espn Page 150 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Stacey Dales Out At ESPN, Turns in Long Pantsuits and Microphone
According to an emailer, college basketball and football sideline reporter Stacey Dales could not reach a contract agreement with ESPN for 2009, so she'll no longer be chasing down coaches and players for the WWL. ESPN has confirmed that rumor....

ESPN's Featured Comment Of The Week
Each day ESPN sifts through its finest reader comments, and chooses the most enlightening example to feature on its home page. This is one of those comments....

ESPN Would Like You To Spend An Afternoon With O.J. Simpson
Last October's O.J. Simpson verdict was not the watershed cultural moment everyone expected and actually most of America shrugged its shoulders after O.J. was finally found guilty of something — even if it wasn't the double murder he was accused of committing. O.J. will be sentenced this Friday in L...

The Curious Case of Fred Hickman
Most of you probably don't remember Fred Hickman's somewhat brief tenure as an ESPN anchor and talking head and most of you also were probably unaware that the man is no longer working for them. Hickman was signed on from the YES network in 2004 to a significant contract to come over to the WWL, due...

Lil' Wayne Sheds No Tattooed Teardrops for Pacman Jones
ESPN the Mag's extremely productive blogger, Lil' Wayne — the Bob Dylan of our generation — went off in his usual Weezy fashion this week about all things sports related. One Lil' Wayne opinion of note is the rapper's stance on Cowboys' trouble-making defensive back Pacman Jones. Always unpredictabl...

Exploring the ESPN Business Model (Hint: It Involves Swimming In Piles of Cash)
By now everyone knows that ESPN paid $100 million more than Fox could afford for the rights to the BCS games beginning in 2009. Cementing, to a great degree, ESPN's status as a post-season college football monopoly (they now control 29 of the 34 bowl games). And we've also noted that this increasing...

ESPN Mag To Get a Sharapova-cized Makeover
Each year, ESPN "The Magazine" trots out special issues like the goofy jocks-are-in-charge issue one when they let a professional athlete play editor for the week. (Remember one year Matt Leinart did this. Yeah, it'll probably be a long time before he gets on the cover again.) This year the mag has...

ESPN's Featured Comment Of The Week
ESPN scours its message boards regularly to find its cleverest, boldest, most enlightening comments, and presents them on their front page. Here is one of those comments ... • "When the Hawks go 82-0 and the Celtics are 81-1, the Cs will have home court." — Bonzo_BonhamPrevious ESPN Featured Comment...

What Is ESPN Sports Passport, And Should I Be Afraid?
Surely you've noticed by now that alongside every recap on ESPN.com is an ad for ESPN Sports Passport. But what is this exciting service and how will it affect my daily life? Let's let the WWL itself explain: WERE YOU THERE? Did you attend this game? If so, start chronicling your sports memories tod...

Rick Telander Does Not Fear ESPN's Wrath — But He Does Respect It
In a tough economic market, you'll find many sports writers scaling back on their criticism for the sake of job security. Trying to garner attention through traditional shit-stirring isn't the best way to keep your self afloat right now — piss off the wrong source or anger enough readers and you may...

Tyler Hansbrough Welcomes You To The All-Day College Basketball Brain Smasher
It's a bit late, but college basketball is finally getting the all-inclusive nationwide blowout spectacular that the opening of a season deserves. ESPN is currently in the midst of a 23-hour amateur hoops marathon, complete with nine games, a big recruiting announcement and more Andy Katz spots on S...

ESPN Extends BCS Nightmare By Ponying Up More Cash Than Fox
Since 2007 Fox has broadcast the BCS Games. Sure, this was a little awkward because Fox didn't carry college football on the network during the regular season, but it worked. Kind of. Now, ESPN has done what ESPN usually does — gone and outbid the competition for the rights. (Doesn't it kind of mak...

Ad Agency Behind Controversial ESPN Spot Speaks: "It Wasn't Meant to Offend Anyone"
Many of you saw Awful Announcing's fascinating post about the leaked casting call item for an upcoming ESPN commercial. The concept seemed innocent enough: "The spots take place in the ESPN College Basketball Call Center (CBBCC). All of these guys are there representing their schools, calling people...

ESPN's Featured Comment Of The Week
ESPN scours its message boards regularly to find its cleverest, boldest, most enlightening comments, and presents them on their front page. Here is one of those comments ... • "In hockey we can find more dedicated, pure, uncorrupted pro athletes." — Huckle39Previous ESPN Featured Comment of the Week...

It'll Be Our Merriest Christmas Ever
Just imagine their delight when the kids troop down on Christmas morning and find one of these babies under the tree. It will be hard for little Trevor to contain his joy. It's the ESPN broadcast microphone, advertised as the "perfect gift for the aspiring broadcaster. Now you can call the plays!" C...

ESPN Creates Poker Drama, Then Spoils It For Everyone
ESPN has spent months building up to tonight's broadcast of the final table of the World Series of Poker. They even convinced organizers to take an unprecedented 117-day break before settling the final table so that they could broadcast a "plausibly live" show tonight, just hours after the champion ...

ESPN Knows Not Of This 'Hockey' You Speak Of
Look, I'm the first to admit that this here site isn't exactly Puck Daddy. But when we start an NHL feature, we tend to finish it, unlike a certain Worldwide Leader, apparently. I wouldn't even mention this except that ESPN, in abandoning its NHL rankings back on Oct. 23, has generated some quite am...

ESPN's Featured Comment Of The Week
ESPN scours its message boards regularly to find its cleverest, boldest, most enlightening comments, and presents them on their front page. Here is one of those comments ... • "Having Mayo No. 10 is crazy. His first game was bad, but his next three games were good." — Ronald Wooten Re: NBA rookie wa...

ESPN "The Mag" Needs You to Help Them Soothsay
ESPN "The Mag" has unveiled its annual "Next" issue candidates, where it picks a handful of athletes destined for large endorsement deals, debilitating concussions, homosexual rumors, Madonna trysts, and Colorado rape trials. Oh, and greatness. This year's batch includes the Rays' filthy left-hander...

You're With Me, Election
Yeah, yeah, I agree; there's something clearly disturbing about Boomer being the last human to interview John McCain and Barack Obama before we all go to the polls today. But look on the bright side: The phrase "Barack and a hard place" was not uttered; Berman didn't lose it and scream at an intern;...