SEC Idolatry is Hilarious
We all love to make fun of ES(EC)PN, but today their "college football" section has out done itself. I buzzed over to the web site, and looked in, and they have become a parody of themselves. Nine of the top eleven stories in the news feed are about the SEC. They include such contrarian //s// pieces as:
- "Oft maligned, SEC QBs poised for renaissance"
- "The 15 best RB situations in college football" labeled as an article about Alabama.
- An in earth-shattering news //s//, "Pete" Finebaum likes Alabama and Florida in the SEC.
Of the two out of eleven non-SEC articles, one is "Steele sees Michigan, UNC as overrated."
Seriously, could they be more transparent about their financial interests lining up with the SEC and blatantly affecting how they report?
No, they couldn't.
Folks might want to check out SECExposed on twitter. They're pretty relentless in calling out ESPN and SEC fans for their non-stop cheering for a conference who 13/14ths of which are riding just one team's coattails.
I haven't checked in today, but I'm willing to bet it's been a riot.
It's pretty straight forward at this point. ESPN owns the SEC network and the ACC network set to launch next year. FOX owns BTN and has monster contracts with the Big 12 and Pac 12. Fox is just as biased as ESPN for these 3 conferences.
They should just do everyone a favor and admit that they are pushing their own financial agendas instead of pretending to be impatrtial. Or people could just stop feeding the trolls because that's where they are getting a good chunk of their clicks/viewers from.
You could make this comment fairly universally when it comes to all the media, not just sports. No big surprise.
Today is the beginning of SEC Media Days in Hooterville, AL, or some such place. You should expect some SEC love from the SEC Network when its pre-season media event kicks off! I think the ACC is up next later this week, or early next week. The B1G won't be far behind...
Rashan Gary and Wilton Speight.
I'll guess Mike McCray and Mason Cole since teams typically take seniors to media days.
I plan to vacation in Hooterville this summer. That place is TITS!
As a resident of the city that hosts SEC media days, I can assure you its not as exctitng as it sounds.
As someone who lives 15-20 mins from the facility, there is nothing exciting about it.
But the food there will make you violently ill.
I hear he moves kinda slow.
Also, don't try to eat Arnold Ziffle
I don't know how I would have gotten through the day if I hadn't found out that Bret Bielema butt-dialed Greg Skankey. Great to see ESPN breaking these vital, important stories...
for the Florida game! Next to the OSU game, no other tilt on the schedule feels as meaningful.
are a pretty lazy bunch--they're selling soap to their biggest viewing audience, as their corporate masters dictate. Another reason to steer clear when you can, though, I agree.
SEC fans dont know how to use soap.
Chicken 'n waffles. Hell-ya!
considered coming up with a new SN (ideas: RDT2 or WolverineDevoteest) just to upvote this some more
I don't know if they're better from top to bottom (I would argue no on that), but I only view one team as being a national title contender out of the SEC and that's Alabama. From the ACC, I can see FSU and Clemson contending, and maybe Louisville. Although it seems like everyone had Lamar Jackson figured out by season's end.
I'd say the depth in the SEC is somewhat better than the ACC, but there are more true title contenders in the ACC. Orgeron is basically Brady Hoke minus ethics, A&M has run its course with Sumlin, Malzahn needs a huge season to save his job (likely losing to Alabama for the fourth year in a row won't help), Georgia is probably a year or two away, and then Florida isn't going anywhere until McElwain can put something resembling a competent offense on the field. Last year was UT's year if they were ever going to break through with Butch Jones. He flopped, and now you know what you've got with him. They'll have to settle for being Champions of Life.
SEC forecast for 2017: Can anybody beat Bama?
.Is this just a story from 2009 or so that merely gets reprinted every year with only minor alterations and so far nobody has really taken much notice of the repetition? This is an honest question.....from a friend.
I could see them making the SEC title game because simply put, their schedule is pretty darn manageable. Playing @ Auburn will probably be tough, but other than that, their toughest games are @ ND, @ Tennessee, and Florida. All extremely winnable games.
Their home schedule is shit, but there is no one on their schedule I look at and say they can't beat. But yeah, even if they get to the SEC title game they're not ready to take on the Alabama buzzsaw. I'd say their expectations this year should be winning the East and contending for a NY6 bowl.
But is this the year Tennessee puts it all together?
I doubt it.
Tennessee had its chance. If they were ever going to do it, last year would've been the year with how well they'd recruited. But getting their asses whipped by Alabama 49-10 in front of their own fans showed them they weren't even close to contending for national titles.
Butch Jones is not the guy.
Many accuse ESPN of leaning left, but they are also the worlds biggest fan boys for the SEC which is a hotbed of conservatism
It was interesting to see how those who publish often only cited academics from their same professorial tree or academic institution.
I would love to see an analysis on sports writers and where they are from/schools they attend and see if there are similar results.
I can sum all this up for you:
1. ESPN sucks.
2. SEC sucks.
Quod erat demonstratum
I went to ESPN to check your claim. I found the following headline on the front page: Arkansas' Bielema butt-dials SEC commish. Idolatry confirmed.
and the word Bielema isn't as shocking as it used to be.
Avoiding ESPN.com is the new avoiding freep.com
ESPN has articles?
Sorry I even looked at that but I did.
Steele's relevance has come and gone, assuming it ever really was here.
Also, Brett Bielema may have actually gotten bigger