How to block ESPN Motion (that obnoxious video that automatically plays whenever you visit ESPN.com)*

 Economics and Advertising, Sports, Tech, Television  Add comments
Jul 242007
 
  • First, you need to be using Firefox. Please, if you’re using a PC… just use Firefox. I’m willing to entertain arguments for Safari, but to be using Microsoft Internet Explorer at this point is just… wrong. Objectively wrong. Don’t do it.
  • Next, install the Adblock extension the Adblock Plus extension (which you should really be using anyway). Adblock, well, blocks ads online. It comes with a huge list of automatically-blocked ads, which is neat, but the great thing about it is that you can manually add other ads to the list. Like, I don’t know… the ESPN Motion video that starts whenever you visit ESPN.com.
  • Next (after you restart Firefox to activate the Adblock extension), click on “Tools” in the menu bar. Then click on “Add-ons.”
  • Highlight Adblock and click on the “Options” button.
  • In the “New Filter” box, enter this: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/fpp/*
  • Click “Done.”

And that’s it. No more stupid videos advertising “Who’s Now” or WNBA broadcasts or Steven A. Smith’s newest show, “Spittin’ Mad With Steven A. (Brought to You by Cheetos)”. Enjoy.

* ESPN, you really need to find a way to turn this off by default. Everyone hates it. Most of us visit your site from work, you know? We can’t have this nonsense.

 Posted by JHW at 12:03 am
  • http://www.charlieweisatemybaby.com JDB

    You sir, are an American hero. Someday statues will be erected in your honor.

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  • rocrusso

    who ever came up with that video should burn in hell… but you, sir, should have a 1000 virgins waiting for you. every day. for ever.

  • timmmaay

    Ever thought of running for office? Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!

  • The Cat in the Red Sox Hat

    Auto-play video is so obnoxious, it’s… perfect for the WWL. Thanks for the tip. Yee-haw! No more blabbering ESPN motion video!

  • me

    Can you tell us how to turn off myspace videos? :)

  • daniel

    does this work for espnsoccernet too? or is there a different filter one must enter? because that annoying s-o-b is still playing on soccernet

  • rtfgvb

    even better is the flashgot extension. it replaces flash objects with a button you can click to view. works for espnmotion, youtube, etc.

  • http://www.en-dash.com Jake

    Welcome Deadspin readers.

    daniel: This general practice works for any site with images or flash you want to block. Once you have Adblock installed, all you have to do is type “Ctrl-Shift-B” to see all blockable elements. It takes some playing around for flash, sometimes, to figure out which element to block. In the case of soccernet, blocking “http://static.espn.go.com/motion*” looks to be effective.

    I avoid myspace for various reasons, but the same principle should apply there. Maybe someone else can help with the specifics there.

    rtfgvb: I use an extension for that, too, but ESPN’s site uses flash for everything (like headlines and a lot of links on the front page). That is annoying, but I hate going all over the site to enable those basic navigation tools, so I (reluctantly) have the site whitelisted for flash. That’s why I had to go hunting for the particulars of the Motion window.

  • http://numenity.org Paul

    Jake – check out Adblock Plus at addons.mozilla.org. Works the same way as Adblock does, but it’s better coded and is more up to date than Adblock.

  • http://www.en-dash.com Jake

    Thanks Paul–you’re correct, Adblock Plus is the newer version. That’s actually what I use. Blame lazy googling for the old link. I’ve corrected it.

  • http://www.kokoromedia.com Devin

    Thank you VERY much

  • http://deadspin.com Craig

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I thought I was the only one who found that functionality on ESPN.com to be absurd.

  • Sam

    Just genius. And I fully support your words on Firefox. Only fools use IE at this point.

  • Corey

    Freedom! Thank you!!!!!

  • Jeff from LA

    You are an all-star for figuring this out. Nothing on the web aggravated me as much as that stupid ESPN Motion.

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  • http://laustintexas.blogspot.com Fletch

    You are a hero and true God among men! I want to have your babies! And then eat them in order to make myself as awesome as you!

  • E Buzz

    The easiest thing is to just stop going to that Peter Max nightmare of a site.

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  • http://www.some-peoples-kids.blogspot.com Adambez

    Another method is to avoid ESPN.com all together. It has been working wonders for me.

  • sjs1959

    Do they make a Mac version of Adblock Plus?

  • http://carrouselyacht.com Miami Yacht Charters

    Dang I needed this – can’t stand those videos. Thanks for the tip.

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  • Pablo

    To block the godawful video on espn soccernet, type in static.espn.go.com

    Heavenly silence!

  • Pablo

    To block the godawful video on espn soccernet, type in static.espn.go.com using the adblock plus procedure as described in the threads above.

    Heavenly silence!

  • dblackdc

    Another way that appears to work to block the annoying video on espn.com is to sign up for a user name and password, then click on “customize” under the player and uncheck “automatically play video.” I have no idea if this will disable it at soccernet too, but it appears to work at espn.com so long as you tell it to remember your name and password.

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  • http://payday-loans-az.blogspot.com abodwiday

    hey !!
    its very reasonable point of view.
    Nice post.
    realy good post

    thx :-)

  • darkfiber

    New link to ad to the blocked items. ESPN changed it up a little…

    http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/mpf/*

  • glassarm

    You are an American hero. This deserves a Medal of Honor or something.

  • BelieveInJake

    I forgot to hit mute so out blasts that voice “[drum roll] The ESPNU college football BCS special podcast…”, and then that voice (wife) “Are you using the laptop on the toilet again!?!?”. Busted.

    I won’t call you a genius, but this is definitely the 2nd most useful change I’ve made recently, behind reinstalling XP…good company. Thanks.

  • David

    this seems to work for the espn home page, but is there a way to block the video player across the whole website? every dang page on espn seems to have its own video.

  • David Davidson

    Thank you so much!! Those videos are awful. It would be one thing if I had the option to start them manually like how you can change the settings on your music on your myspace page, but having them start automatically is incredibly annoying.

  • http://isprivate wellwisher

    I was able to block the annoying automatic videos on CNN Money (money.cnn.com) by adding the filter *.cdn.turner.com/*video*

  • harry

    no kidding, this money.com auto video is so annoying. what a joke!! what kiinda professional news website does this?? im installing this add on now, hope this works. thanks wellwisher for the tip. there doesnt seem to be much info on how to disable this particular auto video, judging by the google results…

  • Vivien

    ty you are a life saver!! :)

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TLOJWPRZXV3YMCGFPEQDLCYRFA Mets Fan

    Thanks for the tip, I was just looking up how to get rid of these horrible automatic videos myself.  Honestly, this is a cardinal sin of the internet having a video that automatically plays on a page.  I will just go to other sources for my sports news.

   
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