ESPN.com

[bhambruiser]

Why do I get the feeling ESPN.com will soon look like this:

I mean everything is an insider thing. It is getting bad.

[Brass]

Because ESPN.com sucks like that. GO TSN.CA!

[Cujo]

ESPN.com needs to lay off the Insider bullplop and keep it real. If not for us, the viewers, they'd have been outta business a long time ago.

[leafs13]

Yeah, the insider stuff is dumb. And I need to get the rest of my hates of ESPN.com of my chest:

-I used to like the bigger logos they had

-I used to like the old layout

-I used to like it when I didn't get 404 error messages half the time

[otherwilds]

ESPN.com has some of the most annoying ads of any major website I visit. They expand over the top third of the pagecover the major head lines and top department links (MLB, NFL, CFB, etc). Combine that with the increasing "insider" links nad I bet more and more readers are getting their news elsewhere like me,

[infrared41]

IMHO ESPN has ruined sports in general and the NBA in particular. They are a joke.

[-kj]

Because ESPN.com sucks like that. GO TSN.CA!

TSN... owned by ESPN.

[Sterling84]

IMHO ESPN has ruined sports in general and the NBA in particular. They are a joke.

I wouldn't disagree with you.

But it's important to realize where they've gone wrong. To me it's easily trace-able to when Disney purchased them. They became a "property" of the Crappiest Place on Earth.

It used to be so cool. A network that didn't bother with original programming so it could take time to show you ALL the NFL highlights and ALL the MLB ones etc and all the wacky quasi-sports in the wee hours.

They've now fallen victim to not only being sellouts, but vanity. Their anchors are celebrity wanna be's. They host award shows, make movies, and (like Disney) have theme parks (ESPN Zone). The problem with this is not that I wish they weren't successful. But that they have lost any and all journalistic credibility in the process. Now with 4 full time channels worth of programming to fill, they rely on the whims of athletes......for their promo pieces, and their fluff filler features.

To put it another way......they CAN'T rip on Warren Sapp for his illegal hit on Clifton or rip on Leonard Little for killing a woman while driving drunk. If they do actually submit an opinion, they could risk TO or Brett not doing their show anymore.....and then how do you fill a 90 minute pregame? They sell us on cutting edge analysis but are too timid to do so because if they aren't the athletes friends.........then they can't do all those cute commercials and "in-depth" interviews.

It is pathetic.

And any disagreement you see on air is so staged it's ridiculous. Alright....Salsbury you take McNabbs side, and Clayton.......you take Owens...go!

And don't even start with Steven A Smith.......good Lord.

I blame Disney. They've ruined everything else on earth. Leave it to them to ruin sports 24-7.

Oh.........and the NBA did PLENTY to ruin itself. I actually can't blame ESPN for that.

[infrared41]

IMHO ESPN has ruined sports in general and the NBA in particular. They are a joke.

I wouldn't disagree with you.

But it's important to realize where they've gone wrong. To me it's easily trace-able to when Disney purchased them. They became a "property" of the Crappiest Place on Earth.

It used to be so cool. A network that didn't bother with original programming so it could take time to show you ALL the NFL highlights and ALL the MLB ones etc and all the wacky quasi-sports in the wee hours.

They've now fallen victim to not only being sellouts, but vanity. Their anchors are celebrity wanna be's. They host award shows, make movies, and (like Disney) have theme parks (ESPN Zone). The problem with this is not that I wish they weren't successful. But that they have lost any and all journalistic credibility in the process. Now with 4 full time channels worth of programming to fill, they rely on the whims of athletes......for their promo pieces, and their fluff filler features.

To put it another way......they CAN'T rip on Warren Sapp for his illegal hit on Clifton or rip on Leonard Little for killing a woman while driving drunk. If they do actually submit an opinion, they could risk TO or Brett not doing their show anymore.....and then how do you fill a 90 minute pregame? They sell us on cutting edge analysis but are too timid to do so because if they aren't the athletes friends.........then they can't do all those cute commercials and "in-depth" interviews.

It is pathetic.

And any disagreement you see on air is so staged it's ridiculous. Alright....Salsbury you take McNabbs side, and Clayton.......you take Owens...go!

And don't even start with Steven A Smith.......good Lord.

I blame Disney. They've ruined everything else on earth. Leave it to them to ruin sports 24-7.

Oh.........and the NBA did PLENTY to ruin itself. I actually can't blame ESPN for that.

My sentiments exactly. Well put. You are right on the money.

[Plaid Paint]

ESPN.com needs to lay off the Insider bullplop and keep it real. 

"Keep it real."

What the hell does that even mean??!!

Are they supposed to have stories about athletes shooting passersby and dealing drugs down on the corner and reminiscing about their gang-banging days and how flabulous those times were and much they miss them and wish they could go back?

[leafs13]

Keepin' it real means keepin' it real. Where do you live? South Africa?

[Brass]

ESPN.com needs to lay off the Insider bullplop and keep it real. 

"Keep it real."

What the hell does that even mean??!!

Are they supposed to have stories about athletes shooting passersby and dealing drugs down on the corner and reminiscing about their gang-banging days and how flabulous those times were and much they miss them and wish they could go back?

Oh great this idiot is back.

[redsfan39]

ESPN.com needs to lay off the Insider bullplop and keep it real. 

"Keep it real."

What the hell does that even mean??!!

Are they supposed to have stories about athletes shooting passersby and dealing drugs down on the corner and reminiscing about their gang-banging days and how flabulous those times were and much they miss them and wish they could go back?

Oh great this idiot is back.

I thought he was banned

[Brass]

All Plaid Paint does is argue. Look at all his posts. All are attacking somebody.

[VitaminD]

Sterling84 just about pinpointed it. ESPN has fuly fallen victim to MTV Syndrome.

MTV started as just a place to show videos. They caught hold so tightly of America's attention that it became a pop culture icon. Eventually, instead of just being the medium through which music was brought to the masses with pictures, they outgrew their original intent and morphed into something else. Like a tumor, they outstripped what ran the original station (music videos); they stopped showing what was cool and BECAME what was cool. More and more channels, more and more original programming, more and more influence over a generation, self-congratulatory awards shows, parodies of itself, clothing, restaurants, the whole shebang. Now here we are, and MTV barely cranks out a dozen videos a day on their flagship station. But we're the MTV Generation.

So it is with ESPN. At some point, they stopped being objective and doing what they intended to do: report on sports 24 hours a day. They stopped telling the news, and they became the news. They infiltrated all the same touchstones MTV did - food, awards, catch phrases, celebrity, glamour, clothing. But along the way, they destroyed sports. People now do (and outdo) just to make a 5-second highlight. Over the top isn't enough. Original programming competes with real sports. Everything's a tie-in.

It's a shame that it happened. Maybe they wanted it that way. But it'd be nice to have plain-old ESPN back. Not glitzy or entertaining or cozying up in bed with Hollywood and pop culture, but it'd be informative and objective.

[Cujo]

All Plaid Paint does is argue. Look at all his posts. All are attacking somebody.

This guy got after me for quoting Terrell Owens once.

CCSLC is a much better place without this clown.

[infrared41]

Sterling84 just about pinpointed it. ESPN has fuly fallen victim to MTV Syndrome.

MTV started as just a place to show videos. They caught hold so tightly of America's attention that it became a pop culture icon. Eventually, instead of just being the medium through which music was brought to the masses with pictures, they outgrew their original intent and morphed into something else. Like a tumor, they outstripped what ran the original station (music videos); they stopped showing what was cool and BECAME what was cool. More and more channels, more and more original programming, more and more influence over a generation, self-congratulatory awards shows, parodies of itself, clothing, restaurants, the whole shebang. Now here we are, and MTV barely cranks out a dozen videos a day on their flagship station. But we're the MTV Generation.

So it is with ESPN. At some point, they stopped being objective and doing what they intended to do: report on sports 24 hours a day. They stopped telling the news, and they became the news. They infiltrated all the same touchstones MTV did - food, awards, catch phrases, celebrity, glamour, clothing. But along the way, they destroyed sports. People now do (and outdo) just to make a 5-second highlight. Over the top isn't enough. Original programming competes with real sports. Everything's a tie-in.

It's a shame that it happened. Maybe they wanted it that way. But it'd be nice to have plain-old ESPN back. Not glitzy or entertaining or cozying up in bed with Hollywood and pop culture, but it'd be informative and objective.

Another excellent post. Again I could not agree more. I would simply like to add one thing that sums it all up in a neat little package...

ESPN Hollywood.

[BCBoy]

Yeah, the insider stuff is dumb. And I need to get the rest of my hates of ESPN.com of my chest:

-I used to like the bigger logos they had

-I used to like the old layout

-I used to like it when I didn't get 404 error messages half the time

That is exactly it! I agree with you 100% there.

I still go there because right now, I can't find a better place to go for NBA, NFL (other than NBA/NFL.com) so I still go there but less and less each year because of the fact everything is an INSIDER! That's life though.

[SEMOSTLfan]

Oh.........and the NBA did PLENTY to ruin itself. I actually can't blame ESPN for that.

I would have to agree with that statement whole heartedly.

[teenchy]

Sterling84, VitaminD, spot on.

I also find it ironically funny when ESPN.com and the other sports sites run AP wire stories. Where's the insider insight in that?

As for Stephen A., I get more than enough of him in the Phila. Inquirer. When I lived in DC I got more than enough Kornheiser and Wilbon in the Post or on low wattage WTEM-AM. There's a reason those guys weren't on TV; better read than seen or heard. When the sports reporter is bigger than the sport, sports - an area where all sorts of priorities are already out of whack - get even more out of whack.