To be fair, we shouldn't blame the following all on Sportscenter anchor Stuart Scott. It's probably a combination of editors, producers and The Disney Effect that came up with this, but, because we like Stu as much as we like paper cuts and hang nails, we'll place the blame squarely on him.During halftime of the Monday Night Football game -- a horrible, horrible loss for the Arizona Cardinals -- ESPN aired a Jay-Z video. Yeah, a fucking hip hop video during the halftime show of a sporting event.
It's not that we dislike Jay-Z, rap, or hyphens in the middle of a first name, but this is ESPN! It's a sports network! If we wanted a Jay-Z video, we would've tuned in to MTV, MTV 2, VH1, Country Music Channel, BET, or Comcast On Demand Karaoke.
And we just assume that Stu Scott had a big part of this. Really, there's a time and place for a music video and it's by no means at halftime of a football game.
ESPN has slipped in the last few years -- this is a prime example -- and most of it can be attributed to people like Scott. Sportscenter (and really ESPN as a whole) was so great because of witty anchors, great game coverage and pop culture references.
A music video, by the way, is not a reference.
This really isn't a big deal; really it's just a music video on a sports network and we feel the need to rant a bit about it. But still, c'mon, ESPN. What's up with that?
But it's all good because, "Jay-Z is a sports fan." Good connection, Stu.
As for the photo, well, it seems the blonde woman is about as real as Stu's right eye.
Anyway, we're out. Hugs and hand-pounds.
Awww come on. They show rock videos all the time during the X-Games on ESPN, not too mention all those clips of Tom Petty during the NBA Playoffs.
ReplyDeleteFrom a TV viewer's perspective, what's the difference between a halftime show and a music video? That is besides the slight chance that clothing might malfunction.
A friggin video is not the same thing as a halftime show. All of the halftime shows I've seen on tv actually originate from the 50 yd line of the viewed game, not from a tape deck in a Connecticut studio.
ReplyDeleteShowing a rap video, or any video, was a stupid idea. I can only reason that they had planned to give some updates on the Cards/Mets game, but it was rained out. I hope a video wasn't ESPN's first choice for halftime programming.
How is a Jay Z video any different than a hillbilly singing about the past week in the NFL? The theme song to MNF and the NFL week recap has always been a country music video. I, for one, would rather hear Jay-Z than cuntry music.
ReplyDeleteAtleast it had Little E and Danica in it...
ReplyDeletefrancis, it's not really. but the way they framed this video, it was like a big deal. it wasn't music behind highlights. it was music first, sports second, which, last we checked, isn't the point of ESPN.
ReplyDeleteThe song and video were awful
ReplyDeleteESPN has gone way way downhill over the last, I dunno, 5 years. Less and less decent content, more and more unrelated nonsense. The web site is damn near unreadable (and all the good stuff is for insiders only), baseball tonight USED to be good, but now has Kruk and Brantley sputtering absolute nonsense that isn't backed up by stats (saying things like "this guy is a free swinger" about somebody who takes tons of walks and sees 4+ pitches per at bat), etc etc etc
ReplyDeletethe problem is that Disney is trying to do all of this corporate synergy and promote other parts of the corporation, which makes everything seem contrived, forced and watered down. another problem is the desire to appeal to people that are not diehard sports fans. the problem with this is that diehard sports fans are who made ESPN and regular casual sports fans don't care enough about ESPN to watch it let alone pay attention to the cross-promotion. so all of disney's attempts are going for naught and just piss off a lot of its viewers.
ReplyDeleteI don't think a watchable halftime is an attainable goal. They've already got Stu Scott, Chris Berman, and Michael Irvin assaulting us. Once that foundation is laid, it doesn't really matter if it's Jay Z or "The fastest 3 minutes in television," there's no way I'm sticking through the next 15 minutes with the volume on.
ReplyDeleteIt is Stu Scott's fault. Damn curse of Chapel Hell.
ReplyDeleteI used to watch ESPN every single night. Now I'd rather watch flies fuck on the Discovery chanel.
ReplyDeleteBerman sucks, One Eye Scott sucks, Irvin sucks, someone should deliver a another sharp blow to Steve Young's head, women should not be allowed in the booth calling football games, and has anyone ever, I mean ever received any good information with the stupid interview of a coach right before halftime.
Pick a coach, any coach - "We need to play better defense, and find a way to score more points." Pick a sport and this regurgitated statement applies.
Finally, I have been using a friends Insider sign on. It's nothing special. The only thing I use it for is the rumor mill pertaining to potential trades, and that stuff isn't really insider information.
Fuck ESPN. Fuck Disney. Fuck ABC. Three entities that alone were great. Combine them and you get one big unenjoyable clusterfuck.
Burner: Awesome, awesome comment. Love the nugget about halftime interviews.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know how a "clusterfuck" works, but I'm trying to have one of those with some of ESPN's female sideline reporters pretty soon.
wonderful burner...very heated and passionate. we use insider the same way, to gain access to rumor central, but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteespn was great -- and still is at times. we really love the college coverage on saturday's -- but certain aspects have slid waaay downhill, which really is the point of this little post.
BOO-YEAH!!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I supposed I should mention I pretty much do the same for Insider... although there is some stuff I like. Rob Neyer is always a good read, and a lot of the college basketball guys are Insider only (I think)... other than that, it's pretty much sucks. As does ESPN.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are going back their roots as the ENTERTAINMENT and Sports Network. :)
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, as the talking heads strive to be "hipper than hip", the actual value of what they are saying has gone way down hill. And just because a guy has played the game doesn't mean that he can comment on it accurately, concisely, or in an entertaining fashion. A few make the leap from field to booth, but more often than not it is a dismal failure with the result being a "good old boys" party, lots of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
And speaking of Stu, his turn on "Stump the Schwab" is so annoying that I cannot even describe it. But I can compare his smug, know-it-all 'tude to that of Alex Trebek, he of Jeopardy fame -- since they both attempt to act as if they know all the answers. (If it wasn't for Stu's eye I would swear they were brothers.) But c'mon boys, it's TRIVIA. And Stu's claim to fame is SPORTS trivia FFS... Get a life.
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