{"id":51911,"date":"2020-08-22T19:56:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T16:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/what-is-with-these-espn-hirings\/"},"modified":"2020-08-22T19:56:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-22T16:56:00","slug":"what-is-with-these-espn-hirings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-with-these-espn-hirings\/","title":{"rendered":"#What is with these ESPN hirings?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2e7423a0811\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2e7423a0811\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-with-these-espn-hirings\/#Kobe_slur_at_ref_didnt_get_the_Thom_treatment\" >Kobe slur at ref didn\u2019t get the Thom treatment<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/what-is-with-these-espn-hirings\/#Isles_team_getting_it_done\" >Isles team getting it done<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#What is with these ESPN hirings?<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n                        Perhaps we expect better from ESPN because it\u2019s a 24\/7 sports network, the last place we\u2019d think would wreck every sport it touches.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, here we are. Again, and still. To tune to ESPN to watch a live sports event is to be conditioned \u2014 air-conditioned \u2014 to anticipate a production that will challenge the good senses to a duel the good senses can\u2019t win.<\/p>\n<p>Consider what ESPN has done to big-league baseball:<\/p>\n<p>For 21 years ESPN\u2019s lead analyst was former Houston and Cincinnati star second baseman Joe Morgan. Thus viewers were forced to suffer his nonsensical analysis and historical \u201cfacts\u201d that in fact were extraordinarily rotten guesswork.<\/p>\n<p>Morgan\u2019s contradictions came quickly and often. He once complimented Manny Ramirez for taking a pitch \u201che knew he couldn\u2019t hit.\u201d Two pitches later he claimed Ramirez \u201ccan handle any pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morgan told doozies. He said that when he was with Houston he contributed to the Phillies\u2019 historic late-season 1964 collapse \u2014 10 straight losses near the end of the season to finish in second place \u2014 when he ended a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> with an RBI single.<\/p>\n<p>He further recalled that Phils manager Gene Mauch was so livid he screamed that his club was just \u201cbeaten by a little leaguer!\u201d Great story!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16176660\"><img alt=\"Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan\" data- data- height=\"441\" width=\"353\"><\/img><figcaption><span>Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan<\/span><span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But Houston didn\u2019t play Philly during that stretch, and Morgan, a late call-up, did not have an RBI in \u201964.<\/p>\n<p>In a Mets-Cubs game, Mets infielder Luis Castillo struggled to catch a fly in the wind that invades Wrigley Field. To a national audience, Morgan explained why:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCastillo has played his entire career in the AL,\u201d with the Twins, thus was unaccustomed to the vagaries of playing in Wrigley.<\/p>\n<p>But Castillo had played 10 years in the NL, all with the Marlins, then two with the Twins. Not only had he often played in Wrigley, he hit the infamous foul fly that was about to be caught by the Cubs\u2019 Moises Alou until spectator Steve Bartman reached out to alter its path.<\/p>\n<p>That historic eighth-inning episode allowed Florida to win Game 6 in a late comeback then defeat the Cubs, four games to three, in the NLCS.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN, by then realizing that Morgan manufactured facts, promised he would make good on his factual errors, but he obdurately refused, according to ESPN authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Now ESPN presents \u201cSunday Night Baseball\u201d as a three-plus hours Alex Rodriguez nonsense and contradictions festival.<\/p>\n<p>Did it matter that ESPN had hired an infamous, suspended drug cheat whose half-a-billion dollars in career salary was predicated on illegal drug use and steady lies about it?<\/p>\n<p>Obviously not.<\/p>\n<p>Did it matter that team sport advocate Rodriguez spent a playoff game trying to pick up young, attractive women in Yankee Stadium?<\/p>\n<p>Obviously not.<\/p>\n<p>Did it matter to ESPN that in hiring Rodriguez as its face and voice of MLB was an insult to all decent-minded baseball fans?<\/p>\n<p>Obviously not.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16176652\"><img alt=\"Alex Rodriguez\" data- data- height=\"441\" width=\"662\"><\/img><figcaption><span>Alex Rodriguez<\/span><span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For some reason, Rodriguez became ESPN\u2019s ideal to weekly address the nation on all matters of baseball.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Rodriguez drove viewers crazy with such repeated claims that even-numbered leads are better than odd-numbered leads. He didn\u2019t explain why it was better for teams to be up 6-2 than 7-2.<\/p>\n<p>The season before he claimed he very nearly signed with the Mets \u2014 and wishes he had \u2014 but instead chose the Rangers. The $150 million more Texas offered he never mentioned, and the next day former Mets executives claimed Rodriguez was full of it.<\/p>\n<p>This past Sunday, the telecast noted that MLB batters are hitting a collective .241, the lowest since 1968. That inspired Rodriguez to conclude that baseball \u201chas become a democratic game\u201d thus it\u2019s \u201cnow more fun to watch.\u201d Huh? Double-huh? Yes, now every batter strikes out trying to hit home runs! Ain\u2019t it fun?<\/p>\n<p>Like Morgan, if he doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s talking about, why should we?<\/p>\n<p>But this is ESPN\u2019s answer to what it thinks we want, what we can\u2019t wait for and beg for more. Those who do the hiring don\u2019t know bad from worse. Within a pandemic, it\u2019s a continuing epidemic.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Kobe_slur_at_ref_didnt_get_the_Thom_treatment\"><\/span>Kobe slur at ref didn\u2019t get the Thom treatment<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>So after 25 years of honorable service to Fox Sports, Thom Brennaman has been past-tensed for one off-air, live-microphone slip \u2014 a slur word for homosexuals. Inexcusable yet forgivable, no?<\/p>\n<p>Compare that to Kobe Bryant, who in 2011 directed a loud, on-court homophobic slur toward a black NBA ref.<\/p>\n<p>Bryant was fined by the league but never lost a day of Lakers\u2019 pay or play. The NBA, fans and media quickly forgave him \u2014 if they even cared \u2014 and his multimillion dollar benefactors at <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social<\/a>ly conscious Nike played dumb.<\/p>\n<p>And within the thousands of public tributes issued following Bryant\u2019s tragic death, fewer than few noted that episode. No one on-air with Fox mentioned it.<\/p>\n<p>Both Bryant and Brennaman apologized, but only one was forgiven \u2014 and so quickly it became quickly forgotten.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/hr>\n<p>Stats? You like stats? Try these:<\/p>\n<p>Reader Richard T. Monahan notes Tony Gwynn averaged 29 strikeouts per season, and current No. 1 superstar Mike Trout averages 152 per.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday, in 14 innings \u2014 two seven-inning games \u2014 the Phillies struck out 20 times against nine Blue Jays pitchers.<\/p>\n<p>The Mets lead the majors with an average of 18 per game left on base, a staggering stat that equates to two per inning! Damn the circumstances, full swings ahead!<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Villar, this year employed by the Marlins as their leadoff batter \u2014 he has thus far struck out three times in each of two games \u2014 last year struck out 176 times in 162 games for the Orioles as their leadoff man.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, in the game in which DJ LeMahieu was hurt, he made an out, leading ESPN to reduce the Yankees\u2019 \u201cwin probability\u201d from 73.7 percent to 71.7 percent. Nurse!<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Isles_team_getting_it_done\"><\/span><strong>Isles team getting it done<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Couldn\u2019t ask for better from a TV team than MSG\u2019s Brendan Burke and Butch Goring throughout the Islanders five-game playoff <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">series<\/a> win vs. the Capitals. Alert, candid, informative, no hokey hockey gimmicks \u2014 and all off TV monitors from a studio.<\/p>\n<p>So home plate ump Ryan Additon was wearing a COVID mask beneath his mask when up stepped the Yankees\u2019 Luke Voit, who, a few feet away, spit on the ground, in violation of MLB\u2019s no-spit directive. On YES, we couldn\u2019t miss it, but the three announcers all <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>arently did.<\/p>\n<p>Figures ESPN would continue to promote grammar-bereft Keyshawn Johnson, remembered as \u201cMe-Shawn\u201d for his \u201cjust throw me the damned ball!\u201d boasts. When he was a Jets wide receiver he jealously dismissed the achievements of overachieving, undersized, undrafted WR Wayne Chrebet, calling him \u201cthe team mascot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Padres outfielder Tommy Pham has been lost to what the team described as \u201ca broken hamate bone.\u201d Reader Bill Fariello figures that to describe it as \u201ca fracture in his hand\u201d would have been too confusing.\n            <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Sports <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>if you want to watch Movies or Tv Shows go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/dizi.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dizi.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a> <\/span> for forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/08\/22\/what-is-with-these-espn-hirings-alex-rodriguez-more\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#What is with these ESPN hirings?&#8221; Perhaps we expect better from ESPN because it\u2019s a 24\/7 sports network, the last place we\u2019d think would wreck every sport it touches. Yet, here we are. Again, and still. To tune to ESPN to watch a live sports event is to be conditioned \u2014 air-conditioned \u2014 to anticipate&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57232],"class_list":["post-51911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-what-is-with-these-espn-hirings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}