Ben Koo
@bkoo.bsky.social
Owner and editor of @AwfulAnnouncing Recovering Silicon Valley startup guy. Fan of Buckeyes, A's, dogs, naps, tacos, and the old AOL dialup sounds. Can't believe we're all here because Elon Musk's midlife crisis.
The Kalshi CEO says parents like their kids on Kalshi because it's better than Instagram. The parent mentioned in this post would NOT agree. The poster shared that they are in a state where sportsbooks are not legalized, so Kalshi is the only legal option to bet
- The FIFA private equity play disaster - The backdoor dealings of the Protect College Sports Act and Muhammad Ali Boxing Revival Act - The circus around the WNBA - Prediction markets unabated as sportsbooks. HBO Real Sports went away, right when it was really needed the most.
“In Greek nostalgia literally means “the pain from an old wound.” It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone” Anytime I come across Oakland A’s content it’s just a dagger. Given how it went down, it’s just painful. Not sure that will ever change.
No, your website traffic did not just suddenly tank. Widespread Google Analytics issue.
Two longtime announcers were fired and were given a truly crazy explanation for their firing. Boston College ignored emails from us all day and then shorty after publishing, farted out a non-denial word salad. awfulannouncing.com/college-bask...
Good read (our piece, and especially the The Athletics piece). This was incredibly soft….
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · 4d ago
Wife and I both WFH, so this happens a lot: "How is your day going?" "Just got data showing 18 of 20 universities we work with are ahead of their fundraising campaigns.$40 billion raised this year. How about you?" "I discovered First Take has talked about the Cowboys' SB chances 4 days in a row"
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · 6d agoFirst Take has debated the Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl chances every single day this week. awfulannouncing.com/nfl/first-ta...
"The site is largely collapsing without far-left-wing algorithms favoring their content" Couldn't be more wrong. -Two new hires started this week -July=high point of revenue+traffic for 2026 -Recent Yahoo partnership -Recently increased several people's pay. Clay's 100% wrong here. That's a fact
Well past time. People are fatigued from the format. The noise isn't novel, and we've tuned it out.
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · 5d agoWho do you think will pay more and be a better steward of Awful Announcing between Glenda and Joanna?
I/We have never recieved as many people nudging us to write about how much an app sucks as Gotham. We did a feature about how it was besieged with issues, and the PR guy's defense was "the app is fine, you just have a freelancer who needs money, so he made this stuff up."
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · last wk.Tony really said the quiet part out loud. Polls keep showing 75-90% of fans don't want a 24 team playoff, but Tony's clear.... It's about the money, which is refreshing that he didn't bullshit around an obvious truth.
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · last wk.
Hemant Mehta@friendlyatheist.com · last wk.Evangelist Whitney Lynn says she preaches on planes because she loves “a captive audience.” She's not alone. It's becoming a trend. If spreading your message requires listeners who can't escape, maybe it's not as compelling as you think. www.friendlyatheist.com/p/christian-...
30% of conference media days is just dick measuring.
Chris Vannini@chrisvannini.com · last wk.Tony Pettiti notes the Big Ten has 11 CFP wins over the last two years, "more than double the next best league."
I don't think Jason is particularly sharp or good at TV or radio (don't think that's a novel opinion). More than anything, this clip shows that Colin is a very patient, loyal, and supportive teammate. Beadle, Thompson, Leahy, Taylor, and now JMac. Just rolls with it.
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · last wk."Keenan Allen was their best receiver, he's been cut by half the league" - Jason McIntyre
The ESPN layoffs have broken contain as a sports media story and are a major mainstream story. Now a ton of general creators are firing off takes and analysis. Some are fine! Not gatekeeping! But my god...some of these takes are terribly constructed, not researched, and are wrong or incoherent.
Media literacy issues is honestly low stakes for sports media (still bad). But it’s emblematic that across all topics, a huge amount of people cannot discern what’s real and what’s purposeful bullshit aimed at getting engagement and creator funds.
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · 2w agoThis is something I have been trying to draw more attention to. The % of written sports content written by US-based writers is declining fast. AI, and sites with almost all international writing teams are getting more and more placement in your feeds. This is what you get.
I've had multiple ESPN folks reach out about this, believing it's true. It's not.... This account has fooled a ton of people in the past. Doesn't say it's satire. Great, it's allowed to be on X and monetize putting out lies.
Woof. Round of layoffs tomorrow. Only Clark’s leaked today. That’s a pretty purposeful leak, and one that will cause some a lot of sleepless nights tonight for employees at ESPN and NFL Network.
Awful Announcing@awfulannouncing.bsky.social · 2w agoTrump giving the trophy to Spain is so much funnier if you realize he went on this rant literally two weeks ago
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4w agoTrump: "Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way. I'd like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. Cut off all trade with Spain, please. Including visits. We don't want anything to do. They're hopeless. Bad people."
Nothing but respect and love for Morning Brew
Ben Koo@bkoo.bsky.social · 2w agoAwful Announcing is closing in on 20k pv today for this ~ two-year-old article about the 76ers social media team's font selection, where "final" looks like "anal" The traffic is all coming via email. I am DYING to know/thank whatever newsletter this is. awfulannouncing.com/nba/76ers-so...
