Horde of ESPN film aficionados offer Oscar outlook; analyst Mark Schlereth laments Red Dawn snub

ESPN employees love the movies.

Sometimes, they’re producing them: College football analyst Ed Cunningham won at the 2012 Oscars for underwriting the Best Documentary, Undefeated.

Sometimes, they’re watching and then critiquing them: On Friday, SportsCenter anchor and movie maven Adnan Virk shared his 2013 Academy Award picks with Front Row.

Sometimes, they’re appearing in them: ESPN NFL analyst and ESPN Radio co-host Mark Schlereth (Red Dawn) and SportsCenter anchor Stan Verrett (Playing For Keeps) made 2012 cameos in major films.

Tonight, even the sports world turns to Hollywood for winners and losers, watching the 85th Oscars on ABC (7 p.m. ET). To celebrate the annual night of gowns and tuxedos, Front Row strolled the halls of ESPN and asked employees to share their Oscar insights. . . and sample their acceptance speeches.

The results are rivetting performances from SportsCenter co-anchors Hannah Storm and Kevin Negandhi, among others. Cameos include ESPN makeup artist Tiffany Hall-Scarmana (on the cosmetic magic of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey); E:60 feature producer John Minton III (on storytelling in Zero Dark 30); and E:60’s Andy Tennant (on Argo).

Schlereth, an actor of some repute, portrayed a high school football coach in Red Dawn, a remake of the 1984 cult classic.

Somehow, neither Verrett nor Schlereth were among the Best Supporting Actor nominees and Schlereth calmly shared his views on the obvious “snub” below.

Top video produced by Ariel Bond
Bottom video produced by Dave Williams