I hate how ESPN brings up the race issue in every story they cover.

Agreed. I stopped watching SC while that was on because I was tired of that stupid song and that whole segment. And seriously, is Steve Phillips the best washed up GM they could find to be an anchor? I like the concept of having a former GM (just as I like having a both former player and manager in the Cubs booth), but seriously he's dumb and sucks (like when he suggested that Bonds just take off the away games so that he could hit 756 at home, though admittedly that's what effectively happened).

The fake press conferences they did with Phillips about two years ago were bad...just bad. I could have come up with thirty different synonyms but I'm just going to stick with bad.

Hockey is the greatest sport in the world. It's got all your athleticism, speed and violence wrapped up into one package.

Not to mention fine motor skills.

as a journalist myself, the solution is simple (although highly unlikely right now): there needs to be another sports station that competes with ESPN on a national market. there are regional alternatives, but nothing that's jumped up to a national level.

It would be like CNN vs. Fox News. I'm not gonna argue about which one is the better news station to watch, but you can tell they spin things differently depending on the stories they're covering and they both have different shows and opinions to offer. in this super-saturated sports and media society, there should definitely be a place for a second major cable sports station. unfortunately, ESPN has a monopoly on everything by covering NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA and now MLS.

I think it would be hilarious if a national sports telecast would have a mid-western bias, but in reality, espn is serving the people. It just so happens that the majority of the poplulation lives on the east coast compared to the midwest and west coast.

But i still hate them. Especially stuart scott. Scott Van Pelt is the best thing thats ever happend to that station. That and Dan Patrick leaving.

I'll give their website credit for the great chats they have (Law, Neyer, a few of the NBA guys).

But other than that I seldom find any reason to click over there.

me too. I like Law and Neyer, and Hollinger/Thorpe are pretty interesting when it comes to hoops. Sheridan seems to have some sources, and Stein seems decent...but Forde comes across as a jackass. That KC Joyner guy is a real tool as well.

Fox sports tried competing with their own sports highlight show before the horrid Best Damn Sports Show came along. It was beyond bad. Comcast has some pretty good sports coverage but it is regional. It is great to see emphasis on your local teams but the national coverage is lacking.

All that someone needs to do is put out an hour long highlight show that pretty much copies Sportscenter from the early 90's. No zany graphics and hotseat and all that crap, just extended coverage of that days games and some relevant stories about whats happening in sports. It's that simple.

Doesn't FSN have that now? A friend of mine raves about it.

Comcast was trying to build Versus into a competitor to ESPN. That was dealt a severe blow when they didn't win any of the NFL games. I don't know what they are doing with it now, other than the NHL and boxing.

The Comcast SportsNet channel here broadcasts FSN during the slower hours. After the Phillies\Flyers\Sixers and their post-game shows, mid-days, weekend mornings. I find FSN to blow pretty hard. I haven't seen their highlight show in years but it was pretty shitty when it was on.

I think they also won the right to some mid major college football games.

these regional TV stations need to partner with Sports Illustrated or something. that would give them some great columnists and great reporters who could break national stories.

I think they have a half hour of straight highlights with a PTI style listing down the side of what's coming up next. It's similar to what you would find on ESPN News I guess.

Didn't they used to have CNNSI? Which was basically like ESPNews.

FSN does have a highlight type show. It's called FSN Final Score. It's a 30 minute show of straight highlights. No bullshit segments, or screaming columnists. Just some dude at a desk running the highlights. It does have the listing of what's coming up down the right side, with a ticker on the bottom (which is my only real complaint. I want highlights to fill my TV!!). Other than that it's a great show!

Yeah, Final Score. I couldn't remember the name of it. And yes, the screen does get a bit cluttered with all the stuff they throw up there.

Did anyone catch Emmitt Smith last night..... talking about rookies that will make a difference....

"Travis Henry" Um... ESPN, I know it's cool to hire ex athletes, but um, maybe lets hire the ones who haven't taken so many shots to the head that they can't make it through a 3 minute conversation and remember the subject. A shred of credibility would be nice.

Maybe they hire Mike Vick next just to round it out.