ESPN Game Coverage

[jibsey]

Travesty, just ignoring the game with a wide camera angle where you had to strain to see? And later for a Tom Izzo interview? Embarrassing for them and I realize that Walton is a wild card but no, no, no.

 

[Icehawk]

Seriously one of, if not the worst, presentations I've seen. They also had some weird fish-eye lens shots and a real high far back one from midcourt they held way too long. My parents were like wth is with this guy (Walton)???

 

[Kathy]

Had to catch the begining of the game streaming on my tablet while driving back to Jersey from NY. When we heard Walton my son and I couldn't wait to get back to his house so we could watch on TV and mute. All I could think of is why wasn't he in Maui. Couldn't watch in the car because I was driving and couldn't see the screen. Even so I had to keep asking my son what happened because the announcers weren't talking about the game.

 

[ninety-nine]

The stretch with Phil Knight in the booth was beyond the pale. I'm pretty sure the play-by-play guy made one reference to on-court action during that stretch (a three-pointer by Newton), and that was it. Idle chatter and fawning praise for Knight the rest of the time. If you were in a situation where you were listening to the audio and couldn't see the screen, you'd have literally no idea what was going on in the game, or who was even winning. For all you'd know, the game had been paused while PK was being interviewed. Inexcusable amateurish garbage.

And now ESPN is writing articles today about how their bullcrap power index predicts Alabama will more likely win the PKI than North Carolina (no mention of UConn or anyone else at all), because of their keenly insightful Basketball Power Index. The BPI and FPI (for football) are garbage power indices based heavily on preseason predictions about teams and players, as well as what happened in past seasons. (For example, UConn football is still 12th from the bottom in FBS programs, and NFL-wise they have the 3-7 Browns, Jaguars and Raiders ranked 10-12 respectively, while the 7-4 Giants are bottom five in the whole league and the 6-4 Seahawks are ninth from the bottom. The 4-7 Cardinals, whom the Seahawks swept easily, are eight spots ahead of Seattle.) What's the point of even playing the games at all with a power index formula like that? The NFL season is more than half over and the college season is done or about to end for most programs, and they're still fixated on preseason prognostications and last year's FPI/BPI, recruiting class and draft rankings, etc. Pure landfill.

I'm glad Clingan and Victor Rosa are both from a public high school in Bristol, because we need something positive to come out of this town to offset the style-over-substance mentality of Disneyland ESPN.

 

[rayrayfor3]

Worst viewing experience I can ever remember. The production at espn is bizarre, they try every chance to not show the game and show something else. The split-screen is crazy.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

is Walton doing all the games, are we stuck with him tonight as well?

 

[UofCT]

any chance to queue up a Twitter spaces and use that audio tonight instead?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Essentially a Nike commercial with a side order of basketball. Pretty disgraceful really. If I wore Nikes, I’d stop.

 

[Drumguy]

The other announcer was annoyed with Walton. Even Knight was annoyed with his shilling for the book.

 

[jibsey]

Walton has a deep and long Oregon history. I’m really not as upset with him as much as ESPN production crew who set it up and allowed it to happen. He’s going to have obscure references always, that’s him. The distance camera shots were nuts, couldn’t see, and the game is going on with zero explanation of what happened! . I have a big tv but what if you didn’t?

 

[HuskyFich]

It’s funny how whoever was with Walton the previous season, is never found anywhere near him again.

Walton was actually pretty decent last night compared to his usual. PBP guy has zero confidence to rein him in. Actually insulted him once or twice.

 

[bazzdog]

It’s funny how whoever was with Walton the previous season, is never found anywhere near him again.

Walton was actually pretty decent last night compared to his usual. PBP guy has zero confidence to rein him in. Actually insulted him once or twice.

Yeah Walton said this is the best he’s seen Clingan play and the PBP guy said “you’ve never seen him play”
Fn hilarious

 

[uconn13]

Keep winning and it will force the Bristol Community Clown College to vomit in their mouths while it happens on their network. A win, win, in my humble opinion.

 

[Icehawk]

is Walton doing all the games, are we stuck with him tonight as well?

God I hope not.

Given the choice though I'll take him over the rest of the production from last night because it just sucked. Why did they show us a split screen of the Michigan players getting off the bus during gametime? You show that during a time out or commercial break lead in\out.

Look, I get PK is Nike and they own this stuff so he's going to get airtime... but either do it during halftime or at least respect the game a little bit?

 

[yungdowork]

I keep trying to tell myself it's only because we were up so much the whole game, but I'm already preparing myself to be disappointed again. I've filmed some d3 sports and worked with borderline amateur commentators and they are more informed about the teams than Walton was. He knew NOTHING about us and even made excuses about not watching the Big East except for Villanova.

 

[jibsey]

God I hope not.

Given the choice though I'll take him over the rest of the production from last night because it just sucked. Why did they show us a split screen of the Michigan players getting off the bus during gametime? You show that during a time out or commercial break lead in\out.

Look, I get PK is Nike and they own this stuff so he's going to get airtime... but either do it during halftime or at least respect the game a little bit?

Because it’s Tom Izzo, God. Once ESPN spots a diety they freeze. Coach K, Caliari etc.

 

[UCLJ0211]

is Walton doing all the games, are we stuck with him tonight as well?

Unfortunately yes

 

[ctchamps]

"I watched basketball last night, the PK Invitational. During the UConn v Oregon game ESPN used the split screen format at least four times:

1. an extended closeup of Bill Walton and Phil Knight, lasting nearly ten minutes.
2. Michigan State getting off a bus, for over a minute.
3. Interview with Tom Izzo, two minutes
4. Jay Bilas talking about an upcoming game, three minutes.

All those split screens happened while game play was going on. There was no need for any of that. As an Oregon alum, I was appalled, and I imagine Phil Knight was, too.

I did not buy a 50 inch flat screen tv to watch a 25 inch basketball game. Save the puff pieces for halftime. Let viewers watch what they tuned in to see—great basketball.

Disgruntled Oregon fan"

My wife was more ticked than I was and I was plenty ticked off. She wanted to do something about it and tried to send the above to ESPN. Unable to do so she insisted I post it here. I've done my obligation. Kudos to her for the Oregon fan subterfuge. She felt it would carry more weight. She's all UConn!

 

[auror]

"I watched basketball last night, the PK Invitational. During the UConn v Oregon game ESPN used the split screen format at least four times:

1. an extended closeup of Bill Walton and Phil Knight, lasting nearly ten minutes.
2. Michigan State getting off a bus, for over a minute.
3. Interview with Tom Izzo, two minutes
4. Jay Bilas talking about an upcoming game, three minutes.

All those split screens happened while game play was going on. There was no need for any of that. As an Oregon alum, I was appalled, and I imagine Phil Knight was, too.

I did not buy a 50 inch flat screen tv to watch a 25 inch basketball game. Save the puff pieces for halftime. Let viewers watch what they tuned in to see—great basketball.

Disgruntled Oregon fan"

My wife was more ticked than I was and I was plenty ticked off. She wanted to do something about it and tried to send the above to ESPN. Unable to do so she insisted I post it here. I've done my obligation. Kudos to her for the Oregon fan subterfuge. She felt it would carry more weight. She's all UConn!

I don't mind Walton, and I get the Phil Knight thing. We drew the short straw of Oregon on that one. But the other ones were dumb, especially the long Bilas segment.

 

[ctchamps]

I don't mind Walton, and I get the Phil Knight thing. We drew the short straw of Oregon on that one. But the other ones were dumb, especially the long Bilas segment.

You can argue with my wife. But I don’t advise it.

 

[UCMB88]

The ESPN production last night was crap! I don't mind Walton if I happen to come across a late PAC-12 game, but not for a UConn game, thank you. If he's not you cup of tea, you can sync the radio play-by-play from Mike and Wayne if you have a DVR:

Sync My Game

 

[GameTime]

I am currently watching the DePaul game and there are NO commentators. Only the sound of the crowd and the game, and it still upstages ESPN’s coverage.

 

[BGesus4]

I still can’t get over the hilarity that phil knight decided to create a bball tournament named after himself. When I first heard about it I wondered if i had missed his death a few years earlier.

 

[ctkaiser]

The stretch with Phil Knight in the booth was beyond the pale. I'm pretty sure the play-by-play guy made one reference to on-court action during that stretch (a three-pointer by Newton), and that was it. Idle chatter and fawning praise for Knight the rest of the time. If you were in a situation where you were listening to the audio and couldn't see the screen, you'd have literally no idea what was going on in the game, or who was even winning. For all you'd know, the game had been paused while PK was being interviewed. Inexcusable amateurish garbage.

And now ESPN is writing articles today about how their bullcrap power index predicts Alabama will more likely win the PKI than North Carolina (no mention of UConn or anyone else at all), because of their keenly insightful Basketball Power Index. The BPI and FPI (for football) are garbage power indices based heavily on preseason predictions about teams and players, as well as what happened in past seasons. (For example, UConn football is still 12th from the bottom in FBS programs, and NFL-wise they have the 3-7 Browns, Jaguars and Raiders ranked 10-12 respectively, while the 7-4 Giants are bottom five in the whole league and the 6-4 Seahawks are ninth from the bottom. The 4-7 Cardinals, whom the Seahawks swept easily, are eight spots ahead of Seattle.) What's the point of even playing the games at all with a power index formula like that? The NFL season is more than half over and the college season is done or about to end for most programs, and they're still fixated on preseason prognostications and last year's FPI/BPI, recruiting class and draft rankings, etc. Pure landfill.

I'm glad Clingan and Victor Rosa are both from a public high school in Bristol, because we need something positive to come out of this town to offset the style-over-substance mentality of Disneyland ESPN.

The ultimate insult was a split screen for a team getting off the bus!

 

[Hogoff]

I feel like Walton is stoned out of his mind for every game he does.