SIAP: ESPN President Resigns
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/18/media/john-skipper-espn-resigns/index.h…
While many suffer with addiction (including a ton in my family), it still never ceases to amaze me in how many "high-functioning addicts" there are out there. President of ESPN and an addict? Wow. Let's hope he gets help...
December 18th, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^
Glad he's getting the help he needed. Probably should have been gone sooner considering ESPNs transition into alienating and losing consumers, paying too much for stuff, firing droves of workers, and turing the network into a bunch of people that yell a lot with little thought. All in an increasingly less competative market. There's the only time I ever interact with ESPN now is for live broadcasts and an occasional box score if in a pinch. But hey, maybe it's just me.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:10 PM ^
Hope he gets the help he needs. ESPN jokes aside, addiction is serious shit.
On another note, got an honest question: how long do you all think ESPN lasts? I don't think it shrivels up and goes away completely, but it's clear that ESPN not even close to what it once was. To bring back viewership, I have to imagine Disney is eventually going to need to make some widespread changes to the organization, or completely re-build it from the ground up at some point.
Aside from ESPN Gameday, and the games themselves (which now that I think about it may generate enough revenue for Disney to not have to do anything), ESPN is a completely useless entity. There is nothing redeeming about it anymore unless all you want to hear is Stephen A. Smith and Jamele Hill talk about LeBron and LaVar Ball for 12 hours a day. Does anyone think ESPN's days, as it currently exists, are over? Or does Disney just decide that as long as it generates a profit, that's enough for them?
December 18th, 2017 at 12:17 PM ^
don't think it will be just ESPN that changes. I think that pretty much all of entertainment and mass media is in kind of a transition period right now, where it clear that the "old way" is not working, but nobody has figured out really what the "new way" entails, or really how things need to change. I think this is true across the board, sports, news, episodic TV, movies, everything. Part of the problem is that people simply don't have the time right now to consume that much television or sports. And live viewing of sports is way too expensive right now, so I don't think as many people are watching it because they don't have the connection to a particular team that live viewing brings.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:21 PM ^
Is that I just don't think people care to hear the "hard core sports talk" anymore. That's why LeBatard is so successful. They talk it occasionally, but otherwise just make a mockery out of everything.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:25 PM ^
but the LeBartard type model is not a recipe for lasting relevance, and it is certainly not a recipe for fixing anything for ESPN and the sports world. What he essentially does is to trivialize the very things that ESPN needs and wants people to take seriously.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:38 PM ^
He's coming up on 15 years on the air, and it's one of the most successful shows on radio in the entire country.
The lasting model for staying on top is not all these up and coming BS hot take shows. That's why so many of the more successful online sports sources are the ones that are quirky and funny and not the norm.
If anything, his model is the EXACT model to last in today's world.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^
for him, yes. But we are talking about for the ESPN brand. Televised sports talk radio shows are not the answer for ESPN. His approach sets him apart from other programs with similar concepts, but "people sitting around talking about things they think are funny" is not a good recipe for ESPN's long-term relevance.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^
Agree to disagree.
I think his model is exactly how you need to go about it today. You talk about enough sports for those people, mix in social things here and there, and have a good time doing it. Serious sports is over. People don't need to wait until 11 PM to watch highlights. You have to do things in a different way. You can take his formula and mix it up, it doesn't have to be exactly like he does.
If you think his show is just "people sitting around talking about things that are funny," you are way off.
ESPN's long-term relevance will depend on coming up with some unique programming that follows his model and maybe buying some big things out, like the Prem League.
December 18th, 2017 at 1:05 PM ^
I'm not criticizing Dan LeBatard. He is a funny guy, his show is a funny spin on things. But the problems that ESPN is and will face in the near future is something else entirely than "is the Dan LeBetard show entertaining." I think the Dan LeBatard show is one of the least relevant things to this conversation that I can think of.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^
December 18th, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^
can only speak for myself, I guess, and I don't have the time. I haven't watched an NBA Finals Game or Monday Night Football for like 10 years because I simply cannot stay up until 1:00 AM. I can't watch SportsCenter in the morning because "morning" starts at 4 AM and I have like 7 minutes of personal time available before I begin and don't stop moving until 8:00 PM. I listen to radio podcasts during my commute and visit this site for sporatic (mostly lunch) intervals during the day, and have like 1 or 2 shows at any given time that I watch on DVR. The specific time in my life? Maybe, but with more and more families with two working parents..... like, when am I supposed to tune in?
Oh, and American Vandal. I watched American Vandal because it was seriously impossible not to.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:11 PM ^
I hear Dave Brandon may be available.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:31 PM ^
Probably this or get fired.
December 18th, 2017 at 2:21 PM ^
December 18th, 2017 at 12:42 PM ^
He can lose his job, but win back his life.
Hopefully he takes advantage of this opportunity, and has hit bottom.
BTW---There is no such thing as a high-functioning addict/alcoholic, only those who have not hit bottom quite yet.
December 18th, 2017 at 1:04 PM ^
A good chunk of the American work force is addicted to something, xanex, booze, vicodin, whatever. As long as they're taken in moderation most people won't ever even approach "rock bottom".
December 18th, 2017 at 1:25 PM ^
December 18th, 2017 at 1:47 PM ^
you can be addicted to regularly needing moderate quantities of something, can you not? I mean ... caffeine, carbs, coke, cigarettes, alcohol -- not everything is meth / opiods / crack.
December 18th, 2017 at 1:29 PM ^
Yeah I call BS on that. I worked with plenty of headhunters back in my days of living in NYC who would smoke weed 4-5 nights a week after work, and then dive right into cocaine over the weekend. But they'd be in the office on time every day, cleaned up, professionally dressed, and sold the shit out of some job reqs. They walked out of the office every day making a shit ton more money than I ever did.
I'm not advocating drug use, but some people find a way to walk that extremely narrow line. At least for a time. Eventually I have to imagine your body gives out on you.
December 18th, 2017 at 5:13 PM ^
You and Hatter are dreadfully uninformed regarding alcoholism/addiction, whether you call BS on it or not.
I smoked dope EVERY DAY for 12 years, from 6:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. from Mitch Albom in the morning until Bill Bonds late night. The only time I came down was for law school exams and the bar exam.
I have done more coke in courthouse bathrooms than you or Hatter have done in your entire lifetimes, times 10. I drank so much beer that Anheiser-Busch invited me to their stockholder's meetings, though towards the end I was a fool for red wine. Even more bona fides than that, I was at the first Hash Bash on the Diag.
I have tried 10 murder cases, represented two serial killers, various kinds of sexual predators, and countless drug dealers.
I had a 21-year drinking career that pretty much started my last year of high school.
I have not had single drink or drug in almost 27 years now. I was lucky; I hit bottom and had that "gift of desperation".
If want to call me a "high-functioning alcoholic", that's up to you, but the reality was, I was a resident of my own living hell, and did not "function" at near the level I could have had I done something about my disease.
I am grateful to be able to see that now.
December 19th, 2017 at 7:07 AM ^
that is meant sincerely, without a nanogram of sarcasm. how great is that you were able to wrest control of your life from such a dark place. happy for you, and i'm sure you would say that turn-about (or 'bounce' from the bottom?) pays dividends every day, all day. kudos.
December 19th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
Thank you for your kind comment.
It does pay dividends every day, but I cannot take the credit. No way I could have engineered the set of circumstances to get me to see through my denial.
I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired; all the credit goes to the man above.
December 18th, 2017 at 12:50 PM ^
if there is a bit of a cover-up or pre-emptive move here, given the recent investigative report that was just released that claims ESPN has a strong culture of hostility toward women, sexism, and alleged incidents of sexual harrassment.
Maybe the two are completely unrelated and the timing is just coincidental - but the timing does seem suspect.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2017/12/15/women-espn-face-cultur…
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2017/12/14/women-who-worked-espn-say…
EDIT: to the extent he does have a substance addiction, I do wish him the best in his recovery. I, along with many others, know first-hand the havoc substance abuse can wreak on lives. Not trying to minimize that at all, but rather the interesting timing of the announcement from a PR point of view.
December 18th, 2017 at 11:20 PM ^
December 18th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^
Surprised so many are believing the story that it was truly just the substance abuse and not just a fortuitous coincidence with everything else going on at ESPN.
December 18th, 2017 at 2:04 PM ^
Didn't they just re-up the guy recently?
December 18th, 2017 at 1:13 PM ^
Skipper resigns, Gilligan inconsolable.
December 18th, 2017 at 1:26 PM ^
December 18th, 2017 at 1:52 PM ^
I generally have a very opposite opinion of the standard flow of people, but I don't think I get slammed that much. It's because I can post things and not be a prick (usually).
People on here are more than willing to listen to opposite sides of things, but just present it in a rational manner and you'll be fine.
December 18th, 2017 at 2:44 PM ^
December 18th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
December 18th, 2017 at 7:57 PM ^
December 18th, 2017 at 8:02 PM ^