The Voice of Truth Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I too share some sentiments that ESPN has become too celebrity, story generated. At the same time, if what they are doing has more people glued to the television, then who can blame them? Once enough people reject what they are showing by not watching, they will either have to change or a competitor will start to rise. This will likely not happen. Most people don't want pure sports, even when they bash ESPN and claim they do. All a network would be able to do with that is keep reeling off highlights evenly of every game and league regardless of popular interest. That will never trump the ratings of the way they currently operate at ESPN. I like to tell myself that I don't want hyped up, spun news, but guess what, I don't watch PBS. I watch channels that make it more interesting. It's the same with ESPN. I don't like everything they have done, but I still watch it a lot. And to be quite honest, what they're doing probably works on me to watch them more. Until the people reject what they're doing by not watching, they won't change. And clearly people are watching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gray Beard Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 When ESPN first came on the air they had a show called "The Exciting World of Speed and Beauty." It featured cars, and girls in bikinis. Ahh, the good old days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Best Player Available Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 All I know is they spend ZERO time on reviewing SI's swim suit issue. Leaving a lot of fans in the dark. Almost as bad as no playoffs in college football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Cowlings Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Pretty good history of espn and how it became the skip bayless, tebow obsessed mess that it has been the last few years. long read, but interesting if you are using them as a news resource. i definitely recommend it if you are among those typically mad at ESPN for hating the bills or buffalo. http://deadspin.com/5929361/how-espn-ditched-journalism-and-followed-skip-bayless-to-the-bottom-a-tim-tebow-story There's no Bills hating folks. It's just that they are not relevant. No star power, tiny market and outside of WNYers and the many transplants nobody cares. I guess if it makes you feel better you can keep up with this ESPN conspiracy against Buffalo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Jose Bills Fan Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 ESPN has been unwatchable for the better part of a decade. I haven't watched a pre-game since they hired Rush Limabaugh. Maybe it is a combination of my advancing age, having kids and less time, or internet access, but I have no interest in any of their programming. I'm in the same boat I think. I've assumed that my not watching ESPN ever (except some live sporting events) had to do with having different life priorities. But I also find the product to be more annoying than anything else. It almost embodies everything that is wrong with our media these days. I too share some sentiments that ESPN has become too celebrity, story generated. At the same time, if what they are doing has more people glued to the television, then who can blame them? Once enough people reject what they are showing by not watching, they will either have to change or a competitor will start to rise. This will likely not happen. Most people don't want pure sports, even when they bash ESPN and claim they do. All a network would be able to do with that is keep reeling off highlights evenly of every game and league regardless of popular interest. That will never trump the ratings of the way they currently operate at ESPN. I like to tell myself that I don't want hyped up, spun news, but guess what, I don't watch PBS. I watch channels that make it more interesting. It's the same with ESPN. I don't like everything they have done, but I still watch it a lot. And to be quite honest, what they're doing probably works on me to watch them more. Until the people reject what they're doing by not watching, they won't change. And clearly people are watching. So I'm curious about ESPN's ratings and how they've trended over the last few decades as they compete more and more with pale copycats, the internet, and themselves. Apparently their formula is working or they wouldn't be doing it but on the other hand, I know very few people who watch ESPN. So who's watching ESPN? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 When ESPN first came on the air they had a show called "The Exciting World of Speed and Beauty." It featured cars, and girls in bikinis. Ahh, the good old days. That, and lumbersports. Those were the days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD4Bills Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 That, and lumbersports. Those were the days. Don't forget Australian Rules Football!! That game was crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 This morning Stephen A and Skip argued for 20 mins which culminated in Stephen A asking skip if there was a reason outside of football that Tebow was his fave. Skip raced around and denied denied denied he had any feelings for Tebow outside of his play on the field. "I was FORCED to interview him at the Super Bowl. I dont have his number, we dont text!" Journalism or not, I was laughing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuntheDamnBall Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 This morning Stephen A and Skip argued for 20 mins which culminated in Stephen A asking skip if there was a reason outside of football that Tebow was his fave. Skip raced around and denied denied denied he had any feelings for Tebow outside of his play on the field. "I was FORCED to interview him at the Super Bowl. I dont have his number, we dont text!" Journalism or not, I was laughing Another argument against cable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin in Va Beach Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Don't blame ESPN, blame America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted November 15, 2012 Author Share Posted November 15, 2012 (edited) There's no Bills hating folks. It's just that they are not relevant. No star power, tiny market and outside of WNYers and the many transplants nobody cares. I guess if it makes you feel better you can keep up with this ESPN conspiracy against Buffalo. thats what i was getting at - that they just sell out for ratings and dont care about buffalo. its not any kind of hate, we just dont fit their model. I'm in the same boat I think. I've assumed that my not watching ESPN ever (except some live sporting events) had to do with having different life priorities. But I also find the product to be more annoying than anything else. It almost embodies everything that is wrong with our media these days. So I'm curious about ESPN's ratings and how they've trended over the last few decades as they compete more and more with pale copycats, the internet, and themselves. Apparently their formula is working or they wouldn't be doing it but on the other hand, I know very few people who watch ESPN. So who's watching ESPN? problem is the ratings have been going down, despite all this. thats why they were so fast to jump on the tebow coverage, they couldnt figure out how to get the spikes they needed the last year or two. theres, from what ive read, been a lot of tension at the world wide leader about how to fix it all. it seems they went for short term bandaids in skip yelling about tebow and lebron instead of really reflecting on the long term. right now it seems theres split factions up there. Edited November 15, 2012 by NoSaint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Vader Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Don't blame ESPN, blame America. Absolutely. If people didn't like it, they wouldn't watch it. ESPN went downhill long before Tim Tebow came on the scene. Dan Patrick & Keith Olberman's schtick was fun, but they still made it mostly about the highlights instead of themselves. Then every anchor had to be a comedian. Which became a big turnoff to me. I used to watch Sportscenter a lot, now I barely pay any attention to it. I still like ESPN. Their coverage of both College Football & College Basketball is great. College Gameday is one of the more fun shows to watch every Saturday and NFL Countdown is still the best football pregame show. I just really miss NFL Primetime when it used to be on Sunday evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted November 15, 2012 Author Share Posted November 15, 2012 (edited) Absolutely. If people didn't like it, they wouldn't watch it. ESPN went downhill long before Tim Tebow came on the scene. Dan Patrick & Keith Olberman's schtick was fun, but they still made it mostly about the highlights instead of themselves. Then every anchor had to be a comedian. Which became a big turnoff to me. I used to watch Sportscenter a lot, now I barely pay any attention to it. I still like ESPN. Their coverage of both College Football & College Basketball is great. College Gameday is one of the more fun shows to watch every Saturday and NFL Countdown is still the best football pregame show. I just really miss NFL Primetime when it used to be on Sunday evening. I think that oversimplifies it. A good programmer would recognize that their model is getting cheap, non loyal views at the expense of long term credibility. Agree on the everyone has to be a comedian bit though. It used to be a fun novelty, now X's and O's are the novelty (grudens qb camp for instance, jaws.... ) Why sports science took off... People want to know why things worked the way they did. A good programmer would push a lot more film study stuff, a fair amount of behind the scenes news, and have a Bayless or two as the side show, not the main event. Edited November 15, 2012 by NoSaint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haven Moses Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 Things really got bad when they got the NBA. Way too much NBA on Sportscenter for my liking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 So who's watching ESPN? ESPN is, week in and week out, the most watched cable channel for viewers between 18-49.....or "everyone who matters" as far as the advertisers are concerned (which is all any network is about anyway). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin in Va Beach Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 I think that oversimplifies it. A good programmer would recognize that their model is getting cheap, non loyal views at the expense of long term credibility. Agree on the everyone has to be a comedian bit though. It used to be a fun novelty, now X's and O's are the novelty (grudens qb camp for instance, jaws.... ) Why sports science took off... People want to know why things worked the way they did. A good programmer would push a lot more film study stuff, a fair amount of behind the scenes news, and have a Bayless or two as the side show, not the main event. I think you're trying to make it more complicated than it is. Network programming is no longer about 'credibility'- it's about revenue. Why do you think MTV no longer shows music? There may come a day when mindless programming no longer gets the views and thus the ad dollars and intelligent programming makes a come-back, but I'm not holding my breath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsrock61 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 even if the bills start to win again...they won't get any more spots on espn...look at the giants?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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