"Mike's Random Musings about hockey"
West Lafayette, IN • United States • 21 Years Old • Male
hockeyisgd
hockeyisgd
ESPN: Fox News of the sports world
Posted 11:58 AM ET | Comments 14
In the past few weeks I've been watching ESPN in the morning to watch baseball highlights and to get my daily fix of the "popular" sports news. In these few weeks, I think I've been slowly hating ESPN more and more. Here's 5 reasons why I hate ESPN:
<h3 align="center">Stephen A. Smith</h3>
Where to start on this guy. First off, this guy makes himself sound like he is the only one in the world allowed to have opinions. He is loud, obnoxious, and tries to use "big words" when possible. He also tends to speak very fast and gramatically incorrect to a point where he sounds unintelligent. Analysts like Smith make ESPN look bad, and sound unintelligent.
<h3 align="center">Around the Horn</h3>
They should rename this show to: "Who can argue louder?" This show was not a bad idea at the start; get 4 reporters from 4 different newspapers around the country and get their opinions. However, when you make it a competition, its all arbitrary. So now you have to not only argue loudest, but have to agree with the host of the show. It's too arbitrary to watch for opinions, because it seems that the only opinion that matters is the host's. Then you also have a lot of irrational opinions on that show. Not to mention any time hockey comes up, they either avoid it, or someone says "who cares about hockey".
<h3 align="center">The People who watch ESPN and take every word as true</h3>
My brother is a prime example of this. I love my brother, however he will defend anything he sees on ESPN as the truth. So a couple of weeks ago when they ran this "Who's now?" tournament, I told him how that its scored on a terrible system, and that I thought that it was very slanted towards football and basketball. He was telling me how they were experts, and get paid to do this, and I should shut my mouth and listen to their opinions. Granted my brother is 15 years old, but this isn't uncommon though. ESPN is like any other news source, they have their biases and people need to recognize that, because not everything is true, some of it is only opinion. I find that ESPN tries to sell the bigger stars, or self-promote enough that it overlaps with some of their reporting. Some people think Fox News or CNN is the same way, when there is evidence for both to have biases. Hockey fans can probably agree with me when I say, ESPN's use of the NHL as a punch line, has led the network to have an anti-hockey point of view. It might be just me, but ESPN only reports hockey, when something negative happens, and then deems the sport barbaric. Well, I don't know about you, but theres a sport call football that's just as barbaric if not more. It's a game, that consists of "killing the quarterback", in the words of Don Cherry.
<h3 align="center">Pardon the Interruption</h3>
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser may be two analysts' opinions are very closed minded. First off, similar to Stephen A. Smith, both Wilbon and Kornheiser need to stop using the term "your boy" or "my boy", because I think they are all oblivious to the historical meaning of that term. Anything, but hockey or soccer is welcome discussion. Most of the topics of football and basketball also deal with irrelevant topics to the sport at times.
<h3 align="center">Hockey on ESPN?</h3>
As a hockey fan, ESPN has caused enough emotional harm, that I don't know that I would want to give them a second chance. If they consistently tell their audience that hockey should just be laughed at, then if ESPN picks up the NHL it will become a sideshow, that will still get limited coverage. It may be an improvement over what is there now. Other than Barry Melrose, and maybe the occasional other anchor, it seems that no one can say anything intelligent about the sport. However, if it did come back to ESPN, that would mean more hockey on American TV. That would be a step in the right direction, however, in order for it to be better recieved, it needs to be better promoted by ESPN, which can be done. If ESPN does pick up the NHL, we hockey fans need to make it known to ESPN that we hockey fans, deserve time in devoted to hockey in Sportscenter, and in general.
<h3 align="center">Stephen A. Smith</h3>
Where to start on this guy. First off, this guy makes himself sound like he is the only one in the world allowed to have opinions. He is loud, obnoxious, and tries to use "big words" when possible. He also tends to speak very fast and gramatically incorrect to a point where he sounds unintelligent. Analysts like Smith make ESPN look bad, and sound unintelligent.
<h3 align="center">Around the Horn</h3>
They should rename this show to: "Who can argue louder?" This show was not a bad idea at the start; get 4 reporters from 4 different newspapers around the country and get their opinions. However, when you make it a competition, its all arbitrary. So now you have to not only argue loudest, but have to agree with the host of the show. It's too arbitrary to watch for opinions, because it seems that the only opinion that matters is the host's. Then you also have a lot of irrational opinions on that show. Not to mention any time hockey comes up, they either avoid it, or someone says "who cares about hockey".
<h3 align="center">The People who watch ESPN and take every word as true</h3>
My brother is a prime example of this. I love my brother, however he will defend anything he sees on ESPN as the truth. So a couple of weeks ago when they ran this "Who's now?" tournament, I told him how that its scored on a terrible system, and that I thought that it was very slanted towards football and basketball. He was telling me how they were experts, and get paid to do this, and I should shut my mouth and listen to their opinions. Granted my brother is 15 years old, but this isn't uncommon though. ESPN is like any other news source, they have their biases and people need to recognize that, because not everything is true, some of it is only opinion. I find that ESPN tries to sell the bigger stars, or self-promote enough that it overlaps with some of their reporting. Some people think Fox News or CNN is the same way, when there is evidence for both to have biases. Hockey fans can probably agree with me when I say, ESPN's use of the NHL as a punch line, has led the network to have an anti-hockey point of view. It might be just me, but ESPN only reports hockey, when something negative happens, and then deems the sport barbaric. Well, I don't know about you, but theres a sport call football that's just as barbaric if not more. It's a game, that consists of "killing the quarterback", in the words of Don Cherry.
<h3 align="center">Pardon the Interruption</h3>
Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser may be two analysts' opinions are very closed minded. First off, similar to Stephen A. Smith, both Wilbon and Kornheiser need to stop using the term "your boy" or "my boy", because I think they are all oblivious to the historical meaning of that term. Anything, but hockey or soccer is welcome discussion. Most of the topics of football and basketball also deal with irrelevant topics to the sport at times.
<h3 align="center">Hockey on ESPN?</h3>
As a hockey fan, ESPN has caused enough emotional harm, that I don't know that I would want to give them a second chance. If they consistently tell their audience that hockey should just be laughed at, then if ESPN picks up the NHL it will become a sideshow, that will still get limited coverage. It may be an improvement over what is there now. Other than Barry Melrose, and maybe the occasional other anchor, it seems that no one can say anything intelligent about the sport. However, if it did come back to ESPN, that would mean more hockey on American TV. That would be a step in the right direction, however, in order for it to be better recieved, it needs to be better promoted by ESPN, which can be done. If ESPN does pick up the NHL, we hockey fans need to make it known to ESPN that we hockey fans, deserve time in devoted to hockey in Sportscenter, and in general.
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15 Tony Amonte and the Linux Penguin (no, not Sidney Crosby)
16 rant about NBC
23 More Peca talk, from a Blue Jackets fan's perspective
03 Retro-Buzz: Grant Fuhr
06 Super Mario and Hockey on the Wii
08 ESPN: Fox News of the sports world
10 A word about Don Cherry
13 Top 5 teams I'm excited about for the 2007-08 season
15 Tony Amonte and the Linux Penguin (no, not Sidney Crosby)
16 rant about NBC
23 More Peca talk, from a Blue Jackets fan's perspective
09 in Ohio
i agree... im getting to the point i cant stand to watch this network( or espn radio either). having said that i wish they would get the nhl back for a couple reasons. EXPOSURE being the biggest. also i do like melrose, thorne and buccigross pretty well... but fox is still the best cable news channel by far.
ESPN does suck. The Who's Now? contest was an embarrassment and they seem to be more into self promotion than promoting the sports that they cover. I don't like that in a network. I agree with all your points this blog would be even better if you singled out Stewart Scott who can be blamed for the downfall of ESPN. His stupid highlight reads were the worst, but started an awful trend. If NHL does go back to ESPN, they will bury their games on ESPN 2 and even if they provide us with a Hockey 2 Nite program like they used to do, they'll bury that as well, with a Midnight start time.
Agreed, except for PTI. I like the Kornheiser and Wilbon banter. Who's Now was the...I don't even want to start.
Just want to be able to SEEEEEEE GAAAAMESI never listen to those idiots ( on any channel) I play either punk rock or classical music, depending on who's playingCrosby=BachTucker=Sex pistols
Trust me, you wanna give ESPN a second chance, because it WILL mean a comeback for the NHL. I agree with most of what you said, especially about the Around the Horn and PTI, they are obligated to discuss hockey once in a while, at least flash it on the screen... Yet everytime they dance around it, or simply make fun of the sport.
I agree with giving ESPN another chance, but it is frustrating when they mention the NHL on those shows and they all laugh about it and also think that the WNBA is a major sport.With that said I really think they could promote the league better ( in the US ) than any other channel.
I would not watch other programming on ESPN-just hockey games and related programming. I mean, honestly, I don't need Screamin' A Smith injecting race into everything or other idiots yelling at each other, or Skip Bayless even breathing the same air I do. I just want to see hockey in freaking HDTV, without having to hunt it down like a wounded Elk.
I used to religiously tune into sportscenter every night. But it got to the point where every anchor had to have their own "punch-line" call. And the reporting became more about the person reporting and less about the sports. From Stu Scott gettoizing his reporting to friggin Kurt Jimenez over pronouncing every damn hispanic name is annoying. I do like PTI though.
I actually like around the horn. The point is to convince the host by presenting an argument, so in that sense the host and winner are in agreement. And there is one hockey guy on that show, though i forget his name now.
ESPN has become "Entertainment Tonight" for the sports world. It's gone downhill ever since the old crew began to leave about 10 years ago, about the time Tom Mees died. Only Berman is left, and he is on record saying he dislikes the direction the network goes. Such a pity. And I lost all respect for Stephen A. Smith when he went on Keith Olbermann (or was it Joe Scarborough) on MSNBC and defended Michael Vick about a month ago.
well around the horn wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't about woody paige. he has to be right or he'll complain and everytime i watch it which is about 2-3 times a week he's always first off. jay mariotti is another who i don't like and he doesn't care about hockey. tom cowlishaw is really the only one who knows anything about the NHL teams and players and he actually seems to care about hockey. michael smith doesnt cover hockey that much but he's not a whiner. i like the show but woody paige ruins it
that would be tim cowlishaw not tom
As the "communications revolution" continues, ESPN will be rendered useless soon (I hope). Fans don't want to see idiots blather on forever about crap that doesn't really pertain to their favorite sport. Maybe I'm just thinking about my own mindset, but I watch daily hightlights on the Interweb more than Sports Center. The NHL has actually done a great job about getting their highlight vids on YouTube right after the games and trying to create more exposure over the internet. I can still get hightlights of Islander/Ranger games from December like that. When the VS/NBC deal is done, it will be interesting to see what direction they go as far as a national TV deal, maybe USA network? But I don't think ESPN is the way to go. People want more "On Demand" style, so really promote the NHL packages on digital cable and satalite, too. Let's make it so that ESPN is just a memory.
Yeah hockey coverage on ESPN is a joke, they give it no respect at all. Like the "Whos now" competition, Sidney Crosby vs. Derek Jeter, all the experts were Derek Jeter in a landslide. Kurt Herbstreet whos a football player goes this going to be the biggest landslide of all the matchups, what happens in the fan vote? Crosby beats Jeter, but because of the stupid pantalists Jeter advances.