1979: ESPN tips off
Before it became the behemoth from Bristol, America’s first 24-hour sports network was a small basic cable channel which introduced roughly 30,000 viewers to its flagship program, SportsCenter, with this:
Lee Leonard and George Grande anchored the inaugural SportsCenter, a half-hour edition of highlights. Within a few years of its launch, ESPN would begin to broadcast live sporting events, engage in original reporting and analysis, and eventually pioneer the development of weapons-grade sports punditry through the controversial “Project Bayless.” -A.D.
Today’s Birthdays: Corbin Bernsen, L.A. lawyer (58); Susan Blakely, Cabot Covian (64); Michael Emerson, kindly high school teacher (58); Diane Farr, num3rical (43); Oliver Hudson, engaged (36); Julie Kavner, beehive aficionado (62); Peter Lawford, pack rat (d. 1984); Tom Everett Scott, southlander (42); Evan Rachel Wood, vampire queen (25).
I am still an ESPN watcher, but I have grown more selective, due to 2 factors;
First, the proliferation of other and often better sources for my sports information.
Second, and most important, their willingness to keep tired, insipid (e.g. Chris Berman, Mark May, Lee Corso, Stuart Scott) types around, allowing themselves to be their own caricatures.