4 ms·

I was just having this conversation with friends a few days ago. We do still watch games, but we all used to also watch sports news/talk shows (e.g. morning pre

I was just having this conversation with friends a few days ago. We do still watch games, but we all used to also watch sports news/talk shows (e.g. morning pre-football coverage, SportsCenter, and the like) and most of us have stopped. Some of the shows are now exclusively focused on betting. I'm all for consenting adults to be able to legally place wagers at outlets that are not swindling them, or offering the kinds of loans that could get a person's legs broken. But I'm so tired of ALL THE COVERAGE being about betting. It was more fun when the coverage was mostly sports, and Al Michaels had to sneak in the odd mention of what the point spread was for a game he was broadcasting. Even my friends who enjoy gambling don't like the media coverage of it. I guess we're not a representative sample.

nonethewiser 1y ago
Yes this is exactly what I mean. Coverage of the sport has been replaced with coverage of the gambling games around the sport.
xp84 1y ago
> Even my friends who enjoy gambling don't like the media coverage of it. You may well be representative; it’s just that all these parties directly invested in gambling would rather expand gambling as much and as fast as they can, at the expense of turning off their whole audience.
- svachalek 1y ago
  Much like politics, it's been decades since the coverage has had anything substantial to say about the issues or the candidates, it's all treated like a horse race now, who's gained or lost 1% in the polls.
spike021 1y ago
Honestly it's a lot like the alcohol ads being everywhere. I don't have a problem with drinking alcohol but this is supposed to be a sport enjoyed by the whole family, and there are broadcasts where the inning break is filled almost entirely with hard liquor advertisements. Even at the ballpark it's hard to avoid advertising for beer and other drinks.
- hoistbypetard 1y ago
  Sort of? I mean the actual news shows have been replaced by things like ESPN Bet Live[1], which are focused on betting. I'd also like the alcohol ads to be fewer and farther between, but the gambling thing has expanded into shows too, not just ads. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN_Bet_Live https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN_Bet_Live)
apparent 1y ago
Is there so much discussion of betting related to all the ads purchased by gambling companies?

nonethewiser 1y ago

Yes this is exactly what I mean. Coverage of the sport has been replaced with coverage of the gambling games around the sport.

xp84 1y ago

> Even my friends who enjoy gambling don't like the media coverage of it. You may well be representative; it’s just that all these parties directly invested in gambling would rather expand gambling as much and as fast as they can, at the expense of turning off their whole audience.

svachalek 1y ago
Much like politics, it's been decades since the coverage has had anything substantial to say about the issues or the candidates, it's all treated like a horse race now, who's gained or lost 1% in the polls.

spike021 1y ago

Honestly it's a lot like the alcohol ads being everywhere. I don't have a problem with drinking alcohol but this is supposed to be a sport enjoyed by the whole family, and there are broadcasts where the inning break is filled almost entirely with hard liquor advertisements. Even at the ballpark it's hard to avoid advertising for beer and other drinks.

hoistbypetard 1y ago
Sort of? I mean the actual news shows have been replaced by things like ESPN Bet Live[1], which are focused on betting. I'd also like the alcohol ads to be fewer and farther between, but the gambling thing has expanded into shows too, not just ads. [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN_Bet_Live https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN_Bet_Live)

apparent 1y ago

Is there so much discussion of betting related to all the ads purchased by gambling companies?