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  1. #1

    espn critique - true, true

    http://deadspin.com/sports/the-day-e...ded-285731.php

    i'd say it started sucking at least 5-7 years ago.

  2. #2
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    Totally concur!

    Quote Originally Posted by dbb03 View Post
    http://deadspin.com/sports/the-day-e...ded-285731.php

    i'd say it started sucking at least 5-7 years ago.
    That was spot on!

    I know I'm in the minority on this but, Jim Rome? Sports? Jim Rome is to sports what footballs are to gourmet cooking.

    (Note to self: Stop drinking before noon.)

  3. #3
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    Apr 2007
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    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    Quote Originally Posted by TNTDevil View Post
    That was spot on!

    I know I'm in the minority on this but, Jim Rome? Sports? Jim Rome is to sports what footballs are to gourmet cooking.

    (Note to self: Stop drinking before noon.)
    I hate Jim Rome.

    You can tell he thinks he's all that and a bag of Lay's Honey Western Barbecue Crinkle Chips with Kickin' Cowboy flavor.

    One of my favorite highlights ever was when Jim Everett (sp?) tackled him on his show. Rome pretended to be brave enough to call him "Chris" again, but you could tell he was getting nervous and was backing down a little. He got what he deserved. Actually, he got off light.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HNgqQVHI_8

    I hate Jim Rome.

    -EarlJam

  4. #4
    He's got an ego the size of Oooo-oooo-ooo-klahoma.

    He also has the most awkward






    pauses in his verbal delivery.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Jump the Shark blames Stuart Scott.

    --Jason "yeah, it is all the Carolina guy's fault!" Evans

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    Jump the Shark blames Stuart Scott.

    --Jason "yeah, it is all the Carolina guy's fault!" Evans
    I was thinking the same thing!!!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Raleigh, NC
    At the risk of incurring Jason's wrath, I think it all stems from ESPN's decision to pretend that poker is a sport. And competitive eating. And spelling bee. And world's strongest man. And lumber-jack contests. And so forth, ad infinitum. It's been downhill for awhile.

    But yes, Who's Now is practically a text-book demonstration of jumping the shark. Fortunately, I get ESPN News with my cable package so I don't even know who's winning that self-congratulating, we-have-too-much-time-on-our-hands pseudo contest.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    At the risk of incurring Jason's wrath, I think it all stems from ESPN's decision to pretend that poker is a sport. And competitive eating. And spelling bee. And world's strongest man. And lumber-jack contests. And so forth, ad infinitum. It's been downhill for awhile.

    But yes, Who's Now is practically a text-book demonstration of jumping the shark. Fortunately, I get ESPN News with my cable package so I don't even know who's winning that self-congratulating, we-have-too-much-time-on-our-hands pseudo contest.
    First of all, it is Tiger vs. Lebron in the finals of "Who's Now." Lebron beat Shaq in the semis and Tiger beat Peyton. The final result will be revealed on Sunday and I am pretty sure Tiger will win. I wish I did not know any of this but even when I FastForwad really fast on my TIVO while watching SportsCenter I cannot avoid figuring some of this stuff out.

    As for ESPN broadcasting all this other "stuff"-- you incur no wrath from me. While I love watching poker on TV, I don't think ESPN's coverage is all that good and vastly prefer WPT on Travel Channel. Heck, my preference would be for a Poker Channel where the coverage would actually begin to reflect the reality of the game as opposed to lots of fluff pieces and only showing us 1 out of ever 30 hands.

    World Strongest Man and all the other "stuff" on ESPN are hit and miss for me. I think you get a lot more of these "WTF is that?" events in the summer when baseball is the only major sport going on. If you are ESPN, what else are you going to show in July and August?

    -Jason "don't forget what the first letter of ESPN's name stands for" Evans

  9. #9
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    Feb 2007
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    Washington, DC
    I still like a lot of their programming - most live football/basketball, PTI, Around the Horn, whatever's left of Cold Pizza, Mike & Mike (really a radio show), SportsCenter, some of the Monday night pregame stuff.

    But 24 hours and multiple channels is a lot of space to fill, and they fill it with a lot of crap.

    I despise Jim Rome.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Raleigh, NC
    If you are ESPN, what else are you going to show in July and August?"

    I could go for track and field. Even swimming.

    -Jason "don't forget what the first letter of ESPN's name stands for" Evans

    Excruciating? Look, the entertainment E can be justified by "The Bronx is Burning", that football sit-com that so bothered the NFL, and so forth. But ESPN treats poker as a sport, not entertainment. They cover it in Sports Center for crying out loud. And the magazine.

    I don't know what dictionary one has but all of them define sport has being a physical activity. Poker has no physical component or skill. Poker is no more a sport than checkers, chess, Chinese checkers, bridge, 21, go fish, or free cell.

    BTW, my local Fox Sports affiliate has more poker than does ESPN. Maybe that's because they can't carry Orioles games anymore. Maybe they should change their name to Foxe Sports.

    Sports Illustrated used to carry ocasional articles on chess. They tried to justify it, got a lot of grief for it, and stopped. So there are precedents.

    I fully understand that poker makes sense from a cost-effectiveness perspective. How many cameras, mikes, crew do you need to broadcast poker versus something like a world-class track meet or golf tournament? That's the same reason boxing was the first sport to make an impact on TV, back in the 1950s. Cheap and easy to broadcast at a time when TV technology was in its infancy. But it's not in its infancy anymore. If ESPN, Fox South, and the rest want to do poker on the cheap rather than cover real sports, they'll have to do it without me.

    End of rant.

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    ESPN treats poker as a sport? They have it on SportsCenter? I really have not noticed this and I am a pretty religous SportsCenter watcher. I cannot believe they do more on SportsCenter than maybe one or two quick mentions during the final stages of the Main Event. No way does ESPN mention poker on SportsCenter at all during something like the US Poker Championship or some standard WPT event.

    for what it is worth, Poker is not a sport in my book. It is a mental exercise but there is not enough of a physical component for it to be a sport. But, I don't think ESPN treats it like a sport anyway.

    Here is a discussion:
    Is it a sport because of the competition or because of the physical activity? With that in mind, which of the following are sports?
    1. Hot Dog Eating
    2. Fishing
    3. Darts
    4. Hunting
    5. Archery
    6. Poker
    7. Obstacle Course (has anyone seen Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course?)
    8. Rodeo
    9. Paintball
    10. Pool (with balls, not swimming)
    11. Ice Skating
    12. Ballroom Dancing
    13. Hockey


    -Jason "just kidding, hockey fans" Evans
    Last edited by JasonEvans; 08-05-2007 at 08:06 AM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Lexington, KY

    ESPN and James Bond play poker?

    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    ESPN treats poker as a sport? They have it on SportsCenter? I really have not noticed this and I am a pretty religous SportsCenter watcher. I cannot believe they do more on SportsCenter than maybe one or two quick mentions during the final stages of the Main Event. No way does ESPN mention poker on SportsCenter at all during something like the US Poker Championship or some standard WPT event.

    for what it is worth, Poker is not a sport in my book. It is a mental exercise but there is not enough of a physical component for it to be a sport. But, I don't think ESPN treats it like a sport anyway.
    No wonder you loved Casino Royale! Poker, poker, poker! To be true to the original franchise, it should have been chemin de fer! The only "poker" that I recall in Bond was in Thunderball (when Bond was injured while fighting by a fireplace... opening scene).
    [Note: perhaps another thread on inconsistencies of Bond movies should be revived, starting with Casino Royale.]

    ESPN covers poker pretty much as CNN, FauxNews, ABC, CBS, and NBC cover elections ... like a horse race. The actual mentions on SportsCenter seem to be limited to outlandish TopTen scenes to fill in various countdowns. Sort of like European championship soccer!

    Sadly, they pretty much cover everything that way. I found myself surfing through the "World Series of Pop Culture" on VH1, thinking it was ESPN.

    I miss the days of Australian Rules Football on ESPN. It sort of felt like the cable replacement of the old ABC Wide World of Sports.

    Too bad Rugby isn't on ESPN!

    Now if Jason Bateman were calling dodgeball games on the Ocho, I'm in!!
    Cheers,
    Lavabe

  13. #13
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    Feb 2007
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    Washington, DC
    Jason, you can add golf and baseball to that list as far as I'm concerned.

    Loved the Aussie Rules football. I had no idea what was going on but it was great fun to watch. Ditto the occasional Gaelic football match, which one has to love if one is as big a fan of the Saw Doctors as I am!

  14. #14
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    Feb 2007
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    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by mapei View Post
    Loved the Aussie Rules football. I had no idea what was going on but it was great fun to watch.
    ESPN needs to bring back Aussie Rules Football- this is mandatory! Like you I never knew what was going on--

    Sometimes they whack each other, sometimes they are not allowed to touch each other.

    Sometimes they run while holding the ball, sometimes they do a strange half-dribble thing while running.

    And the scoring?!?!? Whew!!! I have no idea.

    --Jason "I am sure Wiki could solve any questions, but I rather enjoy having no clue about Aussie Rules Football" Evans

  15. #15
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    Feb 2007
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    Lexington, KY
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    ESPN needs to bring back Aussie Rules Football- this is mandatory! Like you I never knew what was going on--

    ...
    --Jason "I am sure Wiki could solve any questions, but I rather enjoy having no clue about Aussie Rules Football" Evans
    I think there were two ways to score, running and kicking. Figuring out the rules was the best part.

    Wasn't it great when the umpire (white suit, white fedora, and white flags) made the motion that the score was good? You'd see a bunch of action, then stock footage of the same white-suit running up to a line and pointing. Then the coverage would take you to the action 10 minutes further along in the game.

    Cheers,
    Lavabe

  16. #16
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    Feb 2007
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    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Man #1 : "Did you see that awesome Aussie Rules Football match on TV the other day?"

    Man #2: "No?!?! What was the final score."

    Man #1: "Oh, it was a real barnburner. It was 9-11-4 to 12-4-6"

    --Jason "figuring out the scoring was harder than any other rule" Evans

  17. #17
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    Feb 2007
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    Raleigh, NC

    And the dictionary says...

    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    I don't know what dictionary one has but all of them define sport has being a physical activity. Poker has no physical component or skill. Poker is no more a sport than checkers, chess, Chinese checkers, bridge, 21, go fish, or free cell.
    I guess ESPN is going with the Mirriam-Webster version of "sport" as a noun. The first two definitions:

    1 a : a source of diversion : RECREATION b : sexual play c (1) : physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2) : a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in
    2 a : PLEASANTRY, JEST b : often mean-spirited jesting : MOCKERY, DERISION

    So, I guess poker is a "sport," as it is a source of diversion. According to definition #2, I'd guess that being a Cameron Crazy is a sport.

    I'd prefer ESPN stick to definition C (1).

    Let's not even approach definition 1b. There are other channels for that!

    - della, rethinking Mirriam-Webster as a primary source

  18. #18
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    Feb 2007
    Location
    Wilmington, DE

    Aussie Rules

    The difficult part for Americans playing the game is knowing how to tackle. You can knock a fellow down who has the ball, but you can't hold them, or they get a free kick. Knowing how to get rid of the ball when you are going to get clocked is crucial too, either kicking a pass forward or punching it with your fist.

    When scoring, the last of the three numbers is the total score.

  19. #19
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    Ashburn, VA
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post

    for what it is worth, Poker is not a sport in my book. It is a mental exercise but there is not enough of a physical component for it to be a sport. But, I don't think ESPN treats it like a sport anyway.
    Jason,

    Speaking of poker on TV - my friend just showed me this and I thought you'd enjoy it. The expression on Phil Ivey's face near the end (1:48 mark) is absolutely priceless.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN6wAHTWeEA

  20. #20
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    Feb 2007
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    Los Angeles

    I'm surprised...

    I'm surprised that no one has mentioned PTI. I've always enjoyed that show -- sometimes more than others, but always entertaining.

    I agree that ESPN has lost its way, and too bad. It used to be sooooterrific. I wish they would do a special about the rules of Aussie ball -- and perhaps one on Rugby as well. And f**k this hotdog eating contests, etc.

    And YES, ice skating IS a sport. Years of true training at 4 in the morning, years of learning triple axles and spins, etc. Some of you have no idea of how much is involved to learn this sport. Same goes for gymnastics, or swimming or diving. Let's give these athletes their due.

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