Everyone hated ESPN's HORSE competition

Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN, desperate for ratings during the COVID-19 pandemic that has the sports world on hold, aired a HORSE competition Sunday. It did not go over well.

Featuring a mix of current and former NBA and WBNA stars, the HORSE competition seemed like it could be promising.

8 former and current NBA and WNBA stars playing H-O-R-S-E 🍿

It all starts at 7 PM ET on ESPN. pic.twitter.com/cygvflrEw2
— ESPN (@espn) April 12, 2020

However, once the competition actually began, it was quickly apparent that this was not going to cut it. Poor video quality made an already boring event all the more unwatchable, and everyone expressed their frustration.

H-O-R-S-E could not be worse. I gave it 5 min. Hard pass.
— JJ Redick (@jj_redick) April 12, 2020

I know we are all starved for live sports and all… but this HORSE thing on ESPN right now is… not the answer
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) April 12, 2020

I'm all for trying new things to bring sports on TV. But I'm not sure that ESPN using SD cameras from a 2006 blackberry to shoot this "HORSE" event was the best idea
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) April 12, 2020

Here is how the NBA HORSE competition was filmed pic.twitter.com/HWusCPQhJ2
— Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) April 12, 2020

https://twitter.com/IanKenyonNFL/status/1249475342034763776

Gave it 10 minutes but I’m done with the NBA horse challenge filmed with cameras from 1912 pic.twitter.com/mNbjmQrj24
— Eric Rosenthal (@ericsports) April 12, 2020

i appreciate the effort of a HORSE tournament but this is awful television hahahahaha
— whitney medworth (@its_whitney) April 12, 2020

Well this H-O-R-S-E game is a flop. Can’t blame them for trying though. #Horse
— markb (@cubscoltsfan) April 12, 2020

I don't want to be picky, but this NBA HORSE Challenge is … just bad.

I miss sports. pic.twitter.com/x88u3JYlYu
— Brandon Zenner (@KWCHBrandon) April 12, 2020

There’s a reason why TNT dropped the HORSE competition at the All-Star game after just 2 years. It’s just not good. https://t.co/zxwFUd7cZJ
— 〽️National Champ Mario〽️ |#BLM (@NotLuigi89) April 12, 2020

So yeah. Everyone hated ESPN’s HORSE competition.

This, however, is something we’d love to see more of in the future:

https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/1249478245340319745