "experts" try too hard to have personality, but I do think that kind of analysis is something they can give a viewer that I, as a print journalist, can't, not on with the same consistency. Sure I can do a piece where I call up coaches and talk about how to stop Jimmer. But I can't turn to three ex-coaches and three ex-players on staff and say "Jimmer scored 50 today, let's break down tape on him, talk about how you'll defend them and have it ready by halftime of the 7 o'clock game." Bob Knight doesn't work for me. Neither does Mark Jackson or Teddy Bruschi, or whoever. If I'm ESPN, I'm using their analysis as much as possible otherwise, for one, I'm not getting my money's worth out of them. But that doesn't translate well to 30-second blurbs for Sports Center.

 

Came home one night last summer intent on watching baseball highlights, tuned in ESPN and the big story was Favre scratching his nose, or a Yankee sneezed and a Red Sox got the flu ... yes, farfetched, but close to the truth. Flipped over to MLB Network and discovered "Quick Pitch" running all night ... an hour of nothing but scores, highlights, standings and pitching matchups, and the only cute to be found was Hazel Mae, thank you very much!

 

Even more maddening is when it's baseball season and ESPN trumps up some cockamamie NFL or NBA story just so that can lead off. Makes me want to just watch Baseball Tonight or, like you suggested, Quick Pitch.

 

Sportscenter is funny because it says "live" but I will have it on in the background for 2-3 hours and it's EXACTLY the same. It was live...one hour. Some of the analysts are just HORRIBLE to listen to (I'm looking at you, Doug Gottlieb, Antonio Pierce and Jalen Rose).

SNL is bad as well. There are some talented people (Samberg, Wiig, Sudaikis), but SNL has gone downhill ever since Ferrell left. It's just a springboard to better jobs and movie roles. I used to watch just for "Weekend Update" but even that sucks now.

 

Amen to the analysts comment. Look, I'll give a bit of a pass to a great player or coach who becomes an analyst if they aren't polished. Not a free rein pass, but the benefit of the doubt. But when your on-air deliver is horrible and you were just an OK player to begin with? What the heck are you doing on the air?