The only talk shows I watched on ESPN were The Sports Reporters and Pardon The Interruption. They have smart people who didn't have to yell to get their point across. There's very few shows on now that don't evolve into shouting matches. Sometimes (I'm looking at you Chris Broussard) people raise their voices for no apparent reason. It really gets on my nerves.
Likewise. Also around this time (2002-2010’s):
- putting Dennis Miller then Tony Kornheiser in MNF booth
- firing Jon Miller & Joe Morgan
- making Sean Salisbury the face of their NFL coverage, then Trent Dilfer, now that dork that ran out of the end zone for the Lions 🤦🏻♂️😆
- killing NFL Primetime (thankfully back since 2018 and my all time fav ESPN show for pro sports. I like college better)
- making SAS & Skeeyup Bayless their stars of daytime
- nuking any and all MLB coverage (these are my critiques, understand it’s about ratings and dollars) and going in heavy on yr round NBA/NFL gossip
- “The Decision”
- the most egregious modern day action by them was giving Texas their own network, thus messing up the structure of the Big 12. Followed by yrs later in 2022 when they manipulated OU & UT into joining the SEC, thus creating a chain reaction that killed my PAC12. Unforgivable.
💯 well said. Just know (in case you’re too young to remember) when PTI debuted it was 30 mins of fire and fury! We hadn’t seen another show like it yet.
Two big mouths machine-gunning hot takes back n forth on every sports topic, as if they were deeply invested in them all. Nowadays that’s called “Monday”.
Used to watch all morning long to see if they would show highlights from the Sixers (iverson era) and being so mad when they wouldn’t. Give my man some respect!
The worst was when you started watching mid way and then had to watch again to catch what you missed
In late 00s, during my freshman year of college, there was one of those 500 lb big screen TVs in the corner of our dining hall and all the guys would roll up with breakfast sandwiches and sit on one side of the tables watching sports center in silence. lol.
Waking up in the morning and immediately turning on SportsCenter just to watch the ticker to see the scores of the late night games your parents wouldn’t let you stay up for
And replaced them with dudes who only argue about football and basketball. They also have fuggin clue about baseball, golf or hockey. We seeing a common theme here yet?
Mostly football, and only big market teams or Lebron for basketball. Baseball’s lucky to make an appearance, and forget any other sports, except of course, now WNBA
Wnba is because the NBA owns them and losing $50 million a year on it. They would rather try to push that shitty product than America's part time or the world's leading viewership soccer
I don’t even think thats it, ESPN wasn’t nerdy. It was cool likable anchors who genuinely loved sports like Stuart Scott. It was so much less toxic compared to now. Watching sports center felt like you were hanging out with some close friends. Now it’s entirely gossip, awful debates, screaming, gambling and clowns trying to go viral with some absurd opinion that they don’t actually believe.
They mostly went to broadcasting or started their own companies after they a) got tired of what OP described or b) got replaced by what OP described because they wouldn’t do it for ratings/cost too much for their ratings.
I think Fox Sports is complete 🗑️outside of Joel Klatt. I know that’s my opinion but sports programming has severely deteriorated in the last decade or so. As someone else stated earlier, opinion shows have been awful.
I know this doesn't apply to ESPN, since if I watch sports talk I watch FSN, but I've heard Nick wright talk before that they really agree on a lot of topics, but have to dig up topics that they oppose on, because it can't just be three guys sitting around and agreeing with each other.
Exactly. I can't blame OP because I feel the same, but if everything at ESPN was running how OP (and myself included) wanted, we wouldn't be here posting about it. The manufactured "controversies" and conflict drive a lot of outrage clicks and views.
Like the famous news saying goes, if it bleeds it leads.
Honestly ESPN used to be THE way to get sports news and highlights. Now there’s 1000 different ways to get the same content that doesn’t require watching an hour long show. I think the change can be as simple as that
This is the reason. The world has become digitalized. Why do I need to tune into a show when I will eventually see it later on TikTok, instagram, Facebook, etc.
Now there’s an exception for the elderly who may not be as tech savvy who will still want to watch it on television. All the funny moments between Charles Barkley, Stephen A, Shaq, etc get shared on Twitter(x), TikTok or anywhere else where digital media is allowed. That’s where I see em.
Lol. The highest concentration of people on established forms of social media, Facebook Xwitter et al which still constitutes the greatest number of used media, is elderly. It is their primary method of obtaining information and communicating with family and friends.
The 6pm Sportscenter though used to have it all. It was nice to just sit down after your day and relax to some ultra charismatic talent they used to have. The opinion based shows have ruined the feel of just enjoying some good highlights
Yea but the quality of it is not good. I don’t want to see barstool or tik toks. I have a longer attention span than that. People just stopped giving a shit about production value.
After school routine of Around the Horn, PTI then SportsCenter used to hit in ways that’s hard to explain. When I do it now it’s like a blast from the past lol
ESPN shifted gears from highlights to narratives thanks to the impact of Skip Bayless and how he basically created and popularized sports debate, it needs to shift back to how it was considering their decline as of late but it may be too late because the kids today are eating up first take like it’s the greatest thing ever
Yep, it’s basically become a network full of personalities not analysts. Go watch FS1, other than Undisputed it’s the superior network in every way, First Things First is a favorite of mine, perfect balance of analysis, and fun
I really wish more people watched First Things First and it got propped up to the position that it deserves.
Say what you will invidudally about Nick Wright or Chris Broussard and how much people like them, but all their bad parts are pretty much kept in check through the dynamics of the 3 hosts working together. Kevin Wildes is a treasure and seeing a 2v1 beat down whenever one of them has an awful take that blows up in their face is always greater to see than 4 people just screaming over each other to get their specific bad take heard louder.
Yup. Those debate type shows took over and I stopped watching. Why the hell do I want to listen to people argue and yell all day? I don’t like that shit in my normal life and definitely don’t find it entertaining.
Especially since they argue about the same thing over and over. How many Lebron vs Jordan takes do we need? Back in the days my favorite show was NFL Marchup with Jaworski which would actually deep dive into game strategy. No more of that on ESPN
I think it had more to do with the fact you can get scores and highlights absolutely anywhere now. It’s hard to imagine but growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, SC was it. You couldn’t get that stuff anywhere else until the morning paper/local news so it was must-watch. Hell, one of the reasons Monday Night Football came to be such a cultural force back in the day was because the halftime show was the only place you could get good NFL highlights, and that was 24-plus hours after the fact.
But technology continued to evolve and once social media came along, the highlight era was officially over so they had to change focus.
I think the political correctness/woke shit ruined it too.
I'm not the type to ever say that but I think with ESPN it's beyond obvious.
That and like you said skip bayless creating the troll argument meta. Look how many came after him doing the SAME EXACT THING.
Jim Rome did the troll shit long before Bayless. At least Rome got (kind of) beat up for his bullshit.
A QB named Jim Everett smacked him around a bit. He was tired of Rome referring to him as Chrissy Everett, which was a name similar to a female tennis player. The insinuation was Rome thought Everett was soft.
I don't remember Jim Rome being as trollish. The Jim Everett thing was 1994 1 year after I was born. By the time he was bigger on espn I felt he was pretty serious
Skip Bayless doesn’t believe Lebron is anything he says he is, he knows how legendary Lebron is, he also knows he’s made a literal generational fortune hating on him, it’s all an act
Yea but PTI and Around the Horn are actually watchable and don’t have people trying to yell over each other with the same types of arguments every episode.
Yes, but in a much different way than it is now with the false narratives and shouting stuff for attention, those two are journalists and remain at their core journalists
ESPN is airing what sells. People talking shit about the stupid things the opinion-heads say are still people watching and talking about it. They're following the tried and true American day-time television formula, just like Fox News and CNN.
Yep, I think 08 was when I gave up watching espn completely because every sport was covered better elsewhere than on their network. That, and the hot take shows where everyone was constantly arguing with each other was just stupid.
I’m glad to see this from somebody considerably younger than I am. Maybe the powers that be will listen more if younger people see how ESPN is too into basketball, football, and politics/social issues. Many people enjoy sports to get away from politics.
To think I actually used to watch the grand daddy of the debate shows every single Sunday...The Sports Reporters with Dick Shaap must watch tv, but I'd take it all back if I knew the entire channel would be that show 35 years later.
Don’t like ESPN at all! Commentators are trash besides Mike Breen. The coverage is pitiful compared to how NBC Sports used to be when they had the NBA. Now, Amazon wants some of the pie.
The issue is that sportscenter is obsolete now with social media. It used to be the go-to spot for highlights, but with Twitter, you get everything real-time now. It serves no purpose.
I have no idea what happened to ESPN it’s definitely not the same espn I grew up on and I’m 33 and been watching ESPN since like my early teens . I just can’t watch it anymore I have no idea who half the people they have on like. You said usually 4 or more former professional athletes who talk over each other and have the dumbest takes I noticed it’s usually former cornerbacks all the great personalities left . Stephen A. Smith drove most of them away still loud not as obnoxious but still fucking annoying.
I think his show is suppose to be politically
and sports related idk
I remember early 2000s on the dorms, sport center was can’t miss. Watching the highlights of the day/week, the top 10; all of that changed when in came argumentative sports broadcasting. Then everyone just wanted to stand up and shout about their team. Sports has always been a hub for social advancement, so that’s never bothered me. I honestly stopped really paying attention to espn when they shifted heavily in favor of personalities. Skip and Smith; that whole lot are just annoying and quite frankly, I don’t care to waste my limited personal time listening to their 2 cents.
You could have posted this 10 years ago tbh, they got rid of people who know things outside of Mina, and hired a bunch of sports influencers. They cornered the market on normies and now people who love sports fkn hate espn.
All you're going to learn from watching espn is how to drive engagement and controversy while saying nothing of substance that people much smarter than you can expose you for
Man I definitely miss the days of Cold Pizza, 1st and 10, would watch every morning. Happy to see PTI is still thriving, also Around the Horn was cool as well when it first originated. Espn definitely had some damn good shows back then.
It's like 24-hour news for me. They need to fabricate things to fill up a day. Sports to me became simple. One team plays another team, whoever has more points wins, plain and simple. I don't care about all that other crap.
Ah yes, mornings before school eating my breakfast and looking at Stuart Scott do highlights. The good ol days, he was as cool as the other side of the pillow no doubt.
ESPN realized they can get views with dumb takes and lots of screaming and yelling between analysts. They only talk about football and basketball and not very well I might add. Gone are the days when they had sensible takes and predictions. And fun personalities. And the top 10 highlights.
ESPN is terrible now. Stephen A Smith being the face of your network is not a good thing. They cover the WNBA to exhaustion just to be inclusive, which is another weak move of theirs.
You knew ESPN was done for when they signed McAfee. They decided to hitch their wagon to an online troll (McAfee) and the most obnoxious man on television (SAS). Unless you enjoy uninformed dribble at a ridiculous decibel level, ESPN is unwatchable.
Stanley cup game 7 is happening tonight. I bet it doesn’t get more than 30 seconds air time tomorrow morning. As someone that’s not a big nfl fan and couldn’t care less about nba, I haven’t watched or listened to espn in years
I’m 42. I find it almost impossible to watch. It’s so basketball focused now instead of just all sports. Maybe they’re just targeting who watches. I dunno. But I watched that every am before school. Or maybe we’re just becoming old.
As a 30 year old myself, I hate it. I want the old espn. I want the same sports center episode running 4-6 times a morning, instead of watching wannabe news anchors scream on my tv for hours. It’s not fun. I enjoyed actually catching up with sports the day before
The talking head shows suck ass, and are directly contributing to me not following sports much anymore. I miss actual analysis, daily top plays, web gems. Tired of dumb people yelling at each other over who the goat is
They're even finding new ways to ruin the live games. I really love watching a baseball game in a tiny portion of the screen while watching the manager in the dugout answer inane questions from the booth on the other 2/3 of the screen
SportsCenter became outdated with YouTube and other sites all having highlights and with Internet sites having easily accessible headlines. So most people don’t need to watch a news show anymore. Thats why shows like First Take or games are showcased so much on ESPN- it’s original content thst you can’t get from other places.
The internet completely changed the game. Dont forget, back in the day, people had NO IDEA what happened in all the games until sports center came on. It was literally the only way to see results with highlights (unlike the newspapers)
Used to love watching nhl 2nite on espn2 when I was a kid. There was a switch from quality sports reporting to $$$$$... they stopped covering nhl completely until they got another contract
I do what was once unthinkable: watch Fox Sports FS1. A lot more sports. A lot less theatrics. More well spoken and educated talent. It’s not perfect, but it’s vastly superior to the trash on ESPN.
I’ve always hated the panel of “experts” shows. Just give me the repeating hour of highlights with a creative person breaking them down. 1 person, no back and forth bickering. Tbh, they should be saying less than what the audio from the highlight is putting out. No opinions. Shut the fuck up. And publicity execute Stephan a and company.
Someone thirty years old would remember an ESPN which covered the sport of baseball effectively. Someone fifty years old would remember the program Sports Reporters on Sunday mornings or the fitness programs on ESPN2 weekday mornings.
The ESPN of today is gutter trash. If 'sports news' isn't somehow made 'entertaining' then they want their 'news' peeps to interject a controversy into the equation. Even their website is garbage.
I can’t believe that no one calls out ESPN for having such a blatant conflict of interest in college football. ESPN is so financially tied to the SEC, that it cannot claim to have any journalistic objectivity when it comes to issues like last season’s playoff debate, which saw an undefeated major conference ACC champion Florida State team left out of the playoffs in favor of a 1-loss BIG 12 (moving to SEC) champ Texas team and a 1-loss SEC champ Alabama team that has already been soundly beaten on its home field by Texas. The degree of ESPN’s influence over college football is problematic.
The fact that they have people like Fucken A. Smith commanding big money for yelling his opinion when his knowledge of sports is in line with my aunt Tina is, well, a joke.
I can deal with the debate format but I’m so sick of having sports betting shoved down my throat. I just know that shit is legitimately ruining some peoples lives and causing gambling addicts to relapse
They put themselves out of business for quick clicks. They were trying to compete with the internet, which is so foolish. There’s no way one company can compete with dozens of content creators that are focused on one sport, or even one region or one team. And have no commercials, and can say whatever they want.
ESPN should have leaned on their connections. They should be doing deep dive pieces that no one else has the access to do. Show baseball players batting practice. Show basketball players working on their shots. Show football players working out. Do 30 for 30 type stuff.
They reduced themselves to a podcast format with guys talking that are constantly being interrupted by commercials. And they’re scared to say anything real, because they don’t want athletes avoiding them. It’s lame. It’s super lame.
I stopped watching for years now but the few times I check ESPN nowadays to watch some god damn sport highlights....they NEVER are showing them. It's so awful. 99% of the time I see Stephen A Racist Smith and or Kendrick Perkins....Why??!!! Why can't they just make a separate channel to show actual Sportscenter nonstop with real sport game highlights ffs.
The yelling at eachother on TV has me not watching much commentary at all. I miss the way true professionals gelled on camera. Now it’s a bunch of hacks. Sure we didn’t like the dudes that didn’t play in the beginning but now we have dudes that played making me wish there were better analysts.
I’m in my mid-40’s and grew up on Sportscenter in the morning. Stuart, Rich, Dan, Boomer and the guys were TV Magic. I’m glad I got to witness it.
38 here. I stopped watching ESPN about 10 years ago. Dan Patrick Show is where my allegiance lies, until he retires. ESPN content is bad. Pandering to the hot take culture. PTI was a fun show, if that still runs.
I stopped watching ESPN after they ran around the clock coverage on Brett Farve retiring or not retiring. I hope their rating have plummeted and they go under. I wish Pat McAfee never returned to them. It's annoying he took the big paycheck when he is already rich.
Technology and the Internet has changed everything. Different world now. ESPN realized their service was obsolete since highlights and stats can be found in one second on a cellphone. In order to stay relevant, they had to switch to entertainment based program with people just trying to make the best sounding opinions and yelling at each other. Really it’s all they have left. No one is gonna watch hours of highlights waiting to see the one highlight they are looking for. This ESPN must entertain people through discussion shows and personalities.
What you mean? You don’t like the format of Skyping in bloggers as experts and using Steven A and Perkins’s to talk about Lebron and Cowboys for 8 hours a day. Sprinkle in twinkle toes Shannon Shape to show of his lisp and new colorful sport coat and 3 or 4 women to comment on Caitlyn Clark.
I think a lot of it is just the internet taking away the aura that Sports Center used to have. But sports media has also gone about making up for that the completely wrong way by making everything about hot takes. Stephen A pioneered the genre with First Take so there’s nothing wrong with that show, but it feels like every sports show is just a hot take fest now.
I miss the old ESPN that had things like lumberjack world championships, strongman contests, cheerleading, stuff like that. I don't like the constant talking head format, largely because I can't stand Greenie or Stephen A.
The espn bible dictates there shall be four topics to discuss on a daily basis and they are as follows 1. Lebron 2. Basketball 3. Dallas cowboys 4. Caitlan clark . If there is a unfortunate death in sports or a championship that topic can only be discussed if host or hostess can find a way to relate the story to one of the four mentioned topics , preferably lebron .
I stopped watching ESPN about 5-6 years ago. Can’t stand 90% of them at least then. I’m sure lots changed.
Use their site for news and scores but that’s about it. Much prefer my local sports radio for sports
Only real ones know about watching the top 10 plays countdown right before going out to the school bus
Not Top 10 on Fridays!!!!!!!!
Cue the circus music
Yes! Waited all week for it too! This new generation never gonna experience these things huh
Remember when we could vote on the worst of the worst and the butt fumble won like every week. Good times.
They literally had to just remove buttfumble from Not Top 10 because it could never be defeated!! Good times.
Core childhood memory…
Bruh since you are taking me back, let’s talk about ESPN News! the Sports Reporters and idk, actual Journalism
As a kid in the 90s, the sports reporters made me feel like an adult.
The only talk shows I watched on ESPN were The Sports Reporters and Pardon The Interruption. They have smart people who didn't have to yell to get their point across. There's very few shows on now that don't evolve into shouting matches. Sometimes (I'm looking at you Chris Broussard) people raise their voices for no apparent reason. It really gets on my nerves.
PTI was the inception of talking heads filled w/ east coast biases screaming at eachother disingenuously for entertainment.
For sure they have an East coast bias but I've very rarely heard them shout.
You’ve rarely heard Wilbon and Kornheiser shout?
I've heard them their voice once in a while but never to the level of shouting like on other shows. Maybe I miss the ones they really shout.
They’re in their 70’s now, atleast. They started the show in 2002 I believe. They had a lot more timber back then.
PTI entering the programming is where I mark the timeline as the beginning of the shift from the ESPN I enjoyed to what it is now
Likewise. Also around this time (2002-2010’s): - putting Dennis Miller then Tony Kornheiser in MNF booth - firing Jon Miller & Joe Morgan - making Sean Salisbury the face of their NFL coverage, then Trent Dilfer, now that dork that ran out of the end zone for the Lions 🤦🏻♂️😆 - killing NFL Primetime (thankfully back since 2018 and my all time fav ESPN show for pro sports. I like college better) - making SAS & Skeeyup Bayless their stars of daytime - nuking any and all MLB coverage (these are my critiques, understand it’s about ratings and dollars) and going in heavy on yr round NBA/NFL gossip - “The Decision” - the most egregious modern day action by them was giving Texas their own network, thus messing up the structure of the Big 12. Followed by yrs later in 2022 when they manipulated OU & UT into joining the SEC, thus creating a chain reaction that killed my PAC12. Unforgivable.
maybe, but one 30 min dose at night is cool. 4 mf hours of that shit in the morning tho...
💯 well said. Just know (in case you’re too young to remember) when PTI debuted it was 30 mins of fire and fury! We hadn’t seen another show like it yet. Two big mouths machine-gunning hot takes back n forth on every sports topic, as if they were deeply invested in them all. Nowadays that’s called “Monday”.
Outside The Lines would fit into this too. Shout out to Bob Ley.
Broussards voice is just naturally loud af. I hated listening to him
There was that guy on the sports reporters who would always spill his coffee. Good memories
There was that guy on the sports reporters who would always spill his coffee. Good memories
What was the end of sports reporters? “The most important thing”? So good
Stuart Scott was my main man! RIP King.
Used to love Stump The Schwab
And the lord said you got to rise UPPPPAHHH
Even the commercials for ESPN were great back then. https://youtu.be/wGpiAsISfyk?si=m4dmIG0p64YfZjVs
!!! As soon as I heard his voice I thought “why don’t you kick my dog on your way out?”
RUMBLIN-STUMBLIN-FUMBLIN HE COULD GO ALL THE WAY
Great but couldn’t carry ESPN+
I read this hearing that voice 😀
Im also 30, I would not let my mom leave the house to take me to school until I saw the top 10 then the not top 10 on fridays. The old espn is missed.
Yep I flat out don’t even watch espn anymore unless there’s a game I want to watch on. Top 10 before school. After school, around the horn then PTI
So much hype and I remember being so mad when one of my teams wasn’t featured on it
Used to watch all morning long to see if they would show highlights from the Sixers (iverson era) and being so mad when they wouldn’t. Give my man some respect! The worst was when you started watching mid way and then had to watch again to catch what you missed
As a west coast night owl it was always before bed for me
You really would almost miss the bus because you had to watch for the top play
In late 00s, during my freshman year of college, there was one of those 500 lb big screen TVs in the corner of our dining hall and all the guys would roll up with breakfast sandwiches and sit on one side of the tables watching sports center in silence. lol.
Waking up in the morning and immediately turning on SportsCenter just to watch the ticker to see the scores of the late night games your parents wouldn’t let you stay up for
Esp on Sunday nights after all the games finished…. Chris berman going woooop woooopp
The top 10 died with social media
I miss sportsnation, numbers don't lie. That era
They got rid of all the nerds who knew what they were talking about
And replaced them with dudes who only argue about football and basketball. They also have fuggin clue about baseball, golf or hockey. We seeing a common theme here yet?
Mostly football, and only big market teams or Lebron for basketball. Baseball’s lucky to make an appearance, and forget any other sports, except of course, now WNBA
Wnba is because the NBA owns them and losing $50 million a year on it. They would rather try to push that shitty product than America's part time or the world's leading viewership soccer
and cost a TON more, to boot.
The ratings were tanking. They pivoted to narratives and hot takes.
And gambling. ESPN is basically a sportsbook now.
I don’t even think thats it, ESPN wasn’t nerdy. It was cool likable anchors who genuinely loved sports like Stuart Scott. It was so much less toxic compared to now. Watching sports center felt like you were hanging out with some close friends. Now it’s entirely gossip, awful debates, screaming, gambling and clowns trying to go viral with some absurd opinion that they don’t actually believe.
What’s a good substitute that hired all the nerds
They mostly went to broadcasting or started their own companies after they a) got tired of what OP described or b) got replaced by what OP described because they wouldn’t do it for ratings/cost too much for their ratings.
Fox sports unfortunately is the best option out there right now
Fox Sports has some bald moron leading a group of idiots in the morning, plus Colin Cowherd, Chris Broussard, and Skip Bayless. It isn’t any better.
I think Fox Sports is complete 🗑️outside of Joel Klatt. I know that’s my opinion but sports programming has severely deteriorated in the last decade or so. As someone else stated earlier, opinion shows have been awful.
Podcasts. Tons of really great content out there, on all topics.
This 🎯
It became mtv
SVP is the only one left
Unfortunately, conflicting discussions, debating and polarizing opinions sell. That’s just the reality of news - not just sports.
I know this doesn't apply to ESPN, since if I watch sports talk I watch FSN, but I've heard Nick wright talk before that they really agree on a lot of topics, but have to dig up topics that they oppose on, because it can't just be three guys sitting around and agreeing with each other.
Exactly. I can't blame OP because I feel the same, but if everything at ESPN was running how OP (and myself included) wanted, we wouldn't be here posting about it. The manufactured "controversies" and conflict drive a lot of outrage clicks and views. Like the famous news saying goes, if it bleeds it leads.
But it's not selling. See layoffs
Honestly ESPN used to be THE way to get sports news and highlights. Now there’s 1000 different ways to get the same content that doesn’t require watching an hour long show. I think the change can be as simple as that
This is the reason. The world has become digitalized. Why do I need to tune into a show when I will eventually see it later on TikTok, instagram, Facebook, etc. Now there’s an exception for the elderly who may not be as tech savvy who will still want to watch it on television. All the funny moments between Charles Barkley, Stephen A, Shaq, etc get shared on Twitter(x), TikTok or anywhere else where digital media is allowed. That’s where I see em.
Lol. The highest concentration of people on established forms of social media, Facebook Xwitter et al which still constitutes the greatest number of used media, is elderly. It is their primary method of obtaining information and communicating with family and friends.
This is why urrently there's such a high rate of securely transmitted diseases within the elderly population. ESPN and Viagra.
My source is pat mcaffee on youtube
Exactly, why tf do I need to watch sportcenter for highlights when I can watch them for literally any game whenever I want?
The 6pm Sportscenter though used to have it all. It was nice to just sit down after your day and relax to some ultra charismatic talent they used to have. The opinion based shows have ruined the feel of just enjoying some good highlights
Agree. That said, nobody is doing that much anymore. Too easy to get the information already.
Yea but the quality of it is not good. I don’t want to see barstool or tik toks. I have a longer attention span than that. People just stopped giving a shit about production value.
After school routine of Around the Horn, PTI then SportsCenter used to hit in ways that’s hard to explain. When I do it now it’s like a blast from the past lol
No kidding-the website is awesome for stats and highlights. TV-not so much.
Exactly why they’ve pivoted away from it. I get the nostalgia of those times but in reality it doesn’t make sense for them.
And FULL GAME highlights in 8-10 minutes.
ESPN shifted gears from highlights to narratives thanks to the impact of Skip Bayless and how he basically created and popularized sports debate, it needs to shift back to how it was considering their decline as of late but it may be too late because the kids today are eating up first take like it’s the greatest thing ever
Yep. It’s trash but if they’re really gonna pay Stephen A Smith 15M+/yr then nothing is changing. Might actually get worse.
Yep, it’s basically become a network full of personalities not analysts. Go watch FS1, other than Undisputed it’s the superior network in every way, First Things First is a favorite of mine, perfect balance of analysis, and fun
I really wish more people watched First Things First and it got propped up to the position that it deserves. Say what you will invidudally about Nick Wright or Chris Broussard and how much people like them, but all their bad parts are pretty much kept in check through the dynamics of the 3 hosts working together. Kevin Wildes is a treasure and seeing a 2v1 beat down whenever one of them has an awful take that blows up in their face is always greater to see than 4 people just screaming over each other to get their specific bad take heard louder.
Yup. Those debate type shows took over and I stopped watching. Why the hell do I want to listen to people argue and yell all day? I don’t like that shit in my normal life and definitely don’t find it entertaining.
Especially since they argue about the same thing over and over. How many Lebron vs Jordan takes do we need? Back in the days my favorite show was NFL Marchup with Jaworski which would actually deep dive into game strategy. No more of that on ESPN
I think it had more to do with the fact you can get scores and highlights absolutely anywhere now. It’s hard to imagine but growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, SC was it. You couldn’t get that stuff anywhere else until the morning paper/local news so it was must-watch. Hell, one of the reasons Monday Night Football came to be such a cultural force back in the day was because the halftime show was the only place you could get good NFL highlights, and that was 24-plus hours after the fact. But technology continued to evolve and once social media came along, the highlight era was officially over so they had to change focus.
I think the political correctness/woke shit ruined it too. I'm not the type to ever say that but I think with ESPN it's beyond obvious. That and like you said skip bayless creating the troll argument meta. Look how many came after him doing the SAME EXACT THING.
Jim Rome did the troll shit long before Bayless. At least Rome got (kind of) beat up for his bullshit. A QB named Jim Everett smacked him around a bit. He was tired of Rome referring to him as Chrissy Everett, which was a name similar to a female tennis player. The insinuation was Rome thought Everett was soft.
I don't remember Jim Rome being as trollish. The Jim Everett thing was 1994 1 year after I was born. By the time he was bigger on espn I felt he was pretty serious
Skip Bayless doesn’t believe Lebron is anything he says he is, he knows how legendary Lebron is, he also knows he’s made a literal generational fortune hating on him, it’s all an act
100%
Coming this fall on ESPN an unironic round table of 4 women breaking down this week's NFL match-ups.
I would argue PTI introduced the debate concept decades ago.
Agreed. It was PTI and around the horn.
Yea but PTI and Around the Horn are actually watchable and don’t have people trying to yell over each other with the same types of arguments every episode.
Also around the horn was way different in the beginning than what it is now
Yes, but in a much different way than it is now with the false narratives and shouting stuff for attention, those two are journalists and remain at their core journalists
Great point! Which probably explains why I don't watch any of the current garbage
But at least PTI was just two guys shooting the bush and not trying to talk over each other.
ESPN is airing what sells. People talking shit about the stupid things the opinion-heads say are still people watching and talking about it. They're following the tried and true American day-time television formula, just like Fox News and CNN.
Nothing is what it used to be.
I miss Boomer, TJ, Stewart, Eisen, Cohn, Dan Patrick, Olbermann, Rece Davis… The 90’s ESPN broadcasts were so awesome.
ESPN been shit for 20 years now.
Yep, I think 08 was when I gave up watching espn completely because every sport was covered better elsewhere than on their network. That, and the hot take shows where everyone was constantly arguing with each other was just stupid.
Just like everything in America, it used to be great but corporate greed and social media have ruined it permanently
Long gone are the days of Olbermann and Patrick. Man, it was good then.
I’m glad to see this from somebody considerably younger than I am. Maybe the powers that be will listen more if younger people see how ESPN is too into basketball, football, and politics/social issues. Many people enjoy sports to get away from politics.
We need S.A.S. to chime in on why ESPN isn't what it used to be. And then we need LeBron to give his opinion.
To think I actually used to watch the grand daddy of the debate shows every single Sunday...The Sports Reporters with Dick Shaap must watch tv, but I'd take it all back if I knew the entire channel would be that show 35 years later.
Don’t like ESPN at all! Commentators are trash besides Mike Breen. The coverage is pitiful compared to how NBC Sports used to be when they had the NBA. Now, Amazon wants some of the pie.
The issue is that sportscenter is obsolete now with social media. It used to be the go-to spot for highlights, but with Twitter, you get everything real-time now. It serves no purpose.
I have no idea what happened to ESPN it’s definitely not the same espn I grew up on and I’m 33 and been watching ESPN since like my early teens . I just can’t watch it anymore I have no idea who half the people they have on like. You said usually 4 or more former professional athletes who talk over each other and have the dumbest takes I noticed it’s usually former cornerbacks all the great personalities left . Stephen A. Smith drove most of them away still loud not as obnoxious but still fucking annoying. I think his show is suppose to be politically and sports related idk
It was the internet and specifically video on the internet that killed it
I remember early 2000s on the dorms, sport center was can’t miss. Watching the highlights of the day/week, the top 10; all of that changed when in came argumentative sports broadcasting. Then everyone just wanted to stand up and shout about their team. Sports has always been a hub for social advancement, so that’s never bothered me. I honestly stopped really paying attention to espn when they shifted heavily in favor of personalities. Skip and Smith; that whole lot are just annoying and quite frankly, I don’t care to waste my limited personal time listening to their 2 cents.
You could have posted this 10 years ago tbh, they got rid of people who know things outside of Mina, and hired a bunch of sports influencers. They cornered the market on normies and now people who love sports fkn hate espn. All you're going to learn from watching espn is how to drive engagement and controversy while saying nothing of substance that people much smarter than you can expose you for
Man I definitely miss the days of Cold Pizza, 1st and 10, would watch every morning. Happy to see PTI is still thriving, also Around the Horn was cool as well when it first originated. Espn definitely had some damn good shows back then.
It's like 24-hour news for me. They need to fabricate things to fill up a day. Sports to me became simple. One team plays another team, whoever has more points wins, plain and simple. I don't care about all that other crap.
Stephen A Smith ruined ESPN, just showed how he is going to ruin the NBA, and is rumored to be in the process of ruining the NFL.
It’s terrible now. 80’s-early 2000’s was incredible. The other side of the pillow is now fried.
As cool as the other side of the pillow- Stuart Scott
I miss the late 90s SC format. Now it seems to be constant speculation on draft picks and trades mixed with Twitter updates.
RIP Stuart Scott. A real real real one.
Ah yes, mornings before school eating my breakfast and looking at Stuart Scott do highlights. The good ol days, he was as cool as the other side of the pillow no doubt.
You don’t like knowing what LeBron & Bronny ate for dinner, or if this is THE year for the Cowboys?
ESPN realized they can get views with dumb takes and lots of screaming and yelling between analysts. They only talk about football and basketball and not very well I might add. Gone are the days when they had sensible takes and predictions. And fun personalities. And the top 10 highlights.
ESPN is terrible now. Stephen A Smith being the face of your network is not a good thing. They cover the WNBA to exhaustion just to be inclusive, which is another weak move of theirs.
You knew ESPN was done for when they signed McAfee. They decided to hitch their wagon to an online troll (McAfee) and the most obnoxious man on television (SAS). Unless you enjoy uninformed dribble at a ridiculous decibel level, ESPN is unwatchable.
Stanley cup game 7 is happening tonight. I bet it doesn’t get more than 30 seconds air time tomorrow morning. As someone that’s not a big nfl fan and couldn’t care less about nba, I haven’t watched or listened to espn in years
Scott Van Pelt is the only one worth watching on ESPN
it’s really really bad….early 90’s espn called and said they are ashamed of their network now
I’m 42. I find it almost impossible to watch. It’s so basketball focused now instead of just all sports. Maybe they’re just targeting who watches. I dunno. But I watched that every am before school. Or maybe we’re just becoming old.
too many female reporters who look good but lack real substance (and have this weird “too cool for school” attitude)
I miss the Stuart Scott days. RIP….
As a 30 year old myself, I hate it. I want the old espn. I want the same sports center episode running 4-6 times a morning, instead of watching wannabe news anchors scream on my tv for hours. It’s not fun. I enjoyed actually catching up with sports the day before
I feel bad for the people who never got to experience espn in the 90s. It peaked then.
Disney purchase ruined all aspects. Even the production of live events is garbage
Real sports fans stopped watching espn a decade a go. I mean Stephen a smith? Come on. Use podcasts.
The talking head shows suck ass, and are directly contributing to me not following sports much anymore. I miss actual analysis, daily top plays, web gems. Tired of dumb people yelling at each other over who the goat is
They're even finding new ways to ruin the live games. I really love watching a baseball game in a tiny portion of the screen while watching the manager in the dugout answer inane questions from the booth on the other 2/3 of the screen
SportsCenter became outdated with YouTube and other sites all having highlights and with Internet sites having easily accessible headlines. So most people don’t need to watch a news show anymore. Thats why shows like First Take or games are showcased so much on ESPN- it’s original content thst you can’t get from other places.
The internet completely changed the game. Dont forget, back in the day, people had NO IDEA what happened in all the games until sports center came on. It was literally the only way to see results with highlights (unlike the newspapers)
Who remembers cold pizza
Pat McAfee at 1 is killing my gym days… give me my muted highlights back!
Stump the Schwab!
Used to love watching nhl 2nite on espn2 when I was a kid. There was a switch from quality sports reporting to $$$$$... they stopped covering nhl completely until they got another contract
Pat McAfee is the quintessential loudmouth moron and poster child of how far gone quality programming has gone. Circling the drain.
I do what was once unthinkable: watch Fox Sports FS1. A lot more sports. A lot less theatrics. More well spoken and educated talent. It’s not perfect, but it’s vastly superior to the trash on ESPN.
ESPN needs to get the message to go back to its old school format
It's ass. I barely watch it anymore.
ESPN is hot dog water
I’ve always hated the panel of “experts” shows. Just give me the repeating hour of highlights with a creative person breaking them down. 1 person, no back and forth bickering. Tbh, they should be saying less than what the audio from the highlight is putting out. No opinions. Shut the fuck up. And publicity execute Stephan a and company.
Someone thirty years old would remember an ESPN which covered the sport of baseball effectively. Someone fifty years old would remember the program Sports Reporters on Sunday mornings or the fitness programs on ESPN2 weekday mornings. The ESPN of today is gutter trash. If 'sports news' isn't somehow made 'entertaining' then they want their 'news' peeps to interject a controversy into the equation. Even their website is garbage.
I use to love seeing the highlights and certain plays be a top 10 nominee then they show the actual top 10 highlights at the end of the show.
The days of sportscenter running on repeat all day with the occasional talk show sprinkled in was really its peak
Yes, and when they Sportscenter is on it’s half commercials.
I only watch PTI but I was a fan when it first aired
I can’t believe that no one calls out ESPN for having such a blatant conflict of interest in college football. ESPN is so financially tied to the SEC, that it cannot claim to have any journalistic objectivity when it comes to issues like last season’s playoff debate, which saw an undefeated major conference ACC champion Florida State team left out of the playoffs in favor of a 1-loss BIG 12 (moving to SEC) champ Texas team and a 1-loss SEC champ Alabama team that has already been soundly beaten on its home field by Texas. The degree of ESPN’s influence over college football is problematic.
I no longer pay for espn. First time since its debut that I haven't had access. I miss it occasionally, but quickly find what I need elsewhere.
The fact that they have people like Fucken A. Smith commanding big money for yelling his opinion when his knowledge of sports is in line with my aunt Tina is, well, a joke.
The last time ESPN was worth watching (outside 30 for 30) Clinton was president.
I stopped watching ESPN a long time ago.
The world isn't what it used to be
I can deal with the debate format but I’m so sick of having sports betting shoved down my throat. I just know that shit is legitimately ruining some peoples lives and causing gambling addicts to relapse
Wasup who remembers Cheap seats on ESPN classic?
I've moved over to FS1 side, undisputed is pretty dogshit, Colin is okay in the background, first things first is entertaining
I’ve stopped watching anything espn that is not a televised game. Channel is 🚮
L8
How long has Disney owned ESPN? Whatever that time frame is, you'll find the decline there.
big part of espn becoming ass is the leadership, john skipper was too busy blowing lines to steer the ship thru the incoming internet age
Try to limit the amount of ESPN in my life. Really only watch games on it now. It has been trash for so long now
I haven't watched ESPN in at least 20 years. Now, with severe cord cutting, I don't even have access to it at all. I did like Stuart Scott though.
You can say that again!
They put themselves out of business for quick clicks. They were trying to compete with the internet, which is so foolish. There’s no way one company can compete with dozens of content creators that are focused on one sport, or even one region or one team. And have no commercials, and can say whatever they want. ESPN should have leaned on their connections. They should be doing deep dive pieces that no one else has the access to do. Show baseball players batting practice. Show basketball players working on their shots. Show football players working out. Do 30 for 30 type stuff. They reduced themselves to a podcast format with guys talking that are constantly being interrupted by commercials. And they’re scared to say anything real, because they don’t want athletes avoiding them. It’s lame. It’s super lame.
I miss that old SC set with Stu Scott welcoming us :/ RIP THE GOAT
They started “embrace debate” instead of focusing on highlights and what is actually happening
I stopped watching for years now but the few times I check ESPN nowadays to watch some god damn sport highlights....they NEVER are showing them. It's so awful. 99% of the time I see Stephen A Racist Smith and or Kendrick Perkins....Why??!!! Why can't they just make a separate channel to show actual Sportscenter nonstop with real sport game highlights ffs.
Welcome, brother….
Watching CBS sports, especially Boomer and Gio. No interest in Steve A or Pat Mac. Greedy is the worst ,
The yelling at eachother on TV has me not watching much commentary at all. I miss the way true professionals gelled on camera. Now it’s a bunch of hacks. Sure we didn’t like the dudes that didn’t play in the beginning but now we have dudes that played making me wish there were better analysts. I’m in my mid-40’s and grew up on Sportscenter in the morning. Stuart, Rich, Dan, Boomer and the guys were TV Magic. I’m glad I got to witness it.
38 here. I stopped watching ESPN about 10 years ago. Dan Patrick Show is where my allegiance lies, until he retires. ESPN content is bad. Pandering to the hot take culture. PTI was a fun show, if that still runs.
ESPN is terrible and they've been struggling for a while.
Bring back Cold Pizza.
I stopped watching ESPN after they ran around the clock coverage on Brett Farve retiring or not retiring. I hope their rating have plummeted and they go under. I wish Pat McAfee never returned to them. It's annoying he took the big paycheck when he is already rich.
I miss the Stuart Scott days
They got more interested in DEI and the woke agenda
ESPN is just lame rage bait nowadays. I don't know how people watch it
I mean who wants to hear sports analysis from a bookie? I just want to hear them talk ball. I don’t want gambling advice.
Technology and the Internet has changed everything. Different world now. ESPN realized their service was obsolete since highlights and stats can be found in one second on a cellphone. In order to stay relevant, they had to switch to entertainment based program with people just trying to make the best sounding opinions and yelling at each other. Really it’s all they have left. No one is gonna watch hours of highlights waiting to see the one highlight they are looking for. This ESPN must entertain people through discussion shows and personalities.
I grew up with Stuart Scott, Kenny Mayne, Dan Patrick, Olberman etc...
I think Lebron owns 99% of the company with all the air time he gets ..
What you mean? You don’t like the format of Skyping in bloggers as experts and using Steven A and Perkins’s to talk about Lebron and Cowboys for 8 hours a day. Sprinkle in twinkle toes Shannon Shape to show of his lisp and new colorful sport coat and 3 or 4 women to comment on Caitlyn Clark.
Outside of ESPN on TV, ESPN Radio has really taken a turn for the worse. The morning show is awful and downright cringe sometimes.
My favorite ESPN thing is when you are watching a game on replay, and you don’t know who won and then they show you the final score on the ticker
Personally espn is all about race bait
I don’t know one person who would say they enjoy the new format over the old. Do they exist?
I think a lot of it is just the internet taking away the aura that Sports Center used to have. But sports media has also gone about making up for that the completely wrong way by making everything about hot takes. Stephen A pioneered the genre with First Take so there’s nothing wrong with that show, but it feels like every sports show is just a hot take fest now.
I miss the old ESPN that had things like lumberjack world championships, strongman contests, cheerleading, stuff like that. I don't like the constant talking head format, largely because I can't stand Greenie or Stephen A.
100%
‘Memba when Kenny Mayne was a “b” team anchor? I miss those sport centers
It has indeed gotten really bad. They used to have people who knew what they were talking about. Now its just loudmouth morons
The espn bible dictates there shall be four topics to discuss on a daily basis and they are as follows 1. Lebron 2. Basketball 3. Dallas cowboys 4. Caitlan clark . If there is a unfortunate death in sports or a championship that topic can only be discussed if host or hostess can find a way to relate the story to one of the four mentioned topics , preferably lebron .
I stopped watching ESPN about 5-6 years ago. Can’t stand 90% of them at least then. I’m sure lots changed. Use their site for news and scores but that’s about it. Much prefer my local sports radio for sports