ESPN – Really Right

James Carville Exposes the Deep State in College Football; ESPN Responds by “hitting its knees”

The Ragin’ Cajun’ himself was in rare form Saturday morning, serving as a celebrity guest picker on ESPN’s College Football Game Day. I use the term celebrity very loosely, I doubt he profiles as a “D” list celebrity, but I digress. The show airs every Saturday morning at the site of a major college football game to be played later that day, in this case #1 Alabama vs #3 Louisiana State University (LSU). Since LSU was the home team, ESPN always picks a local “celebrity”–in this case it was James Carville–to make a pick of who will win the game. What ensued, we will just call it the rant of the year that exposed both the deep state in the SEC (Southeastern Football Conference) and at ESPN.

Carville:

“Tennessee’s best defensive player couldn’t play against Alabama because of the SEC,” Carville said. “Missouri’s best defensive player couldn’t play against Alabama because the SEC kicked him out. A&M’s best defensive player couldn’t play against because Alabama because he was taken out and now the best defensive player in the conference is not going to play in the first half for nothing. For nothing.”

He has a point; Tennessee’s Alontae Taylor, Missouri’s Terez Hall, Texas A&M’s Donovan Wilson, and LSU’s Devin White were all ejected for helmet to helmet hits either during the Alabama game or the game before the Alabama game. Keep in mind all ejectable plays are reviewed by a crew in the league office, led by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. Carville is on to something here. Alabama is a dynasty winning 3 of the last 4 national championships and pulling off a remarkable feat three years ago of not getting called for a holding penalty all year long. Just to let you know holding can be called every play, most teams are flagged several times in a game, but somehow, someway, Alabama never was called for it. This is the deep state! As a Tennessee fan, I am completely in agreement with Mr. Carville.

So, Carville goes on this rant, then the show ends and the early games start. Then the game is interrupted by something called a Chris Cotter to say the following

“We have an apology to make on behalf of ESPN. While appearing as a guest on College Game Day earlier today, James Carville offered his thoughts on SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. As we regularly demonstrate here on ESPN, diverse opinions are encouraged. However, his actions were over the top, and we would like to apologize to Commissioner Sankey for them.”

Huh? You encourage diverse opinions? Like Jemele Hill and worthless Michael Smith ripping Donald Trump with opinions devoid of any facts? Or that you fired Curt Schilling because he tended to be pro-Republican? Most importantly, why are you apologizing to the SEC, their TV contract rights for the best games are held by CBS? Carville was simply pointing out a disturbing trend. Also, you should have known this, Carville like most political types are known more for hot takes then for anything else. By the way Alabama won 29-0.

This callous political correctness from “the world-wide loser” annoys The Chief.

Especially because in Alabama, Ancestry.com and Match.com are the same thing.

Let’s Check in with “The World-Wide Leader” ESPN

I am aware this is a political blog, but ever since ESPN waded into politics its only right to rain on their parade, and dance on their grave when they are down. We have chronicled in this space the past doings of John “The nasal dust sniffer” Skipper, so I wanted to check back in an see if things were going better under a new President. Newsflash, they are not, and this network will likely be doing another round of “cost cutting” soon. Jim Pitaro the new president, is basically going full George Costanza, and reversing every move Skipper made…..likely while he was on a cocaine bender, during his last year as president. Here is a snippet of what has happened in the past 3 weeks: Jemele Hill, decided to leave early, and had ESPN buy out the remainder of her contract. Hill is most known for calling the President a racist, and basically spewing her filth all over Twitter about how every white male is racist, and players in the NFL and NBA are so oppressed in today’s society.

The fact she was allowed to stick around for more than a year after her dust up with President Trump shows you how out of touch they are at ESPN, she was literally murdering the brand every possible chance she could. I still cannot get my head around this, players protesting how “oppressed” they are making more money in one game check then I will ever earn! Anyway, good riddance Jemele!

Now we will check in on the new show “Get Up” which was rolled out earlier this year. It is a 3-hour show for which they built a special studio in New York City. The show was going to talk sports but also have a Good Morning America type feel to it, so I figured they would mix in some news. The show has been a complete and utter disaster, only registering 300k viewers a couple dozen times, keep in mind “Rusty Rivets” on Nickelodeon earns more than 950 viewers in the same time slot.

Does it bother readers that Mr. X knows about Rusty Rivets?

Now think about this, in addition to paying many millions to build out the new studio, look at the salaries of the 3 hosts: Mike Greenberg who was a huge hit on Mike & Mike in the morning with ESPN (their most successful show by the way) makes 6.5 million a year. Michelle (if you give me a ride home I’ll give you a ride as well) Beadle makes 5 million a year. Jalen Rose a former NBA star and member of Michigan University’s Fab Five makes 3 million a year, I like Rose, he adds a lot to the broadcast, so he is not going to be the target of my fire. Greenberg used to be the quirky IT type guy on Mike & Mike to Mike Golic’s I’m a former football player, I know sports, what made them different made them great. He decided he wanted a move and now we have this disaster. Greenberg is also leading the let’s integrate politics into the news coverage at this network. Beadle, made big news a couple weeks ago, she announced she was not going to watch the NBA or NFL anymore….Bold move….hope it works out for you. Well it did not, she has been reassigned, very alpha move saying you were not going to watch sports, so you could give analysis and commentary based on those 2 sports. Just as a final side note, a show with this high salary and overhead needs at least 500k viewers to break even, keep in mind they can only get to 300k on a really good day.

Well a couple Fridays ago, ESPN announced Get Up would go from 3 hours to 2; again, keep in mind Friday is a slow news day and is a preferred day to announce bad news. In addition, ESPN executives gave a stern warning to the show hoping they can increase their ratings during football season; I do not see this occurring. The bottom line is this, ESPN got political, and similar to what happened at Dick’s Sporting Goods and now with Nike, alienate a fan base and your brand suffers irreparable harm. Times are different now from the past, we have a President who will remind his base daily that ESPN shows and defends players kneeling or sitting during our National Anthem. Those viewers have tuned out, preferring Fox Sports 1 which is on a very obscure channel, they will not be back. They think having Monday Night Football will bring viewers back into the fold, incorrect.

The most interesting part of the report looks into the next round of rights negotiations, with the report suggesting that ESPN should drop its “MNF” package in order to pursue “SNF” instead. The report calls Disney’s current “MNF” package a “rotten deal with … a cost/rating point ratio that is 260% to 400% more expensive than any other package.” The report goes on to say, “One of the more interesting theories that we still think has a higher probability of playing out is if Disney instead targets the more valuable, but lower-priced Sunday Night Football package, currently at NBC. We believe Disney should reclaim the Sunday primetime package by paying a significant premium to the existing costs. Even if they pay $900 million more per year, it is a better economic outcome than keeping MNF” (John Ourand, Staff Writer).

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM RATINGS: In N.Y., Richard Morgan wrote NFL ratings are “facing yet another brutal blitz this fall,” and analysts note this season’s ratings “could fall even faster as the league continues to grapple with a slew of ugly controversies that have turned off viewers.” BTIG media analyst Rich Greenfield said, “The downward trend in ratings is unavoidable—even though NFL ratings are outperforming the broader TV market” (N.Y. POST, 9/4).

Another NFL Ratings Drop Could Impact Nets’ Standing On Wall Street

Mark my words this show will be cancelled by the middle of next year, cracks have occurred in the foundation, and now the show has structural issues that are not repairable.

I think John Skipper just snorted a line of coke, have another ol’ Johnny you earned it!

Let’s Check in on ESPN

It’s been a while since I lit up the “worldwide leader” so I figured I’ll update you all on the goings on. First of all the President of the company, no CRA folks it’s not Donald Trump, but Johnny Skipper, abruptly resigned and admitted he had a cocaine addiction. Actually he said he only bought drugs once, and his dealer apparently was trying to extort money from him. Yes, that sounds really believable Mr. Skipper, I guess you just casually strolled down a street, found a nice looking guy and asked if you could try a little nasal dust. Lucky for you, Obamacare (which your boss Bob Iger supports so much) forces your insurance company to pay for rehab, so now junkies like you get to eat, sleep and probably keep doing blow on the taxpayer’s dime! Likely, ol’ Johnny was doing blow on the payers for a while!

First of all, I kind of feel sorry for him. He’s not just ugly, he’s circus ugly, were talkin’ like James Carville level ugly.

Actually a better comp would be Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit ugly.

Seriously I hope he gets the help he needs and gets off the booger sugar. Worse yet, Skipper was the one who fired all of those poor employees at ESPN last year. Wanna take bets he was high out of his mind or on a bender? Maybe that explains why that Howdy Doody looking bozo still works there? Maybe he was Skipper’s coke dealer?

A few other quick notes; the two race baiting low life wanna be Al Sharpton’s; Michael Smith and Jemile Hill (I know its Jamele but Rev Al pronounces it that way and I don’t want to have to go on his show to apologize) were both demoted and no longer have a show. Not like it’s a big loss. The ratings for that show were so low, old Billy Mays infomercials hocking Oxyclean had more viewers. By the way, rest in peace Billy, you always were hocking a new item it seemed like every month. They replaced Smith and Hill with Keith Olbermann, nothing says you don’t have a political agenda when you hire him. Olbermann was such a success at MSNBC they didn’t renew his contract. Olbermann’s career can best be described as “failing upwards.”

Keith Olbermann ~~sports pundit~~ ~~political pundit~~ sports pundit

Finally if you remember all of the layoffs ESPN has had over the past 2 years, (the number is over 500 by the way) they put that savings to work in the worst way possible, they created a new morning show. The cost of just the three hosts of the show is 15 million per year, and none of them have any talent. Mike Greenberg knows nothing about sports and is trying to make the show like Good Morning America. I thought maybe working at a sports channel may require sports knowledge, but I guess it just gives Greenberg more chances to bash Trump. Jalen Rose, a former NBA star is actually really good, too bad his talents are wasted next to Greenberg. Speaking of wasted, that describes what Michelle Beadle is most known for in her career. Beadle was made famous by shouting “I just want to get laid” after a long night of drinking and partying at an ESPN party after the ESPY Awards. (No word on whether she got her wish.)

Michelle Beadle auditioning for a ride home
(note empty bottles of adult beverages in background)

These after parties are famous, and details have leaked out continuously that drugs and alcohol flow freely, so Skipper was most definitely there! This morning show “Get UP” averages 300k viewers on a good day, which if you are wondering, those are really bad numbers. But carry on ESPN, keep talking about why NFL players should kneel, Trump, etc. Seems to be working out really well.

I admit this was a little harsh but we like dancing on peoples graves here!

Editor’s Note: While X seems to have it in for old white guys with no hair (at least in this post), he has assured me that this is just coincidence and he really does like bald guys like Patrick Stewart and Bruce Willis.

Braying Jackalope Mark Cuban Had A Rough Week

Let me begin by saying Mark Cuban is a very recognizable figure lately; he is the owner of the NBS franchise in Dallas, the Mavericks, he is a guest on Shark Tank on CNBC, and is also known as a Donald Trump hater. As a NBA owner he was very vocal about officiating gaffes, and has been fined millions over the years, on Shark Tank he sits to the left of the screen and is basically known for striking a deal about once a week with an entrepreneur. Lastly, he despises everything about Donald J Trump, from endorsing Hillary over him in the election to threatening to run against him in the primary in 2020. Seems like he would be welcome by the CRA and the tea party groups nationwide!

Cuban’s quest for publicity at every turn actually could lead to his demise. On February 20th of this year Sports Illustrated, (mostly known for their famous Swimsuit edition rather than actual journalism by the way) put out a strange tweet saying they had finished an investigation into sexual harassment with the Dallas Mavericks. Not to be outdone, the Mavericks quickly went in to spin mode:

The Dallas Mavericks have received information about behavior in our workplace that appears to have violated the organization’s standards of conduct. It has been alleged that a former officer of the organization engaged in various acts of inappropriate conduct toward women over a period of years. This individual left the employment of the Mavericks nearly three years ago and the Mavericks have only learned of the scope of these complaints in the past days.

This is to be expected. Mark Cuban likes to control the narrative, however it is a very weird response to the tweet put out by Sports Illustrated. What came next was a bombshell even Cuban couldn’t have anticipated. The investigation goes all the way back to 1998; when Cuban bought the team! Terdema Ussery was the team President and CEO at the time and prior to Cuban’s purchase, he had been investigated for sexual harassment by the team, after several female employees complained about him. Cuban kept him on the job, but “every employee of the organization received a revamped employee handbook with a new sexual harassment policy.” It was 1998 and at the time this was passable behavior from a new owner, keep the crew but make sure they know about new policies. Problem was Ussery continued his behavior. Here is a firsthand account:

At this meal, with ESPN crew members seated nearby, Ussery struck up an unusual conversation. As the woman recalls the exchange, Ussery claimed that he knew what she was going to do over the coming weekend. When the woman asked, confusedly, what Ussery meant, he smiled.

“You’re going to get gang-banged,” he asserted, “aren’t you?”

“No,” the woman responded, caught off-guard. “Actually, I’m going to the movies with friends.”

“No,” Ussery insisted. “You’re definitely getting gang-banged.”

On his other hand:

Two women claimed to SI that Ussery harassed them for years. These incidents ranged from inappropriate remarks to requests for sex to touching women’s calves and thighs during meetings. One of the women says she made [head of HR Buddy Pittman] aware—“countless times … I ‘leaned in’ so much I fell over”—of Ussery’s behavior; the other chose not to, frustrated by what she deemed to be Pittman’s unhelpful response to an unrelated complaint she had raised. “I felt trapped, frozen, scared,” says one of the women. “This was the CEO of the organization … and it was clear he wasn’t going to get fired.”

How was this bozo kept on the payroll? That question remains unanswered. In 2015 he left the Mavericks and joined Under Armour. He lasted 2 months at that company. Anyone want to take bets that his hands-on management style got him terminated?

Let us shift gears to another employee, Earl Sneed. Sneed was a freelance writer who got a full-time gig with the Mavericks in 2010-2011. Let’s look at how much this guy respected women:

Midway through that season, Sneed was involved in a domestic dispute with a girlfriend. According to a Dallas police report, Sneed “sat on top of her and slapped her on the face and chest.” At one point he told the woman, “I’m going to f——— kick your ass. Today is gonna be the worst day of your life.” Sneed, according to the report, “fled before the reporting officer arrived.” The woman, according to the report, suffered a fractured right wrist and bruises on her arms and chest in the altercation.

But wait, there is more. Sneed, in 2014, hit a female co-worker whom he was dating. The women reported the event to her supervisor and then to Buddy Pittman, the Head of Human Resources. Keep in mind almost every company has rules about dating co-workers, yet somehow Sneed was able to retain his job yet again, but with an unusual caveat; he could not be alone with any female at any time. Strange. Honestly that is a bizarre policy right there, especially coming from Human Resources who probably would have recommended termination for this employee. Was the HR supervisor overruled by Cuban? Impossible to tell right now. Also another female reported that a co-worker watched porn at his desk all day on a company workstation no less….sounds like a frat house more so than a place of work.

Cuban, looking to control the narrative did what any other lowly President of a corporation does, he claimed plausible deniability. In English that means someone who can safely deny that he knew anything about the situation. If you’re thinking of a CEO or government official being questioned by congress or the SEC you are on the right track.

Here is the problem for Cuban or anyone else that is a frequent twitter/media user…Cuban on multiple media formats has said/tweeted “I know so much about my company and the inner workings you can’t B******T me!. I purposely did not screen shot this tweet because of the vulgar language used, but will say this to prove my point, social media is a platform where you stand to win very little and stand to lose quite a bit. That little tweet has come back to rear its ugly head quite a bit the last couple weeks. Hard to claim you have intimate knowledge of everything in all your companies then come out and say you are so distant you have no clue. However, believe it or not this story gets even stranger.

Back in 2014 when disgraced former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling was on the verge of the NBA taking his team away, Cuban made some very strange remarks. Saying, “I think taking someone’s team away over comments they said or things they did were creating a very, very, very slippery slope.” I found this statement odd because Sterling was a very racist and bigoted man who had damaged the brand so badly that I felt he needed to lose his team. Now it makes sense as Cuban likely has several skeletons in his closet, including a recent report that back in 2011 he groped/penetrated a women at a bar. This report was corroborated by the bartender working that night describing Cuban as very intoxicated and very touchy feely with female guests. Luckily for him, the police “investigated and decided to close the case.”

My advice to Cuban is stay in private life, do a few deals on Shark Tank and enjoy owning the Dallas Mavericks and a movie theatre. Keep your head down and hope that this will all blow over. Claiming you’re a hands-on owner in this climate won’t be viewed favorably by most voters. Running against Donald Trump in a primary in 2 years would be one of the dumbest things you can do. Trump didn’t just beat his competition at every level of the race, he mortally wounded them; look at Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Lyin’ Ted Cruz, and look no further than crooked Hillary. Mark, any other skeletons in your closet will be outed, beware.

ESPN Promises Employee Christmas Axing

It’s earnings season for many companies and some are trying to stop the bleeding in time to affect their next quarterly reports. ESPN has done more number crunching as their viewers are still fading away and decided to ax more employees just before Christmas.

ESPN is planning another round of layoffs just six months after the network fired more than 100 employees, Sporting News reports.

Multiple sources told the sports news site that 40 to 60 people including on-air talent and radio personalities may be sent packing.

The layoffs could come as soon as late November or early December.

ESPN preparing for more layoffs, report says

Too bad they don’t quit cramming Liberal politics down viewer’s throats and just do sports. Sadly what isn’t politics these days on their network is chronicling the crime story of the day as these multimillionaire brats misbehavior on and off the field brings dishonor on the athletes that are supposed to be better than us in ways that used to be admirable.

Retraction: ESPN Was Drunk Last Night!

Here at Really Right we strive to always be really right and that is why I am issuing a partial retraction from my commentary last night regarding Robert Lee and ESPN. Our attempt at satire was met with something called truth; a member of ESPN actually was drunk last night, correction this morning at 3:30 AM. That’s right folks, self-righteous and everyone’s favorite “bro” Ryen Rusillo was arrested this morning (Tuesday) at 3:30 AM in Teton County, Wyoming. I would try to explain his criminal trespassing, but here let’s have the police report describe it, (police dept. dispatched to an intoxicated male trespasser)

Two people were asleep in the condo when they heard someone come in. They didn’t know the man and asked him to leave because he was drunk, according to reports. Police arrived a few minutes later.

“Occupants pointed the suspect out who was found in a bedroom,” Jackson Police Lt. Roger Schultz said.

Russillo, of West Hartford, Connecticut, reportedly had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.

“He couldn’t coherently answer any questions,” Schultz said.

“Officers found the defendant, later identified as Ryen August Russillo, lying on the bed in the south bedroom naked except for his pants around his ankles,” the probable cause affidavit states.

For more on this story see:
• ESPN host arrested for criminal entry

• ESPN Radio Host Ryen Russillo Arrested In Wyoming For Misdemeanor Criminal Entry

• John Dennis Says ESPN’s Ryen Russillo Is A “Stumbling Drunk Alcoholic”

I know at first I thought Aaron Park was binge drinking again.

Ummm… I was very wild in my college, young adult and even later in life days, but never did I get so wasted I tried to sleep in a stranger’s condo’s extra bedroom. Rusillo was lucky to survive the mass layoffs at ESPN earlier in the year; this makes the network look very bad, mostly because he has alcohol abuse in his past. Full disclosure—he was on vacation, but for someone who comes off more righteous than anyone else on his radio show I have a feeling he may be terminated soon. Rusillo is the second most liberal radio host on ESPN, and this could be an opening to show the network isn’t too liberal. Yeah, much like the CRA won’t take Park to court; ESPN aint going to fire Russillo. But I reserve the right to light into both. As far as Mr. Rusillo goes, much like James Comey, everyone knows you are right all the time, a complete know-it-all, leader of the unwashed masses!

So let’s take a look at Mr. Russillo’s identification papers he had on him last night. Per the police report:
• Sex: Not specified (but given his condition he wouldn’t remember anyway).
• Driver’s license class: Unclassified.
Apparently he doubles as James Bond or models his private life after Ted Kennedy.

Folks, Russillo lectures people daily on his radio show to pick a lane and stay in it, apparently he is unable to do that himself.

Hopefully Ryen gets some help, not just for his alcoholism but from his parents, who spells Ryan with an “e”? Also from his employer, Ryen has a very big substance abuse program and he needs help. The good news is, much like the CRA, ESPN supports the ACA remaining the law of the land, so Ryen should be able to find the help he needs.

ESPN, in a statement said “They are looking into this.” Hopefully they don’t blow it, sorry bad pun!
ESPN, sleep with both eyes open because X is always coming for you!

PS, we are awaiting word on suspension due to our retraction, we will keep you posted.

Go Home ESPN You’re Drunk

So I was perusing the newsfeed on my iPhone and a story really piqued my interest, at first glance I swore it was fake news. Then I checked which platform it came from; was it, Facebook? CRA? CAGOP? CNN? MSNBC? No it was from Yahoo News. The headline “ESPN’s Robert Lee pulled to avoid offending anyone.”

Ok, this has to be satire right? I fell for it, I clicked on the link and the article populated in my browser. It’s not fake news folks, ESPN is truly a swamp. The article talks about an upcoming college football game featuring The University of Virginia, and the announcer named Robert Lee. Now you know here at really right we have accused Disney of being very liberally biased, but this is unreal! The full statement from Disney and I quote,

“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play-by-play for a football game has become an issue.”

Link: ESPN pulls Asian-American announcer from Virginia football game because he has a Confederate general’s name

Seriously, someone said that, and they call young people the snowflake generation. This is all due to the unrest and rioting that occurred at Charlottesville, VA over the last weekend. Here is an extenuating factor regarding this Robert Lee, he is ASIAN! Not white, he has zero connection to the Civil War general! Seriously who makes these decisions, now we are punishing people because of their name being similar to a general? Wake up America!

Cut the cord, be done with this network!

PS No liberal bias at ESPN, funny they sound just like the CRA and CAGOP!

“X”

ESPN Layoffs Part Deuce

Sorry about the delay, fellow readers I had “flu-like symptoms” most of last week, likely this was caused by excessive liver damage done by ESPN to my body.

Following the “NFL Live” and “Insiders” shows, both of which were duds, on came Outside The Lines (OTL). This show was pretty good, a journalistic type show that does deep dives into scandals or issues of our time in sports. It is only a half hour show and I guess it only airs a new show once a week. This is a mistake, share this show with the world, and do a new recording daily. This is what journalism should look like.

After OTL the “Happy Hour presented by Captain Morgan” began to air. I didn’t find a single watchable show during this two hour block. Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, His and Hers (more on this bust later) and Highly Questionable are just that, highly questionable TV. His and Hers, and Highly Questionable was just a bunch of race baiting done by hosts trying to get viewers riled up. Both shows could and should be canceled, neither was. Pardon the interruption and Around the Horn featured sports talk similar to political cross talk you see on MSNBC or Fox now. Mostly screaming, inaudible television, featuring people trying to talk over one another, nothing to see or hear in this hour.
Mercifully “Happy Hour presented by Captain Morgan” was over, again severe damage was done to X’s liver, and ear drums from the loud shouting.

Next on the self proclaimed “World Wide Leader” was SC:6 or Sports Center at 6pm eastern. This was hosted by resident Race Baiters Jemele Hill and Michael Smith, same hosts of His and Hers. This Sports Center—just like the Happy Hour show—was a complete waste of resources, talent and TV time. Perhaps what was even worse was that the shows followed a national news network philosophy where when a new show started the same topics were rehashed. This makes for boring predictable TV. Live sports took over from about 5pm until 9 pm then the madness continued. Sports Center at Night (9pm) with Scott Van Pelt was awesome theatre, highlights, mixed with guest commentary, mixed with analysis and personal opinion, I loved it! Like a throwback to the old sports center where ESPN buttered their bread. So if you’re tuning into ESPN try Sports Center at Night with SVP.

After Sports Center at Night, we were back to strange cross talk again. We had Baseball Tonight, it lasted one hour and was filled with random movie jargon from host Adnan Virk. Honestly it was odd, very little baseball discussion and if I didn’t know better, I would have thought I changed the channel without knowing. 30 for 30 followed next, very good stuff, on par with OTL but instead of current event reporting more of reporting in depth on things that happened in the past, such as the Michigan Fab 5 scandal. Much like OTL this is a once a week or even sometimes bi-monthly show. I would expand on this, great stuff. More Sports Center followed this program, and I decided I needed to hit the sheets as it was dreadful. Sports Center Live from Los Angeles it was called. Hosted by Stan Verrett and Neil Everett, and trust me it was strange television, like creepy stoner television. Had a strange episode discussing hockey called “Barry’s Bistro” with colleague Barry Melrose, like I said bizarre.

It’s very clear the network has far more issues with its declining viewership than just the need to lay off 100 anchors. The liberal bias that William and I have detailed over the months is still present, albeit even after said layoffs occurred, anchor Linda Cohn even admitted it. ESPN made bad bets on the sports of basketball and baseball; they are dying and very unpopular with the younger crowd. Basketball could be an exception, as the younger crowd seems to like the showboating and the fact some teams are considered super teams. Football may be king, but the ratings for Monday Night Football, (rights owned by ESPN) were a disaster. So bad they are throwing the “right a bone” and hiring back Hank Williams Jr. to sing the opening again. Also they announced hiring conservative columnist Will Cain, not really sure why but…okay? Cheap thrills, probably won’t work, in an era where we get football on Thursday night, then all day Sunday, we are footballed out on Monday.

Now into the layoffs, sorry for the rambling column but some really talented folks lost their paychecks last month. The list includes but is not limited too; Ed Werder, John Clayton, Jayson Stark, Andy Katz, Chad Ford, Sarah Walsh (upon returning from maternity leave) and Danny Kannell. Werder and Ford were asked to stick around and cover the NFL and NBA draft respectively, Werder said “no, thanks” can’t blame him. Several names on the list were thought highly of by X, others not so much, these were those let go I will not shed a tear for; Roger Cossack was a know nothing legal analyst that got the Barry Bonds scandal all wrong…bye! Britt McHenry, she was human scum and literal trash, just Google her name. Len Elmore, he is a race baiting clown, please go away. Rest assured more layoffs are going to come in future years; you cannot have poor ratings, race baiting and continue on as a profitable organization.

Now, my solution, I would get rid of all the race-baiting idiots that somehow survived the cut down, I’m looking at you Bomani Jones. I would make Scott Van Pelt and Mike Greenberg the people I would build around. Give them both two hour long programs; for Van Pelt, his commentaries mixed in with highlights are amazing. Greenberg has a news breaking persona, give him a morning show and let him re-hash yesterday’s events and interview a star or two or five. Have OTL and 30 for 30 air more often, they are both great journalistic type shows. You can keep some of the back and forth bantering shows, but I would cut them back, these shows are alienating the older viewers. Have more one sport type shows such as the cancelled “Baseball Tonight” show, but do highlights of all games, and commentary from all games, not just games played in very large markets, again you are alienating people. Have Sports Center air more often, again focus on highlights, and inject breaking news, kinda like a real news show. Lastly get rid of the live sports, mostly all the college football, they show like literally every game, seriously when I watched “Dodgeball” I thought ESPN 8 “The Ocho” was fantasy land, now I wonder if there’s an ESPN 10. Showing games like Oregon State versus Wichita State isn’t moving many needles I don’t think, leave that to regional networks. Finally here’s what I’m most upset about, the definition of luck has been redefined, why ESPN didn’t get rid of this anchor….. I don’t know his name but I always can find him by googling “ESPN Howdy Doody A**BAG with painted on eyebrows!

But seriously, the layoffs were done by phone call lasting just 3 minutes, most of those laid off….spent decades in ESPN. Those in NBA and NHL (Hockey) were let go during the playoffs. Those in NFL let go literally a day before the NFL draft, yeah, ok I guess.

Buffet…..you’re next; I’m coming after your Kraft Heinz subsidiary next week!

ESPN Lays off 100, did they choose the right personnel?

ESPN is in a downward spiral, losing over 12 million subscribers in the past few years. As a result, layoffs were announced; these were in addition to the 300 laid off a year and a half ago. With one caveat, in the past, it was always the extra help that was let go, people operating switchboards, cameras etc. This time it was the talent that faced the camera. Layoffs are not fun or something I ever advocate—even though we are talking about overpriced blowhards, blathering on about social and political issues that they have no reason by which to involve themselves—these are real people, they have families.

In some cases like that of now terminated Danny Kanell, he moved his family to Bristol, Connecticut (Home of ESPN) to go all in. Regarding Kanell, anyone who desires to live or relocates to Bristol, Connecticut may need to be checked for having too many concussions. Sarah Walsh, a sportscenter anchor, was laid off a day after returning from maternity leave. Big names laid off include; Ed Werder, Jay Crawford, Trent Dilfer, and Jayson Stark among others, all in all hockey, basketball and baseball coverage got gutted.

There are a few reasons for this; namely people are beginning to cut the cord and stream only shows and channels they like watching. Additionally when it comes to sports packages you (cable channels) have to bid for the rights over a period usually spanning a decade, ESPN bid very high and is paying the price now. ESPN went all in after basketball (NBA) and baseball (MLB) as well as football (NFL). Let’s break all these down:
• National Football League: ESPN paid 15 billion to broadcast Monday Night Football, keep in mind that this is usually the worst game to broadcast due to late start on the east coast, dinner time on the west coast, in addition to being the one game that cannot be “flexed” for a better matchup late in the year.
• Major League Baseball: 5.6 billion for MLB, and that usually includes a Wednesday or Tuesday night game as well as the Sunday night prime time game. Baseball is also a dying sport since it takes at least three hours to watch and most of the time the matchup is meh at best, in addition to the season lasting six months.
• National Basketball Association: The NBA deal is huge as well, ESPN bid almost double the next competitor, and those games and ratings are all time bad.

So what happens when the suits make bad deals in the C-suite? Well the common worker must pay with their jobs. Now I’m not going to cry a river for these guys, as their contracts require them to still be paid until they expire or find new employment elsewhere, and most were making six figures, a few likely getting millions a year in compensation. They focused on the big picture while ignoring a problem that will make cable TV look like the newspaper in a few years.

ESPN over the last 15 years has gone on an expansion boom, spawning; ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPNU, WATCH ESPN, ESPN3, in addition to regional channels such as PAC-12 Network, ACC Network, Longhorn Network and SEC Network. With every channel meaning more rights fees for the parent company Disney. Doing this caused dilution in the long term, the small regional college channels add nothing as when it’s not football or basketball they usually show reruns or gymnastics which no one watches. ESPN classic and news offer zilch, and as a result people started cutting channels out of their cable lineup, and in some cases cutting out ESPN all together. The online access point such as ESPN3 and Watch ESPN have some value to offer, but not being offered correctly. As long as braying lowlifes George Bodenheimer and John Skipper are in charge there is no hope for ESPN, the layoffs will continue and subscriber losses will quicken its pace.

Here is some brilliance from Skipper regarding subscription loss a few years ago in an interview with Wall Street Journal.

People trading down to lighter cable packages, that impact hasn’t leaked into ad revenue, nor has it leaked into ratings. The people who’ve traded down have tended to not be sports fans, and have tended to be older and less affluent. We still see people coming into pay TV. It remains the widest spread household service in the country after heat and electricity.

Yeah…….NO, This is an out of touch suit, cable cutters like X and William are by no means less affluent, and not old, and are sports fans. Maybe we don’t care for the complete garbage emulating from our television when we watch your channels. Let’s dive into this a bit, X binge watched ESPN and its sister channels for a week here is my commentary.

My day started at 6 am, watching a four hour daily show called “First Take” not sure what this show was about as two men; Steven “Screaming A” Smith and a something called a Max Kellerman spent every segment screaming and shouting over each other. Literally every single topic and segment, and they argued the dumbest stuff, how good was Tim Tebow, is Lebron James a choker, I mean seriously I want sports not mindless drivel masquerading as commentary. I had an out of body experience thinking I was judge Chamberlain Haller from “My Cousin Vinny” and wanted to yell at the TV I don’t want to hear argument, commentary, or opinion! The show was mercifully over at 10, thank god, apparently it was presented by Subway, I felt like I wanted to be run over by a Subway after watching that waste of time.

Immediately following was a 1 hour program called “Mike and Mike”, this was better featuring two hosts and a similar back and forth format, it seemed to regurgitate the same headlines from “First Take” but with better, more controlled chaos. Still didn’t scream watchable, and definitely not something I would go out of my way to tune in to.
UPDATE: apparently this is a radio show for 3 hours with the “best of” shown on TV, and the show will be getting a makeover as one of the Mike’s will be getting a separate show in the immediate future.

Next up was a 1 hour program called “The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz.” Yeah maybe I should have started drinking because this show made literally zero sense, again it was a two person banter format with Lebatard’s dad sitting in between randomly spouting off random sentences and thoughts. His name is “Papi”; most of his thoughts are either incoherent or Spanish. Resident buffoon—aka Bomani Jones—usually answers each question with some strange race baiting twist. This made for very odd TV. (By the way who/what the heck is a “Stugotz?”)
UPDATE Bomani also has a radio show where he spews his race baiting B.S. for about 3 hours, every single day. Literally he said on the radio “white people as a whole who threw the bag of peanuts at Orioles outfielder Adam Jones should be embarrassed.” He added this gem as well “Blaine Gabbert has been signed, Mike Glennon got 14 million, but Colin Kaepernick hasn’t been signed….just sayin, those two are white and Colin aint.”

Ryen Russillo follows him, and his entire 3 hour radio program is a bunch of “bro talk” regarding how often he works out, and the different parties he attends. Compelling stuff I cannot fathom why no one listens. Back to the TV side now, as I couldn’t take the radio any longer, neither could my liver.

Next, 1.5 hours of my day was devoted to NFL Insiders, a half hour show featuring various out of work former NFL coaches and suits, nothing really discussed here. The following one hour show was NFL Live, this time it was more of a commentary show, which was pointless, actually both shows were pointless, when talking NFL in the middle of the offseason. This show ran every day for the same duration, not being re-run, the emperor really isn’t wearing clothes.

More to come; part II next time,

ESPN Supports Domestic Violence?

It was a Friday night and I was watching ESPN with Mrs. X. ESPN came back from a commercial to announce breaking news regarding the Oklahoma Football Team. I wondered aloud, the team is done until their bowl game? What could the breaking news be? A coach leaving to coach elsewhere? A player being ineligible due to grades?

Neither, it involved a video that was “very violent in nature” and the public was warned “to turn away” if easily offended. Only after this admonition did the anchor state that the this video is from two years ago and the athlete shown claims he was provoked by the female calling him a racial slur and spitting on him.

At this point I’m thinking, “UMMMMMMMMM, okay?”

Then the video began playing. I was floored by what I saw. (The Oklahoma Sooners college football team has a player who is a budding star in the upcoming NFL draft named Joe Mixon) Mixon is featured in this “video” by ESPN.

Viewer warning, the video is very disturbing and may be unsuitable for many audiences, is how the clip starts out. Then you see a white women and one other white man enter what appears to be a fast food restaurant. Shortly thereafter Mixon—a black player—walks in. He confronts the white girl; it appears that words are exchanged. Then the white girl lunges at Mixon, and Mixon throws a hard right hook at the poor girl, knocking her clean over. Mixon probably out weighs the victim by 90 pounds. After decking her, Mixon calmly leaves the store.

I will not reveal the accusers name—she has been through enough already—I want to focus on the University of Oklahoma and Mr. Mixon.

The girl btw suffered four broken bones to her face. Mixon pled guilty to a lesser crime, did some community service, and was back to playing football a year later. He was never disciplined by the school for his behavior.

Link: Mixon Video The video is on a split screen and you can clearly see the punch on the right-hand side.

Mixon is a very talented football player. I must admit that if I had not known the details or seen the video from the incident that night that I would consider taking him high in the draft next year!

ESPN closed the coverage by saying the attack was brought on by the girl calling Mixon a “Ni**er.”

Based on the punishment that Mixon received, apparently calling someone a racial slur makes it ok to coldcock someone these days.

First and foremost, regardless of what clown ESPN had hosting SportsCenter that night, Mixon is a coward…you never hit women, period.

The release of the video was held up for over two and a half years by legal proceedings. The case eventually made it to the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Mixon’s lawyers wanted no part of this footage leaking out. After the Supreme Court ruled, the video was released on a Friday afternoon/night. This is a ploy because everyone knows Fridays are very slow news days and typically end in date night, family game night, or some other form of entertainment not involving television.

ESPN foolishly took the bait and ran with it, offering up a low life host who claimed to be a journalist to try to make Mixon seem like the victim here.

Then the screen cut to commercial, no additional commentary was offered. They returned from commercial and went right on doing sports highlights as if the incident never happened. By the way, ESPN showed the video on the same day the victim graduated from Oklahoma, classy!

The victim of this assault had to have her jaw wired shut, lost feeling in the side of her face for several months, and was blamed around campus for the incident because she was trying to destroy their football team!!!

As much as I am upset with their “coverage” of this issue—the reality is that a large plurality of viewers and commentators at ESPN probably believe the women is at least somewhat at fault for what happened that night in that restaurant.

Fast forward to the following Monday, 12/19. Paul Finebaum, an ESPN SEC Network radio host and commentator, delivered a scathing analysis of Mixon, saying he had no business being anywhere near a football field following this incident and should be expelled immediately. I don’t agree with Finebaum much, but he couldn’t have said it any better.

Then Finebaum floored me. He told the audience about a meeting that took place during the pre-trial phase involving Head Football Coach Bob Stoops, Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, OU Campus President David Boren, and the local District Attorney Greg Mashburn at the Oklahoma campus. After this meeting it was agreed that Mixon would get offered a favorable plea deal, serve no jail time, and could be reinstated to the football team after one year. Keep in mind he broke a women’s face in four or five places and gets community service. It seems like a fairly light sentence.

Hang on just a darn minute. Did I hear that right? The DA who is in charge of prosecuting the case, met with the head football coach—who in a state like Oklahoma is probably as powerful as the Governor?! The DA, who is very well respected and well known in college athletics circles, and the campus President, who by the way is the same David Boren that was a former US Senator and Governor, were all in the same room, admitting to having seen the video, and agree this sentence fit the crime? I’m speechless.

Oh and on Tuesday, the ESPN website has an article up about the confrontation that night with the caption quoting Mixon, saying “I felt like I got hit by a man”. Well if that’s what you felt Mixon, imagine what your victim felt.
Link: Joe Mixon to police: ‘It felt like a dude hit me’

Mixon treats women like Michael Vick treats his hounds and everybody rallies around him to save him from himself. This gutless wonder wants a multimillion dollar contract with an NFL team to play football so he can get hit by men, talk about irony.

ESPN, stay classy, keep defending athletes for the sake of higher ratings, remember Ray Rice was just a victim of unfortunate circumstances.

Pathetic,

Until next time,