When guys like Aaron Rodgers prefers the Pat McAfee show, a show run by a couple of guys, over ESPN, when ESPN is owned by Disney and is supposed to be the "Worldwide leader in sports", you know you've fallen. Edit: I've procrastinated on editing this but yeah this didn't age well lol
ESPN has fallen but your points don’t make sense. Aaron Rodgers went to Pats show because he’s rich and famous enough to not need ESPN. 95% of other players go when they’re asked
That debate will go on for another 30 years. Y’all complain but still click on ESPN. They know what they’re doing but why should they stop? Plays chess not checkers
The Hockey Guy is the most genuine and down to earth fan of a sport ever, Dudes coverage is insanely good for how much work he puts in, Nonstop grind and a funny dry sense of humor, thank you sports youtubers and thank you hockey guy
@@joeylawn36111 He sticks to hockey, he knows almost everything about every player. Watch some of his videos and you can tell that he cares about hockey so much
He’s the Bob Ross of Hockey in my honest opinion. A real wholesome dude that’s very DIY style of sports commentary makes him seem like he is exactly what the world of sports commentary needs.
The Last Dance was ESPN’s last ditch attempt at seeing what would stick. Their 30 for 30s have been great regardless of the regular content of the network. Would like to see them emphasize this more
I didn't bother watching the Last Dance. Who cares? We all knew the outcome, the Jordan era is over. Period. Maybe I just wasn't interested but that could just be me.
@@shotokankun He's been on his videos commenting every now and then. In fact, I once let him know that the Brooklyn Nets did used to be called the New York Nets once.
“Lightning win the Stanley cup” ESPN: interesting, that team with the good Russian guy pulls through. Now back to Lebrons favorite bedtime snack. Kellerman do you think it’ll affect his play?
As a Pats fan and massive Brady fan, even I can’t take it. Like seriously, is there nothing else y’all can talk about? Real world: Lightning route the white hot Stars to take home the Stanley cup for the first time in years! ESPN: Does Brady prefer Wheaties or Cheerios, and does LeBron approve of this choice for the black community? Max Kellerman discusses
And UT is A LOT more fun to listen to. ESPN has been chasing after "gravitas" for so long in an attempt to be "THE sports authority" that they lost the charm and light-heartedness that made people want to tune in daily.
ESPN is part of a dying breed. Shows like The Pat McAfee Show are the way of the future for sport discussion. Authentic shows with humour, personality, and honest takes that don’t come off as manufactured.
McAfee has said that he owes a lot of his success to Barstool and Portnoy for “teaching me about the internet.” Say what you want about barstool, but they know what works and they’re authentic. And when Pat left, he was able to take what he learned and leave all the negative stuff about them behind. If that sort of teaching gets passed down, “traditional” media will become obsolete very soon
You nailed the political part bang on. My family is largely conservative with a few liberals mixed in. Since we are Oregon State Beavers fans (I know, pity us) we watched the Oregon State vs Oregon Football game as a family. The game had been known as “The Civil War” for over 100 years since the two schools are less than 10 miles from each other and the rivalry is VERY heated. However, since a couple ex-players came out and called the name “Racist” for apparently referencing The American Civil War (Which it didn’t btw), the schools dropped the name, despite massive fan backlash from both schools. In fact, a poll posted in the state news station on Facebook had a 90% disapproval rate of the name change. The game was on ESPN, and throughout the game, ESPN kept talking about the name change and “How the communities of both schools have been very supportive of the change.” This statement caused my Uber-Liberal Aunt to stand up and yell “WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Have you talked to anyone in the community?!”
I was just about to say “ESPN is CNN with sports,” while watching this video. And then Tree said “I felt like I was watching CNN.” Clearly this is something a lot of people are thinking. ESPN has become a victim of the 24 hour news cycle. The more you turn EVERYTHING into a controversy, the more it sounds like white noise.
Yeah not to mention the over-politicalization and constant pushing of PC culture. Every platform tries to push social issues. All that does is push people away and kill ratings, the people don’t care about that shit.
@@benpickard3203 Yeah but when every organization does the same shit and pushes the same agendas it ends up meaning nothing. Let the players express what they want but the league should remain neutral.
I still enjoy some of their writing from time to time. But their broadcast is a joke. Sports center is anything but "sports" center. Its just taking heads
ESPN isn't even competitive with their own traditional television competition anymore. Look at Inside the NBA on TNT for example. Three former players and an anchor who have great chemistry, aren't censored by the network, give actual analysis without the need for hot takes, don't attempt to be something they're not, and are relatively relatable. Charles Barkley for example is entertaining because he's funny, spontaneous, candid and authentic. The way him, Shaq, Kenny, and Ernie interact and play off of each other seems real, and it seems like they're just having fun and talking hoops like normal guys, instead of trying to drum up drama for clicks. They are an example of a show that has adapted to the modern audience, and they are endearing because of it.
Yep. I mean they were headed down the road, but his death didn't help. He was just a classic sports fan. Just simple and to the point. A guy you'd like to talk sports or drink with.
As a hardcore Hockey fan, I'm glad you put the Hockey Guy up there. Dude is underrated and deserves a lot more views then he gets for the work he puts in.
Reasons why ESPN manages to stay relevant: 1. TV deals with College Hoops/College Football, NBA, MLB & MNF 2. Their documentaries 3. Scott Van Pelt 4. Stephen A. Smith
Out of all of the sports youtubers he easily has the best analysis out of any of them. Better than Jackson Krueger, Strong Opinion Sports, and Brett Kollman.
I want to say thank you Tree, your the reason I got into sports and I can’t thank you enough for that. I remember back in 2016-17 when you made that “haters guide to 2016-17 nfl playoffs” and I got hooked, if it weren’t for that I would have never seen 28-3. Thanks to your other videos I branched out to other sports and got to see the Tampa Bay Lightning my favorite hockey team win the cup, which has been the best part of my life over the past two years. So from the bottom of my heart thank you Urinating Tree.
Same for me, when I first started watching Tree I was young and thought that sports were dumb and for meat heads, now after years of watching this channel I love football and have started watching basketball. I just wish I had gotten into watching sports earlier as the rush of the game is one of the best feelings in any kind of entertainment.
I was legit about to type this and then I saw this, they are all amazing in their own ways. Shannon is one of the most wholesome you tubers/personalities in general I’ve ever watched, tree is funny as hell, grossi (who admittedly I’ve watched little of) seems creative and even Flemlo who Tree showed a little bit about is interesting and very research driven and explains stories in an interesting and objective light. They’re all so much better than the fake corporate ESPN
Was about to say this and flemloraps very underrated guys but for different reasons. Hockey guy can explain the game to me in a totally different way than ive ever thought of before. His knowledge is off the charts
Shannon is the man! I actually CARE about his opinion... ESPN is the most boring content ever, which is sad since they're talking about content in which I genuinely have interest
There's nothing I wanted to be more when I was eight than to be an anchor on NFL Countdown to talk about the St. Louis Rams winning a bunch. How times have changed. Also nice shoutout to The Hockey Guy
Tree, you, FlemLo, HockeyGuy, SetTheEdge, KTO, Griffiti, Brett Kollman, Thatsgoodsports, and others have kept sports media alive for me man. You guys are the future.
Back in 2011, ESPN had a segment at the end of the year where they highlighted sports figures who had died during the past year. Well, in September of 2011 the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL hockey team) died in a plane crash. There were several former NHL players, men with olympic medals, and men who were considered amongst the best hockey players in the world on that plane. ESPN did not include them in their remembrance. It was one of the most tragic events in sports history and ESPN couldn’t be bothered to include it, because they have some sort of ridiculous grudge against the sport and had been trying to squash it ever since 2004. They have no integrity.
This man showed a The Hockey Guy clip. This is perhaps the best thing to ever happen to Urinating Tree, he knows of a great youtuber who keeps it honest and authentic
This little fact that ESPN doesn't give 2 fucks about the NHL makes me despise it even more. Always Lebron for NBA talk or Brady and Mahomes for NFL talk. No variety with other sports, that goes double for the sport Hockey.
“Oh wow the King, LeBron James just ate waffles for breakfast. Does this make him the GOAT?” “MJ would never eat waffles. That’s a soft move and he doesn’t have the killer mentality that MJ had when he ate pancakes”
Although I don’t watch all the sports and I’m only a Football and Basketball fan ESPN needs to know to be the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” you actually have to cover all sports not Brady Speculation and Jordan Lebron GOAT conversation
@@louis3141 Exactly. Some idiot with no talent whatsoever that ran to the back of the end zone and committed an own-safety shouldn't talk about talent, let alone so brazenly. He's such an imbecile.
@@KaiserInGilroy2K He already was kicked out the door once when they broke up Sunday NFL Countdown with Ditka, & Tom Jackson. Yet Keyshawn is somehow still employed
That too is even getting hard to watch since the announcers suck. They make identity politics decisions to put Jessica Menendez on their no. 1 mlb broadcast team cause she's a woman. But they are too short-sighted to see that Doris Burke clearly deserves to be on the no. 1 NBA broadcast team. No rhyme or reason to their decisions
The only thing I see of ESPN is their logo when I stream MNF on my computer. And I have to watch with it muted because they always hire the worst announcers.
@@eternalreign2313 It truly is sad that they replaced the leaving Gruden and the great chemistry with McDonough with an incompetent player announcer and a guy on a building crane.
Nothing but love for The Hockey Guy. As a long time hockey fan he’s pretty much helped me catch up on my favourite sport over the years. I want nothing but the best for him.
The top two college basketball teams in the country face off, go to quadruple OT, and the game ends on a half court buzzer beater. ESPN: *nah let’s talk about what shoes LeBron wore to his NBA game tonight*
He tarnished that when he refused to play in every game the way Jordan did and when he started towing the CCP's party line. Lost what little respect I'd still had for him then.
Honestly, I am just happy to see the Hockey Guy hype in this comment section. He's been my go to hockey channel for two years now and he's just so informative and you can see his passion for the sport.
"There's no authenticity or connection". Hard agree. When something happens in the NFL (only sport i watch really) I don't want to hear what some corporate suit has to say. When the Stafford trade happened, i thought " I wonder what Tree thinks of this and i can't wait to see Tom grossi's video on this and oh i bet Brandon from Thatsgoodsports will have a great breakdown on this" TH-camrs have majorly replaced the typical sport personality. I actually know what teams are your favorites and you're all willing to say exactly what's on your minds in the funniest way. EDIT: lol i posted this before i finished the video, tree beat me to my point haha
I actually really like your point about knowing team allegiances. Sports media is like 30% analysis at most and 70% opinion, and opinions are inevitably gonna be affected by who you root for, even when trying to be objective. People complain all the time that some talking head or network is biased towards some athlete or team, when there's some implicit obligation for big media to be impartial. At least most TH-camrs are open about that and you can judge their opinions accordingly.
No doubt the one liners are what made 90's Sport Center great, and no matter what two guys were on, it felt real, not forced. Personal favorites, "He must be butter, cause the boys on a roll" "That must have been a Homer Simpson, because the pitcher just went. D'OH" Also can't forget the Sports Center commercials were hilarious too.
Who’s here after ESPN lays off Max Kellerman, Jalen Rose, Steve Young, Matt Hasselbeck, Jeff Van Gundy, KeyShawn Johnson, Suzy Kolber, Ashley Brewer, Mark Jackson and soon to be more?
I’m glad you put THG in here cause he’s honestly so genuine with his takes and creates multiple great videos every day. Super underrated with his main hockey and second channel
I've been subbed to THG for 3 or 4 years now and I'm so glad for it. Guy puts in a lot of work on his content and it shows in the consistent quality. He's worked for and deserves every bit of credit.
I'm like a month late but... When I was 6 years old. I was a total noob to sports. I understood nothing about any sport, aside form the absolute basics. And yet, I found myself in front of the TV tuning into Around the Horn and PTI on routine. I loved the personalities, I loved the discussion, and I adored the people that made it great. I still listen to Tony Kornhieser's podcast with my dad. One day though, I turned on the TV and it felt...different. I stopped being interested in the people. It felt like the magic was gone. It was solidified when I tuned into HQ (the Hispanic show) and felt nothing. It didn't have that same magic that PTI had. At that point, I was 9 going on 10, and i had other interests. So I stopped watch ESPN. I'll glance up at it whenever I was at a restaurant, but the only other time I committed to ESPN was during the XFL. Now, I turn to people like you and Tom Grossi for updates on the NFL and other sport. The quality and humor value keep me coming back upload after upload, and recapture that magic I felt almost 10 years ago. Thank you.
All they needed was authenticity. But when you have channels like this one, Scooter Magruder, FivePointsVids, and many others... They lost it. ESPN is dead.
Fox Sports has more variety in their programming and deals they have with. Other than covering basketball and football, they also cover soccer, motorsports, and other sports from around the world to a great extent that ESPN lacks
@@chrisheyl1962 Very True. Yet MLB being so stupid just re-signed and extended their contract with ESPN to be their main cable tv regular season home again. If I was MLB Boss/CEO Manfred, I would have considered going to say NBC Sports Net to place most of their regular season games i.e Sunday Night Baseball. Having some MLB content probably would have saved NBC Sports Net which is going off the air by the end of the year here in 2021. With the way alternative media has taken over, Tree provided excellent analysis on it and invaluable suggestion on what ESPN/Disney Execs should be taking noted on to fix. Too bad, ESPN probably won't listen.
Same but also CFB. As soon as the late college football game is over they go right into seven consecutive hours of NFL Fantasy Football shows. If a west coast team plays a night game, you'll never get to see a recap of it.
As a avid viewer of ESPN in the 90's (never missed Sportscenter or Baseball Tonight. Ever.) I like so many here, haven't looked at ESPN unless I was waiting somewhere and it was on a TV. Then I would get immediately bored and turn to my phone for my sports news. TH-cam (Tree, Jomboy, KTO, Hockey Guy, Andy Hoops, amongst many others) has easily replaced ESPN. I sincerely doubt ESPN will recover. I give it 10 years before the plug is pulled. Also, RIP Pedro Gomez. Dude was a great reporter for ESPN and passed way too soon.
The last time I watched even a minute of SportsCenter was that night every sport shut down from COVID. Before that, I have no clue when the last time was that I watched a minute of ESPN for anything other than a draft or live game
All this NFL season, I looked forward to 'This Week in Sportsball" much the same way that I used to look forward to Berman and Tom Jackson's NFL Primetime back in it's heyday! Tree is filling the void!
I miss the old ESPN. The one that had Sports Center going all day and had all sorts of guests coming on to talk sports. It is very sad seeing it fall, all of which has been self inflicted.
Agreed and what’s funny is same thing happened to MTV. I was 5 when MTV started & remembered all day music videos. Then they started making their own shows & lost their unique edge. Now & then I’ll switch it on to see a movie playing in it. ESPN was the fun loving sports channel until it started taking itself too seriously around the late 2000s.
Their coverage of the nfl and nba were more analytical too. I remember nfl matchup where theyd do little film studies for some of the games. And nba matchup as well. They also used to show NFL films productions like the yearbooks for each team and the super bowl and NBA finals movies. I disagree with the hate on bomani Jones. The guy wrote about how awful donald sterling was and nobody listened until the tape came out. Sportscenter is competing with highlights on youtube though. It's something they cant really compete with. And they probably feel the analytical side of sports is only a niche interest.
This guy gets it. You can bash ESPN's top brass all you want, and I won't disagree. But there was no way they were going to stay ahead of the internet sports revolution forever.
What made SportsCenter special was they did all the sports at once and had VERY good anchors. Chris Berman doing the highlights from the week was awesome and was enjoyable to watch and catch up. The internet played a part, but driving so much into commentary and politics is what killed them.
I had a feeling you’d revisit your video about ESPN again. Great job Schlasser! All I care about there nowadays are live sports like you said. Like Tennis, Baseball and Football sometimes. Sadly the network continues to go downhill.
Here’s what killed ESPN in one word - Disney. In the 90’s and 2000’s, when Disney was expanding their media empire under Michael Eisner (After Frank Wells’ death) and Bob Iger, instead of buying things that they thought could legitimately contribute to their company or that they understood, or vis versa, they would just buy something for the sake of buying it and would leave it up to chance as to whether it’d succeed or not. This signaled a decline for the Walt Disney Corporation that began in the early 2000’s and that is still continuing to this day, even if they accidentally strike a gem here or there. In short, the company that believed in quality over cost that was started with Walt Disney himself and carried on early into Michael Eisner’s tenure as CEO, died sometime in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, and now they are truly like any other corporation in the world - just looking for the quickest way to make a buck, no matter what. Rest In Peace Walt Disney. Your parks, your characters, your company; they deserve better than this.
I wonder if Disney hasn't become a corporate version of the People's Republic of China, trying to get their fingers into every possible pie that they can even if it doesn't make sense to do so.
Technically, they still are. Look at what's happened with the Star Wars franchise since they acquired it: Complete oversaturation and a pivot towards mass appeal instead of the lore. The only thing people seem to agree is good out of Disney's Star Wars is The Mandalorian.
Hard for authenticity to thrive in a media environment that actively stifles diversity of opinion and has a history of hammering the nail that sticks out.
Look at how Bill Simmons and Keith Olbermann got the boot because they dared to make legitimate critiques of the NBA, NFL, MLB and College sports. I loved the Bill Simmons and Jalan Rose NBA preview back in 2013 and 2014 but those previews were a little too real...
@@chriskay1449 I know that KO's show was too expensive to produce and was going to go anyways. But ESPN did not have to act like a total cuck by telling KO to STFU when he made legitimate points on his shows in order to appease the powers that be. That is just totally cuckish. This is also why people lost respect for ESPN. Many other people in the entertainment business managed to adapt to the same changes that ESPN is going through too. But ESPN got shat on and Teabagged by everyone was for being so cuckish.
Welcome to the corporatization of media. It's important to make profits by creating cheap, garbage content, but let's cut costs and eschew authenticity by eliminating the meaningful people and productions that made them famous to start. This is Mickey's doing.
Says a lot about priorities when they’ll spend 15 minutes breaking down steph currys three pointers from the night before. And give a passing glance at the Stanley Cup Finals.
Remember when ESPN would show stuff about hockey, golf, Nascar, bowling, college wrestling for crying out loud? They actually were the worldwide leader in sports. Now they just cup Lebron's junk and sponge off the NFL's taint.
@@pittland44 and don't forget Indycar and F1 to boot... Even the 24 hours of LeMans and the Rolex 24 for that matter... When it came to motorsports back in the day, ESPN was a beast, even with low ratings at the time. World Cup Soccer the same damn way...
@@f1champ551 They had got rights for KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) duing the Pandemic, the rights were almost Worldwide and included the Korean Series (that this year was after world series) and rights for Highlights of all games They could had all chances to capitalize on KBO and Korea Frenzy that we are having nowdays with KPOP and stuffs, but as soon NBA and NFL came back they did throwed the league under the rug and broadcasted the rest of championship only barbecue KBO obligated them to do so as far i know, espn didn t even talked about Korean Series on their "Hot Take" shows let alone a AD promoting it, specially since MLB season already had finshed
All the LeBron James coverage killed ESPN for me. I only wanted to watch Nats highlights, but they spent over an hour on LeBron’s postgame interview, then they skipped the highlights entirely to talk about LeBron’s shoes. I then moved to MLB Network and eventually realized it was more of the same.
I miss Baseball Tonight on ESPN. I would watch every single night. It was the best. It killed me when they ditched it. And I can tell they don't care about baseball which sucks. I got MLB Network in 2014 and really liked it the first few years. MLB Tonight reminded me of Baseball Tonight. Definitely the best alternative on tv. But then they started to change up too. Things started to not just be baseball. Other outside things from culture, music, tv, politics, twitter, SJW stuff etc... started to take up too much time. Also don't really like how they just cater to a few young stars and just hang on them, talk about them so much and nearly nobody else. The "let the kids play" and making everything fun and joyful hoo-ray, as if it wasn't already fun enough for me to be a fan of before, has been a bummer too.
Baseball tonight was awesome! Used to always tune in with my dad. Now it’s just idiot fodder. Let’s put as many clueless women on the broadcast, covering sports they never played, so they can make themselves look foolish. Got it.
Near the end of its run, The Sports Reporters resembled more like Around the Horn at times with writers from Around the Horn. Fans were going, “Are we watching The Sports Reporters or Around the Horn?” And don’t forget the deaths of Dick Schapp and John Saunders as well that contributed to the end of The Sports Reporters.
I like to believe many of us who grew up watching espn are now watching tree, grossi, thatsgoodsports, mcafee, kto, flemlo, foolishbaseball et al. Yall are the the driving force behind sportsball talk.
Well even hockey wis,e the man he show in this video, The Hockey Guy, goes more into details of every match,trade, news around the League and all those type of things than any of the professional channels. When a guy with a whiteboard goes a better job than TSN,ESPN and those other compagnies combined, theres a problem somewhere.
I literally agree with every single word in this video. Espn is a dumpster fire and Stephen a and greeny are the only thing that keeps the ship afloat. I’d also add that because of their controversial takes and attacks, no real players want to come on either. They’re all going to pat mcafee. Hell, Sean McDermott, the bills coach famous for not giving interviews, granted pat one. And I’d rather listen to Sean McDermott rather than any of the talking heads from espn.
They fumbled the bag with Katie Nolan - Garbage Time won an Emmy for a reason and her ESPN podcast was great. They also have way too many debate shows - the direction of content sucks. They still have decent analysts who bring authenticity like SVP, Pablo Torre, and Mina Kimes but they aren’t using them in the best ways. Also, totally agree - the really need more sports documentaries - there are SO many topics they could cover.
It's crazy. I had the same dream, to be an anchor on sportscenter. I joined the Marines in the communications field and when I got out I pursued a journalism degree in college. Life happened, and I wasn't able to continue down that path, but looking at the network now, your analysis is spot-on. I used to wake up every morning and turn on sportscenter while I got ready for work. It's been almost a decade since I've done that. Now I watch sportscasters on youtube like you and others during my morning routine. It's actually quite sad. Some of my best sports moments play in my head with Dan Patrick or Stuart Scott or Kenny Mayne as the voice-over. Maybe one day they will recapture that lightning in a bottle. But the future doesn't look good for them.
Stuart Scott was quite literally the reason I'd watch ESPN, with his death, the channel never felt the same. SC lost its charm, and honestly it's not really the hosts faults. It's just the way you know what's coming, and could just easily go on theScore and read/watch exactly what they'll talk about for 15 minutes, in a fraction of the time
Just for the record, UrinatingTree, you're my favorite TH-camr. The Lolcow videos, the Legacies of Failure, This Week in Sportsball, Days of our Steelers and the Haters Guides. I always eagerly await your takes on sporting events. I've also made a fan out of my dad, and my mom was laughing her ass off when I put your video about the NFL teams that missed the postseason this year on our big TV in the living room. This is the epitome of the points you make in this video. Being from Canada, in an earlier age you would get your sports info from TSN or Sportsnet. This day and age, I either go to the NFL website or watch videos from you and McAfee, maybe even TGS or Packast. Now, in fairness, TSN and Sportsnet have not devolved into what ESPN has become, as I feel that their personalities still have some authenticity, but the point still stands. The landscape of entertainment has changed, and with it the sports world. The success of both your channel and the Pat McAfee Show is likely in huge part because you guys are your own bosses and because you aren't limited by the FCC, so you can say what you truly believe without any repercussions.
FCC limitations are not that bad. The problem is that ESPN, self censors and have become corporate dick riders because they are afraid that they will lose their live sports broadcasting rights if they hurt the snowflake feelings of the shitty owners of NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL team owners and management.
Mans is the true force of the channel right now. Hey man, we are a group of high school students who run our own sports talk show from the Chicago area and talk about the latest NBA/NFL developments. Recently, we just wrapped up our Super Bowl Coverage week. No strings attached, an episode each weekday, and just four life-long friends who are pursuing their dreams. Would highly appreciate any support!
And he carries it for all the wrong reasons. He's a one man reality show who is just there to stir the pot. I don't need manufactured drama in my sports, just show me the scores and the latest sports news without any of the extra BS. ESPN is to sports what MTV is to music or what TLC is to learning or what Comedy Central is to comedy or what CNN is to news or what ... jesus christ, is anyone authentic anymore?
@@eternalreign2313 Hard to say it’s for the wrong reasons when SAS is legit ESPN’s ONLY draw outside of live sports. He’s the closest thing they have to a household name. I saw dudes on TikTok doing Stephen A Smith impressions. Don’t hate the player, hate the game
Your Friendly Neighborhood Smark seems like the rest of the talking heads exist to make boring hot takes and to say things that politically agitate the more conservative/apolitical leaning independent content creators, probably to attempt to give them the “old man yells at cloud” vibe
Here is what had to be taken into account. When you do a podcast, you’re your boss, you can tilt the content in the direction you want, with little to no overhead, and no sponsors to appease. So, if you’re working for ESPN, FS1, NBCSN, or CBSCS, you have bosses to answer to, and have to tilt the content in the way they want. In other words, it’s easier to do the content you want when you have no one else to answer to. When you’re not the one in charge, see what response you’ll get when you say, “I’ll do and say what I want, when I want.” Most likely, it won’t be a positive one.
TH-camrs have to navigate demonitization policies and insane content police to keep their videos from being flagged by idiots - all with almost zero outside financial support. SPN gets propped up by their parent company, and has the full support of silicon valley.
I always remember being so excited to watch Chris Berman and Tom Jackson every Sunday during football season. Now it's Lebron, Mahomes, Brady, Giannis, Curry, and Cowboys.
Even on ESPN's NFL Coverage, in 2021 it's only about 90% Cowboys, along with Tom and Patrick. In the era of Berman and TJ, they gave all 30 teams then "some coverage."
The problem with ESPN is they are talking to each other, not talking to the viewer like what it used to be. Tell us the story not talk about it amongst yourself. Let the fans talk at the water cooler about it, give us the information to talk about.
When guys like Aaron Rodgers prefers the Pat McAfee show, a show run by a couple of guys, over ESPN, when ESPN is owned by Disney and is supposed to be the "Worldwide leader in sports", you know you've fallen.
Edit: I've procrastinated on editing this but yeah this didn't age well lol
ESPN has fallen but your points don’t make sense. Aaron Rodgers went to Pats show because he’s rich and famous enough to not need ESPN. 95% of other players go when they’re asked
Holy shit, does he actually??
@@nicksojka7457 yep I think he was on it every monday, at least during the season
@@williamguy7969 He was on every Tuesday. He even went on 2 days after he had lost the NFC Championship.
Hell, he became his own segment: Aaron Rodgers Tuesday. It was a weekly event and I think it’s served him quite well
Thanks for the inclusion in the video. Appreciate it.
Real recognizes real. You love to see it.
you're the GOAT
The Greatest to ever do hockey videos. So much love Shannon, keep it up!
Love you man
You make great content.
Lebron James: does a push-up
ESPN: this might hurt his legacy big time
Very clever. And if it is true, ya don’t say.
actually, the headline would read more like "Could LeBron be the strongest 36 year old to ever play the game?"
@@Gary828 the thing is, its gonna be both of them, even maybe from the same writer to get the clicks from fans and haters
LeBron james: does a push up
Espn: my God hes the next Malcom x
*Skip Bayless
He can conjure so much anti-LeBron takes that it can last for a whole week.
Lebron James says that he don't like burger king, will this affect his LEGACY?!!!
I Love watching Basketball, but I go to actual NBA TH-camrs for my analyzing of teams and not ESPN.
Yeah, but that's already a dumpster fire so, who cares?
@@pittland44 what the nba youtubers or the nba is the dumpster fire?
@@Ayo601 Oh the NBA is the dumpster fire.
@@astveloria I think he’s talking about the handling of COVID by the league
The formula is too predictable.
You can only have people arguing who the G.O.A.T is for so long.
That debate will go on for another 30 years. Y’all complain but still click on ESPN. They know what they’re doing but why should they stop? Plays chess not checkers
@@tjleaf3510 we arent clicking on espn anymore thats the point of the video
like tree said they need to get authentic personalities and I despise he needs to find work elsewhere Zach Kelberman he can cover sports for CNN
@A Honest Opinion Bold of you to think a TH-camr will outlast a billion dollar company 🤣 Guess we’ll wait and see
@@tucan2234 People clearly still are, that’s the point of my comment. 😂
The Hockey Guy is the most genuine and down to earth fan of a sport ever, Dudes coverage is insanely good for how much work he puts in, Nonstop grind and a funny dry sense of humor, thank you sports youtubers and thank you hockey guy
And I'm betting he sticks to Hockey, and avoids "politics"....
Love THG. His knowledge is ridiculous. He talks about 4th liners as if he follows them as much as the stars.
@@joeylawn36111 He sticks to hockey, he knows almost everything about every player. Watch some of his videos and you can tell that he cares about hockey so much
@@joeylawn36111 Yes, Like anyone with an actual brain does.
wouldn't say he's down to earth or friendly after having a chat with him but he does have great content
The Hockey Guy is indisputably the all time goat of sportscasting
Love his hockey content. The sheer volume he does is impressive
best hockey content that man fr goated
W
He’s the Bob Ross of Hockey in my honest opinion.
A real wholesome dude that’s very DIY style of sports commentary makes him seem like he is exactly what the world of sports commentary needs.
I got so excited when i saw him in the video.
The Last Dance was ESPN’s last ditch attempt at seeing what would stick. Their 30 for 30s have been great regardless of the regular content of the network. Would like to see them emphasize this more
yes i love sports documentaries thanks to them even learned about my states college Football forgotten Heroes The Black 14
True I almost forgot 30 for 30 was ESPN
I didn't bother watching the Last Dance. Who cares? We all knew the outcome, the Jordan era is over. Period.
Maybe I just wasn't interested but that could just be me.
"Catching Hell" is legitimately one of the best documentaries that I've ever seen.
It is so much stupid the way they throwed 30for30 away, they even used 30for30 for the political thing that Tree was talking about on vid
Stephen Smith looks like the food critic from Ratatouie :P
Except he doesn't have any skin
GURU LARRYYYYYYYYYYYYY
What are you doing here? Didn’t know you’d be interested in American sports.
@@shotokankun He's been on his videos commenting every now and then. In fact, I once let him know that the Brooklyn Nets did used to be called the New York Nets once.
With those glasses, yes 👍🏻
“Lightning win the Stanley cup”
ESPN: interesting, that team with the good Russian guy pulls through. Now back to Lebrons favorite bedtime snack. Kellerman do you think it’ll affect his play?
Stephen A: Max, you're wrong and here's why.......
Spot on
Either lebron, dak, tom Brady or Micheal Jordan
As a Pats fan and massive Brady fan, even I can’t take it. Like seriously, is there nothing else y’all can talk about?
Real world: Lightning route the white hot Stars to take home the Stanley cup for the first time in years!
ESPN: Does Brady prefer Wheaties or Cheerios, and does LeBron approve of this choice for the black community? Max Kellerman discusses
As a hockey fan I can confirm this is true
Couldnt have said it better myself
Sup Marc
It's weird to see all the sports people I watch comment here
UrinatingTree: not as tall as ESPN, but his roots run deeper.
and 500% more Urination!
@@bigstupidgrin And all of the salt that comes with it!
And 50 times the sport variety!
And UT is A LOT more fun to listen to. ESPN has been chasing after "gravitas" for so long in an attempt to be "THE sports authority" that they lost the charm and light-heartedness that made people want to tune in daily.
Dude, even TSN is better than ESPN.
Only because it’s 70%of bell media running it
Outkick is also better than ESPN.
Rip SC with Jay and Dan
TSN ain't that bad
Mostly because of Bardown
We need to revisit ESPN again
It’s almost like they’ve never learned from the first two videos
Patiently waiting for the shade under this massive tree😂
ESPN is part of a dying breed. Shows like The Pat McAfee Show are the way of the future for sport discussion. Authentic shows with humour, personality, and honest takes that don’t come off as manufactured.
it's been cool watching Pat's show take off since the 100k subs, I was always hoping that format would take off because it's so chill and honest
@@paultrigger3798 I recently started watching him and I absolutely love it! My only regret is that I didn’t find it sooner.
McAfee has said that he owes a lot of his success to Barstool and Portnoy for “teaching me about the internet.” Say what you want about barstool, but they know what works and they’re authentic. And when Pat left, he was able to take what he learned and leave all the negative stuff about them behind. If that sort of teaching gets passed down, “traditional” media will become obsolete very soon
Strong Opinion Sports has great content too
except McAfee's show is filled with a bunch of yes men. He is not entertaining to me
"Hockey and Baseball exists"
ESPN: what's that? Must be a figment of my imagination.
Also ESPN: “and over in the NBA now where...”.... even during off-season.
so true I hope Current and Future NHL & NBA Superstars are mentioned in the same breath
@@JBTriple8 nah, nba players don’t deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as nhl players, but that’s another topic
“Football and Basketball exist”
ESPN: what’s that? We only know Tom Brady and Lebron James.
Soccer:
You nailed the political part bang on. My family is largely conservative with a few liberals mixed in. Since we are Oregon State Beavers fans (I know, pity us) we watched the Oregon State vs Oregon Football game as a family. The game had been known as “The Civil War” for over 100 years since the two schools are less than 10 miles from each other and the rivalry is VERY heated. However, since a couple ex-players came out and called the name “Racist” for apparently referencing The American Civil War (Which it didn’t btw), the schools dropped the name, despite massive fan backlash from both schools. In fact, a poll posted in the state news station on Facebook had a 90% disapproval rate of the name change.
The game was on ESPN, and throughout the game, ESPN kept talking about the name change and “How the communities of both schools have been very supportive of the change.” This statement caused my Uber-Liberal Aunt to stand up and yell “WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Have you talked to anyone in the community?!”
I was just about to say “ESPN is CNN with sports,” while watching this video.
And then Tree said “I felt like I was watching CNN.”
Clearly this is something a lot of people are thinking. ESPN has become a victim of the 24 hour news cycle. The more you turn EVERYTHING into a controversy, the more it sounds like white noise.
I only watch PTI
Yeah not to mention the over-politicalization and constant pushing of PC culture. Every platform tries to push social issues. All that does is push people away and kill ratings, the people don’t care about that shit.
I’m actually an announcer for ESPN today we are covering lebrons favorite bed time story and milk brand
@@toshow237 social and political issues mix with sports especially this year. Like it or not athletes care about it.
@@benpickard3203 Yeah but when every organization does the same shit and pushes the same agendas it ends up meaning nothing. Let the players express what they want but the league should remain neutral.
Honestly, wouldn’t mind seeing ESPN fade away into obscurity.
Just like the red wings
When ESPN is more interested in the smell of their own farts than actually covering sports, then you know it's time to move on.
And take Steven A with it.
I still enjoy some of their writing from time to time. But their broadcast is a joke. Sports center is anything but "sports" center. Its just taking heads
Honestly ESPN isnt that great but I love the not top ten and top ten so
6:15 THE HOCKEY GUY! One of the most knowledgeable guys about the sport on TH-cam!
ESPN isn't even competitive with their own traditional television competition anymore. Look at Inside the NBA on TNT for example. Three former players and an anchor who have great chemistry, aren't censored by the network, give actual analysis without the need for hot takes, don't attempt to be something they're not, and are relatively relatable. Charles Barkley for example is entertaining because he's funny, spontaneous, candid and authentic. The way him, Shaq, Kenny, and Ernie interact and play off of each other seems real, and it seems like they're just having fun and talking hoops like normal guys, instead of trying to drum up drama for clicks. They are an example of a show that has adapted to the modern audience, and they are endearing because of it.
That’s what I live about TNT, all they do is let them do what they want and watch the magic happen. Love watching those guys
I hate the NBA for what it’s become but I’ve always loved that group. Shaq, Charles, Ernie and Kenny are much better than the current NBA product.
TNT > ESPN who agrees with me?
This is why they should give the finals to TNT
How about those San Antonio women?? Hahahaha Charles Barkley hilarious
I’m happy he showed THG, He doesn’t get enough recognition because of the sport but dude grinds
He’s my favorite channel when it comes to hockey.
I liked that he showed the guys from Spittin Chiclets
he uploads constantly day after day and its always quality
@@djtrankilo231 spittin chicklets are millionaires and Shannon isn’t
@@yqmlife1757 just Whit and Biz. I doubt Grinelli and RA are
I feel like ESPN never truly recovered after Stuart Scott died. It's like a piece of them died along with him.
ESPN was already dying by the time Scott died. Their liberal bias was well underway by that point.
Still looking for '93 Keith Olbermann to come back...
He seemed to be the last of a dying species
As cool as the other side of the pillow.
Yep. I mean they were headed down the road, but his death didn't help. He was just a classic sports fan. Just simple and to the point. A guy you'd like to talk sports or drink with.
As a hardcore Hockey fan, I'm glad you put the Hockey Guy up there.
Dude is underrated and deserves a lot more views then he gets for the work he puts in.
Hockey and the NHL is such an underrated sport and league
The Hockey Guy is a gem
Shannon, a.k.a. The Hockey Guy is FRACKING AWESOME!!
Nobody gives a shit about hockey, L
@@blainecarter990 - Thanks for visiting, Max Kellerman. Please try not to hit your head on your way out.
Shoutout to Alex Smith and all the other guys winning awards tonight!
Well deserved by Smith
@@GLepage74 yeah
That Award should be named after him
And also a shoutout to said comeback hero for playing for playing for the most creative franchise in the NFL
th-cam.com/video/CVmQRF3AcMg/w-d-xo.html
The Hockey Guy deserves so much, his videos are 11/10
Reasons why ESPN manages to stay relevant:
1. TV deals with College Hoops/College Football, NBA, MLB & MNF
2. Their documentaries
3. Scott Van Pelt
4. Stephen A. Smith
You didn't mention NHL, just like them
SVP is best part of ESPN
You had me up until you mentioned their chief race baiter Stephen A.
They also have NHL, Premier League and La Liga
@@eternalreign2313 what like Stephen a Smith he’s ESPN’s main guy
You threw the Hockey Guy in there too! That man works so hard and is completely genuine. He deserves so much more recognition.
Shannon is the best. I actually don't mind a lot of the hockey talkers on the big networks now but Shannon rules them all.
Out of all of the sports youtubers he easily has the best analysis out of any of them. Better than Jackson Krueger, Strong Opinion Sports, and Brett Kollman.
I want to say thank you Tree, your the reason I got into sports and I can’t thank you enough for that. I remember back in 2016-17 when you made that “haters guide to 2016-17 nfl playoffs” and I got hooked, if it weren’t for that I would have never seen 28-3. Thanks to your other videos I branched out to other sports and got to see the Tampa Bay Lightning my favorite hockey team win the cup, which has been the best part of my life over the past two years. So from the bottom of my heart thank you Urinating Tree.
Same for me, when I first started watching Tree I was young and thought that sports were dumb and for meat heads, now after years of watching this channel I love football and have started watching basketball. I just wish I had gotten into watching sports earlier as the rush of the game is one of the best feelings in any kind of entertainment.
I love that quick clip of The Hockey Guy in there, Shannon’s awesome. Him, Tree, and Tom Grossi all deserve 1 mil subs.
I was legit about to type this and then I saw this, they are all amazing in their own ways. Shannon is one of the most wholesome you tubers/personalities in general I’ve ever watched, tree is funny as hell, grossi (who admittedly I’ve watched little of) seems creative and even Flemlo who Tree showed a little bit about is interesting and very research driven and explains stories in an interesting and objective light. They’re all so much better than the fake corporate ESPN
Brandon from that’s good sports deserves it too
Was about to say this and flemloraps very underrated guys but for different reasons. Hockey guy can explain the game to me in a totally different way than ive ever thought of before. His knowledge is off the charts
Shannon is the best.
Shannon is the man! I actually CARE about his opinion... ESPN is the most boring content ever, which is sad since they're talking about content in which I genuinely have interest
There's nothing I wanted to be more when I was eight than to be an anchor on NFL Countdown to talk about the St. Louis Rams winning a bunch. How times have changed. Also nice shoutout to The Hockey Guy
Now you can do it on the interwebs in your own way.
Same man
I recommend anyone who's trying to get into hockey to watch THG's videos. He's a treasure.
Agreed on THG; he's just pure class.
Shannon deserves the world man
Tree, you, FlemLo, HockeyGuy, SetTheEdge, KTO, Griffiti, Brett Kollman, Thatsgoodsports, and others have kept sports media alive for me man. You guys are the future.
Holy shit the mad lad did it again, wasn’t expecting this one at all Tree
th-cam.com/video/CVmQRF3AcMg/w-d-xo.html
Now I'm just wondering if he'll ever do that video on Fox Sports 🤔
God, when he talks about FS with Skip now almost leaving, damn
UrinatingTree and HockeyGuy are treasures.
Can't forget Jomboy
Don't forget Perna and Grossi, too
Love Hockey Guy and Flemlo Raps. It was cool seeing them get exposure here.
Back in 2011, ESPN had a segment at the end of the year where they highlighted sports figures who had died during the past year. Well, in September of 2011 the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL hockey team) died in a plane crash. There were several former NHL players, men with olympic medals, and men who were considered amongst the best hockey players in the world on that plane. ESPN did not include them in their remembrance. It was one of the most tragic events in sports history and ESPN couldn’t be bothered to include it, because they have some sort of ridiculous grudge against the sport and had been trying to squash it ever since 2004. They have no integrity.
Why doesn’t that surprise me?
This man showed a The Hockey Guy clip. This is perhaps the best thing to ever happen to Urinating Tree, he knows of a great youtuber who keeps it honest and authentic
thg best hockey content and its no contest
Fans: Oh boy the Stanley Cup finals have been insane!!
ESPN: What did Lebron have for dinner
Orioles let Gary Thorne go. Hope he goes back to calling hockey. That shit is velvet to the ear
Tom Brady’s career↗️
ESPN as a company ↘️
This little fact that ESPN doesn't give 2 fucks about the NHL makes me despise it even more. Always Lebron for NBA talk or Brady and Mahomes for NFL talk. No variety with other sports, that goes double for the sport Hockey.
They don’t have the NHL contract that’s why. We have to go to NBC Sports for hockey or NHL Network.
“Oh wow the King, LeBron James just ate waffles for breakfast. Does this make him the GOAT?”
“MJ would never eat waffles. That’s a soft move and he doesn’t have the killer mentality that MJ had when he ate pancakes”
Although I don’t watch all the sports and I’m only a Football and Basketball fan ESPN needs to know to be the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” you actually have to cover all sports not Brady Speculation and Jordan Lebron GOAT conversation
Who would of thought the company that employed Booger Mcfarland is a lolcow.
Poor Booger, he’s actually the least of the problems with ESPN. Kellerman, Qerim, Foxworth, the NBA retards are all far worse
@@silverback7675 Don't forget loud screaming dumbo ear Dan" I gave myself a safety" Orlovsky
@@louis3141 Exactly. Some idiot with no talent whatsoever that ran to the back of the end zone and committed an own-safety shouldn't talk about talent, let alone so brazenly. He's such an imbecile.
Trust me, when NFL “Prahm Time” is over, Chris Berman will be shoved out the door and be bumblin, rumblin, and stumblin in the street.
@@KaiserInGilroy2K He already was kicked out the door once when they broke up Sunday NFL Countdown with Ditka, & Tom Jackson. Yet Keyshawn is somehow still employed
Nice shoutout to The Hockey Guy, he’s a really underrated hockey youtuber
PTI is the only thing I even pay attention to on ESPN, and once Wilbon and Kornheiser are done, I'm not sure I'll ever tune in to them again.
they too are infected by the woke
@@stevenp9209 I guess I'll have to deal, because I thoroughly enjoy them.
Loved seeing The Hockey Guy make an appearance here
He’s awesome. Hope to see him on the Dumpster Fire soon. The sheer amount dry sarcasm would give me a new lease on life LOL
Let’s be honest. Most of us only watch ESPN because the game we watch is on that channel, but that’s the sole reason
That too is even getting hard to watch since the announcers suck. They make identity politics decisions to put Jessica Menendez on their no. 1 mlb broadcast team cause she's a woman. But they are too short-sighted to see that Doris Burke clearly deserves to be on the no. 1 NBA broadcast team. No rhyme or reason to their decisions
exactly
The only thing I see of ESPN is their logo when I stream MNF on my computer. And I have to watch with it muted because they always hire the worst announcers.
@@eternalreign2313 It truly is sad that they replaced the leaving Gruden and the great chemistry with McDonough with an incompetent player announcer and a guy on a building crane.
Even then, I turn the volume off, and turn on the radio to hear your team's radio announcers.
Nothing but love for The Hockey Guy.
As a long time hockey fan he’s pretty much helped me catch up on my favourite sport over the years. I want nothing but the best for him.
Hot Take: Tree's content quality, work ethic, relatable character and his connection with his viewers make him LIGHT YEARS ahead ESPN.
To be fair, in the comment section of an UrinatingTree video this really isn't a hot take.
I honestly don’t watch ESPN anymore except when a MAJOR story breaks, and that’s mainly due to Tree.
No cap
Do people even know what a hot take is anymore?
That’s not a hot take it’s fax😂
6:17 The Hockey Guy is an absolute treasure!
agreed
I was one of the very fortunate people who "happened upon" one of his videos. He's like the cool uncle of TH-cam.
His cats have more personality than anyone at ESPN
Shannon may not have millions of subscribers, but ohh boy his videos make up for it. He’s an absolute joy to watch when he post his videos.
He is the best hockey news source imo I’d rather watch him then the stooges on NHL network
The top two college basketball teams in the country face off, go to quadruple OT, and the game ends on a half court buzzer beater.
ESPN: *nah let’s talk about what shoes LeBron wore to his NBA game tonight*
Facts that's annoying no one cares bout lefloppy James ugly moon boots shoes
Typical ESPN headline: "What LeBron ate this morning will tarnish his legacy"
He tarnished that when he refused to play in every game the way Jordan did and when he started towing the CCP's party line. Lost what little respect I'd still had for him then.
"Dak worked out today. How will that change the contract with Dallas?"
@@Gozokukolat k, i bet hes crying because Gonzokukolat doesnt respect him.
@@Gozokukolat I lost respect in him for the same reason
@prison mike you tried making a joke but LeBron is so desperate for everyone to like him he probably is, he cries about everything else
6:15 MY HOCKEY GUY BEEN WATCHING THAT MAN FOR LIKE ALMOST 4 YEARS
Been following for about 3 years myself... the work he puts in to his craft is unmatchrd
@@rcktman0127 that man has got some serious work ethic
You're way better than ESPN my man. Your content actually has personality.
And unlike ESPN, he covers more than two sports.
This and several others on TH-cam, Twitch, and podcast apps are doing this miles ahead of ESPN.
UTree is awesome and so is Outkick.
@@nif8724 Wait, are you SERIOUS??! The Phillies got so salty at tree's video that they tried to take it down??!
@@nif8724 Wait. What did the phils take down?
Honestly, I am just happy to see the Hockey Guy hype in this comment section. He's been my go to hockey channel for two years now and he's just so informative and you can see his passion for the sport.
"There's no authenticity or connection". Hard agree. When something happens in the NFL (only sport i watch really) I don't want to hear what some corporate suit has to say. When the Stafford trade happened, i thought " I wonder what Tree thinks of this and i can't wait to see Tom grossi's video on this and oh i bet Brandon from Thatsgoodsports will have a great breakdown on this" TH-camrs have majorly replaced the typical sport personality. I actually know what teams are your favorites and you're all willing to say exactly what's on your minds in the funniest way.
EDIT: lol i posted this before i finished the video, tree beat me to my point haha
I actually really like your point about knowing team allegiances. Sports media is like 30% analysis at most and 70% opinion, and opinions are inevitably gonna be affected by who you root for, even when trying to be objective. People complain all the time that some talking head or network is biased towards some athlete or team, when there's some implicit obligation for big media to be impartial. At least most TH-camrs are open about that and you can judge their opinions accordingly.
Sportscenter used to have such an impact on the American psyche that "Booyeah!" became cool to say.
Add to that "rumblin', stumblin', bumblin'" and other catchphrases from the past legends. "WOOP!"
No doubt the one liners are what made 90's Sport Center great, and no matter what two guys were on, it felt real, not forced. Personal favorites,
"He must be butter, cause the boys on a roll"
"That must have been a Homer Simpson, because the pitcher just went.
D'OH"
Also can't forget the Sports Center commercials were hilarious too.
You still have stay off the weed
Who’s here after ESPN lays off Max Kellerman, Jalen Rose, Steve Young, Matt Hasselbeck, Jeff Van Gundy, KeyShawn Johnson, Suzy Kolber, Ashley Brewer, Mark Jackson and soon to be more?
The Hockey Guy is where I get 99% of my hockey news
Yeah every game is like postponed. I thought they handled everything the best ?
@@Starlit43 they postponed games in the nfl and the mlb but they still finished the season
I’m glad you put THG in here cause he’s honestly so genuine with his takes and creates multiple great videos every day. Super underrated with his main hockey and second channel
His cats have more of a personality than 95% of ESPN's talking heads.
Absolutely!
THG is the most underrated TH-cam channel out there. He's just so relatable in his videos that it makes you feel like you know him personally.
I've been subbed to THG for 3 or 4 years now and I'm so glad for it. Guy puts in a lot of work on his content and it shows in the consistent quality. He's worked for and deserves every bit of credit.
I'm like a month late but...
When I was 6 years old. I was a total noob to sports. I understood nothing about any sport, aside form the absolute basics. And yet, I found myself in front of the TV tuning into Around the Horn and PTI on routine. I loved the personalities, I loved the discussion, and I adored the people that made it great. I still listen to Tony Kornhieser's podcast with my dad. One day though, I turned on the TV and it felt...different. I stopped being interested in the people. It felt like the magic was gone. It was solidified when I tuned into HQ (the Hispanic show) and felt nothing. It didn't have that same magic that PTI had. At that point, I was 9 going on 10, and i had other interests. So I stopped watch ESPN. I'll glance up at it whenever I was at a restaurant, but the only other time I committed to ESPN was during the XFL. Now, I turn to people like you and Tom Grossi for updates on the NFL and other sport. The quality and humor value keep me coming back upload after upload, and recapture that magic I felt almost 10 years ago. Thank you.
All they needed was authenticity. But when you have channels like this one, Scooter Magruder, FivePointsVids, and many others... They lost it. ESPN is dead.
Also Flemlo Raps, Set the Edge, and KTO
Not to mention JxmyHighroller and Mike Korzemba for Basketball
Hell, even TH-cam that just focuses on one team I.E Tom Grossi is more entertaining than ESPN. That's coming from a Bears fan.
Or FlightMike/Mikerophone
Strong Opinion Sports, Pat Mcafee Show, Tom Grossi, Flemlo Raps, KTO, The Franchise Guy; and so many others
I stopped watching ESPN because literally all they cover with any seriousness is basketball and football.
As a fan of sports outside of those 2 I like to call them ESPNBA and ESPNFL
I don’t like it but that is where the money is
Fox Sports has more variety in their programming and deals they have with. Other than covering basketball and football, they also cover soccer, motorsports, and other sports from around the world to a great extent that ESPN lacks
@@chrisheyl1962 Very True. Yet MLB being so stupid just re-signed and extended their contract with ESPN to be their main cable tv regular season home again. If I was MLB Boss/CEO Manfred, I would have considered going to say NBC Sports Net to place most of their regular season games i.e Sunday Night Baseball. Having some MLB content probably would have saved NBC Sports Net which is going off the air by the end of the year here in 2021.
With the way alternative media has taken over, Tree provided excellent analysis on it and invaluable suggestion on what ESPN/Disney Execs should be taking noted on to fix. Too bad, ESPN probably won't listen.
Same but also CFB. As soon as the late college football game is over they go right into seven consecutive hours of NFL Fantasy Football shows. If a west coast team plays a night game, you'll never get to see a recap of it.
As a avid viewer of ESPN in the 90's (never missed Sportscenter or Baseball Tonight. Ever.) I like so many here, haven't looked at ESPN unless I was waiting somewhere and it was on a TV.
Then I would get immediately bored and turn to my phone for my sports news.
TH-cam (Tree, Jomboy, KTO, Hockey Guy, Andy Hoops, amongst many others) has easily replaced ESPN.
I sincerely doubt ESPN will recover. I give it 10 years before the plug is pulled.
Also, RIP Pedro Gomez. Dude was a great reporter for ESPN and passed way too soon.
I used to watch SportsCenter every single day, it was a point of viewing years ago. Now, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a full episode
i think it was 4-5 years ago for me
I was exactly the same way.
It's so sad man.. I used to love it
It makes me MF SAD how MF LOW they have MF FALLEN
The last time I watched even a minute of SportsCenter was that night every sport shut down from COVID. Before that, I have no clue when the last time was that I watched a minute of ESPN for anything other than a draft or live game
6:15 Hockey Guy time ladies and gentlemen
Remember when tosh.0 ripped ESPN apart....God I love that video
Daniel Tosh is hilarious, idc what anyone says
All this NFL season, I looked forward to 'This Week in Sportsball" much the same way that I used to look forward to Berman and Tom Jackson's NFL Primetime back in it's heyday! Tree is filling the void!
I miss the old ESPN. The one that had Sports Center going all day and had all sorts of guests coming on to talk sports. It is very sad seeing it fall, all of which has been self inflicted.
Agreed and what’s funny is same thing happened to MTV. I was 5 when MTV started & remembered all day music videos. Then they started making their own shows & lost their unique edge. Now & then I’ll switch it on to see a movie playing in it. ESPN was the fun loving sports channel until it started taking itself too seriously around the late 2000s.
What up cole
@@patrickwhelpley1745 I wasnt alive for MTV , I can see that comparison for what I heard
Their coverage of the nfl and nba were more analytical too. I remember nfl matchup where theyd do little film studies for some of the games. And nba matchup as well. They also used to show NFL films productions like the yearbooks for each team and the super bowl and NBA finals movies.
I disagree with the hate on bomani Jones. The guy wrote about how awful donald sterling was and nobody listened until the tape came out.
Sportscenter is competing with highlights on youtube though. It's something they cant really compete with. And they probably feel the analytical side of sports is only a niche interest.
Fox sports was also better back then. Many of their talent are jokes too.
Yeah, let's just say this needs a part 3 considering today's round of cuts...
ESPN's flagship show was Sportscenter. Now the highlights people want to see are online. The rest of it is pointless other than live events
This guy gets it. You can bash ESPN's top brass all you want, and I won't disagree. But there was no way they were going to stay ahead of the internet sports revolution forever.
SVP makes it interesting with his personality, but still ESPN can't survive with only one hour of good ratings
I’m 20 been watching the nfl and nba with my brothers since I was six and Ive never even seen sportscenter
I think the rise of the internet is a contributing factor as to why ESPN has declined
What made SportsCenter special was they did all the sports at once and had VERY good anchors. Chris Berman doing the highlights from the week was awesome and was enjoyable to watch and catch up. The internet played a part, but driving so much into commentary and politics is what killed them.
ESPN went from a good, authentic product to parroting whatever hot take they read from Twitter, Instagram or Facebook
This
I had a feeling you’d revisit your video about ESPN again. Great job Schlasser! All I care about there nowadays are live sports like you said. Like Tennis, Baseball and Football sometimes. Sadly the network continues to go downhill.
I haven’t turned on ESPN in over a year. I used to watch daily. They have spiraled into complete irrelevance for me.
Here’s what killed ESPN in one word - Disney.
In the 90’s and 2000’s, when Disney was expanding their media empire under Michael Eisner (After Frank Wells’ death) and Bob Iger, instead of buying things that they thought could legitimately contribute to their company or that they understood, or vis versa, they would just buy something for the sake of buying it and would leave it up to chance as to whether it’d succeed or not. This signaled a decline for the Walt Disney Corporation that began in the early 2000’s and that is still continuing to this day, even if they accidentally strike a gem here or there.
In short, the company that believed in quality over cost that was started with Walt Disney himself and carried on early into Michael Eisner’s tenure as CEO, died sometime in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, and now they are truly like any other corporation in the world - just looking for the quickest way to make a buck, no matter what.
Rest In Peace Walt Disney. Your parks, your characters, your company; they deserve better than this.
Very accurate.
I wonder if Disney hasn't become a corporate version of the People's Republic of China, trying to get their fingers into every possible pie that they can even if it doesn't make sense to do so.
@@All2Meme
Yep.
Technically, they still are. Look at what's happened with the Star Wars franchise since they acquired it: Complete oversaturation and a pivot towards mass appeal instead of the lore. The only thing people seem to agree is good out of Disney's Star Wars is The Mandalorian.
@@UrinatingTree
And even then, Tree, that seems to be more of Disney giving Jon Favreau complete control rather than micro-managing it.
Hard for authenticity to thrive in a media environment that actively stifles diversity of opinion and has a history of hammering the nail that sticks out.
Look at how Bill Simmons and Keith Olbermann got the boot because they dared to make legitimate critiques of the NBA, NFL, MLB and College sports.
I loved the Bill Simmons and Jalan Rose NBA preview back in 2013 and 2014 but those previews were a little too real...
@@ChairmanMo That wasn't why they were booted.
@@chriskay1449 I know that KO's show was too expensive to produce and was going to go anyways. But ESPN did not have to act like a total cuck by telling KO to STFU when he made legitimate points on his shows in order to appease the powers that be. That is just totally cuckish. This is also why people lost respect for ESPN.
Many other people in the entertainment business managed to adapt to the same changes that ESPN is going through too. But ESPN got shat on and Teabagged by everyone was for being so cuckish.
Welcome to the corporatization of media. It's important to make profits by creating cheap, garbage content, but let's cut costs and eschew authenticity by eliminating the meaningful people and productions that made them famous to start. This is Mickey's doing.
Says a lot about priorities when they’ll spend 15 minutes breaking down steph currys three pointers from the night before. And give a passing glance at the Stanley Cup Finals.
Remember when ESPN would show stuff about hockey, golf, Nascar, bowling, college wrestling for crying out loud? They actually were the worldwide leader in sports. Now they just cup Lebron's junk and sponge off the NFL's taint.
Not to mention avoiding discussing baseball’s regular season along with it.
@@pittland44 and don't forget Indycar and F1 to boot... Even the 24 hours of LeMans and the Rolex 24 for that matter... When it came to motorsports back in the day, ESPN was a beast, even with low ratings at the time.
World Cup Soccer the same damn way...
yeah ESPN Died when it stopped Covering Hockey
@@f1champ551 They had got rights for KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) duing the Pandemic, the rights were almost Worldwide and included the Korean Series (that this year was after world series) and rights for Highlights of all games
They could had all chances to capitalize on KBO and Korea Frenzy that we are having nowdays with KPOP and stuffs, but as soon NBA and NFL came back they did throwed the league under the rug and broadcasted the rest of championship only barbecue KBO obligated them to do so
as far i know, espn didn t even talked about Korean Series on their "Hot Take" shows let alone a AD promoting it, specially since MLB season already had finshed
All the LeBron James coverage killed ESPN for me. I only wanted to watch Nats highlights, but they spent over an hour on LeBron’s postgame interview, then they skipped the highlights entirely to talk about LeBron’s shoes.
I then moved to MLB Network and eventually realized it was more of the same.
I miss Baseball Tonight on ESPN. I would watch every single night. It was the best. It killed me when they ditched it. And I can tell they don't care about baseball which sucks. I got MLB Network in 2014 and really liked it the first few years. MLB Tonight reminded me of Baseball Tonight. Definitely the best alternative on tv. But then they started to change up too. Things started to not just be baseball. Other outside things from culture, music, tv, politics, twitter, SJW stuff etc... started to take up too much time.
Also don't really like how they just cater to a few young stars and just hang on them, talk about them so much and nearly nobody else. The "let the kids play" and making everything fun and joyful hoo-ray, as if it wasn't already fun enough for me to be a fan of before, has been a bummer too.
@@jasonmilly3320Hockey and baseball fans get drowned by espn which really sucks. Gonna be hard to watch Stephen A smith try to talk hockey
@@jasonmilly3320 "sjw stuff" my man hasnt left 2015
Baseball tonight was awesome! Used to always tune in with my dad. Now it’s just idiot fodder. Let’s put as many clueless women on the broadcast, covering sports they never played, so they can make themselves look foolish. Got it.
When they cancelled The Sports Reporters, that was it for me. That show was the last bastion for intelligent discourse.
Near the end of its run, The Sports Reporters resembled more like Around the Horn at times with writers from Around the Horn. Fans were going, “Are we watching The Sports Reporters or Around the Horn?” And don’t forget the deaths of Dick Schapp and John Saunders as well that contributed to the end of The Sports Reporters.
He died in 2016.
I like to believe many of us who grew up watching espn are now watching tree, grossi, thatsgoodsports, mcafee, kto, flemlo, foolishbaseball et al. Yall are the the driving force behind sportsball talk.
Couldn't agree more. Today's kids are going to grow up on up TH-camrs providing insight
Well even hockey wis,e the man he show in this video, The Hockey Guy, goes more into details of every match,trade, news around the League and all those type of things than any of the professional channels. When a guy with a whiteboard goes a better job than TSN,ESPN and those other compagnies combined, theres a problem somewhere.
SBNation too, although most people only watch it for Jon bois
Don’t forget FivePointVids and Chiseled Adonis
Hell even my group chat friends did our own video chat tonight previewing the super bowl
I literally agree with every single word in this video. Espn is a dumpster fire and Stephen a and greeny are the only thing that keeps the ship afloat.
I’d also add that because of their controversial takes and attacks, no real players want to come on either. They’re all going to pat mcafee. Hell, Sean McDermott, the bills coach famous for not giving interviews, granted pat one. And I’d rather listen to Sean McDermott rather than any of the talking heads from espn.
They fumbled the bag with Katie Nolan - Garbage Time won an Emmy for a reason and her ESPN podcast was great. They also have way too many debate shows - the direction of content sucks. They still have decent analysts who bring authenticity like SVP, Pablo Torre, and Mina Kimes but they aren’t using them in the best ways. Also, totally agree - the really need more sports documentaries - there are SO many topics they could cover.
ESPN: No matter what they do, they keep getting worse.
ESPN died when Stuart Scott died.
I don’t need chipper Jones or AROD on baseball coverage ,AROD had a feud with the cubs about yu darvish being injured
There is one thing they can do to get better: bring in authentic personalities and break free from the cycle they've locked themselves in.
@@nicksojka7457 Internet is killing TV, so they had to doble down on the whole “let’s make our broadcasters personalities our stars”.
THG has by far the best NHL content in the world. Yes, the world.
This man speaks the truth
Facts.
Made me happy that you showed my dude flemlo when talking about the TH-cam personalities. He's a real one.
Finally some love for The Hockey Guy
Love the shoutout to the Hockey Guy! He does a fantastic job and deserves a bigger audience.
It's crazy. I had the same dream, to be an anchor on sportscenter. I joined the Marines in the communications field and when I got out I pursued a journalism degree in college. Life happened, and I wasn't able to continue down that path, but looking at the network now, your analysis is spot-on. I used to wake up every morning and turn on sportscenter while I got ready for work. It's been almost a decade since I've done that. Now I watch sportscasters on youtube like you and others during my morning routine. It's actually quite sad. Some of my best sports moments play in my head with Dan Patrick or Stuart Scott or Kenny Mayne as the voice-over. Maybe one day they will recapture that lightning in a bottle. But the future doesn't look good for them.
Stuart Scott was quite literally the reason I'd watch ESPN, with his death, the channel never felt the same. SC lost its charm, and honestly it's not really the hosts faults. It's just the way you know what's coming, and could just easily go on theScore and read/watch exactly what they'll talk about for 15 minutes, in a fraction of the time
Stuart Scott was as cool as the other side of the pillow
@@andrewferrell5090 Naw he was cooler than a polar bears toenail
ESPN is so bad, I can't even finish watching your critique of it. No one needs a description of hot garbage. Your channel is far better. Keep it up.
You absolutely nailed this. Espn is literally cloning the first take formula and now its repetitive garbage
Just for the record, UrinatingTree, you're my favorite TH-camr. The Lolcow videos, the Legacies of Failure, This Week in Sportsball, Days of our Steelers and the Haters Guides. I always eagerly await your takes on sporting events. I've also made a fan out of my dad, and my mom was laughing her ass off when I put your video about the NFL teams that missed the postseason this year on our big TV in the living room. This is the epitome of the points you make in this video. Being from Canada, in an earlier age you would get your sports info from TSN or Sportsnet. This day and age, I either go to the NFL website or watch videos from you and McAfee, maybe even TGS or Packast. Now, in fairness, TSN and Sportsnet have not devolved into what ESPN has become, as I feel that their personalities still have some authenticity, but the point still stands. The landscape of entertainment has changed, and with it the sports world. The success of both your channel and the Pat McAfee Show is likely in huge part because you guys are your own bosses and because you aren't limited by the FCC, so you can say what you truly believe without any repercussions.
FCC limitations are not that bad. The problem is that ESPN, self censors and have become corporate dick riders because they are afraid that they will lose their live sports broadcasting rights if they hurt the snowflake feelings of the shitty owners of NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL team owners and management.
Hell, McAfee only left ESPN because of the FCC and it was the best thing he could have done
Everyone on the ESPN TH-cam channel says the Stephen A. Smith's back hurts from carrying the channel. This confirms that belief.
Mans is the true force of the channel right now. Hey man, we are a group of high school students who run our own sports talk show from the Chicago area and talk about the latest NBA/NFL developments. Recently, we just wrapped up our Super Bowl Coverage week. No strings attached, an episode each weekday, and just four life-long friends who are pursuing their dreams. Would highly appreciate any support!
And he carries it for all the wrong reasons. He's a one man reality show who is just there to stir the pot. I don't need manufactured drama in my sports, just show me the scores and the latest sports news without any of the extra BS. ESPN is to sports what MTV is to music or what TLC is to learning or what Comedy Central is to comedy or what CNN is to news or what ... jesus christ, is anyone authentic anymore?
@@eternalreign2313 Hard to say it’s for the wrong reasons when SAS is legit ESPN’s ONLY draw outside of live sports. He’s the closest thing they have to a household name. I saw dudes on TikTok doing Stephen A Smith impressions. Don’t hate the player, hate the game
Your Friendly Neighborhood Smark seems like the rest of the talking heads exist to make boring hot takes and to say things that politically agitate the more conservative/apolitical leaning independent content creators, probably to attempt to give them the “old man yells at cloud” vibe
LIterally a day after this video went up, Pedro Gomez passed away. RIP Pedro
Here is what had to be taken into account. When you do a podcast, you’re your boss, you can tilt the content in the direction you want, with little to no overhead, and no sponsors to appease. So, if you’re working for ESPN, FS1, NBCSN, or CBSCS, you have bosses to answer to, and have to tilt the content in the way they want. In other words, it’s easier to do the content you want when you have no one else to answer to. When you’re not the one in charge, see what response you’ll get when you say, “I’ll do and say what I want, when I want.” Most likely, it won’t be a positive one.
Corporations, am I right?
TH-camrs have to navigate demonitization policies and insane content police to keep their videos from being flagged by idiots - all with almost zero outside financial support. SPN gets propped up by their parent company, and has the full support of silicon valley.
giving the hockey guy some love. That made me smile
You are way more funny than Espn. I actually laugh at your content more than anything with the Espn trademark for the past five years
"Why watch TV, when you have the internet"
- the modern day
The day ESPN talks about the mlb or nhl is the day the world ends
ESPN used to show baseball tonight...all the time
I don’t think they can tal about nhl because tsn has the rights I could be wrong tho
@@jasonbecker4767 they can...they just dont want to. But they stream the games on espn+
Only time they bring up baseball is when some scandalous shit happens or LA or the Yankees are the topic.
@@jasonbecker4767 TSN is only in Canada. How could they keep ESPN from doing hockey commentary in the USA?
Lack of Authenticity sums up most things in entertainment now.
Tree and Jomboy coming together would be the greatest crossover in world history
That crossover is what the world needs right now
I always remember being so excited to watch Chris Berman and Tom Jackson every Sunday during football season.
Now it's Lebron, Mahomes, Brady, Giannis, Curry, and Cowboys.
Even on ESPN's NFL Coverage, in 2021 it's only about 90% Cowboys, along with Tom and Patrick. In the era of Berman and TJ, they gave all 30 teams then "some coverage."
I would pay to watch a sports network with Urinating Tree, FlemLo, Jomboy, and The Hockey Guy.
The problem with ESPN is they are talking to each other, not talking to the viewer like what it used to be. Tell us the story not talk about it amongst yourself. Let the fans talk at the water cooler about it, give us the information to talk about.
They live in a bubble