The College Gameday Crew weighs in on today's gamesLike every big company, the pseudo-sports, big-time entertainment branch of Disney has a ton of meetings. These meetings get everyone on the same page...make sure everybody's reflecting the company mantra and M.O. It's typical business.
The Bristol-based entertainment network has a lot more competition than they used to. A couple of years ago, they could afford to allow their in-studio personalities to spar with eachother and put their individual theories out there for the audience to make its decision...they don't have that luxury any longer.
In football, we all have been trained to believe the BT is slow. Ignore Pryor, Robinson, Penn State's entire defensive backfield...deny what your eyes see, believe what you're told. There's no possible way the BT can match the speed of Oregon, Florida, VaTech and others. Every BT team is Wisconsin...every player used to work hauling grain at his Dad's farm in Iowa.
The newest version of EsPN's groupthink is on the hardwood. Big intellects like Digger, Doug Gottlieb, Joe Lunardi and others will tell you their truth: The Big Ten doesn't have the talent or athleticism of the SEC, ACC or Big East. Ignore what you see and what you've read before the season begins. Believe the 2-minute video clip chosen by the network's slick production teams. Heck, they'll explain to you why it's the truth by backing it up with a loud-mouthed salvo...and will get you back to your ACC game in time to savor Coach K's genius.
Case in point- Purdue just beat a top-10 SEC school. But, Purdue wasn't better. The focus wasn't upon Chris Kramer gutting out a steal, Kelsey Barlow pulling down a rebound, Smooge shooting a pull-up or even JJ flushing 6 times in the second half ...it was on UT's player dunking and yelling at Kramer...or Chism's poor decision to shoot a 19-footer at the end of the game. Purdue didn't deserve that win. Sweaty Pearl's boys clearly gave it away.
All of Purdue's players grew up playing ball in their Dad's barn...Gene Hackman was each of their high school coaches. They try hard...they push tires around. Smooge and LewJack are not from urban areas...next year, the new kids from Indy and Chi will pick up a pair of short gold lamet shorts, Chuck Taylors and a Big Ten-issued crew cut to play for Painter- one of the many RM Knight-type coaches in the Big Ten. Clearly, if you focus on defense and half-court basketball, you must not have any athletes to play with the NBA-style teams of chosen leagues.
Ignore EsPN's own recruiting rankings that come out as soon as a kid's voice changes that tell you the BT is bringing in blue chips on all sides. Teams like aOSU, MSU, Illinois, Purdue, and others might seem like they're bringing in talent that also had offers from the real basketball conferences...but that's not the case. Those teams chose to back off of said player for another more-talented guy.
Bruce Pearl summed it up well after his team lost the Paradise Jam Championship to the gritty, go-getters from West Lafayette- (I'll summarize) Fatigue played a role in the final outcome...Smooge is a good player that probably would have come to UT had he not backed off of him for another, better player...and UT will see better talent all season from their in-conference foes than what they saw from the scrappers from the Big Ten.
Indeed. Keep beating the drum, mothership.
Everything the clowns in Bristol do is, first, about business...beating their competition. And second, entertainment. Sports and journalistic integrity are probably in the top-10 of their priorities...I just don't know where. As the BTN has nearly every cable provider in the nation on board, their production value continues to improve and they begin to look more and more like a viable alternative to EsPN, Bristol notices. No one can match the windbags that Eisner and Berman's company seeks and finds. Sure, there are guys in-house like Bilas and Van Pelt who have their own thoughts...but for every one of these, there are ten Digger Phelps and Doug Gottlieb-type guys who toe the company line...and do it vociferously.
If the dollar is king in Burbank/Bristol, and entertainment is queen...sports is the pauper.
18 comments:
Truth
True that.
I saw the Sportscenter highlights and did a double take - didn't Purdue win this game? You'd never know it from the highlight clip. Jackasses.
The lack of coverage and respect for Purdue is incomprehensible. That was an incredible, unlikely (due to injuries and foul trouble) win by the boilers against an uber-athletic, talented team. Make no mistake, though. We are also very athletic. I love our coaching, team philosophy, and the near-perfect blend of athleticism and innate basketball IQ. Espn can piss off. They've been a joke for years now. Digger should be tarred and feathered. And if I was as bad at my job as Lou Holtz is at his (ie predicting the capitulating irish to win the title), they'd put me under the jailhouse! Boiler up, friends.
Amen. I haven't watched ESPN (except for a 3 month lapse in judgement and the occasional Boiler game) or gone to their website for the last 5 years for these exact reasons. It's a shame that these same problems still exist. From your descriptions, they seem to be worse. Sad.
I'll watch Big Ten Tonight before I watch Sportscenter. I much prefer the in-depth review of Big Ten action versus the national pop culture heavy crap that ESPN puts on the air.
The ACC has been pretty good for a long time, so EsPN just goes there automatically. The Big East was expanded and sort of got lucky as coaches and talent seemed to land at the same time as the expansion. When you look at the rankings, the Big 10 is represented just as well as any other conference, with six teams in the top 25. Iowa sucks bad, so they don't really count as part of the Big 11 this year.
RPI rankings look good for Purdue, as we are #12 currently. We beat out such teams as Pacific, CSU Fullerton, and William and Mary. There are only a few teams ranked ahead of Purdue that have a better RPI ranking.
And if you look at the Yahoo User Rankings, you see how screwy perceptions are. Syracuse is ranked #1. Gonzaga is #14. Ohio State is #16, and Purdue is #17. But, Tennessee is #25, so the users aren't complete idiots.
I get the sense that the Yahoo user rankings more closely reflect what ESPN is preaching.
Good piece. I certainly agree. But I do need to point out that Seth Davis works for CBS, not EsPN.
Right after the game, I turned to one of the EsPNs to watch another game. That game went to half time and during the half time show, they showed the highlights of the Purdue/Tenn game. After the analysts discussed how Tennessee gave away the game, the host said something to the effect of "I'm not quite sure if this counts as an upset or not, but it was a good game none the less."
He wasn't sure if it was an upset???? The #6 team in the country beat the #11 team, and he thinks it might be an upset? What a moron.
noted, TBM.
At least I've seen in print (Jat Bilas) and heard on radio (Dick Vitale) some opinion's out of ESPN that say the Big Ten is the toughest conference this year. They both caveat that with "although it's really close".... and they probably would deny saying such a thing if asked publicly. haha
Oh well, it's a step. We just need to rub their nose in it this year with a truckload of W's and they won't be able to ignore it.
I think we all know the reason that Kramer's amazingly athletic, determined defensive swim wasn't shown on ESPN highlights is that the network may have to say that defense does make a difference and there are some athletes in the Big Ten... well, besides Kalin Lucas and Evan Turner. I am really enjoying the love affair given to Turner by the mainstream sports media. Little do they know, his selfishness with the ball is what keeps OSU from winning many more games. But, hey, who needs teamwork when you can have showboats??
I was at the dentist last week and picked up ESPN mag to look at their preseason basketball article. In it, there was a feature on how if you are a really good prospect, think twice about going to the Big Ten because they have less lottery pickes in the last X number of years than the SEC, ACC, Big East, etc. After seeing that, I thought, "These jackasses really have a vendetta against the Big 10." I guess its like the bully on the block, when the new kid shows up and challenges him, (Big Ten Network), everything is about beating down said new kid. Please...please...let us win the Big 10/ACC this year. Although, I am sure it will be written off as a fluke. Instead of EsPN focusing on this years win, they will focus on how many others the ACC won...you know the drill "Yeah, but we have 5 dusty banners".
And speaking of showboats ... the first Purdue turnover of the UT game led to a fast-break basket by Tennessee.
Oh wait, no it didn't. It led to an alley-oop for a one-handed jam that went horribly awry. Apparently they wanted to make a "statement". If their statement was that they can't pass above the rim, it worked pretty well.
Also, I know it wouldn't have sounded the same if you guys had said it, but the biggest competition for ESPN isn't BTN (although that competition is welcome), Fox Sports, or Comcast Sports ... it's sites like this one.
There are blogs for every program of note in DI (and probably many of the smaller ones too), and each blog can spend far more time analyzing their team than ESPN would ever care to spend. You can learn more about Purdue's team in a week here than you can in a year on ESPN.com. Sure, ESPN's size gives it access to tools (pun intended) that can provide us with a lot of stats, but for interpretation, why bother with people who don't even know how teams are ranked? (In ESPN's defense, Tennessee's and Purdue's ranks were reversed in the first shot of that game by that production crew as well ... I thought it was odd that Tennessee had somehow passed Purdue, and of course they hadn't.)
ESPN can continue to live under the assumption that what they have to say is vitally important (which is why, I suspect, more and more analysis ends up as Insider content). Too bad they're about 10 years too late.
zlionsfan -- thanks for the compliment. Because, you know, there are other readers who think we spend all our time bashing other programs. When that's just something we do on the side to amuse ourselves.
Boilergal -- the other reason Kramer's defense wasn't shown is that he's just so damn handsome, it would make girls squeal everywhere and make it hard to hear the TV...right?
It's funny... because Gottlieb along with Jay Williams picked us to win the Big Ten in their early predictions. Lunardi, Vitale, and Williams picked us to go the Final Four... obviously they wrote this before the games tipped off ( Link right here)
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/preview2009/news/story?id=4649538
I find it double standard-ish how they don't like our game but talk about how Butler may make it. Gottlieb and Davis are attracted by flashy talent. So the fact that E'Twuan Moore scores yet is stealth about it... doesn't appeal to them. Then again they are both Duke Blowhards (as in they talk about Coach K a lot... I know Gottlieb played @ OK State)... so once again I laugh.... anyway we just need to keep the blinders and earmuffs on...we have goals to accomplish and we need to focus on that and that only
I just got into a fight with an "Irish fan" at a bar. He didn't know Clausen had just been punched. Douche.
Exactly right zlionsfan. I go to the blogs for my teams and their opponents long before I go to ESPN. Simply put, better analysis.
Also, have you seen the commercials for the Big Ten/ACC challenge? It goes on forever about Michigan State trying to get revenge against the mighty freakin' Tar Heels who are the greatest team ever. Oh, and by the way, Purdue vs. Wake Forest. Our game is the afterthought of a North Carolina knob polishing. The radio ad is even worse, and I live ON CAMPUS! They didn't even bother to make an ad for the Purdue market. The real question is this; is it morally forgivable to root for IU in the Big Ten/ACC challenge in the hopes of a Big Ten sweep?
I will say this much. I'm not normally a fan of other Big Ten programs for various reasons: Iowa because I hated their press defense in the '80s, Wisconsin because of 2000, Ohio State because duh ... but anyway, when I saw updates from the Wisconsin-Maryland game today, I was glad to see Wisconsin won. Not a second thought.
I may not be rooting for IU, but I will be rooting against Maryland.
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