OT - ESPN GameDay

[QuikSand]

Even with all the hubbub, today is my first time watching their show this year. Good heavens, I may now be out of the pre-game show business. I've alwasy hated the Fox-TV approach of two hours of towel-snapping in search of the lowest common denominator... but felt like ESPN's show at least gave me some useful insights.

Now, they've moved in a bad direction, in my mind. Michael Irvin is a dreadful mistake - practically every thing out of his mouth is downright annoying as well as usually dead wrong. I'm not getting a good feel for Rush Limbaugh either.

Strike one, guys.

[MizzouRah]

I love the Fox show, ESPN for everything else.



Todd

[Eaglesfan27]

I agree.. I can't stand ESPN's show now since they added Irvin and Rush. It used to be a can't miss show for me.

[TroyF]

QS,

Limbaugh wasn't quite as bad as I expected him to be, but that's not exactly a ringing endorsement. Irniv is horrible. He's annoying. He's inaccurate. I feel the urge to hit the mute button everytime I even THINK he's going to open his mouth.

It's a shame because I love the breakdowns Jaws gives and the Mort reports are usually fairly entertaining. I think I'll just have to start taping EA NFL Matchup and watching in 1/2 hour before the games start.

TroyF

[Pumpy Tudors]

I just sleep late and don't watch the pregame shows at all anymore. Just give me the game, baby!

[sabotai]

"I just sleep late and don't watch the pregame shows at all anymore. Just give me the game, baby!"

Same here. I woke up at 12:57 today. 3 minutes to get up and awake and it's football time baby!

[kcchief19]

QS, from your lips to ESPN's ears. My preseason analysis was that ESPN was clearly trying to move closer to what Fox is doing because they have been losing viewership to Fox, especially in key demographics. So what we are going to get is ESPN trying to "dumb it down" to appeal to a younger demographic that likes their Terry Bradshaw, jiggling babes and loud, brash commentators.

I've got nothing against the jiggling babes, but when it comes to football, you gotta be all business. If a network wanted to do a "smart" pre-game show with a focus on news and analysis and less circus, I think it would do well enough to earn somebody a few bucks.

But as long as the same networks that bring us Joe Millionaire and Playmakers are calling the shots, I assume we will continue to get pre-game shows designed for 17-year-olds with little interest in football.