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Post by Arturo Classico on Mar 16, 2007 0:38:31 GMT -5
”I saw the Cold Pizza show on ESPN, which I watch most mornings, and their coverage of the Battle of the Billionaires was done, as usual, tongue-in-cheek, so as to make sure their audience of “hard core” sports fans will not mistake the on air personalities as being “wrestling fans”. Of course, the ESPN on-air personalities are opinionated, speak in sound bytes, attempt to have the most controversial statement on a given show and that is o.k. for their hip, edgy programming. For the record that’s what wrestling personalities have been doing for decades and long before cable. But wrestling is show biz and ESPN are legit sports or so they want you to believe. They are entertainment, perhaps in their own way “sports/entertainment” because if their cute repartee isn’t entertaining, the hosts are gone. Days of straight forward sports casting are dead and buried. I can assure you from personal experience that many of the ESPN staffers are HUGE WWE fans and, in confidence of course, several of the ESPN on air “stars” are all fully aware of the WWE and the WWE’s global success because they all live and die with the ratings and the Monday Night Raw cable ratings by and large kick any thing ESPN does with the exception of an occasional “Special” or a big time NFL game. I am a fan of ESPN and watch their programming a great deal, but if Monday Night Raw went into a ratings dumpster like many of the ESPN shows, i.e. SportsCenter, get on a regular basis there would be MAJOR changes to the look of Raw starting, perhaps, with yours truly. I would surmise that should come as no surprise to any one who has followed the product over the past few years. Being young and being perceived as “hip” is a fact of life in the TV business and the WWE is no different than any other producer of television. It’s just sad that some ESPN on air personalities are so fragile and these individuals are so insecure that they have to place tongue in cheek when making any reference to the WWE or the business in general unless it is a tragedy. Then it is o.k. to lay it on thick because bad news or scandals are what draw ratings. On an airplane I once sat next to the former head of ESPN, whose name escapes me, who left them to go to work with Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins, and he was one of the most conceited and arrogant individuals I can remember meeting. A non jock that probably got hell from his athletic friends as a kid and evolved into a first class jackass as an adult. This “I’m better than you” attitude is sad for any one to have. Of course I reminded him that Monday Night Raw on cable earned about 4 times the rating his beloved “SportsCenter” earns in multiple airings. He did not take that well. Tough. I hope he has gotten over it.”
I read this on Lordsofpain but this is from his blog about how ESPN was mocking WWE for the whole Vince/Trump storyline.I agree with alot of what JR said here.
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kkliq
Trap-Jaw
Posts: 467
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Post by kkliq on Mar 16, 2007 0:45:05 GMT -5
Pwned.
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Post by rrm15 on Mar 16, 2007 0:50:01 GMT -5
Good ol' JR...
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Post by Tonto Goldstein on Mar 16, 2007 0:52:10 GMT -5
I sense an alterior motive behind JR's harsh words here. Stuart Scott must've been badmouthing Skittles or something.
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mikedh
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,817
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Post by mikedh on Mar 16, 2007 0:54:39 GMT -5
They must have bashed the Sooners
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Post by TheElectricLucifer on Mar 16, 2007 0:56:10 GMT -5
Sick Burn!
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Post by Tiger Millionaire on Mar 16, 2007 0:59:26 GMT -5
Can anyone stand that show anyway. Skip Bayless is less is even more boring then paint drying
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Post by Brick Killed a Guy on Mar 16, 2007 1:48:33 GMT -5
There's only one way to settle this:
Cage Match
Jim Ross vs: Skip Bayless
and just for the hell of it...
Jay Mariotti vs:....THE UNDATAKAH!!
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mikedh
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,817
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Post by mikedh on Mar 16, 2007 1:56:50 GMT -5
PTI is still a good show on ESPN. I dont like most of the people on ATH, and I dont watch ESPN for replay shows and have not for years. I do watch actual games on the channel though because they have a monopoly on all of the big games.
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Post by Voldemar H. "Brak" Guerta on Mar 16, 2007 3:01:10 GMT -5
It's very silly of Ross to lump ESPN altogether and use Cold Pizza as the end-all-be-all opinion of ESPN, he's usually more intelligent than that. Like he stated, lots of ESPN on-air broadcasters are obvious pro-wrestling fans, as quite a few use wrestling catch-phrases on the air. Also, ESPN has covered pro-wrestling/sports stars/celebrities cross-over events for years now. They don't report it as breaking news, they report it light-heartedly because *GASP* the celebrity invovlement is for pure entertainment (big shock, right?). It's also ridiculous of Ross to compare the ratings of RAW to Sportscenter since RAW is broadcast once a week while Sportscenter airs about ten times a day, seven days a week. This blog by Jim Ross gets two big thumbs down from me.  |
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mikedh
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,817
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Post by mikedh on Mar 16, 2007 3:43:11 GMT -5
Edge and John Cena have both been invited to be guests on Cold Pizza as well. Hulk Hogan has appeared on various ESPN shows through the years as well. They never take wrestling seriously like they do the NFL but I have yet to see them bash the WWE (other then Mariotti). And they invite wrestlers to thier interview shows. Look, ESPN even had King Kong Bundy, HBK, Undertaker, and Kevin Nash in one of thier commercials. Clearly they hate the WWE. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8BnWuHprtw |
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Post by arrogantmodel on Mar 16, 2007 5:31:01 GMT -5
And Austin. Can't forget about Austin. "Hey, Dan...you wanna give me a whack with that chair?"
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Post by Arturo Classico on Mar 16, 2007 6:57:32 GMT -5
PTI is still a good show on ESPN. I dont like most of the people on ATH, and I dont watch ESPN for replay shows and have not for years. I do watch actual games on the channel though because they have a monopoly on all of the big games. The only person I like on ATH is Woody Paige he's hilarious. The others take themselves too seriously and act like pieces of crap(especially Jay Mariotti). Thats why when he was on Cold Pizza it was tolerable. I think a JR/Paige announce team would reak of awesomeness! |
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fes1
Unicron
Posts: 3,020
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Post by fes1 on Mar 16, 2007 7:14:54 GMT -5
How do you expect your product to be taken seriously when Vince himself admitted that
Sports Entertainment is pre determined and not a sporting event. Cold Pizza is pretty much a variety show anyway. As far as ripping the Sports Center anchors, the objective is to be flipant and quirky, they make over the top statements about "real" sports also.
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Post by I Got Heat on Mar 16, 2007 7:16:53 GMT -5
Britney beat the match in shock value and did it voluntarily..and she's a bigger star than McMahon. I'm not surprised ESPN is no-selling the match, I'm doing the same.
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Post by seanwalsh on Mar 16, 2007 7:18:40 GMT -5
Sports = real.
Sports entertainment = not real.
Sorry, JR.
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fes1
Unicron
Posts: 3,020
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Post by fes1 on Mar 16, 2007 8:05:18 GMT -5
Last week when Rick DiPietro of the NY Islanders made 56 saves in a game, the ESPN News anchor said "Slick Ric was styling and profiling" and then did a whoooo. His partner in the broadcast started laughing. Pretty cool reference.
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Post by Arturo Classico on Mar 16, 2007 8:08:05 GMT -5
Last week when Rick DiPietro of the NY Islanders made 56 saves in a game, the ESPN News anchor said "Slick Ric was styling and profiling" and then did a whoooo. His partner in the broadcast started laughing. Pretty cool reference. Yes but did Rick get anyone reach Space mountain? Oh and I doubt DiPietro is custom made! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! |
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Chainsaw
T
A very BAD man.
It is what it is
Posts: 90,480
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Post by Chainsaw on Mar 16, 2007 8:14:29 GMT -5
YEAH, you tell 'em, Steve Dave!
Personally, I think there are fans at ESPN, but their overall treatment of wrestling in their broadcasts has been negative. I think it's the general idea that wrestling isn't a real sport, it's just over-roided guys wacking each other with chairs (even the Stone Cold spot invoked that). I'm kind of surprised they didn't jump all over Kurt Angle over his alleged purchases of steroids in the recent busts in Florida.
I think, honestly, a lot of it has to do with Vince being Vince.
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Post by mysterydriver on Mar 16, 2007 8:16:42 GMT -5
Note to self:
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"Don't piss JR off."
Check.
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