ESPN tends to be a bore in the summer, namely because football season is over, and I am really no basketball fan. The only thing the network covers is basketball seems like. Where’s hockey? They do offer token coverage, but the coverage seems be treated like the annoying uncle that has to be tolerated during the holidays than wanting him to attend because the family likes him. The network seems simply apoplectic about basketball, Kobe and LeBron. And I don’t care how many promos the network produces about the World Cup and soccer. I don’t care if the USA loses every game, or wins every game, I won’t be interested. But, I really wanted to discuss Rachel Nichols.
She seems to report on every big story and thus is always on the channel. Her reports are terrible, both in content and delivery. In fact, I almost always change when she comes on. However, I have suffered through many of her lame reports to assert that she is terrible. I know with certainty that she will communicate nothing interesting or worthwhile. Her cream puff reports are almost infantile in their content. I am really surprised that her reports qualify as reports—it’s more like gossip than actual sporting news. But it’s the delivery that I find insufferable.
Next time watch her mannerisms and inflections and ask yourself if you really would want someone to talk to you in that way. For example, she shimmies her shoulders and raises her eyebrows all the while cooing with a soft, fake voice. Last night she was on live after the Celtics domination, and she was terribly stiff and mannered. Fake, really. She struck me as someone who really has no interest in sports—it’s something she does but has no interest in the subject—this undoubtedly explains the content of her reports. I know that reporters exaggerate mannerisms so to ‘connect’ with the audience, but she seems to play to a high school telecommunications class: really obvious, fake and overly mannered gesticulations of a neophyte learning how to ‘report.’ She is terrible and I vow to turn off her reports. Do you agree
Droog,
ReplyDeleteI don't usually read blogs. But when I googled "Rachel Nichols sucks," yours was near the top. Since the 1st time I saw her report on a story my jaw dropped! I thought to myself, "Is this lady a robot that ESPN put together? I absolutely hate her reporting. They might as well have a machine spitting out the words!