YouTube: The Rise and Fall of ESPN

[JR44]

This thread made me realize how long its been since I actually listened to their programming vs watched a ball-game...I think the last time was a post-game after the Vikings were on a national game (and actually won).

I do admit to liking Greenie and maybe 1 or 2 others, but that's about it.

When the Vikes win, I like to watch some of the national shows to see what they are saying about the game, other than that, I prefer to watch the local networks of my teams.  I do like Scott Van Pelt, Eisen and Steve Levy and I will never turn the channel if Kay Adams is on 

[pattersaur]

ESPN is okay. I watch it more than 90% of the other channels if you count the live games, which you should.

The video made it seem like ESPN was burning cash-- they were-- but I'm not sure it was needlessly. Over time the leagues realized how much leverage they had and demanded more money. They weren't oblivious to what ESPN was doing on their end, and the leagues made sure they got their cut. Yes, ESPN had cable by the you-know-what's, but the sports leagues had ESPN in the same fashion. As much as they'd love it to be otherwise, ESPN absolutely needs marquee live games on their network in order to remain relevant. I know many folks who say they "hate" ESPN but watch it all the time for the live games lol. The American boycott!

Whoever said it earlier was spot on with the food network comparison though. ESPN stopped hiring real chefs a long time ago, and started hiring cartoon characters.

[bigbone62]

This has everything to do with going woke.  They lose half of their audience.  I'm going to watch my games regardless of their virtue signaling, but I'm not going to listen to one second of their "opinions" on things.  

Lol, way to stick to your principals! "Wokeness" is such a scurge that you're willing to skip something you wouldn't watch anyways. Something purposely designed for a totally different demographic. But you're still going to watch something you like on their network. So brave of you!

[Vikergirl]

I think ESPN has really struggled to adapt to how people consume media now. They had a great run for quite some time but I don't want to watch people yelling back and forth at each other. I absolutely loved Stuart Scott and it was heartbreaking what he went through. I watch podcasts but there is no TV sports coverage, pregame or post-game that is any good. I can just watch short clips from ESPN on YouTube. Considering the demographics that they want to appeal to, the old style is stale and new stuff is doesn't hold my attention. I love Pablo Torre so I watch his podcast. I watch games on ESPN but no actual shows

[StickierBuns]

I think ESPN has really struggled to adapt to how people consume media now. They had a great run for quite some time but I don't want to watch people yelling back and forth at each other. I absolutely loved Stuart Scott and it was heartbreaking what he went through. I watch podcasts but there is no TV sports coverage, pregame or post-game that is any good. I can just watch short clips from ESPN on YouTube. Considering the demographics that they want to appeal to, the old style is stale and new stuff is doesn't hold my attention. I love Pablo Torre so I watch his podcast. I watch games on ESPN but no actual shows

Pablo has been doing some interesting investigative reporting the last couple months.

[purplefaithful]

I've got a legit question/curiosity:

How would Ed Sullivan be labeled today by those "more conservative?"

Sullivan was legendary for giving Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and myriads of Motown artists an opportunity on his show....

Would that be considered Woke? Virtue Signaling? An unfair advantage to marginalized minorities? 

Or was he just a nice white guy trying to improve the chances of black artists to succeed?

[StickierBuns]

I've got a legit question/curiosity:

How would Ed Sullivan be labeled today by those "more conservative?"

Sullivan was legendary for giving Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and myriads of Motown artists an opportunity on his show....

Would that be considered Woke? Virtue Signaling? An unfair advantage to marginalized minorities? 

Or was he just a nice white guy trying to improve the chances of black artists to succeed?

The responses to this are going to be awesome.

[medaille]

I've got a legit question/curiosity:

How would Ed Sullivan be labeled today by those "more conservative?"

Sullivan was legendary for giving Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and myriads of Motown artists an opportunity on his show....

Would that be considered Woke? Virtue Signaling? An unfair advantage to marginalized minorities? 

Or was he just a nice white guy trying to improve the chances of black artists to succeed?

Being woke is not about having people of a certain race on your show, it’s about having a specific mindset.  In this context, being racist would be in choosing who can or can’t be on your show based on the color of their skin, and not the content of their character or the quality of their performances.  That black people existed on his show is not evidence of him being woke, as it can merely be the lack of being racist.  You’d have to probe into why black people were on his show to determine his wokeness.

If you asked him why black people where on his show and he said, because they were great musicians, that would be lack of racism, not wokeness.  If you asked him why black people were on his show, and he said, because “White people have a privilege that help them outperform black people, so I, as a powerful white male, need to prop up the underperforming black performers, so I’m implementing a quota system where no less than 30% of acts are black acts, and while unfortunate, we’re not going to be able to have the beatles or the bee gees on this year, because we’re busy making sure that lesser performing black artists are really getting their shot.”

The standard conservative viewpoint of the modern era is that all people get an equal opportunity, which includes black, women, etc.

In my worldview, woke people are more racist or sexist than most conservatives, because they are judging people by the color of their skin or which genitals they have/had as opposed to how good they are, at a much higher frequency than most conservatives.  Wokeism is falling out of favor because people are seeing it for what it is.

[pattersaur]

Being woke is not about having people of a certain race on your show, it’s about having a specific mindset.  In this context, being racist would be in choosing who can or can’t be on your show based on the color of their skin, and not the content of their character or the quality of their performances.  That black people existed on his show is not evidence of him being woke, as it can merely be the lack of being racist.  You’d have to probe into why black people were on his show to determine his wokeness.

If you asked him why black people where on his show and he said, because they were great musicians, that would be lack of racism, not wokeness.  If you asked him why black people were on his show, and he said, because “White people have a privilege that help them outperform black people, so I, as a powerful white male, need to prop up the underperforming black performers, so I’m implementing a quota system where no less than 30% of acts are black acts, and while unfortunate, we’re not going to be able to have the beatles or the bee gees on this year, because we’re busy making sure that lesser performing black artists are really getting their shot.”

The standard conservative viewpoint of the modern era is that all people get an equal opportunity, which includes black, women, etc.

In my worldview, woke people are more racist or sexist than most conservatives, because they are judging people by the color of their skin or which genitals they have/had as opposed to how good they are, at a much higher frequency than most conservatives.  Wokeism is falling out of favor because people are seeing it for what it is.

To the bold-- Which is what exactly? When I watch a football game I see a football game. If there's something written in the endzone or some announcer decides to get on a soapbox for 30 seconds-- it's not affecting my enjoyment of the game whatsoever. In my experience, many of the people big mad about identity politics or the mainstream media or my favorite, VIRTUE SIGNALING, are the ones hunting for it everywhere they look.

[purplefaithful]

I dont agree with it all, but I sure appreciate the thoughtful responses, really do...

Like many other initiatives, there are elements of intent that get broken in execution...Some of that was made-up, other executions you couldn't have made it up in a million years...They were just bad ideas, not well thought thru and/or politically motivated.

All that said, I think it would be sad (bad) if the good elements of that intent got thrown out with the bath-water.