Michael Freeman - ESPN: The Uncensored History

The Uncensored History

Michael Freeman

Copyright 2000, 2001 by Michael Freeman

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

Published by Taylor Trade Publishing

An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200

Lanham, Maryland 20706

Distributed by National Book Network

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Freeman, Michael, 1966

ESPN : the uncensored history / Michael Freeman.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-87833-270-0

1. ESPN (TV network)History. 2. Television broadcasting of sports

History. I. Title.

GV742.3.F75 2001

384.55'5dc21

2001027501

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.481992.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

For my hero,

Alice Freeman

And my best friend,

Kelly Whiteside

A memo from Keith Olbermann, the brilliant but moody former star anchor at ESPN, written in the networks Bristol, Connecticut, headquarters and sent to every on-air member of the staff:

TO: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS On-Air Staff

FR: Keith Olbermann

RE: Catchphrase Merchandising

DATE: 3/19/97

Ladies and Gentlemen:

For those of you who didnt make it, at the last Talent meeting the company, through Jim Noel from legal, mentioned that a process had begun to explore the possibilities of trade- or brand-marking our on-air catch-phrases and exploiting them commercially in some fashion.

In response to my question, Noel and Howard Katz said that the process was still in its early stages and thus the question of additional renumeration [sic] was up for grabs, while the intellectual property issues (we said it on their air, therefore they own it) were not.

Apparently the process is a lot farther along than we were led to believe. The following is from the 3/18/97 edition of the Sports Business Daily:

ESPNS FASHION STATEMENTS TO INCLUDE SPORTS CENTER PHRASES?

Walt Disney Co. has signed a licensing deal with Pro Player and is closing another with an unspecified company in an attempt to translate the equity of its ESPN brands into successful apparel products, according to Jeff Jensen of Ad Age. The Pro Player deal was negotiated by Disney Consumer Products, working in conjunction with ESPN Enterprises. Pro Players first ESPN apparel products will hit retail stores around June, and include outerwear, polo shirts, T-shirts, knits, sweatshirts and fleece items featuring the ESPN and ESPN2 logos. Pro Player will also market clothing incorporating ad slogans and signature catch-phrases used by ESPN sportscasters, and the company sees potential in apparel inspired by the X Games, targeted at teens and Gen Xers. Although Pro Player will support the program with in-store ads and is talking with retailers about merchandising concepts, but its possible ESPN will back the apparel with its own promos. (Ad Age, 3/17 issue)

Apart from the fact that the issue of whether we have any voice in how our own words are used has not been addressed, nor has there been any overture regarding additional recompense for this new and unforeseen use of our names, likenesses, and/or utterances, it occurred to me that many of the catchphrases in question could hardly be considered either our individual, or ESPNs, intellectual property.

It would seem to me that a Back, back, back T-shirt might draw some interest from the estate of Red Barber, that a From Way Downtown Bang jacket could pique the interest of the estate of Johnny Mostthat anything that was created by one of us at another television entity might draw the attention (and the lawsuit) of that previous entity.

My one year of studying Communications Law at Cornell suggests, and a brief communication with my personal attorney (who is a specialist in copyright infringement) confirms, that the companys haste to slap our work on the back of a Pro Player shirt might put us at individual legal risk somewhere down the line. The use or even appropriation of catchphrases is apparently something akin to sampling in rap music: Its legal, to a point. Evidently, its legal for us to say No Soup for You or Cooler Than the Other Side of the Pillow or to launch into impressions of Bob Murphy, Harry Kalas, Red Barber, Johnny Most, or Ronald Reagan. Whether or not it would be legal for the company to produce apparel quoting us quoting them (directly or merely implicitly) is another matter.

I write all this to you to encourage you to review at your own risk with your attorney and/or agent. Given the misdirection on this issue at the last Talent meeting, I do not think we can rely on anybody but ourselves to cover our own legal butts.

The memo, which infuriated some members of ESPN management, was vintage Olbermann: cogent reasoning seasoned with sarcasm and attitude. Olbermann was no different with cameras rollingat ESPN, or later as host of his own news talk show on the MSNBC cable network, or now in the sports anchor chair on Fox. His memo also illustrated the growing power of ESPN. The sports network had become so culturally ubiquitous that even the cutesy, signature phrases spouted by the anchors, which helped to make them more popular than some of the athletes they covered, were serious business.

Twenty-one years ago, ESPN was considered a pathetic joke. By the time Olbermann and coanchor Dan Patrick had made SportsCenter, which combined shtick, superb writing, and great reporting, a must-see for the athlete and fan alike, ESPN was a multibillion dollar business and the most influential sports news vehicle in the world. Some producers in the newsroom, fully aware of the influence the network now held, began to half-kiddingly call themselves the gods of sport.

Olbermann and Patrick were the top two deities, but it was Olbermann who was the most cantankerous. He wrote other stinging memos that took shots at managementone sent executive Howard Katz into such an angry frenzy he temporarily ceased contract negotiations with Olbermanns agent. It was clear by the winter of 1997 that Olbermanns days at ESPN were numbered. He had grown tired of what he felt were unimaginative bosses who didnt understand what he and Patrick were doing on the concerto that was SportsCenter. Management, in turn, was weary of Olbermanns myriad complaints. He publicly knocked ESPNs hometown, Bristol, long derided by ESPN employees as a dreadfully boring city. He whined to friends in the newsroom that his six-figure salary was too low and complained about not being appreciated. Almost anyone and everything on the ESPN radar screen was targeted by Olbermann. He was a human SCUD missile. Anchor Suzy Kolber, who worked with Olbermann on ESPN2 in the early 1990s and was sometimes seen crying in the bathroom after a hit from one of Olbermanns poison darts, called him a baby who would quit, literally quit, at least twice a week, whenever he didnt get his way. No doubt a divorce was coming.