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The Worldwide Leader...

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by tommyp, Oct 24, 2006.

  1. tommyp

    tommyp Member

    ...in over-promotion, hysteria, underreaction on important news, and overreaction on the impertinent. Those are just a few of the feelings I got from last night's Cowboys-Giants coverage. This was the first time in a long while that I watched ESPN for more than four hours consecutively. Has it really come to this?

    First of all, who asked Hank Williams Jr. to be on the field before the game just to yell out those repetitively redundant words? Then the interviewing with him in the booth with the most inane question (who was the coolest guy of all those who are a part of the group you rehearsed with?) while a game was being played?

    Then the cross-promotion of Emmitt Smith (eight-minute interview), showing him doing the cha-cha, while a game was being played?

    Then, the over-promotion of Jerry Jones (at least three plays run through this interview), while a game was being played?

    Not covering the severity of Arrington's injury (I have suffered a torn Achilles and knew it was that once I saw the replay), and basically making it an unimportant event (as the camera switched to Tirico, he just said casually, "and LaVar Arrington is down on the field...") just to cut to the booth to see the talking heads, then break for commercial without a shot of Arrington or a replay?

    The relentness camera shots of TO no matter where he was? Praising him for his touchdown catch but not ripping him for dropping an easy 4th-down conversion? The post-game really only covering the Dallas side of the story (with a three-minute Strahan interview squeezed in between) without even mentioning the other team on the field?

    This has to be said...ESPN has spoiled the joy of watching a game on television. And I hope someone there is reading this.
     
  2. leo1

    leo1 Active Member

    people at espn read SportsJournalists.com. unfortunately there are a few thousand of us. there are millions of people who love the garbage that espn spews out. some day espn will be the microsoft of sports news and broadcasting. maybe it'll get broken up by the justice department. we can only pray.
     
  3. Canyonero!

    Canyonero! Member

    Sadly there's no Mac-like alternative to come along and bitchslap ESPN.
     
  4. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    We need a youtube-like alternative.

    ESPN has killed everything it's touched except poker.
     
  5. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    I believe last night's game just broke Gore-Perot as the most viewed telecast on cable ever.

    Those games are beating the broadcast networks... in far fewer homes.

    I think it's time to wake up and realize how far your own views diverge from the vast majority of sports fans'.
     
  6. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    You may be right. And you are. But it doesn't mean that that dude is wrong.
     
  7. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    I don't think you can claim a large audience last night as a validation of ESPN's content. The Cowboys and Giants (and Parcells and T.O.) had a lot to do with it. If the game had been on PBS (and only PBS), with PBS-style commentators, it still would have been Dallas-NY on Monday night.

    There's a lot of dumb stuff on TV and there are a lot of dumb people in America. The dummies are unlikely to read, so it's not like we can take what works on TV and extrapolate it to print. We've tried that and it doesn't work.
     
  8. Canyonero!

    Canyonero! Member

    It's Monday Night Football. Football fans are going to watch no matter what the commentators/sideline reporters/pre-game and post-game folk talk about. Just look at the Dennis Miller era.

    If ESPN was breaking records for one of its bullshit filler shows, then I can see the argument that sports fans are eating up the Entertainment Tonight approach. But c'mon, it's MNF. That and college basketball will keep me watching ESPN no matter how bad it gets, and I'm sure the same goes for people who aren't in sports journalism.
     
  9. tommyp

    tommyp Member

    The point is, the game itself has become a distraction to everything else it wants to push.
     
  10. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    I definitely think people are annoyed with all the extra bullshit, but there's no alternative.
     
  11. tommyp

    tommyp Member

    And the angry puppy made an excellent point on the radio this afternoon: Do we really need a double-digit number of personalities on site for one game, save the Super Bowl (and do we need them at that event, too?)? Tell me if I'm leaving anyone out: The three in the booth, the two on the sidelines, Berman, TJ, Irvin, Jaws, Stu, Mort, Werder, Nichols...I don't recall if Wingo and Schlereth were there.
     
  12. Babs

    Babs Member

    I haven't watched ESPN in over a year. Wow, I didn't even realize that until now.

    It's just not relevant for what I do and doesn't draw me in for entertainment either.
     
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