INDIANAPOLIS — SportsCenter anchor Lindsay Czarniak will host ABC’s live telecast of the 97th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race (ABC, Sunday, pre-race coverage beginning at 11 a.m. ET, green flag at 12:15 p.m.). Taking on a role most recently filled by Brent Musburger and in past years by such luminaries of sports television as Jim McKay, Bill Fleming and Chris Schenkel, Czarniak will be the first woman to host the telecast of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
Mike Greenberg’s Indy 500 Lap
ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike” co-host Mike Greenberg did a lap around the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Scott Sharp in May 2002. Sharp had raced in the American Le Mans Series, and in the Indy Racing League, where he won the pole for the Indy 500 in 2001. His experience was recorded for posterity — and for future use in poking fun at the good-natured Greenberg.
Czarniak spent this past weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, reporting on Indy 500 qualifying for SportsCenter and preparing for this weekend’s race telecast. While she had covered the NASCAR Brickyard 400 at the track, she’d never been there during Indy 500 time. As part of her immersion, she took a ride around the track in a two-seater Indy Car with racing legend Mario Andretti, reaching speeds close to 200 miles per hour. Front Row caught up with Czarniak to talk about her first Indy 500: continue reading…
Former NBA head coach P.J. Carlesimo will join ESPN as an NBA studio analyst for the remainder of the NBA postseason. Carlesimo will debut Thursday, May 23, during the 9 a.m. ET edition of SportsCenter and contribute to additional studio programming, including NBA Tonight. Carlesimo will also contribute to on-site SportsCenter coverage at the NBA Finals, beginning June 6.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to contribute to ESPN’s NBA postseason coverage,” said Carlesimo. “I look forward to sharing a coach’s perspective, along with insights from nine playoff appearances, with ESPN viewers and NBA fans.”
Carlesimo has 39 years of basketball coaching experience, most recently as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, who he led to the 2013 NBA Playoffs. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the 1992 U.S. Men’s Basketball team (assistant coach). He has previously worked as an analyst for ESPN, ESPN Radio, NBC Sports, Turner Sports and Spurs Television.
*** Enjoy the comedy stylings of Ian Darke and Steven “Macca” McManaman as ESPN wishes BPL’s new home the best in its upcoming coverage:
“Who were those two lunatics?!” – Macca
Much respect to the folks from both @espnuk and @foxsoccer for their #BPL coverage over the years. @nbcsn, the ship is yours.
Asked about similarities between ESPN’s SportsCenter and ABC’s Wipeout,John Anderson deadpanned: “They are both television programs that last one hour and I have a speaking part. Beyond that there are no similarities. None.
“Wipeout features non-athletes failing spectacularly,” said Anderson, who is entering his 15th year as a SportsCenter anchor. “SportsCenter features the greatest athletes excelling fantastically.”
ESPN’s John Anderson (Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)
For the past five years, Anderson has co-hosted ABC’s hit series Wipeout – one of America’s favorite TV reality game shows. John Henson co-hosts along with the returning Jill Wagner, who took a one-year break from the show. continue reading…
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…
Thursday, ESPN launched its latest This Is SportsCenter ad, another spoof of life in the company’s cubicles and corridors.
In the new, 15-second spot, New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist — making his second TISC appearance this winter — forgets that it’s casual Friday.
His “co-workers” — SportsCenter anchors Lindsay Czarniak, Kevin Negandhi and John Buccigross — watch as Lundqvist waddles into the office in NHL gear.
ESPN’s Gerry Matalon. (Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)
Listen closely to Czarniak’s dialogue and you’ll hear her reference an actual ESPN colleague who’s not seen in this particular spot, but he’s had a hand in many of the franchise’s commercials.
Among his many duties at ESPN, Matalon works with ESPN’s marketing team and the advertising agency behind the TISC series, W+K New York, to secure requested ESPN “talent” for the spots that usually also feature athletes, mascots and other celebrities.
Matalon credits Craig Bengtson, Vice President, SportsCenter, and his fellow Senior CPs for helping him determine SportsCenter anchor and analyst availability.
“And we have to look at when the athletes are coming in. If they’re coming in the morning and [the script calls for SportsCenter anchor] Steve Levy and he works at night,” Matalon said, “what do we do?
“If we have to have Steve Levy, do I have to take him off the 11 [p.m. ET SportsCenter]? Is that an option, is that the best thing for the show?”
The process can be complicated but “it’s a very cool partnership and one of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on in my 25 years,” at ESPN, Matalon said.
He was touched by Czarniak’s mention of him in the ad-libbed conversation with Negandhi and Buccigross.
“I was really flattered. I didn’t know Lindsay was going to it,” Matalon said.
His high school lacrosse coach, the late George Baron, “used to call me GMat, and I use the moniker socially because he was really tough, really disciplined, and really pushed for excellence. . . The fact that she said that was cool. I’m hoping he catches on to that, even though he’s probably in heaven yelling at somebody else.”
“I didn’t even think about it. We were literally just improvising conversation about swapping schedules,” said Czarniak, who is making her SportsCentercommercial debut.
“GMat is such an institution here,” she said. “He’s a big reason I ended up at ESPN and it was my first thought that I would run the ‘schedule swap’ by GMat.”
Even though Matalon has worked closely with the commercial franchise, he’s appeared in just one of the spots.
In the mid-1990s sketch below featuring a debate about Roger Clemens’ fastball, Matalon is seated between bearded Vince Doria, ESPN Senior Vice President and Director of News, and former SportsCenter anchor Keith Olbermann. Former anchor Jack Edwards earns The Rocket’s wrath.
ICYMI: Highlights from the past week on Front Row
• ESPN’s Joe Tessitoreintroduced the four-legged Joe Tess, a three-year-old Dark Bay colt owned by his friends George Bolton and Barbara Banke. The horse makes his debut today at the Santa Anita race track in Southern California.
• ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg and his wife Stacy Greenberg introduced the main characters in Greenberg’s new book, All You Could Ask For, which will be released by William Morrow on April 2.
• ESPN college basketball analyst Bruce Pearlrecalls the 2008 tornado that hit downtown Atlanta during the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Georgia Dome. The extreme weather events are the subject of the new SEC Storied documentary, Miracle 3.
• Coordinating producer Amy Rosenfeld and producer Chris Alexopoulosshared insights about their crews and coverage of the upcoming 18th season of MLS on ESPN.
Row of Four Our favorites from across ESPN over the past weekcontinue reading…
Washington Redskins linebacker London Fletcher (l) caught up with former rival and NFL analyst Darren Woodson in the ESPN newsroom during a guest analyst appearance in Bristol this week. (Joe Faraoni/ESPN Images)
London Fletcher has played 15 NFL seasons without missing a game.
Even in the offseason, the Washington Redskins linebacker does not like a lot of down time.
Just 10 days after the Redskins’ season ended in a 24-14 NFC Wildcard Playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Fletcher visited ESPN and appeared on various NFL shows to lend his insights.
“I really just enjoyed learning about everything that goes into producing a show,” he said.
Becoming an NFL television analyst “would be the ideal transition” as a post-playing career option, Fletcher said Thursday. He enjoyed his two-day stint on-air and appeared on SportsCenter, NFL Live and NFL32 to help ESPN bring fans more insights into the AFC and NFC Conference Championship games this weekend. continue reading…
Mike Greenberg joined Kelly Ripa for some morning talk show fun. Check out the gallery above and the story below for more on Mike & Kelly in the Morning!
Let’s review the week on Front Row:
* Actor/comedian Rob Riggle is about to live a sports fan’s dream: He will host The 2012 ESPYS on July 11 at 9 p.m. ET. Riggle, a Marine, clued us in on his preparation and expectations as the host of ESPN’s 20th ESPYS telecast.
Lindsay Czarniak (right) with former D.C. co-workers at the 2011 NHL Winter Classic
The start of the NHL playoffs prompts SportsCenter anchor Lindsay Czarniak to say: “Growing up in northern Virginia as a [Washington] D.C. fan, I can tell you the Redskins are religion — but what I saw and experienced as a reporter the past few years was the emergence of a real hockey town.”
The Washington Capitals and captain Alex Ovechkin created that hockey town. And while Czarniak covered the NHL and Ovechkin for Washington’s NBC4 indoors (the Capitals) and outdoors (2011 NHL Winter Classic), and hockey for NBC at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, one of her best memories happened within her first year at ESPN.
“I would say covering him and having that kind of access to him and his life — at home with his family — was one of my highlights,” said Czarniak, who joined ESPN in August 2011.
She’s referring to the feature you can watch below. It’s the result of an early March shoot with the two-time Hart Memorial Trophy recipient, signifying the league MVP.
“His mom cooked an amazing lunch — dumplings, soup and she even had caviar on the table,” she says.
“He discussed how his parents don’t talk hockey when he comes home from practice, but how he knows that they are disappointed in his performance when he looks at his mom in the stands and sees a blank, stone face: ‘Like she is dead’ he says.”
He may have seen that expression too often as he skated through a subpar season, but Czarniak says it’s time for him to turn it around. continue reading…
It’s becoming rare these days for fans to turn on a sporting event and not hear Dan Shulman’s voice.
Dan Shulman
The versatile commentator provides play-by-play for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and, this time of the year, NBA and college basketball action.
I wouldn’t want to be his travel agent.
His upcoming schedule: Duke/Florida State (Saturday, Jan. 14), Phoenix/San Antonio (Sunday, Jan. 15), Baylor/Kansas (Monday, Jan. 16), Dallas/L.A. Clippers (Wednesday, Jan. 18), Minnesota/Clippers (Friday, Jan. 20) and Louisville/Pittsburgh (Sat., Jan. 21).
On Friday, Jan. 6, however, he was enjoying some quality time with his wife and children at home in Toronto. In fact, he was at Blue Mountain ski resort in Collingwood, Ontario, when his cell phone vibrated.
“I was waiting with my kids at the chair lift when the phone rang,” Dan said. “I took my glove off and quickly glanced at the phone, but I wasn’t able take the call at the moment.”
A few hours passed and Dan returned the call. On the other end was Dave Goren, executive director of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA) & Hall of Fame. Dave was calling to congratulate Dan on being named the NSSA Sportscaster of the Year.
“I was very surprised and honored,” Dan said. “When you look at the names of the other nominees and recent winners, it’s a tremendous honor to be included in such company. It’s very nice to be acknowledged by your peers, those who do what you do. That was particularly gratifying.
