Ben Koo

The list of people who leave ESPN and get paid significantly more to work significantly less is small and distinguished.

I still don’t know what Netflix is trying to do in sports but this seems to signal a rising ambition from whatever they are doing now.

Links can't hurt you here.

Save your out of context screenshots for the garbage platforms.

LINK! TO! THE! STORY!

I mean that run at The Undefeated was definitely legendary

Loved this by @owensports.bsky.social chronicling Grantland's rise and fall.

Was tough to read, because we're never getting this back. The Mad Men nostalgia quote certainly rings true for this one.

awfulannouncing.com/online-outle...

PSA for Ohio State fans....

Tickets for tomorrow's game are probably the lowest I've seen for a B10 game (~$50 for C deck, ~ $150 for A deck)

I know generally, especially if taking a family, the cost of tickets can be prohibitive to going, so I thought I'd mention.

The totally ideal and 100% definitely working as intended Big Ten TV deals are starting to show signs of partner issues.

One owner of rights (Fox) and two other renters (cbs and nbc), and now maybe a subletter, is just not a long term winning strategy.

John Beam's tragic murder makes you realize how much we miss 'Last Chance U' which hasn't had a new season since 2022.

Netflix now mostly shits out 'Untold', freak show boxing, and authorized versions of docs on big teams/athletes.

I'm definitely not the intended audience

These shows get ratings, drive engagement, and supercharge fans' opinions and interest in the remaining games.

Most people find them insufferable, but 99% of the time, the suits will not walk away from something generating $$ due to criticism and any long-term issues.

Apparently Bill is oblivious to this national Blue Jackets story

thecomeback.com/nhl/sam-blaz...

TikTok algo knows I will watch any Margin Call scene they throw at me.

Still of the thought one of the most under watched movies of the last 20 years.

Absolute banger

Bad dog lobbying to get a bite of a sandwich.

We have been tracing out a few article ideas about when did ESPN, and also when did sports media peak.

IMO a lot stuff starts going away or getting worse in the 2014-2017 window.

The Iphone + HD and some other developments was the start of a peak era that was 2010-2015.

Will never come around on Scott Hanson presenting as if a pick six is happening live AND doing his own play by play over Kevin Harlan’s call.

Frankly I thought Arby’s steak nuggets would have come and gone by now

A plea to all networks: Please make your picture look as good as NBC Last week, the NBA re-debuted on NBC to generally rave reviews thanks in part to a superior picture quality that makes other networks look like dog water.

Flipping from the Ohio State game (4k) to other games and yeah…

Will keep banging this drum.

Games are generally better on NBC because the picture is just so much better.

awfulannouncing.com/nbc/picture-...

Between flipping games, booze, substances, and just being spacey, I imagine a lot of people are continuing to have to take a few seconds to figure out which team is Oklahoma and which is Alabama.

ABC has 3 of the 4 games with ranked teams facing off tomorrow.

BTN has the other.

Good time to plug my article on the meeting that led to the creation of BTN and the domino that led to colossal disruption, including the Big Ten's split from ESPN.

awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/conside...

I couldn't hold it in any longer.

Really, the only relevant time to share this....

My dad's best man invented the navigable channel guide, got rich selling the company fraudulently to Rupert Murdoch, and then, as the walls of justice were closing in, wired himself millions overseas and has never been seen since.

'What channel is that on?' How YouTube TV and others are rewiring us for more ads, less choice YouTube TV's channel guide doesn't include channel numbers, and the Disney dispute has made it pretty clear why that is now.

The loss of channels having numbers means the art of channel flipping is dying.

Yes we get smaller remotes, but we also get more ads and are conditioned to accept carriage disputes and price hikes in the streaming era.

awfulannouncing.com/youtube/tv-s...

Per Dan Dakich’s request we have updated this story

Replugging my article on how I miss channel numbers and how YoutubeTV has trapped us and made us more reliant on them versus traditional cable or satellite providers

BRING BACK CHANNEL NUMBERS!

I wrote about how YouTubeTV and others have rewired how we watch TV.

Without channel numbers, we don't flip as easily, which means more ads, reliance on algo based suggested tiles, and we don't realize when channels go dark.

awfulannouncing.com/youtube/tv-s...

What do you think the paper towel usage percentage is between male and female partners?

Wrote about the hypocritical gymnastics involved with Pat McAfee's decision to bring Donald Trump on for Veteran's Day.

We did a poll. The Athletic did a poll. This is a third poll. All show the same thing.

People are siding with YoutubeTv and by a high margin.

Is that because of how they view the dispute or existing negativity about ESPN/Disney just carrying over.

Either way, not good!

This conference is addicted to short-term cash grabs, knowing that most people will move on by the time the long-term implications of these moves are felt.

I hope they walk way. Nobody wants this. Nobody needs this.

I feel like this is the only time an aI assisted anything could have been helpful to the world.

It’s sooo bad , even if he was healthy

The Terry Crew Dodge Ram commercial with the now awkward Drew Allar NIL reference sucks and needs to just be put out to pasture.

I wonder if Kyler Murray ever thinks about how he could be in the prime of his arbitration years right now, making $5.4 million to play 81 games a year in Sacramento while batting in front of Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz