# Will ESPN be worth watching anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 8, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154 "2017-05-08T19:54:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/21 "2017-05-24T12:44:03Z")
Seeing that ESPN is the network that heavily promoted (if not invented) the idea that sports anchors/commentators are entertainers as compelling as the games they cover, one wonders if the “talent” cutback is destroying most of ESPN’s reason to exist. ---
**Author:** ![Kitten\_Mitten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b782af/32.png) [@Kitten\_Mitten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitten_Mitten)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/22 "2017-05-24T14:39:57Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > As long as Stephen A Smith has an outlet for his brilliant ideas and golden vocal cords I’ll be riveted. You forgot the sarcasm emoji. ---
**Author:** ![Kitten\_Mitten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b782af/32.png) [@Kitten\_Mitten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitten_Mitten)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/23 "2017-05-24T14:42:07Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > [Here are some more](http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/05/espn_changes_golics_teaming_up_with_wingo_beth_mow.html) interesting changes at the Mothership, as Dan Patrick calls it. > > I think dismantling Mike and Mike is a terrible idea and throwing Golic Jr. into the mix simply because his dad is on the show makes matters worse. > > ESPN also felt like they had to make a splash with the first woman to call play by play on a nationally televised NFL game. Beth Mowens (who?) will call a game with Rex Ryan(!) on MNF opening night. Apparently Mowens has been calling college games and pre-season NFL games, so I guess that means she’s ready for Monday Night Football. Beth Mowins frequently gets players names wrong e.g. Shalique Calhoun was called Shalique Coleman. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/24 "2017-05-24T16:15:33Z")
> [@Kitten\_Mitten](#): > > Beth Mowins frequently gets players names wrong e.g. Shalique Calhoun was called Shalique Coleman. You got Shilique Calhoun’s name wrong too. The national commentators get names wrong all the time, even the best ones. They come in on a Thursday, have 24 hours to meet the players and coaches, and do the game. Some guy with a strange name who’s a third round draft pick isn’t going to get a lot of attention. They can’t even get the name of my local team’s quarterback right half the time. People get used to their local radio guys who cover the team 24/7 and know the player’s mom’s names and that they played NAIA volleyball for Great Falls University. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/25 "2017-05-24T17:36:23Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Seeing that ESPN is the network that heavily promoted (if not invented) the idea that sports anchors/commentators are entertainers as compelling as the games they cover, one wonders if the “talent” cutback is destroying most of ESPN’s reason to exist. One wonders if maybe it’ll cause ESPN’s quality to, if inadvertently, improve. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/26 "2017-05-24T19:23:54Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > You got Shilique Calhoun’s name wrong too. > > The national commentators get names wrong all the time, even the best ones. I’m imagining Harry Caray trying to say “Shilique Calhoun.” ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/27 "2017-05-24T19:27:56Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > The loss of on air talent is the least of their woes - the actual sporting events are what makes ESPN watchable. Much as I hate listening to Mark Jackson call BB games ( different network, but just using him as an example ), I’ll happily watch anyway because _basketball game_. Wait, there are still people who _don’t_ watch live sports on mute? 😛 > [@astorian](#): > > … Unfortunately, too much of their airtime is taken up with “Talking Heads Arguing” shows. I will watch Monday Night Football on ESPN, but I don’t care a whit about Dan LeBatard, Stephen A. Smith or "Around the Horn. > > ESPN fired all the smart commentators they had, but are keeping all the argumentative loudmouths. MAYBE that’s the smart move (maybe there are more fans of sports quarrels than there are of sports themselves), but it sure doesn’t make me feel like watching them more. I have to challenge the credibility of someone who doesn’t think that Bomani Jones, Pablo Torre, Mina Kimes or Dan LeBatard count as ‘smart’ commentators. I wonder if you might be conflating ‘smart’ with ‘obsessed with the minutiae of the sport’? > [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > ESPN also felt like they had to make a splash with the first woman to call play by play on a nationally televised NFL game. Beth Mowens (who?) will call a game with Rex Ryan(!) on MNF opening night. Apparently Mowens has been calling college games and pre-season NFL games, so I guess that means she’s ready for Monday Night Football. Wait, am I reading this correctly? Beth Mowins and Rex Ryan are going to be calling NFL games together, and your strongest objection is with the one who _ **has** _ broadcasting experience? Please tell me I’m reading this wrong? > [@BobLibDem](#): > > … and I wish ESPN classic spent more time showing old games rather than being a backup channel for airing more live games. Now, I actually do mostly agree with this. I wish that ESPN would restore ESPN News and ESPN Classic to the format that they were originally conceived for, so that people who still want ‘hardcore’ sports to be a thing would continue to have their safe space for that, and the main ESPN channel could continue to be what it has become, for the benefit of people like me, who actually want that, instead. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/28 "2017-05-24T19:30:32Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I’m imagining Harry Caray trying to say “Shilique Calhoun.” He’d try to say it backwards, too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/29 "2017-06-01T00:20:33Z")
Another one bites the dust… ESPN fires their best football reporter not named Adam. John Clayton is no more. AT least he’ll be ok when it comes to lodging, living in his mother’s basement and all. On a serious note…sigh…really ESPN? Really? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154/30 "2017-06-01T00:43:47Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Another one bites the dust… > > ESPN fires their best football reporter not named Adam. John Clayton is no more. AT least he’ll be ok when it comes to lodging, living in his mother’s basement and all. > > On a serious note…sigh…really ESPN? Really? It figures. Why keep knowledgeable commentators around, when you could spend the money on the likes of Max Kellerman and Stephen A. Smith. Lest you think I’m just insulting Smith, the guy IS smart and he USED to be a good reporter. But he figured out long ago that the big bucks are in doing an angry, combative schtick. That’s what ESPN wants, and that’s what they’re hiring people for. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-espn-be-worth-watching-anymore/786154.md?page=1)