Tagged: ‘Chris McKendry’

posted by on May 9, 2013 2:13 PM

SportsCenter, tennis majors anchor Chris McKendry makes the most of being a mom, even when she’s working worlds away from home

SportsCenter anchor Chris McKendry practices tennis with her sons. (John Atashian/ESPN Images)

SportsCenter anchor Chris McKendry practices tennis with her sons. (John Atashian/ESPN Images)

With boys aged 8 and 10 at home, SportsCenter anchor Chris McKendry takes “business trips” — such as two weeks in Paris as a host for the French Open starting on ESPN2 on May 26 — that require much planning and a team/family effort to keep the home front running smoothly.

“I leave incredible amounts of notes for my husband and our sitter — a page per day — with everything from the boys’ activities to the school lunch schedule and friends’ birthday parties with the present already wrapped,” she said. “Then I review it with them by phone every day.” continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, SportsCenter, TennisOnESPN

posted by on April 30, 2013 8:00 AM

Rhonda Glenn, the first female SportsCenter anchor, fondly remembers her time at ESPN

1981: Rhonda Glenn, the first female anchor for SportsCenter.

1981: Rhonda Glenn, the first female anchor for SportsCenter. (ESPN)

For years, ESPN viewers have been accustomed to seeing women anchoring the network’s flagship news and information program SportsCenter. Hannah Storm, Chris McKendry, Linda Cohn, Sage Steele, Lindsay Czarniak, Sara Walsh, Jade McCarthy and many others are known as voices of authority to sports fans far and wide.

As it has been in many other areas, ESPN was and remains a leader in providing opportunities for women, and that was certainly the case in 1981 when Rhonda Glenn sat down behind the SportsCenter desk. Two years after ESPN launched in 1979, Glenn, at the age of 34, made history as the first fulltime female sportscaster for a national television network. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, SportsCenter

posted by on January 12, 2013 12:00 PM

ICYMI: The Week on Front Row

The New England Patriots and the Houston Texans will meet for an AFC divisional playoff game Sunday, 4:30 P.M. ET at Gillette Stadium. Quarterback Tom Brady and the Patriots are favored to win the game; the last time the teams met they defeated the Texans 42-14. But don’t despair, Texans fans.

In the video above, Numbers Never Lie hosts Michael Smith, Hugh Douglas and Jalen Rose explain why the Texans may have a chance to win.

ESPN’s divisional playoff coverage will feature two editions of Sunday NFL Countdown — a two-hour special Saturday, Jan. 12, at 10 a.m. ET, and the regular three-hour edition Sunday, Jan. 13, at 10 a.m.

ICYMI: Highlights from the past week on Front Row
• The latest “This Is SportsCenter” segment stars anchors Chris McKendry, Stuart Scott, the Boston College Eagle and the Temple Owl mascots. Watch the ad and see how it came about.

• Between wrapping up his College GameDay season and preparing for the Australian Open, Chris Fowler describes what’s it’s like to make such a quick transition “from sport to sport, role to role, winter to summer and North America to Down Under.”

• ESPN’s Talent Department recruits, manages, coaches and retains more than 1,000 commentators. A sampling of the hundreds of ESPN contract renewals and/or new signings of 2012 can be found here.

• You’ve seen him on Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn, but ESPN.com columnist J.A. Adande also works as an educator in USC’s journalism department. He shares more about his role as an educator in this Front & Center podcast.

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

Filed in: ICYMI Highlights

posted by on January 11, 2013 12:58 PM

ESPN’s Talent Department shows the knack for spotting, training and keeping talent

Multiple ESPN talent that.(Photos courtesy of ESPN Images)

A few of the ESPN personalities who renewed and/or signed contracts in 2012. (ESPN Images)

Below is a small sampling of the hundreds of ESPN contract renewals and/or new signings in 2012

Skip Bayless
Stephania Bell
Chris Berman
Allen Bestwick
Chris Broussard
Hubie Brown
Ramona Bruland
John Buccigross
Cari Champion
John Clayton
Lee Corso
Colin Cowherd
Heather Cox
Mike Ditka
Colleen Dominguez
Cliff Drysdale
Mary Jo Fernandez
Pedro Gomez
Doug Glanville
Israel Gutierrez
LZ Granderson
Seth Greenberg
Adrian Healey
Ron Jaworski
Mark Jones
Danny Kanell
Michael Kay
Michael Kim
Mel Kiper Jr.
John Kruk
Steve Levy
Bob Ley
Joe Lunardi
Eric Mangini
Sean McDonough
Patrick McEnroe
Chris McKendry
Beth Mowins
Brent Musburger
Kelly Naqi
Jesse Palmer
Bruce Pearl
David Pollack
Samantha Ponder
Karl Ravech
Darren Rovell
Holly Rowe
Jalen Rose
Adam Schefter
Jon Sciambi
Curt Schilling
Stuart Scott
Dan Shulman
Marty Smith
Stephen A. Smith
Curtis Strange
Joe Tessitore
Mike Tirico
Wright Thompson
Jeff Van Gundy
Scott Van Pelt
Pam Ward
Bram Weinstein
Ed Werder
Marcellus Wiley

FrontRowDesign_Final

ESPN’s Talent Department, born in 2008, was created to recruit, manage, coach and retain the more than 1,000 commentators the company employs — from TV/radio personnel to digital/print reporters to international staff.

“The realization was that production folks who had worked closest with commentators were understandably focused on producing content,” said Laurie Orlando, Senior Vice President, Talent Planning and Development, who returned to ESPN in ’08 to help start the department.

The talent office has become an important resource and differentiation point for ESPN.

“We have a year-round planning and development strategy, in collaboration with day-to-day production staff and management,” Orlando said. “For each sport, we meet to talk about talent a week or two after a season ends or at a set time for SportsCenter anchors, reporters or radio hosts.

“At those points, we’ll review the season, discuss who we’d like to renew, whose skills we can develop through training [ESPN coaching resources include interviewing, vocal quality, presence/performance] and who from the outside may be available now or in the future to make us better,” she said.

Contract planning also takes into consideration the length of ESPN’s programming rights deals. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on January 9, 2013 8:00 AM

A smashing idea: Boston College Eagle, Temple Owl mascots star in new ‘This Is SportsCenter’ spot

When birds meet glass, the outcome is no laughing matter.

When people dressed as giant birds purposely run into glass windows, however, the imagery is going to generate some smiles.

The latest “This Is SportsCenter” segment stars anchors Chris McKendry, Stuart Scott, the Boston College Eagle and the Temple Owl mascots.

A.J. Mazza, Manager, ESPN Marketing, fills Front Row in on how the latest ad in the classic series was conceived.

“Birds” seems like a simple concept. How did the idea come about?
We often find that the simplest spots that hone in on something relatable resonate the most with our fans. This came together at the 11th hour, really. We try and do a few “This is SportsCenter” shoots per year, coming away with about six new spots each round that we roll out over the course of a year. We were hoping to get six spots out of this particular shoot, but a couple athletes had to cancel at the last minute due to personal circumstances. Our agency did some quick thinking and came up with what we think is a pretty clever, relatable concept. And, of course, we always love when we can incorporate mascots. Fortunately the birds were available last minute, and were great sports. We also need to thank Stuart and Chris, as they moved around a few things last minute to participate.

How did you select the mascots?
We started by making a list of all of the major “bird” mascots and then we began making calls to see who might be available. Within 30 minutes, we had a few on board. We made their travel arrangements and brought them out to Bristol.

How many takes were involved? Any funny stories behind the practice runs? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on December 3, 2012 9:23 AM

Tweetback: Sean McDonough safely through surgery; Colleagues remember Rick Majerus; Kansas City tragedy; Beckham leaves MLS on top

GameDay will again visit Atlanta (as it did for this 2008 game) for the SEC Championship. (ESPN Images)

Front Row knows you have better things to do all weekend than check your social media feeds, so we do it for you.

Here, from the ESPN PR universe, are some of the Tweets, posts and other commentary you may have missed.

You can thank us later!

But first, an update on ESPN play-by-play commentator, Sean McDonough, who underwent successful surgery on Friday:

Longtime ESPN commentator Sean McDonough is safely through surgery that was performed on Friday.

McDonough — a versatile commentator who works college football and basketball, Major League Baseball, golf and more for ESPN — had surgery on Friday for superior canal dehiscence syndrome, a condition he was diagnosed with in spring of 2012. He is recovering and targeting a return to the booth in late December

Superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS) is a thinning or hole in the bone that separates the inner ear from the brain. McDonough, who discussed his condition with USA Today in June, experienced several of the symptoms associated with SCDS: a loud bang with each step he took, hearing his eyeballs move, hearing his heartbeat in his left ear and more.

“I want to thank my family, friends and colleagues who were so supportive and caring through this process,” McDonough said Monday morning. “I was blown away by the phone calls, emails and texts. This has been a very emotional experience and that means more to me than I can possibly explain. It has been a rough nine months and the surgery was tough but it is great to not hear my footsteps as I walk anymore. It’s a rare condition and surgery, I was fortunate to have Dr. Lee and his amazing staff of doctors and nurses.”

Dr. Daniel Lee, an ear and skull base surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, said, “The surgery went well, a four millimeter ‘dehiscence’ was seen and repaired along with several other associated holes through a mini-craniotomy approach. He should be back on the air in the next 4 to 6 weeks.”

You can join McDonough’s colleagues and friends in wishing him a safe and speedy recovery HERE. continue reading…

Filed in: Uncategorized, Weekend Tweetback

posted by on October 16, 2012 8:00 AM

Familiar ESPN faces again immersed in full NASCAR experience

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Six ESPN on-air personalities and five producers from the network’s news and information group spent three days being immersed in NASCAR this past weekend around the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

All came away from the experience with a newfound respect for the sport and those who participate in it.

It was the third year that NASCAR and ESPN worked together to bring a group of ESPN personnel to Charlotte for the weekend to expose them to the sport.

SportsCenter anchors John Buccigross, Steve Levy, David Lloyd, Chris McKendry and Sara Walsh, and SportsNation co-host Charissa Thompson, attended as did Tim McHugh, Robert Abbott, Leslie Wymer, Tricia Rongstad and John Totten, who all work in various production roles for SportsCenter and other news platforms.

Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president, motorsports, production, assembled the group and coordinated the weekend with NASCAR.

Among the activities: pit crew training at nearby Hendrick Motorsports and the opportunity for the visitors to get behind the wheel of actual NASCAR stock cars and make 155 mph laps on the 1.5-mile Charlotte track with tutoring by ESPN NASCAR analyst Dale Jarrett, a former champion.

“Unbelievable experience,” said Lloyd after his 10-lap drive. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on July 9, 2012 11:36 AM

Front & Center: Jay Crawford

Click HERE to listen or visit iTunes to download the podcast and be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the Front & Center podcast. Also, make sure to check out the all new ESPN Radio app, now available for the iPad.

Nine years ago, Jay Crawford (@JayCrawfordESPN) began co-hosting a little show that could, named Cold Pizza. Today, he begins a new role on a not-so-little show named, SportsCenter, as he becomes co-anchor — with Chris McKendry — for the noon ET SportsCenter.

In the Front & Center podcast above, Jay discusses: his time on First Take; his admiration of and appreciation for Skip Bayless; the excitement he has for his new role; a special tweet from his daughter and the emotional trip he made home a last month.

Below, Chris, Jay’s new co-anchor, reminds him of the studio he’s supposed to be in as they prepare for their first show together.

“My work here is done,” Jay said before confiding in Chirs, “I could never get them to agree on anything, anyhow!”

Filed in: Front & Center, Podcast

posted by on February 20, 2012 11:00 AM

This Is SportsCenter: A Mardi Gras look back at Drew Brees’ ‘traffic jam’

As New Orleans celebrates Mardi Gras this week, Front Row reflects on one of ESPN’s more memorable This is SportsCenter commercials.

Stuck featured New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees riding a custom-build Mardi Gras float through the ESPN parking lots. “Angry” anchors Stan Verrett and Chris McKendry were stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic.

“The whole time we were shooting the spot, Stan and I kept asking, ‘Why would we be in a car together?’ It is so random that it adds to the humor,” McKendry said.

“I’ve heard so much about the eye roll I gave Stan as he kept honking, but the truth is, I didn’t remember doing it until I saw the finished commercial!” continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes