X-Nico

22 unusual facts about ESPN


2007 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

On January 15, 2007 it was reported on ESPN.com that Tim Brewster was the choice of University of Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi to replace Glen Mason as the Gophers head coach.

Alpines

Their song "Empire" which was released as a video in May 2012 was used by Sky Atlantic for the trailer of the new series of Boardwalk Empire season 3 Autumn 2012 and by ESPN for US Barclays Center Classic in November 2012.

AnnMaria De Mars

She is the mother of Ronda Rousey, an Olympic bronze medalist judoka and mixed martial arts Bantamweight world champion; and of María Burns Ortiz, a sports journalist who serves as the social media columnist for ESPN.com and as a contributor to Fox News Latino.

ESPN College Hoops 2K5

The game features an ESPN "broadcast", where the ESPN commentators and logos are seen throughout the season, with an authentic ESPN broadcast during the game.

Gangelhoff Center

One of those times was March 2001 when Concordia hosted the Slam Dunk/Three Point competition that was televised nationally by ESPN.

Green Umbrella

Cricshop is run as the online shop of the website cricinfo.com - the world's largest cricketing portal run by ESPN.

GWF North American Heavyweight Championship

The title was featured on the promotion's show that aired nationally on ESPN.

GWF Television Championship

The title was defended on the promotion's show that aired nationally on ESPN.

Herschel Walker trade

For this reason, ESPN.com lists it as the 8th most lopsided trade in sports history.

Isidore Newman School

In May 2010, ESPN.com ranked Newman at the top of a survey of which high schools produce the best NFL players—even though the school has produced only three NFL players—because of the success of the Manning brothers.

Jeremy Hazell

Hazell was ranked as the 120th best draft prospect heading into the 2011 NBA Draft by Chad Ford of ESPN.com.

John Hollinger

He left Sports Illustrated to write for ESPN.com in the summer of 2005, and his weekly columns are available through their "insider" subscription service.

Matthew Barnaby

On December 5, 2011, ESPN terminated its contract with Barnaby after his arrest on suspicion of DWI earlier in the day.

Mayo Civic Center

The American Wrestling Association held a weekly television broadcast for both syndication, and cable on ESPN, from 1989-1990.

Refugio Independent School District

In 2011, ESPN's Outside the Lines program highlighted Jason Herring and the Refugio High School football team's preparation for the state playoffs, where they routinely could not avoid running up the score.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing

After the race, Fisher told ESPN's Jamie Little she was unsure if the team would be able to make it to Kentucky and Chicago because of the crash.

Shootaround

So infused is the term into basketball's lexicon, in fact, that ESPN's NBA re-cap show is called NBA Shootaround.

Sportsnet Magazine

On June 9, 2011, Rogers executive Ken Whyte announced plans for a new sports magazine as a brand extension of Rogers' Sportsnet television channel, modeled off a similar magazine produced by ESPN.

STATS LLC

In 1987, STATS developed a reporter network for Major League Baseball and provided research for NBC's postseason baseball coverage, and by 1989 was doing the same for ESPN's broadcasts.

Swin Cash

In the off-season, Cash has appeared as a studio analyst on ESPN's NBA Fastbreak (according to ESPN.com) and during the 2008 Beijing Olympic games, she alternated with Teresa Edwards in presenting in-game commentary for NBC's presentation of the women's basketball tournament from the network's New York broadcast studios.

Terry Holland

Holland has also been a highly-requested television analyst, working primarily for ESPN and the ACC Television Network from 1990 to 1996, handling approximately 20 games per year.

Vice Verses

The band premiered 11 of the 12 tracks on September 17, 2011 through ESPN Music commencing with the match between Oklahoma and Florida St.


2007 International Bowl

The on-air ESPN crew included John Saunders, who was born and raised in Toronto and graduated from WMU; and Doug Flutie, who played two seasons with the Toronto Argonauts, both of which ended in Grey Cup championships.

2008 College Football All-America Team

The 2008 College Football All-America Team is composed of the following All-American first teams: American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Associated Press (AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Walter Camp Football Foundation, The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Pro Football Weekly, ESPN, CBS Sports, College Football News, Rivals.com, and Scout.com.

2010–13 NCAA conference realignment

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick stated in an interview with Pat Forde, then of ESPN.com, that at most schools, realignment was being driven primarily by university administrators who saw an opportunity to improve the academic image of their schools—not by athletic directors.

Andre Aldridge

During his three years at ESPN, Aldridge reported and anchored for various shows on the network, including NBA Tonight, NBA Matchup, and Friday Night Fights.

Anne Marie Anderson

Following graduation from Hofstra, Anderson relocated to Bristol, CT and worked as a production assistant, assignment editor and associate producer on ESPN staples such as SportsCenter, NFL Gameday and Outside the Lines.

Anthony Sperduti

Trained as an art director, he has worked as creative director at advertising agencies Wieden & Kennedy (Portland, New York, and London offices), TBWA\Chiat\Day, Modernista and with brands like Nike, The Gap, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, ESPN, MTV, Volvo, and Heineken.

Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres

In the ESPN documentary 9.79*, eventual silver medallist Christie states, and footage of the race shows, that Lewis "ran out of his lane... two or three times" during the race, which should have resulted in Lewis' automatic disqualification.

Bill Couturié

He recently co-produced and directed the film Guru of Go, a documentary for the ESPN 30 for 30 series about Paul Westhead' s unorthodox fast break basketball offense at Loyola Marymount University called "The System" featuring Gregory "Bo" Kimble and the late Hank Gathers.

Brad Childress

ESPN reported that Childress did not consider consulting with team owner Zygi Wilf on this decision.

Carolyn Peck

Peck was not out of basketball for long, however: ESPN hired her as a basketball analyst within months.

College Hoops 2K6

It also marked the first time since the original NCAA College Basketball 2K3 that the series was without an ESPN license.

Craig Minervini

He also has done play-by-play for various other sports include Notre Dame football on NBC, CBS Sports Spectacular, College World Series on ESPN, Major League Soccer, XFL on TNN, boxing on TNN, mixed martial arts on TNN, Syracuse Chiefs AAA baseball, and Syracuse Orange football, basketball, lacrosse, and soccer.

Daniel Brailovsky

He was then a correspondent for SportsCenter and Fútbol Picante, as well as the radio/TV show ESPN Radio Formula.

Danny Perez Ramírez

He holds wins over contender Julio César García, the 2006 winner of ESPN's The Contender Grady Brewer, and former IBA Middleweight Champion Jose Luis Zertuche.

Doris Burke

In 2003, Burke was named to ESPN's top men's basketball team working with Dick Vitale on the men's games and working the sidelines for ESPN and ABC for their coverage of the NBA.

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Doris Burke (born Doris Sable on January 4, 1965) is a sideline reporter and color analyst for ESPN college basketball, as well as NBA on ESPN and NBA on ABC games.

Doug Gottlieb

Gottlieb was also a frequent guest on other ESPN television shows, including SportsCenter and also on College Basketball Gameday Final.

ESPN Deportes

According to Nielsen, 5.5 million Hispanic households are subscribed to a plan that includes ESPN Deportes.

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ESPN Deportes is available on some cable systems including Comcast, AT&T, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Brighthouse Networks, as well as on Dish Network and DirecTV.

ESPN Major League Soccer

On August 4, 2006, ESPN reached a comprehensive multimedia agreement with Soccer United Marketing (SUM) for the rights to Major League Soccer through 2014.

Frank Tanana

He was given the nickname "Frank Tanana Daiquiri" by broadcaster Chris Berman of ESPN.

Gary Hoey

As writer, producer, and guitar player, Hoey's clients have included Disney, ESPN, and No Fear, and he has performed the National Anthem for the New England Patriots, San Diego Padres, and the Boston Red Sox.

Gianluca Pagliuca

Because of his colourful name, former SportsCenter anchor and current ESPN host Keith Olbermann uses his name as a creative way of airing someone cursing on camera in the midst of an argument with an official.

Glentoran F.C.

Burrows won the ESPN goal of the season and Sky Sports goal of the season, achieved almost 5 million views on YouTube and went up against world famous player Lionel Messi for the FIFA goal of the season award.

Henry Lundy

Lundy returned to the ring five weeks later, again on ESPN, with a unanimous decision win over Omri Lowther in Montreal, Quebec – a fight Lundy agreed to take on just three days’ notice.

Herman Ngoudjo

He defeated Randall Bailey in a split decision June 8 on ESPN to set up a fight for the IBF title.

Holly Rowe

Other broadcasts that Rowe has been a part of with her time at ESPN include play-by-play for Women's World Cup matches, coverage of the Running of the Bulls, coverage of swimming, and broadcasts of track & field events.

J. C. Pearson

Pearson left Fox following the 2008 season to return to ESPN to call college football games on ESPN2 and ESPN with Dave Lamont.

Javier Aguirre

Aguirre's decision-making during the qualifying stages and especially during the World Cup grew increasingly controversial, with the ESPN broadcaster José Ramón Fernández calling him the worst coach in the World Cup after France's Raymond Domenech.

Jeff Allison

ESPN's Peter Gammons made mentions of the similarities between the two players during his commentary at the 2008 MLB All Star Game.

Joe Dean

He coined the phrase "String Music" and is also known for other phrases such as, "Stufferino" and "Lexington, K-Y." During his run, he worked with NBC, TBS, ESPN, TVS and Jefferson Pilot.

Kristi Lee

Lee was also featured on ESPN and ESPN2 as a side line reporter, covering events like lacrosse, auto racing, and the first three X Games on ESPN2.

Lamont Pearson

After four wins he was held to a draw in 1999 when he fought Philadelphia lightweight Anthony Washington (also 4-0 and an experienced amateur) in a six-round bout on an ESPN2 Friday Night Fights but received glowing remarks from ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas, who scored the fight for Pearson 57-56.

LaPhonso Ellis

In 2009 Ellis began his first full season as a college basketball analyst for ESPN.

Larry Nuber

During a 1989 "Thunder" broadcast, Nuber and fellow announcer/former racer Steve Chassey got involved in a heated dispute over Rich Vogler which eventually caused both men to be let go by ESPN.

Mock draft

Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay of ESPN and Mike Mayock of the NFL Network are considered television experts on the NFL Draft.

Norris Division

As part of his shtick, ESPN's Chris Berman often refers to the National Football League's NFC North division (previously the NFC Central division) as the Norris Division or "NFC Norris" since the two divisions included teams from three of the same cities: Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis–St. Paul.

Nudity in sport

The Body Issue, ESPN magazines annual issue featuring nude photographs of athletes

Ocoee High School

The Marching Band has performed in the Cotton Bowl Music Festival, the Florida Citrus Parade, the Ikea Thanksgiving Parade, multiple Under Armour Football All-American Games that were broadcast on Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), multiple Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades at Universal Studios Florida, and the New York City Veteran's Day Parade.

Olu Famutimi

In Michigan, he played for the Flint Northwestern Wildcats where he climbed the national ranks as the 7th best player in the country according to ESPN.com.

Shaun Weiss

Most recently, he is seen in a commercial for Captain Morgan's ("Maxi-Mixers are going fast! How about a demo, Phil?"), Castrol, and ESPN Mobile MVP as Mike 'Big Grunz' Grunski.

Solomon Wilcots

During this time he spent spent three seasons (1998–2000) as a sideline reporter for ESPN's Sunday Night football, for which he received an Emmy Award in 2000 for sideline reporting.

SportsChannel

The network obtained the National Hockey League rights from ESPN in 1988 by offering the NHL almost triple the amount of money that ESPN was offering (a move not unlike the 2005 NHL rights grab by Comcast/OLN over ESPN).

Spurs–Suns rivalry

In May 2008, ESPN.com columnist John Hollinger named the Spurs Hack-a-Shaq use as the "Best Tactic" of the first two rounds of the 2008 NBA Playoffs.

The Basketball Jones

The show championed the “fan perspective” of sports reporting pioneered by ESPN’s Bill Simmons.

The Doug Gottlieb Show

Since joining ESPN Radio in September 2003, Gottlieb had co-hosted GameNight along with personalities such as Chuck Wilson, Jeff Rickard, John Seibel and Freddie Coleman.

The ESPN Sports Poll

The ESPN (Chilton) Sports Poll was created by the Chilton Company in 1993 and launched on January 4, 1994.

The Wildbirds

The song "421 (Everybody Loves You)" was featured in ESPN's commercials leading up to the event, and "Hard on Me" was played during a feature on Levi LaVallee.