E:60

My first thought, which was echoed by most of my friends, was: Who the hell cares? I might be interested as a journalist, but to the sports fan, is this interesting at all? It just seemed like ESPN patting itself on the back for its stories and reporters.

 

if you're a journalist how the hell do you know what fans think or want? when's the last time you paid your way into a sports event...

 

Uh, last Sunday when I went to a Browns game.

 

Saw a replay today, but only caught the Jason Ray piece. I thought that piece was good, but a whole show of it could get old quickly. That package seemed like a Chris Connelly-type piece. I enjoy them the first time on ESPN, but when it's still being replayed a week later and on every sportscenter and ESPNews, I start to dislike it and want actual news instead of fluffy features.

 

I can't say it was disappointing, because it was pretty much what I expected -- the TV version of a bunch of stories that had already been widely covered in print, along with Bill Simmons as the Andy Rooney-like comic relief. If this is supposed to be a newsmagazine, you'd think it would offer a little news that hasn't been heard before. The table discussion seems totally staged, and the intro is laughably long -- it seemed like 10 minutes of watching Rachel Nichols hail a cab. Outside the Lines is still the best ESPN has to offer in terms of journalism. E60 is just a set of glorified SportsCenter features.

 

Boo Bill Simmons. Hooray beer!

 

Didn't watch the Cecil interview, but my understanding of the Cecil-Prince rift is that Cecil's gambling problems started to become Prince's problems, so much so that people Cecil owed money to would show up at Prince's minor-league games and try to collect.

 

Cecil looked like a total prick... I remember reading the brilliant Free Press story on his problems a few years back and he should be kissing all of the ass he can to get back in his son's good graces...

Schaap did a great job.

I know the UNC Mascot story is being lauded over and over again, but I thought it was overdone...

 

Well, I was a sports fan before I became a sports journalist and I think I can still maintain that title. And I pay my way into a sports event just about every weekend.

And those friends of mine that I mentioned, they are sports fans. They told me what they think. While I was not able to survey EVERY sports fan, the ones I did thought E:60 was bunk.

Does that answer your question?

 

I cannot stand Schaap and as Bobby Knight once said, he has a long way to go when it comes to trying to be like his dad. With that said, he did a good job on the Cecil piece. The piece about the football team in Florida was also good. Those players saying, "I ain't sorry for her not what she did to this program" that was the best line.

 

Rachel Nichols is a former newspaper reporter and a very nice person and she may well post here for all I know, but she is still very wooden on camera after a couple of years doing this. It's a shame.

 

Schaap was a bit of an arrogant punk when he first started at ESPN... Now, he's one of the best they have... He's made his dad proud, there's no doubt about that...