Wednesday, April 26, 2017

The Worldwide Leader

It's gonna be a long, hot take-filled day for denizens of the sports cyberverse. ESPN's long-reported culling of talent has finally been announced internally, and the names of the impacted have already started to leak out. Ed Werder was the first to go public, saying via Twitter, "After 17 years reporting on #NFL, I've been informed that I'm being laid off by ESPN effective immediately. I have no plans to retire."

Jason Whitlock's already bleated about this being the inevitable result of ESPN's liberal politics. Others in the business have offered more level-headed insights about the changing economics of the sports infotainment industrial complex. The world changes, and people get caught in that change. So it was, so it shall ever be. Soon enough, a robot will be writing this blog and I'll be working as a Wal-Mart greeter. C'est la vie.

So let's make a pledge, Gheorghies, that we won't join the gleeful piling on at the misfortune of people with families and lives and hopes and dreams. Unless Darren Rovell gets the axe, in which case, well, bygones.

40 comments:

TR said...

I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR WHAT STEPHEN A SMITH HAS TO SAY ABOUT THIS.

ESPN is stupidly overstaffed in football. They are trying to compete w/ the NFL Network. I turned on ESPN last night to see a mock draft, complete w/ beat reporters for each team walking to a podium to make an announcement. Awful.

rob said...

per deadspin via the hollywood reporter, russillo's role will be 'significantly reduced'. that bums me out. maybe they can at least reunite him with svp.

Whitney said...

Trent Dilfer and Jayson Stark among the latest. Understandably, tweets from those laid off ranging from reflectively calm to very sad to downright pissed.

rob said...

the stark cut sucks. he's great, and he comes off as humble and a guy who knows how lucky he is to cover baseball for a living.

Mark said...

A large portion of these "talent" layoffs are in the reporter section of the company. That's too bad, though not all that surprising when you look at ESPN's turn to more of an entertainment model of business and away from traditional journalism.

TR said...

Danny Kanell was the only "name" I saw, until Dilfer and Stark. Danny was a bit douchey on Twitter, saying he relocated his family to CT five years ago for the gig. That's not that recently, Danny. You had a decent 8-yr run.

I am angry, saddened and flummoxed that my cougar crush Hannah Storm may be less visible. Maybe so on TV, but not in my heart.

zman said...

Kanell's tweets after the dooshy one are substantially less dooshy. And I'm not sure that he even rises to the level of a quote-unquote name. That said, moving to CT from NY/NJ doesn't seem like that much of a hardship, especially when you're moving for a job that primarily, if not solely, requires you to talk about football and likely pays well into six figures.

Shlara said...

My new Stan Smith's look pretty sweet
They also make me look WAY cooler than I actually am.

Marls said...

You Are pretty cool T-Grec. Much cooler than Dave.

zman said...

Did you get green? Silver? Primeknit?

Shlara said...

Classic white with the green heel
The prime knits didn't come in my size--they only had them in men's sizes and I would need a kids shoe
You guys are going to have to educate me on how to keep them looking nice.

TR said...

I'm ready for the first round of the onayoffs to be over. No Game sevens pls. Let's get to the good stuff.

Whitney said...

I hope that doesn't mean the playoffs of onanism. Because we are not covering THAT here at GTB.

Whitney said...

But if we did, we'd call it the Cock Hop.

Marls said...

Why not the Clam Slam?

zman said...

It would definitely be a recurring feature.

Danimal said...

Draft Day guys and gals! Who's pumped up???!!!! Yeah me neither.

Danimal said...

I recently Liked "Snake Identification" on Facebook. If anything they fill the feed a bit much but I should be pretty proficient at correctly ID'ing every snake in our 'hood within a few weeks. Give it a look.

Danimal said...

warning - it's a bit of a rabbit hole. you may want to stay away if you have other more important things to do.

rob said...

it'd be more of a snake hole, no?

Danimal said...

I've got your snake hole. Wait what? Never mind.

Whitney said...

Flying to NOLA at 3pm today. Look out.

mayhugh said...

Danimal - in your neck of the woods, just remember: red on black - you're okay Jack; Black on yellow - can kill a fellow.

Danimal said...

Yes, though there are apparently a couple of exceptions to that rule which I'm just learning.

And speaking of NOLA, Trombone Shorty coming to Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on 10/1. Anyone want to join? It's a Sunday which kind of blows, but it's only a few miles from my house. PVCH is a converted church that makes a nice intimate venue for shows. Tickets on sale tomorrow.

rob said...

shorty's new tour goes to both richmond and norfolk but bypasses dc, unless you count a festival at merriwether post. bummer for the kid.

zman said...

It's Bring Your Child To Work Day here. Complete bedlam. Bed. Lam.

Danimal said...

is your boy throwing around the f bomb? that could impress the bosses!

zman said...

I did not bring zkids to work. That would not end well for anyone.

Marls said...

Somebody needs to volunteer to look after Whit's liver.

TR said...

"Travis Bickle was onto something."

That's my view on NYC these days. Not sure I can handle this cesspool much longer.

zman said...

Commute gotcha down?

Squeaky said...

New Juliana Hatfield is hate letter in album form to Trump. With titles like "short fingered man", "rhinoceros" and "kellyanne". Decent album and she will always be sexy as hell in my book just because of 90's music.

TR said...

Commute has officially broken me and turned me into a functional alcoholic. Penn station is a homeless shelter. NJ Transit reminds me of the end of Atlas Shrugged. At least I don't work in an industry in secular decline. Oh wait, I do. And at least I don't live in a town whose property values are correlated to Wall Street. Wait. Scratch that.

zman said...

So you're opening an ice cream parlor with a home for wayward models in the back?

zman said...

Did the Bills just do something that makes sense? Wow.

zman said...

Although I would've been excited for them to get Deshaun Watson.

Mark said...

Jonathan Allen is a great value for the Skins.

And I'm shocked that OJ Howard might...might fall to Tampa.

rob said...

allen went to high school in ashburn, va, where the skins have their training facility. very local kid.

TR said...

A modern-day Jethro Tull concert is playing on my local access cable channel (1983, Zman). It is, um, not strong.

zman said...

Taco Charleton is my favorite name of the first round.