OT…Have sports debate shows run their course?

[Gugny]

I hate staged crap. They have always been staged crap. 

[Wayne Arnold]

I stopped watching sports debate shows and listening to sports talk radio 10-15 years ago. I'm shocked people still watch/listen. Other than Pardon My Take but that's more a comedy podcast than a sports show.

[PetermansRedemption]

Reminds me of that garbage show on ESPN. Pardon the interruption I think? Why people would watch a show with two guys arguing sports opinions is beyond me. 

[stosh64]

10 hours ago, The Wiz said:

The problem with these shows nowadays is that they don't even know what they are arguing about.  They take whatever is the latest hot-take on social media and ride it without actually getting any factual information.

 

Consider Tim Hasselbeck after the bills ran all over the raiders and then saying that the reason why Allen had such a good day was because they couldn't run the ball against them and he had to be "reckless" to move the football.  It makes absolutely no sense any which way you slice it.

I love the comments ripping Hasselbeck on YT, most people are aware of the crap being produced in all media.  That's why the legacy media and it's agendas are failing miserably.

 Bills start @ 1:40

 

Programs like this, Cover 1, have vastly superior content to the dying legacy sports media, it's no contest, and it's free!

The clown show propaganda of espn and the like will always have it's niche audience I guess, so they may as well go all in for that sort of 'programming".  They know they have already lost the hardcore fans.

Edited September 21, 2023 by stosh64

[GunnerBill]

I think the panel / head to head debate shows are close to running their course. The future of "sports talk TV" is much more the host / interviewer type of sports talk show. Cowherd, Eisen, McAfee etc. 

 

We have a national radio station in the UK called "Talk Sport" that is pretty successful and I bumped into their CEO recently at an event and he was telling me they are making a serious attempt to move away from (as he put it) "talking about" and towards "talking to." Let's not talk about the manager of Manchester United let's talk to him. 

 

It is why McAfee has been so successful. His contacts book means he gets high quality guests - guys who are current players, coaches, executives - who have current and topical things to say. 

[Doc Brown]

11 hours ago, dma0034 said:

First Things First is the only one I watch. The three guys on there have great chemistry and they poke fun at each other a lot. You have to realize they have bias but it's quite enjoyable imo

Agreed.  It's an underrated show that's the best out there with the combination of humor and debate.  I actually agree with Nick Wright a lot except when it comes to Allen.  This, PTI, and the Rich Eisen show are one's I'll catch once in a while.

[Thurman#1]

13 hours ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

There isn’t a right or wrong answer but it just seems like they’ve kinda run out of ways to argue with each other.

Skip Bayless new show is barely watchable anymore 

 

 

Run their course? Probably not.

 

I never was able to watch Bayless or Stephen A Smith. It's too obviously argument for the sake of argument.

 

I can watch intelligent sports conversation. There isn't much around.

 

I mean, have reality shows run their course? They're absolutely awful and yet people still watch. People watch Adam Sandler movies. I don't understand why, but they do.

 

 

10 hours ago, LewPort71 said:

I  like PTI  and its the only show I watch.

I really miss Mike & Mike. 

 

 

 

Yeah, there are a few good ones around, but not many. I used to love to listen to Tony Kornheiser and whoever he was talking to. He was knowledgeable but also hilarious.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Thurman#1

[Donuts and Doritos]

yes

no

Yes.

No.

YES!!

NO!!

 

It's debatable.

[ROCBillsBeliever]

14 hours ago, notwoz said:

Can we throw Schopp & the Bulldog into this mix? These guys offer no insights whatsoever.

 

Now hold on just one cotton-picking minute there, buster, Schopp offers all sorts of insights... Into his fantasy leagues. Especially insights into his fantasy hockey leagues while Bills training camp, or the draft, or some important Bills-related thing is going on. I need to be distracted from Bills content by Schopp's insights into his fantasy hockey league, especially when there's crucial Bills things going on!

 

/s

[Drew21PA]

Was watching this week and they just talk over each other and it’s a mess of words 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

I kinda like good morning football?  At least they have fun with it and don't act like their opinions matter.  

[Matt_In_NH]

They have with me....never really watched them.  Lots of other content out there that resonates better with me.

[DasNootz]

The sports network genre is horrible in general.  Did Sports Center really need a segment on Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift this morning?  

The Sports Reporters was excellent.  PTI is tolerable - shows like Around the Horn ruined the industry, because "hot takes" became more important that substance.

[The Jokeman]

15 hours ago, Augie said:

I don’t watch any ESPN unless they have a game I want to see. A bunch of guys all talking/yelling over each other at the same time has ZERO appeal to me. 

 

I find Dan Patrick to be the best option in terms of that type of entertainment. He didn’t do the same flawed formula, and I appreciate that. 

Dan's good, I also enjoy Rich Eisen but again their shows are more like a talk show instead of an op ed/talking head show. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

A modest proposal:  Reformat these arguing experts into a show where they have to field phone calls from the 'vox populi'.  Ought to cellar the ratings and  put the experts into therapy or straitjackets.

[Captain Hindsight]

13 hours ago, BruceVilanch said:

I actually enjoyed PTI in the early years.

It was must watch TV for me 

[dpberr]

It'll be dead soon because advertisers will spend their money elsewhere, or save it for live broadcasts.  ESPN is reaching that MTV inflection point where they will cut costs by running re-runs of Coach and White Shadow for like 20 hours of the programming day.  Don't laugh - it's coming - they will market it as "retro" sports programming.

 

For ESPN, this is not a conversation about quality programming.  It's about cheaply filling airtime at the lowest cost possible, where the cost of filling the airtime remains below the ad revenue that comes into the company.  

 

These debate shows are cheap to run until the personalities price themselves out of existence.  It's not that anyone cares what Stephen A Smith thinks, but for what ESPN pays for him, he soaks up *a lot* of that available airtime.  

[LarryMadman]

Yup, they sure have. I do not watch anything but the sporting event. I dont watch pre or post game, halftime or intermission anything and nothing during the week. 

[Metal Man]

The worst part about them is that these days there doesn't seem to be a lot of discussion on topics that veer outside of the "ESPN Accepted Opinion", so at least half of the time you get the same opinion parroted by 5 different panel members or people arguing over something they appear to actually agree on.

[billybob71]

lets hope so!!

[UConn James]

16 hours ago, Augie said:

I don’t watch any ESPN unless they have a game I want to see. A bunch of guys all talking/yelling over each other at the same time has ZERO appeal to me. 

 

I find Dan Patrick to be the best option in terms of that type of entertainment. He didn’t do the same flawed formula, and I appreciate that. 

I don’t even watch pre-game shows anymore. It’s just a waste of time.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

41 minutes ago, UConn James said:

I don’t even watch pre-game shows anymore. It’s just a waste of time.

 

Usually theres a premier league game sunday at like 10 or 11 on USA/peacock so i'll watch that.  

[SCBills]

NFL Live is decent, but that's mainly because Dan Orlovsky and Mina Kimes know what they're talking about and the cast has good chemistry.

 

I think that's the only show on ESPN that I can stomach.  Everything else is hot takes and nonsense.  

 

GMFB is on every day at my office and is decent for what it is, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a debate show. 

[uninja]

Those shows are just content generators for the clips posted to socials and youtube.

 

I watch clips of those shows on socials, but actually sitting down and watching any of that drivel live? Ugh.

[RobbRiddick]

This is an interesting question. To discuss it I'm joined by two guests, Stephen A and Stephen B.

 

What do you guys think?

 

 

Stephen A: brahhhhhhh blahhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh y'all brahhhhhhh blahhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh homies!

 

Interesting. Stephen B?

 

Stephen B: rrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, burahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh you crazy hooooooodddddddddooooooooooooo whhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

 

Thanks guys. Coming up next, Josh Allen told Hyde he loves him. Is Josh Allen gay and is this reason his relationship fell apart?

[WhoTom]

Years ago, I watched one episode of Pardon the Interruption. I've never felt the need to watch it, or any other sports "debate" show, again.

[KDIGGZ]

You will get much more team specific details from YouTube fan vids or podcasts. When we play a team I check YouTube for videos from the other team, whether they are fans or their local media.

 

I think what you will see more and more is podcasts from the players themselves. The Kelsey Bros have one of the most successful podcasts going right now. Bussin with the Boys is big and they were doing it while they were playing but both guys now retired. Do we really need Sal Cappuccino asking generic questions and players giving canned responses when you can see them let loose on their own podcast?

[Fleezoid]

18 hours ago, HOUSE said:

I desperately avoid those show.

Reminds me of the High School  cafeteria 

 

The shows' catering should include tater tots so the co-hosts can throw 'em at each other. 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

For me, ditching Colin Cowherd last year has been a load off my mind. 

 

His show has disintegrated into the same 3 topics everyday. 

 

But as others have said, Dan Patrick - YAWN - yeah Pauly, yeah Fritzy, yeah McLovin, yeah - all show long, 

 

You've got guys all over media that have been there for 20 years now - and they won't get out of the way. So it's the same voices, rearranged differently on the mainstream. 

 

For instance, listen to Brady Quinn, Lavar Arrington and Jonas Knox on the FOX morning show. It inevitiably ends up being Arrington and Quinn talking about their career, and Penn State, Notre Dame. 

 

All of the national shows are generic commentary. They'll say something like Mahomes is really good, Allen isn't as consistent. The topic de-jour today is ripping Deshaun Watson apart. But none of it is specific to the play calls, the actual reads on plays, drops, offensive line play, etc. 

 

That's why PFF, PFT, QB Confidential, QB School on Youtube have all given people a new path that didn't exist 5 years ago. Actual tape broken down by real experts, not fans with a microphone. 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Straight Hucklebuck

[corta765]

To me sports media is very fractured at this point.

 

Major networks like ESPN have moved away from what we liked with sportscenter to be quasi talk shows because enough people care more about the drama then the sports. But everyone copies that so you just have redundancy and no originality either.

 

Factor in then that there is superb media options with podcasts or streamed shows like Pat McCaffee or PFT or work from people at the athletic and its has eroded the pie where I don't think you ever see one dominant program again or network.

 

I personally ignore the Steve As or Skip or Colin because their all the same. It is for clicks and viewers not the truth or anything remotely of substance.

[BIGFOOTspaceman]

Can't watch them.... won't watch them.  Nick Wright is the apotheosis of bad sports reporting.  He has taken Cowherd's approach and went 10x with it.  He's the king of hot takes and all of his content is designed to incite anarchy.  He wants to be infamous and generate the most clicks possible.  If you're into that sort of thing.... great.  But if you're looking for detailed and accurate information without bias, I suggest looking somewhere else.  You can lump most "big" names into this category, but Nick is the worst.  Cowherd, Kellerman, Stephen A, Skip, etc.

 

They're really just entertainers with an act or schtick, no real substance. 

3 hours ago, UConn James said:

I don’t even watch pre-game shows anymore. It’s just a waste of time.

I don't watch pregame or post game.  Most of the time I watch the game on mute or try to sync up the Bills radio broadcast.

[DrBob806]

They're  all basically like "The View" but for male audiences

Edited September 21, 2023 by DrBob806

[machine gun kelly]

I’ve said on this board for a long time, I just don’t watch those shows.  As an overall assertion, I don’t see real analysis with objective facts.  It’s hot take city and waste of my time.

 

if I’m on vacation I might catch GMFB for a couple of minutes, but I’m working during most of these shows.  
 

I like matchup on Sunday mornings with Greg Cosell as they do their he, breakdown opponents and can back up their claims.  That provides value as they point to things to watch that day with two opponents.

 

I do enjoy Movin The Chains on NFLR as they are relatively objective, not filled with hit takes and have good analysis of teams.  If you have an hour to kill waiting on hold can be fun to chat with the guys for a couple of minutes.

 

Theres always some good podcasts, but the shows you’re referring to are a bunch of idiots trying to overreact to everything week to week.

[Fr. Jerk]

Camron it is what it is. Check it out, mane.

[Never NEVER Give-up]

21 hours ago, Spiderweb said:

Skip Bayless has been unwatchable for years.

Since birth.

[Manther]

On 9/20/2023 at 5:08 PM, 78thealltimegreat said:

There isn’t a right or wrong answer but it just seems like they’ve kinda run out of ways to argue with each other.

Skip Bayless new show is barely watchable anymore 

Skip Bayless was barely watchable in 2000.

[Cray51]

The sports reporters was the best panel show in ESPN's tenure.  They weren't about BS, they had 4 guys who knew sports come together to thoroughly discuss sports stories without making it a spectacle

 

Miss that show - whatever we watch now is just terrible.  And any individual who has a decent mind and wants to be honest gets caught up in the competition of podcasts and has to speak out to stay relevant.  Or, they go to a big company and have to play a part to get airtime.

[Jon in Pasadena]

On 9/21/2023 at 9:38 AM, Straight Hucklebuck said:

All of the national shows are generic commentary. They'll say something like Mahomes is really good, Allen isn't as consistent. The topic de-jour today is ripping Deshaun Watson apart. But none of it is specific to the play calls, the actual reads on plays, drops, offensive line play, etc. 

 

That's why PFF, PFT, QB Confidential, QB School on Youtube have all given people a new path that didn't exist 5 years ago. Actual tape broken down by real experts, not fans with a microphone. 

 

This.  I'd much rather spend my free time watching/listening to real football insight than fake-ass media turds.

 

Another one on YouTube that I've been enjoying is The DB Room with Glover Quin.  

[Jauronimo]

On 9/20/2023 at 4:45 PM, stosh64 said:

 

 

When you are NOT allowed to hire the best and put agendas before content this isn't really a surprise how bad the programming is, across all media.

 

 

Who isn't allowed to hire the best?