ESPN: Addition (Jayski) by Subtraction (Credibility)?
Well now, isn’t this special.
ESPN, who bought themselves some NASCAR Nation street cred with the purchase of broadcast rights to NASCAR events, has extended their racing media portfolio with the acquisition of Jayski.com.
Described as “one of the (ahem… ) top NASCAR information sites on the Internet” Jayski’s site has been online since 1996 and for the last couple years ESPN has provided hosting service to the site’s owner Jay Adamczyk.
So much for “street cred.”
One would think providing hosting would include an occasional perusal of the content. I guess they take the same stance as those that host triple X sites; “Hey, it ain’t us. we don’t even own a video camera, or a waterbed and who the hell is Jonny Long Schlong?”
But now they OWN it lock, stock and barrel.
Complete with every rumor that will fit through a modem. Many from “unnamed sources,” with more updates to the original than Goodies has headache powder and “finalized” 72 hours later with a Rosanne Rossanna Danna-like “Never mind!”
The Diecast Dude (who not so shockingly beat me to this story) sums it up best: “Jayski is a pathetic, miserable lump of pseudo-journalism; a toadying worthless refuge for refuse blissfully aware of his present day irrelevance.”
To which I’ll add: Jayski is nothing more than a DNA enhanced RSS reader not unlike Bloglines or FeedReader. The major problem arises because you and I make editorial decisions based on a source’s credibility first and and secondly our personal interest held in the source before adding it to our choice of feed reader.
Jayski sucks up any and everything that smells of NASCAR, no matter how slight, and tosses it onto the back of your PC monitor’s glass hoping it will stick. Many times it doesn’t and just slides to the bottom of the glass and sits there like a turd in a high school Prom punchbowl.
John Kosner, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN New Media has said “Jay
Help me out here Marc? Are you saying that there has been a tradition of placing a turd in the high school Prom punchbowl in the US?
Wow, & I though my Year 12 formal was wild.
Are you saying that there has been a tradition of placing a turd in the high school Prom punchbowl in the US?
Not a tradition, just one occurrence.
And I deny it ever happened for reasons I’d rather not talk about.
I’m guessing ESPN bought Jayski because for thousands it’s their first cyber click each morning…and (chuckle), they’ve promised not to change anything!!
I vote for a Diecast Dude vs. Jayski ‘rasslin cage match!
I’d like to have been a mouse in the house and know how much the check was worth.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the “attraction” for some. The shear volume of stories allows people to get a wide variety of news that would take an individual hours to accumulate.
By the same token Jayski is in no way a “writer” and what he is providing could have been added to ESPN’s website for free via several RSS feeds. (here is a good example)
If I were Jayski I’d be runnin’ for the hills with my load of cash laughing all the way for getting something for nothing.
You “scared?”
No one would ever think so. I fully understand the attraction,those of us in the racing blogosphere are very few compared to the total number of fans.
Most wouldn’t know RSS from a hole in the ground.
However it’s far… FAR beyond my comprehension why ESPN would pay for something they can get free via the addition of a couple RSS feeds on their main page.
Hmmm, why would ESPN pay for it.
Several reasons, I suppose. Let me take a stab at a few:
It is a recognizable brand. Whether we agree or like it or not. Brands have value. I hate the shit out of microsoft, yet its a brand that still has a value. Although I wish it didn’t.
It’s not ESPN’s own site, and failures, and they have the opportunity to not do anything but lease out the ad real estate.
Fans like it in general, and as you said we’re a small minority amongst those.
Finally, if the site screws up, it’s not ESPN’s fault. Yeah, they own it, but it isn’t their “content” or “responsibility”.
It’s beyond my comprehension why ESPN/ABC cut of the Busch race at Bristol. Hell my mother, my own mother, was throwing shit at the TV because she didn’t get to see Carl do his back flip. That’s a complete 180 of her personality, by the way. Normally she’s the “I’ll just bitch about it and do nothing” type. The really bad thing, is it was MY damn TV. lol
That made no sense, hell it was an infomercial afterwards, and now this makes no sense. Far be it that anything else they’ve done makes much sense, really. Although up until they cut the post-race stuff at Bristol, I was actually looking forward to the TV coverage in the second half of the season for once.