Five at Twelve | FanNation

By pandering to the casual fan, baseball commentary suffers.

Slate

Each day during the noon hour, we'll offer five reading recommendations from around the Web.

1. It's the Thinking Man's Game, Stupid (By Ben Mathis-Lilley, Slate): What's with all the dumb baseball commentary on television?

2. Fans Few in Number but Strong in Loyalty (By Joshua Robinson, The New York Times): As Tampa Bay finds itself halfway to the franchise's first-ever World Series appearance, this postseason could be witnessing the birth of Rays Nation, small as it may be.

3. As Economy Weakens, Sports Feel a Chill (By Matthew Futterman, The Wall Street Journal): One day after the NBA laid off about 80 employees -- or 9 percent of its work force -- it's evident a business once considered recession-proof is feeling the effects of the languishing economy.

4. Giants blew the game -- and their image (By Shaun Powell, Newsday): Thanks to a three-touchdown humbling at the hands of lowly Cleveland, the Giants blew an opportunity to announce themselves as the league's marquee team.

5. Gullit: Beckham facing U.S. mission impossible (By Mark Lamport-Stokes, Reuters): Some interesting thoughts in this interview with former L.A. Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit, who thinks the American sports establishment is afraid of soccer because it's so popular everywhere else around the world. "I think [U.S. soccer organizers] will just control it so it doesn't become more popular than their American sports," Gullit says. "I have my doubts if they really want to make it popular. Some sports already have had a bit of a dive so they don't want American football to become less popular, or basketball or baseball."

Comments (6) Add A Comment

October 14, 2008 12:25 PM ET

Report Abuse | QUOTE

First off, NY might have won the superbowl, but they slipped in that game in the first place. Any QB can get high off a great superbowl win, I'll give them that, but Eli Manning isn't all that. Cleveland isn't lowly. If anyone would remember correctly, The browns last year started 2-3 (which is where they are now right?) and than went on to win 10 more games. I wouldn't consider a potential playoff threat "lowly".

Secondly, do you know how many great thigns happened this game? NY forced how many punts and turnovers? 0. Thats right , first time since 1936. NY is being exposed, and they'll continue to plummet in the weeks to come. Washignton better be ready for a super pumped team. Don't ever count the "underdog" out!

_Janus_

Total Comments (531)

October 14, 2008 12:47 PM ET

cleveland a potential playoff team after four awful contests ? no way !
NY got caught in a typical trap game ridin high on their 8-game winning streak...by the way - Eli "isn??t all that" - but during this streak he was 16-3 td-int. that??s what i??d call "all that" considering the venues...

but nevermind - eli will proove his worth. again. and again.

watakant

Bremen, BR

Total Comments (18)

Comment #3 has been removed

October 14, 2008 03:03 PM ET

ESPN is the main culprit for horrible, idiotic commentary. They are stifling their best baseball guys (Olney, Kurkjien, Hernadez) for this buffoon John Kruk.

Similarly, their best football show, NFL Matchup (where they break down plays in excellent detail, great stuff) is on 3:00 AM. Otherwise, you can watch the blowhards on the Around The Horn shout nonsense at one another, watch Merrill Hoge say something crazy on Sportscenter, or watch NFL Live for your T.O./Cowboys updates without any REAL CONTENT.

In summation, I hate the fluff and hype ESPN has become (seriously though watch Sportscenter closely, every single segment is sponsored. The best one is the Coors Six Pack of Questions)

Oyeah487

Total Comments (3)

October 14, 2008 03:38 PM ET

QUOTE(#2):

Originally posted 12:47 PM ET 10.14 by watakant

cleveland a potential playoff team after four awful contests ? no way !NY got caught in a typical trap game ridin high on their 8-game winning streak...by the way - Eli "isn??t all that" - but during this streak he was 16-3 td-int. that??s what i??d call "all that" considering the venues...but nevermind - eli will proove his worth. again. and again.

He isn't all that. How did he only manage 1 INT until last night when he managed three? He couldn't lead his team to a scoring drive. I'd almost blame him for the terrible "D" too, but he's not a defensive player.

October 14, 2008 05:44 PM ET

Eli is all that? Seriously? Bout fell out of my chair reading that. Not only is he not "all that", he isn't even the best qb in the family. I'm not a Peyton fan and never have been. But Eli isn't great by any stretch of the imagination. He got beat on in college, acted like a b*tch on draft day (Thank God the Chargers got Rivers instead of this egotistical bum) and has gotten beaten on in the NFL. He got a Super Bowl last year for 1 reason. A great DEFENSE. Saying Eli is a great qb for winning a Super Bowl is like saying Trent Dilfer is a Hall Of Famer for winning a Super Bowl in Baltimore. Get real. Soon as Eli leads his team to 2 or 3 more championships and actually puts up stats comparable to say, I dunno, his brother, Ill be impressed. Til then, I've got no love for a man that says the team that wants to take him as the first pick isn't "good enough" for him. Piss off Eli