ESPN (A bunch of Death-Spiraling maroons)

[redguard117]

Bit inappropriate, but had to share

 

[Romanowski]

Found via a link on SI's Hot Clicks (proper sourcing thank you), Awful Announcing (apparently not linkable from BP) goes to town on ESPN's NBA fanboy Chris Broussard:

Full Article

Good stuff there.

 

[Brutus1]

Broussard has always been horrible. One of the worst reporters ever. In fact him and Windhorst are tied for worst. When I want NBA news I use Woj from Yahoo.

Broussard? Sure. Windy? No way. He was a great beat reporter for
the Cavs. All the LBJ shit aside, he did a great job. If you wanted Cavs, info, Windy was the place to get it. Their (PD's) beat reporters now suck ass.

 

[BayBuck]

Made the mistake of switching over to ESPN's The Fan on the morning commute today, heard a couple of guys named Mike Hill and Michael Smith filling in: long story short, those guys make Jalen Rose sound coherent.

Columbus seriously needs a viable sports-talk radio alternative.

 

[VBSJ]

Columbus seriously needs a viable sports-talk radio alternative.

SiriusXM Satellite Radio or an iPod

If you think those two are bad, just wait a few more hours and listen to the actual/local shows on WBNS-FM.

It's filled with "catchphrases" on one show and even more incoherent speech from a former Buckeye on the other.

 

[Mac]

Made the mistake of switching over to ESPN's The Fan on the morning commute today, heard a couple of guys named Mike Hill and Michael Smith filling in: long story short, those guys make Jalen Rose sound coherent.

Columbus seriously needs a viable sports-talk radio alternative.

IMO, Columbus sports talk radio is atrocious. The afternoon show's are just as bad as the morning.

I'd love to go on the air, at least I could talk about things that I know about

 

[BayBuck]

SiriusXM Satellite Radio or an iPod

If you think those two are bad, just wait a few more hours and listen to the actual/local shows on WBNS-FM.

It's filled with "catchphrases" on one show and even more incoherent speech from a former Buckeye on the other.

Yeah, of course there's always music, but on a Monday morning commute I'm looking for a sports fix.

I'll take the local guys over the ESPN national feed every day (hello Colin Cowherd), but yeah we deserve something better than the Common Man & Torg Experience as well. Where the Buckeye homers at?!?

And how does D-Stanley keep getting paid to talk for a living? I pretty much expect to hear him filling in for Mike & Mike before long, man oh man that guy never goes into a paragraph with an exit strategy.

 

[BuckBackHome]

I just love the Mark Cuban segment where they are interviewing him live after the NBA Finals and he just goes to town on Skip Bayless.

 

[BuckTwenty]

Yeah, of course there's always music, but on a Monday morning commute I'm looking for a sports fix.

I'll take the local guys over the ESPN national feed every day (hello Colin Cowherd), but yeah we deserve something better than the Common Man & Torg Experience as well. Where the Buckeye homers at?!?

And how does D-Stanley keep getting paid to talk for a living? I pretty much expect to hear him filling in for Mike & Mike before long, man oh man that guy never goes into a paragraph with an exit strategy.

Stanley hurts my ears and my brain. The only reason he's even a media personality at all is because he played at OSU. He wouldn't have a job in his field if he was anywhere else outside of Columbus.

 

[VBSJ]

I'll take the local guys over the ESPN national feed every day (hello Colin Cowherd), but yeah we deserve something better than the Common Man & Torg Experience as well. Where the Buckeye homers at?!?

In terms of ESPN, Scott Van Pelt isn't that bad (in comparison to the other ESPN Radio guys). He might be the only one to play it straight up.

Cowherd just says things to garner attention, regardless if there are facts to back it up (Richard Deitsch of SI always brings the fact thing up in relation to Cowherd).

It was funny to listen to Dan Patrick continuously make fun of "Mike and Mike" at times. Patrick's commentary of "Mike and Mike" and their slow, changing reaction to Jerry Sandusky (in the Fall) was funny.

 

[Buckeye86]

Cowherd just says things to garner attention, regardless if there are facts to back it up (Richard Deitsch of SI always brings the fact thing up in relation to Cowherd).

I will always remember listening to Cowherd claim that NFL teams don't have home field advantages. Callers brought up Green Bay and Denver among others almost immediately.

Cowherd claimed that Green Bay didn't have a home field advantage, they had a "weather" advantage. Denver doesn't have a home field advantage, they have an "altitude" advantage.

I will always remember that because I think it is the perfect example of what an asshat he is even after being called out on something that he is clearly wrong about.

If I ever give a shit about the Vikings or the Chicago Bears I might turn on Common Man and the Torg. As others have said, I don't understand why we can't get some home grown guys in the studio in Columbus that actually give a shit about the teams they are supposed to be covering.

Actually, I do understand why, and it's the same reason why Cowherd continues to be popular.

I don't listen to sports radio in Columbus, but if they ever put anything good on someone let me know about it.

 

[ucfknight]

Broussard? Sure. Windy? No way. He was a great beat reporter for
the Cavs. All the LBJ [Mark May] aside, he did a great job. If you wanted Cavs, info, Windy was the place to get it. Their (PD's) beat reporters now suck ass.

But on a national scale he isn't that good. I mean he's all up on the heat's junk and we already have plenty of reporters that do a better job.

 

[VBSJ]

Stanley hurts my ears and my brain. The only reason he's even a media personality at all is because he played at OSU. He wouldn't have a job in his field if he was anywhere else outside of Columbus.

I guess if it makes you feel better, I just looked at the 97.1 FM website and he (D.Stanley) is off of the show's page. He was replaced by Beau Bishop.

Still won't listen to that show or the show after that. Adam Neft at 6 p.m. isn't that bad. Refuse to listen to "Mike and Mike", Cowherd and Gotlieb too.

 

[VBSJ]

If I ever give a [Mark May] about the Vikings or the Chicago Bears I might turn on Common Man and the Torg.

I don't listen to sports radio in Columbus, but if they ever put anything good on someone let me know about it.

You forgot year-round baseball talk from those two...in a city that's not New York or Boston.

That sports radio station (WBNS) seriously took a nose-dive somewhere near the start of this century and I don't know the reason why.

This is ESPN Radio's Golden Boy these days and his past rant on Ohio:

"I could argue that if you still live in Cleveland at this point, you're bringing unemployment on, couldn't I?"

"If you live in Youngstown, Ohio should I have no sympathy that you're unemployed? You're kinda bringing it on yourself."

"If you live in Ohio or Indiana rurally, you're kinda bringing unemployment on yourself."

http://deadspin.com/5810999/colin-c...d-midwesterners-have-brought-it-on-themselves

Since Ohio is one of his largest listener markets, everyone knows what Cowherd was doing.

 

[BigWoof31]

This actually isn't something knocking ESPN, but praising their B1G writer.

ESPN's NCAA Football Page had a nice wrap up of the B1G mailblog.
Not sure who Adam Rittenberg is, but he seems to write well and does a good job of dealing with angry emails pertaining to the most sought after HC positions in the B1G. Mostly dealing with pissed off Wisconsin fans.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/52840/big-ten-mailblog-169

Daniel from Omaha writes: I'm not disputing Nebraska's ranking of #4 in your coaching jobs in B10 but Penn St #3? For the same reason you pointed out for NU, Penn St doesn't take a hit and you point to Bill Obrien's 1 yr of recruiting success? Bill Callahan had a Top Class in 2005, where's he at now? Go back to doing Subway commercials and the media needs to stop coddling OSU, Mich and PSU. How is Madison not better than 2 of those?

Adam Rittenberg: Wisconsin is not a better job than Michigan or Ohio State, Daniel. You won't find anyone credible that tells you otherwise. Maybe when the Badgers upgrade their woeful facilities, they'll be closer. But Wisconsin can never match Ohio State's and Michigan's recruiting clout or tradition. That's why the rankings are the way they are. Regarding Penn State, it's more than just O'Brien's recruiting class. Penn State has superior facilities, more tradition and a fan base that always puts football first. Has Penn State played to its potential as a member of the Big Ten? Absolutely not. But Penn State can be a national power again, and it has an easier path to the top than many schools because of the reasons I've outlined.

By the way, would love to be doing Subway commercials. I'd be ridiculously rich and wouldn't have to deal with The Woefully Uninformed.



Steven from Baltimore writes: I'm sorry Adam, but I'll have to disagree with your recent rankings on the best destinations to be a coach. The fact that you didn't significantly consider fan expectations threw off your rankings from reality. Let's compare two schools. School A's fans live and die for nothing but football, and accordingly complain about their coach's 9-win season. The other school's fans seem to enjoy more the culture of game day (singing a capella Build Me Up Buttercup, for a random example), as opposed to just the win/loss column. Wouldn't you like to write the same high quality articles as you always do, but get less angry fan mail (e.g. the Pac-12 blog)?

Adam Rittenberg: Well, Steven, judging by your email address (@wisc.edu), I'm going to guess you're a Penn State, Nebraska or Iowa fan who now attends Wisconsin. While Badgers fans do love their game-day festivities, they also can be critical. Ask Bret Bielema what it was like for him after the 2008 season. The bigger point, however, is that fan expectations, while important, aren't the overriding factor in determining the quality of a coaching job. Fan expectations don't matter much if you have subpar facilities and are located in an isolated region with few elite prospects. This sport is largely about recruiting, and it's why I played such a great emphasis on facilities and location along with recent success. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, for example, has done very good work for the most part in a job that has some pluses and minuses. Iowa and Wisconsin are similar jobs with similar challenges, but Wisconsin's track record and ability to attract recruits because of its blossoming brand make it a slightly better job in my view.



Luke from Jessup, Iowa, writes: Adam, I was surprised that you didn't include pay when ranking your B1G coaching jobs. Was that simply an oversight, or do you really feel it's not about the money with these guys? I was looking back at 2011 B1G salaries and, at the time, Ferentz topped the B1G chart. While I'd like to believe he stays for all the right reasons, nearly $4M is better than a poke in the eye, isn't it? Outside of the big 2 (OSU & UM), which, in my humble opinion, are the only 2 true "dream jobs" in the conference, I think any one of those other coaches would at least take a hard look at moving for $4M. No? By the way, I'm not trying to be a homer here; I'm using Iowa as an example only because of Ferentz hefty salary.

Adam Rittenberg: Luke, fair question. Coaching candidates certainly want to be well-compensated, and Iowa has shown Ferentz the money over the years while the NFL continues to lurk. Head coaches also want to be able to retain and attract top assistants. But to me, salary is just one piece of the equation, and if I'm a coach, I want to be in a place where I can recruit at the highest levels and compete for national championships. Is Iowa that place? A coach has to be one heck of a recruiter to overcome some inherent obstacles (weak in-state talent pool, so-so facilities). Besides Ferentz's salary and the passion of Iowa fans, there aren't many elements of the program that scream "big-time" to me. Iowa will be a more attractive job when its facilities upgrades are completed and it can offer very competitive salaries, not just for the head coach but to his assistants.