The Masters is a family reunion where Rick Reilly is your annoying uncle
I am going to go out on a limb and guess I'm not the only one who feels suffocated after an extended weekend of Rick Reilly being featured on ESPN. Actually a quick Twitter search shows I am not alone.
In my never ending quest to make a stupid analogy for everything in sports media, it's clear to me that Rick Reilly is that dreaded uncle who you know is going to pester you thinking that he's funny. People encourage him. They shouldn't. Shouldn't someone be elbowing him or kicking him under the table?
ESPN has done a good job picking and choosing when to let the talent acquisition abomination of the decade out from the dark corner he operates in. But The Masters is unfortunately that annual event you KNOW he's going to be there. He's going to be there alright. Dressed up, yucking it up, having a ball, and totally oblivious that everyone there wants him to can it.
You look forward to The Masters just like a fun family reunion but dread... literally dread the moments you may have to be stuck nodding along listening to Reilly.
It's all canned. It's shtick. It's some terrible mutant creation of a failed comedian, a failed salesman, combined with a mediocre journalist. He pinches your cheek, tells cliche stories, and makes jokes that only leave you keenly aware of how little time we have on Earth and that you're wasting precious seconds listening to this guy just blabber about god knows what. He's family, and it's only once in awhile, but I was never consulted about his inclusion to the clan and I just don't know how much more I can take biting my tongue.
At a family event you can fake needing another drink or needing to go to the bathroom in hopes he'll latch on elsewhere. This is where I excel most in life.
On ESPN, yes you can change the channel, but there are certain times as a viewer you've just thrown the anchor down and you're too lazy or invested in flipping away fearing you might miss something that everyone will be talking about tomorrow.
"Did you see that Blake Griffin dunk yesterday?"
"No, I started watching Khloe and Lamar because Rick Reilly made me tap out from watching ESPN."
I can stomach a lot of the personalities that drive people crazy in sports media. Most of them are not too hard to avoid or tune out. However as the years have gone by, my predisposition to being tormented by random slices of Reilly has only worsened. If only he could be quarantined away from the masses.
With Rick Reilly's deal winding down and ESPN/Reilly public sentiment nearing SOPA status, I'm hoping that by next Masters I can take in the great annual event without dreading and navigating ESPN's featuring of Reilly.
I Agree with Andrea, the musicial performer for Halftime and the Starting Introductions of the NBA All-star Game, the Cowboys and Lions Home NFL games on Thanksgiving and for the Super Bowl, will never please everybody, because that is impossible to do!!
Another thing, about the guy saying the NBA All Star Game is the worst. Again, those are opinions. Many other people argue the NBA ASG is the best and I have seen plenty of people saying it on both twitter and facebook this past weekend..but, again, you chose to take only the anti-ASG tweets because that would've fit your agenda better. A tweet written by a football guy no less.
Pathetic.
Bottom line, you guys are pathetic. One year you scream "the dunk contest is dead, it bottomed out", the next year you write "the dunk contest is back!!!!!!!!" then it is back to being "dead forever and nobody can rescue it" then it is "back and stronger than ever!!!!!!!!!11!!!11" and then it's "dead"
How about a little more consistency on your part, guys?
ps: For all the whining you guys make, tv ratings for the rising stars game were the highest ever, the all-star saturday night drew the 3rd highest rating EVER in the 27-year history of the event and the all-star game itself drew the 2nd highest overnight rating since '05 despite going up against the Oscars. I'm sure calling this a flop, given the strong ratings, is ridiculous.
What a bunch of whiners. I'll agree the slam dunk contest wasn't the best..but all of those cries are ridiculous..watch the 2010 dunk contest or the 2004 one if you want to talk about worst contests ever..this year's one at least had 2-3 really nice dunks so it's not like there wasn't anything nice at all.
Cry me a river over those ones complaining about the halftime show, as if it was something that mattered. Seriously, is that even a big-enough issue worthy of complaining about? For real?!?!?! It's really true what I always say that people and the media literally love complaining over non-issues. It's just comes down to musical tasties. Some people like it, some others don't. When it comes to music performers, you can't make everyone happy. I thought that was obvious. Obviously bloggers, columnists, talking heads etc. don't think so.
Same with the geniuses whining over the all-star jerseys. I loved them, personally, but once again, it still comes down to personal tastes. Just because a few media guys whined over it on twitter doesn't mean everyone hated them. Case in point, MANY people purchased those jerseys.
The All-Star Game itself was a dunk contest for the first 3 quarters with little defense played, but the 4th quarter was actually good and they really turned it into a real game, complete with intensity and defense. Maybe you guys would've noticed it if you weren't so busy complaining.
You gotta love the fact you just took the tweets of those whiners and purposely IGNORED those people (and I have seen plenty) loving the ASG during the 4th quarter. Obviously those tweets would've not fit your anti-all star agenda.
Stop whining.
