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Category Archives: ESPN
ESPN unveils new slate of 30 for 30 videos: Bo Jackson, Ben Wilson, broke athletes
Thankfully, ESPN is continuing its wildly successful 30 for 30 video franchise. The network recently announced the next round of documentaries, which will begin in October.
I’ll be paying particular attention to an Oct. 23 showing of Benji. It is about a Chicago high school star, who was regarded as the No. 1 player in the nation in 1984. I was looking forward to watching him play in my new assignment as a high school basketball reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
However, I never got the chance. He was killed in a senseless shooting.
Here’s the trailer for Benji and the other videos.
Here’s ESPN’s rundown for the videos:
- Tuesday, Oct. 2, 8 p.m. – Broke (Billy Corben)
- Tuesday, Oct. 9, 8 p.m. – 9.79* (Daniel Gordon)
- Tuesday, Oct. 16, 8 pm. – There’s No Place Like Home (Maura Mandt and Josh Swade)
- Tuesday, Oct. 23, 8 p.m. – Benji (Coodie and Chike)
- Tuesday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m. – Ghosts of Ole Miss (Fritz Mitchell)
- Saturday, Dec. 8, 9 p.m. – You Don’t Know Bo (Michael Bonfiglio)
Film summaries:
Broke (Billy Corben)
Broke explores the roads to fortune in American sports and eventually, the many detours to bankruptcy. Bernie Kosar, Andre Rison and Cliff Floyd are among the athletes who talk openly about the challenges of managing their money in an era when big contracts don’t necessarily support bigger lifestyles. Sucked into bad investments, stalked by freeloaders and saddled with medical problems, many pro athletes get shocked by harsh economic realities after years of living the high life. A story of the dark side of success, Broke is an allegory for the financial woes haunting economies and individuals all over the world.
9.79* (Daniel Gordon) 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Selection
The 100-meter men’s final at the 1988 Seoul Games was the fastest and perhaps most thrilling sprint in Olympic history. But within 48 hours, gold medalist Ben Johnson had tested positive for anabolic steroids, and scandal reigned. This one race still haunts the eight men who took part. But what brought them to the starting line? And what happened to them since?
There’s No Place Like Home (Maura Mandt and Josh Swade)
On December 10, 2010, Sotheby’s auctioned off the most important historical document in sports history—James Naismith’s original rules of basketball. There’s No Place Like Home is the story of one fan’s obsessive quest to win this seminal American artifact at auction and bring the rules “home” to Lawrence, Kansas, where Naismith coached and taught for more than 40 years.
Benji (Coodie and Chike)
In 1984, 17-year-old Ben Wilson was a symbol of everything promising about Chicago: a beloved, sweet-natured youngster from the city’s fabled South Side, and America’s most talented basketball prospect. His senseless murder the day before his senior season sent ripples through Chicago and the nation.
Ghosts of Ole Miss (Fritz Mitchell)
In 1962, the University of Mississippi campus erupted in violence over integration and swelled with pride over an unbeaten football team. Mississippi native Wright Thompson explores the tumultuous events that continue to shape the state 50 years later.
You Don’t Know Bo (Michael Bonfiglio)
Bo Jackson hit 500 ft. home runs, ran over linebackers, and—for a small window—he was the best athlete we had ever seen. You Don’t Know Bo is a close look at the man and marketing campaign that shaped his legacy. Even without winning a Super Bowl or World Series, Bo redefined the role of the athlete in the pop cultural conversation. More than 20 years later, myths and legends still surround Bo Jackson, and his impossible feats still capture our collective imagination.
Starting lineups: ESPN adds Joey Galloway to college football; Fox signs Evans, Martz as NFL game analysts
One sign that football season is near: The networks release their broadcast pairings.
ESPN did some reshuffling with some of its teams, although the No. 1 crew of Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit remains the same. Joe Tessitore and Matt Millen will serve as the announcers for a new package of additional Saturday night games, primarily on ESPN.
Former Ohio State receiver Joey Galloway was added to the roster. He will work with Beth Mowins on ESPN2’s noon game.
Here’s the lineup:
Game Telecast Play-by-play Analyst Reporter
Saturday Night Football (on ABC) Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit TBA
ESPN College Football Primetime (Saturday) Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe
ESPN Saturday Prime Time Joe Tessitore, Matt Millen, Jessica Mendoza, Shelley Smith or Shannon Spake
ESPN2 College Football Primetime (Saturday) Mark Jones, Brock Huard, Jessica Mendoza or Shelley Smith
ESPNU Saturday Prime Time Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb, Allison Williams
ESPN College Football Primetime (Thursday) Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer and David Pollack, Samantha Steele
ESPN and ESPN2 Friday Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore, Jemele Hill
ABC Saturday Afternoon Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman, Quint Kessenich
ABC Saturday Afternoon Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, Jeannine Edwards
ABC Saturday Afternoon Bob Wischusen, Danny Kanell, Maria Taylor
ESPN College Football (Saturday afternoon) Dave Pasch, Brian Griese, Jenn Brown
ESPN2 College Football (Saturday afternoon) Beth Mowins, Joey Galloway
ESPNU Saturday Afternoon Tom Hart, John Congemi
ESPNU Saturday Afternoon Anish Shrof, Dan Hawkins
ESPNU Thursday (HBCU) Joe Davis, Jay Walker
ESPNU Late Saturday (HBCU) Joe Davis, Jay Walker
ESPN Radio Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, Joe Schad
SEC Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games) Dave Neal, Andre Ware, Cara Capuano
BIG EAST Network (ESPN Regional Television syndicated games) Eamon McAnaney, David Diaz-Infante, Paul Carcaterra
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Over on the pro side, Fox Sports has made some additions. Former Seattle and New England fullback Heath Evans will work with Sam Rosen.
Former Rams coach Mike Martz, who was dumped by the Bears as offensive coordinator after 2011, will team up with Ron Pitts.
A Fox Sports release also notes Erin Andrews will contribute to NFL coverage for the Thanksgiving Day game and during the playoffs.
Fox’s pairings:
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman & Pam Oliver
Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa
Thom Brennaman, Brian Billick & Laura Okmin
Dick Stockton, John Lynch & Jennifer Hale
Chris Myers, Tim Ryan & Jaime Maggio
Sam Rosen, Heath Evans
Ron Pitts, Mike Martz
Illinois fans might boycott; ESPN adds Pearl to GameDay
I know some of my fellow Illinois fans likely will tune out ESPN’s College GameDay show for basketball this year. The network just hired Bruce Pearl to be one of its analysts.
Even though it’s been more than 20 years, the folks in Champaign haven’t forgotten how Pearl got the Illini in major hot water with the NCAA. Then an assistant coach at Iowa, he accused Illinois of offering $80,000 and a Chevy Blazer to sign Chicago high school star Deon Thomas. The NCAA never found Illinois guilty of the charge, but it still slammed the program with penalties.
I covered the messy story for the Chicago Tribune, and it was one of the more interesting years of my career.
Much has happened since then. Pearl went on to have considerable success before he ran into his own NCAA problems at Tennessee. Now he has found refuge at ESPN.
All I can say is the bitterness over Pearl still runs deep at my former school. If I’m ESPN, probably not a good idea to do a College GameDay live from Champaign if Pearl is on the panel.
From the release:
Former college basketball coaches Bruce Pearl and Seth Greenberg have joined ESPN as men’s college basketball analysts and ESPN’s Jalen Rose will be added to the college basketball commentator team, it was announced today by Mark Gross, ESPN Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, Production. Pearl and Greenberg will each serve as studio analysts throughout the season and will call select games from various conferences. Rose will be a featured analyst on the weekly College GameDay as well as other college basketball studio programming, and will work as a game analyst for a series of matchups. Additionally, all three will contribute college basketball commentary to ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and other ESPN outlets.
“Both Seth and Bruce bring a contemporary coaching perspective and a great ability to break down the action in an entertaining style,” Gross said. “Jalen’s NBA analysis has been insightful and engaging and that style will translate to the college game where he’s remained closely connected since the ‘Fab Five’ days.”
Greenberg, who served as a guest ESPN studio analyst during the 2012 NCAA Tournament, most recently coached Virginia Tech for nine seasons (2003-2012). While there, he compiled a 170-123 record. Prior to that, Greenberg had head coaching stints at South Florida (1996-2003) and Long Beach (1990-1996). He was previously an assistant coach at Long Beach, Miami, Virginia, Pittsburgh and Columbia. He is a 1978 graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson with a Broadcast Journalism degree.
Greenberg said, “I am excited and honored to be joining ESPN. I look forward to using the relationships I have developed over 35 years of coaching college basketball to bring unique insights to the ESPN viewing audience.”
Pearl has worked as a college basketball commentator for Sirius XM Radio this past season after coaching the University of Tennessee from 2005-2011. While at Tennessee, Pearl led the team to 145-61 record and NCAA Tournament berths each of his six seasons there. Prior to that, Pearl coached at UW-Milwaukee (2001-2005) and Southern Indiana (1992-2001) after working as an assistant at Iowa and Stanford. Pearl is a 1982 Boston College graduate where he served as a student assistant coach and earned a degree in Business.
Pearl said, “I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity to bring ESPN the same sort of knowledge, passion and intensity that I tried to have as a basketball coach. I’m anxious to get started and contribute to ESPN’s great college basketball coverage.”
Rose has been an ESPN NBA analyst, primarily for studio coverage since 2007. He will continue to provide NBA studio analysis during the Playoffs. Rose had a successful 13-year NBA career which included playing with the Indiana Pacers in the 2000 Finals. He was a consensus high school All American and team captain of the University of Michigan’s famed “Fab Five” that played for the National Championship in 1992 and 1993. Rose and his production company Three Tier Entertainment served as executive producer of ESPN’s critically acclaimed documentary about that team.
Rose said, “I’m eager to join College GameDay with Rece, Digger, Jay, and the amazing fans across the country! Calling games courtside feeling the spirit and electricity of the crowd plus hearing the gym squeak will be a treat.”
National TV schedule for NBA: What a surprise? Lots of LeBron, Heat
With the Olympics starting today, it’s time to start thinking basketball. No, not Olympics basketball. NBA basketball.
Schedules for the 2012-13 season were released. In a stunning development, LeBron James and the Miami Heat are going to be featured in many national telecasts. In fact, it seems, almost every one.
In the no surprise department, Boston at Miami will be the prime attraction on opening night on TNT on Oct. 30.
ABC and ESPN will feature five games on Christmas Day, including–you guessed right–Miami hosting Oklahoma City.
NBA.com has the complete schedule of all the national games. Let the countdown begin.
Big news! More people staying at ESPN! Extensions for Nessler, McDonough, Jones
Yes, they love ESPN!
In the continuing effort to show that not everyone wants to jump ship at ESPN, the PR machine put out yet another release announcing contract extensions for some of its play-by-play voices.
We didn’t get these kind of releases in the past. However, in the wake of Michelle Beadle, Erin Andrews and Jim Rome leaving, and speculation about others departing, the ESPNers want to point out that there are plenty of its employees happy in Bristol.
From ESPN:
ESPN has signed Mark Jones, Sean McDonough, Brad Nessler, Dave Pasch, Joe Tessitore and Bob Wischusen – six of sports television’s most versatile play-by-play commentators – to multi-year contract extensions.
“These top announcers are recognized for their distinguished voices and ability to describe the action from many sports in a way fans appreciate,” said Mark Gross, ESPN senior vice president and executive producer, production.
Jones has worked a wide variety of assignments for ESPN, including NBA, college football, and men’s and women’s basketball telecasts since his network debut in 1990. In recent years, he has called the ESPN2 Saturday primetime football game, a regular schedule of men’s basketball games and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship.
McDonough is one of sports television’s most well-rounded commentators. He is a constant voice on ESPN’s college basketball and college football games, including the network’s Big Monday BIG EAST basketball with Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery and a Saturday college football game. McDonough also works Major League Baseball Monday Night Baseball with Aaron Boone, Rick Sutcliffe and Tim Kurkjian and as a hole announcer on ESPN’s golf coverage. He rejoined ESPN in 2000 after having worked for the network from 1989-95.
Nessler continues to be one of the leading play-by-play announcers in the business handling college football and basketball games for ESPN. He has called the ESPN Saturday Primetime football telecast since 2009 and is a fixture during the basketball season on SEC games, including Super Tuesday. He joined ESPN in 1992.
Pasch primarily works college football, men’s and women’s college basketball and the NBA on ESPN and ABC. He continues on ESPN’s Saturday college football coverage, has a weekly presence during the men’s college basketball season and has also worked the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. He joined the network in 2003, and has also worked the WNBA, Arena Football, the Great Outdoor Games and the Little League World Series.
Tessitore has a variety of scheduled assignments across ESPN platforms. He plays a major role as the longstanding blow-by-blow commentator for ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, and has become an established fixture in ESPN’s college football coverage – both in-game and in studio. Tessitore is the new daily host of College Football Live and will continue to be the face of ESPN’s “Heismanology.” He joined ESPN in February 2002.
Wischusen has been a continual voice on ESPN’s men’s and women’s college basketball and college football telecasts since he joined the network in July 2005. Wischusen will continue to work college football games and remain a weekly fixture during the college basketball season and the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship.
No longer marquee: ESPN, Big Ten Network losers with Penn State sanctions
Regarding the NCAA’s announcement, since this is a sports media site, I’ll discuss the TV aspect:
Make no mistake, when the Big Ten added Penn State as its 11th school in the early 1990s, a major component was television. The addition of the school delivered the large Eastern TV market to the conference. It led to marque match-ups with Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions going up against Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, not to mention attractive non-conference games against Alabama, etc.
Penn State’s presence then gave the conference a wide enough national footprint to launch the wildly successful Big Ten Network.
The Big Ten will continue to cash in on a TV deal with ESPN that runs through 2016-17, and the BTN isn’t going anywhere.
But both of its broadcast outlets will feel the pain of the NCAA’s sanctions. Gone for many years is the idea of Penn State football being a marquee draw for television.
Frankly, I think Penn State would have been better off with a one-year “Death Penalty.” The unprecedented long-term penalties for bowls and scholarships are devastating. Unless new coach Bill O’Brien pulls off a miracle, the Nittany Lions are doomed to be 2-10, 1-11 for several years. Or as one tweeter said, “Penn State just became Indiana.”
Penn State had been a showcase team for the Big Ten, with several of its games playing in primetime. In fact, it has two on the schedule for 2012: an Oct. 20 game at Iowa, and Oct. 27 at home against Ohio State.
Will those games be moved back to afternoon starting times? Probably.
Suddenly, Penn State-Ohio State, Penn State-Iowa, or Penn State-anything no longer looks attractive. Perhaps there might be a curiosity factor at first to see how the Nittany Lions and their fans react to the sanctions. But if the product on the field suffers, as expected, viewers won’t watch for long. Those 40-0 blowouts can get boring fast.
Also, bowl TV will be impacted by the four-year postseason ban. Penn State always delivered solid ratings in the bowls.
The brand of Penn State has been diminished, if not decimated. The program was one of the great TV draws throughout the years. Now it is the object of national scorn.
Last fall, I attended the Northwestern-Penn State game. After the Nittany Lions won in what turned out to be Paterno’s final road game, its faithful fans marched through the streets of Evanston, proudly chanting “We are Penn State, We are Penn State…”
Looking back, I wonder what those fans are thinking now.
ESPN ombudsman: Millen miscast in Paterno coverage
Good to see the Poynter Review Project, which serves as ESPN’s ombudsman, finally weigh in on a timely topic. Timely hasn’t been a strength of the current set-up.
Jason Fry and Kelly McBride reviewed ESPN’s coverage of the Freeh Commission and the fallout at Penn State last week. Like everyone else, they knocked ESPN for electing to have Matt Millen, one of Joe Paterno’s former players, have such a prominent role on SportsCenter.
They wrote: “His difficulty coming to grips with the implications of the Freeh report for Paterno’s legacy and Penn State’s culture was painful to watch.”
They correctly put the ultimate blame on the ESPN producers, not Millen.
Media critics and viewers have pilloried Millen, but we think ESPN’s producers should bear a substantial part of the blame for what went wrong. For openers, Millen is too close to the subject to offer clear-eyed analysis. The Freeh report helped show us that Penn State’s culture of reverence for its football program and for Paterno himself were gross distortions of a star system that ultimately allowed the rape of children to continue. Insider analysis that can help us understand how that happened would be helpful, but too often Millen gave us more examples of the perils of such devotion.
Besides Millen, they gave glowing praise for ESPN’s coverage among its many platforms. However, they missed one: ESPN Radio.
As I wrote last week, ESPN Radio broke for a commercial 15 minutes into the Louis Freeh press conference, and then came back to discussion about basketball. I thought that was inexcusable.
ESPN news: Mickelson hams it up for new SportsCenter ad; Steele replaces Andrews on College GameDay
Just in time for the British Open, here’s a new SportsCenter ad featuring Phil Mickelson and Scott Van Pelt.
*****
Also, this just in from the WWL:
Samantha Steele will join the first hour (9 – 10 a.m. ET) of College GameDay Built by The Home Depot on ESPNU each Saturday this college football season. In addition, she will provide features and updates for the 10 a.m. – noon hours of GameDay on ESPN.
Alongside host Chris Fowler and analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Desmond Howard and David Pollack, Steele will preview the week’s best matchups, teams and storylines from the site of that weekend’s biggest game. She will travel to GameDay at the conclusion of the ESPN Thursday Night Football game, where it was announced earlier this month she will serve as the sideline reporter with the booth of Rece Davis and analysts Jessie Palmer and Pollack, who will also be in his first year with the Thursday night crew.
“In a short time, Samantha has established herself as a credible host and reporter,” said Lee Fitting, ESPN senior coordinating producer. “Her enthusiasm, energy and connections within the college football landscape will be a great addition to our already deep and talented lineup.”
Prior to this role, Steele had been a reporter for Longhorn Network. Her LHN replacement will be announced in the coming weeks.
ESPN happy to put own stamp on British Open; legendary Alliss returns
It’s been five years since I covered my last British Open. And I truly miss it, more so than anything else I covered in 27 years at the Chicago Tribune.
I loved everything about being over for the Open Championship (the proper name). There’s nothing like quirkiness of links golf. In fact, everything about the experience was quirky; from the food (yes to brown sauce) to the ridiculously small showers to summer temperatures in the 40s and 50s with a damp chill that goes right through you.
I’ll definitely be watching ESPN’s coverage, although I can’t say I’ll be awake for the opening shot Thursday. Network coverage begins at 4:30 a.m. (ET), meaning night owls on the West Coast can tune before they go to sleep.
In previous years, ESPN and ABC had to rely mainly on the BBC for its coverage. Again, think quirky, as the BBC pace is much slower.
Mike Tirico likened the experience to “playing with rented clubs.” If you’re a golfer, you know what that means.
However, ESPN has had its own cameras in place since 2009; the BBC will be available to supplement anything that gets missed. It has made a huge difference in the production.
I had a chance to talk to Mike McQuade, ESPN’s vice-president for event production, about covering the tournament and having 81-year-old legend Peter Alliss back as a contributor.
On the difference between ESPN and BBC coverage:
We cover golf differently than the way the BBC does it, from where the camera angles are to the storylines. It’s an American broadcast. It moves quicker. The big difference will be on Thursday and Friday. There are so many more storylines. While they might want to focus on some Englishman trying to make the cut, we’d rather focus on Phil Mickelson.
On the difference between covering a PGA Tour event in the states and a British Open:
Besides the fact that when it rains everyone is wearing a black rain suit and a hat and you can’t tell anybody from anybody, that’s a big problem.
The wind is always an issue. Trying to follow the ball in conditions like that is an issue. Telling Andy North he’s got to walk in the rain for eight hours could be an issue.
I think at this point we’re sort of used to that. I think the one thing that we’ve tried to do to sort of overcome all of this is this Flight Tracker that we’ve used the last couple of years, and this year I think it’s on six different holes, that really allows the viewer to ‑‑ if the skies are gray and it is tough to follow a ball in gray and white skies, the tracker will at least give you a sense of where the ball is headed and the direction it’s going in.
On Peter Alliss being part of the telecast:
In our mind, he symbolizes the Open Championship. He’s been a part of it for the better part of 60 years. When you have someone that iconic, it goes without saying you take advantage of it. He offers perspective and insights that I think our guys may not be as quick to grasp on to. That’s a good thing. It makes us better.
Here’s Andy North on Alliss.
Peter is one of those few individuals that you come across in life that if you open up the New York telephone book and had him read six or seven pages you’d be enthralled by it. He is one of those gifted people that is so much fun to be around, and Curtis (Strange) and I have the great opportunity to work the week following the Open Championship at the Senior British Open Championship. It is a riot.