Tag: ESPN

Countdown to Senior Night: The Sportscenter Generation

6 March, 2009 / Kat

This year’s graduating class from the Boston University men’s hockey team is quite familiar with ESPN’s Sportscenter, because members of the class have been featured on it four times so far in their four years. College hockey does not get a lot of Sportscenter love (even when John Buccigross is involved), so for members of a single graduating class to appear on the iconic show multiple times is quite a feat.

As I mentioned last month, Sportscenter doesn’t have a great online video archive, so I am without video for all of one of these appearances. I have found alternative video where available.

Dear ESPN: Could Your New Site Make Things More Difficult?

3 February, 2009 / Kat

I woke up Tuesday morning and literally bounced to work from my new apartment. I woke up early, stopped by my neighborhood Dunkin’ Donuts, got my iced coffee, put on the iPod, put on Kevin Rudolf’s Let it Rock (my obsession since October) and bounced to work.

I bounded up the three flights of stairs to my office, jumped through the door, smiled to the student who was working the main desk, skipped into my office, and fired up the trusty laptop. I fired off a few emails, and then opened up Google Reader to catch up on the morning’s recaps of the event that had made me full of so much bounce – BU’s blood-pressure-raising win against Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal the night before.

And then, there it was, in the Terrier Hockey Fan Blog. Yet another BU Beanpot goal had made the Sportscenter Top 10. In 2006, it was Chris Higgins’ crazy “How’d He Do That?!” slide into the boards goal. Monday, it was his classmate from down Route 1 North, Jason Lawrence’s game-winning goal that made the Top 10.

Please Don’t Touch Mr. Young. It Makes Me Sad.

10 December, 2008 / Kat

I just read on Awful Announcing that Steve Young was in rare form Monday evening during Monday Night Countdown and the post-game show.

steve-young-smile First off, he called ESPN “dumb.” Oh Steve, for all of your smarts, you can sure put your foot in your mouth sometimes. Like the time you called out Phil Simms on national television. I despise Simms as well, and think he was wicked overrated as a quarterback (just like his son), but I’d never call him out on it on national television.

Hmm…maybe I would, but I would do it under a pseudonym and hide for a few weeks following.

Steve, I’ll offer you the same piece of advice I offered Bill Simmons a few months ago. Don’t publicly “dis” your employer. Don’t blog on a underground Blogger account about how ESPN is the man and how they don’t let you post every 7,000 word tomb you write, even if you have a legitimate point. Don’t call out ESPN on ESPN, even if you have pent up anger about having to do a show with Emmitt “I Have Never Heard of Subject-Verb Agreement” Smith and Stuart “Boo-yah!” Scott. Both are examples of burning bridges. I tell my students all the time not to burn bridges, especially with employers, potential employers, and the like. If you ever want a job, it probably isn’t a good idea to burn bridges.

Steve and Bill, you need a career counselor to give you the counseling you obviously didn’t receive at Brigham Young and Holy Cross, respectively. I volunteer. Email me. I’ll help you.

Secondly, in the most egregious assault of one of my favorite athletes since Saturday night’s BU-BC game, a Carolina Panthers fan threw a beer cup at Steve Young. Fortunately, he missed. Steve stayed calm and professional throughout the incident, which does not surprise me. Think about it. For one, he’s a lawyer. Lawyers get stuff thrown at them all the time. (Well, I mean, not all the time. But they are the recipients of a lot of vile comments and hate, which are metaphorically thrown at them. Right?) Additionally, Steve Young has like five children under the age of 10. He has toys, clothes, diapers and cut-up-bits of food thrown at him every single minute of his waking life.

Therefore, having a empty beer cup thrown at him was not going to phase Steve Young. Nothing phases Steve, except for sharing a show with Emmitt Smith or Michael Irvin. But then again, wouldn’t that bug you too?

Break Glass if Sick of Election Talk: Your Sports Link-o-Rama

4 November, 2008 / Kat

I come to you this evening to write the only piece of blog-o-sphere not to mention tomorrow’s US Presidential Election. Because, frankly, to be all Negative Nellie about it, it won’t matter who the heck is elected President tomorrow – America is screwed either way because there is not a single politician who exists who is stand-up and honest.

But enough about my political thoughts. I come to you today with links to articles that also have nothing to do with politics, because there will be a point sometime on Tuesday where you are going to want to bang your head against the wall if you hear one more iota about the election:

I Feel Smart, or Bill Simmons Hates His Job

12 September, 2008 / Kat

I was reading the new Bill Simmons column during lunch this afternoon, when I tripped over the following paragraph:

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: With any job, you’re going to have your ups and downs. At some point, you have to decide whether the downs outweigh the ups to the point that it’s not worth it for you to have that job anymore. You could call it a satisfaction/misery ratio. If that ratio swings past 20/80, it’s time to go.

And then this paragraph just totally turned on my “he’s trying to tell us something” alarm:

Speaking of Jay, I joked in last week’s NFL preview that “Any time ‘Our QB should be better this year because he’s finally treating his Type 1 diabetes’ is your best reason for making the playoffs, I can’t pick you to finish higher than 7-9.” That led to a few readers who either have diabetes or know someone with diabetes e-mailing to say they were disappointed that I made fun of diabetes just for a laugh, which immediately got me excited — since that clearly wasn’t the case — and secretly hoping the whole thing would snowball and ESPN would ask me to apologize, creating my dream scenario of me standing up for a harmless joke and the depressed state of comedy in general, eventually getting suspended because the American Diabetes Association was protesting me in Bristol, then having our ombudsman write a post about me to cap things off. That didn’t happen.

Simmons’ growing dissatisfaction with his position at ESPN is well documented throughout sports media blog circles. However, to come out and say that in a column, and let your editor run with it, makes me beleive that he is on his way out.

Do I blame him? No. Bill Simmons needed ESPN to reach a better place in his career, but he has a fan base that could easily transfer to his own site. He is his own brand. He was “Boston Sports Guy,” then became “ESPN’s The Sports Guy,” and, with the right web developers and savvy new media PR staff, could be just the plain “Boston Sports Guy” again. He could write as long as he wanted, as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted. He wouldn’t have to mince his words about ESPN personalities. Bill Simmons, if you are really thinking of the above, go assemble yourself a crack staff and get ready to strike out on your own.

But until then, don’t post loaded thoughts like the quotes above in your column for your current employer. Not a good idea, Bill Simmons. Up there with posting photos of you drinking with scantily clad underage girls on Facebook or MySpace (which he hasn’t done, but college students do all the time), blasting your current employer is not advisable if you want a successful career. We tell students that all the time.