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ESPN: Cutting The Cord Or Political Turn Off?
The catchphrase that seems to be picking up more and more steam is “cutting the cord” when referring to those that are dropping traditional cable TV for viewing choices or alternatives by other means. The reasons why differ greatly. For some its price, or affordability. For others, its convenience with the growing numbers of alternatives. And for some; they just refuse to pay for anything in a zealot like fashion. Although each group has different reasons the outcome is the same: diminishing viewership.
However, is “cutting the cord” really the reason for ESPN’s loss of millions viewers? Or, is that the easiest crutch of an excuse for what might really be happening? After all, media is, and always will be, the king of “inflated” numbers. So much so I garner when a CEO of any media company reads a term like “double seasonally adjusted” they smirk and think – “Rookies.”
It’s just the way it has, is, and will be played; and everyone understands it. None more so than those within the business itself, which is why a few things struck me.
Why wouldn’t ESPN™ (or Disney™ its parent company) go to great efforts to include or push the narrative that “cord cutting” doesn’t necessarily mean “all” that cut have tuned off? In other words: why aren’t numbers from alternative viewing sources highlighted as to show they might not be viewing there – but they are over here? Unless – they aren’t.
And if they’re not – why not? After all, there’s probably no other content infringement policing company for copyright and other applicable ownership rights than Disney and all its subsidiaries. You aren’t going to see it for free or on alternative platforms unless they want or allow for it. Period.
This would also imply if they allowed it (anywhere) it would be accounted for ( i.e., click views, etc.) in some manner of form from across the internet to help take the edge off. i.e., Sure we lost millions from cable, but as you can see here, they’ve just migrated over to this service/platform as an alternative. Monetizing the alternative is a work in progress. etc., etc.
However, that seems not to be the case. The case appears – they’ve not only cut: they’ve tuned out or turned off the programming entirely. Why?
It’s hard to say. However, if I use myself as an example, I believe I know a large part of the underlying reason:
ESPN (like a few notable others such as NBC™) has seemingly transformed at near hyper-speed from sports reporting – to political sports reporting. The political edge now rampant throughout the shows, games, interviews, et al is overbearing, overburdening, and overdone.
Here’s what I know from my own experience: It has become near impossible to turn on something that was originally created for pure entertainment value without now being bombarded with how the “political football” issue of the day is being addressed by the commentators, sideline crews, as well as players and coaches. e.g., I tuned in to watch a football game – not a game about how today’s “political football” is handled and won. i.e., gun control, domestic violence, civil unrest, global warming, etc., etc., on, and on.
Important issues all. However, is there no respite today as to maybe catch a breather and just enjoy a sporting event and its minutia without having today’s “political football” and all its baggage forced down my throat by sports casters, players, and more? It would be one thing if these shows mentioned these topics when appropriate. But now? One would think they were watching a Sunday morning news show rather than a sports channel. Everyday 24/7.
When I’ve watched it seems the reason for their existence (i.e., the game) is an inconvenience that must be tolerated till they can get back to what they believe really matters: the “political issue” of the day.
Yes, I know I’m probably overstating. Yet, that’s how I feel today when I’ve tried to watch most ESPN programming as well as others. My immediate reaction? Many times I’ve turned off a game entirely: for continuing was akin to waiting for another comment as to cue a push of the bamboo chutes deeper.
Personally, I grew so sick of it I now watch about a third, if that, of any sports TV I had watched previous. Again: specifically for this reason.
If I want “political football” TV there are far more choices and views to get it from. Sports were at one time a sanctuary from the realities of everyday life. There one cared only about their team. Could throw all their passion (and distaste) behind them. Hate them one day, love them the next with no regards as to affecting society. It was a place to blow off steam, have fun, and armchair quarterback yourself into the Hall of Fame of “If I were on the field – I would have called that play and won!” all time greats.
Today? It’s near impossible to escape and has been picking up steam. Need I say (or not say?) Washington Red____s?
Listen, I’m not addressing whether or not you agree with what should, or should not, be done. I’m just trying to illustrate this as just one of the latest that shows in great detail just how one will not be able to escape the discussion that is purely based in the “political football” arena.
Some sportscasters now will not say the name; even if they are the on-air live, play-by-play talent, and stumble all over themselves and their play-by-play calls trying to avoid it. Players will be asked from both the sidelines, booths, with others appearing via satellite, questioning them to defend how they can even put on the uniform for that day’s game. Insinuation, implication, and innuendo will be the “play calling” as opposed to what is transpiring on the field of actual play.
Again, as I stated earlier: whether or not you agree or disagree with the topic, just this one is a representative of all the others. If it’s not a name change – its gun control. If it’s not that – it’s another. Everyday 24/7. The game now seems to be the filler as opposed to the “issue of the day.” Need I remind anyone of that great illustration of just how determined sportscasters are now going to force the “political football” down viewers throats than NBC™ Bob Costa’s gun control rant on Sunday Night Football™?
Agreeing, or disagreeing with his take is irrelevant. My point is: I don’t turn to a sporting event, or, sports commentary program, to hear the opinion/opinions of today’s sportscasters view on the “political issue” of the day. I tune in to see sports. Period.
This seems lost on ESPN and the others as of late. And if I’m a microcosm of what others are doing. What we’re not doing is cutting the cord and viewing it elsewhere. We’re actually giving a spin to the old Timothy Leary idea:
We’re tuning out and turning off. Entirely.
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Speaking of sport is anyone down to sport hunt some bankers? They hang out on Wall Street. Herds of them.
I heard that all TBTF banker types are zombies. If that helps.
The global collapse is more intriguing than any game I could watch on tv.
Fuck the Weather Channel too with all it's bullshit stories.
Just give me the forecast.
I'm dropping cable next month.
Have you SEEN the size of that sow Gail King?
Is she power eating now?
Comeon Man! Who doesn't enjoy a sloppy cake filled close up kiss of Michael Sam and his Man-Lover to start off the sports week? And while your at it, if the the justice system doesn't have enough evidence to go to trial over domestic violence, then the NFL should just shut up already. Just give me the game. Count me as one of the pissed off viewers.
I watch sports like I do the markets.....with the volume OFF.
To each their own... But with that said, I have never understood the interest of watching other people play a game, be it football or chess. If people do that's great, enjoy. But it seems to dumb down so much of society. Who gives a fuck if some over paid dolt makes a home run/ touch down/ basket? It has no value to society, just another circus.
Fact... The Libs control all US media now with the exception of talk radio.
Remember the old '50s TV blurb?...
"We control the horizontal - we control the vertical."
Sports was so much more satisfying with the old 'Wide World of Sports" show. Just man experiencing the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat....Pure sports
This extends further than just the networks. Take deflategate. I now seem to have a far diminished interest in watching a confirmed corrupt pro football league.
Even college football. I went to the longest college game of my life yesterday. Season opener, and it was 97° with a heat index of 100+. I had to walk a mile to reach tailgating friends and then get to the stadium. Halfway through the 3rd quarter, a game delay was called for lightening because of a thunderstorm in my neighborhood 13 miles away. It never so much as sprinkled at the stadium. Two hours later. they resume play which resulted in a 5+ hour football game. This is due to some bullshit NCAA "for the children" rule that dictates that the game be called for lightening anywhere within 15 miles of the stadium. This is the height of pop-up thunderstorm season. What power-tripping hemorrhoid thought this would increase interest in the game? Sure enough, on the way home, all the streets were dry until I pull in my neighborhood. One more instance of this bullshit will be the last college football game I attend. Let them try to continue this charade with no alumni money.
compile that with advertising breaks. It's why soccer/futbol is growing in popularity. No commercial breaks except before, halftime and after the game. My son and I went to Mizzou vs SEMO, a crap game, and they had commercial breaks. We left at halftime.
As to why ESPN is losing viewership? More choices in life to distract and they've gone away from their original mission of show the game, give a little insight into it.
In a way you're seeing what happens when supply supercedes demand in entertainment. Someone else mentioned the weather channel. I just pick up my phone now because it's too much commitment to turn on the weather channel, so I don't.
st. cyr had me at "bamboo chutes".
That quote was from The Outer Limits which debuted in 1963, and the tales told on that show seem downright square and unremarkable compared to the world we live in today.
I stopped watching sports because of I got sick of stupid jokes complaining about how they deserve more money, while making in a year what most people will not make in a lifetime, and getting that money to PLAY a game.
Since they have the monopoly on some games, I have to watch ESPN for those. The rest of the crap programming? They can shove the PC bullshit up their Mickey Mouse anus.
If I want unbiased non-PC coverage FS-1 or CBS have become a much more viable option.
Bumpo... You just nailed it with the dude cold cocking his girl friend.
That's a situation for the criminal (or civil) courts
If somebody else wants to get involved, does the League or Team have something in their contracts about personal behavior?
No, STFU
Yes, then enforce the terms of the contract. You can betchur ass that (for example, like or love 'em has naught to do with it) if he was a NY Yankee, his ass'd been out the door, no severance period. Ever note their haircuts and way they dress in public? It's part of the employment contract, FFS. Image!!!!!!!
Nothing else.
This Shit where justice becomes televised as a public event is the Coliseum, bread and circuses.
Bad juju.
Evil lurks in strange places. (Uh huh, yes it do, and none are strange to evil, at all.)
I stopped watching TV and Hollywood's shit about a decade ago. Total brainwashing crap for idiots.
ESPN has a hard liberal bias. Tom Brady does not go with the Patriots to the White House then they retailiate. Tebow takes the Broncos, who were not that great, to the playoffs and almost to the Super Bowl and he is driven out of the NFL.
All the ball sports are Trayvon thug sports with dumb whites cheering on the thugs and cheering on white genocide.
ESPN is part of horrible Disney who f**ks over their employees and pushes the liberal agenda like all of TV and all of Hollywood. Some dumb conservatives think it is just that blond skank Kelly or whatever who is the problem at Fox News. Fox is the same as the rest of anti-American TV with the endless dumb white guy ads.
F TV and F Hollywood.
I cut the cable about 5 years ago for all those reasons plus one not mentioned. The number of commercials and reruns became insane. I felt TOTALLY SCAMMED from a value standpoint.
So comcast called and offered me basic cable for free. I told them free was too expensive. They'd have to pay me several hundred a month to endure the endless hours of commercials and reruns.
I last owned a TV over 20 years ago. I was downright offended by the over-the-top manipulation from advertisers. They have become orders of magnitude worse since, at least from what I perceive during the rare instances I am exposed to television.
I really don't have a clue what the author is talking about, maybe because I haven't had cable since the early 80's.
I wouldn't have cable TeeVee in my home if it was free. If you love sports, participate. Or go to local high school events; you know, the kind that involve some non-criminal, non-freak participants.
You mean you don't wear an ESPN neck tie?
R U Fo Serious! ESPN taps into to the soap opera, reality show aspect of sport. Men love to follow the manufactured story lines just like women. WWE discovered this decades ago, now ESPN uses it's power to create dramatic story lines with real people.
Yeah, but WWE is real. The rest of it is where people are getting tired of the made up stuff.
The sickening politics started in the 80s. Notice how every show/movie has to have a nigger, chink, woman and fag. It's just not interesting, and makes the stories/jokes seem awkward.
Archie Bunker and Red Fox could each make racial jokes, and nobody got all dramatic about it.
Fuck all the PC assholes. Normal people are not really offended.
It's not politics. It's ratings. Just like you apparently would prefer to watch only white male actors performing in TV shows, all of the niggers, chinks, women and fags like watching a nigger, a chink, a woman, or a fag on TV. Since in the mind of the common man, TV is more real than reality, it validates their existence and way of life to see it portrayed on TV. Catering to only white males, a distinct minority these days, insures cancellation of your show mid-season.
I agree, however, that that it is difficult to exercise the suspension of disbelief necessary to watch these shows, if, for example, a black actor is cast in the starrring role of "The George Wallace Story", or if Gary Busey got the lead role in "MLK: Savior of America".
Wrong. Learn something about history before you spout your idiot opinions.
In the 80s jesse and other social justice warriers started protests and boycotts, that forced the networks to FIND A WAY to include black actors. For a time, there weren't enough black actors to go around. Soon after, the queers and other miscreants got in on the party.
It had NOTHING TO DO WITH RATINGS. It was all about appeasing the social justice warriers.
You are living in a a 1960's time warp.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/study-finds-that-tv-shows-with-248757
If I ever decide to hang myself, it will be with an ESPN necktie
Exactly, why would I pay for that shit?
Anyone noticed all the "For Sale" stuff put out on the street lately?
Methinks people are needing some cash and cutting out superfluous expense items...
I hear ya. I've even cut the .50 cent words from my lexicon. Er, my word head bin.
High School? Like the game in Texas where two High School Trayvons attacked the ref during a high school game? Dumb Texans worship foot ball and their Trayvons so the little shits will probably not go to jail.
Football just trains millions of thugs and thank dumb white fanboys for enabling it.
I agree with you about shit TV. F TV and F Hollywood.
Don't have a TV in my house. Haven't subscribed to cable since Seinfeld was on. I've got my interwebs, I don't need the state-controlled one-way media, kthxbye.
WTF needs 500 channels of HSN, sports, & shitty content?
Not to mention CONsumer service waterboarding.
Excellent. we are ending MSM dependence, one awakened mind at a time. TWC is nothing more than an AGCC propoganda tabloid. The reason John Coleman bailed.
I dropped cable at the beginning of the year. The only thing I miss is not being able to watch some sporting events and movie channels. Internet is ok for streaming some things but quality and availability isn't always there.
That's a good idea. My idea of a good sports venue would be:
- Hunting with Dick Cheney
- Kardashians vs. the Great Whites
- Obama golfs in the Sahara
- Goldman Sachs executives compete in Wipeout - to the death
- JPM execs in two legged race running the bulls in pamplona
- Congress bungee jumping from 200 foot high bridge with 200 foot long bungees
- Hillary in the 100 m dash across a Syrian mine field.
Who watches cable? Read MF's
As for ESPN quit watching after a few Outside the Lines episodes. Puked right after that.
The desire to live beyond one's means is the original sin. All the bankers do is step up and say "let me help".
Blaming the Devil is not going to fix the problem.
The only power the Devil has is some people's desire to do business with him.
No - original sin was believing we could attain godhood through occult knowledge. The power of the devil is deception. Even those who are willing to do business with him are deceived.
For bankers one should use at least a 416 Rigby with a hard lead ball to penetrate that hard heart. Smaller calibers, particularly copper rounds simply mushroom too much leaving the banker's dark heart unscathed, and worse, revealing to him the location of the hunter so that he can sic his paid members of the sadistic class after you. So the moral of the story is that there is no such thing as "too much gun" when it comes to hunting bankers.
Personally, I use the Croatian RT-20, 20 mm anti-banker rifle chambered in 20x110 mm HEAB (High Explosive Anti-Banker) round.
Still too small, as little Kim Un says 'go big or go home'
espn, the place to go if you want to hear incompetents talking about sports they know nothing about -- jews on every sport, an african talking about nascar, a woman talking about football, a tranny talking about baseball
and then there are the nyc/dc agendas...
espn = the butthole of sports reporting (like all nyc media)
I've cut the cable and I'm 51. Forget cable, I don't want my kids' minds polluted with social justice.
I do not watch any TV or Hollywood shit for almost a decade.
I can tell you why the marxists shit's are doing this. People, epecially white males, turned off the news but many still watch sports. They have to move their insidious brainwashing to one of the last thing males watch which is sports.
Couple this with the endless dumb white male commercials and you get 24x7 brainwashing. F them. The best revenge is to unplug for good.
I remember years ago after I cancelled that Direct TV or Dish called me after i cancelled. May have been when Fox News was giddy election night 2008 when Obola was installed by the zoligarchs.
They called me to try to get me to sign back up for Tv service. I told them that they could not pay me to watch TV and that I was never coming back. I was nice to them, because they were doing their job. I wanted to say my mantra to them... F TV and F Hollywood but I did not want to abuse some phone person.
Cut it at an advanced age myself - embarrassed I didn't do it sooner.
I cut the cord and only watch ZHTV.
I pay $200 per month for every motherfucking channel they have and I think it is money well spent. It is possible to be well read, compassionate for others, skilled in gardening and watch fucking TV. I love TV! I love good movies and well done shows like Narcos on Netflix. Fuck you simple minded assholes who thinks less of me because I enjoy television.
Either you're joking or you're a real motherfucking chimp
I do think it is awesome that you called me a motherfucking chimp, but it is true. I like TV. I have a few hours per week that I can sit down and watch TV and it is worth the money to ensure that something good will be on when I want to watch. It is cathartic for me. Look, the great reset will happen sometime in the next decade or so and I expect to be without TV & internet when it all goes down. Just trying to enjoy life while we have these little luxuries.
PS. I will be spending $10,000 at Disneyworld in a few months. Now you can all hate fuck me fo reals!
We took our kids to Disneyland 5 times when they were kids and I can't remember much about it except being exasperated parents at the end of the day. When they were 14 and 17 we spent two weeks in Paris renting an apartment and venturing out to the countryside. Those adventures have been recounted by our family for years. They enthusiastically ordered margaritas in a brasserie when found it was legal. Eldest beat up a pickpocket who stole her subway pass ( got it back). Walking Pigalle at night and laughing hysterically at the Sexadrome. Gazing in horror at the endless bones in the catacombs and the excessive opulence of Versailles. The whole trip for the four of us was under $5K. The experience was priceless. We found that canned entertainment after that nowhere near as fun and adventurous.
Miffed
Miffed, I think that is amazing!.I want my girls to experience those sorts of things. Disney is a fun diversion. Next year, we begin the travels around the world.
Then I challenge you! Expect the unexpected and when things go wrong, realize this is where the adventure begins. Americans don't travel enough and when they do, they often rely on tours. When things aren't scripted it gets interesting.
Experiencing other cultures was one of the best things I did for my two daughters and I hope you will find the same.
Miffed;-)
TV is for morons who like to be brainwashed and lied too. I stopped watching TV and Hollywood shit years ago. I will make a reference to a movie I saw before I said Fo Off Hollywood.
The Matrix. Tv and Hollywood is like the false reality. Keep being a dumb shit by watching it and enabing and enriching your overlords.
You are soooooooooo cultured because you stopped watching TV! It's like saying you stopped reading because there were books with Fabio on the cover. Grow up! TV is entertainment asshole. Try to live a little before the world goes to shit.
TV is literally reprogramming your brain. Watch enough TV and your brain is no longer yours.
That is not living. That is a living death, reduction to an automaton acting primarily on desires that have been drummed in by an external influence. Actual living requires independence of thought.
Some of us have discernment and are amused at the attempts to redefine history or to shape a liberal alternate narrative.
It is a bit surprising to me how many people on the right hand side of the bell curve don't notice some of the more ham-handed manipulation evident in some of the movies and documentaries availible.
That's all I watch when I'm not reading, so I can't speak to all the other mindless dreck not available in my deliberately disconnected world.
I was amused at the big gay "Duck Dynasty" flap I kept hearing about online so I tried to watch it to cheer the old bastard on.
I lasted 15 minutes because it was too painful to watch. It literally made my brain hurt.
Interesting. I believe the Matrix (first one) was the last Movie I have seen in a theatre. One thing I remember was that it was very lucky that I wore ear plugs.
Hollywood programming is soooooooooo aimed at the sub/un conscious of the human entity/animal, that it really is a matter for self preservation of original perception/conception/thinking that one simply avoid it.
People just got tired of hearing about Brady's deflated balls.
ESPN's political rants are precisely why I stopped watching. That and the fact I can get more specialized sports info elsewhere. Fuck ESPN.
ESPN has ruined sports!!
They wil probably ruin Star Wars next!!
Fuck DISNEYABCESPN & Yellen!
Bingo. Disney is really just an evil cabal of marketing pukes now. We dont do Disney in our household.
The other reason i dont watch any sports though? I have daughters and every god damned commercial is about some or pther product to inflate penises having inflation troubles. Maybe that is a sign of the general deflation trend in the world? Cannot even watch the MLB playoffs and world series with my kids because I do not want to see these penis commercials
Nailed it Tommy. Totally agree.
Don't even get me fucking started on Star Wars. What they did with those 3 prequel movies was a crime against humanity.
This guy exposes how good those movies COULD have been if they had half-competent screenwriting (not to mention acting).
WHAT IF "STAR WARS: EPISODE I" WAS GOOD? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgICnbC2-_Y
WHAT IF STAR WARS EPISODE II WERE GOOD? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAbug3AhYmw
made me want to fucking cry at how this epic story was completely ruined especially compared to what could have been - with a budget like that and the time they had to make those movies there was NO FUCKING EXCUSE
Childhood. Ruined. FUCK YOU GEORGE LUCAS FUCK YOUR MERCHANDISING FUCK YOUR UGLY BEARD AND YOUR FAT FUCKING FACE
loved ESPN zone,now theres only one left,fuck you Disney
Hear here.
Whatever. But another reason is that most of the programming time is all "sports graphics", and not real sports (i.e.: an actual game).
Endless telling you what they are going to tell you, with special effects added.
Hear hear!
The point of ESPN was always the enjoyment of sports, the escape, the camaraderie of everyone getting together, drinking, grilling, laughing, sharing and having a good time FOR ALL RACE-ETHNIC-GENDER-POLITICAL PERSUASIONS.
But no they just couldn't leave it alone for what it was. Fucking CEO's, directors, producers and braying talking-head reporters had to begin interjecting THEIR philosophies & non-sports opinions into MY living room.
CLICK!
Welcome to the Matrix. Serious.
The Matrix was not a sci-fi movie. It's an allegory like 1984, Brave New World or the Oryx and Crake trilogy.
It's about reality!
It was an amazing thing to watch (the implosion of ESPN) right before their very eyes...AND THEY KEPT DOING IT...like, it can't be us!!!...lol.
From Ray Rice's visceral retaliation to being slapped in an elevator to Bob Costa's terminally stupid anti-gun rhetoric to the fucking gold digging "lynch mob" that formed around Jameis Winston, it was over the top for HuffPo ratings with the actual games as the side show.
And all it took was just one ObamaBot Pajamas Boy per telecast to say, "Nope, this sucks."
CLICK!
Only thing I disagree with is that Jameis Winston is a thug. But spot on with the rest of it.
Sports is supposed to be a diversion from everything. Unfortunately, ESPN insists on bringing all of that shit we're trying to escape from into sports.
MTV doesn't play much in the way of music any more, so I'm told.
Fucking nickle pinching MBA s make most things that were pretty good, circle the drain fairly quickly.
It's no different from the lame stream media with their biased reporting. As the number viewers crashed, they kept replacing on talking head with another or one exec with another, always with the same or even more extreme biases. They keep scratchign their heads wondering why.
I couldn't have said it better, nmewn.
I like to listen to sports podcasts (pro sports, not college) on my mp3 player when I'm working outside, and ESPN has nobody listenable any longer except Ryen Russillo. After Bill Simmons and Colin Cowherd left, there's the blowhards Mike & Mike and the racist Jemele Hill - she is black, so it's okay - as their current headliners. And then they pull the recent stunt by suspending Curt Schilling for comparing radical Islam to Nazi Germany.
Stick a fork in ESPN.
The only one on the entire network worth listening to, radio or TV, is Bob Ley.
If I had the option to either A-Listen to an hour of Mike&Mike or B-Blow my head off with a shotgun, it would be a no brainer (no pun intended) option B
Of course, the highest rated show in history would be an all racist sport network with uncensored commentators.
"Look at that pavement ape go, Al; like he stole granny's pocketbook."
"First and goal; looks like their bringiing in the big nig to pound it into the endzone."
Sounds like you've been dreaming about it, LVD.
ESPN became to sports what MTV became to music
Ridiculous.
E - Earnest
S - Sanctimonious
P - Propaganda
N - Nonsense Network
Ridiculous 24/7 Shite. Just give me the frickin Mets score, who beat the Yankees, race results, any race, and wild card race standings. ARRGH! It's become unwatchable.
I DON'T CARE about Tiger Woods not making another cut, or ten more minutes on him being sixteen strokes behind again. Leave the man alone!
Used to be sorta fun sometimes with Kenny Mayne, Dan Patrick, Berman, Bob Ley who delivered results artfully, or did relevant pieces, but this tripe is the limit. I CAN'T watch it. They and the NFL are doomed in my opinion, with their bleeding heart moralistic bullshit, trying to 'shape' societal attitudes while they're screwing each others wives or husbands and treating 'regular' folk like garbage (blonde ESPN'r venting spleen, denigrating some other 'low life' woman after getting her precious car towed months ago).
Hey, great, some fatherless ex criminal kid made it to the big leagues and got a few million dollars. Good for him. SO WHAT? Some ex-olympian dude goes from being a dude to a chick - GETS AN ESPY AWARD! That's his/her business, just tell me if the Rangers have a shot at the cup next year and why, leave all that other crap out. I'm done. I get much better info on the radio. Totally done with ABC/NFL/DISNEY/CENTRAL BANK/NBC/WALL STREET/CBS/PHARMA GANGSTER/ABA homos.
Give me Max Keiser 24/7 or give me death.
Fuck ALL sports and the rich who profit from the endemic corruption and raping of taxpayers to support the so-called teams. All sports are crony capitalist enterprises and if you think I'm going to cheer on some fucking corporate bosses you are insane!
Hear, Hear I already paid for their fucking stadium. Then I am expected to have their opinions jammed down my throat. No, no more, the media brainwashing will not work if we all tune out.
I often listen to radio from the St. Louis area and the usual BS is going on there. The Rams owner wants to move them back to LA and the city of STL is crying like a baby and offering him (a billionaire) a tax payer funded stadium.... Because it is important to remain an NFL city. WHAT THE FUCK? What is there, like 8 home games a season? It's important how??
No kidding LA the scare them all boogeyman our team was going to LA as well, I wish they had...
i keep tabs on some sports, but don't really care where the teams are located. all of those arguments along the lines of 'we need a pro team in order to be a world-class city' or 'it's good for the local economy' are just bunk. it's entirely the sports fans - or sports radio hosts - who make these arguments. the other 95% of people really don't care, and would probably be glad to see a given team leave their city, rather than publically subsidize a new stadium.
Liberal/Lying Media has/is sucking hind-titty. Even FOX News is being more and more shunned away.
Everything has been politicized. Absolutely everything.
So why expect a "sports" broadcaster to Not be doing the Very Same? Especially with a history of personnel like Keith Olberman?
Duh. And note his affiliations were between ESPN and NBC Universal's MSNBC Both Hyper political organizations.|
Then there's Disney, the world's trusted leader of good clean NWO Illuminati Fun for the Kiddies.
See, what's happening is that whether it's one sees the "politics" directly or simply sees the "coverage stinks", it makes no difference. Yes, the sheeple so to speak are awakening ..... Note, I didn't say awake. Nor is everybody here, awake, for that matter. (Look, over your shoulder.)
Else this kind of viewership declines with MSNBC, CNBC, ESPN,etc, would not be happening. It's not all "ZHers" been ditching the traditional media, TV, radio or newspapers.
And it's ALL traditional media being dumped. All of it!
People still have cable?
I'm 32 and I vowed years ago to stop paying for people to advertise at me. Fuck commercials. Honestly, any time I see a commercial come on in a waiting room or airport or something, I feel like I'm becoming schizophrenic. The rapid flash cuts give me a headache and make me feel disoriented and vertiginous. I think they've actually developed a way to make human beings stupider just with the patterns of visuals and sound. So I watch Netflix and anything that's not on Netflix I torrent - and the day I see a fucking commercial on Netflix, I'm canceling it that minute and torrenting everything.
Welcome to the Matrix. 24/7/365 propaganda and perceptions management
+1 million.
I stopped watching shit TV and shit hollywood years ago.
This crap on the idiot box is just like The Matrix.
F them all.
roisaber, I think you are not alone in NOT watching commercials, and that's a big reason why the ESPN/Disney's of the world make the entire PROGRAM the commercial. See, you can skip all the commercials you want, but when you watch the content (or at least what you expected was the content), you get sales/opinions/idealogy baked right in. There's no need to advertise to you; they control you through the endless inculcation of their ideas by their "journalists". It really is insidious. All the more reason why Orwell, Huxley and the like were pretty much brilliantly spot on.
Even so, the most genious of them could not envision the most powerful combination of controlling the masses: i.e. they could never figure out how TPTB would get people to actually carry and hold and LOVE a mind-controlling device WILLINGLY. Fucking Iphone and FaceBook bitchez!!!!! Even they could not have seen that one coming. Brave New World indeed...
That's the attitude to have! I also got tired of paying this monthly fee to get advertised to, to have 1/3rd of the programming be ads, and have lousy quality because my monopoly cable provider doesn't give a shit because they are a monopoly.
>>>The rapid flash cuts give me a headache and make me feel disoriented and vertiginous. I think they've actually developed a way to make human beings stupider just with the patterns of visuals and sound.
Yep. The visual techniques soften up the human brain, and the "content" finishes it off.
i think it began in music videos... the 1-second snippets all edited together. for me, it seems it's the fraction of a second where the current shot is about to come into focus, when they switch to another shot. it's really annoying.
LOL They're called Blipverts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJP-Ilw_xaY
Yep the politics of ESPN is why I rarely watch.
The latest treatment of Curt Schilling for stating the obvious truth about Islamic extremists in a tweet was the last straw for me and ESPN. Fuck them.
ESPN replaced Curt Schilling with Mexican Lesbian Softball player. Imagine Major league players being critiqued by a lesbian softball player.
schilling plays the old boardgame, squad leader. he even started multiman publishing in order to create a series of squad leader expansions.
Luckily in Canada we don't have to tolerate ESPN. That being said all I ever watch now are the highlights on mute, any Cubs, Jays game sometimes muted. Also any game announced by Vin Scully, max volume.
ESPN used to be my first stop for sports. Now, I won't watch any of their channels and have their website blocked on my browser, EXACTLY for the reasons covered in the article. Same goes for anything Disney. They started to get over politicized years ago, but I tolerated it until about 2 years ago when I decided 'I had had enough and was not going to take it any more. I still have cable but am close to dropping it unless some provider comes up with a decently-priced a la carte package, so I can drop all the leftist and estalishment propaganda stations--including CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX--that get stuffed in with the few channels that I want to watch.
I worked for ESPN for a while @ ABC/Times Sq. Studios.
Some were incredibly charming people and others were bastards of the lowest order.
It was a very political environment. At times quite tense.
That big fight at the Pacers-Pistons game in November of 2004 caused a pitiful emotional eruption of acrimonious condemnations right in the Studio that damaged relationships and may have ultimately cost a few people their jobs...
I am/was no sports fan.
I didn't know who Bill Walton was or really care about his career, etc.; but, I came to respect and appreciate him as a person by being around him.
Bill Walton has class.
Bill remembered people's names and looked them in the eye and addressed them by their names when he spoke to them. If you did something for him or provided information he thanked you by name.
Robin Roberts was always cool. The only time I ever saw her flip on someone they had been goading her for so long that her response was actually very well deserved and long overdue...
There has not been a TV in my home for 6 or 7 years now. I watch movies on the net when I want to see something. I haven't been to see a movie in a theater for more than 10 years because the audiences are so rude and the theaters are not very comfortable...
Ill never forget Wilbon saying that it was always a fantasy of his to punch a fat white guy in the face like Artest did.
Say that if you're white and kiss your career goodbye.
I'm an expat living in the tropics. I watch sports for free through a European website. Adblock Plus keeps out the ads.
plus, sometimes you can get the bbc or skynews feed, and they mainly talk about the game while the usa feeds are running commercials...
All those 5-person tribunals of so-called sportscasters need something to talk about, something to squabble about, any topic will do!
Get rid of the tribunals, and sports will come back.
Come to think of it, the same should be done on all channels. Tribunals have no place on TV. All the investment channels and news channels are full of tribunals, too, random people who know nothing and do not have the brains to comment intelligently on anything.
I got rid of ALL TV, not just sports channels, 3 years ago.
No regrets at all. Fuck TV.
Plus ESPN caters to the low information sports fan and they are unfair in their treatment of programs and sports they do not have a financial interest in.
NASCAR was hurting before the flag ruckess. It's attendance is Down even more since that. I would guess tv ratings to . I rarly watch it anymore
I don't blame you, cars driving in circles, yippie!! How that ever became so popular is beyond me.
I cancelled cable years ago.and.paying for the trash that is ESPN was one of the main reasons.
nothing funnier than section 8 housing with a direct tv dish bolted to the gable.
I cut the cord and got the black box. You get 90% of everything and a lot of free movies (HD but you get used to the chinese subtitles)Golf Channel, FOX, NBC, way too much porn,. Never will forgive Costas for calling W's a failed presidency, fuck NBC.
I cut the cord and got the black box. You get 90% of everything and a lot of free movies (HD but you get used to the chinese subtitles)Golf Channel, FOX, NBC, way too much porn,. Never will forgive Costas for calling W's a failed presidency, fuck NBC.
ESPN suicks. Won't even turn it on anymore. It's a playground for overpaid animals and children. Half the "mainstream" sites are worthless.
We got rid of cable awhile back. The "-2 or -3" broadcast channels have good Conference USA games on. The broadcasters are focused on the game and seem to appreciate the small college game.
I usually watch the NFL and FBS stuff with the mute on.
11 years ago my standard package cable bill topped $50/per month. That caught our attention so we paid attention to what we watched. I wanted to keep ESPN and the local Fox Sports Net channel so I could watch the sports I enjoy. That meant we had to keep the now-over $50/mo. package. But then I realized I never have time to watch an entire game, and what I really do is check in a few times, and follow it on the internet or radio.
My wife wanted to keep the standard package so she could watch documentary programming on A&E, Discovery, Learning Channel, Bravo, etc. But when she paid attention to what she actually did watch, she realized by the time in the evening she could sit down, all that was ever on those channels was gruesome programs about serial killers or Nazis. This was back when they weren't all showing contrived, scripted "Reality" shows.
My kids wanted to keep the Cartoon Network, but my son, who was about 6 then, was already using the family computer in the middle of the living room to go online to find much cooler cartoons that we got on cable.
So I dumped it, going down to the (then) $15/month option, which was pretty much local broadcast channels, CNN, WGN, TBS, etc. The signal went digital, and that was fine, as we had TVs with digital tuners. Then about a year ago they started scrambling the digital signal, but they provided a free descrambler. That device, however, down-converted the video signal to worse than VHS tape. The only suggestion Comcast offered was that I get a converter box for each TV, for a monthly fee. The cheapest package was now $25/mo., and with the converters that don't downcovert the signal, it would have been nearly $40.
So I told them to shove it. I made an antenna out of a board and 10 wire shirt hangers. Now I get more channels than I did before, in HD, for no monthly bill. We use Netflix and various streaming services on the TV or computers. I'll never go back.
If I could just watch ESPN online I might. But they are still tied to the dinosaur cable providers. Old technology, broken business model.
As internet-based channels proliferate, and offer live coverage, nobody will want the cable company except perhaps as an ISP. The internet is a much better delivery platform than the awful packages and pricing available via traditional cable.
In the bible it is written that whomsoever hurts children that it would be better that the perp were never born. ESPN giving Bruce Jenner an award for sexual deviancy does just that.
I remember when ESPN use just give the final scores and a few highlights. AND they put all the same sport scores in the same fucking segment at one time. No bouncing around Bullshit
No two people ruined sports replays in history more than Chris Berman and Stuart Scott.
Fuck You Berman. RIP Stuart.
Who the fuck watches ESPN? Well, I guess people in NY and Boston, not me.
What boobus doesn't get yet is that every ridiculous thing the NFL/MLB/NBA does is a test for how their employer is lining up to treat them. Tom Brady? Your employers demands your personal cell phone for their investigation then "suspends" you (meaning you work without pay) for deleting the contents before you hand it over? It's a test case.
I disconnected my cable not only for the politicised sports but equally for the general ridicule of white men in almost all commercials.
Interesting that he failed to mention the biggest turn-offs of all: celebration of sodomites, transsexual freaks, and breast cancer shilling.
We went to the drive in last night and saw "Minions", an alleged children's movie that is about a "tribe" seeking to find an "evil master" that is worthy of their service.
And, no, Dave Barry is not making that up.
The second feature was "Max", about a younger brother finding peace with the assistance of his dead brother's war dog. A little sappy but filled with wonderful messages about honor, courage, and love.
People have turned off the mainstream news so I am going to guess the powers that be need to install the programming now entirely through secondary sources such as professional sports. I tuned out professional sports a long time ago. Last time I peaked at it there was all this military worship that I couldn't stomach at all. Reading this article it seems that the commentary has now replaced the evening news.
The powers that be need to tell everyone what to think somehow.
I definitely agree that is part of the calculus.
One message to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
All channels must serve the Prime Directive FIRST.
When I was a younger man, living in my first apartment I would watch some of cable shows dedicating to cooking. I knew if I could cook, I would get laid. Good food will get you laid.
For the past week I've been stuck at home after an operation. I browsed through the networks looking at what was on during the day. There are no decent instructional show on anywhere. They are all fucking competitions. Or just watching some metro-homo eat someone else's food.
The entire genre of cable TV has devolved to the point where it is unwatchable. After a week...I read a couple of books. Spent a lot of time on the Internet. Hardly turned on the tube.
I can understand why the EBT community is so angry. Fighting is all they see.
Yeh...tis a pity you ain't gettin' laid no more.
yah but he's eatin some dam fine food.
The idiots running this shitshow DID NOT think of, or plan for, ALL contingencies.
Tuning out/turning off the programming is essential....However, we obviously must ALSO remain aware of the patterns they are trying to create.
And AVOID them.
They clearly plan for and desire CHAOS. They plan too and intend to build ORDER out of this chaos.
Frustrate them by grazing off the grid....
One way to increase viewers: Put interviews and short clips with Craig Hulet on: of him telling the people actually what and who run the world and recommend how to change the current path toward global destruction by corporations that have no morality and in fact have no possibile capacity for morality or for doing anything but destroying the entire planet. Take my advice or go broke ESPN you slimey M'Fers.
Cultural marxism, do not adjust your set.
Just another reason to ThrowAwayYourTV. Used to be that the news came on at 6:00 and lasted for about tewnty minutes. That was it.
Now its friggin made up news 24/7/365 and most of it, 99% is total bull shit.
Never mind all the other stupid shit on the boob tube like dancing with the f#$king whoevers. Who cares? Last time I checked dancing meant 0 to just about anyone with the ability to count to ten.
At least on the internet I can pick and choose what I want to see, read or listen to without having 18,000 commercials about products that have never lived up to their commercial claims anyway.
If the f#$king stuff actually worked it wouldn't need a commercial.
Screw TV. Screw the actors. Screw the commercials. Screw the mind control.
And soon enough, screw the radio too. It's getting just as bad.
My gym sometimes has the radio on, and the music (let alone the commercials) is often downright diabolical and really hard to tune out.
One song in particular, has the girl yell out constantly "I want a cigarette, I want a cigarette!". As an ex-smoker, I can tell you that song is meant to fuck people up and make them pick up again, no matter what the rest of the lyrics may be (since you purposefully can't normally understand anything else the witch spews out).
It's nice to hear that more and more are permanently tuning out.
Hey there's still good radio out there...online at least...like my station: http://89.40.221.213:30240/listen.pls
All kinds of good tunes...and even guest appearences from celebrities like Ron Paul, Jim Willie and the late Bob Chapman!
No commercials, ever.
I just do it fo' fun...so enjoy fellow crusty ZHers!
totally gave up on radio 10 years ago. I haven't heard a second of radio since.
... All day Monday and all day Tuesday I played football, there's nothing on the telly .... Where The Boys Go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q95DApyvm0Y
I of course (and sincerely) advocate for peace.
Humanity is most assuredly in quite a 'tight' spot..historically speaking. Instability in global affairs is at an extreme measured by any credible timeline I'm aware of.
Peak centralization of all power/authority isn't over yet though.
The people living in 'america' have been gravely harmed, and yet still some suggest they continue to show some indications of resistance.
One can rest assured that Federal Agencies and Community Partnerships have been aligned with Global Agencies which by cooperative agreement (various treaties and whatnot) warrant by decree the agencies of power and forthright determinations pertinent to infliction of national will over those of 'persons' subject to the various compliance criteria as established by the authority of the State and or it's Officers.
Besides all that???
Everything is fine-:)
Watching the US Tennis Open, I'd have to bet that for the past several years it's more about promoting and showcasing minorities and women than just presenting quality tennis.
The main televised event all too often will be a second tier minority, or women's, match rather than top seeded men players who are playing at the same exact time.
Maybe they really believe that we are all equal.
J
Any trannies yet?
Lots of testosterone on the womens tour, lots.
J
Does this mean that ESPN won't show fans waving the confederate flag at Red skin games?
Back when I used to have one of the big dishes (10'), they sold channels a la carte. If you only wanted the Bozo Channel, it cost a grand total of $0.25 a month. And there were hundreds of free feeds from everywhere.
But what's killing TV is the endless marketing. Not only more commercials but the constant commercials inside the "entertainment" itself. This kickoff is brought to you by Planters Peanuts...
If you pay for a channel, it should come commercial free. Period.
One way to tell if ESPN is merely the victim of a cord cutting trend or is turning off its own target demographic is to see if their numbers are dropping in tandem with those of other networks or are dropping faster. I hope they are dropping faster.
Who the feck still watches teevee? Letting the talmudic beast right into your brainwaves.
I've cut the cable and replaced it with OTA (over the air) and FTA (free to air). I get Russian (RT), Irainain, Iraqi, Chinese, German, and Kurdiatani news broadcasts in english. Plus, about 200 other free channels that I don't watch because they are religious or in some language I can't understand. Irian movies dubbed into english are pretty cool (you can stream).
ESPN is to sports what CNBC is to financial news.....nothing but cheerleaders trying to force a articular view on you. I've been disgusted by ESPN for quite some time, mainly based on the Chris Bermanization of sports announcing. Screaming at the top of your lungs and giving what you think are cutesy-poo nicknames to grown men, and sometimes women, is not endearing. It's pathetic. But ESPN went complete retard in my mind when it gave Caitlyn Jenner the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, just a few months after she killed someone driving her car. Now, Arthur Ashe is one of the few people, not just in sports, but anywhere, that I have always admired. He was a truly courageous man, and to give an award to a killer, simply because she admitted a desire to dress as a woman, is just criminal.
The other reason ESPN is a mess is the state of sports today. In every sport and just about at every level, people are turned off by the antics of the players.
College football and college basketball are nothing but minor leagues for the NFL and NBA
The Olympics is just another payday for professional athletes
Baseball is probably ok if you're playing it, but watching it on TV is a snooze-fest
Professional golf is equally snooze-worthy unless it's a cold, windy day at the British Open
Men's tennis is a bunch of no names playing to see whether Federer, Djokovic or Murray is going to win
Women's tennis is a series of orgamic screams punctuated by a crappy shot into the net, and a bunch of no names playing to see who loses to Serena Williams in the final
Soccer is watching guys take belly flops when the closest defender is 20 feet away
In short, there's no sport on that can grab someone's interest and hold it.
Athetes at every level constantly are showing themselves to be nothing but roided up jerks who don't think twice about beating women or assauting/killing others.
ESPN also tries to force feed who you should be cheering for. We seem obliged to say that LeBron James is the best player ever to play basketball; that Tiger Woods is the best golfer ever; that there's not even any room for discussion.
Someone earlier mentioned getting turned off of sports by watching Outside the Lines. That show certainly opens one's eyes to the seamy underbelly of sports. It's probably the only sports show that's worth watching, and that's probably why it's on at 5 or 6AM where I live. It's also the only time that arguably the best sportscaster on ESPN is on, and that's Bob Ley. He doesn't scream; he doesn't do cutesy-poo names; he just announces.
In short, there's nothing attractive about professional and colege sports any longer and ESPN is a big reason why. People have discovered that and, so, they're turning off ESPN in droes.
I agree with much of this. I have found ESPN to be a bunch of agenda based cheerleaders. It's on their many tv networks and radio stations. I'm tired of being told who to cheer for, what issues I should care about, and what is hip otherwise I'm considered some sort of nenanderthal. Pick your issue, guns, domestic violence, crime, black lives matter, homosexuality, whatever...its appauling and I'm avoiding them as best I can. Screw you ESPN.
Yep, sports have not been the same since the last real man in athletics, when Bruce Jenner won the gold medal.
ahhhh, never-mind.
Rugby.
But there seem to be two different types of play. The one where control of the ball is always in contention is the better.