I love their stations.

I love the Apps

I love their coverage.

But what I don't like, is for the last month when I go to scores, it lists the NDSU - JMU score right there on top - since JMU is one of my favorites. So tired of seeing that 20-14 score. Hopefully when the College football season is over it will move it from the top of my personal scores.

I know! I have the same thing and IT really bugs me.

What I dislike about the ESPN website is that to check football scores, it defaults to the Top 25. I follow the rank & file FBS probably more, and FCS of course. Wish I could get it to automatically cue up to "All FBS".

(01-06-2022 08:09 PM)olddawg Wrote:  What I dislike about the ESPN website is that to check football scores, it defaults to the Top 25. I follow the rank & file FBS probably more, and FCS of course. Wish I could get it to automatically cue up to "All FBS".

They do that intentionally because they want to put focus primarily on the blue bloods of the P5. By making you change the settings, it’s driving home that it’s “another level”.

(01-06-2022 05:11 PM)Dukester Wrote:  I love their stations.

I love the Apps

I love their coverage.

But what I don't like, is for the last month when I go to scores, it lists the NDSU - JMU score right there on top - since JMU is one of my favorites. So tired of seeing that 20-14 score. Hopefully when the College football season is over it will move it from the top of my personal scores.

It's convenient. I admit that I subscribe to ESPN+. They typically do a good job covering events.

I can't stand the gratuitous political virtue signaling they shove down the throats of viewers who simply want to watch a game. I also don't like that they've become so large and powerful that they literally dictate the schedule of athletic events from sea to shining sea.

(01-06-2022 09:20 PM)Potomac Wrote:  

(01-06-2022 08:09 PM)olddawg Wrote:  What I dislike about the ESPN website is that to check football scores, it defaults to the Top 25. I follow the rank & file FBS probably more, and FCS of course. Wish I could get it to automatically cue up to "All FBS".

They do that intentionally because they want to put focus primarily on the blue bloods of the P5. By making you change the settings, it’s driving home that it’s “another level”.

Defaulting to top 25 is not nearly as bad as if they showed a separate category for P5 and G5.

The FCS main score pages at places like NCAA and elsewhere used to have a top 25 category also they defaulted to. I always liked that because I could see how other 'big' games might impact the rankings quickly. Past few years a lot of that fcs coverage doesn't even exist, but places like Hero sports still focus a lot more on the "top" FCS teams and don't talk much about the Wofford and SFA type teams.

In my view, ESPN gives a lot more attention to Sunbelt and other G5 teams than they do FCS, which sometimes they barely acknowledge exists. If JMU one day gets a top 25 ranking, wins a big bowl game or an SBC title, the coverage will be far more than we've seen in the past. Even the secondary FBS bowls were getting priority over the FCS semis.

There are many usability flaws with ESPN, but defaulting to top 25 scores isn't one of them. Those teams typically have by far the largest followings and it's a tidy way to display the most "important" (viewed) scores. They could be a-holes and bury the most viewed scores for the added clicks/ad displays.

What we'd all like more of is "personalization" and "customization" so we have an experience tailored to our preferences and habits. We get a limited amount of that with the "favorites" feature, which is why that jinxed game with that opponent we're jinxed against will probably stay there until a new game replaces it next year. Or you can probably remove JMU football from your favorites.

Like the rest of you, I can't wait to put every reminder of that bullsh!t history with them as far behind me as possible.

Now that we're going to be FBS, I'm really looking forward to being included in way more content on ESPN. Especially G5 schools with success (like Coastal recently) get tons of national coverage.