ESPN and Finebaum (Why is Paul employed?)

TiderMan

All-SEC
Feb 5, 2005
1,360
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Moody, AL.
Some of us, including me, like Paul Finebaum and his show. Where else can you hear SEC and college football talked about 365 days a year (or at least every day that he is on). He has a lot more exposure now and gets calls from all over the country - not just Alabama or the southeast like he used to. He also has great guests. Some of his callers are over the top but I can easily flip channels or turn the dial when they come on.

Some us, including me, like ESPN and the SEC Network. They both cover college football better than anyone else. There is some programming that I don't care for. However, I don't have to watch if I don't like it.

There are always people complaining about ESPN and Finebaum. These people say that they never watch or listen to ESPN or Paul but they always know what each one said and reported on.
 

rolltide_21

Hall of Fame
Dec 9, 2007
11,447
7,489
187
NW AL
Finebum has a lineup of regular callers who go through a script with him. Very annoying. ESPN and ABC are owned by Disney and if it weren't for college football and Paw Patrol, I would not watch.

oh, and Modern Family.
Paw Patrol is on nickelodeon.*

*Shakes head, puts phone down, and wonders why he know this. Oh yes, that's right. My small kids are obsessed too [emoji30].

Seriously, though, I'm in the same boat. I watch games (football & basketball) only. Even shows I used to enjoy like Around the Horn & PTI now grate my nerves.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

uaintn

All-American
Aug 2, 2000
2,904
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franklin, tennessee, usa
Disney keeps taking hits like they did this week in the market largely because of espn continuing to overpay for content and continuing to shed viewers, especially the ones advertisers want them to deliver, and a lot of people will get the ax.... The worldwide leader is in danger of drowning in its own juices. I quit watching when so much of it wasn't sports anymore. Kind of like the old days when MTV showed, you know, music content.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
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Same reason guys like Clay Travis still have jobs. A ton of people still watch/listen to garbage sports media.
This isn't going to be a popular opinion here (and he can be a d-bag), but Clay Travis argues his opinions (most of the time) like a well-prepared and detailed lawyer who is trying to evaluate the situation. He dug deep and exposed the utter fraud of the protest at Missouri, he's been more than willing to blast the media narrative on cop killings, and he took a much different position on Ryan Lochte and argued it through. Whether you agree or not is immaterial, he does his homework.


Paul Finebaum is little more than Skip Bayless with less hair and a better accent.
 

GrayTide

Hall of Fame
Nov 15, 2005
18,810
6,245
187
Greenbow, Alabama
I only watch ESPN when there is a college football game of interest on, no Thursday night games. Mostly SEC teams but not all of them, same goes for the SEC Network. As for Finebaum, I have seen his show once or twice, but never again. I quit Gameday about 3 years ago. Actually the only college football I watch on a regular basis is the SEC on CBS, yes I like Gary and liked Vern. I will not watch teams like Vandy, Missouri or Kentucky unless they are playing Alabama or possibly UF or LSU. I will however watch a game like OU vs tOSU, but unless the game is meaningful, I had rather watch a good movie. Over exposure of college football will eventually catch up with ESPN. I realize I am in the minority, but to each his own.
 

GreatMarch

All-SEC
Dec 10, 2010
1,432
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Birmingham, AL
This isn't going to be a popular opinion here (and he can be a d-bag), but Clay Travis argues his opinions (most of the time) like a well-prepared and detailed lawyer who is trying to evaluate the situation. He dug deep and exposed the utter fraud of the protest at Missouri, he's been more than willing to blast the media narrative on cop killings, and he took a much different position on Ryan Lochte and argued it through. Whether you agree or not is immaterial, he does his homework.
Paul Finebaum is little more than Skip Bayless with less hair and a better accent.
I think that Clay Travis actually is a lawyer. And, that might be why you put that line in your post? :)

And, Paul is nicer than Skip. But, that is not saying much.
 

Tidewater

Hall of Fame
Mar 15, 2003
22,401
13,177
287
Hooterville, Vir.
rgw said:
ESPN's producers seem to love Finebaum as his role within the network has gotten progressively larger over his tenure. He's about to have his show in the ESPN2 2-6pm time slot. He's on Sportscenter almost every Sunday it seems. Regularly has hits on other shows.
Also consider what you see of his show. It's a very small set, with just him usually sitting alone for an hour or however long, taking a few phone interviews and then taking phone calls from viewers. The overhead on that show is preposterously low. Outside of Paul's salary it costs next to nothing to keep this show on the air. Couple that with the fact that many people DO watch and the show more than pays for itself. Paul draws eyes not just to his show but to other shows across ESPN. So his salary is, in a way, diluted across the budgets of other shows across espn which makes him even cheaper to keep on the air.
This is probably it.
If it was just SECN 2-6 pm, they would make it a lot easier to avoid Finebaum. ESPN just won't put him into one time slot/channel and leave him there.
 

CaliforniaTide

All-American
Aug 9, 2006
3,618
14
57
Huntsville, AL
Used to listen to him, but I stopped listening to most sports radio since January. I'm happier because of it, too.

Always enjoyed when a caller would ask "Paul, how do you think ____ will handle [insert football scheme, formation, etc.]" Doesn't take 20 minutes of listening to Paul to understand he doesn't know the intricacies of the game, yet people still call and ask him those things.
1) I'm pretty much the same way with talk radio in general. I listen strictly to podcasts and music from my iPhone.

2) To add to your lack-of-knowledge point, some of these callers will still call into his showing asking about X's/O's questions. He's not the football expert when it comes to game-planning and schemes. He looks at social trends, makes predictions, and looking for next possible big story for a coach to be fired.
 

UntouchableCrew

All-SEC
Nov 30, 2015
1,530
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The same reason they still employ Stephen A. Smith and why Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless got huge contracts from FS1.
 

deliveryman35

Hall of Fame
Jul 26, 2003
12,998
1,194
287
55
Gadsden, AL
I started reading Paul's columns in the Birmingham Post Herald 31 years ago, from the Perkins years all the way to Saban. I agree that he can be annoying but he does have an appreciation for and keen understanding of the importance of college football in the South and can present it in an entertaining way at times. That's his niche and he has taken it to the bank.
 

Tideflyer

Hall of Fame
Dec 14, 2011
7,824
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Savannah, GA
I just got cable turned on again (turn it off every year after the national championship game).
After watching just a few minutes, it occurred to me, with the pink slip man going through ESPN last spring like Sherman through Georgia, why on earth does Paul Finebaum still have a job? You could fill a volume with what that dude doesn't know about football. He is frankly awful. Whenever I see him on ESPN, it is an automatic 30 minutes in the time-out box for ESPN.
What on earth do the ESPN execs see in that guy? Man, he stinks.
Most respectfully disagree. For what he is hired to do, he`s one of, if not the best. He is a professional provocateur. The fact that people hate him, love him, hate him but tune in anyway, etc., etc., is the answer to your question as to why he`s employed. If it`s experience based knowledge of the intricacies of the game, then he`s not your man, obviously. The Gary Danielson`s of the world are, IMHO.
 

Rush

All-American
Jul 5, 2011
3,190
768
137
Ontario, Canada
The same reason they still employ Stephen A. Smith and why Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless got huge contracts from FS1.
Would this be an appropriate time to insert into the discussion how happy it makes me to know that Danny Kanell is currently working as an, um, Fresh Air Inspector? :cool:
 

CrimSonami

All-American
Jul 17, 2011
3,041
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Ardmore, AL; too close to 10erC
Because he's a sensationalist. And a good one. ESPN recognized it was losing a lot of the sports fan market to the upstarts and needed something to gain ratings. Therefore they contracted Pawwwwwwwwwwwl and his band of eccentric callers. I used to listen and try to filter through the trash but I don't listen or watch any more. I'm in north Alabama and listen to the Cole Cubelic show and the Tom Abraham show.

RTR!!!
 

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