OT: Doc Rivers Calls Out ESPN in Interview
During the interview he says, "That network, to me, reports a story that they created, then they do reports on it for the next two days. On a story they created." On top of that, he called the report "stupid".
In this case the ESPN reporter is Chris Broussard, who reported that the Clippers and Knicks were discussing a trade involving Carmelo and Blake Griffin. Rivers goes on to call out ESPN on another bogus story.
Not really shocking, but it's great hearing a guy like him call them out on their BS stories.
Link:
January 6th, 2014 at 11:59 AM ^
and why I stopped watching that crap long ago.
January 6th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^
The headlines are a joke. The biggest annoyance to me is anytime a player is suspended. It will read: NFL Player A has been banned; that sounds like a big deal, when you click on it, it's for one game.
January 6th, 2014 at 5:20 AM ^
About fuckin time someone called them out.
I was just discussing this the other day with someone about how coaching searches are now popularity contests. They can report whoever the hell they want is being discussed for a position even if that person isn't even being considered because some jackass on a message board metioned them by name and it will get views.
And it really was amazing how much time they devoted to a player that wasn't even playing (Tebow) last year. Ridiculous.
http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2013/december/the-most-ridiculous-moment…
January 6th, 2014 at 5:58 AM ^
Chris Broussard is the world offender of the bunch at ESPN when it comes to mythical, "sources."
Has he ever been right about anything?
January 6th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
This, this-- a thousand times this. I don't know why Ric Bucher was shoved aside in favor of this guy. He's never right about anything, has very simplistic opinions, and is kind of annoying. IN other words, he's like a mellow Stephen A. Smith.
Look, ESPN is not the best of all possible worlds-- but, as far as sports media goes, it is still the best. MLB network has some potential, but until they stop employing Harold Reynolds and Mitch "I don't understand anything but plattitudes and nonsense" williams, and the like it remains generally low-quality. THe Fox Sports channel is a steaming pile of humans not very good at their jobs and NBC seems to have no idea what they are doing.
Here's my real problem with complaints against ESPN: they have Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith and terrible shows on ESPN U for a reason: PEOPLE WATCH THEM. It's kind of that simple. My guess is that the majority of people at ESPN would much rather have the old style sports scenter, ESPNews (which used to be more comprehensive it seems to me), and I dunno shows like the Sports Reporters and the like. But you know where the money is? Live sporting events. And you know where the ratings are? Skip Bayless. So stop being mad at TV execs who shovel crap out on to the table and start being mad at D-Bags who actually watch morning take or early scoop or ESPNU.
January 6th, 2014 at 10:49 AM ^
Legendary high school point guard of the 1960s vs. the most bad-ass sports mouthpiece of all time (just ask him!), preferably in a steel-cage match. Celebrity Death Match but real. I'm in. Just don't let either of them speak.
January 6th, 2014 at 12:29 PM ^
but it was more of a hunting program and Smith, Bayless and a host of other people were the game.
January 6th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
Whose name rhymes with "mace".
January 6th, 2014 at 6:05 AM ^
One of the reasons I sought out and found this site was due to my mounting frustration with ESPN, and specifically with "Entertainment Tonight for Sports" (I think they still call it Sportcenter, though). I agree with Doc - the network will artificially create a firestorm, feed the firestorm for days, if not weeks, and then instantly drop the story as soon as a hotter storm is created. The Tebow stuff was a real embarassment.
I do still enjoy PTI very much, and the 30 for 30 series is almost as good as what HBO Sports produces. I don't bother with much else.
January 6th, 2014 at 7:12 AM ^
Holy Crap! I'd rather stick a rusty fork in my eye than watch PTI.
January 6th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
I enjoy the banter. I think Tony Kornheiser is hilarious.
I haven't watched in over a year, though. I cut the cord and went OTA and Internet and haven't looked back.
January 6th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
you would still hear those two idiots...
January 6th, 2014 at 8:04 AM ^
January 6th, 2014 at 8:41 AM ^
I would love to get paid to get my sources from Tweets and Blogs. Hell we do that every day here for free.
January 6th, 2014 at 8:41 AM ^
In the video within the story, the worst part for Rivers had to be that some of the reports almost seemed to insist on pushing the ESPN story even after he had called it "crap". The influence that network has on how sports is generally reported on some other outlets despite pushing self-created narratives and baseless speculation is frightening to me sometimes.
January 6th, 2014 at 9:49 AM ^
The influence that network has on how sports is generally reported on some other outlets despite pushing self-created narratives and baseless speculation is frightening to me sometimes.
And, if you extend that idea to the rest of the media, you get Foxnews, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, .... i.e., the so-called "Main Stream Media".
January 6th, 2014 at 10:14 AM ^
One of the things their influence has created that really aggravates me to no end is the relatively new usage of the word "physicality". 2-3 years ago nobody ever used that term. Suddenly one ESPN analyst, I want to say Dilfer, starts using it and now it's all over the place. Everytime I hear some football analyst use that word I wanna perform a drop kick to their neck.
January 6th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
January 6th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^
this has more to do with a certain former presidents tendancy to misinflect words properly. Even though people like to make fun of it, its really easy to do. I noticed that in the mid-aughts, frankenwords began to pop up in TV shows and movies.
January 6th, 2014 at 8:51 AM ^
At some point in the late 90s, (1998?) is when I noticed this stuff starting. SC wasn't all that informative, 75% of the stuff was NFL, they lost KO and a few others and that lazy-eyed guy really jumped the shark. It became SportsInfoTainment.
Then "cold Pizza" began, PTI (which I kind of liked a bit initially b/c TK is pretty honest & blunt) and the game show thing with the guido- uh, ATH. All born out of reality TV back in 2002 or so.
If you've seen Anchorman 2, then you know exactly the transformation that is discussed here. Don't give them the info the need, give them the crap that already want.
Honestly, it's nothing more than a soap opera- all but one Soap has been cancelled, that SoapOperata TV channel is gone as of 1/1/14. But it's all still there, really: we just call it reality TV (sports or otherwise) now.
January 6th, 2014 at 8:57 AM ^
Nice to hear them get called out. The problem is so obvious that even some of their own will occasionally point it out (Wilbon makes this point on occasion.) We aren't going to guilt ESPN into changing, but if enough of their potential audience expresses frustration and shows willingness to tune in for the more intelligent stuff (30 for 30 for example,) then the ratings aspect will push them to change over time.
January 6th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^
to upvote Doc Rivers? +1 Doc
January 6th, 2014 at 9:58 AM ^
January 6th, 2014 at 9:59 AM ^
January 6th, 2014 at 10:13 AM ^
January 6th, 2014 at 10:17 AM ^
There's not much point in watching it, at least not for more than a couple minutes. The ticker at the bottom of the screen will give away the scores and even if you miss that, the other ticker thing on the left will also give away the results ("BIG WIN FOR USC;" "CELTICS LOSE AGAIN"). They have forgotten how to keep people in suspense.
January 6th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
There is no suspense, no breaking news anymore with the existence of Twitter, smartphones, etc. I can find the result to any game in seconds on the computer that is on my person at all times. If there are crazy good highlights I can almost guarantee that they will have been GIF'd or Vine'd or linked to within a couple minutes on my feed. Sportscenter's purpose has been usurped by new technology.
January 6th, 2014 at 10:23 AM ^
And absolutely true
January 6th, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
journalism vs. entertainment
I watch Fox Sports 1 in the mornings before work. I find that they show more highlites and more scores. That's all I care to see.
ESPN hasn't been in the journalism business for a good number of years.
January 6th, 2014 at 10:29 AM ^
They've still got it, but look at how they treat it. Outside the Lines is great journalism... and they treat it like crap. The whole "League of Denial" movie debacle really showed where ESPN's priorities lie (with the money)
January 6th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^
I remember as a kid being able to wake up on Monday (in the summer) and go turn on ESPN and basically be guaranteed to get a quick highlight of every NFL game from the previous day.
Now I swear they just harp on the same TMZ-but-for-sports crap all day long. They show a fraction of the highlights they used to and they often devote huge lengths of time to Tim Tebow!, coaching searches!, Kobe Bryant's new hair-do!, what are the Yankees or Red Sox doing today?, etc.
January 6th, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
January 6th, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
Doc Rivers has also had tiffs with Bill Simmons in the past, although he has said he buried the hatchet with him.
http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2013/june/doc-rivers-says-he-was-tired-of-bill-simmons-criticism.html
January 6th, 2014 at 1:34 PM ^
In defense of Simmons, Doc kinda shot his way out of town because he had just signed a contract and thought thought Ainge should have reloaded the Celtics for another run. Most folks had realized that the window had closed on the KG-era team, but Doc wasn't interested in a rebuild.
January 6th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
good for him
January 6th, 2014 at 10:56 AM ^
I haven't watched Sportscenter in at least 3 years for all the reasons you guys have brought up. It's a complete waste of time and I really don't need to know what Lebron, kobe, and A-Rod had for breakfast every morning.
This past weekend, I was on a treadmill in a hotel and was forced to watch their BCS national championship preview show (to cover up the sound of my struggled breathing). I was shocked when their "expert" panel was asked to give a final evaluation of the BCS and all of them agreed that it did it's job and was good for college football. I don't necessarily disagree with that statement. However, the reason I was shocked is that for past, i don't know, 10 years or so all ESPN did was bitch and moan about the BCS in an effort to get a playoff. When they finally got their way, guess who got the broadcasting rights? It sickens me that ESPN's money grabbing campaign has had a permanent effect on the best sport on the planet. The Playoff might be a rousing success, but the way things were was pretty damn entertaining.
January 6th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
January 6th, 2014 at 11:50 AM ^
it isn't just sports coverage or even merely television/media that has become directed to the lowest common denominator. It is every sports franchise including our own here in Ann Arbor.
As said above, I am sure that most journalists/personalities on ESPN would prefer to be more professional and do things the way they were, say 10-15 years ago. But as everyone knows ratings are king. Getting serious sports fans to tune in is easy. We may complain about the quality of the shows or idiots appearing on them--I'm looking at you Skip Bayless--but we watch (to an extent) anyways---cuz we like sports. It's getting the casual fan to tune in that pumps up the ratings numbers. Those people don't want hard sports--they want human interest stories, faux arguments, info-tainment. And they got it---why else are Dick Vitale, Lee Corso and Lou Holtz on TV doing their schtick?
And this tripe started showing up at professional sporting events at least 15-20 years ago--circus-like promotions like world championship type intros, lights down, contrived nicknames, music telling us how we should cheer, t-shirt tosses, etc etc. Most hard-core sports fans hated it---but it apparently made the NFL and NBA what they are today.
Sadly IMHO, college sports (at least football and basketball) have gone that way. We need look no further than our own team--each of the complaints I stated above apply, plus cutesy uniform changes, huge electronic boards (not the one in the stadium) etc etc.
And you know it works simply by checking out those now attending the Michigan football games--between the uninterested corporate ticket types up in the boxes to the people in front of you (with their children who couldn't give a shit about the game--of course, I don't mean your children--or mine) eating this stuff up. I fear it may also be a reason that things won't change even if the product on the field doesn't get better--if you give up your long-held season tickets, someone who likes this shit will apparently take them. And isn't that what really matters if you are running an athletic department?
January 6th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
I despise those "human interest" stories that lead every Olympic event.
Now that's ESPN almost 24/7.
January 6th, 2014 at 12:31 PM ^
They are all over (under?) produced and all essentially boil down to "people who succeed often have struggles. SEE? OLYMPIANS ARE JUST LIKE US!"
January 6th, 2014 at 4:18 PM ^
As someone old enough to remember ESPN's very humble beginnings, I marvel at their success. They changed the landscape of televised sporting events, and I initially admired them for it, mostly since they televised most Michigan football games versus the barren TV landscape of the 70's and early to mid-80's.
My admiration has officially turned to hatred. I have not watched an iota of SportsCenter or any televised sporting event in the past 4-5 years. Can't stand it. I actually like watch B1G Network sporting broadcasts - Rotel commercials and all - compared to the ESPN mothership. B1G hoops season is especially refreshing since the majority of games are viewed through the B1G lens.