espn Page 101 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Why ESPN Should Worry About <em>First Take</em>'s Ratings Slide
This has been the working theory: ESPN2's First Take is bad for the soul but awfully good for business. In late September, ESPN made the show the personal property of the professionally disagreeable Skip Bayless, turning the format into wall-to-wall staged argument. The conceit looked like a hit an...

LeBron James Had A Big Game Last Night For Cleveland, According To ESPN
The folks in Northeast Ohio must be pretty stoked this morning. Forty-eight years without a pro sports championship, and just when all looked lost once again, LeBron goes out and does that, and now it's back home for Game 7. I, for one, can't wait to see how it all ends, if only to read Scott Raab's...

Who Will Speak Up For The Victims Of Flopping? Jeff Van Gundy Will
Jeff Van Gundy was mad enough when Mickael Pietrus stuck Mario Chalmers with a bogus technical foul down the stretch of last night's Celtics-Heat Game 5. But then, as he fumes about the damage a single unjustly awarded free throw could do in a close game, he accidentally sends his partner Mike Bre...

Bristolmetrics: The Miami Heat Got More <em>SportsCenter</em> Coverage Than The Spurs And Thunder Combined
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute by minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week. Graphic by Jim Cooke....

Stephen A. Smith Is Your New Argument Against Human Cloning
Never mind there being 10 or 100. Can you even imagine if there were two Stephen A. Smiths? My God, there'd probably be an entire ESPN network devoted to chattering Stephen A. heads all day long. The horror ... the horror ......

Muhammad Ali Is Still The Greatest
The NCAA tournament came to Louisville Tucson this weekend, and the GOAT decided to take in last night's Arizona-UL game in his hometown retirement refuge. Unfortunately, his Cardinals were trounced by the Wildcats, but that's not the most regrettable aspect of the evening. ESPNU's cameras lingered...

ESPN's Brad Daugherty Promos NBA Playoff Game As "Paul Pierce & The Celtics Vs. LeBron James & The Officials"
ESPN analyst Brad Daugherty is one of the network's best NASCAR minds, but it was in basketball that he originally made his fortune. Thus, the NASCAR Countdown studio crew handing the reins for the promo reader of tomorrow night's Eastern Conference Finals game over to Daugherty was probably obvio...

Michelle Beadle's Final Day At ESPN Included A Licking From Mackerel Jordan
The very first time Deadspin mentioned Michelle Beadle, it was to feature a video of her being eaten by inflatable ZOOperstars mascot Mackerel Jordan. It's fitting, then, her departure from ESPN (a nine minute long staged ceremony that was equal parts sweet and contrived) had her saying goodbyes to...

Your Lee Corso Inflatable Duckie Photoshop Roundup
We have said this before: You guys are the best. So very talented and warped and idle in ways we can't even imagine. Yesterday we showed you a wonderful photo of College Gameday's Lee Corso riding a large inflatable duck, and told you to have fun with it. You did, and these are some of our favorites...

Samantha Steele Mixes Up Her Indian-American Spelling Bee Contestants
After a National Spelling Bee filled with children holding back tears in front of a national audience, the academic equivalent of pageant moms, and every appearance from the wonderfully weird home-schooled girl from Philly, it took ESPN's poor sideline reporter to give us the most cringeworthy mom...

Terry Francona Apologizes For Some Reason, Says That Towel Photo Was "Pretty In Jest"
Terry Francona is a frequent guest on Michael Kay's radio show in New York, and when he went on the program a few minutes ago, Kay came right out and asked Francona about this, albeit in a way that didn't mention what this was all about....

ESPN Misspells Simple Word In Spelling Bee Graphic
South. S-O-O-U-T-H. South....

23 Percent Of All <em>SportsCenter</em> Programming Last Week Was Devoted To The Miami Heat
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute-by-minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week. Graphic by Jim Cooke....

Working For ESPN In The Post-Sarah Phillips Era? Have Your Resume Handy.
What does it mean to work at ESPN in a post-Sarah Phillips world?...

More Complaints About The ESPN Radio iPhone App "Money Grab"
Yesterday, we introduced you to ESPN Radio's wildly unpopular new iPhone app. People who had already paid $2.99 for the app over the last two-and-a-half years are being asked to pay an extra $4.99 for a "new app"/crypto-update in order to keep listening to the feeds they already subscribe to....

Dear Terry Francona, Please Stop Emailing Photos Of Yourself Half-Naked In A Towel To My Girlfriend
A reader, whom we'll call Rob, emailed us Monday night with the photo you see above. The photo came with this message:...

ESPN Radio iPhone App Is "One Of The Sleaziest Corporate Deals I Have Seen"
Two weeks ago, ESPN announced it would launch a new ESPN Radio app for the iPhone and iPad. It costs $4.99....

Are You A Current Or Former Make-Up Person At ESPN? Do You Know One? Please Contact Us.
Do you (or did you) work in the make-up department at ESPN HQ in Bristol? We've heard some, erm, stories. About certain, um, talent. Email me at [email protected]. I'll explain....

Tim Kurkjian, George Will, And Charles Krauthammer Host World's Most Insufferable Lunch
Syndicated political columnist Charles Krauthammer decided to phone in his pre-Memorial Day column, and, in turn, wound up introducing us to the world's most insufferable get-together. He presents:...

Bristolmetrics: Stephen A. Smith Is Slowly Retaking ESPN
This is a regular feature breaking down, minute-by-minute, the content that appears on ESPN's 11 p.m. edition of SportsCenter throughout the week. Graphic by Jim Cooke....