ESPN Article Actually Requests "Snarky" Comments, And Gets A Ton Of Them

Thursday, August 02, 2007


Ask and you shall receive my Nemesis!

ESPN has this ridiculous article up on the 50 players they think will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. They came up with some crazy points based system which is based on categories such as Mortality, Upside, and Intangibles....you know Intangibles....that which can't be measured (we're off to a great start).

The best part of the article isn't the 50 players (which include Calvin Johnson, AJ Hawk, Adrian Peterson, and Lofa Tatupu), it's the fact that the authors ask for snarky comments (oh and they get them)...

Before you post a snarky comment at the bottom of this page … understand that these are predictions. Very few active players would be locks for the Hall of Fame if they retired today. That leaves the door open to interpretation on who else will fill the field of 50 -- even a couple players who have yet to take a regular-season snap.

OK, now check our list -- and post that snarky comment.
You ask and you shall receive. I'll go first and then open it up to the ESPN Commenters.

1. You state that very few active players would be locks for the HOF if they retired today. WHY EVEN DO THIS STUDY TO START WITH THEN?!?!?! You already disproved everything you're about to say.

2. A tiebreaker is said to go to the person with the better team. The better team right now? Or how they'll be in 5, or 10 years? That's another study on its own.

3. A tiebreaker is said to go to the person with the better team. But in Matt Leinart's case you tell us to "Forget about that decal on the side of his helmet. Pretend it isn't there."....Umm okay??? What happened to your original ratings key then?

4. LaDanian Tomlinson is 9th....9th! Behind Richard Seymour and one in front of Adam Vinatieri. Enough said.

5. No Zach Thomas, Frank Gore, Willie Anderson, Jay Cutler, Roy Williams, Devin Hester, Fred Taylor, or Corey Dillon. Not even a mention.

I could go on and on, but I'll leave the rest to the ESPN commenters. They should sum it up for me....
"First "Who's Now?" Now this. This is the worst attempt at any list I have ever seen."

"Just think a few years ago they would have had Ryan Leaf on this list!! What a joke of an article!"

"Another wonderful (snicker) piece of journalism by you hacks. Your station has become complete and utter garbage over the last several years, and you also insist on just phoning in 90 percent of all the articles on the web site to go along with it."

"This is the worst thing I've ever seen from ESPN. It sounds like a little kid wrote this that didn't know what it takes to get to the Hall, and thought it was just for players who had decent careers. If Pac Man and Vick didn't get into any trouble they'd be on your list for sure."

...and my personal favorite.....

"This just in...........John David Booty just cracked the top 10."
Note to ESPN: I'm good at making up formulas too. I could come up with a formula and then rank the next player to be injured in MLS or something. How much is something like that worth? $1,500??? I bet I could come up with something even more ridiculous than Thomas Neumann and Scott Symmes (who?) and for half the cost.

Who's Ticketed For Canton? (ESPN Page 2)
Who's Ticketed For Canton?: Comments (ESPN Page 2 Conversation)
ESPN Sets Sabermetrics Back 100 Years, Joe Morgan Is Laughing His A** Off (Awful Announcing)

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 10:22 AM

18 Comments:

Soooo, Big Ben is the youngest QB to win the SB, led a sixth seed to the damned game and isn't even on the bubble.

The ESPN sure is rigorous. They making a mockery out of sports anymore.

E Buzz said...
Aug 2, 2007, 11:35:00 AM  

Maybe because he played like crap and was lucky that the rest of the team played well?

TJX said...
Aug 2, 2007, 11:47:00 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
E Buzz said...
Aug 2, 2007, 12:06:00 PM  

As each day goes by I find I am distancing myself more and more from ESPN, which is turning into 'E' with athletes.

J Rose said...
Aug 2, 2007, 12:07:00 PM  

Played like crap?

Who the hell got them to the game with great performances? Kordell Stewart?

Ben's rookie year

E Buzz said...
Aug 2, 2007, 12:08:00 PM  

Don't read the damn article. Don't read the snarky comments. Don't post a snarky comment.

That's what you people don't understand.

All you ESPN bashers will give the so-called "news story" a ton of hits, which will tell them that we want more of this garbage. That's the problem with the Internet. It just counts clicks, not just why we click.

Anyway, ESPN is laughing at us. All the way to the bank.

J.J. said...
Aug 2, 2007, 12:46:00 PM  

Too bad they didn't do this for MLB in 2001, they could have included Danny Almonte in that one.

A.B. said...
Aug 2, 2007, 12:56:00 PM  

JJ- While I appreciate your disdain, not reading isn't going to change how they do business. They've had over 4 million people vote on Who's Now.

I'm much happier getting joy out of mocking them, and hoping a few people read the better blogs out there for another perspective.

Aug 2, 2007, 1:03:00 PM  

That was the first time I'd been to ESPN in at least half a year.

E Buzz said...
Aug 2, 2007, 1:14:00 PM  

Good God, ESPN never surprises me anymore.

I noticed the comments for the Who's Now ordeal are through the roof. People actually take this bracket seriously...

J Rose, you are dead on. It's not even sports anymore.

Eric said...
Aug 2, 2007, 1:54:00 PM  

Hey, Jerry Springer was popular.

Don't underestimate the poor taste of our fellow Americans.

Chris Berman, for example.

E Buzz said...
Aug 2, 2007, 2:24:00 PM  

anybody that thinks devin hester is going to the hall of fame (1 decent season) is high. remember azHakim? Desmond Howard? Dante Hall? Return specialist careers are short and easily forgotten.

Anonymous said...
Aug 2, 2007, 3:12:00 PM  

lbutler36-

I wasn't suggesting that in the least, but based on their article and criteria....shouldn't he be mentioned?

Seemed odd to leave him out.

Aug 2, 2007, 3:17:00 PM  

If Big Ben even gets close enough to smell the Hall of Fame, I'll eat a steaming bowl of my own shit.

Me said...
Aug 2, 2007, 3:57:00 PM  

I led my flag football league in touchdowns last season, does that put me in the Top 50 or am I on the just missed list?

twoeightnine said...
Aug 2, 2007, 4:12:00 PM  

There are 238 people in the hall of fame. To even suggest that 50 active players have a chance to get in is insane.

Ken said...
Aug 2, 2007, 4:27:00 PM  

289, yes, yes it does.

It just boggles the mind that "experts" can try and rpedict hall of fame careers from guy's who have played under 5 years.

I guess I'm not NOW.

GMoney said...
Aug 2, 2007, 5:22:00 PM  

I think it's funny that they have all these guys who are going to Canton, yet the bust they have in that goony headline is of Lynn Swann...who only just made the Hall of Fame.

La Rev said...
Aug 2, 2007, 5:41:00 PM  

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