OK, besides a gut wrenching excuse for a football team aka NYG's (I am a Giant Fan), that had to be the worst "production " of a foot ball game I have seen in years.
My football watching time has been reduced greatly for a number of reasons, and it is now limited mostly to Giants games. They happened to be on MNF and hence my observations.
When ESPN's best foot forward is John Gruden as the color man and whoever that other dude was, things are bad. I like Gruden and respect his football knowledge and achievements but c'mon man.
Even their pre and halftime analysts are just ho hum. The music sux, graphics are worse, no energy at all, and it seems like they are trying too hard to be edgy and it comes off as phony. Besides the actual football game, there was little value added. It was like sitting in the bleachers watching a HS football game, only less entertaining.
I know to expect a lot of commercials and there are only certain times during the game that they can be played, but it seems a lot more occurred during last nite's game than a normal game. Does ESPN extend commercial time outs and times during possession changes? Would be an interesting stat.
It is not Dandy Don, Howard and the Giff that's for sure.
I only watch parts of one game a week...The Lions.
Going through life as a Lions fan is humiliating I know, but I always root for the hometown team no matter how bad they perform. Last night's game was a pleasure to watch from my perspective (although I only made it to the end of the 3rd quarter).
For now, the paper sacks, with the eye holes cut out, can come off.
Ever since the big 3 moved on it hasn't been worth watching. It's one thing to not watch due to all the political crap in the NFL now days. It is another because the commentators flat suck.
Will the NFL and its players experience "trickle down" poverty with the loss of fan base?
Why would advertisers want to pay exorbitant advertising costs when viewership declines?
What happens to sports bars who have fewer customers and need to trim cable costs?
Will lower revenues for the teams mean owners will still have to cover costs of multi-million dollar contracts of their political players?
I haven't watched sports on TV for a few years now. The forced insertion of politics by players, commenters and advertisers brings to mind that song: "Video Killed the Radio Star" with altered lyrics...politics killed the football star. ;o)
I actually like Sean McDonough (at the very least his voice), but not sure he's suited to the NFL. Actually, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. The NFL product is basically in the crapper if you ask me... hard to hold it against the commentator.
not really holding it against Gruden or McDonough. They are basically "calling it as they see it" . Its the periphery stuff, pregrame discussions, halftime show, camera angles, music, commercials, game analysis, special effects, graphics, and all the rest. ESPN's production of the NFL out and out just sucks.
I understand they have the first woman commentator too. Cant pass judgment there as I haven't seen or heard her.
I have a very hard time listening to him when he talks, his sentences are broken down into several parts and puts emphasis on the wrong words within his broken sentences. It kind of sounds like he is reading from a teleprompter that cant keep up and only shows a few words at a time.
Am I the only person that notices this? I've talked with people at work and nobody else has noticed it.
You should hear Dan Dierdorff and Jim Brandstander call a University of Michigan game on the radio..... horrible.... those guys were football players.... they have no business calling a game........
ESPN is swirling the bowl. They have gotten so stupid politically, racially, etc. they've become a laughing stock amongst the other commentators. ESPN spent over 1 billion dollars to get the rights for NBA games which no one really watches until it gets down to playoff time. That money is derived from cable companies (to include DISH and DirectTV). I read somewhere that almost 30% of your cable costs are going to Disney/ESPN (Disney is the parent company). They are bleeding money and can't seem to staunch the flow.
They've either lost or jettisoned the on air talent I use to listen to, and have gone full PC mode. Fox Sports seems to have taken the lead in sports broadcasting and they put out a much better product. Their pre and post game crews are almost unwatchable as well.
I was watching it - started laughing (thought it was great also). Told the wife there's your head exploding - headlines tomorrow - wait til the lefty ESPN guys cry over that one - RACIST!
