Let's Make the Worldwide Leader Better

Get rid of Joe Morgan? Why?

7. When broadcasting sports outside the big 4, hire announcers who have exactly watch the sport prior to their hiring.

8. Stop trying to turn children's games into legitimate contests. No World Series of Hopscotch please!

7) Fire Joe Buck

Switch American Gladiators from ESPN Classic to regular ESPN to replace those mid-summer NFL Lives that solely discuss Pacman Jones pounding a stripper's head into the floor for 30 minutes because, well, it's summer and guess what, it's the offseason.

Kirkjan is one of my favorite analysts. The suggestion you made with him, Olney, and Berthiuame as well as another former baseball player (besides MoJoe Kruk) to do Baseball Tonight is a great idea.

Can we just fire Chris Berman altogether instead of just removing him from Home Run Derby telecasts? I don't want to see any more Top 10s until he's gone. Same old worn out tired routines over and over.

Bring back Battle of the Gridiron Stars.

Quit bumping PTI and ATH for 1st and 2nd round coverage of senior golf.

I was waiting for someone to say that. ESPN pays way too much attention to the Yankees, Poker, and Golf.

Don't get me started on ESPN. I like the sports reporters when Mike Lipuca and Mitch Albom are on, and I think First Take is pretty good when I get to see it, but the rest of the station should be blown up.

there is too much to fix... these are good starts though

I prefer Karl Ravech to Steve Berthiaume. Other than that, there's a huge list of problems to fix.

I have a suggestion: have SportsCenter go back to the old sets! You know, the ones they had before they decided to air the show from the bridge of the starship Enterprise... Oddly enough, the set change (and the accompanying change in graphics) came at just about the same time as ESPN's first hints of shark-jumping -- coincidence? I think not.

I'm suprised nobody's said this yet: Fire Stuart Scott and Chris Berman.

Berman has become a caricature of himself. His shtick has seen it's day. It's time for him to go.

They could start by getting back to showing actual sporting events. Whatever happened to the Wednesday Day Game?? I loved crackin open a beer, kicking back and watching some afternoon baseball on a lazy summer afternoon. They also used to show straight baseball all day long on national holidays (ie 4th, Labor Day, etc). This years 4th featured one game, and that was just because it was Wednesday. Apparently the Spelling Bee (from April) is more important and more American.

And of the games they do show, put a little quality into it. Compare the NBA on NBC to the current NBA product, and there is no comparison. I would have sat through this years finals if they were on NBC, simply because it still felt like a big deal, even if it was a huge mismatch (Lakers-Nets in 02).

And finally, cut the crap and stick to what youre good at. Things like Whos Now, Bronx is Burning, ESPN Hollywood, etc. are ridiculous, and I havent even started on poker. MTV went the way it did because they started showing crap and the 16 year old girls who watch MTV are too simple minded to demand quality. Sports fans can do better and deserve better than to see ESPN become a shell of what it once was.

Here's the authoritative thread on why ESPN sucks...

ERIN ANDREWS! How has no one mentioned her yet! She should be at every conceivable big game, not just college games..everything! Also, offer her contract perks such as a million dollar bonus for a Playboy shoot. Please! This is of utter importance!

Making the worldwide leader better:

1) A change of philosophy. The network tries to be entertaining and dominating (i.e. ESPN's _____ has learned when they steal stories from a website). Instead, focus more on the games and less on yourself. I'm not saying there shouldn't be anyone funny, I'm just saying we don't need Stuart Scott. I'm also not saying that there shouldn't be any attempts to create shows, just that we don't need Tilt and The Bronx Is Burning.

2) Less angry white people screaming at each other, more actual analysis. Goodbye Cold Pizza. Remember when we used to have Diamond Notes and Around The Huddle, and Gammons and Clayton would use their time to explain stuff to us? Now Gammons barely gets on TV and Clayton spends his time getting shat on by a red-faced Sean Salisbury.

3) You don't need 300 channels. Lets take it back to the basics here. ESPN Classic stops showing Arliss and starts showing SportsCentury reruns, stops showing Stump The Schwab and starts showing actual classic games. Sell the poker rights to GSN or the Travel Channel. There should essentially be two types of show on ESPN: News and Events. News covering BBTN, SportsCenter, NFL Live, all that stuff. Events covering MLB(/global baseball), NFL, NCAA BB/FB, NBA, NHL, MLS(/global soccer), Golf, Tennis, and on occasion i wouldn't mind seeing some minor league games early in the morning, if you can get some top prospects. You can keep ESPNU to show other college sports, and if you have to delve into something else, or you have to keep poker, create an ESPNEntertainment channel.

4) To go along with 2, we no longer need people who bring no factual analysis to the table. I'm not saying you hire every stat nerd and put him in front of a camera, I'm saying that you get rid of people who have clearly shown beyond a shadow of a doubt (Lets call him J. Morgan, no no, Joe M.) that they have no idea what they are talking about.

5) Enough with the advertisement infringement. Even though I hate the way SportsCenter works now, it's not just the lack of information that turns me off, it's the segments where we come back from commercials in-time to go to the Budweiser Hot Seat, then we get another 20 second spot for Budweiser, then we get 20 seconds of news, then more commercials. Tone it down.

Put snooker on in the morning! It'll be afternoon play British time, morning US time... What else is going on at 10-11am on a weekday morning!?