Bob Jenkins: A Generational Voice

If you were to piece together the best of NASCAR broadcasting, you can nail down who you'd want for play-by-play. Back then, you had Ken Squier for CBS and TBS. There was Mike Joy at TNN and CBS before doing his current run at Fox. And then you had Bob Jenkins, who just passed away from a fight with cancer. If there was ever a time to be in the right spot at the right time, he was that and put together a very long tenure at ESPN.

It's hard to think that ESPN cared more about non-NBA and non-NFL stuff. NASCAR was one of their early broadcasting packages and the Cup series was around in 1981 up through to 2000. Home to many notable races including the first Brickyard race in 1994. Many classic Atlanta races such as the final race of the 1992 season. Final races ever at Riverside and North Wilkesboro. Jenkins was there. Whether it was with Larry Nubar the first seven years or the combo of Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett, you had excitement coming from this crew.

This was one of ESPN's first deals with anything that wasn't college sports. Auto racing was something they invested in and the sport ballooned to high popularity as it got more mainstream. NASCAR became more than just a Southern sport. The network would get to expand throughout the 80s with the NBA, NHL, NFL, and much more like Tennis and even wrestling. Jenkins also was a part of calling the Indianapolis 500 for many years, something I did not know of.  He was an Indiana native. To be around that for 60 years as a fan and later on to call races, that's a life well spent.

Jenkins would still work with ESPN a little bit after the Cup series moved following the 2000 seasons. He would go to NBC Sports as well where he ended his run in 2012 to take care of his wife who would pass from cancer that same year. Today's batch of broadcasters do not get the same kind of love that he had. You'll never see a guy like him again. One of the true treasures of auto racing and broadcasting. 

Xenophobe A. Smith

Another week, another controversy at ESPN. And it's from one who finds himself in a bit of criticism and for past remarks that are both racist and sexist.

Shohei Ohtani has been a must watch for this year. Power hitter and a pitcher is a good combo. A Bo Jackson type of thing but only doing one sport. He always has a translator with him and that did not sit well with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith (hate using the initial in his name). Smith basically went xenophobic on the Angels star this past Monday and said along the line of baseball being better if he spoke English. A lot of people on social media and within the sports world ripped him for those comments and rightfully so. He has since "apologized", but it adds another stain to past controversies.

Domestic violence is real. I do think there are ones who will fake it, but the Ray Rice incident in 2014 was real. The ex-Raven now is in a better place from reports. But Smith was downplaying why this was a big incident and saying some rather spicy takes that resulted in ESPN suspending him for a week. He's also said very sexist things towards a number of women. Whether it's Ayesha Curry, the US Women's soccer team, or even UFC and MMA women fighters, he puts himself in the crosshairs. Unfortunately, it's a ratings grabber.

Baseball definitely needs fixing. Question is, I'm not sure where you start. Market Ohtani. Get people to recognize some of these big name players that aren't the 70 year olds hooked on Viagra commercials. Ban the shift. Showcase more of the up and comers. There's not an easy solution.

I honestly question if Smith is knowledgeable about non-NBA sports. His football takes are bad. He makes it easy to know he doesn't follow a lick of baseball. ESPN keeps letting him off the hook. I don't know if they are afraid of punishing him because of various reasons, but something has to happen now. I can see him getting fired. I can literally see him saying something even worse. Disney and ESPN need to grow a spine and have a discussion with him. With all the stuff regarding Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor, all it is doing is making it easy to ditch the worldwide leader in sports. Ohtani is here to stay for now.

ESPN Implosion

Where do you start on this? I've never seen ESPN to this level of animosity. An article from The New York Times put out a thing they found of footage of the sports channel's reporter, Rachel Nichols, from last year. When it came time to return and do the NBA stuff, she wasn't hosting Countdown. Instead, it was given to another reporter, Maria Taylor. A camera was on and Nichols vented about the network trying to make its case for diversity. I don't think she was upset about Taylor herself, but at the time it was recorded, you can get why consequences could happen. Some have defended her. Some have ripped her.

While I do think Nichols should be aware of her surroundings like everyone should, it makes ESPN look very fake. To be honest, I don't see anything special about her as a reporter. I think Taylor isn't special either. Not worth the supposed 8 million a year she is alleged to be demanding. I'd like to know who pulled the trigger to have Taylor as the host at the last possible moment. This does feel like a need to be "more diverse" for the wrong reasons. There's a way to do inclusion organically, but this was not it. Even for a guy like Stephen Jackson, who has a messed up mind and has said nasty antisemitism, has called ESPN out for that decision. That speaks to how bad they have handled things and why people are tuning out along with the political focus.

Nichols has done sports for a very long time. At least two decades worth.  I can sort of understand why she was bothered about getting the shaft. Taylor I only see do college sports, but has for almost a decade on the big stage after five years with the SEC Network. If you want to do this properly, you have to pass the torch in some manner. There was nothing necessary for ESPN to make a sudden change. Why not have both? For all the crying about lack of women and minorities, you get both of them together and maybe make them co-hosts. That would have been much better.

In the midst of this, reports are coming out now that Nichols has been replaced by reporter Malika Andrews for sideline reporting. Supposedly to put more focus on the Finals. In short term, maybe, but that draws more attention to ESPN and continuing to make themselves look bad with their intentions. Hopefully Andrews doesn't get berated all that much. But overall, the network's main NBA people stink to high heaven. You have Jay Williams with his take on the Boston Celtics coaching history and his "I was hacked" response getting shut down by almost everybody. While bad, it pales to Jalen Rose and his thoughts on Kevin Love making the Olympic team. It's not good, and that's just a small sample size.

ESPN needs to burn to the ground, rebuild and retool as a whole in terms of journalism, especially with their NBA people. We should be talking about what could be a good Finals for two teams who haven't had much experience in winning a championship. Instead, we're talking about political and racial pandering because a network think that's much more important than having intellectual discussion to matchups. There's a lot of work to be done to have diversity, but this ain't it. Continuing to shoot themselves in the foot makes them look worse. I don't know if Jimmy Pitaro can fix any of this, but he better think fast.

Where Have the Anchors Go?

I can't even tell you who even does SportsCenter anymore on ESPN. There's Hannah Storm, but anyone else, no clue. It's all reaction show crap and Rachel Nichols being an idiot right now (cringe worthy interview she did with Tim Duncan) with the NBA show. I forgot Kenny Mayne was even still there. Whenever he finishes up on his contract with the network, he'll leave behind a 27 year tenure where he rose up very quickly after a few years.

There's a lot of love for Mayne. It's really the SportsCenter people that were there 15 to 30 years ago. Whether it's a Dan Patrick, Robin Roberts, Stuart Scott, they were household names for a reason. With Mayne, he had a way of doing highlights and could do a joke regarding said highlight. Some of these anchors were like that. Unfortunately, that was a different era and ESPN continues to lose sight of why people go to their channels.

Now these days, it's about First Take this, too much emphasis on the NBA and stories regarding politics and athletes mixed in just to name a few things. Your entertainment value and need to look at what is going on in sports is in a huge decline. And losing people like Mayne makes the network look more like a relic. The reason he said was because of a pay cut. I don't know if that's the truth, but take it as you will. Idiots like Max Kellerman are leading the way, and I'd hate to see where ESPN is in five years time. Sure, there will be a nostalgia for guys like him, but nowhere the staying power of Mayne and many others from long ago.

Many voices in the last few years for sports have left or retired. Who can lead the way? 

Da Bull...spit

If the next month will be an indication, a lot will talk about the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls. It was the last year they won a championship and the last to have Michael Jordan with them along with Phil Jackson. When 1999 hit, they were one of the worst teams and no playoffs until 2005. ESPN is airing a documentary that was filmed during that 97-98 season. Jordan, from reading from places like ESPN and the New York Post, had authority on when it would be shown. A couple takeaways from my opinion.

I don't have much interest in the documentary or any drive to watch it. But looking at details from articles, it seems like general manager Jerry Krause had no interest in keeping the Bulls the way they were.  And the meddling he did destroyed arguably the biggest 90s team in all of sports. He had been involved since 1985 during "The Last Dance", the name of the documentary. He got players he wanted and the expertise of Jackson and players like Scottie Pippen, early players like John Paxson and Horace Grant, later ones such as Dennis Rodman and Ron Harper. Steve Kerr was a part of those last three championships as a player. It's so loaded with talent, why? Why ruin the team you brought fortune to?

Going to the few articles, I'll assume an ego on Krause's part. Not feeling like he gets credit. Even if it's not mentioned by players and staff, he would have still been given credit via retrospectives and front office interviews. Part of it is probably why he got tired of Jackson, who I believe was the fourth coach for Jordan in five years. Reading the salary of Pippen, I don't know how you don't try to give a sizable contract or renegotiate to where both sides are happy. Rodman and a few others had bigger paychecks than him.

As far as other stuff mentioned from reading the articles, it tells you how versatile Jordan was and the drive to win. Keeping the team relevant in those early years of his career and going all out every night in a productive manner, especially when Jackson started coaching the Bulls. I read a tweet from NFL great Julius Peppers about Krause being gone (passed away in 2017) and not being able to defend himself. No offense, but I'm not sure if he could defend himself. You have a huge dynasty. The best since the 70s Steelers teams and for basketball, those 80s Celtics and Lakers teams.  Having beefs with your own talent is a huge recipe for disaster. And not wanting to pay huge contributors and petty shit that is blown into a big deal. Krause destroyed the team.

I'll be curious to see how the reputation goes for Chicago. There will be a lot of good and bad things that will be discussed in what some argue could be the greatest NBA player (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might be equal or better than him). Maybe clearer answers will be given as to what may have caused the drive for a final championship before its ultimate downfall skid.

Big Mouth Fat Boy

The NFL offseason is one to see this year. Let's go back to 2011. Giant running back Brandon Jacobs made it very clear his disdain for Jet coach Rex Ryan, and saying fat boy, big bellied coach. Someone that stood up against the loudmouth who acted like he could win anything. It's a shtick. Worked in 2009 and 2010. Has not worked since due to many failures with the Jets and later on with Buffalo. His criticisms of players as an analyst on ESPN is one that was due to get ripped on.

This isn't shocking to me. The Ryan family is nothing but arrogant. You can talk all you want about dad Buddy in 1989 putting a bounty of Luis Zendejas and punching Kevin Gilbride in 1993 as a Houston Oiler member. The reason I bring up Jacobs was that both the Giants and Jets faced each other Christmas Eve of 2011. It's a game I do remember. A very critical one and Big Blue had reasons to be mad because of Rex's approach to wanting success and covering the then three Giant Super Bowl trophies. You could look at that game as the focal point to where the Jets began to crumble under his tenure.

His criticism of Amari Cooper's big contract with Dallas was not warranted. Criticize him all you want, but you can't call him a turd for wanting big money for the success he has had the last five years. Cooper put up his best numbers last year. He's had huge games. And the ripping of former Jet players has gotten ones that played for him to rip him. The latest one being Geno Smith. I don't think Smith was that good in 2013, but the fact he won eight games should be a surprise. Without him (though he wasn't a huge factor), I'm not sure the Jets get to that number. And I'm not a Jet fan.

This is the one guy who can get away with stuff on ESPN. It brings in viewers. You get the controversy. You get both sides going at it. This is the cycle we see from many sports networks. That one guy that has no idea what he's talking about. Skip Bayless (how the hell did that guy get famous?), Colin Cowherd. Many more. Bad publicity can be good, regardless of consequences.

Analyzing 17 Mil

Broadcasting has its perks. Cool things you can do, places you go to. See events unfold for a few hours. Sports brings out an energy to broadcasters. In only a few years, give credit to CBS man Tony Romo. It feels natural and the predictions are scary good and intelligent.

Is he worth 17 million a year? Absolutely not. He gets to stay with CBS for ten years. And we're not even sure if the network will still have football. (anything can happen, but I believe they will still have NFL rights) But its ridiculous to overpay. Playing devil's advocate, a network like ESPN would have swooped in and grabbed him in an attempt to make Monday night broadcasts look better, which haven't been up to par since 2017.

Some current players are bothered by that kind of pay. But do others really care? Not really. The average viewer may view an athlete's salary from a big contract as being huge overpay. And most broadcasters are content with what their salary is for calling games. Romo is a commodity because of his ability to be entertaining and thought provoking during an NFL game. Like a free agent, networks wanted him. And he continues to stay home with the network that has had him the last three seasons. But that doesn't justify the huge pay that most players don't make in a season.

I believe Romo will still be himself and still be excellent. Blame the networks for wanting him and his voice. Not his fault he is well regarded in a broadcasting booth.

Dan Le Moron Show

When you discuss stuff on a sports network, it should be sports. You don't talk about politics. Anybody will try anything to discuss the stuff that Trump does. Too bad idiots like Dan Le Batard wouldn't want to discuss what goes on in baseball, college sports for a network like ESPN.

All this involves is that "send her back" message from last week. What does it have to do with sports? Nothing. It would have meaning if a sports star had something to say on the matter, but it wasn't. A couple years ago, there was enough brewing controversy and ratings declines for ESPN. Part of it was their personalities and attempting to appeal to people who wanted more political themed stories involving sports. That's not what makes people watch the network.

You watch ESPN to see stats. You want to catch a glimpse of some highlights and blunders that occur in the sports that are covered. Of course, there's the broadcasts of whatever sport is current and college sports. Le Batard should understand that and with not doing his show today, it may mean his ties with the network are unwinding and could mean an exit from it.You want a political story, go find them on the four or five channels that cover political news. Get the pure politics off of stuff like ESPN. That may be the only way the channel recovers.

No Ball for ESPN

I suppose it's justice for ESPN. They have taken the initiative to make sure LaVar Ball is never given a chance to appear on their network again. A ban has been made following this week's incident on First Take. To say a sexual kind of quote to Molly Qerim is a bit of crossing the line.

I don't think any of this is politically motivated. How much more could America take of Ball? He has been a huge joke in the headlines over the last three years. Saturday Night Live got it right with his over the top personality. Unfortunately, he is a ratings grabber. He gets people glued to Fox Sports or ESPN any time he speaks.

We haven't heard the last of Ball. It's only a matter of time before networks and outlets stop asking for interviews or wanting interviews out of him.

SC6: What Went Wrong

Not too long ago, SC6, the 6 P.M. hour of SportsCenter for ESPN had its last broadcast. When it debuted last year, it was looking to cater to a younger generation of people and a different set as well. It was hosted by Michael Smith and Jemele Hill, two that have worked on other things for the network. However, it never clicked and endured controversy. Last month, Hill finished and left SportsCenter. Smith has since followed suit. So, what went wrong?

When you have a sports network, you are looking for highlights of games, scores of certain teams, the whole package. In an era now where it seems every big name athlete is speaking politically, ESPN tried to cash in on it. It went beyond sports. However, that did not convince viewers. I don't get why they had to retool. Just regular SportsCenter was fine. I didn't have any issue watching Lindsay Czarniak and whoever else they had if I had it on the channel on that hour before it became SC6.

Of course, we always hear people criticize presidents. With Donald Trump as the new president, that didn't sit well with Hill. She created controversy with racist comments about him and criticism towards Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones over the National Anthem protests. She would be suspended for a few weeks. That's good enough to convince audiences to give up on SC6. Hill has been known to create certain racial controversies and the network had enough of her.

I don't know what else you can really say. ESPN did not like how it was going. Smith has been vocal about them getting rid of certain parts of SC6. While he is within his rights to not be pleased, he has to realize the issue. Controversy and change is not always a good thing. The point of a sports network is to watch what went on in different sports leagues during the day or night before. They are not watching to hear when whiny brat LeBron James has to say politically, or how some NFL player got offended so easily over something stupid. With viewers cutting the cord on cable, it came at the wrong time and the hosts ruined it themselves.

ESPN has a long way to go to get back to being the way that they used to be.

Time to Pitch: MLB's Potential Rule

Next month, Spring Training will begin for another season of Major League Baseball. Some new faces will appear on certain teams and the farm systems will see who has potential. In the midst of this is something that has caused a rift between both the players and the league. Commissioner Rob Manfred is looking to implement a pitch clock in order to combat length of games.

It's not a surprise that baseball games take forever. Some of last year's World Series took almost or over four hours. One game took over five in a shootout with extra innings. Essentially, here's how it goes. What Manfred is looking at is a 20 second clock to where the pitcher has to throw a pitch. Some sites are also saying one of things is for a batter to be in the box within five seconds left. Warnings are given at first for a violation and future ones will result in either a ball or strike. In an attempt also to cut mound visits, there would be one per inning for each team. A second one would force a team to change pitchers. Whatever proposals there were have been rejected by the players.

Regardless of what happens, Manfred seems poised to implement new change of pace rules this year. I see this as overusing his authority. Really, I don't think the problem is pitchers taking forever. It's not like it takes 10 minutes to throw a pitch. I can't see the mound visit thing working at all. Honestly, I see that part making games longer if you're forcing them to bring in another pitcher. Manfred is going to see a lot of criticism if his plans are to be put in place. Now, the clock has been in use in minor league areas the last few years, but whether that works here is a different story.

An ESPN article from a few days ago discussed players talking more about other aspects such as time between innings and instant replay. I can buy into the replay aspect because it seems like every sport now is taking forever on calls that should be instantly recognized within 30 seconds to a minute, adding into the total time of a game being played. Five minutes may not seem much, but it would certainly make it seem more bloated. Realistically, I don't see MLB cutting down time between innings. If that were the case, it would force teams to cut down on 7th inning stretch activities, especially if it's a team like the Yankees that like to play that overplayed God Bless America song every time on TV in their home stadium. Every league is looking to make more money. Baseball is not going to cut commercial time to get revenue from the same Viagra and beer commercials.

Anyway, I see this pitch clock rule being a failure if implemented. It will just make things worse for teams and cause some teams to lose heartbreakers because they had to change pitchers in the second inning. MLB is lucky to have had a resurgence a little bit due to these last two World Series. They still have a long way to go to win back a lot of old fans and get new ones, and Manfred's ideas right now to make games quicker are going to hurt them.

Big Trouble in Little Ball's World 2

A father should be proud of their children. They also hope for them to succeed in society and do their part of working hard. This does not apply to LaVar Ball, the loudmouth loser who hasn't done a damn thing in his life other then keeping his mouth open. This time, he has criticized the Los Angeles Lakers, the team his son Lonzo plays for. The criticism was stemmed towards head coach Luke Walton, who took over last season and ESPN's Jeff Goodman putting up an article regarding the elder Ball and what he had to say.

I don't even need to know how this was going to happen. LaVar is a moron, and teams are finally noticing how much of a head case he is for the NBA. The fact that other coaches like Rick Carlisle are getting tired of this idiot and ESPN's article, which gave LaVar free reign to say whatever he wanted, shows something that could spiral out of control. Even with criticism from TNT's Reggie Miller about saying the other sons, LiAngelo and LaMelo, not having any shot of being in the NBA says a lot as well. This league is banding together to stop a guy, who didn't amount to anything in college basketball, that is trying to cause nothing but trouble. And that's considering most of the family is in Lithuania, where LiAngelo and LaMelo are playing basketball.

Let's be honest. The Lakers haven't done well in the last five years. With a group that is young, it's not always a guarantee that they will be good instantly. This kind of stuff takes time. Walton is going to be given more time to develop them into a solid team. If it pays off, you will see why he was lured away from the Golden State Warriors, where he did very well during Steve Kerr's absence in the 2015-16 season. LaVar needs to understand that. Unfortunately, he is too brain dead to even figure that out. He wants championships immediately and wants to live in the spotlight. The stuff he wanted as a kid and didn't get because he sucked at basketball.

I swear, this guy is going to get him and his family killed. Either that or ruin his boys futures. LaVar is desperate for attention, and unfortunately, is given a huge platform. Hence why I'm writing this. I know I will be writing another one of these in the next month or two because of what will happen during the season and what could come out of his mouth. The NBA has to find a way to curb his behavior. However, the question is, will it be too late? Are they past the point of no return? I don't know. Only time will tell whenever they cross that bridge.

Unwatchable Playoffs

When the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship aired this year, it got a big jolt in ratings. The reason for the increase may not be a huge surprise. It's because UConn was not in it. A team that had blown out teams for who knows how long eliminated in the Final Four gave viewers a chance to watch something exciting. While no doubt the NBA will see a Part III to the Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, you have to wonder when enough is enough of these teams.

With the way the playoffs have been this year, many will wonder if the sport is not exciting in terms of non-Finals games. Certainly, the Warriors game against the Spurs in the first game of the West Conference Finals, had all sorts of drama. Then the next game was a blowout and as of now, Golden State is one game away from going back to the Finals. Cleveland annihilated the Boston Celtics in game 2, winning by 44 points. Both teams have big superstars who have huge presences on TV, social media, etc. It's not just the Warriors and Cavs. There has to be at least one superstar on a team, even if said team is bad.

For ESPN and ABC, they have benefited a whole lot since the 2008 Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics. I think it helps that the Finals haven't been sweeps and that a number of them have gone six to seven games. The amount of drama and storylines to these teams and players really gives them that ratings increase. Their biggest prior to last year was Game 7 of the 2010 Finals between the Lakers and Celtics with 28 million watching the Lakers get their championship. They might as well enjoy this because eventually, some of these players are going to be on other teams, retire or do something else.

That being said, people do get tired of seeing the same teams in the playoffs every year. I don't think that's a problem with the Warriors yet, but it could be soon. Regardless of your team, people will get tired of San Antonio, Houston, Boston. The list goes on. People were probably tired of the Lakers before they got bad the last three to four years. For the NFL, people are probably tired of Green Bay and New England constantly being the playoffs. I don't think MLB has the problem as much today, but with Atlanta, the New York Yankees, Boston, and St. Louis back then, it's not a pretty sight.

Some viewers might watch the Finals if they have ignored the playoffs. It's a matter of games being close, and so far, it hasn't been that way. This stuff becomes predictable and it leads to viewership not being strong before the championship series. No doubt, this years Finals will be huge. It's going to get the NBA a lot of money and ratings. How far this will go, I give it at least six games. As I just said, the league should enjoy this for now. I don't think we will ever see this again for a long time. Last thing anyone wants to see is something like the 60s Celtics teams.

Stopping the Bleeding: ESPN Layoffs

People get let go all the time. Sometimes, they are fired because of not being a big asset to their company. Other times, it's not because of effort and the company may have no choice but to give them the axe. ESPN, who has ran into some issues the last few years regarding a losing subscriber base and is attempting to stop the bleeding of losing money by laying off a number of their personalities and writers. It's not just some of the young ones. With 15 plus year veterans like Jerry Punch and Ed Werder on the list of people gone, a lot of people at one of the biggest sports networks ever were not safe.

The channel began back in the fall of 1979 and quickly became a place to find sports 24 hours a day. Getting stuff in the 80s like NASCAR and college sports eventually netted them some of their current operations of the NFL and MLB. Despite the Internet's presence in the 90s and 2000s, fans were still eager to check out highlights and scores via SportsCenter and other programs from a wide net of personalities. In recent years, however, things have not gone the network and Disney's (who has had ESPN since 1995) way. In an era now where streaming is a big deal and competitors like Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network want their share of the pie, many people have left the leader of the sports television industry unsubscribed.

As far as layoffs go, ESPN let go of a number of writers in college sports and a bit of hockey people, especially as the Stanley Cup Playoffs enters its second round. Some beat writers for certain teams and radio hosts were gone. Several anchors have been given the axe. It's a changing of the times, unfortunately. Like certain other channels, it's a miracle they still exist. I think it has to do with watching the highlights and scores at, even if you have a phone that can give you the daily updates on how others are doing. Sure it's nice to have everything in the palm of your hand, but for big sporting events, you want a decent sized television and seeing this stuff live.

One site has said that some anchors that were still around had their roles shrunken down. Whether they could be gone is a matter of what ESPN might do. It's not a surprise. Some of these people are pretty old, but at the same time, they are at that age in the prime of their career in broadcasting. Sadly, people like Doug Glanville will be missed while we still have morons like Jessica Mendoza acting like loudmouth fans instead of professional broadcasters. That's the nature of the beast. You have to move on, no matter how painful it might be.