Congratulations, ESPN

[MusicMan]

From the Astros' season preview... posted yesterday, mind you:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview07/team?team=hou

Starting RF: Lane
Bench, OF: Hidalgo

[JimR]

that is correct, but the bench is in Venezuela.

[Jacksonian]

From the Astros' season preview... posted yesterday, mind you:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview07/team?team=hou

Starting RF: Lane
Bench, OF: Hidalgo

Written by......Phil Rogers.  ESPN thy name is Suck.

[homer]

Steve Phillips also predicts the Astros to finish 5th in the division.

[I'm Richies Dad]

I quit going to ESPN website a long time ago.  Nothing is ever accurate.  As for ESPN TV, they might as well change Baseball Tonight to the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox baseball tonight. FoxSports website is just as bad as long an Dayn Perry writes for them.

[Foghorn]

Wonder what Luke Scott has to do to get mentioned anywhere? 

I hope every newspaper editor, writer, beat guy all lose their jobs when America realizes newspapers are dinosaurs.  I hope every talking head on ESPN, ESPNews, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic, PTI, Around the Horn, Cold Pizza and Stump the Schwaub gets a never ending burning sensation where they pee.  I hope everyone associated with Fox SPorts Southwest, foxsports.com, Fox Sports  and Fox Sports Net is sticken with a either a case of elephantitus of the testicles (especially Jeanie Zelasko) or the mother of all yeast infections (especially Bill Worrell and Ric Renner).

The meritocracy starts now.  You bring the goods, you get the props.  You fuck around and you are D-O-N-E.  Those worth a shit...the line starts over there behind Footer and DeShaises.

[hostros7]

Adam Everett "starting to look like a low-impact player"

Right....right because shortstops should solely be based on the all important metric of  how-many-times-stuart-fucking-scott-can-yell-BOOYAHKASHA-during-a-highlight (HMTSFSCYBDH)

[ValpoCory]

From the Astros' season preview... posted yesterday, mind you:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview07/team?team=hou

Starting RF: Lane
Bench, OF: Hidalgo

You can help them out by submitting a correction here, if for some ungodly reason you feel the behemoth will listen to you:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/corrections

[TangerineDream]

My disgust with ESPN began with Buccigross and his snide jeers at Barry Melrose during hockey coverage. It just snowballed from there. Sportscenter is just a nauseating hour-long exercise in pretty boys with no take, and even less information, making poor attempts at sarcasm based-humor while they spin highlight reels of the same 3 teams in each sport. When they actually carried hockey I liked Melrose because, while he may be a fashion disaster, he still knows a lot about hockey and (I know that clearly this is not the case but) that should probably be a consideration in picking someone to cover that sport.  I also think John Saunders is great. The rest of them should probably be rounded up and dumped somewhere just beyond the continental shelf.

[tophfar]

My disgust with ESPN began with Buccigross and his snide jeers at Barry Melrose during hockey coverage.

holy crap if i have no idea who or what this means at all.

[Fredia]

From the Astros' season preview... posted yesterday, mind you:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview07/team?team=hou

Starting RF: Lane
Bench, OF: Hidalgo

they just probably get their information from the chronicle or another astros fan site unaware that the owa is pure gold when it comes to rumors, information, and outright speculation

[ybbodeus]

ESPN has been in decline ever since Tom Mees died.  The decline became exponentially horrible when Mort moved to Arkansas.

[pravata]

Wonder what Luke Scott has to do to get mentioned anywhere? 

I hope every newspaper editor, writer, beat guy all lose their jobs when America realizes newspapers are dinosaurs.  I hope every talking head on ESPN, ESPNews, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN.com, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic, PTI, Around the Horn, Cold Pizza and Stump the Schwaub gets a never ending burning sensation where they pee.  I hope everyone associated with Fox SPorts Southwest, foxsports.com, Fox Sports  and Fox Sports Net is sticken with a either a case of elephantitus of the testicles (especially Jeanie Zelasko) or the mother of all yeast infections (especially Bill Worrell and Ric Renner).

The meritocracy starts now.  You bring the goods, you get the props.  You fuck around and you are D-O-N-E.  Those worth a shit...the line starts over there behind Footer and DeShaises.

News "paper", maybe.  But right now 30% of households in the US dont have Internet access and arent planning on getting it.  News gathered by an organization of professionals isnt going away.  No matter where it's published.  All those clowns you mention have one thing in common, point of view.  Some like what they do because of only that.  Niche marketing is what is winning.  Footer and DeShais have the market cornered on the paying attention niche.

[Bench]

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/five-questions-houston-astros2/

More grist for the mill.

My favorite part:

"4. Will Chris Burke succeed in center?

He certainly did last year: batting .295 with a .381 OBP and slugging .500."

[strosrays]

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/five-questions-houston-astros2/

More grist for the mill.

My favorite part:

"4. Will Chris Burke succeed in center?

He certainly did last year: batting .295 with a .381 OBP and slugging .500."

That person is a dingbat.  I've run across her before.  If the almost total lack of baseball knowledge except for only the very most superficial doesn't get you, she also has the habit of periodically falling into an exaggerated sort of Angelfood McSpade  jive-talkin' dialect, especially when someone is questioning her knowledge or accuracy.  She thinks it's funny, but it isn't.

HBT has some good writers.  I like Steve Treder particularly.  They must've been scraping bottom to enlist Ms. Gray.

[TangerineDream]

they just probably get their information from the chronicle or another astros fan site unaware that the owa is pure gold when it comes to rumors, information, and outright speculation

fRdEia, you are so right. I was foolish enough to put on the FSN Baseball Report tonight. Literally it is 30 seconds of news and information padded with 29 minutes of fancy banners and pictures zooming around the screen.  After 10 minutes I just had to turn it off. The stories they were reporting were really just headlines, the full text of which I had already read either here or on another website. It has become clear to me that if you just read the headlines of Pravata's NYCU then you have already gotten all of the information you are likely to see on Sportscenter or FSN Baseball Report. I am no baseball expert; that has become very clear to me over a few years of lurking (and rarely posting) first at Kev & Scott's and then over here after Astrosconnection's untimely demise. The problem is, though, that my tastes in information and discussion have been horribly maimed because of these two sites. No longer can I be satisfied with what the television media has to offer. The mainstream sports press leaves me feeling empty and unfulfilled. The only preview that matters is Craig's. I will drink my news only from the cup that Pravata provides (or from the jugs of Footer). The real spin on a story is the one I will realize sitting at the feet of Noe and I will leave legions of baseball fans speechless and pissed off after I relate Jim's take on baseball's hot topic of the day. And of course I will know that, despite all of the hype that ESPN, SI, FSN, The Sporting News, and even the Chron spew out, the only person who really knows who will win the World Series this year is Kevin.

Thanks guys for fucking it up for me!

[pravata]

fRdEia, you are so right. I was foolish enough to put on the FSN Baseball Report tonight. Literally it is 30 seconds of news and information padded with 29 minutes of fancy banners and pictures zooming around the screen.  After 10 minutes I just had to turn it off. The stories they were reporting were really just headlines, the full text of which I had already read either here or on another website. It has become clear to me that if you just read the headlines of Pravata's NYCU then you have already gotten all of the information you are likely to see on Sportscenter or FSN Baseball Report. I am no baseball expert; that has become very clear to me over a few years of lurking (and rarely posting) first at Kev & Scott's and then over here after Astrosconnection's untimely demise. The problem is, though, that my tastes in information and discussion have been horribly maimed because of these two sites. No longer can I be satisfied with what the television media has to offer. The mainstream sports press leaves me feeling empty and unfulfilled. The only preview that matters is Craig's. I will drink my news only from the cup that Pravata provides (or from the jugs of Footer). The real spin on a story is the one I will realize sitting at the feet of Noe and I will leave legions of baseball fans speechless and pissed off after I relate Jim's take on baseball's hot topic of the day. And of course I will know that, despite all of the hype that ESPN, SI, FSN, The Sporting News, and even the Chron spew out, the only person who really knows who will win the World Series this year is Kevin.

Thanks guys for fucking it up for me!

You think you're funny.  Mostly because you are.  But you just try, I dare you, try to have a conversation for 15 minutes about the Astros with anyone who doesnt read the OWA.  Pretty soon you'll be casting about for any sharp object to jam into your ear drum.

[Browneye]

Steve Phillips also predicts the Astros to finish 5th in the division.

Steve Phillips is just a Jackass to all clubs unless its the Yankees, Mets, Sox or Cubs but I think he has something against the Stros. Last year right before the season started, Steve was asked on ESPN radio who he picked would be the most disapointing team. His answer was the Houston Astros. The commentator said, didnt you pick the Astros to be the most disapointing team the last two years. Steve said yes, he laughed and then said one of these years I will be right.

[homer]

Steve Phillips is just a Jackass to all clubs unless its the Yankees, Mets, Sox or Cubs but I think he has something against the Stros. Last year right before the season started, Steve was asked on ESPN radio who he picked would be the most disapointing team. His answer was the Houston Astros. The commentator said, didnt you pick the Astros to be the most disapointing team the last two years. Steve said yes, he laughed and then said one of these years I will be right.

I thought to be disappointed you had to:

1) have some faith or hope in the team and then
2) said team fails to live up to expectations.

Phillips can't meet the prerequisite to being disappointed.

[matadorph]

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/five-questions-houston-astros2/

More grist for the mill.

My favorite part:

"4. Will Chris Burke succeed in center?

He certainly did last year: batting .295 with a .381 OBP and slugging .500."

Oh you silly reader! She meant that he hit .295/.381/.500 as a CFer.

[Kent's Moustache]

My disgust with ESPN began with Buccigross and his snide jeers at Barry Melrose during hockey coverage. It just snowballed from there. Sportscenter is just a nauseating hour-long exercise in pretty boys with no take, and even less information, making poor attempts at sarcasm based-humor while they spin highlight reels of the same 3 teams in each sport. When they actually carried hockey I liked Melrose because, while he may be a fashion disaster, he still knows a lot about hockey and (I know that clearly this is not the case but) that should probably be a consideration in picking someone to cover that sport.  I also think John Saunders is great. The rest of them should probably be rounded up and dumped somewhere just beyond the continental shelf.

I can't respect any hockey broadcast or analyst crew that doesn't have at least one commentator with a healthy mullet a/k/a Hockey Hair a/k/a Canadian Waterfall.  Barry is the real deal.

[TheWizard]

Glad to see so many share my dislike of ESPN coverage.  If your team isn't the Yanks or Red Sox, good luck finding accurate, up-to-date coverage.

[matadorph]

I should be immune to it by now, but ESPN's constant disregard for the Astros just bugs me. Steve Phillips and John Kruk blow. The Astros have six playoff appearances in the McLane era, one WS appearance, the fourth-best winning percentage over that span, the second-best pitcher in baseball, one of the best hitters, one of the best bullpens in the NL, they're always in the thick of the playoff race, and these tards always predict the Astros to finish fourth or fifth in the division. The cherry came this week when the panel o' experts discussed the best hitters and pitchers in the NL and neither Berkman nor Oswalt merited a single, solitary mention. Unfuckingbelievable.

[BudGirl]

I can't respect any hockey broadcast or analyst crew that doesn't have at least one commentator with a healthy mullet a/k/a Hockey Hair a/k/a Canadian Waterfall.  Barry is the real deal.

Melrose is horrible.

[David in Jackson]

Melrose is horrible.

I like Melrose and love reading Buccigross' column.

Still, a CBC broadcast blows away ESPN.  And Versus' Doc Emrick does a great job.  I think their coverage has been good, though their game selection is horrible.