292 replies to this topic

[cheesesteak]

Tony guest hosted today's show. Yay! Michelle Tafoya was on the panel. Even bigger Yay!! With all the sports shows ESPN produces, it surprises me they haven't created a sports talk show with an all female panel. Michelle Tafoya, Suzie Kolber, Linda Cohn, Chris McKendry, Shelly Smith... It's not like they don't have the talent available. Don't make it a women's sports show. Make it a sports show with women but expand it to take in the wnba, tennis, golf and womens college basketball.

And whatever happened to the Fabulous Sports Babe? I liked her.

Edited by cheesesteak, Jan 4, 2004 @ 11:09 AM.

[silentbob]

This may betray my feminist leanings, but I'm not sure what an all-female panel would accomplish. It would make the women reporters seem inferior, IMO. They're just as talented -- no need to separate them from the men.

[cheesesteak]

I'm looking at it from a marketing point of view. I think there's a huge, untapped female market out there for some flavor of ESPN's programming. They've already begun to address that issue with Cold Pizza, in my opinion. It's debatable whether that venture is/will be successful. ESPN2 is pretty much an afterthought. Why not set aside an hour or two in that wasteland to develop some type of hardcore sports show (or shows) that taps into that unrealized market of potential female viewers?

[Da23rdBuchan]

/ot I LOVED the Fabulos Sports Babe. For about ten minutes her radio show was broadcast on ESPN2 I think. Her and Arnie Spangler were like crack to my addicted ears in the mid 90's.

Topic? The female talent on ESPN does go untapped - I mean after the NFL seaosn is up what does Suzy Kolber get to do. And when the WNBA (suppresses a giggle) finishes their 'season' what does Michelle Tafoya do.

[silentbob]

unrealized market of potential female viewers

What kind of programming do you think would convince a female viewer, who would not otherwise watch, to change the channel to ESPN or the Deuce?

As for the all-female panel issue, I think that if you force women like Michelle Tafoya to cover nothing but women's sports, they will always be perceived as "second-class" reporters since men's sports are what garner the most attention and respect. And this is coming from a guy who is probably a bigger women's sports fan than 99 percent of the men out there.

[cheesesteak]

You missed my point. I didn't say force them to cover nothing but women's sports. I want them to cover the major men's sports just as they do now but instead of spending 20-30 minutes kissing Ray Lewis' butt or talking about Kobe they should spend that time on women's sports and women's sports issues. Women's soccer gets no coverage. The WNBA gets no coverage. Other than the Williams sisters, women's tennis gets little coverage. Women's golf is a footnote. Other than UConn, women's college basketball gets little coverage. Gymnastics. Football 101. There's all kind of shit they could do that would cater to the female jock and/or couch potato. I don't see it as a demotion at all. I see it as a great opportunity for ESPN to do something good as opposed to dumbing down everything like they're doing now. I guess we disagree. No biggie.

Edited by cheesesteak, Jan 6, 2004 @ 8:30 AM.

[Da23rdBuchan]

Arnie Spangler....What happened to him

When he left Sporting News Network in 98 or 99 I lost track of him. Not sure if he still has a show anywhere.

[silentbob]

cheesesteak, if ESPN is willing to hire Rush Limbaugh to increase its ratings, it will never ever ever ever give women's sports the proper coverage it deserves. My views are based on this fundamental assumption.

And I don't think that coverage of gymnastics, women's soccer, etc. on television as an effort to cater towards women will help at all. One of the biggest reasons why the WUSA failed (I was a season-ticket holder all three seasons, BTW) was that the league focused its marketing way too narrowly towards pre-adolescent girls. Just because you play, doesn't mean you'll buy a ticket or watch on TV. ESPN would be making the same mistake with respect to its news coverage.

Like it or not, men tend to follow sports more than women. If the network wants to treat women's sports seriously, it needs to cater towards a much broader audience -- not just women.

[Da23rdBuchan]

Bill Belichek? A "Mozart level prodigy"? Bob Ryan, you are an idiot. . . even taking into account the standard level of hyperbole of sports and sports reporters.

Edited by Da23rdBuchan, Feb 1, 2004 @ 11:40 AM.

[flg8or]

At least he didn't say he would like to smack Mozart around.

Again, Bob Ryan should not have a TV show as long as Elmer Fudd still has his.

[pokey camp]

Lupica as host. Great. (I finally broke down and read three of his books. He still sucks. And no, I didn't spend a dime. Library all the way.)

Anyway, did Lupica just call Tom Brady the greatest clutch quarterback of all time? WTFF? Do the names Montana, Elway, Favre, Unitas, Bradshaw, Staubach, hell even Aikman, ring a bell? I'd take all of those guys before Brady if I had chose one quarterback to lead a last second SB touchdown drive. And Rhoden called him "this generation's Bart Starr." Sure they were both drafted low and went on to have success, but I don't see Brady leading the league in passing year after year or winning 5 championships. I like Tom Brady fine, but jeez he's been a starter for less than 3 seasons, let's give him some time before we get crazy with the comparisons. It's early in the day yet... "Not a citizen who did not look with envy on his lot -- see him now and see the breakers of misfortune swallow him! Look upon the last day always."

Why was Rhoden crying during his speech about Lennox Lewis there at the end? Was his eye just running?

ET: Q: Did Starr win 5 or 7 championships? Some sites say 5 others say 7... just curious.

Edited by pokey camp, Feb 8, 2004 @ 11:56 AM.

[indybear]

Starr won 5 NFL championships ('61, '62, '65, '66 and '67) and the first two Super Bowls - '67 (after the '66 season) and '68 (after the '67 season). Remember, this was back when the NFL and the AFL were separate entities. The NFL championship was what really counted, and the Super Bowl was kind of a sideshow.

Edited by indybear, Feb 8, 2004 @ 12:47 PM.

[pokey camp]

Okay, so 5 total counting the 3 NFL championships and the 2 overlapping NFL championship/Superbowl seasons?

[indybear]

That's what I get.

[cheesesteak]

Jeez, I used to love this show. Watched it every Sunday morning. Now, I still TiVo it but I don't usually watch it until later in the week and don't even bother to TiVo the Thursday show. Maybe it's the loss of Dick Schaap, maybe not - I do like John Saunders. I think maybe it's the usual trio of Lupica, Ryan and Albom. They're there too much. Considering it's been two months since anybody posted here, I don't too many other people give a shit either.

[Da23rdBuchan]

I get tired of Lupica yelling over and interrupting others and whenever he is on I can't watch more than a few minutes. I also really like John Saunders but I'd agree that the show isn't the same since Dick Schapp passed.

I think he's talking to you Lupica.

ETA Link to CNNSI.

Edited by Da23rdBuchan, May 3, 2004 @ 12:37 PM.

[cheesesteak]

Yeah, when he wants to make a point, Lupica always starts out quietly and rationally and then STARTS YELLING HIS ASS OFF!!! I just hate him. It's almost pathological. I might have a problem.

[tonyorlando]

I love this letter from The Sports Guy's mailbox.

Leo Lopez from New York: "Do you think Mike Lupica has some bizarre variation of Tourette's syndrome that causes him to shout out 'Tiger Woods!' at random intervals. I have been watching 'The Sports Reporters' for years, and the longest I have seen him go into a show without saying 'Tiger Woods' is about nine minutes (I believe they were discussing figure skating on that episode)."

[GridironGoddess]

Anybody catch Lupica yesterday spouting off about Women's Beach Volleyball at the Olympics..I'm paraphrasing, but he said these folks aren't athletes. Can we just go ahead and put him out of his misery? And let's tie his hands behind his back to shut that yapping pie hole of his.

[tuq]

Anybody catch Lupica yesterday spouting off about Women's Beach Volleyball at the Olympics..I'm paraphrasing, but he said these folks aren't athletes. Can we just go ahead and put him out of his misery? And let's tie his hands behind his back to shut that yapping pie hole of his.

I agree with your comment and particularly cheesesteak's synopsis of Lupica's behavior. As whiny and hard to take as he may be, I deal with him. Why? At least he has an opinion, even if he tends to deliver it in the most annoying way possible. It could also be that the alternatives on the show are no better:

• William C. Rhoden. Mumbling and incoherent, has a terrible time getting his point across. I know he's a good journalist, but when it comes to live debate, he is awful.
• Adam Schefter (sp). Seems way more interested in delivering sound bites with a smug demeanor than actually saying anything I should care about.
• Bill Conlin. Like Lupica, he has an opinion, but they just seem off-the-wall. I don't think I've ever strongly agreed with anything he has said. One thing I would like to see is for him to have an eating contest with...
• Jason Whitlock. He knows his football but I don't find him very convincing otherwise.
• John Saunders. Like Dick Schaap before him, his opinions seem a bit muted, probably because he's the host.

Those are just the ones that come quickly to mind. Given those choices, I'd take Lupica or Bob Ryan any day.

[GridironGoddess]

I agree with all of your comments. Lupica does have some interesting points to make, but just not at that decible level. He just reeks of "see me, hear me"! I know a lot of folks don't care for Mitch Albom, but I'll take him, too, over Bill Rhoden. I kind of miss Conlin's argyle socks...

[cheesesteak]

I like Mitch Albom a lot.

Lupica? Must. Control. Fist. Of. Death. My most hated people in the world: 1) Hitler 2) bin Laden 3) Mike Lupica 4) Idi Amin

You pretty much have to ignore the first couple of sentences Bill Rhoden says on every topic because he mumbles, fumbles and stumbles all over the place before getting to his point.

Bill Conlin was missing a front tooth for a good while and all I could think of when he was on was that he looked like a backwoods hick.

[tuq]

I like Mitch Albom a lot.

I totally forgot about him, even though one of the regulars. Yep, I like him too.

Lupica? Must. Control. Fist. Of. Death. My most hated people in the world: 1) Hitler 2) bin Laden 3) Mike Lupica 4) Idi Amin

You obviously didn't see the first season of The Surreal Life or you would have put Corey Feldman ahead of Lupica. Maybe even bin Laden, since Feldman is a terrorist on American soil.

[BewareThePhog]

Today they had what is usually their best panel (imo) - Albom, Ryan, and Lupica. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Lupica to start shouting down Ryan before Ryan had even finished making his point. Lupica often has good points to make - but he needs to leave his ego at home. I think that they need to just get some duct tape and wrap him up while the others are talking, just so that someone else can finish a sentence once in a while

[Storm Shadow]

Thankfully he was quiet long enough to let Albom rap for us.

[silentbob]

My most hated people in the world: 1) Hitler 2) bin Laden 3) Mike Lupica 4) Idi Amin

Hee hee hee. Unfortunately, my mouth was full of water when I read this. Thanks a lot.

[GridironGoddess]

Come on people! No Lupica yesterday. Let's all do the wave...

[cheesesteak]

Sometimes people say dumb things. Everybody does. But then, when they defend the dumb thing, you have to say to yourself "What the hell is wrong with this guy?" Yesterday, Bill Rhoden said that Barry Bonds' alleged confirmiration that he (unknowingly - hahahaha) used steroids wouldn't change his opinion of Bonds. The other three panelists looked at Rhoden like he was an idiot. Then he tried to defend his position while everybody jumped all over him.

Edited by cheesesteak, Dec 6, 2004 @ 8:41 AM.

[DaBigDave]

I don't know Cheesesteak. It doesn't really change my opinion of the guy either. I thought Bonds was juicing on something, if for no other reason then he'd stopped getting hurt even at his age. Just like I thought McGwire was on something too when he went through that stretch when he was magically healthy despite being so injury-prone.

In essence - my opinion of Bonds as a player had changed back when the allegations first started, so this mostly just confirms what I thought without changing anything much.