ESPN Has Demoted Doris Burke From Their NBA Finals' Broadcast, Replacing Her With Tim Legler

Doris Burke is about as classic of an example as there is of a public figure who the world built up to level that was impossible to maintain. She was praised to a degree that was probably even unfair to her. But there was a time when Doris Burke was on fire. She could say or do wrong. Basically everything about her was beloved by everyone. 

There was a point where the most popular rap artist in the world was trying to make moves on her live on ESPN

Then like a lot of people in media, Doris Burke "lost her fastball" a bit with age. She was trying to live up to a persona the public had built for her. The playoffs this year were a tough watch at times. Like when Doris Burke learned the phrase "Free Throw Merchant", and proceeded to run it into the ground.

I'm still not 100% convinced that Doris Burke doesn't think "Free Throw Merchant" is a compliment. She also blessed us with this gem in that OKC-Minnesota series.

In reality, maybe Doris Burke was never quite as incredible as people made her out to be. She also certainly didn't benefit from being lumped in with ESPN at a time when ESPN was taking Inside The NBA from TNT, and this was the quality of NBA Finals coverage they were putting out there.

But whatever the reason, whether it's her fault or not, whenever the internet starts to get a whiff of someone being overrated, they're going to turn on them hard. The NBA Finals this year was seemingly the culmination of all that. So when the announcement of her demotion came this afternoon, even Barstool Sports own Brandon Walker dropped a SCATHING HOT (sort of) take where he DANCED (kind of) on Doris Burke's grave.

But I guess credit to ESPN for listening to the fans and making a change. Tim Legler is replacing Doris Burke. Which people seem generally pleased about. By all accounts, Tim Legler is a great choice to work an NBA Finals broadcast. He's been with ESPN forever. He knows the game. He very much deserves it.

Although we still do have Richard Jefferson on the call. When watching the NBA Finals this year, Richard Jefferson gave me way more "What the heck was that?" moments than Doris Burke did.

But now that Doris Burke has been demoted, people are once again free to bravely announce to the world that they've actually thought she was great this whole time.

That's the cycle of the internet. Doris Burke is in a valley right now. But now that she's been knocked down a peg, it can only go up from here. I know she's got a few more calls like this in her.