NBA Horse contest

[JasonEvans]

Tonight at 7pm a combo of current and former NBAers plus a couple WNBA players will compete in a game of Horse. No dunking is allowed. I am really excited about this! ESPN had 18 experts predict what would happen and all 18 say Trae Young at least makes the finals. I guess everyone just expects him to drain 35-footers all day. I'm not so sure as I suspect we are going to see lots of folks calling bank or shooting with their eyes shut and crazy stuff like that.

-Jason "First time my DVR has been set to record something on ESPN in a month... I can't wait!!" Evans

[rsvman]

I'm excited about it, too. Any basketball is better than no basketball!

[bundabergdevil]

Tonight at 7pm a combo of current and former NBAers plus a couple WNBA players will compete in a game of Horse. No dunking is allowed. I am really excited about this! ESPN had 18 experts predict what would happen and all 18 say Trae Young at least makes the finals. I guess everyone just expects him to drain 35-footers all day. I'm not so sure as I suspect we are going to see lots of folks calling bank or shooting with their eyes shut and crazy stuff like that.

-Jason "First time my DVR has been set to record something on ESPN in a month... I can't wait!!" Evans

Safe to say NBAers < SNLers in terms of home recording equipment.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Chauncey gets the upset win!

[roywhite]

Watched some of it. Meh.

Best sports on TV over the weekend IMO were the Masters' replays. Full replay of the 4th round from 2019 was on CBS with an additional Jim Nantz live interview of Tiger. Tiger's win to cap a comeback after such a decline is one of the great sports highlights we've seen. A great human story as well as sports story.

[JasonEvans]

Ugh... everyone should have gone to an indoor gym like Mike Conley did. I know we are supposed to shelter in place but driving to a nearby gym just does not seem like it is dangerous and we could have improved the quality of the broadcast exponentially. The audio and video is just horrid.

Apparently, Conley can shoot equally well with the right or left. I'm gonna make him the favorite right now.

-Jason "there is nothing more disappointing than Trae refusing to take any long distance shots... what was he doing?!?!" Evans

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Ugh... everyone should have gone to an indoor gym like Mike Conley did. I know we are supposed to shelter in place but driving to a nearby gym just does not seem like it is dangerous and we could have improved the quality of the broadcast exponentially. The audio and video is just horrid.

Apparently, Conley can shoot equally well with the right or left. I'm gonna make him the favorite right now.

-Jason "there is nothing more disappointing than Trae refusing to take any long distance shots... what was he doing?!?!" Evans

This is really bad. I agree that espn should have screened the participants for the quality of their court. Indoor like Conley is ideal but at a minimum something like what Billups had. Or, as you mentioned, have them drive to a local gym. Espn could have made a small donation to a local school to use their gym and it is a win-win. The hosts on my local news who broadcast from home have a much better feed than this.

[JasonEvans]

This is really bad. I agree that espn should have screened the participants for the quality of their court. Indoor like Conley is ideal but at a minimum something like what Billups had. Or, as you mentioned, have them drive to a local gym. Espn could have made a small donation to a local school to use their gym and it is a win-win. The hosts on my local news who broadcast from home have a much better feed than this.

What's more, host Mark Jones is about as dull as anyone on ESPN. You need a big personality to keep this lively. I just don't get why ESPN cannot rent a local satellite truck in each market to get a good signal. I'm in the business and it may not be ideal but I know you can operate a truck with one person and that person does not need to get close to anyone else to get a good signal back to ESPN HQ. The production investment in this is next to zero... shame on ESPN for not treating this with some seriousness and respect.

Mean, I thought this would be really fun but it has been a drag. Zach Lavine just won by doing nothing but athletic shots that may not be dunks but are a close comparison to the dunk. Retired Paul Pierce had no chance.

[left_hook_lacey]

They need to take a page out of Fox's Nascar
I racing coverage. It has been phenomenal. They even have real singers sing the National Anthem remotely pre-race. My wife was freaked out when I told her it was virtual racing. She shouldn't tell the difference from the kitchen.

[Acymetric]

shame on ESPN for not treating this with some seriousness and respect.

I think you're going a little overboard here, it was just a game of [remote] horse. I'm not sure how much seriousness and respect is really warranted.

[roywhite]

I think you're going a little overboard here, it was just a game of [remote] horse. I'm not sure how much seriousness and respect is really warranted.

Ha...reminiscent of the Battle of the Network Stars from the previous century, with Howard Cosell promoting that schlock.

[weezie]

Chauncey gets the upset win!

Mr. Big Shot does it again.

[rsvman]

I was excited to watch it but it was a bit disappointing.

I agree with others that everybody should have been at an indoor court, for starters. The between-shot banter would be fine if it were between the players themselves, but the ESPN guy kind of put a damper on it with his chit-chat, IMO.

I was impressed with Conley.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I was excited to watch it but it was a bit disappointing.

I agree with others that everybody should have been at an indoor court, for starters. The between-shot banter would be fine if it were between the players themselves, but the ESPN guy kind of put a damper on it with his chit-chat, IMO.

I was impressed with Conley.

Conley also had a distinct advantage of venue. Poor Tamika Catchings seemed to have the rawest deal.

Yes, given the built-in (as in "bored AF") audience, they sorta pooped the bed with this product. Maybe they can iron out some of the wrinkles before the finals?

I do give them props for trying, well, something.

[JasonEvans]

I think you're going a little overboard here, it was just a game of [remote] horse. I'm not sure how much seriousness and respect is really warranted.

I meant they did not take the broadcast seriously. I get that HORSE is a bit silly, that is part of the charm of it. But ESPN did not make every effort to put the players in a suitable environment so we would be able to see the action and hear the comments. ESPN did not put a quality host at the helm. ESPN did not treat this as a legitimate entertainment product. I would have been embarrassed to put this on my YouTube channel... and ESPN just broadcast it to the entire nation. Shame on them.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I meant they did not take the broadcast seriously. I get that HORSE is a bit silly, that is part of the charm of it. But ESPN did not make every effort to put the players in a suitable environment so we would be able to see the action and hear the comments. ESPN did not put a quality host at the helm. ESPN did not treat this as a legitimate entertainment product. I would have been embarrassed to put this on my YouTube channel... and ESPN just broadcast it to the entire nation. Shame on them.

They should have at least encouraged participants to shoot long bombs.

[Acymetric]

I meant they did not take the broadcast seriously. I get that HORSE is a bit silly, that is part of the charm of it. But ESPN did not make every effort to put the players in a suitable environment so we would be able to see the action and hear the comments. ESPN did not put a quality host at the helm. ESPN did not treat this as a legitimate entertainment product. I would have been embarrassed to put this on my YouTube channel... and ESPN just broadcast it to the entire nation. Shame on them.

It wasn't a legitimate entertainment product. It seems to me you're taking this way too seriously. Regardless, I don't think it was widely watched (and I doubt ESPN expected it to be). The only people I know who watched it are the people posting on this thread.

[Native]

I meant they did not take the broadcast seriously. I get that HORSE is a bit silly, that is part of the charm of it. But ESPN did not make every effort to put the players in a suitable environment so we would be able to see the action and hear the comments. ESPN did not put a quality host at the helm. ESPN did not treat this as a legitimate entertainment product. I would have been embarrassed to put this on my YouTube channel... and ESPN just broadcast it to the entire nation. Shame on them.

Full disclosure: I didn't watch it live, I've only seen highlights. With that being said, I think the lack of legitimacy was by design. Having athletes broadcast things from their own devices is potentially a huge, huge, huge deal. When any athlete, in any sport, can give you a behind-the-scenes look at their life at any time, there simply aren't enough quality hosts to mediate that. The athletes won't ever be in ideal environments in this model.

If I'm ESPN, I'm treating this as a test run, figuring out how to leverage technology to make the relationships between athletes and their fans more direct and more scalable. The camera and audio technology will catch up faster than you think. (That video is from three years ago!) And when it does, networks that were willing to experiment and try new things could have a decisive advantage. The networks that don't will be very vulnerable to the incumbents that did, or more nimble startups.

Yeah, it was bad. But it was the first of (likely many) attempts. (And it didn't cost them anything! What else were they going to show that they couldn't?)

[left_hook_lacey]

They should have at least encouraged participants to shoot long bombs.

Probably couldn't. Just like dunking wasn't allowed, long range bombs wouldn't have been fair to some of the participants.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Probably couldn't. Just like dunking wasn't allowed, long range bombs wouldn't have been fair to some of the participants.

Well, that's how I played horse! Long shots, yes. No dunks.