ESPN - Ultimate Sports Star

[duff88]

ESPN had a fun idea with the "Determine the Ultimate Sports Star" contest, putting stars from different sports into brackets and have them compete head to head in fan votes in a mini-tournament to determine who is the most popular.

Yet, they showed once again how stupid and how important they think they are: The fan votes count for 70% and the panel (3 experts) votes count for 30%.

In other words, if all panel members vote for one of the stars, this star is going to need only 28% of the fan votes in order to make it to the next round.

The vote this week was NHL's MVP, 19 years old Sidney Crosby, against baseball star Derek Jeter. ESPN's hate for hockey is already well known, unless you have lived under a rock for the last ten years. The only times you are going to see hockey on this channel is when ESPN shows a disgraceful moment or to put down the league. Hockey has been relagated to a tier-two sports in the US during the last few years, and ESPN has been one of the most important reasons for that by trying to sell the NHL as a bush league.

Anyway, let's get back on topic, as I mentionned, the vote this week was Sidney Crosby against Derek Jeter. Sidney Crosby got 52% of the votes while Derek Jeter recieved 48%. Include the panel vote, and the results are in:

Derek Jeter: 63%
Sidney Crosby 36%

And the headline on Sportscenter? "Our panel thought it would be a landslide, and it was". Was it really a landslide, when you use three person to overrule the votes of more than 100 000 persons?

Oh, by the way, Danica Patrick was seeded higher than Sidney Crosby in ESPN's brackets.

:mad:

[MikeVic]

Haha, that's pretty bad.

[miked]

Given that hockey lost lots of fans and there are billboards all over Atlanta with Danicka's picture on them, how could she not be more known than Crosby?? I would reckon that most people have no clue who Sidney Crosby is, except hockey fans. Whether or not you are a baseball fan or a race fan, you know Jeter and Danicka. As far as I know, the contest isn't solely an athletic one, but more an athletic + popularity + "intangibles" + other BS. It's all a big waste and I hate these segments on SC.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Just when I think that we need no further proof of ESPN's irrelevance, ESPN is kind enough to give us more proof.

[Ksyrup]

Isn't this the Who's Now? thing? Less sports masturbation, more sports coverage.

[duff88]

Given that hockey lost lots of fans and there are billboards all over Atlanta with Danicka's picture on them, how could she not be more known than Crosby?? I would reckon that most people have no clue who Sidney Crosby is, except hockey fans. Whether or not you are a baseball fan or a race fan, you know Jeter and Danicka. As far as I know, the contest isn't solely an athletic one, but more an athletic + popularity + "intangibles" + other BS. It's all a big waste and I hate these segments on SC.

Danica Patrick
Starts 40
Wins 0
Podium finishes 1

Sidney Crosby
Games 160
Goals 75
Points 222
Hart Trophy (MVP), Leaster B. Pearson (Best Player - Voted by the Players)

Performance may not be the only judging factor, but come on... Oh, and Crosby is the main factor why the Penguins are almost certain to stay in Pittsburgh.

[MikeVic]

If this is a "who's more popular" competition, shouldn't ONLY the fans' votes count? Who cares what three "experts" say?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Given that hockey lost lots of fans and there are billboards all over Atlanta with Danicka's picture on them, how could she not be more known than Crosby??
You can't go a day in Pittsburgh without seeing Sidney Crosby or hearing his name. I know Atlanta's a bigger city than Pittsburgh, but I'm not sure you can compare this by using racing-crazy Atlanta and Penguins-crazy Pittsburgh.

I guess it is interesting that Patrick's picture is on billboards in Atlanta, though, considering that the IRL doesn't even race there anymore.

[miked]

I got the impression it was a mix, but more weight would be given to the who's popular. Obviously, the people voting on ESPN know who all these people are. I'm assuming the panel is there to say who, in their "expert" opinion, is more cool/popular/known/etc. The whole thing is fairly ghey.

Danicka is obviously not in the same league as Crosby in athletics. But like I said, lots of places around the country know who she is. I see her billboards driving down 85. If I went in to the sports bar down the street from me and shouted, who likes Sidney Crosby, I'd bet more people would say they love Suite Judy Blue Eyes than hockey.

[rowech]

I could care less about Patrick. Crosby has me debating buying NHL '08.

[Travis]

Yeah, that's where I don't get the arguements in this thread against Crosby, he won the fan vote, he lost because of the panel. So even with those paying enough attention to ESPN to vote on this, Sid had the popular vote. Yet not one of the 3 on the panel voted his way, turning it into the "landslide".

[st.cronin]

Who was on the panel? Can I guess? Stephen A. Smith, Peter Gammons, and Jay Bilas.

[TroyF]

Yeah, that's where I don't get the arguements in this thread against Crosby, he won the fan vote, he lost because of the panel. So even with those paying enough attention to ESPN to vote on this, Sid had the popular vote. Yet not one of the 3 on the panel voted his way, turning it into the "landslide".


And that's where this thing gets truly insane and shows the idiocy of all of this. No, not only the fact that the panel all voted for Jeter. . . but the fact the populace voted for Crosby.

Love Crosby, he's an incredible player. But all Jeter does is rack up 200+ hits a year, go to all star games, win world titles, etc. Crosby probably got as many votes from Yankee haters as he did from Crosby fans.

Does anyone actually care who is ranked ahead of who in different sports? Hell, we can't even agree on the best player in a single sport, much less the entire spectrum.

Oh well. I'm sure some people had fun with this.

[st.cronin]

And that's where this thing gets truly insane and shows the idiocy of all of this. No, not only the fact that the panel all voted for Jeter. . . but the fact the populace voted for Crosby.

Love Crosby, he's an incredible player. But all Jeter does is rack up 200+ hits a year, go to all star games, win world titles, etc. Crosby probably got as many votes from Yankee haters as he did from Crosby fans.

Does anyone actually care who is ranked ahead of who in different sports? Hell, we can't even agree on the best player in a single sport, much less the entire spectrum.

Oh well. I'm sure some people had fun with this.

Not sure what your point is, but Crosby is a much, much, much bigger star in his sport than Jeter is in his. In Hockey terms, Jeter is like Martin Brodeur, maybe. So, the point of the thread is that this segment was just an opportunity for ESPN to put down hockey, which they did.

Crosby : Hockey :: LeBron : Basketball

[duff88]

If I can add a second installment to my original whining, I have two questions:

1- How can ESPN continue to be considered the biggest Sports Network?
From covering Poker and Grammar Contests more than Soccer and Hockey to constantly talking about Terrel Owens' new scandal or Barry Bonds' new declaration instead of talking about real sports news, a lot of sports fan are starting to become bored of their act. How can they still be the biggest and most important sports network?

2- How much does ESPN's NHL bashing is contributing to the low opinion in the US?
I'll let you make your own opinions on this one.

[st.cronin]

1 - what else is there? FSN?

[TroyF]

If I can add a second installment to my original whining, I have two questions:

1- How can ESPN continue to be considered the biggest Sports Network?
From covering Poker and Grammar Contests more than Soccer and Hockey to constantly talking about Terrel Owens' new scandal or Barry Bonds' new declaration instead of talking about real sports news, a lot of sports fan are starting to become bored of their act. How can they still be the biggest and most important sports network?

2- How much does ESPN's NHL bashing is contributing to the low opinion in the US?
I'll let you make your own opinions on this one.

1) This isn't even a question. ESPN has 5 main channels that do nothing but sports coverage. (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Classic, ESPN U) They have radio outlets all across the country. Sports fans may claim they are bored of their act, but where exactly do they go? Lets see, if I don't go to one of those ESPN channels to get my nightly baseball highlights, I would go to. . . my local news 7 minute sportscast? Fox Sports Report? MLB.com?

Please. Spare me the drama here. They are the biggest. It's not a debate.

2) People are forgetting part of the reason ESPN let hockey go. Poker was getting better ratings for it than the NHL was. ESPN tried to do for hockey what they'd done for baseball, basketball and football. They had it on a few nights a week, had a nightly show discussing the game, showed virtually every playoff game between ESPN and ESPN2. They determined it wasn't possible because, we, the populace chose not to watch it.


Now, I think that they have to much fluff and BS. I think that they should have kept hockey anyway so they'd have all four major sports. I wish they'd do a hell of a lot differently. But do I watch ESPN? Quite a bit. As much as I complain about the idiocy of some of the things they do, I'm have to say I watch ESPN and I'm glad it exists.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I don't watch SportsCenter anymore, so I haven't seen any of the contestants in this poll, but it's invalid if it doesn't have Andy Kelly, Damian Harrell, Bobby Sippio, or Clay Rush in it.

Yeah, fuck ESPN.

[Karlifornia]

Who cares about this crap enough to even get bothered by it? It doesn't make a difference who wins the voting. It won't change anything...at all...for anyone...It's a useless exercise in time-slot filling.

[lighthousekeeper]

The SC segments covering this make me cringe, and I get the distinct impression from watching the panelists that they feel like complete boobs when they are forced to pretend to care whether Shaun White or Matt Leinart is more "now". I really feel bad for them up there during their unenergetic 'debates'

[Young Drachma]

That Who's Now thing is stupid.

[Radii]

The new "expert panel" I guess for round 2 is:

Kevin James, Jessica Biel, one of the Mike and Mike guys.

[LionsFan10]

Who was on the panel? Can I guess? Stephen A. Smith, Peter Gammons, and Jay Bilas.

The panelists for round one were Keyshawn Johnson, Kirk Herbstreit & Michael Wilbon.

[bronconick]

If there isn't a live sporting event on, ESPN doesn't exist to me. If I need highlights or a score, I'm better off watching FSN's Final Score.

When they care, ESPN can still show what made them the juggernaut in sports coverage that they are. Problem is, they don't care all that often.

[ThunderingHERD]

I haven't watched SportsCenter in years--not due to any particular grudge toward ESPN--I just don't see the point in watching 60 minutes of TV for maybe 5 minutes of programming that I actually care about.

That said, "Who's More Now?" sounds like it should be on VH1. It's too irrelevant to get upset about.

[Young Drachma]

I don't watch SportsCenter anymore, so I haven't seen any of the contestants in this poll, but it's invalid if it doesn't have Andy Kelly, Damian Harrell, Bobby Sippio, or Clay Rush in it.

Yeah, fuck ESPN.

True, Pumpy. But ever since ESPN got its stake in Arena Football, they've spent more time on that game than any network has..in history. I mean, I've seen mroe arena highlights on Sportscenter than ever before.

Sometimes, on a slow day..it'll be the lead.

[Suburban Rhythm]

1) This isn't even a question. ESPN has 5 main channels that do nothing but sports coverage. (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Classic, ESPN U)

I agree up to a point...they have five channel's dedicated to sports topics, but not sports coverage, as this whole thing proves. Ten years ago, ESPN was 'Who's Now?', because they were the cool thing to watch. Now, if I want sports info, I have a million other places to find it.

The SC segments covering this make me cringe, and I get the distinct impression from watching the panelists that they feel like complete boobs when they are forced to pretend to care whether Shaun White or Matt Leinart is more "now". I really feel bad for them up there during their unenergetic 'debates'

There are a handful of ESPN personalities I like. Mort, and Melrose and Buccigross immediately come to mind. But the majority of them, especially the "anchors", prove everytime i flip on one of the stations, they are faces who just so happened to be hired to talk about sports, but have no knowledge or interest in them.