ESPN Page 103 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Laurie Fine To File Libel Suit Against ESPN
That "major announcement" that Laurie Fine promised for us later this morning, at a castle for some reason? It's exactly what you thought. Fine is bringing a libel lawsuit against ESPN, reporter Mark Schwarz, and producer Arty Berko for their reporting of child sexual abuse allegations against forme...

Former NBA Coach Plagiarizes Spurs Message Board For ESPN.com Column
John Carroll was the head coach at Duquesne for six years, and an assistant coach in the NBA for nine—including a 36-game stint as interim head coach for the Celtics in 2004. He's now sharing his expertise for Scouts Inc., which was purchased by ESPN in 2006. Since then Carroll's scouting reports ha...

Bristolmetrics: <em>SportsCenter</em> Said Goodbye To The Seventh-Seeded, 36-30 Knicks With A Three-Minute Montage
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....

David Brooks Has A New Phony Sociological Category: "ESPN Man"
Someone help me out. Here's David Brooks, the upmarket Jeff Foxworthy, writing about "The ESPN Man" in today's New York Times:...

ESPN's Going To Produce A Bunch More <em>30 For 30</em> Films
So, fantastic news. ESPN will announce at today's upfront that they will roll out a second series of sports documentaries under the 30 For 30 umbrella, even though it's no longer the network's 30th anniversary and there may not be 30 of them. The first one will premier this fall, and new films will ...
![Cops Looking Into "White Powder" Found At ESPN Headquarters [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/17mlzg20bvsvmjpg.jpg)
Cops Looking Into "White Powder" Found At ESPN Headquarters [UPDATE]
The substance was found in the mail room in three packages at the Worldwide Leader's campus in Bristol, according to NBC Connecticut, which added:...

Report: Michelle Beadle Is Leaving ESPN For NBC
As expected, it looks like Michelle Beadle is leaving Bristol. Those Guys Have All The Fun author Jim Miller tweeted today that the Beadle "ESPN era is over." It appears she is headed to NBC. Miller said she will serve as co-host for Access Hollywood (alongside Billy Bush), will host a "new show," a...

Sun Shines On The Dog's Ass That Is Stephen A. Smith, As Technical Glitch Renders Him Unable To Hear Skip Bayless
Readers send us tips about ESPN2 offal vomitorium First Take regularly, but we're loath to provide the program any more attention than it already has (and, valuing our sanity, avoid watching it ourselves). So we thank Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch for the head's up on this brief technical g...

Before Steve Kerr Sends 19-Year-Old Players Back To College, He Should Try Some Academic Research Himself
Former NBA star Steve Kerr penned a lengthy, multi-sectioned argument in Grantland this week in which he not only defends the NBA's current ban on players under age 19 but pushes for the minimum age to be raised to 20. Forcing young people to spend more time as scholar-athletes, according to Kerr, ...

"Singer Michael Bolton Hits Hole-In-One," Writes Man Who Hired Sarah Phillips
That's the latest from ESPN senior Jonas Brothers correspondent and ace talent scout Lynn Hoppes, whom we've met around these parts before. [ESPN]...

Bristolmetrics: <em>SportsCenter</em> Said "Fire Extinguisher" More Times Than "Kobe Bryant" Last Week
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....

Merril Hoge's Little Tie Is Adorable
ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge is a connoisseur of the cravat, and has drawn a reputation for his ridiculously thick knots that would fit in better on the set of Barney Miller than that of NFL Live. A segment today forced Hoge to remove his jacket—and thus revealing that such a wide Windsor comes wit...

In The Realm Of Gambling Message Boards, Anyone Could Be The Next Sarah Phillips
How did a poseur like former ESPN columnist Sarah Phillips get so far in the gambling world, a place where you might expect people to value experience, wisdom, and verifiability above all else? Well, remember where she—and presumably her partner, Nilesh Prasad—got her start: the gambling message boa...

ESPN VP On Hockey Fandom: "It Doesn't Translate To Television"
We all know that ESPN treats hockey like the unloved child of a bad marriage. But why? Longtime sports media guy Ed Sherman went directly to Vince "Let's get this clown out of here" Doria, ESPN's senior vice president and director of news, and asked him that very question. Doria's response:...
![Meet Nilesh Prasad, Sarah Phillips's Scamming Partner And Supposed "Puppetmaster" [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/17li1x3vn4uqnjpg.jpg)
Meet Nilesh Prasad, Sarah Phillips's Scamming Partner And Supposed "Puppetmaster" [UPDATE]
Here, at last, are some photos of former ESPN columnist Sarah Phillips and her partner, Nilesh Prasad, the low-rent Bonnie and Clyde of social-media ripoffs. The reader who sent the one above said it was taken in April 2010 during a trip to Cancun. This was a "top performer vacation reward," our tip...

Sources: Sarah Phillips And Nilesh Prasad Picked Games Together, Scammed People Together, Got Fired From T-Mobile Together
What have we learned about Sarah Phillips, the woman who was apparently scamming people on the Internet when she wasn't writing a column for ESPN.com, in the 24 hours since our story was published? The most interesting bit is that she and her partner, Nilesh Prasad, apparently engaged in some low-gr...

Fake John Madden Clarifies His Role In The Sarah Phillips/ESPN Debacle
Lost in this whole sordid, twisted Sarah Phillips fiasco was the brief cameo by Brent, the proprietor of @FauxJohnMadden, Twitter's leading source for tweets definitely not composed by the legendary Hall of Fame coach and Tinactin spokesman....
![Sarah Phillips Admits She "Concealed" Her Identity, Made "Poor Choices With Who To Trust" [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/17lbbqo03okwmjpg.jpg)
Sarah Phillips Admits She "Concealed" Her Identity, Made "Poor Choices With Who To Trust" [UPDATE]
Sarah Phillips, the former ESPN.com contributor and self-professed gambling guru, is having a bit of conscience cleansing tonight, in the wake of our investigation into whether she was part of a larger, more nefarious con job and how ESPN editors could actually employ someone—freelance or not— that...

Bristolmetrics: <i>SportsCenter</i> Might Actually Have Under-Covered The NFL Draft
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....

"I'd Rather Drink Methamphetamine," And Other Complaints About Soccer Being On ESPN
City's thrilling 1-0 win over Man United in today's Manchester Derby drew acclaim as a groundbreaking moment in broadcasting; the first-ever Premier League weekday game to air on ESPN (as opposed to ESPN2) earned on-air hype and plenty of attention on the Worldwide Leader's website. ...