Sportscenter is almost unwatchable these days.

Here's a thought: Don't watch it

It's funny. TSN up here in Canada have morphed into ESPN really. They have the same show. Same music etc... It just reeks. Of course the entire station sucks ass. Hence one of the reasons I haven't bothered getting cable back.

If I want sports news, I'll just slap in my Sports Night DVD's

Agreed Doug. Stuart Scott needs to get thrown out. The guy is always trying to sound witty and always comes off like some 3rd grader.

I wish I could tune into ESPNNEWS but my dumbass cable subscriber hasn't picked it up.

I always thought of the olbermann patrick era as the peak of the anchordom, but in reality, nowadays I watch sportscenter for the sports highlights.

the anchors are so nondescript and bland that it doesnt stop me from watching, it just keeps me concentrated on the sports highlights.

I still love all of ESPN's nfl programming though...jaws, merril hodges, steve young, tom jackson, and of course the man, the myth, the legend Chris Berman.

Yeah their NFL coverage is still good.

I'm surprised people still even watch SportsCenter. If not for the occasional nationally televised sporting event, I'd never tune into ESPN. ESPNEWS is by far the better option for keeping up to date, I can't see why people would watch anything else (assuming they have access to it).

Course, if I were to choose an anchor, I always had a soft spot for Kenny Mayne way back when he was actually behind the desk and not doing those "zany" remotes.

You are right about Stuart Scott, he's unwatchable. Plus, with that half-closed eye, he's just scary looking.

Suzy Kolber is doing a decent job, I really like her football work.

The bad part about this time of year, is that you have to watch all those boring baseball highlights to get to something actually exciting to watch. At least there is no Hockey, which is just as boring as baseball.

If it's not college football season, I don't watch SportsCenter. And for many of the reasons listed above.

If, however, they wanted to hire me, I'd be there in a heartbeat. I'm just a big hypocrite that way.

Olberman, Patrick and Chris Berman killed sportscenter. After that, everyone had to have a gimmick and it was about the anchors rather than the sports news. Then there's the unbelievable corporate shilling that goes on. The Budweiser Hot Seat, followed by the Gatorade Highlight, followed by the Playtex women's highlights.

Speaking of Chris Berman, how the fuck does he get the best gigs? He doesn't do shit all year, and then he appears for All Star games and the playoffs. There's a man who's ALL gimmick, and that gimmick was old 10 years ago. He should have been the one to drown in that pool, not Tom Mees.

I haven't been watching it much lately, mostly because I don't care about Pro or College basketball.

I loved kenny mayne behind the desk...

But I gotta defend Berman here. The man is a fucking legend in sports news. Just because people have tried to emulate him poorly, doesnt mean we should be trying to attack his legacy. Berman's nicknaming on Sportscenter is stuff of legend. The whole story behind banning it, and then atheletes lobbying for it to return, etc is a testament to how loved he is.

He is one of the most tenured ESPN anchors out there, hence his appearances at all the big gigs. BUT, he also KNOWS the sports he is talking about, he KNOWS the history, and probably most important he RESPECTS the sports. Berman is such a classy guy, and he is always the first to congratulate a team/coach/player (something no other anchors do) for a great performance or give a nice compliment to some behind the camera staff guy who just got married or ha da baby ON CAMERA.

The man is an institution, and I seriously doubt that his "gimmick", which i think is a part of his actual personality, is old. I can't go a Sunday during the NFL season without watching NFL Primetime because Berman reports the sports but adds a little bit of himself with his nicknames and catchphrases. Anchors who have followed are probably talking OVER the highlight too much trying to get their funny quips across. Berman straddles the line of reporting the highlight in an entertaining manner.

I would put Dan Patrick, Keith Olberman, and Kenny Mayne in the same category. They report the sports in an entertaining fashion, rather than entertaining over a sports highlight.

If you watched any of dream job, you could clearly see the difference between those who just wanted to do stand up, and those who actually reported sports.

Berman is a joke. He's not knowledgeable about hockey, yet during the playoffs ESPN uses him as a commentator. I don't even think he watches the regular season games & then he jumps in the booth and makes an idiot of himself.

Hell, he's not even knowledgeable about football. The people who actually teach you things you didn't know about football are Jaws, Salisbury, Mort, and Clayton. Berman just sits there giving stupid nicknames (while they used to be witty, they are now just pathetic) and repeating the same schtick from the 80's (rumblin' bumblin' stumblin' was funny the first couple times. Fiveteen years later, it's just awful).

And you really don't know much about Berman. He's a fucking diva & everyone not famous at ESPN (everyone but the anchors) truely despises him. His act is ALWAYS more important than the game itself.

Kenny Mayne is funny & understated enough to not interfere with the highlights. Patrick, like Berman, read too many press clippings and now is just a charicature.

Agree totally with the SportsCenter hate. Like so much else in the media these days, it's overdone, too self-involved, and obnoxious.

If it weren't for their actual live sports broadcasts, ESPN would be total shit now.

"Baseball Tonight" is still pretty decent, though. And I still watch "College Gameday" during football season, even though I find all three hosts insufferable.

Even the commercials are getting tired!

You can even see the lack of creativity in the "This is Sportscenter" ad campaign. The commercials are growing as tired as the show itself.

I agree with whoever pointed out lame the "Hot seat" is....what an inappropriate title. It should be called the "Larry King would ask more provative questions than this Seat"

Am I the only one who thinks Jamie Kennedy's character from Malibu's Most Wanted had more "street cred" that Stuart "tarheel yo!" Scott.

Berman is absolutely horrid when he does Baseball games. When he did Cal's record breaker it was pathetic how mushy he was getting. Don't know about the hockey. I only like Berman when he's doing NFL and his top ten is pretty weak as well.

I can't deal with Sportscenter anymore. Ever since their studio got all robotic and computer-ish, probably in an attempt to copy Fox Sports, and they starting making everything on the show a list or a competition. It's like your favorite hard drinking uncle who's notably less fun now that he's actually been to prison a few times.

I couldn't agree more. The thing is, I loved the tandem of Olbermann and Patrick on Sunday nights, if for no other reason than they were different from the rest of the crew at the time (Tom Mees, Robin Roberts, Bob Ley, Charley Steiner to some extent). So when Sunday rolled around I knew the Big Show would have a different vibe. Now of course Espin the Corporate Shill whores out its entire line-up to entertain 14 year olds.

"Holy shit! Scott Van Pelt just made a Tenacious D reference! That totally made the Jackie Robinson tribute worth watching."

I won't even mention Stuart Scott. Okay, so I just did. But no more.

It's funny to see many here (and elsewhere) talk about it like its an actual "show". Like an episodic series or something. It's a sports highlights clip show. I watch it to see who won the Knicks-Lakers game, and who had the big game etc.

Funny, the reason I don't watch it is because the scores and/or highlights appear to be pretty far down on their list.

I hate Sportscenter in the summer because they give you garbage for baseball stats. Baseball Tonight is great though, I don't even bother with Sportscenter in the summer.

Over the years I've developed a real crush on Suzy Kolber. ...Sorry, wrong forum?

I also miss the Olberman/Patrick team. When Big O left and Mayne, it was never the same and I lost a lot of interest in Sportscenter.

And despite all the hate, I loved the Eisen/Scott team as a back up to Olberman and Patrick. They seemed more fun, while O/Patrick were very professional.

bob ley and dan patrick are the only anchors I like...

baseball tonight is still a great show, not a big peter gammons or harold reynolds fan, but really enjoy the krukster (where is rex dibble? is he not part of the team this year? he is awesome...)

their NBA commentators aren't the greatest...mark jackson is kind of painful to listen to. and really lost all respect for their friday night game crew who defended ron artest so heavily for blindly charging into the stands. how ignorant was that.

I am kind of embarassed to say that I watch around the horn. I liked it a lot more with Max Kellerman as the host (how bad was I, Max btw?!) , but now only watch it to see the journalists. Tony Reali does nothing for me.

PTI is solid, except some of the 'five good minutes' segments are dreadfully boring. luckily I can switch over to jeopardy during that.

also I would like to add that I HATE THE NFL DRAFT.

jesus christ could anything be more overhyped. who the hell cares this much...check out the paper the day after the draft, see who your team got and call it a day.

I'd rather try to win a staring contest with stewart scott than watch the NFL draft

Agreed there.

I cannot get into Sportscenter at all, in fact the only ESPN broadcasters I dig at all are Brent Musburger (mainly out of nostalgia) and Tom Tolbert who is funny as hell on a radio show he does in my neck of the woods. Fred Hickman seems cool but the rest are a bunch of jackasses who seem to think they are the reason people watch ESPN. Nothing worse than stiffs who think they are humorous.

Thought I'd dig up this thread since this past week Sportscenter has gone to a new Shitastic Format where absolutely everything is minutely smaller than small and Illegible unless you have a 42" Tv screen.

Seriously, whoever thought of the idea of SHRINKING the viewing area for more side text of irrelevant upcoming stories needs to be fired immediately. It's bad enough I cant read what the hell is on the right side of the screen, now i cant even see the scores during their recaps.

anyone else think this is just awful?

yea, they're newest format is horrendous.

anyone remember when Sportscenter was 30 minutes long, and the sunday edition was an hour? now its an hour and a fucking half long every goddamned day. was there a sports explosion in the last 15 years that now they MUST have the extra time to cover it all?

its all about ATH, PTI and Baseball Tonight. Woody Paige's chalkboard is the funniest and most original thing on ESPN these days.

I long for the days of Patrick and Olberman as well. And I tolerated Stuart Scott when he was anchoring with Rich Eisen, the younger team that alternated with Dan and Keith.

Thankfully I get my fix from Patrick's radio show on ESPNRadio, and Keith joins every so often.

And yeah, nowadays it's all Around the Horn and PTI. Baseball Tonight has died when Harold Reynolds was released. Hasn't been stable since.

And fuck Kenny Mayne. That fool is annoying.

I gotta say, I kinda like the scroll bar on the left. I hate watching highlights I have zero interest in, waiting for "my" team or something I want to see. This way, I can kinda judge how long I have to watch.

I don't really get to worked up over the anchors. Just more talking heads. I like PTI, and can't stand Skip Bayless and Stephan A. Smith at all.

id rather watch Stephen A Smith than fucking Jim Rome.

unless he's getting bitch slapped and pummeled on air. i could watch that all day long.

and actually i've recently gotten into Mike and Mike in the morning, which isnt too bad.

Mike and Mike are so obvious with their planned bits, but they're okay to have as background noise.

Mike and Mike are just awful. Most national ESPN radio shows are, including Dan Patrick. The only time the Patrick show is good is when Olberman is on.

Thing is, when something is successful, ESPN beats it into the ground like John Henry. So, when a particular radio show finds something the audience reacts to, they build on it and keep it going until it's completely killed. For instance, the M&M back and forth about 'manning up'. It was funny at first, now it's the entire show. Jokes about manliness invade every moment. It's embarrassing that these guys are so successful with such painfully set-up scenarios. Oh, Greenie you're just so fey! You could be the Woody Allen of sports radio, except you're not funny or talented and your partner is absolutely worthless (see: another forced shtick..."Quite honestly". It was okay to make fun of him when he first came on the radio and had that verbal crutch, but now he often says it multiple times in a sentence and uses it as a catchphrase).

Why do I listen at all (it's not very much)? For the same reason I watch any ESPN show - they do have some good interview subjects. Their baseball guys are the best, and their football analysis is usually spot on. So, I'll flip it on to see if there's any interviews going on and find Dan Patrick talking to 50-Cent about his upcoming movie. What?

Basically, the only shows that work are the ones which haven't found hugely successful anchors, like gamenight, where Doug Gottlieb is pretty damn good.

Also speaking to the beating into the ground thing, that's what the shrinking of the highlights to the size of a standard sheet of paper is all about. It worked on PTI, so then they built an entirely new show on that premise (which is also awful) and that worked so now it must invade everything the network does.

The NBA playoffs are very telling as to how horrible ESPN covers sports. I'm always bummed to see any game ESPN handles instead of TNT. I'll watch as much of TNT's postgame studio show as I can. Once a game ends on ESPN I can't turn the TV off fast enough.

Holy shit, I don't know who does the analysis, as I can't listen for long. They'll switch attitudes mid-sentence - "See the problem with the Bulls is that they don't play any defense... - *someone on the bulls steals the ball and dunks* - ...there's a great example of the great defense the bulls play. They really hound the ball".

Free reputation to anyone who can speak fluently in Jim Rome's psuedo-hood slang. That shit cracks me up.

If you didn't watch Sportscenter, you may miss those ESPN Deportes clips. And that would be a travesty.

I miss CNNSI on TV. CSS and FoxSports aren't nearly as cheesy or "trying to be hip" as Sportscenter. They're just plan lousy.

ESPN News, guys - all the highlights, none of the bullshit.

My theory when they started running ATH and PTI on News opposite SC was that people weren't watching Sportscenter anymore - they were watching ATH and PTI and turning to News.