Did anybody like WSOP coverage on ESPN?

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Both ESPN's coverage of the WSOP and Travel's coverage of the WPT is solid. Sexton is pretty good, Lohn McCarrein (sp?) is just fine, and Norman Chad is actually an acquired taste, I think.


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I must be living on a distance planet, because we are obviously watching completely different programs. The WPT is unwatchable, and ESPNs programming is not too far behind.

Mike Sexton is just horrible. I mean the guy just makes my skin crawl. He over hypes everything. The way he tries to play up up every card on every street on every hand as the biggest event in poker history is just embarrassing. (As we say.)

I also hate the fake audience reactions (I know they're fake because I was at one of the filmings) the Shana Hyatt fluff pieces, and the overall we're trying to be so slick and cool attitude of this boring show. It's over.

And don't even get me started about Norman Chad. The guy is just a complete dick. Is every thing that happens at the poker table a smart-ass reply? Not only that it's an unfunny smart-ass reply. Poker at this level needs to be treated with some respect. An occasional witty remark is fine, but every single thing that happens in the game is met with a line that just doesn't go anywhere or an incorrect analysis by this idiot. Let's be honest--Norman Chad doesn't have any idea what he's talking about. [I've played with him, trust me, I know.] He couldn't do an in depth analysis of a hand if he had a script, and he's just trying to fill some dead air with a half-baked page of one liners some wanna be sports announcing hack placed in front of him. Vince Van Patten is better than this guy--by a long ways.

ESPN is just clueless. Those ridiculous adds. The unfunny, and uninteresting time killing insert pieces like The Nuts and Blind Mans Bluff, etc. Who's in charge of those numbnuts over there? Santa Claus?

I can't wait till NBC, ABC or CBS gets ahold of one of these major poker tournaments. That heads up thing on NBC with Gabe Kaplan had a few problems, but it was the best one of these televised tournaments I've seen yet.

And Chad's sidekick, that Lon guy, is actually a good broadcaster, but he just needs to buy a goddamn clue!

"AND MEN THE MASTER HAS FLOPPED A PAIR OF DUECES!!! HE HAS THE BEST HAND IN THIS FIVE WAY POT!!! (if he doesn't fold.)

Jesus, God give me a break.

These programs could really be groundbreaking, entertaining, and educational. They could set the standard for televised poker tournaments for years to come, but no one seems to give a rats ass one way or the other. We'll put out what we think you want to see and that'll be that.

What's really scary is they actually think they're doing a great job.

And what's even scarier are the people who think these shows are really good.