ESPN - Who's Now

[Blumpster]

Ok, I don't know if any of you have been paying attention to this or voting for it or whatever...but holy fuck, how does Tony Parker, a singular player on an NBA team, beat Roger Federer, the best tennis player to ever grace the courts, winner of 11 grand slams, a feat accomplished 2 years earlier than Sampras did, ranked number one for three years and counting by the ATP(record BTW!), five straight Wimbeldons, 3 (soon to be 4) straight US Opens, and one of the most dominant athletes in sports today. I'm sorry, but for all Tony Parker is; a great point guard, probably #2 or #3 in the league, and in the top 10 of all around best players in the NBA, team leader, three-time championship winner, and married to a good looking ho, it just doesn't even come close to equaling what Federer has accomplished.

Tell me this, if Bjorn Borg or Pete Sampras in their prime had gone up against the likes of Tony Parker in a similar competition would TP had stood a chance? Hell no, and Federer is arguably a better player than both of those guys. I'm sorry, but the only two basketball players who I could see worthy to beat Federer in a competition like this would be Jordan and Magic in their primes, MAYBE Larry Bird.

I'm thinking there are way too many people in Texas voting on this shit or something. I know tennis isn't a sport with a huge fan base, especially in the US, and not a lot of people watch it, but I would think if someone was asked who the hell Roger Federer they'd have the correct answer. Maybe I just watch too many sports, I dunno.

If Michael Phelps loses to Shaq, I will seriously piss on my TV just to see if I'll actually get electrocuted. The other two I had beef with are Jeter beating Crosby, but I chalk that up to the fact hockey isn't very popular and Crosby is a 2nd year rookie. Give him two years and he'll be household like Gretzky. The other is LT beating Beckham, just barely. Easy reason why LT won, America...Football...not Futbol.

/end

[foddon]

It's the god damn moron panelists that are ruining the contest. They get 30% of the vote... yes, 30%. It's basically impossible for the public to overturn their vote. They give no credit to someone for being the best in the world at their sport (Ronaldhino, Crosby, Federer)... obviously it's more important to date or marry a celebrity.

WORST. CONTEST. EVAR!!! Read the comments section on ESPN, it's about 99 out of 100 posts complaining about how fucking worthless the contest is.

and I'm in Texas... fucker. Seriously though, it has NOTHING to do with the fan voting.

[Ham n Cheese]

Yeah this shit is retarded. The Tony Parker one is bad and if the analyst vote is what swinged it that pisses me off because they know who he is. Because if the nation voted Parker over him I mean that's honestly who is more NOW, since I don't know many people watching tennis. I'd vote Federer but I actually pay attention to sports. I don't know how LT is a #2 seed though, I felt the 1-3 seeds should be names even my mom knows. Anyway Chuck Liddell being a 5 seed with Beckham being a 7 is lol. Oh and wtf has Jeter done lately to get his 2 seed too and reggie bush already a 3 seed? Playing special teams and situational downs in NO...

[Akileese]

Well, what do you expect. ESPN doesn't have "experts" anymore. Half of them are washed up has-beens or never-were guys who are out of their profession for a reason. It's absurd. Why is Tony Parker in Now anyway? He's not even one of the top 5 point guards in the league.

Oh wait, it's because he won a finals MVP in a clean sweep and hes married to some bitch from desperate housewives. Yeah. Fuck ESPN.

[Twobit Whore]

Guys, this isn't a Whos' Best contest. It's a Who's Now contest. Skill in the sport is only part of the equation. Popularity, endorsements, household name status, earnings/winnings are also factors.

Shaq vs. Phelps. Phelps is arguably one of the best swimmers in the world yet his winnings are a fraction of Shaq's earnings and 9/10 people will know who Shaq is, the other 1/10 might know who Phelps is. Shaq is now.

The contest may be silly, but wtf cares? ESPN still has some entertaining to do and this is one of the most boring stretches in the sports year. All we have is baseball talk and pre-season football shit starting 2 months early.

Parker vs. Federer I do agree may be odd.. but that's probably a case of the finals and his wedding being so recent.

[Ishad]

Espn is fucking terrible. That is all.

[Grimmlokk]

This "contest" is so fucking retarded it's ridiculous. Anywhere that Keyshawn Johnson is a determining factor is totally pointless.

[Akileese]

Having Shaq in Who's Now when he hasn't been relevant in a sportings sense for about 4 years is absurd. He has absolutely no right being there and it angers me.
Secondly, you should have to be a top player in your sport to even qualify. Honestly, Shaq doesn't even play half a season anymore because he's too fat, his foot hurts, he's hungover, and/or he's busy chasing down petty thieves on Miami beach. I really wish he would just retire so we can move on and not have to deal with people talking about his relevance.

I love Shaq as much as the next person, but he doesn't play at a high level anymore and shouldn't be considered for something like this.

Also, I'd argue that ANYONE has heard of Roger Federer. They may not know much about him, but they know he's far and away the best in his sport not only now, but probably ever. The only way a non-NBA fan will know of Tony Parker is if they either A) Watch desperate Housewives and no him as the husband of that girl or B) They read people and heard about the wedding. Federer/Parker was a joke. Besides, we all know Lebron will win it because Stuart Scott sucks his cock on a bi-minute basis, so why is this contest even happening?

[Angerz]

Originally Posted by Akileese

Having Shaq in Who's Now when he hasn't been relevant in a sportings sense for about 4 years is absurd. He has absolutely no right being there and it angers me.
Secondly, you should have to be a top player in your sport to even qualify. Honestly, Shaq doesn't even play half a season anymore because he's too fat, his foot hurts, he's hungover, and/or he's busy chasing down petty thieves on Miami beach. I really wish he would just retire so we can move on and not have to deal with people talking about his relevance.

I love Shaq as much as the next person, but he doesn't play at a high level anymore and shouldn't be considered for something like this.

Also, I'd argue that ANYONE has heard of Roger Federer. They may not know much about him, but they know he's far and away the best in his sport not only now, but probably ever. The only way a non-NBA fan will know of Tony Parker is if they either A) Watch desperate Housewives and no him as the husband of that girl or B) They read people and heard about the wedding. Federer/Parker was a joke. Besides, we all know Lebron will win it because Stuart Scott sucks his cock on a bi-minute basis, so why is this contest even happening?

First of all, the contest is about who has transcended their sport.

Skill is a small factor.

Shaq v. Phelps for an example.

Shaq has a TV show. Shaq has a massive charity donation every christmas. Shaq is a Miami Volunteer police officer. Shaq does commercials. Shaq was a on a team that one the NBA championship 2 years ago. If you say "Who is Shaq" to a person, I gauruntee more people will know who he is than Michael Phelps.

And Male Tennis players are only relevant in america 8 weeks or so a year.

And this is an American Contest after all. On ESPN. During a time of year where they need as much filler as possible.

It's really not something worth getting worked up over.

[Grimmlokk]

Originally Posted by Angerz

And this is an American Contest after all. On ESPN. During a time of year where they need as much filler as possible.

It's really not something worth getting worked up over.

That sums it up pretty nicely. And as stupid as I find the contest, I'll take this over the heartfelt stories they do every week. OMG you mean an athlete was nice to someone with cancer...AGAIN???



I'm an asshole.

[Burkex]

It basically comes down to the most popular sports in the USA. The Elite 8 will be all football/basketball as they are by far the most popular sports. Sports like Tennis which are not huge/popular sports in America will always lose in a voting contest to more popular sports. The only exception is Tiger Woods because of his endorsements, his dominance, and his hot wife. If Federer wanted to win this stupid contest he would need to date Jessica Simpson and have way more endorsements, his dominance in tennis basically means nothing.

And I agree this contest is worthless. I change the channel when it comes on. The real best athletes imo are ironman athletes, marathon runners, Decathlon ahletes, and swimmers. I play basketball and football and while they are great sports, they are team sports where you rely on your teammates as much as you rely on yourself. Put Barry Sanders on Emmit Smiths cowboys and see what happens. You can be an amazing player but trapped n a crap team. Also these sports are not as physically demanding as say a marathon or a triathalon. In these sports you can rest on the bench when you are tired and you have 300+ pound overweight players playing sports or any person who is over 7 feet tall can legitamitly play like Sean Bradly or Manute Bol. Try running, swimming, and biking with no rest in the brutal heat. Now that's an athlete.

Who is now is a joke, all you need is to be on a good popular sports team in basketbal/football, have good endorsements, and a hot wife/girlfriend. Who cares about athletic ability.

[foddon]

Actually, the "less" popular sports are winning the voting. Tennis (Federer), soccer (Ronaldhino), and hockey (Crosby) ALL won the fan voting, some of them by wide margins. Since the panelist votes count 30%, it's more or less "Who do these three idiot panelist think is NOW"? One NFL guy, completely clueless about all other sports, one college football guy, completely clueless about all other sports, and one decent sports writer.

[Ham n Cheese]

Originally Posted by Grimmlokk

That sums it up pretty nicely. And as stupid as I find the contest, I'll take this over the heartfelt stories they do every week. OMG you mean an athlete was nice to someone with cancer...AGAIN???



I'm an asshole.

Yeah zzzz to that. The worst is the random kids we hear about who like sports and are dying.

Am I evil?

[Angerz]

From Peter King's Monday Morning QB (probably my favorite weekly sports column)

I'll be the first to admit that ESPN is full of wonderful programming, but whoever thought up this idiotic "Who's Hot Now" bracket and debate needs some sort of reality check. The aim, evidently, was to find the 32 hottest/most talented/handsome (I guess)/People-magazinish athletes in the world, pair them off against each other, and see who is the most "now'' guy. I got a kick out of Matt Leinart being in it, with the ESPN anchor talking about him like he's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Injecting performance into the debate made this all the more laughable, seeing that Leinart was the 23rd-rated quarterback in the league last year, completed 56.7 percent of his passes, with a minus-1 TD-to-interception ratio. And the panel discussions arguing the levels of nowness. Silly, silly stuff. Poor Mike Wilbon. This is why ESPN lured one of the best columnists and journalists in America to work there full time, so he could debate who's more "now'' -- Kobe Bryant or some soccer player from Brazil?

[Ham n Cheese]

The fact that Jessica Biel is on the panel today shows hopefully they aren't taking this too seriously