ESPN’s Trey Wingo (Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)

Last Friday’s telecast of NFL Kickoff has generated some buzz on the internet for reasons beyond its usual astute and informative analysis and information.

Fans of the movie, Princess Bride, picked up on a recurring theme throughout the show.

“Tedy (Bruschi), Mark (Schlereth) and I really like the movie,” said host Trey Wingo. “We used a few lines on previous NFL Live shows.

“On NFL Kickoff last Friday, it sort of started and just kept going,” he said. “At some point it becomes a challenge to see if you can keep it going. . . without forcing it. There was no agenda, no pre-planning, no forethought. We simply did it to amuse ourselves. It’s fun that people who are fans of the movie picked up on it, but we never did it to attract attention to ourselves.”

ICYMI: Highlights from the past week on Front Row

• NFL analyst and ESPN Radio host Mark Schlereth has a wide range of interests beyond football and sports. One of his recent projects was a role in the upcoming movie Red Dawn which arrives in theaters Wednesday, Nov. 21. We have a video of his performance and he talked with us about his experience.

• This past weekend College GameDay visited the USS San Diego, stationed at San Diego Naval Base, in support of Veterans Day. An ESPN Images photographer captured some great behind-the-scenes shots of the crew as well as a time lapse video of the set up for GameDay on the ship.

• Front Row spoke with Dick Shafter, MNF’s timeout producer. You may have seen Schafter on the sidelines wearing bright orange sleeves which he uses to signal the referees when commercial breaks are requested. Read more about his job on the sidelines here.

• Yesterday’s Outside the Lines feature marked the start of a collaboration between OTL and PBS’s FRONTLINE. Front Row spoke with brothers, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru, who are investigating the ongoing story of concussions in the National Football League.

Row of Four
Our favorites from across ESPN over the past week

• From Grantland: Jalen Rose shares his NBA “Dark Alley Fab Five.”

•From ESPN the Magainze: Boston Celtic’s Kevin Garnett keeps the rivalry alive.

• Rick Reilly profiles a father and son who decided to not only visit every NFL stadium this season, but bring wounded military veterans to each game.

• Enjoy an array of photos in this gallery from ESPN Images.

Saturday in Toronto at UFC 152, Jon “Bones” Jones defends his light heavyweight title against Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort in the main event on the MMA card.

To help promote the fight, Jone visited ESPN’s Bristol campus Tuesday and took part in the “Car Wash.” In the video above, take a look at the jam-packed day the fighter had on campus.

ICYMI: Highlights from the past week on Front Row

• Monday Night Football went down to Georgia and Charlie Daniels re-penned his classic, The Devil Went Down to Georgia for the game’s open. The Falcons defeated the Broncos, 27-21 and helped ESPN win the night in ratings among all networks — broadcast or cable — in households, viewers and all key male and adult demos. Similarly, MNF led all television programs.

• E:60′s Victor Cruz feature ran on Tuesday night and Front Row spoke with the piece’s producer, Lisa Binns.

• Already one of ESPN’s most animated characters, Tony Reali gets his shot at BEING an animated character on Saturday’s Kick Buttowski on Disney XD. Reali shared his voice-over methods and sampled some of his mischievous laughs.

• ESPN President John Skipper and many of ESPN’s reporters, hosts and analysts paid tribute to NFL Films’ Steve Sabol upon Tuesday’s news of his death.

Row of Four
Our favorites from across ESPN over the past week

• This week’s episode of E:60 featured Jack Burleson. You don’t want to miss this inspiring story.

•  The latest ESPN The Magazine issue features Mike Trout on the cover. Sam Miller reports on the player’s impressive rookie season.

•  Rob Gronkowski will be on E:60 next week. Here is a preview of the piece featuring a man who calls himself “the craziest dude in the NFL.”

• Enjoy an array of photos in this gallery from ESPN Images.

Jim Calhoun retired as the University of Connecticut’s basketball coach Thursday, closing a 26-year career at the school (40 overall) with three national titles. UConn announced Thursday that assistant coach Kevin Ollie, who played point guard for Calhoun from 1991-95, will replace the Hall of Famer.

In the video above, Calhoun sits down with Andy Katz to talk about his career at UConn, what he’ll miss most and his decision to retire.

ICYMI: Highlights from the past week on Front Row

• John Clayton’s “This is SportsCenter” commercial continues to amuse, delight and astound. And this week, Front Row had the outtakes.

• Rich Froning and Annie Thorisdottir — the 2012 CrossFit Games King and Queen — stopped by ESPN’s Bristol campus. They spoke with Front Row about ESPN’s coverage of CrossFit, the pressure to perform and their impressions of the ESPN campus.

• In a historic week for SportsCenter, we met the ‘DaDaDa, DaDaDa’ guy. SportsCenter theme composer John Colby shares the story of the song’s birth, its evolution and what the song means to him today.

• Country music legend Charlie Daniels and The Charlie Daniels Band will have a starring role in ESPN’s Monday Night Football “open” next week (Sept. 17, 8:30 p.m. ET). The open will feature some new lyrics for Daniels’ 1979 hit song ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’.

Row of Four
Our favorites from across ESPN over the past week

• To honor his dear friend on the occasion of the 50,000th episode of SportsCenter, Chris Berman offered this special tribute to the late Tom Mees.

• Of all the accolades Peyton Manning has received in his career, this one may be the greatest.

• Notre Dame faces Michigan State on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET live from Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich. on ABC. ESPN’s Mike Golic and Magic Johnson decided to place a friendly wager on the game, listen to the terms of their agreement here.

• Enjoy an array of photos in this gallery from ESPN Images.

The NFL season kicked off this past week and the NFL Live team is just as excited as the fans.

In the video above, ESPN’s Trey Wingo, Herm Edwards and Mark Schlereth are on-set at the NFL Live promo shoot. The spot takes place at a “NFL resort” where the ESPN team is available to share football knowledge with “guests.”

Look for the ad next week.

ICYMI: Highlights from the past week on Front Row

•As the 50,000th episode of SportsCenter approaches (Thursday, July 13, 6 p.m. ET), ESPN Senior Vice President and Executive Producer Mark Gross addressed some of the most common SportsCenter-related topics and questions with Front Row.

•Fan Central released the first edition of its mailbag. The initial offering provides answers to some of the questions fans have submitted including Jon Gruden’s Twitter status, the return of DLHQ and more.

•Gerry Austin a former NFL official and the current Supervisor of Officials for Conference USA will join the MNF team to provide weekly insight on NFL rules and on-field enforcement. Austin also offers his perspective on the current NFL replacement officials.

•This week ESPN celebrated its 33rd birthday and announced the re-signing of six-time National Sportscaster of the Year Chris Berman, one of ESPN’s original anchors.

Row of Four
Our favorites from across ESPN over the past week

* Grantland heralded the new NFL season with helmet re-designs.

* A Cincinnati trumpet player fell during the Pitt-Cincy game. He was fine. His trumpet was not. UNITE “investigated.”

* The Mag released its annual “Ultimate Team Rankings.” Warning: Toronto Maple Leafs and Sacramento Kings fans need not click.

* Enjoy an array of photos in this gallery from ESPN Images.

(NFL Live ad video produced by Dave Williams.)

In the video above, ESPN tennis analyst Patrick McEnroe discusses Andy Roddick’s recent announcement that he will be retiring from professional tennis after his run at the US Open. The 2003 champion at Flushing Meadows and former No. 1-ranked player, Roddick made the surprise announcement at a news conference on Thursday — which was also his 30th birthday.

Check out ESPN.com’s Slam Central tennis page to keep up-to-date on all the US Open action.

ICYMI Highlights from the past week on Front Row

•Northwestern and Syracuse meet today at 12 ET on ESPN2, but there’s more than gridiron glory at stake. For many ESPN employees who are alums of each school’s esteemed journalism program, it’s about pride. A few ESPN employees who were graduates of these two fine academic institutions shared their thoughts on what this showdown means.

•SportsCenter is fast approaching its 50,000th episode. ESPN’s Chris Berman wrote a piece about his good friend and former SportsCenter anchor and colleague Tom Mees, who tragically passed away 16 years ago in August.

•Back in April, Texas A&M won the chance to bring the College GameDay commercial shoot to their campus. The entire GameDay crew joined thousands of fans to preform the A&M ‘Midnight Yell’ tradition at Kyle Field. Watch the ad here.

•The college football season kicked off this week. To prepare for the start of the season we asked 18 ESPN college football analysts what the sport meant to them. Check out their responses here.

Enjoy an array of photos from this gallery of ESPN Images of the Week.

Fantasy Football season is upon us, and ESPN is here to help make your draft as smooth as possible. The ESPN Fantasy Football Commissioner’s Toolkit is a set of online tools that helps every commissioner get their job done. Check out all of the toolkit’s features in the video above.

Start your league at espn.com/fantasyfootball

ICYMI Highlights from the past week on Front Row

•HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel profiled ESPN’s Jon Gruden on Tuesday. Gumbel’s interview with the Monday Night Football analyst focused on his coaching background, his ESPN analyst role and other topics. Watch a preview here.

•Play-by-play commentator Brent Musburger will continue to inform and entertain sports fans across ESPN platforms after signing a multi-year extension. His partner, analyst Kirk Herbstreit, shared his thoughts on working with Musburger.

•Olympic hurdler Lolo Jones completed the ESPN “Car Wash,” appearing on several shows including SportsCenter and Outside the Lines. She talked with Front Row and fit in a couple “speed dates” with the UNITE hosts during her visit.

•Front Row introduced ESPN Fan Central. Fan Central will be the place fans can go to ask questions about ESPN’s programs, personalities, history, etc. Meet Fan Central team in the video at the bottom of the post.

Enjoy an array of photos from this gallery of ESPN Images of the Week.

(L-R) Bill Parcells, Trey Wingo and Keyshawn Johnson. Trey Wingo will host SportsCenter Special: Bill Parcells’ NFL Preview on Tuesday, Aug. 28 (10 p.m., ESPN), a one-hour in-depth look at the 2012 season with two-time Super Bowl winning head coach Bill Parcells and Keyshawn Johnson. (Photo by Rich Arden / ESPN)

MNF analyst Jon Gruden, former Oakland Raiders head coach, returned to the famed ‘Black Hole’ Monday and received a hero’s welcome. (Jim Carr/ESPN)

The Williamsport, Pa. portion of the Little League World Series has begun and is presented on various ESPN platforms. ESPN, ABC and ESPN2 will combine to present all 32 games of the summer classic through the championship game on ABC Aug. 26.

Baseball Tonight host and SportsCenter anchor Karl Ravech, who considers calling the Little League World Series one of his dream assignments, told Front Row about that and more in a Front & Center podcast.

In the video below, Chris McKendry and Kyle Peterson recap Friday’s wild Canada-Mexico matchup.

ICYMI: Highlights from the past week at Front Row

•Thursday, on ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike In The Morning co-host Mike Golic, one of Notre Dame’s proudest alums, got fired up about some comments made by ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine columnist Rick Reilly regarding Notre Dame’s football program. Read more about the debate here.

•MNF analyst Jon Gruden (lead photo), who coached the Oakland Raiders from 1998-2001, returned to the Oakland Coliseum on Monday to call a preseason game against the Cowboys. Before the game, he told Front Row his feelings about his return.

•This week, original anchor George Grande and ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen reunited in the very studio where the first episode of SportsCenter aired to look ahead to another milestone: SportsCenter’s 50,000 episode, which will air next month. Watch the video here.

•Songwriters Andy Dodd and Adam Watts wrote Summer Forever, an original song that leads into ESPN’s coverage of the 2012 Little League World Series (LLWS) in Williamsport, Pa. beginning Thursday.

The theme song seems to fit perfectly.

•ESPN’s new MNF campaign, ‘It All Comes Down to Monday Night’ debuted this week. This year’s campaign features football stars including Patriot Rob Gronkowski, New York Jet Darrelle Revis and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

This week, Front Row visited the Londres Al Dia set built at Studio G in Bristol. The Spanish-language daily show is part of the comprehensive variety of London 2012 Olympics-themed specials and original news and information content that has been produced from London and across our studios around the globe.

Hosted by versatile sports expert Carolina Guillen and SportsCenter anchor Mauricio Pedroza, Londres Al Dia airs daily and recaps the best events of the day and the most memorable Olympic moments. The show is part of the Olympic programming lineup for ESPN in Mexico, Central America and ESPN Deportes in the U.S.

In the video above, the co-hosts are joined by Jo Allevato and Luis Baraldi, producers of the show, for a peek at the making of Londres Al Dia.

ICYMI: Highlights from the past week at Front Row

•During the Television Critics Association (TCA) Summer Press Tour, ESPN Films announced its fall slate of 30 for 30 projects as well as the first four 30 for 30 Shorts, which will premiere on Grantland.com. Check out a preview of what’s to come in this season’s 30 for 30.

•New photos of the the 2012 Monday Night Football team including; Mike Tirico, analyst Jon Gruden and sideline reporter Lisa Salters. The team made its debut Thursday in ESPN’s telecast of the Packers at Chargers preseason game, which also had some historic significance, as you’ll see below.

•Astute viewers may have noticed ESPN anchor Sara Walsh wearing some rather un-fashionable footwear on-air this week. Front Row chased down Walsh — it wasn’t too hard — to get an injury update.

•Mike & Mike producer Liam Chapman handled the overnight Dwight Howard trade announcement with great composure. Also, take a look at ESPN analysts’ thoughts on the major NBA trade.

•For the first time, a woman was part of an NFL officiating team, and ESPN telecast this milestone when the Packers-Chargers game aired. Check out the photo below of Shannon Eastin, who served as a line judge during the game.

It was another in a long line of sports milestones for women that have aired across ESPN outlets.

Shannon Eastin officiates the Green Bay Packers vs. San Diego Chargers game last Thursday.
(Eddie Perlas/ESPN Images)

Video produced by Kelly B. Manzo; Videography by Hannah Worster
Gabriela Nunez contributed to this story

The ESPN Car Wash brings some interesting characters to our Bristol campus every week.

As you’ll see in the video above, Chicago Bulls star Joakim Noah visited Thursday. Michelle Steele interviewed him for a spot on ESPNChicago.com, and Noah really warmed up to a question about his favorite Chicago athletes. He’s a fan of Chicago White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski and Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane, particularly Kane.

Here’s some highlights from Front Row this week:

Front Row sat down with analyst Steve Nicol the day before the 2011 ESPN Summer Soccer Series match between Liverpool FC and AS Roma at historic Fenway Park. Nicol discussed his bond with Liverpool FC, one of the world’s most-supported football clubs.

Little League Baseball announced Monday that college basketball analyst Dick Vitale will be inducted into the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum’s Hall of Excellence on Saturday, Aug. 18.

ESPN colleagues congratulated Baseball Tonight analyst Barry Larkin, who became a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame this past Sunday in Cooperstown, N.Y.

ESPN’s bureau reporters and producers took part in a Team ESPN community outreach day at nearby Camp Sloper in Southington, Conn. In this video, ESPN reporters — including Jenn Brown, Colleen Dominguez and Ed Werder — and producers shared tales from the day of beautifying the camp’s grounds.

Katie Couric and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick sat down for an in-depth talk and went for a ride around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway recently. The interview airs during NASCAR Countdown prior to the inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis today at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Follow the action at the actual Open Championship today and Sunday on multiple ESPN platforms, including ESPN.com.

Let’s see what else has been happening on Front Row this week:

ESPN announced that Samantha Steele, most recently a reporter for the Longhorn Network, will join the first hour of College GameDay Built by The Home Depot on ESPNU each Saturday from 9-10 a.m. ET this college football season. In addition, she will provide features and updates for the 10 a.m.-noon hours of GameDay on ESPN. We have a Podcast with Steel here.

Front Row’s special correspondent, Stacy Greenberg, the wife of ESPN’s Mike Greenberg, supplied her multimedia talents to help illustrate what life with the two Mikes can be like. Stacy joined Mike and Mike as they ventured to Manhattan for the duo’s ninth appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

As noted earlier, ESPN has been televising the 152nd renewal of The Open Championship from Royal Lytham & St Annes in Lancashire, England. ESPN vice president of remote production Mike McQuade said ESPN has been gradually weaning ESPN’s reliance on the BBC when televising The Open Championship, including the introduction of high definition in 2010. More on the progress here.

ESPN announced its first late-night entertainment show, UNITE, will debut on ESPNU Monday, Aug. 27 at midnight ET. Airing live from ESPN’s Bristol, Conn. studios Monday through Friday, the show will tackle sports and pop culture news with an often irreverent take on social media-driven sports happenings.