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Keith Olbermann Returning to ESPN?

bluefish said:
Meaning that 5% of them are not awful. Could you name them?
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I personally like Wilbon and, to a lesser degree, Kornheiser. The guys on ATH are good in limited quantities. Can't stand Jamele Hill or Jackie The Giraffe. Sexist? Yup.
 
Who was the last really good ESPN personality? Charley Steiner?
 
It's easy and kind of trendy these days to bash ESPN, but like McDonalds they're damn good at what they do, which is providing sports content to and for the masses (with the occasional McRib-type special programming thrown in). For example I was up at 5:00 a.m. today gettng ready for work and watching the opening round of the British Open instead of our sappy local news. You can thank (or blame) ESPN that there was even an opportunity to watch Wake's spring football game this year. It's easy when you're basically showng a "Game of the Week" to have a couple of Emmy-quality guys calling the action, but much tougher when you're on 24 hours and broadcasting stuff from around the workld. As long as I have an endless choice of live action, PTI and stuff like 30 for 30 (oh, and Erin Andrews), I'm good regardless of who's chatting in the background.
 
May be easy and trendy, probably because it's well deserved. Anything other than a live broadcast of a sporting event is completely unwatchable, with the exception of special programming which excludes all of their talking heads.
 
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DownEastDeac said:
It's easy and kind of trendy these days to bash ESPN, but like McDonalds they're damn good at what they do, which is providing sports content to and for the masses (with the occasional McRib-type special programming thrown in). For example I was up at 5:00 a.m. today gettng ready for work and watching the opening round of the British Open instead of our sappy local news. You can thank (or blame) ESPN that there was even an opportunity to watch Wake's spring football game this year. It's easy when you're basically showng a "Game of the Week" to have a couple of Emmy-quality guys calling the action, but much tougher when you're on 24 hours and broadcasting stuff from around the workld. As long as I have an endless choice of live action, PTI and stuff like 30 for 30 (oh, and Erin Andrews), I'm good regardless of who's chatting in the background.
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Erin Andrews is no longer with ESPN.

Things ESPN is still good/great at:
Live broadcasts, TV magazines (OTL, Sports Reporters, E:60, etc.), and documentaries like 30 for 30. Everything else is like MTV now, mindless noise that bears no semblance to what it used to, could, and should be.
 
ESPN went to shit IMO when they stopped being a creditable place to get sports news / information and became a marketing wing for the sports they broadcast. Unfortunately because they damn near have a monopoly on the sports mind they are very successful in driving the sports agenda in this nation.
 
SkinsNDeacs said:
ESPN went to shit IMO when they stopped being a creditable place to get sports news / information and became a marketing wing for the sports they broadcast. Unfortunately because they damn near have a monopoly on the sports mind they are very successful in driving the sports agenda in this nation.
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This is true.
 
bitch all you want to but ESPN is the greatest thing to happen to guys since the blowjob was invented. Do I watch the stupid talking head shows with Skip Bayless? Hell no. Do I watch college football all freakin day long on saturday? Hell yes.

P.S. Olbermann is a complete tool, but when he is on the screen, it is hard to change the channel.
 
SC DEAC said:
bitch all you want to but ESPN is the greatest thing to happen to guys since the blowjob was invented. Do I watch the stupid talking head shows with Skip Bayless? Hell no. Do I watch college football all freakin day long on saturday? Hell yes.

P.S. Olbermann is a complete tool, but when he is on the screen, it is hard to change the channel.
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Just because others aren't broadcasting those CFB games, doesn't mean no one would. You act as if it would just be a void. I don't think anyone would try to downplay the historic accomplishments of ESPN. They just jumped the shark long ago.
 
WFU71 said:
Who was the last really good ESPN personality? Charley Steiner?
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I always liked Rich Eisen. Scott Van Pelt is solid.

Bob Knight is great. Bilas is decent.

I think that about rounds out the 5%.
 
He is great when he doesn't have the chance to inject his thoughts - that's why SportsCenter worked so well for him.
 
bluefish said:
Meaning that 5% of them are not awful. Could you name them?
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Hmmm... SVP and Bilas are solid as mentioned. I've never had anything against Barry Melrose. I like most of their baseball people - Kruk, Kurkjian, Hershiser, Shulman, etc. I've also never had an issue with Tom Jackson, other than the poor guy is always paired with Berman. That might be less than 5% though.
 
I like SVP and enjoy Mike and Mike in the morning. To me the best thing is the affiliate radio stations that cover the local teams.

The best part of ESPN is the I press ions that Frank Calliendo does of their people. His Stephen A Smith slays me.
 
I like Steve Levy. He has a strong voice that cuts through the background noise of a hockey crowd. Always liked Lee Corso,too.
 
DeaconCav06 said:
I like SVP and enjoy Mike and Mike in the morning. To me the best thing is the affiliate radio stations that cover the local teams.

The best part of ESPN is the I press ions that Frank Calliendo does of their people. His Stephen A Smith slays me.
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Definitely. I'm in the office very early so I don't get much M&M but they are great. Golic is a fucking ND homer and that wears very thin after 5 or 10 miliseconds but he's honest about it. Greenie's self-deprecation about his athleticism is hilarious. Caliendo is great too. Stephen A... well, let's just say he's missing two "s's" from his name.
 
ESPN has become what they used to mock. However, saying that, they are almost solely responsible for us being able to see almost every Wake Game on TV/internet (football, grateful, BBall, not so much). They made money in a venture where no one thought you could and as such, various regional sports networks were formed (Fox, big Ten, SEC, etc).

I break it down this way. I like the people on the network who appear genuine (SVP, Melrose, Levy, etc). The people who are doing schtick are the reason to hate the network.
 
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