Criticism of ESPN

While ESPN is perhaps the most successful sports network ever (debuting on September 7, 1979), it has not been free from criticism. This article covers many of the criticisms, including accusations of biased coverage and controversies with individual broadcasters and analysts.

Arena Football League coverage

Main article: Arena Football League on ESPN

AFL fans in America complain that the TV schedule “inequitably favors teams” such as the Philadelphia Soul, Chicago Rush and Colorado Crush, teams whose ownerships include, respectively, Jon Bon Jovi, Mike Ditka and John Elway. The Soul (whose part-owner and team president is former AFL on ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski) have appeared in seven of the 17 regular season games on ESPN platforms, more than any other team in the league. This criticism was also present when NBC went out of their way to not let some teams appear on their schedule. In 2008, the Chicago Rush have nine regular season games on ESPN and ABC, while the 2007 Arena Bowl Champion San Jose SaberCats have just one, week one against the Chicago Rush.

Bias towards certain teams

See also: East Coast Bias and Media bias

ESPN is often accused of having a bias towards certain teams. Teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Cowboys, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, New York Mets, New England Patriots, and the Boston Celtics are often accused of receiving favorable coverage. The ESPN ombudsman, Le Anne Shreiber addresses this.

ESPN Classic

Main article: ESPN Classic

In a cost-cutting move, the schedule (as of July 31, 2007) is largely composed of ESPN original programming, highlighting sports such as poker, bowling, and bass fishing, with less emphasis on re-airing classic games of major-league sports such as National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, NASCAR, Major League Baseball, and National Collegiate Athletic Association games. (Arena Football was added in March 2007 as part of the new TV contract between the league and ESPN, but was dropped by the time of the 2008 season.)

Many of the pro sports games once aired on ESPN Classic are available on NBA TV, NFL Network, MSG Network, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, New England Sports Network, SportsNet New York, YES Network, NHL Network, SportsTime Ohio, and Versus, among other channels. However, most of the broadcasts on regional sports networks are subject to blackout away from the home team's territory.

In addition, the network presents some original programs, frequently regarding classic sports topics (see below).

Despite the old-time feel of the network, ESPN Classic airs the network's standard "Bottom Line" with updates of current sports scores.

It is the only U.S.-based ESPN network (and one of two Disney-owned cable channels in the U.S.; ABC Family being the other) to air infomercials; they air from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. ET, seven days a week.

It has also changed from an emphasis on games of the distant past to games of the recent past. On many occasions, an event will have taken place within the current year ("instant classic" or "best of the year").

In most occasions, the games of the past aired relates to a major event scheduled that weekend, such as historic games within a series that is scheduled for that weekend (such as historic Duke-North Carolina games on the weekend of that game), a historic series of games related with one sports figure (especially if that player is to be enshrined into their sport's Hall of Fame), or a tribute (such as historic games of a figure on the death of that former player or coach).

ESPN2

Main article: ESPN2

ESPN2 debuted on October 1, 1993, as a sister station of ESPN. Nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was to be branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross, snowboarding, and BMX racing.

Though the "ESPN2 Attitude" was one of the main inspirations for launching the X Games, this format was, in an overall sense, not successful. The so-called MTV Generation was not interested in sports pandered to them in this way, and traditional sports fans were turned off by the youthful gimmick, and several cable companies still refused to include ESPN2 in their basic lineups. In 2001, ESPN2 was reformatted into a second outlet for ESPN programming.

ESPN360

Main article: ESPN360

Because ESPN360 is only available to ISPs that have paid for the service (usually cable companies and services such as Verizon's FiOS and DSL services), it has been alleged that ESPN is streaming college sports games only on the service in order to force cable companies and other ISPs to carry it.

For instance, an October 2006 Big Ten matchup between the Wisconsin Badgers and Northwestern Wildcats was only aired live on ESPN360, and most viewers in the state of Wisconsin could not view it, due to ESPN360 not having agreements to be carried by the dominant cable companies in the area, Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable. Wildcat fans in the Comcast-dominated Chicago area also faced the same difficulties, as Comcast also had no ESPN360 deal. The University of Wisconsin-Madison had to receive special permission from ESPN to allow the game to be streamed over their university's computer network for students and faculty. The only way to view the game on television was a late-night tape delay over the state's public television network.

The same scenario has also happened for football games between the Maryland Terrapins/Virginia Cavaliers, and the Boston College Eagles/Buffalo Bulls.

The service is unavailable through dial-up providers like AOL or NetZero because of the requirement of a high-speed connection.

To add to the controversy, ESPN has rolled over its online ESPN GamePlan package to ESPN360 as of September 1, 2007. On-line viewers that do not have an ESPN360 affiliated ISP will be unable receive the Gameplan content online. However, individuals who do have an ESPN360 affiliated ISP will get the ESPN GamePlan content online for free.

Rolling of ESPN GamePlan package to 360 has also prevented Americans living abroad, particularly those in the Armed Forces, from watching games that were previously available on a pay-per-view basis. However, to react to this, ESPN introduced GamePlan International, an online service available for viewers outside the US or Mexico. GamePlan is also available in Europe, Middle East and Africa via http://europe.espn360.com/sport/ncaa.aspx.

Beginning in 2008, ESPN360 is offered free to all high-speed college and military IP addresses.

The ESPN360 browser suffers from long initial load times. The drop down menus occasionally don't work.

ESPN360 also has the extremely annoying tendency to cut off a live broadcast before it is completed if it goes past a certain time limt (around 2-5 hours, depending on the event) or, for night events, midnight, even if said broadcast is scheduled to go past midnight like the live feed from ESPN Classic's telecast of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards Banquet.

In the first few weeks of the 2009 season, ESPN360 dropped all of its NASCAR coverage for no apparrent reason.

High-Definition coverage

Main articles: ESPNHD and ESPN2HD

Recently the network has come under considerable scrutiny from industry technicians and early adopter HD consumers due to a recent noticeable degradation in picture quality, specifically during live events. It is unclear whether this is the result of over-compression, rate shaping or bit starving from cable and satellite providers or something amiss in the ESPN distribution chain.

Integration of ABC Sports

Main article: ABC Sports

On September 2, 2006, the former ABC Sports division was fully integrated into ESPN, which, like ABC, is controlled by The Walt Disney Company. Programming on ABC currently has the ESPN logo in the digital on-screen graphic displaying the game score, and use the ESPN BottomLine and SportsCenter In-Game Updates. The change was made to better orient ESPN viewers with the programming on ABC. The brand integration does not directly affect whether ESPN (the cable channel) or ABC carries a particular event, as in most cases this is governed by contracts with the applicable league or organization. Perhaps confusingly, this means that some events, such as British Open, will be broadcast with ESPN branding during ABC coverage, even though another channel (in this case TNT) owns the cable rights.

Like its longtime competitors CBS Sports and NBC Sports, ABC Sports was originally just the sports division of a major American network, ABC. The seeds of its eventual integration with ESPN occurred when ABC bought majority control of ESPN in 1984. A year later, Capital Cities Communications bought ABC. Although some ESPN sportscasters such as John Saunders and Dick Vitale began to also appear on ABC Sports telecasts, ESPN and ABC Sports continued to operate separately.

After The Walt Disney Company bought Capital Cities/ABC in 1996, Disney started to slowly integrate ESPN and ABC Sports. ESPN personalities like Chris Berman, Mike Tirico, and Brad Nessler worked on ABC Sports programs. In 1998, ESPN adopted ABC Sports' Monday Night Football graphics and music for its Sunday Night Football broadcasts.

Reaction to the change from ABC Sports to ESPN on ABC

My heart just weeps for Roone's legacy.

— Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports, whose career started as an Olympic researcher at ABC Sports before he became Roone Arledge's executive assistant.

It was inevitable. When ABC was sold to Capital Cities, and then to Disney, the handwriting was on the wall. A lot of people worked to make ABC what it was, and they deserve more than to have their legacy callously tossed aside.

— Veteran ABC Sports announcer Keith Jackson. Jackson added that Capital Cities' refused to fully back bids by Dennis Swanson, Roone Arledge's successor, to acquire the TV rights to the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics, which were signature purchases for NBC. According to Jackson, Capital Cities didn't just short, they cut him off. The last Olympic Games that ABC televised were the 1988 Winter Olympics from Calgary.

The tail took over the dog. The world has changed.

— Longtime Monday Night Football commentator Frank Gifford.

The opportunity to marry the ESPN brand to the ABC television network to better serve fans is what this is all about.... anybody looking for the demise of ABC Sports is barking up the wrong tree.

— George Bodenheimer, the president of ESPN.

I think the tradition of ABC Sports has been incorporated within ESPN. I think your next question is what would Roone Arledge think, and I'll tell you Roone could never have anticipated the media world of 2006. If he had or if he was alive today, I think he would support the move because of the power of the ESPN brand.

— Former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson

Major League Baseball coverage

Main articles: ESPN Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio

Bonds on Bonds

Main article: Bonds on Bonds

From its first announcement, the show faced criticism. At the time, Barry Bonds was (and still is) mired in the scandal of steroid allegations. The show was viewed by some as a see-through attempt by Bonds to garner positive publicity for his side in the guise of a carefully manipulated reality show. ESPN was criticized as allowing Bonds such a one-sided public pulpit, as ESPN was the most powerful name in American sports journalism; the show was seen by some as ESPN giving up any semblance of journalism in favor of becoming a PR front for major sports teams and players. ESPN responded to the criticism by claiming that Bonds would not have creative control and that the episodes would be fair, balanced, and only document the day-to-day activities of Bonds as they occurred, not as Bonds wanted them to occur. However, Bonds grasped at more control and ESPN ultimately cancelled the show.

2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

During the week of the 2007 All-Star Game, Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter did not travel to the game site as it normally does; the 2007 site was AT&T Park in San Francisco. The reason was that MLB stripped ESPN of its on-site credentials for its studio crew as punishment for leaking the rosters of the All-Star teams before TBS did. TBS' announcement, which was billed as exclusive, was scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern time but was delayed for nearly two hours, by which point ESPN, in apparent violation of its contract with MLB, went ahead and revealed the rosters anyway. ESPN later agreed to promote playoff coverage on TBS and FOX (alongside its own radio coverage) in return for Baseball Tonight going on the air shortly after each night's games concluded.

Performance-enhancing drugs

The network failed to do any significant follow-up after a Los Angeles Times story claimed former player Jason Grimsley had implicated several other players in connection with the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Almost immediately, officials from the government said the article had major errors, but the network and all print journalism outlets failed to review the article or to pinpoint its flaws.

Analyst Peter Gammons also has implicated players in connection with the use of performance-enhancing drugs, but he has yet to provide substantive proof for these allegations.

Miguel Tejada's age controversy

On April 17, 2008, Houston Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada was confronted by an ESPN reporter during an interview who revealed that Tejada had been lying about his age ever since he first signed a Major League Baseball contract in 1993. Tejada had claimed to have been born in 1976 when a Dominican birth certificate showed that he was born in 1974. That birth certificate also shows the spelling of his surname as "Tejeda" rather than "Tejada".

Mobile ESPN

Main article: Mobile ESPN

Early results for Mobile ESPN were disappointing. Initially, ESPN was reported to have projected as much as 240,000 subscribers for the service, but the Wall Street Journal reported that Mobile ESPN had fewer than 10,000 subscribers. Merrill Lynch analysts considered Mobile ESPN to have "failed" and recommended that investors urge ESPN owner Disney to discontinue the service. It was estimated that Mobile ESPN and Disney Mobile combined would lose $135 million over the 2006 fiscal year. ESPN had initially reaffirmed its commitment to the product, stating that they expected that price cuts in handsets, increased marketing efforts, and other incentives for customers would prove to be successful. However, on September 28, 2006, ESPN announced it would be discontinuing the service to take effect by the end of the year. Those who had subscribed to long-term plans received refunds from ESPN.

NASCAR coverage

Main article: NASCAR on ESPN

General

• Many visitors to forums and blogs such as The Daly Planet complained that the coverage seen on ESPN and its related networks were not up to the standards set by the earlier version of network coverage. Their biggest complaints were excessive commercials, bored announcers, abuse of production technology, and language that seemed to talk down to them. Many said that they had found alternate means of racing coverage, including NASCAR Hot Pass, radio broadcasts, and NASCAR.com. Some were even looking forward to the return of NASCAR on FOX, despite the gimmicks inherent to that portion of the racing season.

The many changes made in 2008, specifically the removal of on-air personalities with no previous NASCAR backgrounds and the reassignment of Rusty Wallace, may have come in response to these complaints.

Network pre-emptions and relocations

• ESPN has juggled TV coverage between networks often due to other sports commitments. The most extreme example was the Carfax 250 on August 18, 2007, for which NASCAR Countdown was on ESPN Classic, the invocation and national anthem on ESPN, and the race itself moved to ESPN2 just before the green flag. This was due to airings of the Little League World Series and a Scrabble tournament. In fact, six times in '07, NASCAR Countdown did not air on ESPN2 prior to an NBS race as scheduled.
• On September 30, 2007, the end of the LifeLock 400, part of that season's Chase, was moved to ESPN2 when a rain delay went past 6 p.m. ET, the end of the allotted broadcast window. This was in contrast to Fox and NBC coverage, which typically stayed on those stations even if the races ran long past the expected time.
• The 2008 Sharpie MINI 300 on March 15 moved from ABC to ESPN Classic at 6:15 p.m. so that ABC could show World News Saturday in the Eastern and Central time zones. The race was in a rain delay at the time and it was not resumed. In some markets where an ABC affiliate pre-empted the race for a college basketball tournament, the race moved to ESPN2, while some markets did not receive the race at all; the Columbia, South Carolina market, where WOLO has consistently pre-empted NASCAR programming for ACC basketball throught its history, the race did not air.
• On November 9, 2008, the end of the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500, the ninth race of the Chase, was moved to ESPN2 as the race approached 7:30 p.m. ET so that an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos could air as scheduled on ABC. The main reason stated was the protection of Desperate Housewives, which is not permitted to be delayed for sports runover.

Local station pre-emptions

• The Subway 500 from Martinsville Speedway was not shown on KABC in Los Angeles (the second largest media market in the United States) on October 21 due to the California wildfires of October 2007, specifically the Buckweed fire in Santa Clarita and the Canyon fire in Malibu. Instead, the broadcast was shown on digital subchannel ABC7+, which is not available to all local residents.
• Several stations chose to pre-empt NASCAR Countdown for local news. KABC did so before every Saturday night race, and also did it before the Ford 400, a Sunday-afternoon event, to show The Suite Life of Zack & Cody from the Disney Channel to fulfill an E/I programming requirement. WPLG in Miami, Florida and KSAT-TV in San Antonio, Texas also did so at least once in 2007.
• At the other end of the scale, KTKA in Topeka, Kansas left the Bank of America 500 on October 13 to launch its nightly late newscast at 10 p.m. Central time and did not return. Topeka is located about 60 miles from Emporia, the hometown of NASCAR Cup driver (and 2007 Chase participant) Clint Bowyer. KSAT also aired a brief news update, which came during a red flag, but returned in time for the checkered flag.
• The Sharpie MINI 300 was not seen on several ABC stations for various reasons, ranging from weather bulletins (WSB in Atlanta and WSOC in Charlotte) to the Big 12 basketball tournament (KLKN in Lincoln, Nebraska) (where the race moved to ESPN2 on the alternate channel, used when Syndex rules force an ESPN blackout). In addition, WABC in New York City carried the race, but pre-empted NASCAR Countdown and the rain delay to cover a construction accident at a high-rise building in Manhattan.

Other problems

• On August 24, 2007, the final five laps of the Food City 250 NBS race at Bristol Motor Speedway were not televised by ESPN2. The reason was that a satellite uplink path was somehow eliminated, preventing the master control at the network headquarters (coincidentally in Bristol, Connecticut; the track is in Bristol, Tennessee) from re-transmitting the event to cable and satellite providers. Instead, viewers saw a blank screen, then the ESPN2 logo "screensaver," then some commercials. By the time the problem was rectified, the race was over, with Kasey Kahne as the winner. Jerry Punch, the lap-by-lap announcer, apologized for the error immediately and the final two laps were shown on replay unedited. In addition, the first rebroadcast showed the same laps as they were intended to be broadcast - with on-screen ticker and GEICO sponsorship bug - just after 4:30 a.m. ET the next morning. An ESPN spokesman blamed a "human error" of an unspecified nature.
• Due to college football commitments - and an exceedingly long race which had 26 caution flags - coverage of the October 27 NBS Sam's Town 250 ended the moment that David Reutimann took the checkered flag to win the race. There was no post-race interview with Reutimann, summary of the finishing order, or any other usual post-race programming. No interview aired on ESPNEWS or SportsCenter, either, another decision that rankled some long-time fans.
• In addition, some drivers had testy relationships with ESPN reporters. Tony Stewart was fined and had points taken away after his win at the Allstate 400; he used an obscenity in his post-race interview. During it, he implied unfair treatment by the network in the past. Also, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. looked very uneasy in his interview with Mike Massaro at the Chevy Rock and Roll 400; Massaro ran a lengthy talk after Earnhardt Jr. dropped out with engine failure.
• Most of the races broadcast on ESPN on ABC had very minimal or no post-race coverage. Several times, ESPN only interviewed the winner and 2nd place drivers. The most likely explanation is that the next program is, typically, ABC World News Sunday or a local newscast; the network wants to start the newscast as soon as possible.
• At the 2007 Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the majority of the coverage was focused on Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. There was only one mention when Juan Pablo Montoya led the opening laps of the race and ESPN on ABC did not air several of the lead changes or mention them on air. In addition, during the Busch Series O'Reilly Challenge race at Texas, the final laps were broadcast from an in-car camera of points championship leader Carl Edwards. ESPN did not air the finish of the race where Kevin Harvick won and instead stayed with an in-car shot of Edwards through the finish.
• At the 2007 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega, ESPN on ABC did not air the final lead change as they were covering a battle a little deeper in the field. Jeff Gordon made the race winning move without mention of the lead change on ESPN on ABC until well after it had happened. Gordon won the race.

NBA coverage

Main articles: NBA on ESPN and NBA on ABC

ABC's NBA coverage

One common complaint about NBA coverage on ABC is of strange camera angles, including the Floorcam and Skycam angles used by ABC throughout its coverage. Other complaints are of camera angles that appear too far away, colors that seem faded and dull, and the quieting of crowd noise so that announcers can be heard clearly (by contrast to NBC, which allowed crowd noise to sometimes drown out their announcers).

Some complaints have concerned the promotion, or perceived lack thereof, of NBA telecasts. The 2003 NBA Finals received very little fanfare on ABC or corporate partner ESPN; while subsequent Finals were promoted more on both networks, NBA related advertisements on ABC were still down significantly from promotions on NBC. NBA promos took up 3 minutes and 55 seconds of airtime on ABC during the week of May 23, 2004 according to the Sports Business Daily, comparable to 2 minutes and 45 seconds for the Indianapolis 500. Promotions for the Indianapolis 500 outnumbered promotions for the NBA Finals fourteen-to-nine from the hours of 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. during that week.

A common complaint of the network's coverage of the 2007 NBA Finals was the amount of time ABC's Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria (whose husband is Spurs guard Tony Parker) was on camera, causing some to feel that the network was more concerned about getting reaction shots of her than showing the games. This was also a common complaint of the 2004 NBA Finals between the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Lakers, when they would continuously cut to long-time Lakers' fan Jack Nicholson.

They were also criticized for focusing coverage on a select few teams, particularly the decision to schedule the Lakers against the Heat on Christmas Day for three straight years. However, for 2007, ABC had decided to break this tradition by instead having the Heat, for the fourth straight time, appeared on Christmas Day facing the 2007 Eastern Conference Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Commentators

After getting NBA rights, ABC courted two main announcers from the NBA on NBC, Bob Costas and Marv Albert. After Costas, (who was reportedly offered a generous deal which also included Major League Baseball play-by-play for ESPN and ABC News features) elected to remain with NBC, and Albert signed a six year deal with TNT, the network went with veteran broadcaster Brad Nessler to be the lead NBA play-by-play man. Nessler, who prior to that point had not been the main voice for any professional sport on television, received a call from Marv Albert's agent, soon after getting the job. On the call, the Internet Movie Database quoted him as saying:

I need to know everybody and you can't know everybody and Marv knows everyone.... So, I'm just gonna use him as a valuable resource, if it's all right with him.

Nessler was joined by Bill Walton in a two-man booth. The team did two broadcasts together before ABC decided that Walton needed a partner (much like he had at NBC with Steve Jones) and assigned pregame analyst Tom Tolbert to join the team. Nessler, Walton, and Tolbert broadcast most regular season games, and every network playoff game. Other games were broadcast by the team of Brent Musburger and Sean Elliott. After the worst ratings in NBA Finals history, low ratings overall, and harsh criticism, ABC decided to retool the team.

After disastrous ratings in the 2003 NBA Finals, ABC decided to completely revamp their lead NBA broadcast team. Brad Nessler was demoted to the second broadcast team, where he was joined by Sean Elliott and Dan Majerle. Tom Tolbert was relegated to pregame show duties only, and Bill Walton was removed from ABC's NBA coverage altogether (he remained with ESPN). Meanwhile, longtime Monday Night Football commentator (and unofficial "Voice of ABC Sports") Al Michaels was hired to replace Nessler as lead broadcaster of the NBA.

Al Michaels was criticised by the New York Post for not broadcasting the game and seeming disinterested with the NBA in general. Another criticism that Michaels received was that he too often found himself in tediously long-winded explanations. In return, he would be talking over two or three possessions in a row (which Michaels seemed to be better suited for football and baseball broadcasts, for which he's better known for). The end result was that he would hardly have time to comment on the action viewers were seeing because he was so hung up on a prior subplot or storyline that he felt the audience just had to know about.

Michaels, who had only broadcast a combined twelve regular season games with ABC (with all but one of those games airing from either Los Angeles, where he resides when not sportscasting, or Sacramento), did return for the NBA Finals, which scored its second lowest rating of all time (despite the fact that it was the first Finals in eleven years to go to a seventh game).

Many sports writers and sports television analysts praised Mike Breen (who succeeded Al Michaels as the lead play-by-play man in 2006 following Michaels' departure for NBC), some for his explosive voice and excited calls on game-deciding and game-winning shots and others for the fact that, unlike his predecessor Al Michaels, he was already very familiar with broadcasting basketball games and was essentially a basketball lifer. Despite that, he faced some criticism from those who complained that they would prefer a more established voice, such as Marv Albert or Kevin Harlan. Lead color commentator Hubie Brown faced criticism from writers (most notably Richard Sandomir of the New York Times) as well as bloggers and viewers.

General overview

In its first five years of covering the NBA, ABC has had three lead play-by-play announcers, six lead announcing teams, an anticipated six theme songs, five graphics packages, five pregame shows, six sets of studio teams, and the lowest Nielsen ratings the NBA has ever seen. The number of Sunday afternoon regular season games that ABC normally covers is significantly lower than its predecessor NBC. In its first season of coverage, ABC aired 14 regular season games, in comparison to NBC's yearly average of 33 games. That number increased to 18 games in the next two seasons, and 20 games in the 2005-2006 season. For 2006-07, ABC decreased the number of games it aired, offering 19. When asked by Jim Rome in 2002 about the number of games on ABC, NBA commissioner David Stern made this comment:

Cable and satellite (programming is) increasingly available to everybody who wants it. On ABC, you're going to see us on as many or more Sundays during the regular season as NBC is now, but fewer triple-headers and double-headers, and frankly, we think that the triple-headers and double-headers, which we favored in the past, don't work. It's too hard to get people to sit through six and eight-and-a-half hours of NBA on (TV), and it's good to be on cable during the week because that's where our fans are looking for our games

By contrast to Stern's assessment, the media and many fans found that the cable-heavy TV deal made many games unavailable and, in addition, devalued the league. Starting with the second round of the playoffs, TNT's NBA coverage becomes exclusive, meaning that no local broadcasts can compete. Because of this, fans of teams in the playoffs without cable are unable to watch many playoff games unless they have satellite TV. Also, ABC's coverage is always exclusive, including in the regular season. If a game is on the air opposite an ABC televised game, it cannot be televised locally. This results in some games not being aired on television at all. The Sports Business Daily quoted Houston Chronicle writer Jonathan Feigen as saying:

[the NBA] seemed to marginalize the product, treating their sport as small and their playoffs as no more important than one of 162 Atlanta Braves games.

Unlike previous broadcast partners, ABC has never aired a non-Christmas regular season game after 3:30 p.m. ET. While NBC had several 5:30 p.m. start times for games, ABC has only gone beyond that time on Christmas, and for select playoff games. On March 20, 2005, ABC aired a pair of games regionally (San Antonio Spurs-Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns-Memphis Grizzlies) at 3:30 p.m. When the Spurs-Pistons game ended, the network did not switch the audience to the Suns-Grizzlies game (which was 94-91 late in the fourth quarter). Instead, viewers were sent to their local news. NBC rarely committed this practice, instead sending viewers of the completed game to view the end of the one still in progress.

Music

After the 1990s (when the NBA arguably reached its highest point in terms of popularity) many hardcore and casual fans began to associate the league with NBC, and more accurately, the network's theme music, Roundball Rock. Whereas NBC used Roundball Rock for all twelve years of its coverage, ABC has used at least nine themes in its first four years. Three of the themes were traditional sports themes, while six of them (We Got Hoops by Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Can't Get Enough by Justin Timberlake, Let's Get It Started by the Black Eyed Peas, Lose My Breath by Destiny's Child, This Is How A Heart Breaks by Rob Thomas and Runnin' Down a Dream by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) were contemporary pieces by known artists.

In addition, ABC selected all female pop group The Pussycat Dolls to perform "Right Now" as the new introduction for NBA games. This met with strong criticism from NBA fans, calling the music "wimpy", as opposed to TNT's using rap group Fort Minor's "Remember the Name", which has received acclaim from fans. ABC also used this music to promote the third season of Desperate Housewives. This came only months after NBC used female rock musician Pink to perform the open for Sunday Night Football.

NBA on ESPN Radio

Main article: NBA on ESPN Radio

In June 2006, ESPN announced that Mike Tirico would replace Jim Durham on NBA Finals games starting in 2007. Initially, Dr. Jack Ramsay said that he would retire.

Working with [Jim Durham] is a pleasure, he's the best play-by-play guy in the business, and I will miss very much not working with him. But we were not going to work the Finals together, and I didn't want to do it with anybody else.

Ramsay did not retire; as of the 2006-07 NBA season, he worked regular season games with Durham, until Western Conference Finals. Tirico along with Hubie Brown called 2007 Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals.

NBA Shootaround

Further information: NBA Shootaround and ESPN's NBA studio teams

ESPN's studio team was generally more criticized than praised. After the Pacers–Pistons brawl, ESPN's studio team came under severe criticism, both by the media and by ESPN itself for their stance regarding the actions of Indiana Pacer Ron Artest (who infamously entered the stands to confront a fan, sparking the melee). John Saunders came down hard on Detroit fans, referring to them as "punks", while Greg Anthony and Tim Legler defended Artest.

WNBA coverage

Main article: WNBA on ESPN

During the 2006 WNBA Finals, Detroit Shock head coach, and former ESPN NBA analyst, Bill Laimbeer became irritated by ESPN's coverage, quoted by the Detroit Free Press as saying:

I just hear from our family and friends back home that, 'Boy, ESPN is killing you guys,' ... 'And (Nancy) Lieberman and Doris Burke are just trashing you left and right.' Not only me, but also some of our players on our ballclub. ... We're telling ESPN today to basically stick it.

Laimbeer banned ESPN from the Shock locker room for Game 4 of the series, and also refused to wear a live microphone for that game (as had been the custom throughout the regular season and the playoffs).

NFL coverage

Monday Night Football

Main article: Monday Night Football

After experiencing low ratings and criticism about the production during the 2007 season, ESPN announced that long-time sideline reporters Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya would not return in their previous roles for the 2008 season. Also, other changes to MNF are being considered.

Playmakers

Main article: Playmakers

Though it had a critically acclaimed cast, it was criticized for predictable and often sensationalist storylines, while simultaneously praised by publications such as TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly. The show dealt with topics including drug abuse, steroids, domestic abuse, and homosexuality. The NFL was unhappy with the way the show portrayed professional football players (despite several players, most notably Deion Sanders, speaking out about the accuracy of the lifestyles portrayed), which prompted ESPN to cancel the show.

In addition to the public complaints made to ESPN by the NFL, the fallout from the series may have been a factor behind the lack of video footage of the NFL that was shown on the ESPN25 series of specials that aired in 2004. During nearly all discussion of the league, still photography was put on the screen instead.

Sunday NFL Countdown

Main article: Sunday NFL Countdown

On July 14, 2003, ESPN announced that Rush Limbaugh would be joining the show as a weekly commentator when it premiered on September 7. Limbaugh would provide the "voice of the fan" and was supposed to spark debate on the show. Limbaugh certainly succeeded at the latter. On September 28, Limbaugh commented about Donovan McNabb, the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles:

"Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."

On October 1, 2003, less than one week after that comment Limbaugh resigned from ESPN. The following Sunday on air Tom Jackson said about Limbaugh:

"Let me just say that it was not our decision to have Rush Limbaugh on this show. I've seen replay after replay of Limbaugh's comments with my face attached as well as that of my colleagues, comments which made us very uncomfortable at the time, although the depth and the insensitive nature of which weren't fully felt until it seemed too late to reply. He was brought here to talk football, and he broke that trust. Rush told us the social commentary for which he is so well known would not cross over to our show, and instead, he would represent the viewpoint of the intelligent, passionate fan. Rush Limbaugh was not a fit for NFL Countdown."

Controversies involving ESPN personalities

Skip Bayless

Main article: Skip Bayless

Because of his relatively brash claims and stances, Bayless has been publicly criticized by some high-profile sources. Le Anne Schreiber, the ESPN Ombudsman, criticized him for being so "absolute" in his arguments and for yelling too much on TV; ESPN columnist Bill Simmons has taken multiple shots at him in his columns. According to sources at ESPN, criticism of Mr. Bayless far exceeds that of any other anchorperson or ESPN personality. Bayless was criticized multiple times during the 2005-06 college football season due to his perceived bias against the Texas Longhorns. Many television personalities who observed this believed it to be because of Bayless' Oklahoma roots.

Bayless also erroneously claimed former Suns and Rockets player Eddie Johnson was facing criminal charges. As in the case of many of the criticisms of ESPN, the mistake originated from a faulty print journalism report.

Chris Berman

Main article: Chris Berman

In February 2008, videos of Berman on the ABC Monday Night Football set appeared on the video sharing site YouTube. The videos, filmed in 2000, when Berman anchored the MNF halftime show, depicted Berman using off-color language and flirting with a female member of the broadcast crew. Berman acknowledged the authenticity of the videos, but commented, "Do I wish I didn't say a few things nine years ago? Yes. But if that's the worst thing I ever did, I can live with it."

See also

• You're with me, leather

Ric Bucher

Main article: Ric Bucher

During a radio broadcast on April 16, 2008, Bucher opined that the Utah Jazz are strong at home because of the team's "vicious", "Mormon" fans:

"It is the most intimidating place to play because of the configuration of the arena... and, let's be honest... they are Mormon. They are in St Lake, and there's nothing up there. [Mormons] gotta smile and be happy all the time... and this is the one opportunity for people to get vicious in a fair arena. And the fans seem to take full advantage of it."

Bucher later apologized for the remarks.

Colin Cowherd

Main articles: Colin Cowherd and The Herd with Colin Cowherd

• Eddie Guerrero's Death - In November 2005, Cowherd was criticized by former ESPN ombudsman, George Solomon for his treatment of the death of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler Eddie Guerrero. Colin was quoted as saying "he passed away doing steroids", implying that Guerrero's death had been caused by steroid use. According to Dr. Kathryn Berg, the assistant chief medical examiner for Hennepin County in Minnesota, the autopsy showed that Guerrero died from a hardening and narrowing of the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the heart. He had an enlarged heart and other enlarged organs related to a history of anabolic steroid use.

• Using Un-attributed Material - In March 2006, Cowherd was criticized for using a joke on his show that was posted on the "M Zone", a University of Michigan fan blog without crediting it. Cowherd later apologized on-air and gave the M Zone full credit for the material. The M Zone response: "He was very cool about everything. This incident is now resolved and over."

• The Herd Knocks Blog Offline - On April 5, 2007, listeners of The Herd knocked The Big Lead blog site offline. Cowherd directed his listeners to access the web site home page simultaneously which resulted in a massive increase in traffic. The blog site's servers were not capable of handling so many users at one time so the site was knocked off-line for approximately 96 hours. ESPN's new Ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber wrote an article sharing her (negative) opinion of Cowherd's actions. Schreiber contacted Traug Keller, a Senior Vice President at ESPN Radio, and Keller indicated that Cowherd would face no disciplinary action for the stunt, because there had been no policy against such a tactic at the time. To prevent this from happening again, Keller instituted a zero tolerance policy of such activities in the future.

• Sean Taylor's Murder - Cowherd was criticized for comments made regarding the circumstances surrounding Sean Taylor's death. On November 28, 2007, one day after Taylor's home invasion murder, Cowherd claimed that Taylor's past had brought this upon himself, and that Redskins fans who mourned him were not "grown ups." Cowherd stated about Taylor's turnaround; "Well, yeah, just because you clean the rug doesn't mean you got everything out. Sometimes you've got stains, stuff so deep it never ever leaves." Taylor's death was later found to be the result of a botched robbery, and the robbers hadn't known Taylor was home when they entered.

Gregg Easterbrook

Main article: Gregg Easterbrook

Gregg Easterbrook, who writes the weekly Tuesday Morning Quarterback article during the NFL season on ESPN.com's Page 2 section, was fired from ESPN in 2003 after a blog he had written for The New Republic Online in which he was critical of what he considered to be the senseless violence in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill. Easterbrook wrote the following:

Set aside what it says about Hollywood that today even Disney thinks what the public needs is ever-more-graphic depictions of killing the innocent as cool amusement. Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, is Jewish; the chief of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is Jewish. Yes, there are plenty of Christian and other Hollywood executives who worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence. Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence? Recent European history alone ought to cause Jewish executives to experience second thoughts about glorifying the killing of the helpless as a fun lifestyle choice.

This caused an uproar and accusations that Easterbrook and The New Republic were anti-semitic. Easterbrook wrote that he "mangled" his own ideas by his choice of words and wrote the following to explain his thought process and to apologize:

Twenty minutes after I pressed "send," the entire world had read it. When I reread my own words and beheld how I'd written things that could be misunderstood, I felt awful. To anyone who was offended I offer my apology, because offense was not my intent. But it was 20 minutes later, and already the whole world had seen it... My attempt to connect my perfectly justified horror at an ugly and corrupting movie to the religious faith and ethnic identity of certain executives was hopelessly clumsy...accusing a Christian of adoring money above all else does not engage any history of ugly stereotypes. Accuse a Jewish person of this and you invoke a thousand years of stereotypes about that which Jews have specific historical reasons to fear. What I wrote here was simply wrong, and for being wrong, I apologize.

He further explained that he worships at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, one of the handful of joint Christian-Jewish congregations in the United States. Easterbrook had previously written in a column that "One of the shortcomings of Christianity is that most adherents downplay the faith's interweaving with Judaism" and indicated that he and his family sought out a place where Christians and Jews express their faith cooperatively. The New Republic accepted blame for the piece in an apology and denied that his comments were intentionally anti-semitic. Easterbrook continued to blog for them, and still writes articles on environmentalism (especially the damage caused by sport utility vehicles), religion and other subjects.

After Easterbrook's firing, Tuesday Morning Quarterback moved to NFL.com while Easterbrook himself became an analyst for the then-fledgling NFL Network. In 2006, after Michael Eisner was ousted at Disney, Easterbrook was rehired by ESPN, and Tuesday Morning Quarterback returned to ESPN.com.

Ron Franklin

Main article: Ron Franklin

On October 1, 2005, according to the Chicago Tribune, during a game between Notre Dame and Purdue that Franklin was calling, sideline reporter Holly Rowe lauded Purdue defensive coordinator Brock Spack for using all three timeouts on defense despite trailing by four touchdowns late in the game. "If the coaches are giving up," Rowe added, "what does that say to the players?" Franklin responded: "Holly, it's not giving up. It's 49-21, sweetheart."

In response to that, Mo Davenport, senior coordinating producer for college football said, "It was an inappropriate comment, and we've communicated that to Ron. There's never a reason to say something so mean-spirited. Ron apologized. We dealt with it internally."

Ever since Franklin was dropped from the Saturday primetime games on ESPN in 2005, many fans and bloggers have expressed their displeasure with the demotion. Even Richard Deitsch of SI.com wrote about how many people were displeased about the move. However, in response to this, Franklin has simply said:

You don't do something as long as I did and not miss it. I've taken the high road on this and I really haven't said anything negative to anybody. I really don't want to start now. But I don't know if that opportunity will afford itself again.

For Franklin fans, the good news is that he doesn't plan on hanging it up anytime soon.

I'll be 65 in a month, but I'm a long way from wanting to retire.

— January 2007

Jim Gray

Main article: Jim Gray (sportscaster)

While some have been critical of Gray for being abrasive in interviews, others have also criticized him for giving soft interviews. Gray has been known for his close relationship with Kobe Bryant, which showed in the immediate aftermath of Bryant's sexual assault situation (the night when the news broke, Gray appeared on SportsCenter in defense of Bryant's character) and in several sideline interviews. It was Gray whom Bryant phoned to vent about teammate Shaquille O'Neal in October of that year (a phone call that started one of O'Neal and Bryant's worst disagreements). Also, some found Gray's interview with maligned baseball player Barry Bonds in 2006 to be too soft.

Todd Harris

Main article: Todd Harris

In 2004, Harris began his involvement with ABC and ESPN's coverage of the IRL. He was assigned to be a pit reporter for their IndyCar Series coverage after joining the network for motocross and X Games coverage.

In 2005, Harris was promoted to be ABC and ESPN's new lap-by-lap announcer of the IRL, replacing Paul Page. Fans who met the popular Page (widely considered as the voice for U.S. open wheel racing) at events after the announcement said he was shocked and disappointed by the decision. Other race fans believe Disney has made bad calls with announcers, first with Bob Jenkins leaving the network after the 2003 season, and also with pit reporters Jack Arute, Jr., son of the Stafford (CT) Motor Speedway owner, and Jerry Punch, who substituted for Jenkins frequently on NASCAR broadcasts in the late 1990s, including Dale Earnhardt, Sr.'s last NASCAR win in 2000, whom some believed should have taken the role of lap-by-lap.

ABC Sports and in particular, Todd Harris were widely criticized by sportswriters after the race for their coverage of the 2005 Indianapolis 500.

One of the most significant events in the race was that a female racer Danica Patrick, who started and finished 4th, lead 19 laps in the process, becoming the first woman ever to lead the race. Even when Patrick was running mid-pack, as she had through the middle portion of the race, ABC and Harris focused significant attention on her. This angered several columnists, who thought the frontrunners deserved more coverage than they received.

When Patrick took the race lead on lap 59 (partly because most of the frontrunners had pitted, and Patrick opted to stay out), the first time a woman led a lap in the Indy 500, Harris said, "50 years from now, you will remember where you were." Orlando Sentinel sportswriter Jerry Greene disputed this, writing the next day, "I seriously doubt it, Todd." Greene also wrote that Harris "said many stupid things Sunday because of Ms. Patrick's efforts."

Houston Chronicle writer David Barron said during the pre-race show and the race's first 90 minutes, he "counted an average of one Patrick reference every five minutes, and each reference went on for some time."

Toronto Star writer Richard Sandomir wrote that Harris and his analyst, former two-time Indy 500 runner-up Scott Goodyear, failed to note that Wheldon had overtaken Patrick on lap 193, seven from the finish, until 20 seconds after it happened. Sandomir also wrote that it took Harris thirty seconds to note Patrick had drifted back to fourth place, behind Vitor Meira and Bryan Herta.

Jerry Lundquist of the Richmond Times-Dispatch mentioned Page in his review, saying, "Viewers lose. [Page's] professionalism was missed. Harris' enthusiasm for the event was over the edge." Lundquist also wrote, "Either [Harris] was told to or took it on himself to become Patrick's personal flack."

Newsday writer Steve Zipay said that in the final laps, Harris "raised the volume in what seemed suspiciously like rooting for Patrick." Two days later, on May 31, Zipay appeared on sportscaster Tim Brando's radio show on The Sporting News' radio network, and wondered if ABC seemed like too much of a cheerleader for Patrick.

Lou Holtz

Main article: Lou Holtz

On October 18, 2008 ESPN analyst Lou Holtz apologized on air for mentioning Adolf Hitler during a college football studio show the previous night. The former Notre Dame coach said "Ya know, Hitler was a great leader too," while attempting to make a point about good and bad leadership during a discussion of the struggles of first-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez.

Jason Jackson

Main article: Jason Jackson

Jackson was fired from ESPN in 2002 for allegedly making comments in e-mails to colleagues that had sexual overtones and were deemed inappropriate.

Dana Jacobson

Main article: Dana Jacobson

At a roast for co-workers Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic in January 2008, an intoxicated Jacobson reportedly said, "Fuck Notre Dame." "Fuck Touchdown Jesus." "Fuck Jesus." ESPN has released a statement apologizing for any offense given to the Notre Dame Football program while not specifically addressing the remarks that Jacobson made nor releasing any video or transcripts of her remarks.

Brian Kinchen

Main article: Brian Kinchen

He was a commentator for ESPNU but was suspended after making a comment during a game that receivers needed to use their soft hands to "caress" the ball and responding to his comment as "kinda gay."

Tony Kornheiser

Main article: Tony Kornheiser

While earning a name as a critic of many people and organizations, he is famously averse to criticism himself. Stephen Rodrick wrote for Slate that Tony Kornheiser was allowed by ESPN to argue aimlessly on television and that his Washington Post column was being used to plug side projects rather than gather news from cited sources. Kornheiser called on Slate, then owned by The Washington Post, to fire Rodrick.

After Kornheiser's first game on Monday Night Football, Paul Farhi wrote in The Washington Post that Kornheiser had emphasized the obvious, played third fiddle, and was reminiscent of Dennis Miller "in a bad way." Kornheiser responded saying that Farhi was a "two-bit weasel slug" and his own newspaper had back-stabbed him during an interview on The Dan Patrick Show on August 15, 2006. His response generated more criticism from The Washington Post and other media outlets.

Mike Golic, an ESPN colleague of Kornheiser's, who had expressed skepticism regarding his prospects as an on-air analyst because he was never an athlete, said that his performance on MNF was “fine.” Kornheiser's response was, “I just want to wring Golic’s neck and hang him up over the back of a shower rod like a duck.”

During the Sept. 15, 2008, broadcast, Kornheiser issued a vague apology almost two quarters after he joked about not being able to understand what a Spanish-language broadcaster was saying. He also earned a rebuke from commentator Ron Jaworski during the same game. After Cowboys linebacker Zach Thomas "read" the intended receiver and deflected a pass without turning around, Kornheiser insisted the play was simply fortunate, even though this type of coverage is taught at the youth league level.

Kornheiser refers to Jay Mariotti on Pardon the Interruption as "He Who Shall Not Be Named" due to Mariotti taking over ESPN 1000 from him in 2004.

Mark Madden

Main article: Mark Madden

On May 27, 2008, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Madden had been fired by ESPN. This transpired after Madden made inflammatory comments regarding Senator Ted Kennedy on his radio show Wednesday May 21, 2008. He stated "I'm very disappointed to hear Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts is near death because of a brain tumor. I always hoped Senator Kennedy would live long enough to be assassinated. And I wonder if he will receive a get well card from the Kopechne family."

Two hours after making the statement, under pressure from station management, Madden backtracked. WEAE 1250 announced on Monday, May 26, 2008, that Madden was suspended from his radio show.

His last appearance on ESPN Radio 1250 was May 22, 2008.

Dave O'Brien

Main article: Dave O'Brien

O'Brien teamed up with former U.S. national soccer team captain Marcelo Balboa for the 2006 World Cup as the play-by play man on the ESPN and ABC Sports' primary announcing team. O'Brien and Balboa called the most prominent games of the tournament with their commentary generating controversy for several reasons, notably some questionable statements made on-air. ESPN and ABC stated that their broadcast strategy was intended, in voice and style, to target the vast majority of Americans who do not follow the sport on a regular basis. In 2007, Balboa was replaced on ESPN's soccer coverage. For 2008, ESPN put O'Brien solely on its baseball coverage so that he will miss fewer Boston Red Sox games, with JP Dellacamera taking over soccer duties.

Keith Olbermann

Main article: Keith Olbermann

In 1997, Olbermann abruptly left ESPN under a cloud of controversy, apparently burning his bridges with the network's management. This began a long and drawn out feud between Olbermann and ESPN. During the time between 1997 and 2007 incidents between the two sides included Olbermann publishing an essay on Salon.com in November 2002 entitled "Mea Culpa" in which he conceded that his own insecurities and neurotic behavior had led to many of his problems at work. The essay told of an instance of where his former bosses remarked he had "too much backbone," - which is literally true. Olbermann has six lumbar vertebrae instead of the normal five. In 2004, ESPN famously snubbed him from the guest lineup of its 25th Anniversary SportsCenter "Reunion Week," which saw the likes of personalities such as Craig Kilborn and Charley Steiner return to the SportsCenter set. In 2007, ten years after Olbermann's departure, in an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, he said "If you burn a bridge, you can possibly build a new bridge, but if there's no river any more, that's a lot of trouble." During the same interview, Olbermann stated that he recently learned that as a result of ESPN agreeing to let him back on the airwaves, he was banned from ESPN's main Bristol, Connecticut campus.

Woody Paige

Main article: Woody Paige

On June 28, 2007 it was reported that a former makeup artist for Cold Pizza was suing ESPN, alleging incidents of sexual harassment against host Jay Crawford, and Paige. Both Crawford and Paige have denied these allegations.

Little follow-up of this story has taken place, likely because Paige has returned to a role in print journalism. His colleagues generally steer clear of addressing issues that involve other print journalists, even as they pursue articles with the same level of allegations against people in other professions.

Steve Phillips

Main article: Steve Phillips

Phillips was hired as a baseball analyst for ESPN prior to the 2005 baseball season, and serves as a regular anchor on the nightly program Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter. He primarily serves as a game analyst during Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts.

His analysis is often met with criticism. While some appreciate the insight of the former Major League insider, others consider him to make relatively safe predictions with little said of interest. He was extremely critical of the Cincinnati Reds Rule V Draft acquisition, Josh Hamilton, suggesting that the Reds were condoning Hamilton's years of substance abuse and other off-the-field problems. Some have noted the irony that Phillips was given his own second chance after some missteps in his private life while serving as the Mets General Manager. Phillips is often critical of the New York Yankees. In both 2006 and 2007, he said that they would have no chance of making the playoffs. However, the Yankees made the playoffs in both seasons, winning the AL East in 2006 and earning the AL Wild Card spot in 2007 after losing the divisional race to the Boston Red Sox.

He has also said in 2006 that the Yankees would definitely trade Alex Rodriguez then in 2007, said Rodriguez would definitely opt out and leave the Yankees. Rodriguez was neither traded nor left, although he was right that Rodriguez would opt out of his contract, he would later resign with the team.

Harold Reynolds

Main article: Harold Reynolds

On July 25, 2006, Harold Reynolds was fired from ESPN. The ESPN spokeswoman confirmed that Reynolds "is no longer with the network" but did not give a reason for the departure. "Three people who work at ESPN and familiar with the case said the cause was a pattern of sexual harassment." Reynolds confirmed that an accusation of sexual harassment was the reason for his departure but called it "a total misunderstanding" and that "I gave a woman a hug and I felt like it was misinterpreted."

It was announced on October 30, 2006 that Reynolds planned to sue ESPN after having tried "everything possible to handle this situation quietly behind the scenes," while stating that he is seeking the money owed to him under the remainder of his contract, including interest and lost earnings. He is also asking the court for damages for lost future opportunities.

The Smoking Gun obtained a copy of Reynolds' contract that was filed as part of the lawsuit. Reynolds' lawsuit is for $5m, roughly equivalent to the value of the contract Reynolds signed that was scheduled to cover the 2006–2011 seasons.

Sean Salisbury

Main article: Sean Salisbury

After getting his start on the Comedy Central show BattleBots, Salisbury went on to become an NFL analyst on ESPN, appearing on SportsCenter and NFL Live. He is well known for the good-natured teasing of fellow analyst John Clayton in the SportsCenter segment "Four Downs". Clayton once famously got back at Salisbury. During an argument, Salisbury attempted to prove his point by telling Clayton, "You never played in the NFL." Clayton, noting that Salisbury spent most of his career as a backup quarterback on the sidelines (he received about a year's worth of NFL snaps in an eight-year career), fired back, "Neither did you!"

On February 26, 2008 Salisbury's contract was not renewed by ESPN. Salisbury suggested, according to Profootballtalk.com, that he was unhappy with his salary and status compared to those analysts who were more prominent players in their NFL careers. Salisbury explained, saying that “I’d grown tired of being punished for not being an NFL superstar,” He also complained that “analysts who don’t work as hard as me, don’t prepare as hard as me, and don’t have my resume were making more than me just because of their ability to throw or catch a football.”

In the fall of 2006, Salisbury was suspended by ESPN for one week, allegedly for indecent exposure. A column in the New York Post by Phil Mushnick on January 19, 2007 confirmed the suspension. According to the allegations, Salisbury took a picture of his penis with a cell phone and showed it to many women who worked at the station.

Danyelle Sargent

Main article: Danyelle Sargent

Sargent was the product of minor controversy on March 9, 2006 when Sargent was co-anchoring a live broadcast of ESPNEWS and a series of technical difficulties occurred, leading ESPN to air a taped segment played. Thinking their microphones had been cut (which is the normal procedure when airing a taped segment), she exclaimed "What the fuck was that?" over the broadcast.

Stuart Scott

Main article: Stuart Scott

At SportsCenter, Scott was part of a duo with Rich Eisen which made both famous. His use of non-standard English elevated his profile as a sports broadcaster, but also made him the target of criticism. Scott's supporters insist his style effectively taps into and regurgitates the hip-hop language and culture of a youth demographic critical to ESPN's ratings success. But most observers see it as contrived, overwrought faux-hipness with nothing more than a marketing-inspired persona. Others have condemned Scott for plagiarism. One of his most famous oft-repeated phrases, "he's as cool as the other side of the pillow", was lifted from at least one other sports commentator (Wayne Walker, former NFL great and analyst for the San Francisco 49ers' radio broadcasts. He occasionally used this line throughout the 1980s to characterize the composed play of legendary quarterback Joe Montana. It has not been confirmed that Scott has publicly acknowledged Walker's authorship or prior usage of this phrase) : Tim Meadows and Finesse Mitchell parodied him on Saturday Night Live.

Bill Simmons

Main article: Bill_Simmons § Controversy

Currently, Bill Simmons appears to be embroiled in a feud with management at ESPN.com. When asked by the editors of Deadspin.com why he had not written a new column in over 2 weeks, he replied "I still love writing my column and only re-signed last year because I really did believe that we had hashed out all the behind the scenes bullshit and come to some sort of agreement on creative lines, media criticism rules, the promotion of the column and everything else on ESPN.com. Within a few months, all of those things changed and certain promises were not kept. It's as simple as that."

Dick Vitale

Main article: Dick Vitale

Vitale is often criticized for being a "homer" for Duke, especially for Coach Mike Krzyzewski, as well as most teams in the ACC. He is also known for mentioning Duke frequently during broadcasts, even when Duke is not playing. Temple head coach John Chaney once said "You can't get Dick Vitale to say 15 words without Duke coming out of his mouth". He is also called "Duke Vitale" or "Dookie V", a take-off on his "Dickie V" nickname, by detractors for the same reason. Although his bias towards Duke is widely speculated by many, he is also believed to favor the entire ACC in general, including Duke's rival, North Carolina.

Jason Whitlock

Main articles: Jason Whitlock and The Sports Reporters

When Jason Whitlock was interviewed by sports blog The Big Lead, he disparaged two of his ESPN colleagues. Whitlock labeled Mike Lupica "an insecure, mean-spirited busybody", and referred to Robert "Scoop" Jackson as a "clown", saying that "the publishing of [Jackson's] fake ghetto posturing is an insult to black intelligence." Jackson and Whitlock are both African-American.

After those comments were made public, Whitlock stopped appearing on ESPN and soon announced to The Kansas City Star readers in September 2006 that he was fired altogether from ESPN as a result of his remarks; he wrote that the company doesn't tolerate criticism and acted as they saw fit.

SportsCenter

Main article: SportsCenter

NBC Sports commentator Tom Hammond has criticized ESPN's SportsCenter, calling it a "comedy show."

Who's Now

Main article: Who's Now

"Who's Now" was a daily series aired during SportsCenter throughout July 2007, in which viewers helped ESPN determine the ultimate sports star by considering both on-field success and off-field buzz. Based on fan nominations, ESPN Research selected 32 finalists to square off in a single-elimination bracket. The show received more than 5 million votes on ESPN.com, and on August 5, 2007 ESPN announced that Tiger Woods was the winner. The show received heavy criticism from fans and sportswriters, citing it as nonsensical and irrelevant.

Participants were placed in one of four eight-way "regions" named for historic athletes that, in the judgment of ESPN, best exemplify the qualities of "now": Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, Babe Ruth, and Billie Jean King.

Oddly enough, fan voting was not the sole factor in deciding who moved one. The panel consisting of ESPN figureheads and pop culture icons (Jessica Biel, for example) counted for 30% of the vote. This was enough to overturn the fan decisions of Barry Bonds over Jeff Gordon.