ESPN Ombud: Who's Now Wasn't Well Liked

Here's the thing, though: Sportscenter made its bones on the merging of pop-culture riffs and sports highlights. It was understated and, for the most part, funny. You had to pay attention to get the jokes.

It is now a pale imitation of its former self, but it didn't fundamentally change. It's always brought the goofy stuff, the goofy stuff just used to be crafted better.

 

But it used to be the goofy stuff was an addendum to the news and highlights.

Now, it is the opposite.

 

Agreed.


EDIT: Oh and one thing to add: the snark and the catchphrases used to have a self-deprecatory air to them. You could imagine the guys sitting around the office coming up with them.

If anything, anymore, the opposite is true.

 

Same here. I was interested in seeing and hearing what they had to say about states I'd been in or states I was thinking about visiting.

I'd probably TiVo it if they ran a repeat of that series.

 

However, it did foist Van Earl Wright on a national audience, so it wasn't all that great

 

Yet they've managed to fuck up those shows by going to the "Trifecta", or whatever the fuck they call it now, and jamming 60 minutes of baseball highlights into 20 or 40 minutes so they can get in NFL Tonight on a fucking Wednesday in June.

The only show they haven't managed to completely destroy is college football Gameday. But I'm sure they'll find some way to wreck it before too long.

Assholes.

 

Anybody notice how quickly they buried the article on the dot com? Less than 24 hours later and it's barely even noticeable on the front page. They took off her picture and reduced the entire thing to less than a line. Mr. Jacobs must not have liked the things she said in the column, even though they are all 100 percent true.

 

The sad thing is they're starting to ruin ESPNews as well. I've been noticing lately that in say, a 10-6 game, they'll show the solo homer in the top of the ninth [because it was by a big name] that made the score 10-5, as opposed to the three-run double in the seventh that made it 8-5.

 

Both of the preceding posts sum up one of the biggest miscalculations of ESPN's approach: the SportsCenter 'formula,' if you will, worked better when they had talented people. Do the same format with mostly wannabees and no-talents, and you get the current SportsCenter.

It's like trying to have a 7-year-old peewee QB run Peyton Manning-style offense. The kid just won't have the physical and mental ability at that age to make it work.

 

They're fucking it up. Yesterday, I was watching and it had even less highlights. But more "Coming up, after the commercial..." previewing three different things they are going to show. Instead of highlights.

 

You know, I hate seeing John Buccigross lumped into that, because he's been there for a while, and always does a solid job. I miss him and Melrose doing NHL 2nite.

 

True, Buccigross isn't a good example of Sportscenter's sucktitude. Really, you can just say "Neil Everett" and leave it at that. He's just miserable.