The Sports Media Thread

[rams80]

1 minute ago, CS85 said:

Skip Bayless is leaving ESPN for Fox Sports.

 

 

 

[JayMac]

FOX Sports has picked up some good talent from ESPN but Skip is not a good pick up.

[Needschat]

 

15 minutes ago, jmac11281 said:

FOX Sports has picked up some good talent from ESPN but Skip is not a good pick up.

 

He and Colin Cowherd can insult their fanbases togethers.  

[CS85]

 

[Sport]

Thank god. Not that I ever watched First Take because I graduated from High School and I don't huff radiator fluid for fun, but it'll be easier to ignore him on Fox, unless they try to jam him into their NFL coverage. He's such a jackass and a professional one at that. I'm glad he'll have less of a platform to spew nonsense. 

 

We'll look back at the decision to go all-in on #EmbraceDebate as the moment that initially crippled the giant.

 

 

I hate when people choose salary over legacy: https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless/status/575465882761043969

[dfwabel]

Simmons' HBO show to debut in June.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/bill-simmons-hbo-show-any-887709

 

[pmoehrin]

1 hour ago, McCarthy said:

We'll look back at the decision to go all-in on #EmbraceDebate as the moment that initially crippled the giant.

 

For me the jump the shark moment was the Brett Favre retirement coverage. You literally could not go 20 minutes without getting some type of Brett Favre update if you were watching ESPN when that was going on. I think at that point they could have changed their slogan from "The Worldwide Leader in Sports" to "The NFL's media bitch"

 

But the talk show aspect of ESPN has gotten totally out of control and its been that way for several years now. At this point its almost like they want to be a sports network without actually covering sports. Both ESPN and ESPN2 will go days on end now without broadcasting a single live event or game.

 

I'm not saying they need to go back to the days where they were covering the American badminton championships, but being a 24 hours talk network is not how they got to where they are now and it looks like they're just going to keep doubling down on that model until it finally works or they go out of business.

[DDR]

I used to hate Skip Bayless as a person. I don't anymore, because I no longer think of him as an arrogant, idiotic sports shouter. I now think of him as an actor, playing the role of loudmouth troll. I still hate Skip Bayless, but now it's just the character he plays.

[2001mark]

I've never had ESPN, yet I can say that their website has been awful from day zero.  That cluttered mess cannot help.

 

si.com for me ty

[dfwabel]

3 minutes ago, 2001mark said:

I've never had ESPN, yet I can say that their website has been awful from day zero.  That cluttered mess cannot help.

 

si.com for me ty

 

While I rarely visit the ESPN/CBS/SI/Fox/Yahoo Sports portals, that June 2014 redesign of SI.com was even a topic here, IIRC.  The redesign was awful and took it off my bookmarks then and I've been better for it.

[Cujo]

6 hours ago, DDR said:

I used to hate Skip Bayless -- I now think of him as an actor, playing the role of loudmouth troll. I still hate Skip Bayless, but now it's just the character he plays.

 

Nailed it.

 

Believe it or not, Bayless once was legit sports writer and called it like it was -- you know, "just another guy". As the years went on, he became more and more opinionated and realized that the more bizarre, outlandish his opinions were, the more attention he would gather, the more (im)famous he would become and the more money he would make.

 

It's amazing to see the amount of people who get worked up over his takes. The guy has it mastered. Take a nationally publicized figure (ala Tebow, the Cowboys, etc), side with the unpopular minority, and say it all with a straight face. As DDR alluded to, trolling at it's finest.

 

So yea, Skip has basically become sports' version of Stephen Colbert, and now look at where it's gotten him. Good for him.

[dfwabel]

Hiring Cowherd for a TV show which nobody sees and getting Bayless for more daytime TV is a good FOX move?

 

Daytime ratings is not where they will have the 24-54 demo en masse.  

 

FS1 has little to want to see after 6PM.  Getting half of the Big Ten helps live coverage, but they still have lots of MonsterJam, UFC, and Motocross in primetime.

 

I guess I could watch the majority of Aussie Rules and NRL on my phone, but I don't and I don't pay for Fox Soccer Plus.

[FinsUp1214]

Speaking of Cowherd, I happened to watch his show this morning because it was playing on one of the food court TV's here at UVU. 

 

Within only five minutes, he suggested the Cowboys don't need to draft a quarterback because "they already have their franchise QB" and that Chris Paul should bolt to the Lakers. Just because Lakers.

 

Well Colin...Romo was a franchise QB, but is now 36 and hardly has a collarbone left, and "LOL LAKERS" isn't the answer to everything like you and your former ESPN comrades think it is. 

 

It it physically hurts to listen to this guy sometimes.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Starting a national sports network seems like a really risk (if not dumb) idea in 2016. Starting a national over-the-top network seems like a better plan; I'd pay 5 to 10 bucks a month for Fox Sports' soccer offerings - but at this point I need to choose either FS or ESPN on my SlingTV package and I'd rather have NFL, NBA, MLS and SportsCenter.

 

The good thing about OTT networks is that we as consumers generally have more choice. The bad thing is they're approaching or eclipsing cable bills. My Sling/Hulu/WWEN/Netflix package is $60-ish a month, and relies on reliable Internet without data caps, which I'm lucky to have.

[MadmanLA]

13 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

Nailed it.

 

Believe it or not, Bayless once was legit sports writer and called it like it was -- you know, "just another guy". As the years went on, he became more and more opinionated and realized that the more bizarre, outlandish his opinions were, the more attention he would gather, the more (im)famous he would become and the more money he would make.

 

It's amazing to see the amount of people who get worked up over his takes. The guy has it mastered. Take a nationally publicized figure (ala Tebow, the Cowboys, etc), side with the unpopular minority, and say it all with a straight face. As DDR alluded to, trolling at it's finest.

 

So yea, Skip has basically become sports' version of Stephen Colbert, and now look at where it's gotten him. Good for him.

 

To expound it a bit further...I remember listening to Bayless interviewed on the His & Hers podcast a couple years ago, and he was candid about his life away from sports media.  For most past, Bayless in real life is an introvert, and he even admitted that his TV persona is completely different from what people see every morning next to Screamin A. and whichever piece of ass that has the (un)fortunate task to play "moderator" between the two.

 

I only catch a few minutes of "First Take" before heading to work; let's just say I don't watch hear to Skip and Screamin A. and whatever convoluted topics they conjure up each morning.

 

55 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

The good thing about OTT networks is that we as consumers generally have more choice. The bad thing is they're approaching or eclipsing cable bills. My Sling/Hulu/WWEN/Netflix package is $60-ish a month, and relies on reliable Internet without data caps, which I'm lucky to have.

 

I just signed-up for PlayStation Vue last week, and so far, so good...the only glaring omissions from its lineup are the A&E Networks (meh, whatever...the only show I watch between those networks is "Bates Motel") and the Univision networks (which includes the El Rey Network).  Beyond that, the channel selection is pretty much most of the channels I normally watch anyway, but all in all, I think it's a good value across the board, especially when you consider what you may already pay for through a traditional TV provider, and for a bunch of channels you could care less about.

 

Of course, it would also be great if they added at least one of the league-owned networks, even if they put them in a separate tier, so long as it's reasonable priced ($5-9 a month), I would have no problem paying a few dollars extra.

[infrared41]

6 minutes ago, MadmanLA said:

 

To expound it a bit further...I remember listening to Bayless interviewed on the His & Hers podcast a couple years ago, and he was candid about his life away from sports media.  For most past, Bayless in real life is an introvert, and he even admitted that his TV persona is completely different from what people see every morning next to Screamin A. and whichever piece of ass that has the (un)fortunate task to play "moderator" between the two.

 

Really? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that there are still...ahem...men who think that way, but I am. You're a real renaissance man. 

[Brass]

Sooooo did Mike Tirico use his white privilege to get his new gig at Fox Sports or how does that work?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

2 minutes ago, Brass said:

Sooooo did Mike Tirico use his white privilege to get his new gig at Fox Sports or how does that work?

 

What's your point? Or, what are you talking about?

[JTernup]

I actually rally like the Herd, I think when he goes off on his 'real life' rants he is actually usually really spot on. There have been many times I have found his opinion to be both insightful and valuable (When he talks about parenting, mental health, etc). Lately (I don't watch the show that often, maybe a couple times a month) I have noticed that he has been drifting to the 'hot takes' #EmbraceDebate model when it comes to sports which is unfortunate. I do love Kristine Leahy though, she really needs her own show. 

[Sport]

I was always aware Bayless was playing a character, but that doesn't make it any less annoying. It's almost worse. Like, if Trump is actually the nutjob he purports to be then he's just another loon and you can forgive someone for being mentally ill, but if it's an act like Paul Manafort says it is then he has deliberately chosen to be this much of an a$$hole in order to pander to the dumbest people in the country and I have even less respect for that. Same for Bayless and SAS. 

 

Anyone can go on TV or write a dumb tweet and shock jock an audience. Bayless didn't invent that and that deserves no recognition or respect. As journalists both he and SAS should be embarrassed and they can be embarrassed all the way to the bank, but they've lost all credibility and respect within their profession. If it were me that would eat at me.