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Talk sports, pop culture and more with SI.com's Jimmy Traina.6/27/2006 10:11:00 PM Jumping the Shark
If you tuned into ESPN at any time on Monday, the network's scroll featured vital, crucial, breaking-news information -- the ESPY Award nominations.
My first thought when I saw this was, "They still do the ESPYs?"
Didn't the ESPYs jump the shark years ago? How are they still around? Why are they still around?
This got me thinking about other things in sports that have jumped the shark. Here are my top six. Be sure to send me yours after you read mine.
1. SportsCenter: I'm not trying to pick on ESPN, but this show went from appointment television to unwatchable television over the past few years. Highlights are hard to find, anchors try too hard to be funny, half the show is spent pimping things that will be on ABC and with ESPN airing games from the top three pro sports leagues and college basketball and football, you never know when SportsCenter is going to be on. ESPNews also has helped decrease the importance of the main network's signature show.
2. The national anthem being sung before every single sporting event: This has nothing to do with patriotism, it has to do with common sense. First off, do they play the anthem before movies or broadway shows? Why play it at ballgames? They're all forms of entertainment. Also, the song is played at every baseball game, football game, basketball game, hockey game, college football game, college basketball game... I could go on and on and on, but I won't. It'd be overkill -- which is what the anthem has become at sporting events. It's played too often and the meaning and significance has been lost. I was at a Yankees game three weeks ago, and I made it a point to see what people did during the anthem. I saw someone sending a text message. I saw someone talking on his cell phone. I saw someone eating a hot dog. I saw people walking to the concession stand. I saw several people leave their hats on their heads. The bottom line: save the anthem for championship games or just stop playing it altogether.
3. Athletes dating Paris Hilton: Listen, I can't fault any guy for being intrigued by the woman who's famous for a certain videotape, but if you're an athlete a) you can do better and b) isn't it time to stop going where so many others have gone before? Brian Urlacher, Matt Leinart and most recently Jose Theodore have gotten caught in Paris' web (with Theodore getting in some trouble on the home front). Is a baseball player next, or will she try her hand at the NBA? So little time, so many athletes.
4. Teams adding third, fourth, fifth and sixth jerseys: This has been out of control for a while, but now it's downright offensive. Want a Colorado Rockies jersey? Which one? Home? Home Alternate? Alternate 1? Alternate 2? Road? Or the new Cool Base? How about a New York Mets jersey? Home? Alternate 1? Alternate 2? Road? Road Alternate? Cool Base? Stop the madness!
5. The NBA Draft: Remember when this used to be a must-see event? It almost generated as much excitement as the NFL Draft. I used to know each first-round pick. But now -- and let me know if it's just me -- I wouldn't know half of the first-rounders if they fell on me.
6. Sports blogs: They're everywhere. You can't escape them. Everyone has one, including me.
Agree or disagree with any of these? What do you think has jumped the shark in sports? Let me know.Comments:
Absolutley do not stop playing the national anthem before every sporting event. It's tradition!! I get a very emotional strong and patriotic feeling everytime I hear it played whether its at my son's football games or a MLB game.on the National Anthem you are wrong. The Anthem serves two modern day purposes. First it (should) remind everyone we have men and women protecting the right to be at that game and attend in relative safety. Second, and practical, reason it is the signal that the game will begin shortly. Overkill is European Rugby, where the national anthems for both teams are played (fair enough), but then the home team sings their 'rugby song', thats overkill.I couldn't agree more with your selections! To further dog on ESPN, they even ruined PTI by having the Big Finish 15 minutes later in order to drag us into SportsCenter.
I also think poker on TV has jumped the shark, although I admit I watched it regularly for the first couple of years. Unless they add some new cards to the deck, this has lost its luster.i can't agree with you more jimmy about sportscenter. it's a bunch of mad tv rejects trying to do audition tapes. with some of them, one needs subtitles to comprehend what they are saying.
i horribly miss cnnsi (please beg whoever you know there in new york to revive it ASAP). i've read fox sports network is starting a daily highlights-only show in july.
the show that has also jumped the shark is nfl primetime.
it's bad enough chris berman and his idiotic nicknames and pandering throughout the broadcast grew tired two decades ago, but now nbc will have a sunday night nfl hour-long highlights show and the nfl network will have a 90-minute sunday evening highlights show.
let's see, i can either watch bob costas and chris collingsworth do highlights, or rich eisen or have chris berman yell bad nicknames at me in my living room.
gee, wonder which one i won't watch?I couldn't have said it better. ESPN is dead to me: no more hockey coverage; they're world cup coverage is dreadful; and do i need to know the running back depth charts for every nfl team in JUNE?! They sure know how to overkill everything.
Also, the national anthem should ONLY be sung before INTERNATIONAL events, not domestic events. I know I live in the USA, the anthem doesn't remind of that fact (and it doesn't make me feel patriotic either). (Though, in India, they sing the national anthem at movie theatres....)You are totally correct about SportsCenter. My top complaints about SportsCenter:
(1) They like to pre-empt the 5am SportsCenter to replay games played the night before. I can understand this with things like the superbowl, but honestly... is anybody seriously getting up at 3am to see the replay?
(2) SportsCenter's recap of itself halfway through the show. Very irritating.
(3) "Top-play nominee." This has gotten out of control. Just show the top 10 plays at the end, and call it good. We can all see that it was a good play.Agreed except for NBA draft. Huh? why is this on the list? It's still as important as ever and much easier to watch than any other draft. (Only 5 min. between picks!) Plus there are usually some key trades and the timing of 1 week after the finals is perfect cap to the season. If you don't know half of the players then I guess you haven't been paying attention or your team traded away all its picks. In any case the NBA draft does not belong on this list no way no how.I can't disagree with you more on the National Anthem. I was at a Yankees game 3 weeks ago and was enlightened by the patriotism displayed when the song was played. A man loudly requested those in our section remove their hats as most already had. The area was silent except for those singing along. And, fans brought American flags to the stadium and proudly displayed them. And this comes from a Philly sports fan who was taught at a young age hatred of NY teams! I totally agree about Sportscenter and Paris hilton (maybe she'll move to regular guys like me next - naah!) but totally disagree about the National Anthem.SportsCenter has sucked for years...ever since they became full of themselves. ESPN as a whole has seriously gone downhill...especially Berman. I also agree with your take on the anthem, as it only tells me that we have to have some idiot trying to impress us with their singing abilities while delaying the start of the game. I like the NBA Draft, though I hate the way that someone can be mediocre through 1-4 years of college, but look great in an individual workout and all of a sudden they're a top-10 pick (NFL does this too). And teams need two jerseys: home and away.A couple additional ESPN thoughts:
SportsCenter really has become too full of itself. It was a great show when it focused on the games and the broadcasters made a few jokes, but ultimately stuck to what was important (not their own careers). Now it's all features and "Ultimate Depth Charts." Where are the numbers and analysis for the games going on now?
As for PTI, they should turn it into a one-hour show and get rid of the awful, awful "Around the Horn."SportsCenter died when Keith Olbermann left the network. Stuart Scott is unbearable. I miss the "Big Show" with Dan and Keith.I have to agree with most of your list! I used to watch Sportscenter religiously! But, now i don't even bother. The broadcaster's are horrible and sometimes they don't even put in the best highlights of the game!
On the National Anthem, you probably knew you might get some flak on the subject, but I agree. It's like the 7th inning stretch at baseball games. "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." They should've stopped doing that when Harry Carey died! I'd rather get the game started than listen to someone butcher the National Anthem. Also, I have to ask, when did the cheering after the word 'Free' begin? I can't stand that! If people cared that much about the Anthem at ballgames they shouldn't say or interrupt the special song.Keep the national anthem, but God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch was a 9/11 thing and is massive overkill.
We get the point. Now stop playing it.How about:
1) The annual "It's impossible to grade a draft right afterwards but I am going to do it anyway articles"
2) The ever popular "Article about the team who just won the championship ten seconds ago and whether they can repeat or not"
3) Chris Berman and his stupid home run calls.
4) The Home run derby
5) MLB draft analysisI agree the national anthem is becoming overkill. The other week before the World Cup match with Italy I felt nothing when it was played because it was played before every sporting event I ever did in high school. Keep it limited to Championships, Internationals, and the Olympics please.You must be crazy. If there is ONE tradition that should never end it is the playing of the national anthem before the game starts. My main points have already been stated but the anthem is one of my favorite parts of sporting events. I always show up in time to catch the anthem. It is great to see a large group of Americans all recognize how lucky they are at the same time. As far as other things that have jumped the shark, how about the use of the term "jumped the shark"? I might vomit next time I hear this massively over-used phrase. It's not hip anymore, it's annoying.espn in general. come on - they pre-empt baseball tonight during the pennant races to broadcast morons crashing on dirt bikes. shouldn't this be on the ocho or something?
also, if i have to hear one more "shamma lamma ding dong" or other such nonsense introducing a highlight from some corporate drone in a suit, things are going to get messy.
lastly "bonds on bonds". 'nuff said.
bring back the strong man competitions and demolition derbies from islip, long island!!Agree totally about SportsCenter! Once they started adding all of the special features like Hot Seat, 4 Downs, and the other crap and got away from just showing highlights, they completely lost my attention.
The same goes with the other highlight shows like Baseball Tonight. I don't care about how to throw a curveball or have a better slidestep... show me highlights from the games... and more than two homeruns!This list is great...especially the SportsCenter and Anthem observations.
My addition would be sideline reporters in football...although I suppose to jump the shark you'd have to have some value to begin with. The pregame, halftime, and postgame sideline "reports" are filled with banalities and cliches from coaches who would clearly rather be somewhere else...utterly uninformative. And sideline updates during the game are either unnecessary interruptions to the game (to tell us something like the left guard has a pulled groin and his return is questionable), or worse, melodramatic sob stories or "interviews" with celebrities who are either drunk, clueless, or both. Bad, bad television.1. Agree. SportsCenter is too much hype and fluff. I get my sports info from ESPNews.
2. DISAGREE!!! Sports are entertainment, but deal with conflict and competition, which are synonymous with the US. Just because some folks have no respect for flag or country is no reason to stop honoring our country before each sporting event.
3. Paris who?
4. Agree, but I do like some of those retro jerseys that the leagues bring out of mothballs.
5. Agree, this year at least. Some years are better than others.
6. Can't agree, after all, aren't I posting to a blog?How about post game interview sessions. After watching the NBA Finals, is it really necessary to show reporters asking these exhausted athletes and coaches, who want to do nothing more than go home or to their hotel, completely idiotic and irritating questions (at least most are)? Let them be. And nobody watches anyway. As soon as the game is done, my roommates and I switch the channel to whatever we think may be mildly interesting to watch.1. Your right on the money about Sportscenter! It went from cool catch phrases from people like Berman and Stu Scott, to being an Laurel and Hardy bit. And dont even get me started on their new invention, the Trifecta. How are you going to cover an entire day of MLB clips in 20 minutes, when your spending half the time documenting what Barry Bonds did today?
2. I think you missed the boat on the National Anthem though. Your right, it does get played alot, and thats the idea. Its 2 minutes out of every day where we can honor those who fought or are fighting for our country so we can have the priviledge to sit there and enjoy our sporting event. Dont let the idiots who text, eat, or leave their caps on ruin it for you!
3. Whose gonna say no to Paris? Plain and simple!
4. Too many jerseys? True. But seeing what their wearing today might be the only reason to watch a team like the Rockies!
5. The NBA draft has lost its luster, especially this year. There should be no age limit on entering. If a prep star is good enough to be in the draft, let him be in the draft!
6. Blogs Rule!About the National Anthem. I think the fact that you can comment on what everyone else was doing is pretty hypocritical...you wouldn't have noticed their actions if your mind hadn't wandered. Try scoping the Flag. Not the jerks in the stands. Unfortunately, patriotism is an individual effort more times than not. Rest assured, however, that when service members come home and go to a sporting event, they want to hear that anthem. This is America, if you want to be disrespectful, you can. But keep the anthem for those that have fought for it.Anyone who watched the Stanley Cup Finals and saw both the Canadian and American anthems being sung by the crowd knows that playing the anthem before the game has not jumped the shark.Sportscenter's glory years= kilborn, olbermann, patrick. Pre-hype. Blue Studio. That was truly excellent television, and they were all funny naturally, it wasn't a forced issue. From there, it all went downhill- although compared to who is on the air now, I'll even take back Kenny Mayne (the poor man's Craig Kilborn).
I can not handle any more inane comments like, "what rob thomas is to matchbox 20, david ortiz is to the red sox!" comments. seriously, please stop. Your pop culture bromides have lost all luster, because copycat morons destroyed it.
Finally, amen to the person who called for the return of CNN-SI. That channel was so much better. We need more commentators that are thoughtful and interesting, like David Aldridge, and we need to cast away the Stephen A. Smith types. If I want someone to yell at me, I'd put on that idiotic stock trading show on cnbc.New ones for the list: sideline reporting and post-game interviews. Seriously, has anything interesting ever been said in either of these cases by the participating athletes or coaches? (Joe Namath can stay, however.) The exception is in auto racing, where you can usually get a NASCAR or F1 driver to insult the guy that just caused the crash.Post-game "news" conferences after sporting events have jumped the shark -- whether on live TV or taped just in case someone actually says something. When they put the team banner on the wall and set up a long table with a microphone or two, then I know nothing worth hearing will transpire. Let's make the reporters actually develop their sources and interview them. There is probably a standard set of 10 post-game questions for any given sport. Just have the team PR rep release the daily response to the questions 1 hour after the game ends. Reporters can go home early and just check your email, rather than wait for the "stars" to finish showering, etc. only to deliver a bunch of sports-speak pap. With the possible exception of Bill Parcells (and Mark Cuban), no one has said anything worth remembering for years.I agree that ESPN is getting very annoying with it's product plugs and lack of highlights. I also can't stand the constant nut hugging of Bonds and Clemens. I mean do we need a countdown to Roger's start. Must I need to know that I have 3 minutes and 42 seconds til the start of an Astros game. I also waited almost 45 minutes into Sports Center to catch a highlight of the World Cup. I know soccer is not a popular sport in America, but can you at least show the highlight before you put Jim Belushi on the freakin "Hot Seat"WOW, i know this is a sports website, but all those responses without mentioning Paris? She is georgous and apparently "not very selective" why would you say no to that?I agree...the NBA Draft is not as intriguing anymore. The NBA has become nothing more than a bunch of spoiled, rich kids who can't play a lick of real basketball. I used to be a huge NBA fan, but have become less and less interested in it since the salaries and ticket prices have become ridiculous.I totally agree about Sportscenter, it is horrible. It's similar to the way MTV only played music videos and now they all these documentaries.one word- NASCARHow about all these guys pointing to God whenever they do something good? You know all these guys aren't sooooooo religious that they think of God immediately after hitting a home run, so it's more of a fashion statement and hot dogging than an expression of faith and humility.ESPN sucks. Sportscenter is awful, and if I hear one more "Mobile ESPN" plug, I'm going to throw something at the TV. My biggest complaint with the network is that Baseball Tonight, by far their finest show, routinely gets the shaft for the stupidest reasons. Screw Sportscenter and the rest of the Trifecta and just give us a nice, long segment of Baseball Tonight. Reynolds and Kruk over any of the Sportscenter guys any day of the week. Also, prayers to Gammons.what aout the terms march madness and cinderella team, i get it, there is always going to be one team out of 65 that i've never heard of go and screw up my brackets, its happened every year.
Also keep the National Anthem and put Monday Night Football back on abcHow about the Gatorade/Water whatever dump on the winning coaches head? Definitely jumped the Shark.I hope someone from ESPN is reading all these comments. Leave the "analysis" segments out of Sportscenter. Get back to your roots of being a highlights show. You have 24 hours to fill each day. You should easily be able to find slots for "analysis" shows.the one sporting event that has jumped the shark more than any other is the little league world series. what started out as a wholesome game has turned into a corporate media circus where 12 year olds need to play to the camera. what ever happened to catching the ball with two hands? now it is the circus catch imitating the pros. while i am clear it comes from a different sport, i expect one of these kids to whip out a sharpie after making a basket catch or creating a dance as part of his home run trot.to Kevin, European rugby is played 4-5 times a year, not 162 regular season games per 32 teams.
4-5 times to listen your anthem?? Good. 162 times for baseball alone?? maybe a tad much.The NBA draft is a sham! ESPN should be ashamed of themselves for hyping it up like it's the NFL Draft--the only one, by the way, of the major sports' drafts that is watchable. Too many foreign born players from teams you never heard of that played in cigarette smoke-filled arenas in Prague and Milan! Who cares? Plus, the influx of HS players over the years: AGAIN from teams you never heard of and never saw play. You CAN'T say that about the NFL Draft.I love it, everyone hates Sportscenter. I think it jumped the shark for me when they started doing those fake news conferences/drafts/whatever they are. Seriously, why do we need to sit through 15 minutes of a fake news conference to announce what you think team A is going to do in the draft....STOP IT!baseball Tonight is easily the best show, i agree. But the first 15 minutes is consumed with Red Sox, Yankees and Mets highlights. EVERY STINKIN NIGHT ! Show me some Angels vs the Padres to top off the show. Hell, ill take the Royals vs the Mariners just to mix it up a bit.You are right on the money with SportsCenter. it is unwatchable. I signed off the day Stuart Scott decided to rap about Chad Johnson. That was it! Also, the team jersey situation is very bad. Mets fans (I mean real fans) have been complaining for years for them to go back to their traditional whites and road grays. You may also want to add (Team Name) Nation to your list. One day we simply had Raider Nation and today it's as if every team and fan group as adopted this tag. Enough aleady.How about some idiot yelling "GET IN THE HOLE!" after every single golf shot no matter where on the course it's taken. Drives me crazy...RE #2: SSB is too hard to sing--how 'bout subbing with God Bless America or America the Beautiful? Couldn't we make these alternate national anthems? (Hope you don't view that the same way you do alternate jerseys!)Top 25 polls jumped the shark and I can't believe you overlooked this fact. In reference to the poster who mentioned "the article about whether the just-crowned champ can repeat", not only do analysts do that but they also tell you where 24 other teams will finish a full year from now. It drives me insane to see a Final Four just completed and already have 16 writers telling me how Florida will repeat and Kansas will once again disappoint as a #2 team.What about Tim McCarver and Joe Buck on FOX baseball. It is so painful to listen to these guys (not to mention that talking baseball). Although I'm not sure if you can "jump the shark" if you've never been "on the shark"Add this to your list...Nicknames using the First Initial and part of the last name. ARod, IRod, TMac, DWade...enough already.Definitely the guys that yell "You the man" and "Get in the hole" at golf tourneys. Not sure if it annoys me or amuses me. Either way, they're idiots."The Scroll" - enough already. every stinkin channell has a scroll at the bottom of the screen. it's very irritating. i realize networks use them to make sure you dont change the channell. but it's way outta control. i want to watch a game without distractions all over the screen !I'm with everyone on SportsCenter- it became unwatchable to me when Stuart Scott starting saying Boo-Yah. Baseball Tonight and their commercials are all that's worth watching anymore.
Some items I'd have on my list:
1. Olympics- the media coverage has the results to the States ten hours before the event is shown on t.v.. It's just stupid!
2. Joe Morgan- great player- one of the worst t.v. broadcasters ever.
3. Hank Williams and MNF- are you kidding me? Let's mix it up a little.
4. Nascar fights- there's nothing manlier than watching a guy throw his helmet at a car. Set up a boxing ring and let them go a few rounds after a race- I might actually watch Nascar if that were the case.I totally agree with you on the National Anthem. Leave it for the Championship game of any series and that is it. In regards to Paris, if someone wants to play with that, let them do it. On the uniforms, make it a rule that you only have 2, white for home, grey for the road and leave it at that.I have to add Monday Night Football. With the advent of DirecTV's football package and ABC's inability to pick marquee matchups, Monday night Football has been pretty lame the last few years.
Madden to a lesser degree sounds like a broken record especially when the games have been lackluster. Still is a decent call when a game is close, but otherwise, biff boom bam and all of his other platitudes are pretty tiringPointing to the sky after a Home Run has to stop.. NOW.Stop it with the National Anthem already. I am a basketball official on numerous levels, and would love to see the anthem stopped. Here are some of my reasons.
1. NO stadium, arena, ballpark, or track around the country, lets the song finish before cheering or making noise. Especially the idiots who whistle thinking they are the ones signaling the start of the event.
2. People don't respect why it is played anyway.
3. Singers are constantly butchering the song (especially major sporting events) by infusing their "style" and drawing out the lyrics to annoying lengths. Not to mention forgetting the lyrics altogether.
Just do the introductions, throw the ball up and play.SportsCenter needs to get rid of all the stupid mini-game/debate segments (PTI is great! Your copies aren't!) and just go back to being primarily a sports news program. Highlights with anchor commentary (no "Ultimate Highlight", thanks) followed by a box score, some analysis (no prolonged stuff unless the story's really important), and some field reporting mixed in.
They also need to get rid of a bunch of anchors. Olbermann and Patrick kept my TV fixed on ESPN. They had actual wit, not just catchphrases - something Stuart Scott never seems to have learned. He and several others usually make me change the channel immediately.
As for the national anthem, it would probably be more stirring if only played before games either between international opponents or of greater importance, but I don't mind a little patriotism and tradition before every baseball game. Yeah, some people talk during it, but people talk at all sorts of inappropriate times. It seems to me that they're outnumbered by those of us who are less bored and more respectful...Anyone who watched the Stanley Cup Finals and saw both the Canadian and American anthems being sung by the crowd knows that playing the anthem before the game has not jumped the shark.
Which is a championship. He said there would be no problem playing it at that time. But you've got baseball teams playing 162 games a year, and hockey and basketball playing 80-something. That's a LOT.
WOW, i know this is a sports website, but all those responses without mentioning Paris? She is georgous and apparently "not very selective" why would you say no to that?
Because she's average looking at best, and she's not very selective. Who knows how many times she's been around the block?Good call on all of them except the anthem. However, only people who are capable of actually singing it should do so!! (See Carl Lewis, etc).
ESPN has gotten way out of control w\ it's lack of highlights as opposed to meaningless banter.
Just to add a couple (and add on some comments on yours):
1. 'Chasing Ruth' and 'Chasing Aaron'--I don't need to know Barry's pitch by pitch at bats as he breaks a record he cheated to get, or heads towards a record he won't get!
2. Most draft coverage--do I really need to hear 5 guys tell me one guy should go 14th and 5 other guys tell me he should go 10th!!
3. UPSIDE!!! all these guys have 'upside' or else they'd be home playing NBA Live on PS2 for a living
4. Useless stats like Batter X's batting average against lefties during day games in the month of June while batting in the cleanup spot while Pitcher X is throwing on 3 days rest!!
5. The Bottom Line when College Football starts in Sept--wait 10 minutes to get to stretch run baseball scores as I wait for the Elon vs Wofford football score. Post the Top 25 and that's it--go the web (or the game) if you want to know the other scores.
6. Lastly, College rankings for the 1st month of the season--wait until these teams get some games under their belts to tell me that Iowa St is the 23rd best team and Arizona St is only the 24th best!!
Good post Jimmy
Later
JWAdd this one to the list: THE WAVE.
THE WAVE should be banned permanently from all sporting events. And the person who starts it should be escorted it out of the stadium. It's usually started by some drunk guy near the end of the game because he's "bored." It's a cheer that has nothing to do with the game in question. It doesn't help the home team. Fans stop watching the game and watch the wave (and boo when it stops). I don't participate in THE WAVE when it comes to me, and fans around me look at me like I'm funny or something. I'm sorry--I was trying to pay attention to THE GAME.However, the "ever-changing-ever-multiplying" jersey has jumped the shark. Moreover, I would like to see a shark eat whichever people at Nike are responsible to the hideous jersey designs they keep launching into the atmosphere (see Oregon, U of Miami and VTech, for example).
Mark my words, we are in the midst of the ugliest era of team jerseys in history. (Yes, worse than the late 70s/early 80s.)What should be #6 on the list:
(6) People who complain about an "east coast bias" concerning their favorite team(s).
With the Internet and fantasy leagues, everyone knows everything there is to know that is relevant about all teams in all time zones. It's a dead issue. If your team doesn't get the proper attention or coverage, it's probably because your team sucks or is really boring to watch.The close-ups of managers during tense moments. I don't need to see Torre's Frankestein expression or Francona spitting and just generally being disgusting. I also hate when McCarver says "Perhaps..." before every sentence. One last one...The Sports Guy on ESPN. Can he write anything decent and actually solid. It's all fluff, Boston references for anyhting, bad comedy and pop culture references that have...jumped the shark. He is awful.I kind of like the anthem before ballgames, but I think God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch is overkill.
How about formerly informative announcers who are now just doing shtick? See Madden, McGarver, and most of all Berman.
Finally, how about the ridiculous ritual where football players on the bench all raise four fingers to signify that "the 4th quarter is ours." I was at a college game last year where one team led by 41 points after three quarters. Sure enough, hands on both sidelines go up. Are you kidding me? Maybe it was clever and/or inspiring in the 70s when it started (at least that's when I first saw it) but not it's cliched and ridiculous.I agree the NBA draft is a complete JOKE !! In my opinion the trend of high schoolers being selected has had a negative affect on the NBA and college basketball. Gone are the days when 4 or 3 year studs such as Jamal Mashburn, Christian Laettner or Grant Hill were anxiously drafted. Now it's a Senior at a high school near you being taken with the top pick and it's all for the love of Money !!!!!!!The wave is way past its prime, if it ever had one. Also, referring to championships won as "rings," and the ridiculous debate over whether a player can be considered great without having won one. Unless you're willing to argue Buddy Biancalana was better than Ted Williams, give it a rest already.I would add the stupid online polls e.g. who's the greatest player of all time (where 90% of voters were born after 1980 and voting on the greatest player of all time.) What a joke these things are and they skew this generation's perception of sports. Thanks Internet.
I agree with ESPN sportscenter, nat'l anthem, blogs, but not with NBA draft. Nobody said it was going to be as exciting as the Super Bowl and World Cup combined. It's a DRAFT and it's interesting to true basketball fans just like any draft is interesting if you follow the sport. If you don't know the draftee that's your problem.
...and jumped the shark definitely jumped the shark. It's stupid.Playoff Beards.
You can grow hair on your face and somehow this makes you unified? Enough already.
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