The Josh Innes Show - The Death Of Sports Journalism

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

First off, we have the ultimate "Winners and Losers From..." in the USA Today. This publication is truly a wreck. This leads to a story about Mark Madden. Mark Madden is a big time sports radio guy in Pittsburgh and he has written a piece about the death of sports journalism. In reality, it kind of reads like old man yells at cloud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Snacks, delivered. Fresh fruit, delivered. Grocery delivery on repeat for just $2.50 a month. Learn more at pcExpress.ca. Alright, kiddos, you know that I love the headlines in the USA Today, particularly when we get the Winners and Losers from Blank headline because that's what USA Today does is like even though there's a clear winner and loser of certain things, you still get the winner and loser of blank. So for example, like last night, there was a winner

in the basketball game. That team was the Oklahoma City Thunder, who by the way, finally got a team over for me. Thank the fuck Christ, but they were the clear winner and the team that is one game away from elimination is the loser. Anything else you're doing is a reach. So if you had a story that said something along the lines of loser Tyrese Halliburton's reputation, winner, the people who say that he's not clutch and that he's overrated, like there's a clear winner and loser. Once you get

to the finals, there's a winner and there's a loser. But this actually tops it. Now the College World Series, there are two games every day, although today there are going to be like two and a half because LSU and UCLA were rained out last night in the middle of the game, so that game was suspended. So there'll be three today, but usually, generally speaking, you're going to get two games in the College World Series. So there are four teams. There are not a ton of winners and losers, right? There is the headline, winners and losers from Monday at the College World Series. Okie dokie. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the winner

was Arkansas who won to stave off elimination and the pitcher who struck out 16 and threw a no-hitter, the first no-hitter at the College World Series since the 60s and only the third of all time. I'll say he's the winner. And then I'll say the loser is the fucking team that got eliminated and didn't get any hits there. I solved it. Like they pay people to write this. Like the winners and losers from Monday. Like there is no loser for Arkansas. Whether they go on to win the College World Series or get

eliminated in their next game, Arkansas has a dude that threw maybe the greatest college baseball game in the history of college baseball. I don't know all of the great college baseball performances, but I'm going to guess that a guy who threw the first no-hitter in a college World Series game since the civil rights movement and struck out like 16 while doing it and was pumping in like a 99 mile an hour fastball or whatever it was to close it out, guy maybe has the greatest pitching performance

in the history of college baseball. Winner. The loser is the ball club that didn't get a hit and struck out 16 times. There. I've solved it. Media is dead. There was a story I was reading somewhere. Now I gotta find it. I forgot who it was that was talking about how sports media is actually it was a guy by the name of Mark Madden. Let me play a couple commercials here. Let me see if I can find that story here. The NBA Finals are finally here and after spending the playoffs all over the Pick Six app from Draft Kings. Well, we're ready for the championship round and this is your last shot to win some real cash before the season ends. The simplest way to get in

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It's kind of like I'm already on vacation. Nice. On behalf of Air Canada, nice travels. It's kind of like I'm already on vacation nice Wi-Fi available to airplane members on equipped flight sponsored by Bell conditions apply seer Canada comm So Mark Madden is a longtime Radio dude sports radio dude in Pittsburgh and he's such a big deal In fact that he does an afternoon sports radio show on a music radio station and some of you wrestling doofs like myself would know Mark Madden as a guy who was part of the WCW broadcast team like basically after the WCW jumped the shark. So WCW and its

prime would have been like Tony Schiavone and Bobby the Brain Heenan and maybe you could include the Living Legend Larry Zabisco and then you would also throw in Steve Mongo McMichael before he joined the Horsemen like those were kind of the four dudes maybe Mike and not even Mike Tenei I wouldn't include Mike Tenei in there. In the glory days of WCW and Nitro. It was Tony Schiavone and that revolving door of three people that I just mentioned. Living Legend, Larry Zabisco, Bobby the Brain Heenan, really it's Bobby the Brain Heenan and Tony Schiavone are the two that I would most closely associate that. And Mongo McMichael wasn't bad. Then you got into that later years era where it was Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenet and Mark Madden. Not that Mark Madden sucked at it, he just happened to be there when the product was

terrible. But Mark Madden is also known from that. But and I think he was the dude that did the WCW hotline. So like, imagine a world where people would spend like a dollar a minute or whatever to call a hotline to get scoops on wrestling. I think he was the one doing that. Anyway, let me find this Mark Madden story here. I saw it yesterday and now I've lost it. But actually, there's a couple of things in here that are very good.

I'm looking at this Barrett Media thing here, looking for some of these stories. I saw it yesterday. I don't know where the hell there it is. Mark Madden, sports media is being burned to the ground. Of course it is. It's terrible. Let's see. Pittsburgh sports radio talk host Mark Madden has never been considered anything but outspoken when it comes to the landscape of sports and sports media. He's a Pittsburgh native and has been a leading voice in Pittsburgh sports for decades, contributing a regular column to TribLive.com. On Monday, Madden shared his point of view on the current state of sports media, an industry he's been part of for his entire career. ESPN pays Stephen A. Smith $20 million per year,

but he couldn't be bothered to watch what he was being paid to analyze wrote Mark Madden. If you don't know the reference to that there is a picture and Stephen A. Smith has admitted this that during the game he was playing solitaire on his phone which look I don't take Stephen A. Smith seriously so if you don't take Stephen A. Smith seriously already you don't give a shit like I don't view him as some sort of journalist. I view him as a cartoon character that's playing a role. If you embrace him as a cartoon character that's playing a role, then you really don't give a shit if the guy is sitting around playing solitaire. Like I guess maybe I'm just jaded to the point that I don't

even care to fight these things anymore or care to battle about these things anymore. It's a losing war because it's never going to come back around. There's never going to be a full circle moment where just magically in 2025 credibility to sports journalism comes back around again. That's not going to happen. It is dead. Just like real journalism, mainstream political journalism sucks. You think sports journalism is going to get any better? We're at a point now where the media landscape is overrun by podcasts, by blogs, legacy media is dying, nobody cares about the newspapers. For the most part, people don't care about sports radio and some places they do,

but it's about podcasts and it's about specialized podcasts and content, people consume the content that tells them what they want to hear. So if you're an Eagles fan, you want to listen to the podcast that's going to echo exactly what you feel as an Eagles fan on that day. If you feel like you got cheated by the refs, you want to hear the people on that podcast say you got cheated by the refs. If you think that Jalen Hurts isn't the guy despite winning a Super Bowl, you want to hear that but then when he comes back and beats the Cowboys in week one, you want to hear that Jalen Hurts is the greatest quarterback ever. Like that's what people are consuming now. People are consuming the

media that tells them exactly what they want to hear and what they want to feel, right? That's what you do now so like nobody like I if I were doing what I was doing in Houston 15 years ago I don't know that that would work because like you you are so consumed now by social media and the reaction of fans that that like you almost feel like you're doing it wrong if the fans don't agree with everything you say and you fear that they'll just turn you off and go to someone who tells them exactly what they want to hear. It's a weird world man and social media has allowed that. Like people do not want to hear any sort of objectivity as it relates to their team unless it is a universally accepted objectivity

that the majority of the fan base agrees with. If the majority of the fan base towards the end agreed that Jose Abreu sucked for the Astros, you couldn't say that it was a bad trade when it happened. You could, but most people would say you're a piece of shit and you don't know that Jose Abreu's done blank blank and blank and you could go on the air and say you realize that I watched some White Sox games because I am someone who you know my wife likes the White Sox and I watched Jose Abre you hit a bunch of **** singles.

He's not very good. This is not a good deal, but if you get on the air and say that you're a hater and you're taking away the fun from people. So at some point you're just kind of like **** it. I have nothing to say right and I think that's what's happened is I think people are just getting beaten down to the point where people especially on the local front are just kind of like look you can't beat them, join them, I'm going to go be weird Homer guy. And that's how this is going to work out. But also people are far less educated. They should be more educated, but they are not. Just like in real life, just like in everything, people should be smarter than they've ever been because we're in a world where you have access to everything. Well, everybody isn't smarter. Most people are just as dumb if not dumber

than they've been before because they just get their news from wherever they want to get their news from that tells them what they want to hear. Let me give you an example. So Desmond Bang got traded. Now a lot of you listening will be like who the fuck is Desmond Bang? Desmond Bang got traded from the Grizzlies to the Orlando Magic for a couple of players Cole Anthony and Contavious Caldwell Pope and then like four draft picks first

round draft picks which really aren't that valuable in the NBA unless you're just trying to stockpile them to make that kind of trade and I think one of them will be a really high draft pick potentially from the Phoenix Suns the the 2026 Suns pick, and the Suns are trying to get rid of Kevin Durant and everybody so they're probably going to suck. So that pick is probably going to be pretty good. What I learned now, I've watched almost every Grizzlies game

because Jilly is a fucking diehard and we get into it and we enjoy watching the Grizzlies. Desmond Bane is a fine basketball player. He's a guy that when he's on can hit a bunch of threes. He's a great catch-and's on can hit a bunch of threes. He's a great catch and shoot threes guy. He's okay defensively streaky shooter, whatever. But the whole world who's probably watched this guy play a handful of times because ain't nobody in Philadelphia watching

the Memphis Grizzlies or in Houston watching the Memphis Grizzlies people are talking about it. Like the Orlando Magic just got the steal of the century by getting Desmond Bain, who was arguably the third best player on the Memphis Grizzlies. But then the story became, oh, Grizzlies are selling the whole team now because they let Desmond Bain go. What are they thinking? It's like, well, he's their third best player and they didn't advance too far in the playoffs with them and now they've got five first round draft picks and some players and maybe they're making another move. Like if you said pick one of the three stars of the Memphis Grizzlies to start a team around, people would probably say Jaren Jackson Jr. and and John Morant and then Desmond Bain. But the way people talked and the way the media talked who clearly have never, I mean they don't even pay any attention, are acting like the Grizzlies got fleeced and it's

just not accurate. But what does that mean? Well, that's just how people operate now. People build their opinions based on acting like the Grizzlies got fleeced and it's just not accurate. But what does that mean? Well, that's just how people operate. Now people build their opinions based on what they see on the internet and just roll with it. So the idea that Stephen A Smith playing solitaire during the NBA finals is some sort of proof that this guy shouldn't be making $20 million a year. Here's what I've learned. The consumers don't give a fuck. If they did, they'd turn the dude off.

If ESPN felt that this dude had no value, they wouldn't pay him $20 million or $10 million or whatever it is they pay him per year. And his podcast wouldn't have listens. Like the audience, many of whom are dipshits, determine who's employed and determine the worth of people, the value of people. There are terrible fucking shows out there that survive because they have an audience.

There's nothing Stephen A Smith does that I find interesting. I find him to be overworked. I find his opinions to be obvious. He just yells a lot and says like the like the fact that he's had like having Wars with players like it's the fucking WWE. I'm like, bro, like it's okay to go back and forth with a player. But like to be someone who thinks he's more famous than the game itself gets kind of old and tiring. I just don't pay

attention to him. I don't care. See what else this story says. That's absolutely on par for Smith's course. Smith believes that sports are merely fodder that he uses to create content. Smith thinks he is the real show. It's not important until he talks about it. Well, that's true. Moreover, Madden, who hosts his daily radio program on Pittsburgh's 105.9 The X, went on to argue that because of personalities like Smith, Pat McAfee, and Kendrick Perkins, we are now witnessing the media industry being burned to the ground. Smith and his ESPN cohorts Pat McAfee and Kendrick Perkins have made the NBA finals about them. Smith by igniting a one-way feud with Indiana's Tyrese Halliburton.

McAfee by feuding with Smith, John Cougar Mellon Camp, Ben Stiller, and a whole lot of other rats. Perkins by feuding with McAfee, writes Madden. Sports media used to frown upon openly rooting for teams, but McAfee cuts hype promos at Pacers home games. Can you imagine Dan Patrick grabbing a mic to pump up the crowd? Me neither. McAfee and Smith absolutely melt down whenever they absorb even the slightest iota of criticism or bad publicity. What do they

have to be mad about? They're on top. Well, here's where I disagree with you. Like you're in Pittsburgh, you clearly want the Pittsburgh teams to win. Pat McAfee is a dude just doing a podcast. Pat McAfee rooting for the Indiana Pacers or the Indianapolis Colts doesn't really matter or impact his credibility because I don't think anybody's going to Pat McAfee for credibility. They're going because they're bros. They're going because he says shite and because he speaks in the Pittsburghian accent and does all that shit, the Yenzer accent. I don't think anybody's going to Pat McAfee. I think you're conflating two different things and this is where you're wrong. You're correct that perhaps Dan Patrick when he was hosting

Sports Center shouldn't be a guy that has outward rooting interest when hosting Sports Center because in theory that is a news program. But at the end of the day, it is sports, right? It's not that big of a fucking deal. You know, like I saw some people bitching that Reggie Miller was courtside, you know, rooting for the Pacers in these games and they're like, oh, so you want me to believe that he was being objective when he was calling those Knicks games? I'm sure he wanted the Pacers to win, but he didn't go on the air until you wanted them to win. Like it doesn't impact how

he's going to call the game. He's rooting for the fucking team. Like this is not 1985. Like this is what I would tell someone like Mark Madden who sounds very much like old man yelling at cloud about this shit. Do I like that you have to be a stone-cold fucking Homer to have a job in a lot of these cities? No. Do I like that when I went to Philadelphia, I was basically

told that I have to be the voice of the people and whatever their opinions are. I need to find out what it is and kind of parrot those. No, I was basically told that I have to be the voice of the people and whatever their opinions are, I need to find out what it is and kind of parrot those. No, I don't like that. I like to have my own thoughts on shit. But this is the way of the media and this is the way of sports media, particularly and really, it's the way of political media. It's all factions and fans. Like I was yesterday, there was a video thing. It was yesterday or Sunday, I forgot

which day it was. But there was a video going around of what looked like I forgot which day it was but there was a video going around of what looked like Trump dozing off at this military parade and one of these sports radio guys in San Francisco was talking about how how terrible it is that the guy couldn't be bothered to stay awake and he's a hardcore left-wing guy because I've seen this post and I'm like, all right, that's fine. Rip the guy. However, I don't know that you folks should be the ones talking about nodding off and dozing off during anything because Joe

Biden was a potato. It's now been proven that he was a potato and you fuckers were ready to run it back with Joe Biden. What does that mean? What it means is everybody's in a camp. Everybody's in their own faction. Everybody's in their own group and logic and reality is shot out of the window when talking about those groups. So if it's happening in real

life, and it's happening in politics, it's happening in everything else, why the fuck wouldn't it happen in sports? Right? Like I don't care that Stephen A. Smith likes the Knicks. You know, Stephen A. Smith is not a news giver. Stephen A. Smith is an opinion giver. If he likes the fucking Knicks, he likes the fucking Knicks. And at the end of the day, I don't really care who the guys on SportsCenter root for either or who the play-by-

play guys root for because it's just fucking sports. Do I agree that a lot of the media people suck now? Yes. Do I agree that it's all kind of watered down? Yes. Do I agree that you know, you basically have to go out and echo the sentiments of your local fans to have any sort of popularity? Yes. But I'm not going to sit there and yell about how Pat McAfee is rooting for the fucking Pacers and I'm also not going to yell about how, you know, he's cutting promos. Like to me, somebody like Madden sounds bitter as it relates to a guy like McAfee. Like they ask McAfee to cut a promo and rooting for the Pacers.

He cuts a promo rooting for the Pacers. Who gives a shit? No one's going to Pat McAfee for credible shit. He's there to ball wash his celebrity friends when they come on the show. He's there to bitch whenever somebody talks shit about him and act like he wants to start a fucking fight with him. He's there to get plastered doing, you know, he's broadcast from Ireland. Like that's what the dude does. You know, like who gives a shit? Like journalism is dead. All fronts. Look at this Jake Tapper book that came out. It's like, oh well, well after the fact with Joe Biden, like well, we knew that Joe Biden was fucked for

years, but we waited until he was out of office and I could write a book about it to make money off of it. I didn't tell anybody, but I knew and everybody else knew everyone's full of shit. We know everyone's full of shit. So if they're full of shit at the highest level when it comes to media, political people that have access to the White House. Do you think that people have that have access to the Lod has are going to be impartial

people to know and at the end of the day, does it really fucking matter? Let's see. In addition, man writes that Smith seems to act like a phony who doesn't love sports nearly as much as he loves himself. Baden also criticizes McAfee arguing that like too many ex jocks who don't have a microphone, he believes he's never wrong. He notes that this current trend in sports media serves as a glaring sign that journalism is being phased out. "'I could go on and on about hating media's current state,' said Baden.

"'It's hard to accept that it's not likely to change. Every meathead who once wore cleats, sneakers, or skates has a podcast or will. It is becoming the rule, not the exception. Correct. So who gives a fuck? Do you? You're doing fine. You get nice numbers in Pittsburgh. You're a big star in Pittsburgh. I'm guessing you root for the teams in Pittsburgh. So how are you different than these guys? Because McAfee's show is licensed via ESPN. That's the difference. I don't know. You just like you have to accept it. Doesn't mean it's great.

Doesn't mean it's the best thing ever. But journalism, I mean journalism is hardcore dead. So I just don't know what you're going to do about it trying to fight it. Anyway, more to come.