Tagged: ‘Rivalry Issue’

posted by on February 10, 2012 4:40 PM

Week in review

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson visited ESPN yesterday. While checking out the ESPN Health & Wellness Center he noticed a few ESPN folks, including old friend Todd “Tom” Grisham, who needed some inspiration. In the video above he motivated them in a way that only “The Rock” could.

In the video below Marcellus Wiley, Tim Legler and Doug Gottlieb discuss the best current rivalry in sports.

After Sunday’s riveting Super Bowl XLVI, it’s time to add another great rivalry to the list as Giants once again out-lasted the Patriots to earn their second title in four years. While that kicked off a busy week here at Front Row, it was by no means the only story that grabbed our attention.

* Chris Paul and the Los Angeles Clippers have taken Hollywood by storm this season. Kobe, Lebron and Carmelo — some of his best friends in the NBA — are on high alert. Is it possible that rivalries can be sustained on the court when players are such good friends off of the court? ESPN The Magazine found out.

* The New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers square off tonight on ESPN at 8 p.m. The Kia NBA Countdown pre-game show airs at 7 p.m. from the ESPN Los Angeles Production Center. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Michael Wilbon, Chris Broussard and Jon Barry talk hoops and display their passion for the game. The second half of the ESPN doubleheader features a battle of Northwest division rivals as the Oklahoma City Thunder travel to Utah to take on the Jazz at 10:30 p.m.

* Duke ousted North Carolina on a game-winning 3-pointer, Kansas traveled to Baylor for a Big 12 slugfest and Georgetown nearly upset the No. 2 ranked Syracuse Orange to start off Rivalry Week. If those games are any indication of how the rest of the contests will play out Fran Fraschilla and the rest of our college basketball analysts are in for a treat this weekend. A reminder that GameDay travels to Nashville for Kentucky Vanderbilt at 9 p.m. ET Saturday.

* Major League Baseball’s Spring Training is right around the corner. The rivalries on the diamond will return and Buster Olney, Jayson Stark and the entire Baseball Tonight staff can’t wait.

Filed in: Week In Review

posted by on February 8, 2012 1:02 PM

ESPN The Magazine: Behind
Chris Paul’s Rivalry Issue cover story

Somehow, some way, every two weeks a magazine is made.

While some concepts are born weeks to months in advance, others come on the eve of close.

ESPN The Magazine’s Rivalry Issue (on newsstands Friday), is no exception. No matter the journey of each concept, feature, sidebar, photo, or chart, it’s all hands on deck at The Mag.

Below, several Mag staffers tell how the cover photograph — shot Jan. 24 in Culver City, Calif. — featuring L.A. Clippers’ point guard Chris Paul came to be.

Inside the issue — and on ESPN.com today — Mag senior writer and columnist Howard Bryant explores the notion of how NBA rivalries can survive when stars like Paul are hanging, rolling, joking, texting, bowling and tweeting with the players they are supposed to hate.

Contributing to this interview were: Chad Millman (Editor-in-Chief); John Korpics (Creative Director); Scott Burton (Executive Editor); Ty Wenger (Senior Editor); Nancy Weisman (Senior Deputy Photo Editor); Ross Marrinson (Copy Editor).

FR: How was Paul selected to be the cover of The Rivalry Issue?
The Mag: The generation of the idea was a group one which took place in a staff meeting discussing the issue. It was spawned out of a fascinating question: Can the NBA still build team rivalries when its stars are increasingly as close with players on other teams as they are with their own teammates?

Chris Paul joined the Los Angeles Clippers this season.

Paul seemed a perfect lens through which to look at that notion. Not only is he something of an NBA social butterfly, he’s also one of the most intensely competitive players in the league.
He seemed like a natural cover and quite frankly, our best option. Then the head pat with the Los Angeles Lakers happened after we interviewed him and it felt like we were catching him at the right time because suddenly, he had a real rival.

With all of this as a foundation for the story, we were also able watch the birth of the Lakers-Clippers rivalry right before our eyes.

FR: How receptive was Paul to the idea and the concept?
The Mag: Per Senior Deputy Photo Editor, Nancy Weisman, the initial concept was to show Paul as a fierce competitor who likes and is liked by many players throughout the league. He was receptive to the idea once it was explained to him, and on set he liked a similar shot to the one ESPN The Magazine ran, although in this particular shot his face was intense not smiley, and on red (as opposed to blue).

FR: In Bryant’s profile of Paul on Page 40, there’s a chart that reflects the guard’s career scoring averages against his closest Twitter friends: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay and Kevin Durant. How did that idea come about?
The Mag: When Executive Editor Scott Burton and Senior Editor Ty Wenger were discussing the first draft of the article, and how Paul was claiming in it that he played just as hard, if not harder, against his buddies. We realized that this was not only a provable (or disprovable) point, but one that we actually needed to vet. Our notion was that future NBA rivalries will live or die on the ability of star players—many of whom are as close to their opponents as their teammates—to compete ferociously against each other. They needed to use Paul as a test-case for that theory.

The piece was set to close on Thursday night. Wednesday night, we came up with this idea. Ross Marrinson, one of The Mag’s primary NBA researchers, jumped on it, and by 2:22 a.m., he came up with what ran as the finished sidebar. continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes