Whitlock Thumps ESPN

He carries a bit of a grudge for getting fired 3 years ago, but still makes excellent points, using his alma mater as a case study of all that's wrong with ESPN and sports journalism.

7 months ago 06Lion Comment 20 comments 3 recs |

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He's right

Great article.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Dec 1, 2008 11:24 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Nice find

and Whitlock has hit the nail on the head.

the World Wide Leader is the most evil and destructive force in the sports world. It has driven and hastened the destruction of authentic, independent, democratic, courageous sports journalism.

ESPN is the enemy of the truth, and all who believe a pursuit of the truth is the lifeblood of a genuinely free society must stand against the Wal-Mart-ization of sports journalism.

by The JuggerNitt on Dec 1, 2008 11:57 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

When I heard that ESPN bought the broadcasting rights for the BCS bowls, I had an ugly feeling in my stomach. Now these goobers have the “cradle to grave” rights of essentially the entire college football season. ESPN and their army of monkeys banging away on typewriters can hype whatever flavor of the season teams they want and directly profit from it.

“Oh hey, the SEC has an enormous, rabid fan base. I wonder if it would be to our benefit to talk them up continuously and help make sure they’re at the top of the rankings.”

Luring recruits with my new "Posting HD" scheme since '08.

by 06Lion on Dec 1, 2008 12:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Goobers. Tee hee hee

by NJ lion on Dec 1, 2008 12:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

My biggest worry

My biggest worry is that they’ll squeeze out the Big Ten for starting up their own network. They’ve also acquired the rights to the SEC, probably the most cherished demographic in college football right now, which means less national exposure for us.

I know conference strengths are cyclical, but ESPN is 98% hype, and they’ll manipulate every story to get fans in a frenzy. Be prepared for PSU to take a back seat to mid-level SEC, Big 12 barn yard square dancing.

by Mr. Rosewater on Dec 1, 2008 12:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Probably Just Coincidence..........

but the PSU Mich State game was blacked out on ESPN 2 for my area on Direct TV. I have to imagine that was ESPNs doing. So the biggest game of the year in the Big 10 was blacked out to Direct TV customers in the Atlanta area. I don’t think I noticed a single blacked out game on ESPN2 all year long and then wham.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Dec 1, 2008 1:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

are you sure it wasn't on another station?

isn’t that the only reason they’ll black out non-local games like that?

by The JuggerNitt on Dec 1, 2008 1:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

RE: ESPN and the SEC

Keep in mind they are only getting the garbage games, the ones CBS doesn’t want. I really don’t see this as having a big impact on what is available to us.

The problem is that most people get their news from ESPN, not that ESPN has the rights to all these different games. The kicker is that you can’t win the MNC without major backing from the “media”, and you are right in thinking that ESPN will (and to some extend already does) prop up the more heavily followed teams in an effort to make the matchups they broadcast more widely viewed.

Kevin @ Black Shoe Diaries

by Kevin HD on Dec 1, 2008 2:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yep. Totally Sure.

Went through all the channels and called them. They pulled up their schedule and said that isn’t one of the games we are showing. When I told him that the guide said I would get BC or PSU and that the ESPN coverage map showed me getting the PSU game on ESPN2, he said sometimes the guides aren’t up to the minute because we don’t know soon enough what games we are going to be able to broadcast.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Dec 4, 2008 10:55 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Phew!

Glad Direct TV couldn’t give us HD, so we had to switch to Comcast instead, PSU Michigan was blocked out for us as well on the HD channel we were SUPPOSED to get it on, like Direct TV, but it was available in the lower, SD channels. (Atlanta/Marietta Area) Looked like crap, but at least I could watch it.

by MsYvone on Dec 4, 2008 1:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I know.

I live in Marietta and my brother-in-law (Comcast) was totally miffed when I text messaged him that I wasn’t getting the game. He is in Powder Springs.

Eric Watters Atlanta, Ga.

by ech2os on Dec 4, 2008 3:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I got it on ESPN SD via Comcast, but every guide I checked said ...

it would be on ESPN2. I checked Comcast’s listings – I checked titantv. My PVR, which I configured to pull the Microsoft Windows Media Center listings (which come from zap2it), also said ESPN2. ABC’s coverage map had it right – ESPN SD, but not ESPN HD – since Massachusetts is part of ACC-land because of BC. Just to be safe I recorded both ESPN & ESPN2.

Of course, I don’t get the Big Ten Network in HD, but that’s a different issue.

Born and raised in the shadow of Mount Nittany

by Elihu on Dec 4, 2008 3:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think the Big Ten will be left out

ESPN is biased, but they’re not stupid. The Big Ten has the most fans of any conference and that translates to more viewership of Big Ten games. Although they’d hate to admit it, ESPN needs the BigTen, not the other way around.

by whiteoutonly on Dec 1, 2008 4:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Good point

ESPN has an agreement to show a crapload of games on ABC and ESPN every year. It’s to their benefit for the Big Ten to be good.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Dec 1, 2008 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

How does a 'crapload of games'

compare to a ‘metric assload’ of games?

pax et amor

by jtothep on Dec 4, 2008 3:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

This is America

We don’t use the metric system here.

Mike
Black Shoe Diaries

by BSD on Dec 4, 2008 11:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Good to hear someone actually come out and say it.

Because you know there are a million fans/writers/coaches/players from smaller schools out there thinking it.

Seems like for every instance of a talking head wondering how Boise State or Utah would fare against a top-notch BCS school, there are 10 instances of some doofus pumping up Auburn and saying they have a shot against Alabama just so that when Bama thumps them, their Bama/Florida matchup will look that much brighter. Predictable as it is pathetic. Right now on the espn.com front page poll question: “Which team will win the SEC championship game?”

by jimbo2psu on Dec 1, 2008 1:57 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

lou black once said that

“MTV has done everything posiible in my lifetime to ruin music”. “MTV is to music as KFC is to chicken!”

am starting to see this unfortunate trend with ESPN.

http://glassesofjoe.blogspot.com/

by psudrozz on Dec 2, 2008 1:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

whhhaaaaahhhh

let me call the whambulance for Whitlock. I love Whitlock in general, it is great to have a true critic of this medium but he is way off base. Nate Davis does NOT deserve the Heisman, maybe a couple 3rd place votes. That is ridiculous to suggest.

"For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled"- Hunter S. Thompson

by phishead_psu on Dec 14, 2008 2:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

well 2 things

first, let’s pretend that they didn’t lose to Buffalo, since at the time of him writing this they were still undefeated.

Then look at him and realize he has ZERO consideration for the Heisman, even though there is nothing more he could have done. He played on an undefeated (at the time of the writing) football team, and put up very impressive numbers. Unfortunately he signed to play at Ball State because his high school numbers probably weren’t as impressive as Bradford/Tebow/McCoy’s.

So now, even though he met all the criteria for what thei Heisman should be (read: not what it is, since what it is is an award handed out to the QB or RB of one of the top 2 or 3 BCS ranked teams in the country, and it isn’t what it should be, which is an award handed to the most outstanding player in college football) he wasn’t even mentioned in any serious Heisman talks. Sure, we knew he wouldn’t win it, or wouldn’t even be considered for it, but that’s because we are already aware of the significant media bias that exists in both Heisman voting and BCS and AP poll voting.

by The JuggerNitt on Dec 14, 2008 10:49 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs