Tagged: ‘Jon Barry’

posted by on February 14, 2013 9:07 AM

ESPN Radio’s Ryen Russillo plans to school the skeptics with his play in NBA All-Star Celebrity Game

ESPN Radio’s Ryen Russillo (SVP & Russillo) is enjoying a terrific stretch at ESPN.

From signing a long-term extension with the network to becoming one of ESPN Radio’s resident NBA experts, Russillo is emerging as a go-to voice.

Russillo Celeb Game Card

Now, Russillo has another opportunity to make a name for himself — at the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game this Friday in Houston (7 p.m. ET, ESPN, WatchESPN).

Russillo, along with fellow ESPN NBA analyst Bruce Bowen, will participate in the game. The game includes stars from film, television, music, radio, politics and sports.

Russillo has studied his teammates and opponents. In the video above, he offers a few words for his ESPN colleagues who set the over/under on his point total at five.

In the video below, Russillo’s ESPN Radio co-host Scott Van Pelt and ESPN NBA analyst and Basketball Hall Of Fame member Chris Mullin delivered the news that Russillo was chosen to participate in the celebrity game.

Video produced by Ariel Bond

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, NBAOnESPN

posted by on February 11, 2013 4:45 PM

Production team, Mike Tirico and others go extra mile for Sunday’s NBA coverage on ABC, ESPN

Mike Tirico rides the subway between

Mike Tirico rides the subway from Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. (ESPN)

The plan all along for Mike Tirico’s two-games-in-one-day perfecta was for the veteran ESPN play-by-play man to take public transit from Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

When “Winter Storm Nemo” blanketed much of the Northeast, “Mike Tirico’s Excellent Adventure” made all the more sense.

So, after calling New York’s 102-88 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers alongside color analyst Hubie Brown, Tirico (and other ESPN colleagues, including long-time stats man, Marty Aronoff) got on the train and were courtside for New Jersey’s 111-86 loss to San Antonio (with Jon Barry as color analyst). Also pulling double duty on Sunday was director Mike Schwab, who filled in on the Nets game for Ken Dennis, who was ill in North Carolina. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, NBAOnESPN

posted by on February 8, 2013 3:00 PM

Mike Tirico has a (subway) ticket to ride, calling Sunday NBA games on ABC, ESPN, in NYC & Brooklyn

ESPN's Mike Tirico (Rich Arden / ESPN Images)

ESPN’s Mike Tirico (Rich Arden / ESPN Images)

For veteran ESPN play-by-play commentator Mike Tirico, there’s not much he hasn’t done in his career since joining the network in 1991.

However, this Sunday, Mike will experience two firsts:

He’ll call two NBA games in the same day, beginning with an exclusive ABC presentation of the host New York Knicks versus the Los Angeles Clippers at 1 p.m. ET. Then, Tirico will head to Brooklyn, N.Y. to call his first game at the new Barclays Center when the Nets play the San Antonio Spurs — owners of the NBA’s best record this season — at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

The kicker? Tirico will hop on the subway to travel from Madison Square Garden to Barclays. (At least that’s the plan, pending the winter storm hitting the Northeast this weekend).

Front Row had the opportunity to catch up with Tirico to discuss his weekend of firsts and his subway ride — an excellent adventure indeed.

Are you surprised this is the first time you’ve called two NBA games in one day?
I’ve done stunts like three different sports in four days, between golf, college football and NFL, but not the NBA. I’m looking forward to it. I know [ESPN NBA play-by-play voice] Mike Breen and [ESPN analyst] Jeff Van Gundy have done the two games in one day a couple of times on Christmas Day — they’ve shown me up a little. Seriously, how neat is it that we can have these two big NBA games in the same day on our air? We have such a great crew, too. They really deserve all of the credit. We have some of the hardest working people in television and it’s a pleasure to be a part of the team.

How do you prepare to call two games in the same day? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, NBAOnESPN

posted by on December 6, 2012 4:32 PM

Doubles’ takes: The ‘decoys’ for latest ESPN NBA RV spot give inside scoop

On Wednesday evening during the telecast of the Los Angeles Clippers’ victory over the Dallas Mavericks, ESPN Marketing debuted the latest spot in the ESPN NBA RV campaign.

In the commercial, Clippers point guard Chris Paul joins ESPN commentators Magic Johnson, Mike Breen and Jon Barry in a decoy RV to avoid the relentless “LA paparazzi.”

Their plan goes smoothly until they realize that one analyst boarded the wrong vehicle. In the second RV, Jeff Van Gundy is surrounded by look-alikes representing each of his commentator counterparts, as well as Paul.

ESPN Marketing worked with Wieden + Kennedy New York on the creative process, including the incredible casting.

Front Row spoke to a few of the doubles to learn a little more about their experience:

Actor Willy Rosner, who doubled for Van Gundy:
The wardrobe person gave me my clothes to try on and showed me to the changing room on the set. I started to get undressed when Magic walked in with his wardrobe to try on. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I’d be standing in my underwear next to Magic Johnson. It was very surreal. Standing next to Magic made me feel like Danny Devito in Twins.

Actor Darryl Dunning II, who doubled for Paul:
I grew up watching Magic with my Pops, so I snapped a photo & showed my Dad. It made his day. I resemble Chris in both stature and look so I knew it was only a matter of time before we would work together. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on February 7, 2012 7:30 AM

Inside Kia NBA Countdown

Kia NBA Countdown, the NBA pregame show airing on both ESPN and ABC, has introduced several new elements this season.

Previously taped in Bristol, Conn., the show now originates from the ESPN Los Angeles Production Center at L.A. Live — across the street from STAPLES Center, home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers.

Kia NBA Countdown also benefits from an expanded role for Hall of Famer Earvin (Magic) Johnson — joining Jon Barry, Michael Wilbon and Chris Broussard — throughout the entire season.

The show’s evolution has included changes to the format as well, now sporting a more lively roundtable structure with strong opinions, discussion and debate.

ESPN Front Row recently visited L.A. to capture a typical day in the life of the NBA studio experience (see video as well).

Typically a week-long process, the development of each show begins with a rundown, a loose depiction of the topics to be covered within the 30-minute episode. The rundown is constantly updated to reflect feedback from the analysts, along with breaking news and other storylines as they unfold throughout the week.

Several hours before the show, producers meet with the commentators to discuss each segment in fine detail. With everyone on the same page, the analysts depart for makeup and then to the set for rehearsal.

Showtime.

At the conclusion of the pregame show, the crew returns to the conference room – with numerous monitors tuned to NBA action – to watch all the games.

On this particular evening, there is some friendly banter over Jon‘s inclusion of Orlando’s Ryan Anderson as one of his top five power forwards in the game and a quick bite to eat before returning to the set for the halftime show.

Immediately after the last halftime segment, it’s back to the conference room for more NBA viewing. It’s a basketball fan’s dream to hear Magic, “JB,” Michael and Chris talk hoops and to witness their passion for the game.

Fortunately, the night is still young.

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on December 23, 2011 4:30 PM

Week in review

Before we review the week on Front Row, here are a few programming reminders:

DVR alert: The Haney Project: Herm Edwards airs tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on Golf Channel as ESPN’s resident coach and NFL analyst visits professional golf instructor Hank Haney to fix the signature “butterfade” in his game.

Edwards and Haney filmed the episode over two days in early December at Tehama Golf Course in Carmel, Calif. Edwards talks about the experience:

“I love the game of golf. I picked it up later in life but I’ve never really had a lesson. You do what you can to be competitive but it’s tough.

“I met Hank through Charles Barkley in Tahoe and we have developed a friendship. He’s a football fan — he loves the Cowboys — and we share a lot of stories about football and about golf. We also get along really well because he’s a coach and I was a coach.

“Working with Hank, he kept it simple and just gave me a few trigger points to work on with my game. He’s been all over the world and worked with so many of the best golfers, like Tiger Woods and others. It was a great opportunity. His biggest thing was, ‘if you don’t practice, you can’t get better.’ I play about 20 rounds a year, and about eight of those are in tournaments, so it was good advice.”

No doubt Edwards is less of a challenge for Haney than, say, Barkley.

USA Today hails the one-night return of NFL PrimeTime (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET), Chris Berman and Tom Jackson‘s wrapup of the 13-game Christmas Eve NFL schedule.

Christmas Day, ABC and ESPN each will feature doubleheaders to tip off the start of the NBA season.

While we are in the middle of college football bowl season, “Trevor Claus,” – ESPN college football analyst Trevor Matich –issues presents to teams who are in need of some help. Check out the video above: The gift to Florida would make an ideal stocking stuffer.

On Front Row this week:

* Kia NBA Countdown is now being produced on the West Coast. Magic Johnson, Michael Wilbon, Jon Barry and Chris Broussard will team up from the ESPN production facility in Los Angeles.

* The season finale for Monday Night Football features an NFC South battle as the Atlanta Falcons visit the New Orleans Saints. The MNF open next week will feature TVLand’s Betty White. Come back to Front Row on Tuesday to see the open.

* Our Scott Van Pelt was featured on the Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday. We took a field trip to Ed Sullivan Theater to see how he enjoyed his experience. Some of his colleagues offered their advice before he headed to New York City.

* Candlestick Park was home to Monday Night Football this past week as the Pittsburgh Steelers visited the San Francisco 49ers. The game was delayed twice due to blackouts. Front Row went behind-the-scenes to find out how our remote production crew handled the situation.

Filed in: Week In Review

posted by on December 22, 2011 10:59 AM

LAPC home to Kia NBA Countdown;
Magic joins Broussard, Barry, Wilbon

The Kia NBA Countdown will feature Chris Broussard, Magic Johnson, Jon Barry and Michael Wilbon

LOS ANGELES — The NBA is back on Christmas Day, ESPN and ABC’s NBA pregame show is moving to the West Coast, and our Los Angeles Production Facility (LAPC) is ready, willing and more than able to help.

Kia NBA Countdown, the pregame show airing on both ESPN and ABC, will originate from ESPN’s LAPC at L.A. Live.

Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson will join Jon Barry, Michael Wilbon and Chris Broussard throughout the entire season.

Front Row sat down with Judi Cordray, vice president and general manager in charge of ESPN’s LAPC, for a quick chat about the show’s arrival as well as other happenings at the facility.

Front Row: How long has the team at the Los Angeles Production Center (LAPC) been preparing for the arrival of Kia NBA Countdown?

Judi Cordray: We have been discussing the possibility of doing the show from Los Angeles for several months now. Once the decision was made, it was a matter of set design, staffing, and of course, the big question of whether we’d even have an NBA season this year.

Judi Cordray

FR: Will the studio space be devoted exclusively to Kia NBA Countdown?
JC: The studio space will be shared with our other regular productions. Our two daily anchor productions are SportsCenter and Nación ESPN.

FR: In addition to Kia NBA Countdown, what other shows, productions and content are produced out of the LAPC these days?

JC: Well, since we officially opened the facility in early April 2009, we’ve been responsible for helping produce a significant amount of programming and content spanning across our linear, radio and digital platforms, including: SportsCenter (1 a.m. ET), Nación ESPN on Deportes and Dos Network, Audibles, The Next Round, Grantland Podcast, Winners Bracket as part of ESPN Sports Saturday on ABC, Lakers: The Triangle Forum for ESPNLA.com, a number or promotional shoots for various shows — most recently college football and The Muppets movie promo — and bureau cam shoots for Around The Horn, PTI, Press Pass, Deportes’ Cronometro, Juego Cruzado, Golpe a Golpe, Jore Ramos Y su Banda and many others.

FR: What do you envision as some of the benefits of producing Kia NBA Countdown from Los Angeles? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes