Thanks to commenter Bruce I learned that AA was mentioned on The Dan Patrick The Scott Van Peezy Show on Friday. And while I wasn’t going to throw up a post just for that audio I think I need to convey something to Scott Van Pelt and others at ESPN (since I know they’re reading).
The reason SVP mentioned AA (and KSK) was a tease for his next guest, Will Leitch. Will did an excellent job on an interview that wasn’t exactly a “comfortable situation”. There was one part of the conversation that struck me as odd, and it was right near the beginning of their talk.
Here are the two clips. The Blog talk (AA and KSK) comes at the end of a Jim Rome like rant on Soccer and the first clip, and the Deadspin interview is the 2nd.
ESPN Radio #1 and ESPN Radio #2
“…I don’t mind being poked fun at, and I have been and that’s okay. At the end of the day we’re still trying to do our job, and we think we represent the fans and do the best job we can. Could we be better…absolutely we could be better. But I guess the question I’d ask to you and your commenters that just fire away as if they…they act as if they would be better off if there were no ESPN. I just don’t see how they would be better served with some place to tune in and find out something that happened in the Sports World.”- SVP
First of all, Will had to of loved the intro via the band Boston….that’s just good music there.
Second….Scotty, the reason you are one of the more liked people on the network is because you don’t mind being poked fun at. You took the whole “Phone Call” fiasco in stride and are brave enough to talk about it on National Radio. We’ve ALL done something like that before….hell I asked out the Awful GF with a text message. You just laugh at yourself and then move on. It sucks to be a guy at times, and that girl is a _______ (fill in the blank) for releasing the message to the masses.
Third, and most importantly…this is what you MSMers (Mainstream Media) don’t get about our hatred/disdain/anger towards ESPN. It’s not because if there were no ESPN as you rhetorically asked we’d be essentially lost without it. Of course we would….you show probably over 50% of the games on television. It’s because you make yourself and your network come first over everything. The game, the coaches, the players….and now….every other Sports Medium.
What you don’t understand is that we’re not making fun or getting angry at the games you cover (for the most part). Well I do, but I have a special sort of niche. It’s all of the extracurricular crap that goes along with the network. It’s the Budweiser Hot Seat, it’s Who’s Now, it’s the Desperate Housewives interviews in the booth, it’s the Stu Scotts and Chris Bermans, it’s well….the list goes on and on. It’s all of that nonsense that makes some of your programming unwatchable.
People of the Blogging Generation grew up with ESPN being a pioneer in the Sports World. SportsCenter was a half an hour and gave you all the news for that day in a nice little package. You smiled, ate dinner, and watched a good sitcom before you went to bed. It was wonderful.
Now the ESPN Brand and it’s subsidiaries go before the players and the game. That’s what makes the blogging world stand up and scream. And while I know that you’ve just copied the MTV model, money runs the world, and you’re probably not changing back….it just….to use your wording….sucks. It sucks to know that the best show on television ever will never be the same again. It sucks that I have to listen to Chris Berman do games when he hasn’t said something about the ACTUAL game in 10 years.
That’s why we get upset. Not everything you do is terrible and I try to bring those things to light as well. There’s an ESPN Fantasy Football post coming later today that will be a positive one for ESPN. Keep doing what you’re doing though Scott….you seem to “get it” (at least somewhat). Thanks for reading ESPN and read the comments……maybe once and awhile you will learn what fans really do enjoy.
P.S.- I disagree with Will on the Dump Truck and Squirrel Analogy…..what does that even mean?
