I have an Insider membership because I subscribe to the Magazine, but I don't find myself using it all that much. All the news and most of the current columns are free. The stuff that seems to be insider is stuff like Kiper's daily changing board. If you need to see how Mel rates guys each day, then yeah, you gotta get Insider.VikingMachine wrote:Those sites dont offer the "extra" information that they do. This is stuff above and beyond. If you check out the other sites, ESPN has more "specialty" articles, reporters, ect. Once again, its not really that hard to understand.
If you dont like it, go somewhere else.
Why ESPN is Bad
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VikingMachine
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That last statement isnt even remotely close to accurate. I am sorry but there is an awful lot more information available than you are giving them credit for.glg wrote: I have an Insider membership because I subscribe to the Magazine, but I don't find myself using it all that much. All the news and most of the current columns are free. The stuff that seems to be insider is stuff like Kiper's daily changing board. If you need to see how Mel rates guys each day, then yeah, you gotta get Insider.
Just for the NFL Insider alone there are:
A story by Todd McShay on Matt Ryan.
Todd McShay's latest Mock Draft.
Another McShay article on elite players comming out.
Scouts Inc ratings on each player - something I personally like and use alot.
Articles by KC Joyner
Articles by Mel Kiper Jr.
Mock Drafts by 3 different columnists.
Rumor Central - updated virtually every day depending on the time of year.
Insider blogs by John Clayton, Seth Wickersham, Bruce Feldman, Chris Mortenson and the Football Recruiting Insider.
Jeremy Green also does stories pretty frequently and there is much more...
This is also JUST the NFL, they also have the same thing going on for MLB, NBA, NHL, College Sports and more.
Theres a ton of information overall and no i dont use it all either but there are quite often stories that i find interesting and am glad that I have my insider subscription with the ESPN magazine.
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HardcoreVikesFan
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Well good for you. I for one just can't see why it isn't free, but whatever.VikingMachine wrote: That last statement isnt even remotely close to accurate. I am sorry but there is an awful lot more information available than you are giving them credit for.
Just for the NFL Insider alone there are:
A story by Todd McShay on Matt Ryan.
Todd McShay's latest Mock Draft.
Another McShay article on elite players comming out.
Scouts Inc ratings on each player - something I personally like and use alot.
Articles by KC Joyner
Articles by Mel Kiper Jr.
Mock Drafts by 3 different columnists.
Rumor Central - updated virtually every day depending on the time of year.
Insider blogs by John Clayton, Seth Wickersham, Bruce Feldman, Chris Mortenson and the Football Recruiting Insider.
Jeremy Green also does stories pretty frequently and there is much more...
This is also JUST the NFL, they also have the same thing going on for MLB, NBA, NHL, College Sports and more.
Theres a ton of information overall and no i dont use it all either but there are quite often stories that i find interesting and am glad that I have my insider subscription with the ESPN magazine.
A Randy Moss fan for life. A Kevin Williams fan for life.
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VikingMachine
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I think thats been made clear but it has to do more with the amount of information available. They dont have to hire all those people to do all those extra pieces. They could cut their staff considerably if they just did the free stuff and even if they did just that they would still provided quite a bit more than any other sports information/news website.Well good for you. I for one just can't see why it isn't free, but whatever.
Honestly I wish it were free also, but this is just one of those things in life that you have to pay for if you want it. We (tailgaters) had to pay $30 a game to tailgate near the dome last year. In the past its been essentially free but now it costs....whadda ya do.
Sorry, wasn't trying to imply that Mel's stuff was all there is. Just that all the news is free and most of their major columnists are too, though as you point out, some have blogs that aren't. eg, Clayton writes a ton of articles that are free, but also has a blog that isn't. Same deal in baseball with Buster Olney.VikingMachine wrote: That last statement isnt even remotely close to accurate. I am sorry but there is an awful lot more information available than you are giving them credit for.
Another thing you can get with Insider is podcasts of ESPN radio broadcasts, some of which I might use if I had access. I use podcasts all the time when exercising. However, with free access to podcasts of KFAN, KSTP Saturday Sports Talk & Dan Patrick Radio Show on the sports side and an incredible amount of interesting non-sports stuff (NPR Car Talk/Fresh Air, HBO Real Time/Inside the NFL pre-cancellation, NBC Meet the Press, CBS 60 minutes, NBC Nightly News, ABC Nightline, KQRS Morning Show, PBS McLaughlin Group, portions of PBS Newshour/MSNBC Countdown, etc.). It just makes paying the $$$ to ESPN less than necessary in my opinion. I have no quibble with their charging a premium for their service, but they are indeed countering a trend of "free", advertiser supported content at other web sites.
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TrenchGoon
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VikingMachine
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wang_chi7
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Fox Sports is pretty decent. Baseball Prospectus (though obviously only for that sport) is amazing. Sporting News seems to be OK.VikingMachine wrote: Really, who's is better?
I actually don't mind ESPN's website as it is generally a very good site. I frequent it more than any other sports news site. Now, I won't sit thru sportscenter or NFL Live unless where I'm at doesn't have ESPNEWS or the internet and I need scores.
Their news writers seem to be top notch, but their tv producers and anchors are a joke.
I almost never visit ESPN's site. It's cluttered, confusing and overloaded. They need some serious streamlining help.
I prefer to visit the sports specific sites. NFL.com's recent retooling has resulted in a fantastic site, IMO.
BGM
I prefer to visit the sports specific sites. NFL.com's recent retooling has resulted in a fantastic site, IMO.
BGM
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." - Frank Zappa
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VikingMachine
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That's probably my biggest complaint, even more than charging for insider stuff. Their fantasy games, their site, too damn much going on.BGM wrote:I almost never visit ESPN's site. It's cluttered, confusing and overloaded. They need some serious streamlining help.
I prefer to visit the sports specific sites. NFL.com's recent retooling has resulted in a fantastic site, IMO.
BGM
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TrenchGoon
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NFL.com for starters, but whether someone else's content is better or not does not change the fact that ESPNs content is garbage. Its poorly written, repetitive, crap presented to us overwhelmingly by smart assed twits with too much "product" in their hair. Is fox sports better? I don't know. does the answer really matter? Its garbage too.VikingMachine wrote: Really, who's is better?