Question: Remember when GameDay was fun to watch?

teamplayer

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Jul 31, 2001
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Yes, unfortunately, it is very much like the problem with the games themselves. They both used to be just about football. They then decided to make it more about an entertainment product and add intro bands and a bunch of crap that has very little to do with football. Football is entertaining by itself. The more extras they add and rule changes they make, the less the end product is about football. They may gain a few extra fans who like the frills, but many real football fans are tuning out.
 

CB4

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Aug 8, 2011
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Truthfully I was one that never got into "the ESPN GameDay" thing. Seems like I always had something to do to occupy my time up to the time of the Alabama game.

I did watch College Football Final at night after the other games had completed. Now it's a "pass" as well.

Of course, I'm almost 60 years old. Probably some appeal to the "young folks" of which I'm certainly not.
 

rgw

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Sep 15, 2003
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I lost steam on GameDay around the time I went to college. Didn't watch it much in college and by the time I could watch it again the quality was going downhill. College Football Final was probably my favorite college football show they produced when it they had the original Rece Davis, Lou Holtz, and Mark May outfit. It is funny too because Lou and Mark are not that tolerable alone but I think the show was well produced and Davis did a great job of tempering the worst aspects of the two analysts.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
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I stopped watching a few years back. Why is ESPN not getting the hint?


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I actually don't "really" remember when Game Day was fun to watch because I never really thought it was.

Yes, they'd have an occasional informative story. Tom Rinaldi showing up with his dramatic read voice and telling us about Sal Aunese's kid walking on at LSU for Les Miles (who recruited Sal Aunese in the mid-80s to Colorado) or the Chucky Mullins-Brad Gaines tragedy. Good stuff.


Mostly, I had it playing in the background sorta like NPR when I'm not listening and would tune in if something like those things mentioned came on the set.


But I've never been this huge fan of the show, no. I'm not even sure it was good. All that happened in my case is that since we had Saturday morning cartoons in my youth, I replaced one mindless cartoon with another one that was far less funny.
 

uaintn

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Aug 2, 2000
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Yes. I also stopped watching Gameday because they ruined it. The show is too long, too self-obssessed / self-congratulatory, and far too often just plain silly. I will tune in about once a year for half an hour just to remind myself that im better off doing household chores or reading Tidefans before the games start Saturday.

I should be their target audience. I pretty much watch all or parts of 7-10 college football games a week, yes even including teams i have no connection to at all. I will even watch the slap fight in Florida that is coming up in a couple of weeks. I am a consumer of many of their advertisers, insurance products, sports drinks, athletic gear, electronics, I am in a big box hardware store like HD every week, etc. But the Worldwide leader has lost me. Their show is so bad I trim hedges and pull weeds rather than watch it.

Could just be me, but it think their ratings prove otherwise.
 

Intl.Aperture

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Aug 12, 2015
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I still like it just fine.

It was never as good as people thought it was and it's not as bad as people claim it is now.

It's just a lighthearted way to start a Saturday morning and get some thoughts and views on the upcoming games. I like to get a cup of coffee and do some chores around the house while it's on.

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DzynKingRTR

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Dec 17, 2003
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I stopped watching a few years ago. I used to enjoy it plus it was something to mindlessly watch until football started. Now I would rather go for a bike ride than watch. Does it really need to be 3 hours long?
 

B1GTide

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Apr 13, 2012
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I still enjoy Gameday. What I miss is the College Football Final show with Rece and the original crew. I can't even watch the new crew.
 

selmaborntidefan

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The political overreach turned me off.
(political correctness)


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I guess I don't know what you're talking about.

While ESPN AS A NETWORK crossed a lot of lines, I honestly don't recall Game Day doing this.

It was basically to be "fun" or "mindless entertainment" and I guess if that's what it is then it's okay.


I WILL give them a positive here: it's good that they took their traveling road show to places that nobody else would ever darken - like NDSU Bison, for example.

And Herbstreit's analysis is spot on - always. But again, I just never thought it was as good as advertised.
 

bamamoss2

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Sep 10, 2000
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Well, I agree with much of the sentiment posted above. I still flop between SECN coverage and Espn Gameday but only when SECN is on commercial. Thank goodness we have an alternative.
 

The Ols

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Jul 8, 2012
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Nailed it!!!

Truthfully I was one that never got into "the ESPN GameDay" thing. Seems like I always had something to do to occupy my time up to the time of the Alabama game.

I did watch College Football Final at night after the other games had completed. Now it's a "pass" as well.

Of course, I'm almost 60 years old. Probably some appeal to the "young folks" of which I'm certainly not.
 

DzynKingRTR

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Dec 17, 2003
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I still enjoy Gameday. What I miss is the College Football Final show with Rece and the original crew. I can't even watch the new crew.
I agree. College Football Final used to be a must watch. Now it is a hard pass and I would rather watch Hawaii vs ???? than that garbage.
 

edwd58

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Aug 2, 2006
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By going to most of our games, I rarely see the show. I always dread when they bring the circus to campus - I can do without the additional chaos and it adds nothing to the atmosphere/experience.
 

tlockwood

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Dec 15, 2000
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I actually like most of Gameday. But like some of the other posters, Gameday is more background noise in the morning than anything.

College Football Final is a joke now. They took a good show and made it depressing to watch. I havent watched it much in the past couple of years.
 

Bamabuzzard

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Aug 15, 2004
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I stopped watching a few years back. Why is ESPN not getting the hint?


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My guess is (without even asking your age) you are no longer the target audience ESPN is trying to reach. I used to get into Gameday on Saturday mornings but haven't watched it in literally years. I guess I "aged out" of the programming content and found what they were showing no longer interested me. Every now and then I'll walk by the TV on Saturday mornings and my older boys will be watching it. I'll stop and briefly watch it, quickly lose interest and go about my way until the games come on.
 

BamaInCummingGA

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Jun 8, 2017
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ESPN has gone the way of the DODO as far as I go.
When they actually had some info on there (in the days of Chris Berman) I would watch it. Didn't seem like there was so much homerism going on then and wasn't three hours of just blah blah blah blah.
I'll watch the games on there (not much other choice in that when we play on that channel) but I really can't stand much on there anymore.
 

B1GTide

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Apr 13, 2012
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My guess is (without even asking your age) you are no longer the target audience ESPN is trying to reach. I used to get into Gameday on Saturday mornings but haven't watched it in literally years. I guess I "aged out" of the programming content and found what they were showing no longer interested me. Every now and then I'll walk by the TV on Saturday mornings and my older boys will be watching it. I'll stop and briefly watch it, quickly lose interest and go about my way until the games come on.
That is probably part of it, but also consider that those of us in my generation grew up with ESPN in its original form. I watched the first episode of SportsCenter and thought that TV couldn't get any better than that, and I think that I was right. ESPN, SportsCenter, College Gameday - all of those shows - they used to be all about the game. So, it's not just the new format. It is also the memory of what once was. Without that memory, these shows would likely be much more palatable to me - less disappointing, at least. But with those memories, today's programming is just a shadow of what once was.
 

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