When did ESPN jump the shark?

[kellkasey]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

This one is easy....I agree with some other posters.....when Stuart Scott started working there. He took the "catchphrase" trend to a whole new level. All of a sudden the broadcasts became about the anchors and the highlights were a prop that they used to "get over" on the viewers.

Also, ESPN started heading in the wrong direction when they started to "over produce" Sportscenter. Too many meaningless stories and gimmicks where they talk about "Who's Now" and lets put people in the Hall of Fame right now, etc...

[Dr.J]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

When they stop using that little catch phrase after sportcenter's theme music.

[MassNole]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

Well it is debatable between the day they hired Lazy Eye Scott or the first time Lazy Eye Scott said "M-M-M-Mookie Blaylock".

[SPTO]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

I like Stump the Schwab. I am glad it's not on ESPN or ESPN2 but rather on ESPN Classic. It's the only good thing ever shown on classic, I hate how it's turned into the American Gladiator/2003 Poker championship channel. Right now they should be showing old college and NFL games getting ready for the season. I don't know if they don't have the rights or what to show it but I would love to see some championship games. I wasn't big into sports(born in 90) in 01 so I don't remember 01 miami, and certainly a team like 95 nebraska. I would like to see the cowboys superbowls to.

That channel has so much unreached potential, the only time it's good is during the football season when they show the instant classic. A great game I probably didn't get the chance to see.

Classic does have theme weekends tho so you might get some football or basketball on there. I know that in the past they showed a TON of college football (almost exclusively ABC/ESPN tho) As for NFL they don't have the rights to air the original broadcasts so you'd be stuck with NFL Films productions stuff.

Which leads to how NFL Network dropped the ball big time on their NFL Classic series this summer. They showed games that were all within this decade. The only games that were reasonably from the "past" was the Bills comeback game and this past week's (looks like it's the last one til next summer) replay of a '94 Bears/Vikings game.

[jmood88]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

I'm guessing your not a big NHL fan

Nope and neither is much of America, which is why no one really cared when ESPN stopped showing hockey games. And for a station that shows jump-roping competitions and cup stacking tournaments, the NHL is in a pretty sad state if it isn't shown on ESPN.

[Tomahawk]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

Almost as pointless as the fake Steve Phillips press conference.

The fake press conferences is the point where ESPN "jumped the shark" for me.

[dieselboy]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

espnews is the way to go

/thread

[Pared]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

I'm guessing a lot of you will say it's when Dan Patrick and Keith Olberman stopped doing SportsCenter.

DING DING DING!

[oakfan162]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

Interesting from Deadspin....

http://deadspin.com/sports/the-day-espn-died/trying-to-track-the-exact-moment-when-espn-imploded-285731.php

The Day ESPN Died

[EWRMETS]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

I probably realized I don't like ESPN during Dream Job but it really went downhill when they made Stuart Scott the face of ESPN. When he was just another sports anchor I enjoyed him, but when they put him everywhere, he really got annoying. Now they just try to appeal to athletes way too much instead of covering them. Hearing a good anchor like Scott Van Pelt saying "What's good" just seems so forced and ridiculous.

[oakfan162]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

I probably realized I don't like ESPN during Dream Job but it really went downhill when they made Stuart Scott the face of ESPN. When he was just another sports anchor I enjoyed him, but when they put him everywhere, he really got annoying. Now they just try to appeal to athletes way too much instead of covering them. Hearing a good anchor like Scott Van Pelt saying "What's good" just seems so forced and ridiculous.

You nailed it. I liked SS and SVP in smaller doses, but they are everywhere now. When they stopped being anchors and started being game show hosts...

[SLAYER]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

LOL @ this thread. Taking shots at ESPN is too easy. It's like MTV, where the quality is so far gone it's not worth complaining anymore.

[jima]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

the NHL is in a pretty sad state if it isn't shown on ESPN.

I think the NHL is doing just fine on Versus and regional sports networks.
The NHL doesn't need ESPN to survive.
To get back on topic, that is when I stopped watching ESPN

[TheLetterZ]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

LOL @ this thread. Taking shots at ESPN is too easy. It's like MTV, where the quality is so far gone it's not worth complaining anymore.

Agreed completely. I'm only going to raise one question.

Why the hell is Bob Ley still working there? I feel bad for the guy; if he likes what he does, more power to him, but he's been too good for them for the last decade at least.

[ESPNdeportes]

Re: When did ESPN jump the shark?

ESPN has been trying to meld sports and entertainment for a number of years, and once they started that was their downfall, IMO. The things I watch on ESPN is actual games, college gameday, and PTI. And even PTI has seemed to shift, again, trying to cover more and more of the entertainment side of things. I used to watch the entire episode, now I skip the entertainment crap they try to cover.

Who's Now (which thankfully I never caught more than 30 seconds of) is a perfect example. Its not just about sports, its about how it fits into the overall entertainment scene.

The other thing about ESPN is that they are completely self serving. If you noticed, about 3-6 months before they started broadcasting NASCAR races recently, they bulked up their coverage of NASCAR bigtime.