How ESPN Ditched Journalism And Followed Skip Bayless To The Bottom

[3Rivers]

A lengthy, but good article from Deadspin

How ESPN Ditched Journalism And Followed Skip Bayless To The Bottom: A Tim Tebow Story

In October, Doug Gottlieb, a radio host and basketball analyst who'd decamped for CBS the previous month after nine years with ESPN, went on The Dan Patrick Show and dropped something of a truth bomb about his time in Bristol:

I was told specifically, "You can't talk enough Tebow." I would jokingly throw it into a segment. "I gotta find 15 seconds here to talk about Tebow, all right let's move on and talk about Major League Baseball."

Later, he said:

Is it ridiculous how much you have to talk about Tebow? Yeah! But for whatever reason people can't get enough of that story, and they kind of stoke the fire—that's kind of what ESPN does.

more at the link

 

[gho3st]

so in other words : ESPN = Sports version of FOXNEWS??

 

[Change]

Screaming A ruined first take and this new version of First Take ruined ESPN imo. Can't stand any of it anymore.

 

[THE MACHINE]

This helps explain why, over the summer, ESPN dispatched veteran reporter Sal Paolantonio and a crew to cover Jets camp as if it were the run-up to the Super Bowl. ("ESPN embarrassed themselves," Dan Patrick, who spent 18 years in Bristol, said of ESPN's flood-the-zone coverage in Florham Park.) This helps explain why ESPN2's First Take referred to Tim Tebow more than seven dozen times in late May even though there was absolutely no Tebow news to report on. This helps explain why SportsCenter covered Tim Tebow's 25th birthday like a moon landing. This helps explain why it seemed perfectly reasonable to a SportsCenter anchor to ask in-studio guest Liam Neeson whether Tim Tebow should be the Jets' starting quarterback even though Liam Neeson had no clue what he was talking about. This helps explain how ESPN wound up breaking Tim Tebow news to, yes, Tim Tebow.

 

[pete clemenza]

I met Mark May from espn's college football once and he told me straight up that most of the time they don't even want to talk about the sh*t they talk about on air. Its all a mandate from the suits upstairs

 

[NYC Rebel]

I met Mark May from espn's college football once and he told me straight up that most of the time they don't even want to talk about the sh*t they talk about on air. Its all a mandate from the suits upstairs

You can tell he doesn't by the way he went in on Joe Paterno.

He almost looked relieved to be so real and honest.

 

[The War Report]

Social media and the 24/7 news cycle is fukking ruining everything.

 

[TheNig]

Probably got about a quarter left. But from what I just read all its saying is that ESPN has over-sensationalized sports news and that's the reason why they have lost viewers and have reporters and writers that seem de-motivated.

 

[gho3st]

Screaming A ruined first take and this new version of First Take ruined ESPN imo. Can't stand any of it anymore.

you are not supposed to like Stephen A Smith on first take. He's there to create conflict with whatever viewpoint that Skip Bayless has. and Vice-Versa.

You'll notice how once the whole Tebow machine really got going, Dana, Jay Crawford, Sage Steele and "Phat booty" Reischa Candidate asked to be re-assigned.


If Rush Limbaugh had made his mcnabb comment now(even though espn was wrong to fire him then), he'd still be working at ESPN because it would move the needle considerably.

 

[gameover82]

you are not supposed to like Stephen A Smith on first take. He's there to create conflict with whatever viewpoint that Skip Bayless has. and Vice-Versa.

You'll notice how once the whole Tebow machine really got going, Dana, Jay Crawford, Sage Steele and "Phat booty" Reischa Candidate asked to be re-assigned.


If Rush Limbaugh had made his mcnabb comment now(even though espn was wrong to fire him then), he'd still be working at ESPN because it would move the needle considerably.

yeah when it was skip vs the world...it was good...then tebow happened and Stephen A came through to be the tebow hater and it when downhill from there

 

[im12whatisthis]

I met Mark May from espn's college football once and he told me straight up that most of the time they don't even want to talk about the sh*t they talk about on air. Its all a mandate from the suits upstairs

ESPN's College Football coverage is about the only thing they have left resembling the old ESPN and decent journalism but I can see that with some topics.

Sportscenter is . I'm a Tebow fan for what he did but last year was a bit outrageous. Those comebacks did deserve the press but Skip & Co took it to a level that was just annoying.

 

[gho3st]

yeah when it was skip vs the world...it was good...then tebow happened and Stephen A came through to be the tebow hater and it when downhill from there

I think they chose Stephen A Smith because the Wednesday Skip Vs Stephen A generated more ratings than any other day. it was the only day where Skip continuously lost every debate.

But once Stephen A became a regular, the novelty wore off and ratings came down. They are still high compare to what first take used to do pre-tebow.

 

[tremonthustler1]

the sad part is that ESPN will keep doing this because everyone will keep watching it even if they hate it. It really is like the WWE in that regard. Nobody truly wants to watch an alternative even if that alternative gives them more of what they want. They just wanna see the institution they're used to get better.

 

[The War Report]

the sad part is that ESPN will keep doing this because everyone will keep watching it even if they hate it. It really is like the WWE in that regard. Nobody truly wants to watch an alternative even if that alternative gives them more of what they want. They just wanna see the institution they're used to get better.

Only the idiots who don't know any better. We have The MLB Network, NBA TV, NFL Network, NHL Network, NBCsports network, and CBS sports Network.

 

[King Theo]

i hope that NBC sports comes through and crushes the buildings. get all those journalist analyst and anchors who are motivated and really want to just report sports and not all the other nonsense.

ESPN truly needs a reality check. i havent watched NFL countdown in a few years and i struggle to watch sportscenter. only show i watch is around the horn and pti.

for actual analysis and breakdown of games i just go to the sports respective network