Time For Changes at BTN.

W

WinOneThisCentury

Well-Known Member
Is anyone else tired of the constant ill guided takes on BTN. My god, you would have thought it was 1997 during this lead up to the season with Nebraska. The incessant Nebraska, genius Scott Frost, Heisman Taylor Martinez crap. FAIL...and it's not like there should have been some objective disagreement with that premise. You have to play DEFENSE in the B10 and if you thought Nebraska was going to be a great defensive team, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

Now, you have Illinois as the B10 darling. I'm watching yesterday and it's they can run the table...everyone left on their schedule is beatable. Sure, could Illinois beat Iowa in Iowa City, yeah....but Iowa beat them by 60 last year at Illinois...and Iowa has lost to Michigan and Penn State only...two pretty damn good teams. It would be one thing to say, if Illinois gets 2-3 turnovers and Iowa has more injuries to the offensive line or something...but no, it's all hype.

It's unfortunate as I liked watching BTN...for recaps and stuff...but it's been a bit too much in the over dramatization of every theme. Someone also needs to loosen the tourniquet on Mike Hall's balls as that high pitched screeching is getting more annoying.
 
I agree. BTN is very stale and some of the on-air personalities turn me off. Howard Griffith is the only one I care to listen to. He knows what he is talking about and has no team bias. I could see him moving up to Fox Sports, ESPN or one of the networks some day as he is much better than most of the people on those networks also.
 
You're talking about BTN, youre talking about college football, you're talking about on air personalities, you're talking about interns dressed up as professionals. The way they talk the way they say what they do. Its all pretty lame
 
WinOneThisCentury said:
Is anyone else tired of the constant ill guided takes on BTN. My god, you would have thought it was 1997 during this lead up to the season with Nebraska. The incessant Nebraska, genius Scott Frost, Heisman Taylor Martinez crap. FAIL...and it's not like there should have been some objective disagreement with that premise. You have to play DEFENSE in the B10 and if you thought Nebraska was going to be a great defensive team, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.

Now, you have Illinois as the B10 darling. I'm watching yesterday and it's they can run the table...everyone left on their schedule is beatable. Sure, could Illinois beat Iowa in Iowa City, yeah....but Iowa beat them by 60 last year at Illinois...and Iowa has lost to Michigan and Penn State only...two pretty damn good teams. It would be one thing to say, if Illinois gets 2-3 turnovers and Iowa has more injuries to the offensive line or something...but no, it's all hype.

It's unfortunate as I liked watching BTN...for recaps and stuff...but it's been a bit too much in the over dramatization of every theme. Someone also needs to loosen the tourniquet on Mike Hall's balls as that high pitched screeching is getting more annoying.
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Stale is a good description. Its so obvious they want nebraska to be good again it affects thier impartialality.
 
If they talked about Iowa it would be like talking about white bread, milk, vanilla ice cream, saltine crackers and oatmeal.
 
I remember when Mike Hall was on that ESPN show that winner became an on air personality. He lost and wasnt real good, IMO. I was shocked when he showed up as the lead guy on the BTN. He did not deserve that and I thought it diminished the product.
 
I like the Final Drive because they are actually talking about game action. Their pregame show is better than ESPN game day for me but not great. Espn has for a long time become too much lets debate the future games rather than real analysis. Dinardo is pretty good when he is with Griffiths but also because he knows football as an all-american, long time coach and coordinator , and head coach. He is playing stooge and set up man to Meyer on the Urban Analysis show.
 
I'll admit, I actually like the Dinardo / Meyer segments because they are breaking down football. I hated Urban Meyer when he was coaching...but he's pretty good at the football part. He was quick to pump the brakes on Minnesota until we view the match-up with Penn State. Who teams have played matters.
 
Hawk1960 said:
I agree. BTN is very stale and some of the on-air personalities turn me off. Howard Griffith is the only one I care to listen to. He knows what he is talking about and has no team bias. I could see him moving up to Fox Sports, ESPN or one of the networks some day as he is much better than most of the people on those networks also.
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Glen Mason is a weekly guest on a twin cities sports show and its amazing how much more candid and insightful he is on that show than he is on BTN. Its like he's 2 different people.
 
I like Dave Revsine and Howard Griffith, the rest suck. They are such a "wanna be" ESPN national network. The two newbies (one from ohio st and the other michigan) for football input are terrible. I can't stomach listening to either one of them, they both lack on air personality.

Did you catch their pre-game show from Purdue yesterday? What a joke, they sat in an empty stadium, no students behind them. All that was behind the anchor desk were the Purdue cheerleaders and Boiler Pete. So you had about 8-9 people behind the on air guys cheering, I laughed my ass off, such a nickle and dime show.
 
Consider where a huge % of the viewing population is for BTN...it's in the Chicago metro.
BTN is no different than what CNN and Fox News does, they have programming and commentary that is slanted so their audience eats it up and tunes in again tomorrow for more of the same.
That drives ratings which grows their advertising revenue.
BTN, Fox news, CNN - none of these exist to inform/entertain the masses, they exist to be profitable, nothing more.
 
Is there a gentle way to push Rutgers out of the conference? And add I don’t know, anybody else. That’s more of a pressing issue than on-air personalities.

BTN is still a cash cow for the conference and that’s the only thing that matters. Just give me the games I really don’t watch the other stuff.
 
trj said:
Is there a gentle way to push Rutgers out of the conference? And add I don’t know, anybody else. That’s more of a pressing issue than on-air personalities.

BTN is still a cash cow for the conference and that’s the only thing that matters. Just give me the games I really don’t watch the other stuff.
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I think most would be for removing Rutgers and adding Pitt or Missouri.
Literally any other school would be far better than Rutgers. They just don't fit.
 
Ten problems with BTN:

1) They've gotten rid of the "back-and-forth-banter" format of their in-season shows. Sure, there's still some, but when you change on-air personnel ..EVERY...DAMN ...DAY, the cohesion lacks

2) Get. Rid, Of. Nicole. Auerbach. She completely sucks.

3) Bring back Jon Miller--minus LeCharles Bentley, of course--and pair him with a J Leman or a hot broad like Taylor Rooks, Michelle "Meesh" McMahon or Charissa Thompson. JDM was awesome. His partner was abysmal.

4) You want diversity and want to hire Black people, hot broads, and former coaches/players. We get it. So, in that vein, hire QUALIFIED Black people, QUALIFIED hot broads, and QUALIFIED former players/coaches. Do NOT hire someone BECAUSE they are Black/Hot Broad/Former Player/Former Coach. If they sucked at BEING interviewed, they will most likely suck on the other side of the microphone. Just sayin'.

5) Bring back "Friday Night Tailgate", do it at the same place as the Saturday pre-game BTN Tailgate Show, and spice it up a hit. In other words, less about whole pie slices in their shakes and what pairs well with Velveeta & Rotel tomatoes, and more of where the Friday night action is, where one can get a good martini, and what people are actually making/cooking/consuming at tailgates. Nobody wants to see some washed-up/wannabe chef cooking with food made by the sponsor. Use local chefs. real ones. Hint: the white-black-checked pants and white chef jackets can be purchased by anyone. That doesn't make the person a good chef, though, especially for a damn tailgate. We're not asking to see a segment with DiNardo and Griffith matching shots of Fireball, but crap, give it a little "zip"!

6) Get some candid fan interviews. Much as I loathe reading some of the folks on here, the fact it would make for better viewing than what's currently presented should tell BTN some things. Hell, just have Revsine and Pizzo read some of IowaLaw's posts, sprinkled in with the drunk guy Fryowa always assails. Platinum stuff. Hell, play "Jump Around" or "In Heaven There Is No Beer" in the background, for all I care. But Good God, entertain us. Just a little. For the love of God.

7) How about a mock "Family Feud", with Wannstedt and Mason as captains? Maybe let J Leman be the host. Hell, let the big boosters on. We all want to know what our backup punter's uncle brings to the table. Family Feud is the perfect vehicle for that. And to make it interesting, have Griffith, DiNardo and Urban off to the side with a "current percent chance to win" commentary.

8) Now that I'm ranting, any chance you folks could look through the Hawkeye archives and scrub the 2007 MSU game? Sure, it was a win, but c'mon, it ain't worthy of "Iowa Day on BTN!" elevation. Not one iota worthy, in fact.
Same with MSU game in 2012. Wins from a losing season really need shit-canned.

9) May I suggest Fryowa and tksirius be given some air time? Maybe InGoodCo & Northside Hawk? I count numerous BTN "personalities" that have...no..."personality".

10) How about a call-in show where fans of the 1992-and-previous schools can call in and blow unmerciful grief on the post-1993-and-beyond schools. Just lampoon, belittle, and debase the ever-loving hell out of the schools and their fans. Make it a season-long feature each week, with voting for the best "take". Winner gets tickets to B1G Media Days, or maybe a free entry--complete with snazzy T-shirt--for B1G-K race the following summer. In other words, for the sake of true Big 10 "tradition", you folks are on my damn lawn.

That should bring forth considerable improvement. At this point, I'm thinking Joey Galloway & Robert Smith would be an "improvement", so, yeah, you folks at BTN need to step up.
 
The Big LeHAWKski said:
Consider where a huge % of the viewing population is for BTN...it's in the Chicago metro.
BTN is no different than what CNN and Fox News does, they have programming and commentary that is slanted so their audience eats it up and tunes in again tomorrow for more of the same.
That drives ratings which grows their advertising revenue.
BTN, Fox news, CNN - none of these exist to inform/entertain the masses, they exist to be profitable, nothing more.
Click to expand...

Yep, they gotta talk up what pays the bills.
 
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