ESPN and Veterans Day; Schaap and "The Sporting Life"

From Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Daily’s Closing Bell, Aug. 28, 2009. Kudos to ESPN for highlighting this very special day and for providing another forum for Jeremy Schaap’s reporting.

ESPN LINES UP SERIES OF TELEVISED EVENTS, FEATURES FOR VETERANS DAY

By Rick Ellington, Managing Editor

ESPN on Friday at its Media Workshop in Bristol announced plans for a celebration around Veterans Day this November that will see several shows originate from locations involved with the military. The program will begin on November 7, when “College GameDay” airs live from Ft. Collins, Colorado, in advance of the Army-Air Force football game. “It just feels like the right thing to do,” ESPN Studio Production Senior VP and Managing Editor Mark Gross said. “There are so many people across this country that are impacted by these folks.”

In addition to “GameDay,” other highlights of the initiative include “OTL” coming from the Walter Reed Medical Center (November 8), cut-ins to troops stationed in Iraq during the Steelers-Broncos “MNF” game (November 9), ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike” airing from the deck of the USS New York (November 10) and Hannah Storm and Josh Elliott hosting the daytime “SportsCenter” from West Point (November 11). ESPN aired “SportsCenter” from Kuwait in ’04 and currently offers ESPN360.com for free to people living on military bases.


JEREMY SCHAAP TO HOST NEW ESPN RADIO SHOW CALLED “THE SPORTING LIFE”

Schaap To Host New Radio
Show Titled “The Sporting Life”

By Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor

ESPN announced Friday that reporter Jeremy Schaap will host a new radio show titled “The Sporting Life.” The weekly one-hour show will focus on sports features, profiles and narratives. The show reprises “The Sporting Life with Dick Schaap,” which aired on ESPN Radio and featured the Schaaps discussing the week’s sports developments. The new show will debut Friday, September 11, at 10:00pm ET.

Schaap, when asked if the show is aimed at drawing the type of crowd that listens to NPR, said, “That would be ideal. I am a dedicated NPR listener. … If we could do something that approaches the quality of that kind of work, then I’d be very proud.”