IMO, Mike Reiss needs to nut up, and tell ESPN to GFY, or shut up

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

How hard could it really be to come up with a sports network (or website) that isn't terrible? Can't the ESPN castaways band together into a rogue network? If they had any talent, I'm sure they acquired regular readers over the years that would follow them to some kind of cool "alternative" sports news site that could attract sponsors.

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People are attracted to sites that cheerlead for their team, that is why Faux News and MSNBC exist. CNN is primarily for those who want to know where planes go when they disappear. There is no news journalism anymore, only propaganda.

Ivan said:

People are attracted to sites that cheerlead for their team, that is why Faux News and MSNBC exist. CNN is primarily for those who want to know where planes go when they disappear. There is no news journalism anymore, only propaganda.

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PC culture plus the Hegelian Dialectic, I suppose.

I can't be the only person left in the word interested in objective facts and rational discourse, can I? Are there others out there but we just don't add up to a desirable target market?

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

PC culture plus the Hegelian Dialectic, I suppose.

I can't be the only person left in the word interested in objective facts and rational discourse, can I? Are there others out there but we just don't add up to a desirable target market?

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Years ago the FCC allowed the networks to merge their news divisions with their entertainment divisions, and while it could be argued that news has always reflected the biases of those in charge it still led to news becoming entertainment driven by ratings. Now they are simply cheerleaders for the two party's and none are worth a sh.t. I gave up watching five years ago and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. ( quitting smoking at 18 was the best one)

Reiss doesn't really have the exposure nationally (or even regionally) where he could leave ESPN without taking a pretty big career hit. I think he's going out on as much of a limb as he can without severely damaging his own prospects. I respect him for that, and understand why I assume he's not inclined to go further.

He's toed the line pretty well between putting an objective perspective forward and keeping the platform that will expose that perspective to a wide audience.

BradyFTW! said:

Reiss doesn't really have the exposure nationally (or even regionally) where he could leave ESPN without taking a pretty big career hit. I think he's going out on as much of a limb as he can without severely damaging his own prospects. I respect him for that, and understand why I assume he's not inclined to go further.

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Yeah, I'm sure the guy explores his options, but for his line of work it doesn't really get much better, as horrible as ESPN can be.

Ivan said:

. I gave up watching five years ago and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. ( quitting smoking at 18 was the best one)

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I quit smoking at the age of ten.

It was time.

In the light of day I realize I was being really unfair to Mike. It was 3 am and I was just pissed off when I made this thread. Pissed at ESPN and specifically that effing video.

I no longer access "his" blog, and I rarely bother with his twitter feed, since he's not a news breaker. Reiss is, essentially, a non-entity to me at this point.

ESPN, in essence, can have only two kinds of content:

1. They can convey what happened.
2. They can opine about it.

"Convey what happened" has three major subcategories:
1a. Sporting events.
1b. Highlights from sporting events.
1c. Straight news.

ESPN was of course a major innovator in the distribution of both 1b and 1c, in each case letting people consume much more of the stuff than could easily have been come by before.

I don't think it's really fair to complain that they blow sports news stories out of proportion, because doing so is a core part of their mission.

ESPN gives Mike Reiss a paycheck and a megaphone, and there are a lot of strings attached to those. He has to choose whether to accept the whole package -- but for a guy who's as honest and mild-mannered as he is, what competing career possibilities are there?

As for sports opinion media -- I prefer this site and RealGM to the paid stuff, with two exceptions:
A. The best Xs and Os analyses can be pretty darned good. (And can rarely be found in the major media, some Grantland and some SI excepted.)
B. Opinion and reporting are often closely intertwined.

Reiss is on vacation, by the way, so as much as they encroached on him, they've had space to fill. I wish they'd give more to field Yates, I guess he's an insider though [whatever that is].

I might be off on dates, but he definitely wrote about taking a week or two. His blog is no more, accept it. He still publishes quality content, you just need to blow it up about 30% width wise to make it readable then hunt for his stuff [sometimes go back to the column format and they'll link just his stuff]. TSPN cable is going down the drain [recent article here] and maybe pushing other stuff on the regionals is a way to get more ad credit for the national stuff, I don't know.

I like Mike and look forward to his repentance. I won't cry for him, he knew the Mickey Mouse sports and ENTERTAINMENT wing is pure evil.

Best thing a Patriots fan can do to get back at ESPN is quit cable. ESPN is actually playing a dangerous game - shelling out so much for live sports when their revenue base is decreasing..

It's almost a shame that Disney bought them - because otherwise they could go bankrupt..