Tagged: ‘Marcellus Wiley’

posted by on April 27, 2013 10:30 AM

ICYMI: The Week on Front Row

(L-R) Charissa Thompson, Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson and Marcellus Wiley during the Madden Cover Reveal SportsNation episode in Times Square. (Rich Arden / ESPN Images)

(L-R) Charissa Thompson, Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson and Marcellus Wiley during “The Madden Cover Reveal” SportsNation episode in Times Square. (Rich Arden/ESPN Images)

NEW YORK — The anticipation leading up to the announcement of this year’s Madden NFL 25 Cover Vote winner came to a close Wednesday as fans voted for Detroit Lions Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders to grace the cover of the 25th anniversary edition of Madden NFL.

The announcement came during a special primetime showing of SportsNation on ESPN2, live from the Hard Rock Café. The “old school” favorite Sanders beat out “new school” contender and Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson with 58 percent of the record-breaking final tally of 40 million votes. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, ICYMI Highlights

posted by on April 4, 2013 8:00 AM

ESPN The Magazine’s ‘Photo Issue’ celebrates the life of Junior Seau in text, personal pictures

ESPN The Magazine’s “Photo Issue,” on newsstands Friday, features “Junior Seau: A Life in Pictures.”

The story and photo essay, also available on ESPN.com, celebrate the life of Seau, the former star NFL linebacker who committed suicide May 2, 2012.

Front Row asked The Magazine’s Senior Writer Dave Fleming and Senior Editor Megan Greenwell for insight on the feature. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, ESPN The Magazine, NFLonESPN

posted by on February 8, 2013 1:15 PM

Fan Central Mailbag: Bubble Watch returns; ‘A Reason To Win’; tickets to SportsNation shows

Screen-shot-2012-11-28-at-4.20.25-PM1Welcome to another edition of the Fan Central Mailbag. Remember, if you have an ESPN-related question, follow us @ESPN_FanCentral and use #FanCentralMB to tweet your questions. You can also e-mail them to FanCentral@ESPN.com.

Before we dive into your latest batch of questions, here’s a quick schedule update. Baseball Tonight (@ESPN_BBTN) debuts this Monday at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. This season’s Baseball Tonight Goodyear Express Tour starts Monday at the World Champion San Francisco Giants’ spring training site in Scottsdale, Ariz. Baseball Tonight will begin at 3 p.m. the rest of next week. Here’s the full spring training tour schedule.

Now, onto your questions . . .

There was a story on SportsCenter about an email [Baltimore] Ravens coach John Harbaugh received from someone named Mike, who is physically challenged. The story talked about how the team was inspired by the email. Is that story available for me to watch again? — Merle
This is a great story that everyone should watch at least once. A quick summary: 21-year-old Ravens fan Matthew Jeffers, who has Skeletal Dysplasia, sent Harbaugh an inspirational email titled A Reason to Win following the eventual Super Bowl Champion Ravens’ third consecutive loss heading into Week 16 of the season.

When will the NCAA men’s basketball Bubble Watch be available? — Justin continue reading…

Filed in: ESPN Fan Central

posted by on February 1, 2013 3:00 PM

Go behind the scenes of SportsNation’s New Orleans road show

ESPN

NEW ORLEANS — This is the perfect city for an on-location shoot for ESPN2′s quirky afternoon show, SportsNation.

The local crowds and funky vibe of the city add an extra level of excitement to what is already a high-energy show. The Super Bowl also brings many athletes and celebrities to the host city, so guests such as Eli Manning and Bill Romanowski took some time to head to SportsNation’s French Quarter set.

Front Row spent some time chatting with the cast and crew of the show, including host Marcellus Wiley, coordinating producer Whit Albohm, associate producer Danny Corrales and senior project coordinator Jeremy Frankel, to learn what it takes to produce SportsNation on the road.

Video produced by Tonya Malinowski

Filed in: Behind The Scenes, ESPN at the Super Bowl

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 December 24, 2012 1:47 PM

Previewing Colin Cowherd’s farewell SportsNation appearance as co-host

Colin Cowherd’s final show as a host of SportsNation will air this evening at 6 ET on ESPN2.

Cowherd has been a co-host since the show launched more than three years ago. As the show is moving to Los Angeles with co-hosts Charissa Thompson and Marcellus Wiley, Cowherd will remain at ESPN’s Bristol, Conn. headquarters and focus on his nationally syndicated ESPN Radio show.

Front Row caught up with Whit Albohm, SportsNation’s producer, to get his thoughts on Colin’s farewell and the future of the show.

Do you have a favorite Colin moment on SportsNation?
There have been so many funny moments through the years with Colin that it was really hard to narrow it down. Today’s show will highlight the best of the best: from Colin getting pranked by Brock Lesnar to being mocked by Will Ferrell. It will showcase his greatest moments and his favorite clips from the last three-and-a-half years.

Does SportsNation have any type of special “year-end” show planned? continue reading…

Filed in: Announcements, Behind The Scenes

posted by on December 24, 2012 8:49 AM

Tweetback: SportsNation off to LA after Colin Cowherd farewell today; Bowls deliver drama; Megatron and Jerry Rice

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!

continue reading…

Filed in: Weekend Tweetback

posted by on May 2, 2012 3:22 PM

Storified: Death of Junior Seau

The sports world was shocked this afternoon as news of Junior Seau’s apparent suicide spread through the media.

What follows is a compilation of how ESPN folks reacted to the news on Twitter and other social media platforms. For more details concerning the Seau, please tune to ESPN, ESPNews and ESPN.com.

Dan Fouts, Mike Tirico, Junior Seau and Joe Theisman broadcast from the deck of a U.S. Navy destroyer in San Diego harbor at Super Bowl XXXVII

continue reading…

Filed in: Storified!

posted by on April 27, 2012 3:30 PM

RG III, Luck among guests at
ESPN The Magazine #predraft party

NEW YORK — On the eve of the 2012 NFL Draft this week, ESPN The Magazine held its ninth annual pre-Draft event at The Waterfront on Manhattan’s west side.

The private event featured top draft picks Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Justin Blackmon and Trent Richardson, among others. Also in attendance were both current and former NFL players including Calvin Johnson, Jason Pierre-Paul, Victor Cruz and fellow (NY Giants) Justin Tuck, Mike Boley and Jake Ballard.

Music was provided by DJ Kiss.

Also featured was The Mag‘s social studio, sponsored by Fiat and hosted by ESPN talent Marcellus Wiley, Charissa Thompson and Michael Smith. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on April 25, 2012 3:06 PM

ESPN The Magazine #predraft party: Wiley on the social media studio

NEW YORK — Tonight ESPN The Magazine hosts its Ninth Annual Pre-Draft Event featuring top draft prospects, current and former NFL players and other personalities.

What makes this event even more unique than in years past is the addition of a social studio. Here, fans and personalities can interact with ESPN talent Marcellus Wiley, Michael Smith and Charissa Thompson in person via social media including Twitter, using The Mag‘s handle (@ESPNMag) and #predraft, a hashtag created specifically for this event.

This is not Wiley’s first “social studio rodeo”: His first foray took place with Thompson at ESPN The Magazine‘s NEXT event in Indianapolis in February to help kick off Super Bowl weekend. Creating an on-site social studio allows fans and consumers to interact with their favorite personalities and brands, and helps bring The Mag‘s NFL Pre-Draft event to life.

Front Row caught up with Wiley, who besides analyzing the NFL is host of Max & Marcellus on 710 AM ESPN Radio Los Angeles, to shed some light on what the social studio is all about and what he is most looking forward to on the eve of the Draft:

(Event sponsors include AT&T, Axe, Bud Light, Fiat, Geico, Jim Beam, and Samsung.)

What did you learn from the first social media studio hosting experience that would prepare you for this one?
Rule No. 1: Don’t yell! Since the music is loud and you’re excited to meet everyone, it wears quickly on those poor little vocal cords. I nearly lost my voice engaging with all the fans. By the end, I was almost reduced to just a handshake. And the next day, I had to be on the air, so this time I will be more cautious. No more “riot to quiet,” ha!

Were there any particularly fun or interesting stories you recall from your first experience at NEXT/Super Bowl? continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes