media Page 18 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

How An ESPNer Found Out The "Battle Of The Sexes" Was Probably Fixed
As usual, this one started with a tip. It came courtesy of Hal Shaw, a 79-year-old man who lived in Florida. ESPN investigative reporter Don Van Natta Jr. knew him. The two had met when Van Natta was researching his 2011 biography of Babe Didrikson Zaharia. Shaw once worked at the country club that...

MLB Network Beat Fox Sports 1 In Primetime Last Week
The ratings are in: Fox Sports 1 finished its first full week about 1.94 million viewers behind ESPN. Variety reports that Fox Sports 1 averaged 161,000 viewers in primetime, behind ESPN's 2.17 million, ESPN2's 473,000, the NFL Network's 383,000 and MLB Network's 193,000. The good news for Fox is th...

How ESPN Pulled A Bullshit Colin Kaepernick Story Out Of Thin Air
By pulling out of its partnership with Frontline, ESPN reminded us, yet again, where its newsroom stands. It's second fiddle to the company's business interests. So, let's show you what the flagship show of ESPN's newsroom does in lieu of participating in a documentary that the NFL is afraid of. It...

<em>SportsCenter</em>'s New Set Will Be Roughly 10,000 Square Feet
We got a preview of this before, but here's a new video showing off SportsCenter's new set, narrated by Steve Levy. He says the set will be nearly 10,000 square feet. Watch the video and it looks like it also includes approximately 750 anchor desks and 48 different studios. But seriously. Christ. T...

Last Night On Fox Sports 1: The Worst Sports Panel Discussion Ever
Above, Donovan McNabb, Andy Roddick, and Gary Payton discuss Ichiro's legacy and—I don't even know. This is such a mess. Roddick can barely speak. McNabb is really into doubles? I'm not convinced they know who Ichiro is. Everyone had a stat or fact or two to memorize and they can't pull that off. F...

Here's How The Jets Train Their Players To Be Boring With The Media
Yesterday Jets players went through media training, where they were taught things like "body language." During the session, they were also handed a list of "media bridges," which I'm guessing are a bunch of really horrible, studiedly dull transitions to use in conversation with reporters. The photos...

Despite Layoffs, ESPN Will Soon Have "More Employees Than Ever"
Earlier this year, ESPN went through a unexpected series of layoffs, in the end shedding somewhere close to 400 people. It was done, ESPN folks were told, as a critical cost-cutting measure in the run-up to the launch of Fox Sports 1 and with higher fees looming for Monday Night Football and basebal...

Former Blazers Beat Writer Reveals Why He Began Hating That Damn Job
Yesterday, the Oregonian's Jason Quick announced he'd be leaving the Blazers gig after 13 years to cover Oregon football. He then gave a fascinating, brutally honest interview to Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge. If you've ever wanted to know what a burned-out reporter sounds like, here you go....

NFL Sunday Ticket On YouTube? That Could Happen
The worst thing about NFL Sunday Ticket—the broadcast service that offers access to every NFL game, including out-of-market ones—is the part where you have to subscribe to DirecTV. The $225 you have to spend during the season to watch any game you want? Not that bad. So, what if you could just watch...

So, About That New Regis Show On Fox Sports 1 ...
Aug. 13, Variety...

Heroic Yasiel Puig To Assembled Media: "Fuck The Media"
Before today's game at Marlins Park, the Dodgers' Yasiel Puig cut right to the chase regarding his thoughts on the people who write about him....

A-Rod Lawyer Melts Down On <em>Today </em>
A-Rod's lawyer Joe Tacopina "would love nothing more" than to defend A-Rod and to talk about his testing history. If only MLB would be kind enough to waive the confidentiality agreement in the joint-drug agreement!...

You Will Not Be Paying Much For Fox Sports 1
Fox Sports 1 goes on the air tomorrow morning, but it was almost the softest opening ever: until yesterday, barely any cable provider or satellite service had agreed to carry it. Now there's good news and bad for the Fox brass—it'll be in almost every home, but it won't be particularly profitable....

Rick Reilly's Wife Does His Dirty Work On Twitter
Cynthia Reilly's Twitter presence is small. She's tweeted just 42 times and follows only nine people. She has three followers. But she's there for an important reason: to get people to call her husband, ESPN writer Rick Reilly....

Erin Andrews And Charissa Thompson Star In Painfully Bad Video
Fox Sports 1's Erin Andrews and Charissa Thompson posed for a magazine. This is The Hollywood Reporter's fault but still. This video is unspeakably horrible. Thanks for sending along, anonymous ESPN person....

How The Blockbuster Model Explains ESPN
The Atlantic has a really good piece today that explores how ESPN became the most "valuable media property in the United States." Two things, really: 1.) John Skipper, ESPN's president, started gobbling up live rights for traditional sports back in 2005, moving against the tide of airport-bookstore ...

"ESPN Is Dumb": Jason Whitlock's Thoughts About ESPN Over The Years
Keith Olbermann's return to ESPN is almost certainly less shocking than Jason Whitlock's return. Olbermann torched bridges, yes, but that was a long time ago. ESPN president John Skipper told The Hollywood Reporter that he never even met Olbermann until last year. "I am post the Keith troubles," he ...

The Best And Worst Baseball Beat Reporters, According To You
Last week we concluded our crowd-sourced guide to the best and worst beat reporters in Major League Baseball. Today, we collate. We read your reviews and picked out the best and worst beat reporters for every team where some consensus could be discerned. We also pulled some of your choicest comments...

One Year Ago Today, ESPN Hit Rock Bottom
Tim Tebow turned 26 today. That means the dumbest day in ESPN history has turned 1. ...
![Jason Whitlock Returning To ESPN [UPDATE]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/18x05z0jfmghwjpg.jpg)
Jason Whitlock Returning To ESPN [UPDATE]
Whoa. The Big Lead reports that Jason Whitlock is leaving Fox Sports and heading back to ESPN. As recently as a few weeks ago, Whitlock was working on test segments for a show on Fox Sports 1—called Red, White and Truth—that hadn't appeared on any lineup for the the network. In the last month, ESPN ...