ESPN Layoffs: The Struggling Industry Giant Sheds On-Air Talent

[Transborderwife 4,666]

14 minutes ago, IAMX said:

Same here. Can't even make myself like it. Doubt this will ever change regardless of my feelings for the NFL. Funny thing.. when I was at SJSU we were the Spartans. When I was at SAIT we were the Trojans. Found that kinda humorous.

 

I also grew up in a hockey family, even though I'm from California. My dad was from Livonia, Michigan, big time Detroit-everything fan (Red Wings, Lions, Tigers, Pistons, etc.), played goalie himself in college and was going to make the pros (knee problems screwed him up so he went into carpentry rather than sports).. despite that he didn't really teach me much about hockey. It was when he died when I was 10, and I visited family in Michigan, that I was introduced to it and started to like it. Some sad irony as well, relating to his Detroit Red Wings fan-dom. He was born in 1960, 5 years after the last Wings cup win w/Gordie (RIP). He died in 1993, 4 years before they won their next cup, so he never got to see them win, whereas I saw them go on to win 4 cups (and lose 2 finals). That's gotta suck.

 

Also, thanks to sites like ancestry, and mapping our DNA, I found out that along with my moms side being from Germany (she was born there) and British royalty, some of them are Irish, but regarding my dads side.. they seemingly go back and forth between the Detroit area and Windsor, then when going further back they are from Quebec and France. I didn't learn much of this until I moved to Canada, so I had been wondering why family found my move so ironic. As you can see, our family doesn't communicate very well.

Livonia!  I've been there.  Home to one of my favorite guys on the Ducks, Ryan Kessler.

 

and that's an interesting piece of history from you.  Detroit is much like Montreal where hockey is God and Gordie was his disciple.

[IAMX 3,055]

Just now, Transborderwife said:

Livonia!  I've been there.  Home to one of my favorite guys on the Ducks, Ryan Kessler.

 

and that's an interesting piece of history from you.  Detroit is much like Montreal where hockey is God and Gordie was his disciple.

Indeed. Aside of the crime, I love Detroit. Likewise, aside of the drivers, the non-right-turn-red-lights, and of course, poutine (ducks from flying tomatoes), I liked Montreal as well. It's actually strange how many people there solely speak English. I have a number of in-laws there, so I visit there every year roughly.

 

Also, Livonia I believe was the home of Mike Modano. IIRC Michigan itself is home to a ton of USNT players, and I believe also the home arena for the USNT. When I visited last, I was wearing my old Lidstrom outdoor classic jersey, and like literally every place I went to, to shop, or just grab a few beers, would give me free stuff. LOL. People are friendly as hell.

 

If you don't mind me asking, how did you and your SO decide who moves where? (presuming your SO is American) I actually have tried convincing the wife to move to Germany, because it's actually a rather big culture shock for me (spending much of my life in the Bay Area, California, but also having lived in Germany a short time) that I have to approach Canadians 99% of the time to engage in conversation. I tend to prefer places where socialization is more embedded -- the (polite) silence in Canada is something I'm not accustomed to, even now. Out here in the inner city of Calgary, where most of the socializing is just crazy leftists protesting something they're offended by, I just want to move to the outskirts of the city and be alone with my family. But of course, my wife, being Asian-looking, didn't feel comfortable moving to Germany, so I didn't push it, because I couldn't promise there wouldn't be some uncomfortability.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

5 minutes ago, IAMX said:

Indeed. Aside of the crime, I love Detroit. Likewise, aside of the drivers, the non-right-turn-red-lights, and of course, poutine (ducks from flying tomatoes), I liked Montreal as well. It's actually strange how many people there solely speak English. I have a number of in-laws there, so I visit there every year roughly.

 

Also, Livonia I believe was the home of Mike Modano. IIRC Michigan itself is home to a ton of USNT players, and I believe also the home arena for the USNT. When I visited last, I was wearing my old Lidstrom outdoor classic jersey, and like literally every place I went to, to shop, or just grab a few beers, would give me free stuff. LOL. People are friendly as hell.

 

If you don't mind me asking, how did you and your SO decide who moves where? (presuming your SO is American) I actually have tried convincing the wife to move to Germany, because it's actually a rather big culture shock for me (spending much of my life in the Bay Area, California, but also having lived in Germany a short time) that I have to approach Canadians 99% of the time to engage in conversation. I tend to prefer places where socialization is more embedded -- the (polite) silence in Canada is something I'm not accustomed to, even now. Out here in the inner city of Calgary, where most of the socializing is just crazy leftists protesting something they're offended by, I just want to move to the outskirts of the city and be alone with my family. But of course, my wife, being Asian-looking, didn't feel comfortable moving to Germany, so I didn't push it, because I couldn't promise there wouldn't be some uncomfortability.

I went to the outdoor game with my ex in 2010 at the big house!  What an experience!

 

we chose because 1) my husband hates the cold, 2) my parents live down here as do a lot of my Mom's family 3) he has shared custody of his daughter and her mom would never let her go to Canada.  it was tough but for the best.

[IAMX 3,055]

1 minute ago, Transborderwife said:

I went to the outdoor game with my ex in 2010 at the big house!  What an experience!

 

we chose because 1) my husband hates the cold, 2) my parents live down here as do a lot of my Mom's family 3) he has shared custody of his daughter and her mom would never let her go to Canada.  it was tough but for the best.

I so wish I could have gone to that game.

 

Alas, all my hockey game experience comes mostly from the San Jose Sharks arena (HP, Cow Palace, etc.), but I've been to one game in Calgary. Experience was similar. I sometimes wear my Red Wings stuff even during non-Wing games just to rile up the locals. Mostly they don't care when other teams are playing, but when the Wings come to down, they try and let me have it. 

 

That sucks about your situation, but as far as the cold goes, it does take lots of getting used to. As a native Californian, I found the Great Lakes humidity in Ontario to be overwhelming, especially in the summer (not to mention the persistent cloudiness would occasionally make things gloomy). Your location says Florida, and in my experience being over the in the SE, the humidity is that much worse than Ontario.Thankfully the wife was open to moving out west, where the climate is different. While it's (obviously) nowhere near as warm as the parts of California I'm from, it's still dry climate, so much more preferable. How was the adjustment to the climate? It sounds like you may be from the Great Lakes so probably didn't have to adjust too much to FL (that and likely people run AC's 24/7). I also assume because of extreme weather people in Florida have basements.. that was another thing I had to adjust to moving to Canada. Furnished basements. We had none of this in California where I'm from. Then in Ontario there was bagged milk (#######?).. thankfully none of that in Alberta, it was a pain in the ###. In fact, my first experience in Canada came when we went shopping. I think it was at Metro. They scanned the food, asked how many bags I want.. I was like uhh, I dunno, however many it takes? Wife was like, 3. So they take 3 bags and lop it on top of the food, and I'm standing there staring at it like isn't anyone gonna bag this? Oh those adjustments. 

[Dashinka 25,890]

30 minutes ago, Transborderwife said:

I went to the outdoor game with my ex in 2010 at the big house!  What an experience!

 

we chose because 1) my husband hates the cold, 2) my parents live down here as do a lot of my Mom's family 3) he has shared custody of his daughter and her mom would never let her go to Canada.  it was tough but for the best.

I beat you, I went to the first big outdoor game of the modern era at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing (2001).  They called it the Cold War and it was between MSU and UofM, but it seems with the popularity of that game, we started seeing this being done both at the collegiate and professional levels.  At the time, it was the largest crowd to see any hockey game at about 75k.  This of course was surpassed when they held the Big Chill and the Winter Classic at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

 

In my opinion, the NHL should hold a Winter Classic game on Super Bowl Sunday during the afternoon.  Does anyone really watch all that pre-game stuff on that day.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

26 minutes ago, IAMX said:

I so wish I could have gone to that game.

 

Alas, all my hockey game experience comes mostly from the San Jose Sharks arena (HP, Cow Palace, etc.), but I've been to one game in Calgary. Experience was similar. I sometimes wear my Red Wings stuff even during non-Wing games just to rile up the locals. Mostly they don't care when other teams are playing, but when the Wings come to down, they try and let me have it. 

 

That sucks about your situation, but as far as the cold goes, it does take lots of getting used to. As a native Californian, I found the Great Lakes humidity in Ontario to be overwhelming, especially in the summer (not to mention the persistent cloudiness would occasionally make things gloomy). Your location says Florida, and in my experience being over the in the SE, the humidity is that much worse than Ontario.Thankfully the wife was open to moving out west, where the climate is different. While it's (obviously) nowhere near as warm as the parts of California I'm from, it's still dry climate, so much more preferable. How was the adjustment to the climate? It sounds like you may be from the Great Lakes so probably didn't have to adjust too much to FL (that and likely people run AC's 24/7). I also assume because of extreme weather people in Florida have basements.. that was another thing I had to adjust to moving to Canada. Furnished basements. We had none of this in California where I'm from. Then in Ontario there was bagged milk (#######?).. thankfully none of that in Alberta, it was a pain in the ###. In fact, my first experience in Canada came when we went shopping. I think it was at Metro. They scanned the food, asked how many bags I want.. I was like uhh, I dunno, however many it takes? Wife was like, 3. So they take 3 bags and lop it on top of the food, and I'm standing there staring at it like isn't anyone gonna bag this? Oh those adjustments. 

I actually miss bagged milk, I found it stayed fresher longer and was a space saver.

 

the humidity in the summer is brutal, our AC is on all but maybe 3 weeks of the year.  I do miss the weather in Canada but not the maintenance.  The seasons is what I miss most to be honest l.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

2 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

I beat you, I went to the first big outdoor game of the modern era at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing (2001).  They called it the Cold War and it was between MSU and UofM, but it seems with the popularity of that game, we started seeing this being done both at the collegiate and professional levels.  At the time, it was the largest crowd to see any hockey game at about 75k.  This of course was surpassed when they held the Big Chill and the Winter Classic at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

 

In my opinion, the NHL should hold a Winter Classic game on Super Bowl Sunday during the afternoon.  Does anyone really watch all that pre-game stuff on that day.

That's actually quite a brilliant idea in many ways!  I think that the outdoor game thing is getting a bit much now.  I like the winter classic and a heritage classic and leave it at that.  The big house was just wow...I see why it's named that lol!  We were in the front row and it was an experience but it was so cold and so far from the only exit in the section that wasn't fun

[IAMX 3,055]

10 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

I beat you, I went to the first big outdoor game of the modern era at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing (2001).  They called it the Cold War and it was between MSU and UofM, but it seems with the popularity of that game, we started seeing this being done both at the collegiate and professional levels.  At the time, it was the largest crowd to see any hockey game at about 75k.  This of course was surpassed when they held the Big Chill and the Winter Classic at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

 

In my opinion, the NHL should hold a Winter Classic game on Super Bowl Sunday during the afternoon.  Does anyone really watch all that pre-game stuff on that day.

Where was that first DRW NHL Winter Classic held? I don't think it was in Detroit.. was it Chicago? 

 

8 minutes ago, Transborderwife said:

I actually miss bagged milk, I found it stayed fresher longer and was a space saver.

 

the humidity in the summer is brutal, our AC is on all but maybe 3 weeks of the year.  I do miss the weather in Canada but not the maintenance.  The seasons is what I miss most to be honest l.

Shoveling snow does get annoying, but I'm lazy and bought a blower. it was actually a great way of making easy side-money around the neighborhoods (was pulling in $1500 a week as a secondary income during winter), until larger businesses came in and undercut me, then I said **** it.  

 

One thing I noticed about seasonably warmer states is that they often are awful at road maintenance and such.. it's weird. Areas where roads get screwed up the most have the best roads.

 

Edited April 28, 2017 by IAMX

[Transborderwife 4,666]

3 minutes ago, IAMX said:

Where was that first DRW NHL Winter Classic held? I don't think it was in Detroit.. was it Chicago? 

 

Shoveling snow does get annoying, but I'm lazy and bought a blower. it was actually a great way of making easy side-money around the neighborhoods (was pulling in $1500 a week as a secondary income during winter), until larger businesses came in and undercut me, then I said **** it.  

 

One thing I noticed about seasonably warmer states is that they often are awful at road maintenance and such.. it's weird. Areas where roads get screwed up the most have the best roads.

 

Our main road in our area is constantly under construction.  It is awful!  It's like because our weather is good they take longer 😂

[Dashinka 25,890]

58 minutes ago, IAMX said:

Where was that first DRW NHL Winter Classic held? I don't think it was in Detroit.. was it Chicago? 

 

Shoveling snow does get annoying, but I'm lazy and bought a blower. it was actually a great way of making easy side-money around the neighborhoods (was pulling in $1500 a week as a secondary income during winter), until larger businesses came in and undercut me, then I said **** it.  

 

One thing I noticed about seasonably warmer states is that they often are awful at road maintenance and such.. it's weird. Areas where roads get screwed up the most have the best roads.

 

The first outdoor NHL game of the modern era and not an exhibition game was in 2003 in Edmonton with Montreal and Edmonton and it was called the Heritage Classic.  The first Winter Classic was in Buffalo in 2008 between Pittsburg and Buffalo.  Detroit and Chicago played in the second WC at Wrigley in 2009.

 

As to your road comment, I imagine you haven't driven the roads in Michigan much. 

[IAMX 3,055]

1 hour ago, Transborderwife said:

Our main road in our area is constantly under construction.  It is awful!  It's like because our weather is good they take longer 😂

They get lazy.

 

10 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

The first outdoor NHL game of the modern era and not an exhibition game was in 2003 in Edmonton with Montreal and Edmonton and it was called the Heritage Classic.  The first Winter Classic was in Buffalo in 2008 between Pittsburg and Buffalo.  Detroit and Chicago played in the second WC at Wrigley in 2009.

 

As to your road comment, I imagine you haven't driven the roads in Michigan much. 

Michigan roads weren't all that bad.. I won't pit my experience of driving on that states roads against yours. But I will say in the dozen or so times I've driven in that state, the only "bad" areas I experienced were both in the UP and when I was moving from Ontario to Alberta, driving through MI (MI/IN/IL/WI/MN/ND/SK/AB), and the roads were just awful.. with no construction in site until I got to the Gary/Chicago area. It could be worse though.. could have all those nasty tolls throughout NY/PA/OH/etc. Nonetheless, throughout much of the state it was nice. 

 

I remember regular commutes on the 101 in the Bay Area.. it was always around Oakland/13 Ave in the SJ area where I'd constantly massive potholes lining the what, 5-7 lane freeway? Stuff just shredded the tires and suspension on 2 of my cars. Was the only time where I didn't mind traffic congestion.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

On 4/28/2017 at 5:38 PM, Bill & Katya said:

I beat you, I went to the first big outdoor game of the modern era at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing (2001).  They called it the Cold War and it was between MSU and UofM, but it seems with the popularity of that game, we started seeing this being done both at the collegiate and professional levels.  At the time, it was the largest crowd to see any hockey game at about 75k.  This of course was surpassed when they held the Big Chill and the Winter Classic at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

 

In my opinion, the NHL should hold a Winter Classic game on Super Bowl Sunday during the afternoon.  Does anyone really watch all that pre-game stuff on that day.

That might actually be a good idea to get new viewers for the NHL, give the people a sporting event to watch instead of the circus of pregame Super Bowl shows. 

[OriZ 3,165]

On 4/28/2017 at 7:08 PM, IAMX said:

They get lazy.

 

Michigan roads weren't all that bad.. I won't pit my experience of driving on that states roads against yours. But I will say in the dozen or so times I've driven in that state, the only "bad" areas I experienced were both in the UP and when I was moving from Ontario to Alberta, driving through MI (MI/IN/IL/WI/MN/ND/SK/AB), and the roads were just awful.. with no construction in site until I got to the Gary/Chicago area. It could be worse though.. could have all those nasty tolls throughout NY/PA/OH/etc. Nonetheless, throughout much of the state it was nice. 

 

I remember regular commutes on the 101 in the Bay Area.. it was always around Oakland/13 Ave in the SJ area where I'd constantly massive potholes lining the what, 5-7 lane freeway? Stuff just shredded the tires and suspension on 2 of my cars. Was the only time where I didn't mind traffic congestion.

Yes, roads in Wi are terrible.

 

BTW Israel also does bagged milk. I love the mall in Edmonton...And hey, did I hear Ducks?

[IAMX 3,055]

34 minutes ago, OriZ said:

Yes, roads in Wi are terrible.

 

BTW Israel also does bagged milk. I love the mall in Edmonton...And hey, did I hear Ducks?

"Edmonton"

"Ducks"

 

hmm 

[Lemonslice 5,247]

On 4/28/2017 at 2:19 PM, Teddy B said:

ESPN has been bombing all around in the New England area since they did everything they could to bury Tom Brady and the Patriots with deflategate. They spread false rumors and allowed false stories to stay on their website even after they were shown that they were false. I haven't watched them at all since they hired the Ray Lewis a few years ago to do Sunday Countdown.

Reminded me of this: http://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/2017/04/18/a-patriots-fan-went-off-on-espn-today-on-twitter-in-unbelievable-fashion/