Shark Bytes

Glad to see I'm not alone in my absolute disgust for ESPN!

I thought ESPN was a great thing in the beginning. Bob Ley was--and still is, IMO...I'm excluding him from this rant--very professional and did a great job anchoring. Same with John Saunders. I liked Charlie Steiner a lot...thought he was professional, but he had a mischievous sense of humor that I liked! Even Chris Berman wasn't too bad in the beginning (not nearly as bombastic and annoying as he is today).

For me, SportsCenter--and ESPN as a whole--jumped when the ESPN personalities started to see themselves as "celebrities" and "entertainers" instead of journalists. The two who I think bear the most responsibility are Berman (To me, most of the nicknames he gave the athletes weren't all that great and he ended up running that schtick into the ground) and Dick Vitale (who I think is the worst sports announcer of all time...never any real analysis of what is going on in the game, plays favorites and makes no effort to hide his biases, basically screams at the top of his lungs and distracts from the game itself, etc.). That ended up begetting Stuart Scott, Keith Olbermann (what a yahoo...shame on NBC for putting him on their "Sunday Night Football" team!), Lee Corso, Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith, et.al. Ugh!

All of the other points here are certainly valid as well (e.g., too much Yankees-Red Sox coverage in MLB, too much Patriots coverage in the NFL, etc.). But I really think that SportsCenter and ESPN jumped a long time ago. I really think there is a very strong market out there for some REAL sports journalism and coverage, something that would really give ESPN some serious competition. Hopefully, we'll get to see that one day.

SportsCenter has become completely unbearable. The announcers are rude, condescending jerks who are so hideously phony it's impossible to figure out if they are human or not. What's even worse though, in my own humble opinion, is the fact that the show has begun to skip over games played by teams who are out of contention. The Pirates, Royals, Nationals, Orioles, etc. STILL EXIST!!! These teams count, and the idiots at the network won't even show the highlights! Not that it's bearable to even listen, but you can turn the sound down and just watch. Recently I simply couldn't take it any longer and switched to my local sports show. I have always flip-flopped, but this time I may stay there for good. SportsCenter is totally useless.

I don't want to offend...But I wish that the Sunday Sportcenter would stop exploiting the Kid with Leukemia, or the Kid with two weeks to live, or the kid in a Wheelchair that wants to meet Shaq...I mean its every damn sunday and its too much. What The F.... is with these damn telethons and sad stories every dam day....Its ridiculous and repetitive and useless..That story was overdone since the days of Ruth dedicating a home run to a sick kid.

And by the way, Sportcenter is rendered useless when you can get ESPN NEWS. They have traditional sports anchors and you will see Stupid Scott 90% less of the time.

SC sucks now, although they should get some credit for losing the embarrassing "Who's More Now?". When the hosts aren't screaming in Ebonics or squeezing pop-culture references into every highlight, they're trying to see who can speak in the driest tone (Mayne spoke that way because of arrogance and pain-killers; didn't work the, doesn't work now). SC should stick to highlights -- gossip and tributes can be found on the ESPN Web site.

This is ESPN today -

Hey everybody, welcome to Tiger Woods' SportsCenter. Our top story, Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open. Later we'll discuss Tiger Woods with Tiger Woods. Our medical analyst Dr. Woods has also analyzed Tiger Woods' fecal matter to see what makes him the Messiah of golfers. Then, we'll try to extract some Tiger Woods DNA to see if we can clone our very own Tiger Woods to worship right here in Bristol. It's hard to worship him from afar.

Daaa, daaa, duh, daaa, daaaaaaa...TIGER WOODS, TIGER WOODS!!!!

What can you say bad about SportsCenter, unless you don't like sports? Although, they should cover the NFL in the offseason more and say more about the greastest sports team the world has ever seen, the Indianapolis Colts. Manning, Harrison, Wayne, Addai, Freeney, Sanders, Mathis, Saturday, Vinatieri. It doesn't get better than the dream team. Also, PATRIOTS SUCK!

I'll go with the LeBron reason ... but more specifically, the night he made his NBA debut and the whole show was linked to LeBron ... they even called it LeBronCenter! And SportsCenter has been jumping over the shark back and forth ever since.

Where to begin? Virtually all of the anchors are overly cliched charicatures. Their catchphrases were worn out years ago. When Stuart Scott begins speaking English, I may be able to determine if I like him or not. Berman is a self-absorbed clown...always has been and always will be.

As far as the newer guys, Steve Berthiume needs to know that his Scarface impression needs to come to an end. Gee, "Say Hello To My Little Friend" is really creative, Steve. NEwsflash: you're NOT amusing, just annoying. And Neal Evrett? Please take a pill.

Umm.. I don't think it just Sportcenter thats jumped. I think Espn in general has jumped. They are just extremely biased in all sports, especially baseball and football. Everyone knows the Yankees and Red Sox are the elite teams in baseball. But there are 28 other teams. I personally don't care to hear ESPN's opinions on who they think is an unsuccessful team either. Just want to see the highlights.

I also think all these "analyst" need to quit crowning teams before they've gone to there respective championship games. Dallas Mavs last year, favorites to take it all. Jinxed. The Pats Jinxed. I don't think anyone thought The Giants would not only get to the Super bowl but win it as well. The Bears a year ago.

I am eager to see how the Celtic end up doing since they think they are the ones to win it this year. I hope there season isn't jinxed by The Pistons or the Lakers or the Spurs.

SC jumped when the anchors like Chris Berman and Stewart Scott started sniffing jocks and believing they were part of the athletic story/event. NOBODY tunes in the games to see you do an interview! Less commentary and catch phrases and more highlights!

I remember being elated to see an African-American sportcaster on ESPN in the 1990's. I had been a strong SC viewer before then, but that just made me, an Af.Am. male, feel good. It showed me that ESPN didn't think WE were only good enough to play sports but not report it. It was a good move for everyone...

HOW-EVAH!!! Little did I know that ESPN/Walt Disney/ABC would get into the habit of promoting the new milleniuum SAMBO!! I have not watch SC in almost two years because, IRONICALLY, I cant stand Stuart Scott's antics.. "Booyah!" and "Holla at a Playa" etc. were annoyingly ridiculous!! Its not so much that Scott is making Af. Am.'s look bad, it because he is an OLD MAN trying to seem cool! The execs at ESPN/DISNEY don't know any difference. They think that his antics are "hip" and "edgy". Actually, I find them stupid. Just report the game!
Mr Scott is a highly educated man, but he is playing himself. He picked the show up over his shoulders and threw it over the shark!!

SIDE POINTS:
1. I am glad ESPN/Disney curtailed Stephen A. Smith's appearances. He always seems like he is going to KILL somebody. Other races already think that Af.Am. males are always looking to hurt someone. Stephen A. Smith's "charater" on ESPN is designed to play into that "Angry Black Man" stereotype.
2. Big Props to ESPN for making up for these previous offenses and giving Brothas like Michael Wilbon, Greg Anthony, and Tom Jackson a place to shine. These gentlemen really represent the Avg. Af. Am. adult. Beside that, they are very knowledgeable and dont throw their "Blackness" in people's faces! Good Job.

ALL of ESPN stinks, and SC is the flagship stinky part of it.

I like Melrose, though.

Why did it jump the shark?

Too much prepackaged crap. The host of the show will ask one of the contributors a question and before the contributor answers it, a tape of what his answer will be starts airing on the show. What is wrong, can't your contributors think on their feet?

Chris Berman, news flash your schtick is getting old and it was old in the 90's.

Hey Salsbury, you are a better QB than an analyst, and you stunk as a QB.

So Brady can get mouthy with the refs because he earned it and Rivers can't because he hasn't? Are you really that stupid? So, are you suggesting the NFL isn't a fair playing field?

BTW, Salsbury, if Rivers can't talk because he hasn't earned it, then what is your excuse? You haven't earned the right to talk either. Weren't you pretty much a career bench warmer?

The whole stripping of the Patriot draft pick, why did that happen again? IMO, that got buried quickly. BTW, it didn't exactly hurt them, they have the 49ers first round pick.

I don't watch Sportscenter as much. I like Stuart Scott and his hip-hop jargon, but I still miss Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick pairing together. They had a strong chemistry, a lot of trade offs and humor. Keith's wiseguy antics and Dan's "GOOD!" lines when a basketball shot was made. They could have been on for 20 years on that network, but the suits at ESPN avoided it.
Plus, they're doing too many things on their show with the segments, the little game shows and sponsors. It's too much going on, versus the simple approach of showing sports highlights. I'd rather watch the highlights than some silly game show segment. It sometimes makes the show BORING, not the consistent, addictive nonstop pace it once had. And the current anchorman aren't as exciting--they don't seem as interested as the other hosts before. They lack energy. They changed their studio set (very slick, industrial look) to not look like some dated 1974 sitcom, ala Bob Newhart, of their old set. But that's what ESPN wants to show now, so we'll just have to deal with seeing it.

I can't stand it when they go nto their little smart-ass comments during the highlights, and that phony ass banter they do between each other, just give the damn score and SHUT-UP, you're not funny.....