What's the deal with ESPN?

[Guest Moderator 6]

Let's be honest.  Webb got away with one last night.  But "no-call" on Smith in the Super Bowl, Brown vs. the steelers a few weeks ago, how are those even mentioned?

[jimmypowder]

Let's be honest.  Webb got away with one last night.  But "no-call" on Smith in the Super Bowl, Brown vs. the steelers a few weeks ago, how are those even mentioned?

What about the Marlon Brown mugging  at the one yard line where they called a personal foul but not PI?? It was clearly pass interference .We had to settle for a field goal when we should have had the ball at the one!

[beanfigger]

Both Stephen A. Smith and, yes, even Skip Bayless gave our team props and stated we were to be feared in the AFC.  Skip even said he can feel his Patriots are going to lose this weekend in Baltimore, and he gave Flacco props for his play.  I thought I was having a brain tumor listening to this while in the waiting room for my physical.  It was crazy.

 

To be honest, I kind of liked having someone like that who we could always count on to doubt us.  I don't know if it's a good thing that we seem to have won these guys over.

[ratedr]

The Ravens are presently receiving MUCH love from Numbers Never Lie. I'm not really a "stat" guy but here is one they posted on the show that was impressive:

Ravens are 32-14 in Week 10 or later under John Harbaugh,

2nd-best Win pct in the NFL since '08

Wow! Go Ravens!!

#Mili

They got a LOT of love on First Take too. They were eveb giving Flacco props. Scary.

[The Raven]

Wah wah wah everyone hates us...

 

Sorry just getting tired of this whinefest that I see every week

[JoeyFlex5]

are you surprised? just another day as a ravens fan in myopinion, this team is notorious for being disrespected by the media.

[FlocksGottaFeed]

Wah wah wah everyone hates us...

 

Sorry just getting tired of this whinefest that I see every week

Agreed. It's getting so hard to follow the in-game thread that I just stopped. I understand that passions run pretty high when we all want the team we love win, but I just can't get into that aspect of it. Anything Gruden, ESPN or any other media group said about our team during the broadcast or afterwards is pretty tame compared to the Raven fan-base. Not saying that that's not a showing of love when it comes down to our fans. It's just a little disingenuous to be judgmental of others that do it when not really knowing where there loyalties are. I'm just saying. We won and are on our way to what may be one of the greatest finishes in NFL history. Why not just feel good about it?

 

ESPN did broadcast one of the most moving videos I've ever watched yesterday - (About a Raven Fan). Check it out.

[5aiah]

Both Stephen A. Smith and, yes, even Skip Bayless gave our team props and stated we were to be feared in the AFC.  

 

To be honest, I kind of liked having someone like that who we could always count on to doubt us.  I don't know if it's a good thing that we seem to have won these guys over.

We are often given props when its due and every year spoken of as a team to be feared in the AFC. Ravens fans often overlook it because being the underdog is the better role for us.

 

It's worth noting Gruden is one of the few analyst on ESPN who likes Flacco a lot

He's actually a smart analyst, just annoying

Yeah I don't get all this "Gruden is an idiot" stuff but its way off the mark. Some people really do irrationally hate him though, maybe its his face.

[CalvinSmoke]

We are often given props when its due and every year spoken of as a team to be feared in the AFC. Ravens fans often overlook it because being the underdog is the better role for us.

 

Yeah I don't get all this "Gruden is an idiot" stuff but its way off the mark. Some people really do irrationally hate him though, maybe its his face.

Yea I enjoy Gruden, but when you start looking for thing you find it. He does his job, pointing out the obvious. He elaborated on Webb's PI and he elaborated on Joe getting hit illegally.

 

Nothing to see here.

[admartian]

I'm just surprised that there hasn't been anyone to whine about someone talking about the media in this thread.

 

Speechless....

:p

[flynismo]

Agreed. It's getting so hard to follow the in-game thread that I just stopped. I understand that passions run pretty high when we all want the team we love win, but I just can't get into that aspect of it. Anything Gruden, ESPN or any other media group said about our team during the broadcast or afterwards is pretty tame compared to the Raven fan-base. Not saying that that's not a showing of love when it comes down to our fans. It's just a little disingenuous to be judgmental of others that do it when not really knowing where there loyalties are. I'm just saying. We won and are on our way to what may be one of the greatest finishes in NFL history. Why not just feel good about it?

ESPN did broadcast one of the most moving videos I've ever watched yesterday - (About a Raven Fan). Check it out.

Very interesting point! Don't cry about the lack of respect if you are one of the people who are constantly whining about the team or it's players!

[beanfigger]

We are often given props when its due and every year spoken of as a team to be feared in the AFC. Ravens fans often overlook it because being the underdog is the better role for us.

Yeah I don't get all this "Gruden is an idiot" stuff but its way off the mark. Some people really do irrationally hate him though, maybe its his face.

We are often given props when it is due, but we are almost never given due props by Skip Bayless. That is what I was talking about. Not any general consensus or specific panel other than him. And that show this season has been entirely negative regarding our team, win or lose, by both analysts, so this was a surprise and out of the norm. It was. That is a fact.

[FlocksGottaFeed]

Very interesting point! Don't cry about the lack of respect if you are one of the people who are constantly whining about the team or it's players!

Sort of. I get the whole venting "Don't talk about my baby! I'm the only one that can call him that..." thing. It's love, loyalty and protective, somewhat. It's just that sometimes even after a victory or a well fought loss we tend to take it to another level. Nobody's safe. Our players, their players, coaches, broadcasters, networks, etc... even the baby shouldn't have to endure that in the first place. Just look at some of the hottest topics. When it's engaging, fun, supported by facts and/or thoughtout theory, definitely embrace positive debate. To the contrary, when it invites and takes opportunity for character assasination it can be extremely popular, but never productive...just not into it. 

 

Did anyone see the ESPN Video?: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=10148226&categoryid=2459789

[Militant X 1]

Sort of. I get the whole venting "Don't talk about my baby! I'm the only one that can call him that..." thing. It's love, loyalty and protective, somewhat. It's just that sometimes even after a victory or a well fought loss we tend to take it to another level. Nobody's safe. Our players, their players, coaches, broadcasters, networks, etc... even the baby shouldn't have to endure that in the first place. Just look at some of the hottest topics. When it's engaging, fun, supported by facts and/or thoughtout theory, definitely embrace positive debate. To the contrary, when it invites and takes opportunity for character assasination it can be extremely popular, but never productive...just not into it. 

 

Did anyone see the ESPN Video?: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=10148226&categoryid=2459789

 

Of course I saw the piece on lil Josephine.  It was great!  But when it comes to we Ravens fans critiquing and criticizing our teams performance....even after a unbelievable and spectacular win like last night...that's our prerogative!  It may not be your style.  You may be one of those people that like to think positive and always see the silver lining in things etc.  Cool!  But that is not everyone!  Some of us...including me; love to be balanced!  While I praise our team for their wins and accomplishments; I'll also smoke them when in my eyes (as one of their fans and supporters) their performance is subpar.  But, when it comes to "outsiders" (non-Ravens fans or fans of other teams or from those who don't even follow sports etc.) speaking negative or critical of our team...well....that's a different story!  lol!

 

#Mili

[ratedr]

When did Tedy Bruschi become such a big Ravens homer? He's been talking us up for WEEKS.

Though it also seems like he just really hates the Bengals.

[Guest I-70WestRaven]

For real Teddy's the ultimate homer and he likes us? Shoot, I'll take it!

[ThePurpleWall]

isn't new by any means, but ESPN doesn't like us, a few of their "analytics" do like us but overall espn does everything they can to put the ravens in the mud.

[allblackraven]

Did anyone else notice the graphic that had already given the lions the win when they were discussing playoff standing for the nfc in the post game show .they had to make a correction. I only watch espn for monday night football the rest i don't bother. I can not stand gruden or his playcalling and i pray he gets a head coaching job soon so he is off mnf.

Better yet, his team faces us.

[FlocksGottaFeed]

Of course I saw the piece on lil Josephine.  It was great!  But when it comes to we Ravens fans critiquing and criticizing our teams performance....even after a unbelievable and spectacular win like last night...that's our prerogative!  It may not be your style.  You may be one of those people that like to think positive and always see the silver lining in things etc.  Cool!  But that is not everyone!  Some of us...including me; love to be balanced!  While I praise our team for their wins and accomplishments; I'll also smoke them when in my eyes (as one of their fans and supporters) their performance is subpar.  But, when it comes to "outsiders" (non-Ravens fans or fans of other teams or from those who don't even follow sports etc.) speaking negative or critical of our team...well....that's a different story!  lol!

 

#Mili

Agreed. This forum topic 'What's up with ESPN' and the intro itself has a different kind of smoke then the kind that you just talked about as a fan. Based on the comments some of '...we Raven fans...' who have already posted, various, obvious objective realities relating to ESPN and commentators that the topic initiated completely missed when posting. It's hard to see if that's baiting or fan support, but it's easy to see that it wasn't very thoughtout and/or aiming to be productive. I'm glad fans caught that. Balance - That's what I meant by 'embrace positive debate'. Cool.

imo - After watching ESPN's 'Raven's Angel' and there is no, but...my smoke's a little different.

[hawkprey]

The only reason they have a Ravens montage is because the Ravens play close games that they win. You can go back and find questionable calls for either team in any game, but people think that the final outcome makes only certain ones relevant. Something tells me there's no penalty reel from the Seahawks/Giants game.

[Guest RBates]

With ESPN's little package of clips showing the Ravens "getting the calls"? Who's behind that pile of baloney? How about airing a collection of the unflagged late hits and blows to the head that Joe's taken? They can now add a helmet-to-the-knee shot for good measure...

I was thinking the same thing.  At least Justin Tucker is getting great publicity. 

[Bltravens]

When did Tedy Bruschi become such a big Ravens homer? He's been talking us up for WEEKS.

Though it also seems like he just really hates the Bengals.

He thinks they don't have it mentally and won't buy them as a legit playoff wrecking team until they get past the wildcard.

[D_UP]

It was ridiculous.

[hawkprey]

Just wondering - whatever happened to that Harbaugh assertion that the Lions were illegally grabbing our linemen on stunts?

[5aiah]

We are often given props when it is due, but we are almost never given due props by Skip Bayless. That is what I was talking about. Not any general consensus or specific panel other than him. And that show this season has been entirely negative regarding our team, win or lose, by both analysts, so this was a surprise and out of the norm. It was. That is a fact.

Skip Bayless is not an analyst. He is a sports pundit. I only watch the show for a laugh and for basketball(the only sport skip and Stephen A have actual knowledge of). But Ravens have usually been regarded as either a dark horse in playoffs or the team no one wants to play even in our "down" seasons. There is really nothing other to say aside from reiterating the fact that analyst usually respect the Ravens and that aside from basketball, Skip is not an analyst.  He is the Ann Coulter of the sports world, who cares about him giving props.

[beanfigger]

Skip Bayless is not an analyst. He is a sports pundit. I only watch the show for a laugh and for basketball(the only sport skip and Stephen A have actual knowledge of). But Ravens have usually been regarded as either a dark horse in playoffs or the team no one wants to play even in our "down" seasons. There is really nothing other to say aside from reiterating the fact that analyst usually respect the Ravens and that aside from basketball, Skip is not an analyst. He is the Ann Coulter of the sports world, who cares about him giving props.

That's fair. However, I was talking about Skip, stating that our biggest critic has seemingly turned a new leaf. That is all I was saying. I was not commenting on any other analysis of the Ravens by anybody else. I stated that he shifted gears, so your responses should be about that. Nothing you said had anything to do with what I said. It's not an argument. In fact, we agree about what you said.

[5aiah]

That's fair. However, I was talking about Skip, stating that our biggest critic has seemingly turned a new leaf. That is all I was saying. I was not commenting on any other analysis of the Ravens by anybody else. I stated that he shifted gears, so your responses should be about that. Nothing you said had anything to do with what I said. It's not an argument. In fact, we agree about what you said.

I was commenting on many Ravens fans beliefs in general and their use of Skip(all the time) as evidence that the media "hates us". Its not an argument at all, just stating that Skip as a critic or supporter means little, because of how little he actually knows about football and the fact that he isn't an analyst. I like how actual analysts are shifting towards the Ravens because they understand that momentum,health, and chemistry are fueling our current run.   

[RavensAllTheWay]

With ESPN's little package of clips showing the Ravens "getting the calls"? Who's behind that pile of baloney? How about airing a collection of the unflagged late hits and blows to the head that Joe's taken? They can now add a helmet-to-the-knee shot for good measure...

 

I'm not going to look for it, but what were some of "the calls" that were in it? Kinda curious, but I won't look it up for myself because it'll probably get me a little heated, lol.

[beanfigger]

I was commenting on many Ravens fans beliefs in general and their use of Skip(all the time) as evidence that the media "hates us". Its not an argument at all, just stating that Skip as a critic or supporter means little, because of how little he actually knows about football and the fact that he isn't an analyst. I like how actual analysts are shifting towards the Ravens because they understand that momentum,health, and chemistry are fueling our current run.

I wouldn't use Skip in any general forum about how the Ravens are perceived by the media. However, it applies here because this thread is about ESPN.

[jdynamite]

Yeah I wasn't thrilled with ESPN's coverage. Grudden went on and on about the arm bar. It was completely unnecessary to carry on about it as if it were his team. Both teams got away with a lot of calls. It's football, let them play.

Yeah I felt like with the Arm-bar they did talk about it too much considering Torrey Smith gets held several times in each game by opposing corners to prevent the deep ball.