What the hell is ESPN doing? [Archive]

jspchief

11-08-2005, 09:42 AM

If anyone has watched Sportscenter this morning, they may have noticed ESPN has finally gone completely over the edge.

Right now, I'm watching a "simulated Yankees press conference". Yep, you heard it right. Simulated. It's fake. It consists of someone named Steve Phillips playing the role of the Yankees GM, giving what I'm sure are scripted answers to phony questions asked by ESPN hacks like Sal Palontonio. The scroll at the bottom of the screen says the same actor will play the role of the Cubs GM tommorrow.

What the hell is the point of this? It's not an attempt at humor, because they appear to be making every effort to make it like a real press conference.

I'm not sure, but I think I may have just witnessed the moment where ESPN made the transition from inflating non-stories into "news", to just flat out fabricating news.

Has anyone else seen this? What am I missing? for those that want to watch, it's at about the :32 of Sportscenter.

chagrin

11-08-2005, 09:43 AM

Yep, saw it this morning, tomorrow he is doing another team.

fuggin stupid

dirk digler

11-08-2005, 09:44 AM

Why the hell would they do that? It doesn't make any sense.

MOhillbilly

11-08-2005, 09:45 AM

Why the hell would they do that? It doesn't make any sense.

Braineaters!!!!

Goapics1

11-08-2005, 09:45 AM

They did the Red Sox the evening prior as well. It is quite ghey actually, IMHO.

mac58

11-08-2005, 09:46 AM

yeah i saw this. Stupidest thing I ever seen.

dirk digler

11-08-2005, 09:47 AM

It must be because MLB free agency starts today or very soon.

Edit - ** Free agency starts Friday**

Eleazar

11-08-2005, 09:48 AM

I saw the red sox one... pretty freaking terrible that they don't have anything else to do.

I guess it's better than listening to Stuart Scott

jspchief

11-08-2005, 09:49 AM

Why the hell would they do that? It doesn't make any sense.I honestly have no idea what they are trying to accomplish. It doesn't provide humor. It doesn't provide news. It's just a charade. I can't imagine what they think is television-worthy about that crap.

nbkc fan

11-08-2005, 09:51 AM

good thing espn doesn't care about actual journalism anymore

Dr. Johnny Fever

11-08-2005, 09:52 AM

I too think that this may be the dumbest damn thing I've ever seen. I at least want to see Steve Phillips do a simulated Royals press conference and talk about how this is the year. It's all fantasy anyway.

Oh and the acting skills of the espn press members is embarrassing.

cmh6476

11-08-2005, 09:52 AM

It must be because MLB free agency starts today or very soon.

Edit - ** Free agency starts Friday**
sweet, i wonder how many top names the royals will attract? :D

Dr. Johnny Fever

11-08-2005, 09:52 AM

ChiefsCountry

11-08-2005, 09:53 AM

sweet, i wonder how many top names the royals will attract? :D

Rumor is Baird and Glass want AJ Burnett.

Molitoth

11-08-2005, 09:54 AM

I think they are using that scripted bullshit just for a new way to express thier opinions and predictions for what the teams are going to do this offseason.

I saw the Red Sox one, not a good idea imo.

redfan

11-08-2005, 09:55 AM

I honestly have no idea what they are trying to accomplish. It doesn't provide humor. It doesn't provide news. It's just a charade. I can't imagine what they think is television-worthy about that crap.

Well, let's do some out loud thinking:

Baseball season is over
College hoop season hasn't started
Nodoby gives a rats patootie about the NBA
Does ESPN even have an NHL contract (not that it matters)?
College and Pro football only play once a week

I'm guessing they need some filler to justify those advertising prices.
What the heck is a simulated press conference? :shrug:

jspchief

11-08-2005, 09:56 AM

good thing espn doesn't care about actual journalism anymoreI can't believe they actually found known journalists to participate. Talk about losing credibility.

dirk digler

11-08-2005, 09:59 AM

sweet, i wonder how many top names the royals will attract? :D

ROFL

The reason I thought maybe the reason why ESPN is doing this is because in the Star today JoePo had an article about Baird having an extra $22 million to spend this year.

MLB free agency starts Friday so I suppose that is the reason why.

htismaqe

11-08-2005, 10:01 AM

I saw the red sox one... pretty freaking terrible that they don't have anything else to do.

I guess it's better than listening to Stuart Scott

BOOYAH!!!

Eleazar

11-08-2005, 10:03 AM

BOOYAH!!!

AN TO IS STRAIGHT UP GANGSTA GETTIN HIS AZZ DOWN AN ROLLIN ON KIDS JIGGA!!! HE'S SICK SILLY CRAZY GUMBY GOOD! JUS' LIKE ORENTHAL JAMES!!
WooWoo

siberian khatru

11-08-2005, 10:04 AM

ROFL

The reason I thought maybe the reason why ESPN is doing this is because in the Star today JoePo had an article about Baird having an extra $22 million to spend this year.

MLB free agency starts Friday so I suppose that is the reason why.

And lucky us, there's virtually no one on the market worth spending money on this year. We'll overpay for some bum just to prove we're "serious about winning."

htismaqe

11-08-2005, 10:04 AM

AN TO IS STRAIGHT UP GANGSTA GETTIN HIS AZZ DOWN AN ROLLIN ON KIDS JIGGA!!! HE'S SICK SILLY CRAZY GUMBY GOOD! JUS' LIKE ORENTHAL JAMES!!
WooWoo

In the immortal words of Keith Olberman...

GGGUUUHHH

jspchief

11-08-2005, 10:05 AM

AN TO IS STRAIGHT UP GANGSTA GETTIN HIS AZZ DOWN AN ROLLIN ON KIDS JIGGA!!! HE'S SICK SILLY CRAZY GUMBY GOOD! JUS' LIKE ORENTHAL JAMES!!
WooWooYou're very white.

Eleazar

11-08-2005, 10:06 AM

And lucky us, there's virtually no one on the market worth spending money on this year. We'll overpay for some bum just to prove we're "serious about winning."

$22 million to spend on free agency?

SOMEBODY GET ELI MARRERO ON THE PHONE!!! rochambeau

siberian khatru

11-08-2005, 10:07 AM

$22 million to spend on free agency?

SOMEBODY GET ELI MARRERO ON THE PHONE!!! rochambeau

I hear Juan Gonzalez is in the best shape of his life.

RINGLEADER

11-08-2005, 10:07 AM

I saw the red sox one... pretty freaking terrible that they don't have anything else to do.

I guess it's better than listening to Stuart Scott

I saw the Red Sox one too. Wasn't quite sure what they were trying to accomplish. Stupid.

Eleazar

11-08-2005, 10:09 AM

I hear Juan Gonzalez is in the best shape of his life.

Anybody know what Storm Davis was doing these days? :hmmm:

siberian khatru

11-08-2005, 10:10 AM

Anybody know what Storm Davis was doing these days? :hmmm:

Storing guns in his basement for the coming revolution.

He's a John Bircher.

HemiEd

11-08-2005, 10:10 AM

I guess "Dodge Ball" predicted the future. ESPN Ocho, they gotta fill the programming hours somehow.

I have not seen Austrailan rules football in many years. :rolleyes:

Eleazar

11-08-2005, 10:13 AM

Storing guns in his basement for the coming revolution.

He's a John Bircher.

For real though, I've read locally that Rafael Furcal is a target, also Byrd/Loaiza/Mays and that they've inquired about Mench since he has a new agent now.

I guess that personnel changes won't make anything worse...

siberian khatru

11-08-2005, 10:18 AM

For real though, I've read locally that Rafael Furcal is a target, also Byrd/Loaiza/Mays and that they've inquired about Mench since he has a new agent now.

I guess that personnel changes won't make anything worse...

I'd love to have Furcal, but I can't believe we can snag him, with the Mets and even the Yankees reportedly eyeing him. Cubs, too.

I'd take a flyer on Byrd or Loaiza for the right price (I don't think Mays has been the same since his injury, he's had two years to show it). But I wouldn't get in a bidding war with another team just to prove something to the fans.

Dr. Johnny Fever

11-08-2005, 10:19 AM

For real though, I've read locally that Rafael Furcal is a target, also Byrd/Loaiza/Mays and that they've inquired about Mench since he has a new agent now.

I guess that personnel changes won't make anything worse...
Yea.... I'm sure Furcal can't wait for the big money he'll get by switching from the most consistant winners in baseball for the last decade and a half, to the most consistant losers for the last two decades.

Honestly I'm not sure why anybody would want to come to KC. And I say that as a life long Royals fan.

Eleazar

11-08-2005, 10:23 AM

I'd love to have Furcal, but I can't believe we can snag him, with the Mets and even the Yankees reportedly eyeing him. Cubs, too.

I'd take a flyer on Byrd or Loaiza for the right price (I don't think Mays has been the same since his injury, he's had two years to show it). But I wouldn't get in a bidding war with another team just to prove something to the fans.

Yeah, in reality, I would rather they bank that $22 mil and wait for another year when there is more quality to choose from.

I wouldn't mind those two you mentioned, and I think Giles could be a quality player for us. The HR numbers were down last year so he could be a bit of a bargain. He's a career .300 hitter who hit .301 last year and only struck out 50 times...

It's not like we don't have room for that in our Mendoza lineup even if the power is gone.

jspchief

11-08-2005, 10:25 AM

It's worse than I thought.

Not only is ESPN fabricating news, now threads in a football board are getting hi-jacked by baseball talk.

Get this shit off my thread. 4321

siberian khatru

11-08-2005, 10:25 AM

Yeah, in reality, I would rather they bank that $22 mil and wait for another year when there is more quality to choose from.

I wouldn't mind those two you mentioned, and I think Giles could be a quality player for us. The HR numbers were down last year so he could be a bit of a bargain. He's a career .300 hitter who hit .301 last year and only struck out 50 times... it's not like we don't have room for that in our lineup even if the power is gone.

Giles played in a home park that's devastating to LH power hitters. I'd like him too -- for the right price.

Eleazar

11-08-2005, 10:26 AM

It's worse than I thought.

Not only is ESPN fabricating news, now threads in a football board are getting hi-jacked by baseball talk.

Get this shit off my thread. 4321

Well, the original post was roughly about baseball already :shrug:

Simplex3

11-08-2005, 10:33 AM

Uhg. Like real baseball and press conferences aren't boring enough now we need fake baseball press conferences? What, ESPN can't start a paper football league and air "classic" games instead?

StcChief

11-08-2005, 11:00 AM

More 24x7 news or make it up.

Director/producer looking to pad resume? tired of the regular gig there.

penchief

11-08-2005, 12:10 PM

Rausch

11-08-2005, 12:13 PM

Apparently you can only watch so much poker.

Bull$#it...

KChiefs1

11-08-2005, 12:16 PM

ESPN rules the world!

I've noticed a lot more ESPN Entertainment stuff recently....looks like they are taking that to SportsCenter too.

Calcountry

11-08-2005, 12:48 PM

good thing espn doesn't care about actual journalism anymoreWell, they are just following NBC's lead. They had a fake debate portrayed as a real event on the show West Wing.

Calcountry

11-08-2005, 12:50 PM

Well, let's do some out loud thinking:

Baseball season is over
College hoop season hasn't started
Nodoby gives a rats patootie about the NBA
Does ESPN even have an NHL contract (not that it matters)?
College and Pro football only play once a week

I'm guessing they need some filler to justify those advertising prices.
What the heck is a simulated press conference? :shrug:No, the NHL was a bad ratings buy for them, so they dropped it.

It can be found, if any are interested, on the OLN channel.

I haven't watched a game yet, and I am a hockey fan. What does that say about the state of that league? Are you paying attention MLB?

Calcountry

11-08-2005, 12:56 PM

It's worse than I thought.

Not only is ESPN fabricating news, now threads in a football board are getting hi-jacked by baseball talk.

Get this shit off my thread. 4321Fugging relax.

Eleazar

11-08-2005, 12:58 PM

ESPN is a lot like MTV. They decide who the stars will be, and you are supposed to line up and worship them.

Mecca

11-08-2005, 12:58 PM

Steve Phillips use to be the Met's GM, I guess he's just trying to campaign for a new job while being on ESPN.

Petro brought up the Furcal idea to Jayson Stark last week. Stark basically laughed at him and told him he was out of his mind.

Pitt Gorilla

11-08-2005, 01:01 PM

More episodes of Cheap Seats (I'm serious).

greg63

11-08-2005, 01:03 PM

If anyone has watched Sportscenter this morning, they may have noticed ESPN has finally gone completely over the edge...Well, it sounds as if it's official: ESPN has gone totally stupid. I'm glad I don't get it.