Yet Another Reason to Hate ESPN
Hey, it’s bad enough that the TV network has dumbed down SportsCenter to the point of near unwatchability (if that’s a real word). But as I clicked around ESPN.com this morning to get baseball and football boxscores, I noticed several banner ads offering “the ultimate UNC ticket package.” I guess that based on the urls of my work (Raleigh) and home (Apex) computers, ESPN has determined that I must be a Hole fan. Disgusting, especially during football season.
Don’t you know that everyone in North Carolina is a Holes fan, or should be according to the ‘national’ sports outlets.
We have kinda brought it on ourselves with our mediocrity over the years, IMO.
ESPN went straight down the tubes when it became the Stuart Scott network…That guy is on every f-ing program they have…I am not surprised that so many of their better anchors have left over the years…
I remember seeing an episode of Dream Job where the ESPN brass, Al Jaffe, criticized a contestant for mentioning his school in a skit and went further to talk about how ESPN doesn’t do that blah blah blah due to impartiality blah blah blah and journalistic integrity blah blah blah. I guess that jackass has never watched his on network and how Stu mentions UNC at EVERY turn…
I hate to say it, but I wish Stuart Scott would get hit in the head with a football again…No serious damage, just amnesia as to where he went to school, etc…
speaking of great past anchors who went to better gigs….. remember when Craig Kilborn was on Sportscenter…. “release, rotation, splash”
that was his best call ever, and it was my woodstock.
Dan Patrick is the last rock of non-mediocrity.
I’m not sure anyone would bother ponying up the $$ to offer an “ultimate NCSU ticket package” on any national sports website at this point….they are going to go where the money is.
FYI. when I logged on to espn.com yesterday I was served a “nc state ticket package” and a “duke ticket package” add. I am sure it is zip code based advertising, and if I had to guess you are logged into their site.
^It might rotate around in certain areas as well. People really need to stop getting so worked up over stuff like this.
We can hate ESPN all we want but it is what has made college sports what it is today.
What great memories too, to think back about some of the names. Patrick and Olbermann, Kenny Mayne, Kilborn, and a few others made watching Sportscenter 75 times in one day enjoyable. Now all they have a bunch of talentless faces trying to recreate what has been lost.
UNC probably paid for the spot. After all they have to hawk their tickets in the paper and on TV in the local area to try and fill their house.
UNC football fans are pathetic compared to NCSU fans. I love how they estimate attendance at games by looking into the stands instead of counting tickets or actual turnstyle turns. The numbers they report for attandance is a complete joke and totally misleading. That’s how they operate at that school. No other school in the ACC does that.
The ads could be from a scalper/broker type of place. Those kind of ads are run even if all seats are sold out for an entire season.
When you go to Yahoo they have links for every single game to buy tickets (even the Stanley cup finals) and I was curious so I clicked one and it was a broker site.
Say what you want about UNC — but did you see the ads in yesterdays paper offering NASCAR tickets and gear for Duke football?
“We can hate ESPN all we want but it is what has made college sports what it is today.”
If you mean that they made it the over-hyped multibillion dollar industry controlled by a cabal of shoe companies, television executives, a complicit NCAA and university presidents, then you are correct.
If you mean that they somehow made college sports interesting, that’s ignorant. ACC basketball was better, IMO, before shoe money and hype made Duke and UNC the only teams in the league as far as the country knows.
I think the ads are part of the Coke rewards promos that are out there!
^correct
UNX is cooler than the other side of the pillow
It wasn’t good for NCSU that the down period of NCSU BB just happened to be when college BB exploded on TV. ESPN only hypes Duke and UNC because they have large national fanbases based on a lot of success in the past.
If Caltech and Grinnell College had big fanbases than ESPN would hype them. ESPN’s only bias is to the almighty dollar.
Hey, I’m blogging here. That gives me full license to be pissed off with minimal justification.
I dislike ESPN now for the following:
1) The excessive coverage of the Little League WS – who watches these games besides little leaguers and pedophiles?
2) The obvious “sides taken” and all kinds of conflicts of interest: The perfect example is all of the Reggie Bush ads they run and them hyping Bush while bashing Mario.
3) The Sports Reporters
4) The obscene morph of classic sports – It’s gone from something really cool to a poker/bowling/you can’t blame Bill Buckner for the 8 World Series loss network.
5) The ruining of basketball.
Don’t blame ESPN. The holes will advertise ANYWHERE to try to fill their stadium or at least sell tickets.
choppack I would like to add one – 6) the over excessive coverage of TO and other “non-subjects”
TO was a not a story at all… if the media would not have gotten involved, his injury would have been gone in weeks, and he would have been playing with the team by now… the media created a symbolic chess game between TO and Parcells.
i do like PTI though…
agree packpigskinfan!
I actually enjoy watching the little league world series. And, for the record, I’m well beyond my LL years and am certainly not a pedophile.
Here’s a thought. If you dislike ESPN so much, guys, don’t watch.
I don’t think I’ve posted on this site since the coaching search ended, but I feel compelled to stand up for the Little League World Series. All the hype, the commercials, and the occasional coach trying to pass off 19 year olds as 12 year old aside, the LLWS is one of my favorite things on TV all year long. And I promise you I’m no pedophile.
In my opinion it’s true competition. Sports as they used to be, if you will. The kids are playing because they love it, because they have fun, and because they want to win. I realize a lot of over-zealous parents these days ruin that for some kids, but if you watch these games you’ll see what true sporting competition is all about. They laugh, smile… and yes… cry.
I’ve completely stopped watching MLB. I can hardly even watch come October. However, I’ll never ever quit watching the CWS and the LLWS. I love baseball. I hate MLB. These kids are playing baseball. They love it, and they remind me why I love it.
Give it a shot, Choppack. Watch the rescheduled final game tonight. I think you’ll change your opinion. The kids are fundamentally sound minature baseball machines. Its like watching MLB without all the steroids and uber-egos.
Shockingly, I must really be in the minority here. I do not get how any true sports fan can dislike ESPN. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Radio, ESPN News ESPN.com. Do you know what the sports world would be like if we didn’t have these mediums?
I can understand not liking some of the opinions expressed by a few ESPN employees, but come on, don’t knock the entire network. Duke/Carolina is an ESPN staple because the ratings indicate that they can charge advertisers gazillions of dollars during these times. It’s a matter of economics. The fact of the matter is Duke/Carolina sells. ESPN would be idiots to not attempt to gain the rights to broadcast such games.
ESPN has no hidden agenda or bias against NC State. I do believe they have bigger fish to fry, and that’s no offense to our university.