Arena ESPN Discussion Thread

I watched very little this year, but Corso needs to go -- he looked terrible without anyone near him, and I can't imagine him getting any better at this point...

 

Lee's health is not the best which is one of the many reasons why he has been working remotely this entire year. At this point Lee is just there to be the show's mascot and do his picks which again he misses Herbie with since they played so well off each other. That was good @Guidman but the best moments Corso doing picks is when they gave him a gun(s) to shoot off:





The sheer look of terror from everyone on set down is priceless.

 

Big Noon Kickoff > GameDay. Rinaldi will be a welcome addition.

Hope he gets even more reign to do his storytelling.

 

Doesn't Corso always pick the opposing team from wherever they hold College Gameday to get the fans riled up and start booing him? That was always good fun to see. I don't watch a whole lot of college football nowadays, so I don't know if he still does that.

 

Seeing the Master ads already on ESPN is throwing me off since the Masters was only a month and a half ago plus they normally don't run these to later in the year. Now I got three of the most miserable months here (Chicago) to get thru until we hit the Masters (and by association Easter which this year is earlier then the Masters) which to me marks the end of winter.

And I am already missing Tom Rinaldi's reports on the Masters!

 

Just caught an ESPN piece on Brady that they had reporter Jeff Darlington voice over. If you need anymore proof that they should have done everything they could to keep Tom Rinaldi...

On a sadder note, RIP Pedro Gomez.

 

My guess @Guidman they will just throw it all on the Peacock Network like @heels1785 which is a good and a bad thing. Maybe they will move some of the coverage for the Olympics and even the Tour De France to CNBC at least at night since well I do not see how it cannot get lower ratings then reruns of Shark Tank and other shows along with the USA Network. But by and large they will move it all to the Peacock Network which is a good and a bad thing. If they have everything on it that would be a good buy for one month if you don't normally subscribe to it. Just do a one month subscription for the Olympics so you can watch everything and then cancel it.

If that were to happen @heels1785 you will see the cable cutting increase tenfold. I must admit I absolutely love streaming channels. Even the Peacock Network which is terrible (though should be better in a few months with WWE going there) I still enjoy. If they bundle it all up at a decent price like the Disney+ package is I would not be terribly upset with that. It's just all of these single offs getting their own streaming service like AMC+ and Discovery+ that are the killers for me. Certainly it's going to be the way of the future though especially since younger generations don't even watch "TV" as they simply stream everything. I guess you have to adapt to it even though the market is already oversaturated. Again I love streaming channels so I guess I am part of the problem.

And I read that @Juliet316 this morning which nearly fell over. That is just so sad. RIP Pedro!

 

Paul Pierce fired after he posts racy Instagram post.

 

I'm not one to usually defend Pierce, but no goddamn way he should have been fired for that. Nothing illegal was going on, and are ESPN/Disney that naive to not expect some adults to have interests of that nature? Please.

 

I agree. He didn't do anything illegal. I think a brief "vacation" letting the story die down and having him return would been more then sufficient. It's crazy to think ESPN did this to appease the MAGA crowd more then anything else...the same crowd which is saying "shut up and dribble" and at the same time yapping about their continued "boycott" of it.

 

just watched it. i'm not sure it was bad enough to be fired ., but Also don't know why he felt the need to post that.

 

ESPN - I remember the glory days of when the network was concerned 100% with just sports. They had colorful characters(Berman's PrimeTime NFL team with the nick-names), great side-shows & a nice balance of coverage. Then....ummmm...... yeah. They got CNN disease and couldnt cure it. Oh well. Now that pro sports is also heading into Cancel/political territory, I think for me its safe to skip most of it these days. Ill still watch the NHL playoffs and a few NBA playoff games but my interest level is waning.

Bring back Berman, Tommy J and the gang & do the great shows like they used to please.

 

ESPN is hemorrhaging revenue. You have to be smart and not give them a reason to terminate your contract.

 

Maybe he was fired for how weird and sad of a party it was

 

The downfall of ESPN is quite a stunning development. I remember when it was all the rage that a Hollywood film version magnificent oral history Those Guys Have All The Fun was in development. Then BLM, Trump, and cord cutting happened and roughly a half decade later, ESPN is practically irrelevant.

 

Definitely remember that. Who were some other ESPN personalities that were practically team-specific? Two others I can think of for sure are Ed Werder with the Cowboys and Sal Paolantonio with the Eagles, but I know there were quite a few others.