ESPN is dead. Or has at least started the process of dying by laying off nearly 100 staff members and on air/internet talent. They bit off waaaaaaaaay more than they can chew with sports and event broadcasting contracts, decided to completely change what worked for them best with shows and programming, and have lost thousands and thousands of subscribers each day. They turned SportsCenter into an MTV show. Disregarded sports and went all in with music, pop culture(or what they thought it was), debate, stupid click bait takes and unfunny videos. And now they have suffered the consequences and thrown good people, great journalists, and solid on air talent out on their ass.
You fired all the hockey writers. In the middle of the Stanley Cup playoffs. You fired some of your best college sports writers. But you didn’t fire the people who probably make the most money while also having the least amount of talent. Why?
All we want is sports. We want knowledgeable sports coverage. We want highlights. We want factual reporting. We want solid broadcast production. We don’t want new things. We don’t want Stephen A Smith. We don’t want whatever that Spanish guy is yelling about with the douche bag in the Miami flat bill hat in the mornings. We don’t want SportsCenter anchors talking about Drake and Lady Gaga. We don’t want you to talk about whatever Russell Westbrook wore to the arena tonight for 20 minutes and talk about a Stanley Cup Playoffs Game 7 for 32 seconds. We don’t want everything to be racially motivated and ridiculously poor takes to be puked all over us as a pathetic reach for enhanced ratings. Stop whatever it is that you have morphed into and give us our sports back.
Some notable firings:
Jay Crawford-SC anchor and multiple show host
Roger Cossack-legal guy
Jason Stark-long time baseball writer
Danny Kanell-college football analyst
Len Elmore-college basketball analyst
Jaymee Sire-SC anchor
Trent Dilfer-NFL analyst
Ed Werder-NFL on site reporter
Pierre LeBrun-really good NHL writer
Scott Burnside-also really good NHL writer
Dottie Pepper-golf analyst
Dr Jerry Punch-racing pit reporter and college sports sideline reporter
Eamonn Brennan-college basketball writer
Brett McMurphy-one of the best college football writers in the country
Dana O’Neil-college basketball writer
It is also rumored that Karl Ravech, Ryen Russillo, Hannah Storm, and John Buccigross could be next.
Pretty crazy that the higher ups at the company that led them down this path to destruction will more than likely be unaffected. Business is funny.
In unrelated news….The UFWF is hiring! Come write for us.
