Anybody been watching this (I know that drapg has)? This past Sunday is when it started with Craig Kilborn coming back to team with Dan Patrick. Monday had Charley Steiner (who I thought was still with ESPN, lol) with Bob Ley. Last night had Gayle Gardner with Stuart Scott (*shudders*). So far, Monday's was by far the best one. Steiner was so solid and Bob Ley is, IMO, the most underrated broadcaster that ESPN ever had. Too bad that he only does Outside the Lines and stuff like that now. I was always a fan of Kilborn, but his appearance on Sunday was disappointing. It was almost like he didn't want to be there, and it is not that I don't like Patrick, but he was always at his best with Olbermann. With anyone else, he was (and still is) a self-serving prick. As for last night's episode......Gayle Gardner didn't look too good nor did she sound all that great. I read later that she has had some health problems and have been through a lot in the last 3 years (her dad died recently), but I was hoping she would have been better. Granted, ESPN did her no favors by teaming her with the obnoxious, droopy-eyed Scott (who should be fired immediately), but still it was painful to listen to that Sportscenter. Tonight could be really good or really bad - depends on which Chris Berman shows up: the one that is real serious and knows what he is doing or the one whose ego is larger than life. I remember Greg Gumbel being on ESPN but can't remember much about him on Sportscenter. I would think that he would be pretty solid. I know that George Grande (who I barely remember) is going to be on, I think Thursday, but I don't know who he will be teamed with (I read somewhere that it will be Berman but that is not confirmed). Does anyone know who else is going to be on the Old School Sportscenters for the rest of the week? When is the last day for this, by the way?
I missed Kilborn, which is the one I really wanted to watch, because I was studying for a final. I saw Steiner's jolly self with Bob Ley, who I met at my sister's high school graduation.
I still laugh at Steiner when they show him laughing when Carl Lewis sang the National Anthem, that was some good stuff.
I was really looking forward to this week. But truthfully, I dislike what I've seen so far. Sunday night/ Monday morning with Kilborn and Patrick was horrid. You could tell Kilborn really didn't care to be there and probably got a fat appearance fee. The chemistry seemed forced and the fact that they took precedent over the 1.5 hours of news (the Sunday night sportscenter is always the best of the week b/c it covers a full weekend of sports) sickened me. On Monday mornings, I want sports, not smug "i am cool" attitudes. Tuesday morning with Steiner was funny. But I have a soft spot in my heart for Steiner and Ley is absolutely the best thing to ever happen to ESPN. I enjoyed Tuesday morning's because Ley knows how to walk the fine line between informative and entertainment. Today's was god awful. Stuart Scott and Gardner. I am too young to remember Gardner in her prime with SC (I do remember her with NBC), but Scott didn't go old school! He acted like his goofy late 90s / early 00's Scott. If he wanted to be old school, he would have been more straight and delivered his information without the hokey one-liners, like he was in his youth. I hope tomorrow's will be good, with Berman and Gumbel. But since Berman has become a major star, I doubt he will truly revert to old school and be the humble sports reporter he once was.
The part that pisses me off about Kilborn is that he had a humble, likeable, everyday guy quality about him that was intoxicating on both SportsCenter and The Daily Show. He's been a cocky, unlikeable A-hole on the late show. I remember in the hey-day of the Daily Show, that his ego was increasing on an exponential basis. It appears that he could use a nice big drink of "get over yourself, moron".
Apparently, he was definitely the ever-present unlikeable A-hole at ESPN... he just didn't show it when he was on the air. He was THE Primadonna of the SC youngings (Ravech, Levy, Cohn)... it wasn't like he succumbed to the pressure like Olbermann did, he just flat-out thought he was better than his colleagues, and he wanted out as soon as a better opportunity came along. That being said, he was the originator of the funny sports-center catch-phrase (which all the clones out there now are trying to emulate... Steve Berthiaume being the #1 culprit), and that's pretty much how most of us now recognize sportscenter.
Am I the only one who can't stand listening to Berman, he goes into this little grumble that is I guess part of his persona and would be alright if he used it for emphasis but he does it so often that I want to shoot the TV anytime he is on it. It's an ego thing so that the listener will know it's him but it is so ******* annoying and he uses it so often that he becomes unwatchable. He along with Stu Scott have me surfing for other ways to get my sports news.
I don't watch it either. I like Fox Sports SE (yes, I'm biased because they had me on there a little while back to talk Falcons!) because of their regional orientation (I could care less about Yanks/Red Sox or any of the Cali franchises). But then again, since I'm a member of the Associated Press, I have a AP wire on my wireless laptop (talk about irony!) so I get everything as soon as they are filed. And 90% of the stuff on ESPN.com is filed by me and the rest of the AP sports army.
Oh were you? Guess I need to start watching FSSE more often then. Oh wait I can't after next week! Looks like it's Sunshine Network for the next 4 years. Is that a good thing or not? And your anonymous identity has once again been kept... Oh, and did CSS just fold? I heard they're no longer as of this week (which is good for the UA since they can finally air live games and events on WVUA).
