ESPN's upfront presentation on Tuesday had more soccer, more football, and more SportsCenter, but the Worldwide Leader refused to explain the most puzzling sport on its moneymaking lineup of contracts: tennis.
Baseball and the Final Four are upon us, and the NBA and NHL postseasons are heating up with the Spring, even if football is months away. But no matter how much you're enjoying the singular benefits of your favorite sport, America's sports-padded cable TV packages are still forcing you to subsidize football — even in April.
What's important about the NCAA tournament isn't who wins the championship. What's important is who gets humiliated by their embarrassing picks. For too long, celebrities and reporters have been immune to that humiliation. No longer.
Because they can't broadcast the actual games, ESPN struggles every year to find new and exciting ways to cover March Madness. This year they started a Tumblr and it is a sad, corporate attempt to beg for attention — and some LOLs.
Former Current TV chief news officer and host Keith Olbermann is talking to the head honchos at ESPN, possibly about rejoining the sports news giant where he worked from 1992 to 1997.
Today in viral videos: ESPN gets a new chef, ponies wear sweaters, and our faith in the awesomeness of people gets renewed.
If Robert Griffin III's knee was the first casualty of the Redskins offseason, consider this the second.
The commentator will not be losing his job for calling the Redskins quarterback a "cornball brother." Instead, he's being suspended for 30 days before he can return to work.
The columnist responded to the controversy for the first time since calling the Redskins quarterback a "cornball brother" and being suspended by ESPN.
In the latest of its problems with sports and race on TV, ESPN has suspended commentator Rob Parker for calling Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III a "cornball brother."
You had to know this was coming. ESPN has paid a whopping $6 billion to broadcast the new college-football playoff games — the ones that Obama was so keen to tell you about during the campaign.
Too boring, too straight-forward, not creative enough--it isn't lost on us that ESPN's SportsCenter sounds just like a dying newspaper or a sad aggregator. We know how just to fix that, and it starts with taking a page from their Canadian counterparts' book.
David Brooks argues that President Obama is doing better than you'd expect in polls given the state of the economy because he possesses a very specific type of manliness: "ESPN masculinity."
The New Orleans Saints are courting trouble again and the FBI is involved this time, how to fill 23 hours of NFL Draft coverage, and Bobby Valentine is only now geting around to denying rumors of an ugly clubhouse incident from March.
Many of the country’s biggest media companies — which own dozens of newspapers and TV news operations — are flexing their muscle in Washington in a fight against a government initiative to increase transparency of political spending.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is trying to put together a national sports network to rival ESPN, a daunting task, but then, the company does have a history of unseating cable rivals.
It's perhaps easier to forget the name of fired ESPN editor Anthony Federico than it is to forgive the "Chink in the Armor" headline he wrote, but apparently Jeremy Lin did the latter face-to-face with Federico over lunch on Tuesday.
With the cable business finally reaching saturation when it comes to adding new subscribers, and viewers blessed with more on-demand choices than ever, many top cable channels have recently experienced their worst ratings declines ever.
This weekend's MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference will have over 2,200 attendees; nearly 700 more than last year, with a waiting list in the hundreds. All this to listen to math geeks talk about batting average and rebounds per 48 minutes?
The president tells Bill Simmons he's been hearing about the out-of-nowhere sensation for years, Tim Tebow and Taylor Swift may have gone on a date with their agents, and Us Weekly is not happy with Snooki
Also: Former Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian finds a home at ESPN, the NFL accommodates Barack Obama's acceptance speech, and Kobe Bryant may also have a concussion.
Are we too quick to judge on the Internet? No question: Absolutely, yes.
Following ESPN's groan-inducing Jeremy Lin headline, we'd like like to point out a few more phrases headline writers might want to avoid, not only because they're vaguely racist but also because they're clichéd.
The sports network has taken swift and decisive action against two employees who used the phrase "chink in the armor" in describing the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin's NBA team.
Jeremy Lin won't be dunking during all-star weekend, the 3-point shot isn't just for guards anymore, and the Minnesota Vikings once again think they're close to a stadium deal.
Also: the Jeremy Lin show moves on to D.C. tonight, Duke and North Carolina are playing their least overhyped game in years, and the richest man in Los Angeles has decided he'd also like to buy the Dodgers.
Unlike other networks, which are fearful to put stuff on the Internets, NBC's not worried about losing money on its free stream of this year's Super Bowl.
Expensive sports channels are pushing cable bills to levels that make Internet-only subscriptions seem ever-more appealing.
Today in sports: New England Patriots offensive coordinator will be named the new football coach in Happy Valley on Saturday, Floyd Mayweather is starting his jail sentence, and Charles Barkley may have lost his Weight Watchers endorsement last night.
Today in sports: ESPN says no one should ever worry about being hit in the head by a crashing camera, the University of Oregon has fancy new duds for tonight's Rose Bowl game, and the Montreal Canadiens formally apologize to Quebec separatists.
While the Internet usually gets all the blame for inspiring the scary-for-cable-companies cordless future, the NFL, too, will dictate television's fate.
Today in sports: ESPN is getting a new president, Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams had an unexpected house guest, and MLB is officially banning discrimination based on sexual orientation
Hilary Swank dropped by her PR agency over Chechen party appearance, Wendi Deng Murdoch screens her new movie in D.C., and Marc Anthony's midtown Manhattan confusion.
Today in sports: Optimism that the NBA lockout is on its last legs, ESPN's ombudsman explains its tricky relationship with the University of Texas, and NFL games are taking 89 seconds longer this year.
The cantankerous country star's latest track slams Fox & Friends along with ESPN
ESPN severed ties with the singer after he compared Obama to Hitler
Monday Night Football did not start with "All My Rowdy Friends" for the first time in 20 years
The former outfielder was arrested last night on domestic battery charges
Also in sports: Don't throw that home run ball back on the field, Nationals fans
Plus: The most curious quote from Mark Sanchez's GQ cover
Plus: A Star Jones book signing is disrupted
Plus: what do you give the mega-bestselling author who has everything?
The deal ousts NBC after 43 years and focuses on more live coverage
Revelations in a new interview: he doesn't talk to Rachel Maddow, bad-mouthed Jeff Zucker
Despite departure of Olympics guru Dick Ebersol, Comcast bids to keep the Games
Plus: offline legal troubles for Courtney Love
ESPN is the new favorite
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