Skip Bayless - ESPN

[KillerCarlson 0]

Has anyone read this article by Skip Bayless on ESPN?!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=bayless/050218

What an absolute tool. Just what hockey needs right now - another "journalist" with nothing better to write about (than an OPINION piece).

This is that last thing that hockey needs right now. We have enough trouble on our own (deservedly so - I'm not disagreeing with that). The last thing we need is some bored, uninformed "journalist" telling the world that it would be great if hockey just disappeared.

Talk about the problems...REPORT on them, but you do a huge dis-service when you write OPINION pieces like this. Especially coming from someone who doesn't even understand the rules (how hard are they?!). How are you qualified to write a story on a sport that you don't even know the rules for?!

I'm soooooo sick of the "media," particularly ESPN...

Sorry, I'm just a little ill...no hockey ya know.

p.s. What happened to the passionate, exciting game that was being touted after the Stanley Cup finals? The game that had athlete's that actually tired...and cared? It's amazing how quickly they will turn their backs on you when you're no longer useful to them...

[Jim A 4]

Bayless is a tool..if you've ever seen him on that 1st and 10 program they have ...its written so he can get all the hockey fans to complain and show ESPN that his stuff on Page 2 gets views he can keep getting 0.35/word

[Chadd 916]

He's typical of most of the new ESPN TV guys, louder is better. If you don't know anything about a subject, yell as loudly as possible.

[KillerCarlson 0]

ESPN...

It's funny how they have been using this "Nobody Care's" theme in their stories recently - Page2, etc.

But, look at the poll results on the NHL Page: Do you care that the NHL season has been cacneled? 69.4% said YES. Doesn't that seem to contradict what they have been saying all along?

Granted, that poll is on the NHL page, so you have to assume that most people who see the poll are NHL "fans." Bus assuming that logic, you also have to realize that a poll on Page3 is grabbing pollsters who are not hockey fans in general.

It's statistics. You can shpe them how you want them.

ESPN and Co., just shaping the news for their own good...

[Jackal3688 0]

"Somebody gave me a book once as a joke — "Hockey for Dummies." I said: "That's all hockey is for.""

This guy is really pissing me off. He is the type of person that should not even be allowed to report for ESPN, thats just ridiculous. He reccomends changing everything about the game, taking out the physicality of hockey? You can't change that, its part of the game, its how its been forever.

"Ever tried to comprehend hockey strategy? Over the years, I've sought X-and-O wisdom from several NHL coaches and GMs — and from hockey experts such as E.J. — and it still pretty much looks like organized chaos to me"

Clearly this guy is clueless. Someone like this that knows NOTHING about the game has no right to come out and bash the NHL/hockey for any reason.

"So let me get this straight: Hockey owners have been paying baseball-sized salaries in what amounts to a minor-league sport that relatively few people in this country will watch on TV?"

Umm... EXCUSE ME?? Does anyone in the NHL make over $20 million a year? The highest payed hockey players dont even measure up to half of the major league players.

Then he goes on to explain how HE thinks hockey can solve all of its problems, like he knows what hes talking about. This is really frustrating when the media does this to the game. The media, especially ESPN, has destroyed the sport even more than the "boredem" of the game has.

I'm going to email him and give him a piece of my mind.

[jason37 2]

I had to listen to this tool when he was in Dallas. He was a tool then...He is a tool now.

[#1STUD 0]

We should all send him "fan"mail. ;)

[MDE3 0]

I have said it before and I will say it again....hockey as a sport is not "media friendly"....The natural flow of the game can run long periods before there is a break in the action. In contrast look at the volume of ads in the recent NFL play-off series...30 seconds, even 15 seconds, of sport and 5 minutes of ads...seriously, back to back to back....I was so angry I could have ........explitives deleted.

Hockey is defined by it's fast flow (even in the hook and grab era) compared to other sports, it's passionate fans, and rapid swings of momentum. Swings which are affected by extended stoppages. Fan emotion swings with this momentum and fan interest is tied to high emotional levels.

Fewer stoppages equals fewer saleable time slots for the networks. This means that a network who values it's worth as measured by "bill-able air minutes" probably has hockey about 10th on the list for preferred sales venues.

Add more stoppages you say? Guess what...by adding these extra stoppages, fan attention is lost(emotion) and ratings plummet. This cunundrum(like a self fulfilling prophecy) has been one of the major influences when considering the marketability of hockey by media moguls.

So the NHL wants to work hard at getting the ratings up by reducing the length of the stoppages in order that fan interest stays high. By doing this they cut back the opportunity for the sales directors of the network to sell airtime. The TV networks look at the ratings and the frequency of sales opportunities. With hockey one of these seems always to be at the expense of the other. One other hockey media phenomenon, is that when an audience is caught up in the emotion of the game, their concious and unconcious attention is much more difficult to reach for advertisers..Hence the effectiveness of the ads during the broadcast of an exciting game is reduced....ads are more effective when the game is boring......hmmm.

As a result it is not at all surprising when I see media types taking pot shots at our sport...it is "jusss bidness".....part of the money game. For the reasons stated above it might just be really convenient for hockey to "go away" in the eyes of many media programming analysts. The on air personalities who promote a negative view of the sport, are simply busy kissing someones corporate behind for brownie points.

[100% Canadian Hockey 0]

What an IDIOT!!!!!!

[UMWhockey 0]

we should get as many people as possible to write to ESPN and let them know how we feel about Skip

[biff44 0]

I would not go complaining to ESPN. Remember, they brought us the World Juniors when no one else would give Hockey the time of day! Lets keep on their good side.

[Chadd 916]

I would not go complaining to ESPN. Remember, they brought us the World Juniors when no one else would give Hockey the time of day! Lets keep on their good side.

They also cut the number of NHL games on TV, moved them all to ESPN2 for this year(had there actually been a season) and now John Buccigross is stuck doing NASCAR and basketball highlights.

[Cavs019 710]

It disgusts me that that was actually published and I wouldn't doubt that that article epitomizes that god forsaken network's overall opinion of the game.

[wingsfan7777 0]

Well i sent him a little message that went something like this:

"PLEASE, PLEASE READ,

I really don't know why you wasted your time writing this article. I am, as well as hundreds of thousands of others in the U.S, a huge hockey fan. See the problem with you is that you dont admire the little, yet very important, details about hockey. The sheer skill and finesse every NHL hockey player is commonly overseen by a lot of people, especially you. ESPN declared ice hockey to be the 2nd hardest sport in the world. Thats what makes a lot of people like hockey. How talented and athletic these players are. Anybody could dribble a ball down the court, shoot and make a basket. Anybody could catch or throw a football or baseball. And anybody could kick a ball into a goal. But not a lot of people can skate at excess speeds of 25 MPH through 5 opposing skaters and shoot it 90 MPH at a goalie with unbelievable skill, into the net. Thats what makes hockey great. Who cares if the game is low scoring. As long as there are big hits, big plays and and awesome deke's (which every game consists of) the game is exciting to all hockey fans. Every hockey hater just needs to take the time and see at how exciting this game is. Most hockey fans in the U.S. and Canada dont really care about the NHL lockout. Its giving everyone an excuse to not spend as much money and go see minor league hockey games, especially the AHL teams both countries share. Now a days, fighting in hockey has been reduced to an all time low. Sure, everyone enjoys the occasional fights that there are in hockey. If the NFL had helmets like hockey does, as well as more time on the playing field, there would be equally as many fights as there are in hockey. That also brings up another good point. The competitiveness that hockey has is unmatched by any other sport. Every team, every player, is fighting from game 1 to get to the most coveted trophy in sports, the Stanley Cup. Finally, an NHL players salary is absolutely no where near a basketball, football, or baseball players average salary. Heres a bit of salary information about sports taken from sportscolumn.com "The New York Yankees in fact pay $184.2 million to field a team with about as many players as an NHL team, and the highest NHL team salary before the lockout was only $79 million from the New York Rangers.  The average MLB player makes $2.56 million a year and the average NBA player $4.9 million a year.  The average NHL player makes a fraction of both figures at $1.8 million a year.  The fact that the NHL's highest paid player, Jaromir Jagr, earns $11 million dollars a year makes it seem as if NHL stars are making too much.  But NFL star Michael Vick just signed a 10 year, $130 million dollar contract with $37 million in bonuses.  The Yankees pay $25.2 million a year to keep Alex Rodriguez playing on their side of the diamond and another $18.9 million to Derek Jeter.  Combine those salaries and you have two MLB players earning annually the same amount as the salary cap that the National Hockey League intended for an entire NHL team.  Jagr's annual salary is nothing compared to that of the highest paid all-stars of other major league sports, although he plays the most physically demanding professional team sport of them all." That just shows you at how greedy and worthless players are in other pro sports besides hockey. Well thats all I have to say about your worthless, tasteless article."

[Edge 0]

AWESOME job wingsfan7777, that made me feel better.

I watch cold pizza before school in the morning and I cannot stand this guy. He is clueless in just about everything sports related. I can't believe he had the balls to write this.

[sherwood21 0]

Make it a minor penalty if you bump the guy with the puck :lol: :lol: . Wow this guy is the definition of an all star.