2024 STUFF ABOUT SPORTS MEDIA THREAD

[RIPPA]

 

[odessasteps]

RIP Bob Cole, age 91. 

[RIPPA]

EDIT - Phil Simms is also out at NFL Today. Matt Ryan is in

[odessasteps]

https://twitter.com/RichLernerGC/status/1786032753013559747?t=xAwnpXBzCor_5BTJLeaTyA&s=19

 

[odessasteps]

 

[odessasteps]

 

[Tabe]

14 hours ago, odessasteps said:

 

A staple of my Saturday mornings.  Loved that show.

[Mister TV]

16 hours ago, odessasteps said:

 

Even as a kid it bothered me they were playing in blue jeans.

[SirFozzie]

Came across this story about the ESPN stand-alone service to be debuted in 2025 (not to be confused with the Fox-WBD-ESPN service that's also coming)

I don't want to be the negative nelly on this one, but in my opinion, this could have the same disaster potential that ESPN: The Phone had. 

https://www.thewrap.com/espn-streaming-service-to-launch-by-fall-2025/

Quote

 

A standalone ESPN streaming service will launch by fall 2025, as early as August, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said on Wednesday.

The Disney boss revealed the expected launch date in an interview with CNBC ahead of the entertainment giant’s earnings call, and called the direct-to-consumer service a “one-stop shop” for sports lovers during the company’s Wednesday earnings call.

In addition to including the “full suite of ESPN channels,” Iger said on CNBC, “it will provide many more features,” including shopping, betting and other personalized and customizable features.

“Not only will consumers be able to stream their favorite live games and studio programming, they’ll also have access to engaging digital integrations like ESPN bet and fantasy sports, e-commerce features and a deeper array of sports stats, all of which we know will be incredibly compelling to younger sports fans in particular,” Iger said on the earnings call. “It will also have very robust personalization features.

 

 

 They threw away over $150 million in the Phone debacle, and they could lose a hell of a lot more.

 

mean, ESPN does what they do best.. deliver live sports. All this stuff they put on there is like.. "Fine. Who was asking for it?"

Give me people talking (smart) about sports. THAT'S WHAT I WANT.

I don't want talking heads yelling to yell. I don't want "e-commerce integration". I don't want betting integration.

 

GIVE.

ME.

SPORTS.

 

Probably getting into "old man yells at clouds there, but...

[clintthecrippler]

 

4 hours ago, SirFozzie said:

 

Probably getting into "old man yells at clouds there, but...

eh, this is where I have been at for a solid 10-15 years now with "non-game broadcast" sports-oriented television programming in general. The minute I stopped consuming sports radio and limiting my "sports analyst/commentary" television programming to pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows attached to actual game broadcasts, my overall enjoyment of sports television leaped dramatically.

[Infinit]

RIP Dutchy

 

[odessasteps]

 

[odessasteps]

 

[hammerva]

So I guess it is official.  Unless Ernie Johnson leaves TNT, next season of Inside the NBA will be the last.   I mean technically it is the last regardless but maybe we can get the original under a new name which I think people would be fine with

[Tabe]

23 hours ago, odessasteps said:

 

The NBA is perfectly within their rights to complain to a broadcast partner about something like that. And maybe they did, maybe they didn't. 

I don't believe for a second it had any influence on him getting canned. 

[SirFozzie]

ESPN is sublicensing two first round College Football Playoff games to TNT, and in '26-'28, they will also have 2 QF games

[Gonzo]

WNBA: "Well, we've been given a player that's been the hottest commodity in sports for months now and could bring our league to levels of popularity and relevance that we haven't seen in a long time. Just hope nobody says or does anything incredibly stupid or anything."

Jemele Hill: "LEROYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY JENKINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNS"

https://x.com/nypostsports/status/1792938271636341155

(Tried getting the Tweet to embed and it wouldn't, as is tradition.)

Edited May 24 by Gonzo

[supremebve]

11 hours ago, Gonzo said:

WNBA: "Well, we've been given a player that's been the hottest commodity in sports for months now and could bring our league to levels of popularity and relevance that we haven't seen in a long time. Just hope nobody says or does anything incredibly stupid or anything."

Jemele Hill: "LEROYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY JENKINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNS"

https://x.com/nypostsports/status/1792938271636341155

(Tried getting the Tweet to embed and it wouldn't, as is tradition.)

I'm going to whisper this...She's not wrong.  It is not a coincidence that the most popular women's basketball player isn't the best player, or even on the best team.  She's the straight white woman in a league that is viewed as overwhelmingly black and lesbian.  She's great, don't get me wrong, but there is a reason that she has reached a level of popularity that no other woman's basketball player has ever reached and a HUGE part of it is that she is a straight white woman.  Honestly, I don't think it is a problem, but we've always acknowledged that the NBA would love to have a white American superstar.  The WNBA has one, and she's going to be the face of the league from now until she retires.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

2 hours ago, supremebve said:

I'm going to whisper this...She's not wrong.  It is not a coincidence that the most popular women's basketball player isn't the best player, or even on the best team.  She's the straight white woman in a league that is viewed as overwhelmingly black and lesbian.  She's great, don't get me wrong, but there is a reason that she has reached a level of popularity that no other woman's basketball player has ever reached and a HUGE part of it is that she is a straight white woman.  Honestly, I don't think it is a problem, but we've always acknowledged that the NBA would love to have a white American superstar.  The WNBA has one, and she's going to be the face of the league from now until she retires.

Heck, there's an argument to be made that this was tried with Sabrina Ionescu a couple of years ago, but it got pushed back on because of her very public mentorship by Kobe Bryant before he died. Then Caitlin Clark started to get big at Iowa and everyone primed for her.

[supremebve]

3 minutes ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

Heck, there's an argument to be made that this was tried with Sabrina Ionescu a couple of years ago, but it got pushed back on because of her very public mentorship by Kobe Bryant before he died. Then Caitlin Clark started to get big at Iowa and everyone primed for her.

Cameron Brink is also getting her share of attention and it has nothing to do with her being a defensive stalwart. We can have these conversations and acknowledge the game without turning it into an issue. Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark was really interesting because both of them are made for TV. Angel Reese's social media is a mix of the worst racists, sexists, and fucking perverts. Not only that, the media as a whole has no idea how to talk about any of it. Add to that,  every woman who has been playing in this league without any of the attention is going out of their way to go for this rookie class's collective jugular. It's a fascinating time for women's basketball and the talent level is high enough that the games can carry all of the extracurricular shit. 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

13 minutes ago, supremebve said:

Cameron Brink is also getting her share of attention and it has nothing to do with her being a defensive stalwart. We can have these conversations and acknowledge the game without turning it into an issue. Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark was really interesting because both of them are made for TV. Angel Reese's social media is a mix of the worst racists, sexists, and fucking perverts. Not only that, the media as a whole has no idea how to talk about any of it. Add to that,  every woman who has been playing in this league without any of the attention is going out of their way to go for this rookie class's collective jugular. It's a fascinating time for women's basketball and the talent level is high enough that the games can carry all of the extracurricular shit. 

Agreed a million percent. As someone who loves women's basketball this is easily the most interesting time for it, and my hope is that there are some significant talks about racial and gender disparity had as a result of it. My concern is that people will throw a blanket over it and pretend it doesn't exist.

[supremebve]

Just now, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

Agreed a million percent. As someone who loves women's basketball this is easily the most interesting time for it, and my hope is that there are some significant talks about racial and gender disparity had as a result of it. My concern is that people will throw a blanket over it and pretend it doesn't exist.

There are going to be 3 groups. 1. People who want to pretend like the racial and gender issues don't exist. 2. The people who are going to embarrass themselves trying to talk about the racial and gender issues. 3. The people who get shouted down because they can adequately talk about these things,  but they make the power uncomfortable. Sociologically, this touches almost every third rail topic,  and the players all see it, and a lot of them are willing to talk about it. It's a really unique situation that if handled correctly can lead to an improvement in how we cover sports,  but I don't think that will happen. 

[Zimbra]

I remember Larry Bird getting a whole ration of shit back in the 90s for making the obvious statement that the NBA was desperate for another white star, feels like the conversation hasn't moved a whole lot since then.

[supremebve]

41 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

I remember Larry Bird getting a whole ration of shit back in the 90s for making the obvious statement that the NBA was desperate for another white star, feels like the conversation hasn't moved a whole lot since then.

Between that and the Pistons and their  "Larry Bird would be just another good player if he was black," comment, we were so close to actually telling the truth until we decided to keep the lie alive. Larry Bird was one of the best players of all time,  but was covered likehe was bar-none the best of all time. Larry was treated like the main character in a league full of great players. All the other great players,  including the Pistons who were better than the Celtics at the time,  resented being treated like costars when it was their turn to be the main character. Instead of addressing their role in the way they treated Larry Bird,  the media acted like The Pistons were crazy for saying it. The conversation is actually more interesting than the lie if you have the ability to address the issue. The NBA is the only sport where we always have a main character, and the way we talk about the league is always about how everyone else revolves around the main character. The last 5 years or so have been weird,  because LeBron is the main character,  but not the best player. The list of new main characters is limited,  because we won't allow a foreign born player be the main character. So we can't have Jokic, Giannis, Embiid, Luka or SGA... so the NBA media is hoping Anthony Edwards becomes that guy. Isaiah Thomas resents the fact that he was never the main character until this day, and as much as we laugh at it,  he's kind of right. There is no real reason to not push the best player as the main character. He was the best player on the best team for two years,  but no one ever treated him like he was Magic, Larry,  or Michael despite beating all the of them.  We decided the main character in basketball has to fit certain criteria, and Isiah fits them all.  Not only did we skip him,  we laugh at him for being mad at being skipped. I have so many opinions about how the NBA is covered and how it makes huge stars,  but also minimizes a lot of great players. 

[odessasteps]

It didn’t help Isaiah Thomas that the mega star didnt like him. 

I wonder if women’s soccer in the US avoided a lot of these issues because not only were most if not all of the best players were white but most of the early stars were straight (Michelle Akers,  Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain). (Apologies if I forgot someone). And then we eventually get  Megan Rapinoe.