ESPN is the Pinata, Mushnick and Francesa Are Taking Whacks
Uncategorized July 23rd. 2007, 2:10pm
At the risk of making this a New York-centric post, there was a groundbreaking development over the weekend: angry columnist Phil Mushnick and bombastic radio host Mike Francesa – who are always at odds – came to an agreement about something … their dislike for ESPN’s wildly unpopular summer segment, Who’s Now:
And on WFAN/YES, Mike Francesa delivered a long, sarcastic and accurate holler about how ESPN’s value to sports fans has been lost to endless self-promotion – “ESPN has learned that it’s Tuesday!” he shouted – and ridiculous concoctions, such as “Who’s Now,” another lame excuse to remove sports from “SportsCenter.”
“Who’s now,” Francesa bellowed, “Shaq O’Neal or a polar bear?”
“SportsCenter,” once a cherished and conditioned stop, has become SelfCenter, unconscionable and unwatchable. And everywhere you look and listen, ESPN talent is being forced to do embarrassing things in service to an ESPN/ABC/Disney sales plan that ensures nothing better than ridicule.
Everything that once held promise at ESPN has been compromised and corrupted. And that’s a shame.
If these two can find détente bashing ESPN, how about Scoop and Whitlock come together in agreement over Mike Vick’s deplorable treatment of dogs?
SELF-LOVING ESPN IS NO LONGER IN THE NOW (NY Post)
In Game of Life, Vick Blitzed by Trouble (AJC) <– (Must read)
24 Responses to “ESPN is the Pinata, Mushnick and Francesa Are Taking Whacks”
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July 23rd, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Francesa also had John Walsh from ESPN,he is a Managing Editor, and he laced into him on Who’s Now, how ESPN kowtows to athletes, how he likes ESPNews but feels they are ruining that too, and how ESPN people will only come on to defend themselves but won’t let there TV or Print talent on WFAN or other radio stations that also have ESPN stations in the same town. It was pretty good. Walsh and Francesa are friends but that didn’t stop him from letting him know how much he thinks ESPN is going down hill and that unlike ESPN he and WFAN are more than willing to let others on to express differing opinions. He also told him that the ESPYs are the worst show ever invented.
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Funny how Dan Patrick decided to leave ESPN right around the time they decided to do “Who’s Now.” Good decision, Dan. I guess he could tell ESPN has spiralled to new lows.
ncaabasketballscores.blogspot.com
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:30 pm
phil mushnick is an american treasure!
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:54 pm
more:
i too once made sportscenter must-see-tv. whatever was relevent was covered by sportscenter… not a handful of specific teams to a specific corner of the nation. sportscenter now is little more than entertainment tonight. it’s been years since i watched it.
mind you, this nonsense of what bspn has become all started when roone arledge died. i’m sure he’s rolling in his grave right now.
espn once was manna for sportsfans. it was all about sports. now, it’s all about hype. the only thing i can think of that espn hasn’t ruined is its coverage of college football. college gameday on saturdays is outstanding television, quality programming. top notch.
to me, how espn covers college football (and to a lesser degree college basketball) is the gold standard. i think part of this is that it doesn’t shove two or three teams down your throat. one might argue it glorifies usc. but given usc’s track record the past five or six years, it’s certainly warranted.
could you imagine if espn pounded into the ground a rutgers team that was, oh, a game above .500? that’s pretty much is what espn does with the yankees. never has a team barely over .500 been so well-documented (fyi.the mariners have a better record; the diamondbacks have a similar record. yet those teams get a fraction of the coverage).
(the other night while working out at the gym i couldn’t believe the amount of coverage and time devoted to the yankees-devil rays game from st. petersburg was getting during baseball tonight. memo to bspn: are you trying to tell me this was THE best baseball matchup of the night — the most important in the developing penant races — in all the major leagues???)
i think part of this is that the northeast is, for the most part, apathetic towards college football.
aside from college football and basketball (to a lesser degree) espn isn’t about sports coverage, it’s about sports hype; style and schtick over substance.
once, i could tune to sportscenter and be informed if not educated. maybe entertained. now, it’s nothing but hero worship and hype delivered by a bunch of hyperventalating from MAD TV rejects; glorified clowns.
the current format of sportscenter is not informative, it’s not even remotely entertaining; it’s insulting.
with the proliferation of directv, regional sports networks, youtube, quality internet sites, “the final score” on fox and blogs, i no longer need sportscenter. it’s become irrelevant.
if i want to watch highlights — just highlights — from around the nation, i will turn to “the final score.” if i want to watch highlights from specific teams, i can turn to the regional fox networks to watch those team’s highlights shows. or i can go online and catch video clips on youtube or local tv news sites.
and of course, there is infinite amount of news that can be found on blogs and newspaper sites.
for bspn to chase away a sports junkie like me, that’s for years woke up with espn and went to bed with espn, that’s one helluva accomplishment. but it has succeeded.
outside of live games and college football gameday, i no longer watch espn. it’s yesterday’s news.it’s morphed into the E! network. i can say with a sober mind and a straight face that i watch the food network more than espn.
nice going disney!
and people wonder why sports fans are upset with espn?
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:07 pm
The real question is……ESPN continually gets 1000+ comments in its who’s Now section and 100,000+ votes. Whose doing this? Real sports fans would never do such a thing, and the casual sports fan isn’t tuned into ESPN right?
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Seriously you rip on them for covering the yankees? They have the best player in baseball who could he 60 HRs this season. They have at least four HOFs. Have been one of the best teams in baseball coming out of the break. And they played an extra game this weekend and probably as a team had more HRs and Hits (albeit more ABs too) than the entire AL combined. Rookie also hit 3hrs in his first call up series. But you probably know all this from baseball tonight
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I think the reason ESPN’s college football coverage is so good is because they aren’t the only ones with coverage of it. Fox sports carries all USC games (except national broadcasts) so ESPN doesnt go as gaga over USC as they probably would..
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:26 pm
>>>They have the best player in baseball who could he 60 HRs this season.>>They have at least four HOFs.>>Have been one of the best teams in baseball coming out of the break.>>they played an extra game this weekend>>and probably as a team had more HRs and Hits (albeit more ABs too) than the entire AL combined.>>but you probably know all this from baseball tonight
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
off topic: Schrutebag said on his radio show the powers that be are trying to get him to fill in for Rece about once a week on College Football Today
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:29 pm
ESPN is much more interested in catering to the masses rather than providing journalism with substance. I thought this went without saying nowdays. If you’re a baseball fan and want to get caught up in interesting/surprising stories like how the Mariners or the Brewers are doing, do not watch ESPN. If you’re a Yankee/Bosox fan, by all means, watch ESPN, you’re their audience.
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Are you listening ESPN?
You’ve alienated your core group of consumers. Sports fans across the country can no longer stand watching a program that incessantly feeds them advertisements forced into your programming that have nothing to do with what their watching. Sports fans can’t stand made up catch phrases by superficial anchors looking to be as big as the athletes they’re covering.
I understand you feel the need to expand your ‘brand’ by offering ‘original’ programming, ESPN. You’re afraid that in the future you won’t be able to offer the sporting events for which people tune into your channel. Yet don’t you see that by preparing for the future, your helping to create it too.
In the future, ESPN will garner the same ratings and compete with the Fine Living Network. Most of your ratings will be generated by cats and dogs accidently hitting the remote and turning on your channel. ESPN will show the World Couch Potato championship (the loser gives up while watching ESPN). More integrated advertising, like those tractor short films from a few years ago, will be the norm.
Who’s Now? It ain’t ESPN!
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:31 pm
They have the best player in baseball who could he 60 HRs this season.
wow. that really warrants more coverage then, right? by that standard bspn should be jerking off over the phillies. chase utley is on pace to set the doubles record for a season.
They have at least four HOFs
how’s the team doing? call me when they are in first place.
Have been one of the best teams in baseball coming out of the break.they played an extra game this weekend
STOP THE PRESSES! THE YANKEES PLAYED AN EXTRA GAME THIS WEEKEND. WE *** MUST *** GIVE THEM A HALF-HOUR ON SPORTSCENTER!!!
and probably as a team had more HRs and Hits (albeit more ABs too) than the entire AL combined.
against the might devil rays no less. color me unimpressed.
but you probably know all this from baseball tonight
actually, i did know that. but not from baseball tonight.
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Hawkins – please tell me you’re kidding. THis would be radio, NOT TV, right?
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
nope he said it around 6:50 PST. But he’s not sure if he wants to get all dressed up. In his smarmy way he wondered if he could come in with a t-shirt or if he had to use a comb because he likes his “hangover hair”
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:03 pm
He must have mentioned it in the “mysterious first hour”, because he hasn’t said anything about it since 10:00 ET. Knowing him, it could one of two things: either he’s campaigning for it to happen; or he asked if he could do it, and they said no, thus the snarky “hangover hair” remarks.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:11 pm
ESPN has totally jumped the shark. It is ridiculous. Mike and Mike are prime examples. Yes ESPN there is such things as overexposure
http://www.yodayoushouldask.blogspot.com
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
What, no tilde?
Jimmy talks a lot.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:55 pm
he reiterated “he may do some shows” for College Football Live at 9:54 on the good ol’ webcast
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
@ jimmy:
Are you insane? ESPN’s football coverage not biased?
Did you not see Herbstreit and Corso practically begging for the OSU/Mich rematch for the MNC?
ESPN markets the games it (or its parent company) are broadcasting, and hypes those teams to the Nth degree. Chris Fowler alluded to as much in a Chat with fans last year after being asked how Gameday could broadcast from # 19 Neb. at # 4 Southern Cal, rather than #6 LSU at # 3 Auburn or #7 FLA at # 13 Tenn.
ESPN pushes for higher rankings/more coverage for the teams ABC gets to cover, namely the Big 12, Big 10, and Pac 10. Gameday is no better than any of the other crap the 4 letter word puts out.
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:46 pm
If Espn put cowturd on College gameday…..they will lose the fan base of College Gameday. Please ESPN DONT DO IT!
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:40 pm
gatorhater27:
where gameday sets up show on saturdays doesn’t mean squat to me. i don’t notice espn cutting back on coverage of other schools depending on what town lee corso is eating lunch in on saturdays.
if there is bias, for what team? i don’t see espn begin biased against, say, the sec because cbs has the national contract and not abc (disney). and i live in sec country.
to compare whatever bias espn *may* have with college football to how it beats to death yankees/red sox/kobe/TO pales in comparison. the closest thing to bias i see is with usc. but usc is a dominant program. it is in the 21st century what nebraska and fsu were in the 90s; what penn state was in the 80s. and you could make a valid argument usc is more dominant this decade in its sport than yankees or red sox are.
usc is to college football now what the spurs are to the nba now: a cut above the rest. *if* there is bias towards usc, it is deserved.
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:52 pm
^^ I agree! Jimmy took the words out of my mouth.
July 23rd, 2007 at 7:34 pm
ESPN = TASS.
Both had a point of view and agenda they pushed without regard to integrity, journalistic or otherwise and certainly without even considering facts. The only real difference is that TASS was non-profit, so to speak.
ESPN does what it does for profit – and it must be doing very well because little has changed its course in the post Mark Shapiro days (which I had been told at various blogs and websites would see the end of the boo-ya! era. Seems quite the opposite to me).
It’s simply propaganda to satisfy agendas and placate a large number of people. The Yanks and Red Sox are important – I know this because ESPN tells me so constantly. Same for various other sports personalities and teams.
July 25th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Mushnick and Francesa —— talk about two lazy, deceitful, gasbag megalomaniacs who deserve each other….