[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 131 (Friday, October 1, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11782-S11783]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESPN NETWORK

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I note there is a rule in the Senate 
against using props. I, just for a moment, ask unanimous consent for a 
transitional prop, if I might briefly hold this up.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. I thank the Chair.
  This is my favorite ESPN parka. It gives you an indication of about 
what I am going to speak. It is in some sense as cultural as the first 
part of my comments. It does involve the influence of television on the 
American culture. But today, in this part of it, the news is good and 
the occasion is one to celebrate, particularly for those who may find 
some meaning in words that might confuse visitors from another planet, 
such as ``en fuego'' or ``boo-yaah.'' Twenty years ago, a small cable 
television enterprise, tucked away in the woods of central Connecticut, 
introduced itself to America with these words:

       If you're a fan, what you'll see in the minutes, hours and 
     days to follow may convince you that you've gone to sports 
     heaven.

  True to that prophecy, the past 20 years have marked our national 
elevation into another world of sublime sports saturation.
  In recognition of its outstanding contribution in shaping the sports 
entertainment industry, I wish to speak today--and I believe I speak 
for all of my colleagues, at least a great majority--in offering our 
kudos to an American sports institution and the pride of Bristol, CT--
the ESPN Network which turned 20 years old last month, on September 7. 
The folks at ESPN aired an anniversary special that night duly 
celebrating the network's unique constructive contribution to our 
culture, and yesterday there was a congressional reception in honor of 
that anniversary.
  Those of us who attended not only had the chance to toast ESPN but to 
meet an extraordinary group of American heroes: boxing legend Muhammad 
Ali, football great Johnny Unitas, and Olympian Carl Lewis.
  So I take the floor to pay tribute to one of my favorite corporate 
constituents, and I think one of America's favorite networks.
  The story of how ESPN came to be is really an American rags to riches 
classic, and that network's unbreakable bond with the small Connecticut 
city of its founding is part of that story.

  Bristol, CT, population 63,000, is a wonderful town, 20 minutes west 
of Hartford. Most famous previously for being the cradle of clockmaking 
during the industrial age, Bristol seemed an unlikely candidate to 
emerge as the cradle of electronics sports media, but it did. Believe 
it or not, ESPN probably would not exist today--certainly not in 
Bristol--if the old New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association 
had not had a disappointing season in 1978.
  The Whalers' public relations director, a man named Bill Rasmussen, 
one of several employees to lose his job in a front-office shakeup at 
the end of that season, decided he had an idea he wanted to try. He was 
a Whalers man at heart, and he figured he could stay involved with his 
team by starting a new cable television channel that would broadcast 
Whalers games statewide. He even had a second-tier dream of someday 
possibly broadcasting University of Connecticut athletics statewide as 
well.
  Rasmussen rented office space in Plainville, CT, near Bristol, and 
thought up the name Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, or 
ESPN. But before he had even unpacked in Plainville, he ran into his 
first problem--the town had an ordinance which prohibited satellite 
dishes. Undeterred, Rasmussen scrambled to nearby Bristol, found a 
parcel of land in an industrial park in the outskirts of the city, 
which he promptly bought, sight unseen, I gather, for $18,000. The 
rest, as they say, is history.
  Today, ESPN, from this same location, generates $1.3 billion a year 
in revenues and is seen in more than 75 million American homes.
  ESPN realized that second-tier dream that Rasmussen had. Earlier this 
year, his station provided exhaustive coverage of UConn athletics when 
the Huskies won the NCAA men's basketball championship--only the game 
was not broadcast statewide; it was broadcast worldwide.

[[Page S11783]]

  Twenty years after its founding, ESPN commands an international 
audience that watches every sport--from baseball to badminton to 
Australian rules football. The network's flagship, SportsCenter, is 
currently the longest running program on cable television, with more 
than 21,000 episodes logged--truly, the Cal Ripken of network 
television.
  In a measure of its enormous influence on our culture, the catch 
phrases coined by SportsCenter's quick-witted anchors routinely find 
their way into the American vocabulary, such as the aforementioned ``en 
fuego'' and ``boo-yaah.''
  The program also has broadened sports appeal by peppering broadcasts 
with references to literature, history, and other high-minded fields 
not always connected with sporting events. The father of this breed of 
broadcasting, of course, is Chris Berman, probably my most famous 
constituent. He was hired from a Waterbury, CT, radio station at the 
age 24 to become one of ESPN's pioneering voices. What a great 
professional and source of great joy Chris Berman is.
  A testament to his place among sportscasting greats can be heard 
across ballparks in America each time a home run ball is struck. If you 
listen closely, as the ball nears the fence, you may think that the 
ballfield is being overtaken by a herd of chickens clucking: ``Back, 
back''--I am restraining myself here on the floor, Mr. President, but 
you get the idea--``back, back, back, back, back,'' in homage to the 
Swami's classic call. Berman is also the father of the modern sports 
nickname, concocting such classics as: Burt ``Be Home'' Blyleven, John 
``I Am Not A'' Kruk, and Roberto ``Remember The'' Alomar. There are 
certain individuals unnamed in the Democratic Cloakroom who have 
attempted to emulate this style of nicknaming for sports figures, and 
they are not doing badly. Oh, and lest we forget another household 
name, ESPN introduced us to the man who genuinely put the ``Madness'' 
into March Madness--the nattering nabob of Naismith, the great Dick 
Vitale.
  So thanks to Chris Berman, to Dick Vitale, and to all the others who 
have made ESPN part of our lives.
  ESPN is today to sports what Walter Cronkite once was to politics and 
public affairs--the authoritative voice fans turn to when a major story 
breaks. As political columnist George Will once wisely said: ``If 
someone surreptitiously took everything but ESPN from my cable 
television package, it might be months before I noticed.''
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 3 more minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Despite ESPN's national prominence and its countless 
opportunities to relocate to a larger media market, the network has 
steadfastly stayed with bucolic Bristol, as it is endearingly referred 
to on the air. ESPN maintains its foothold in the same industrial park 
where it began 20 years ago, although the Bristol campus, as it is now 
called, spans today 43 acres and the network has 210 employees. We in 
Connecticut are very proud of this relationship and particularly of 
ESPN's leaders and broadcasters who have happily put down roots and 
raised their families in central Connecticut.
  I think John Leone, former mayor of Bristol, now head of the Bristol 
Chamber of Commerce, may have summed up the relationship between the 
city and its network best when he said:

       In New York, ESPN would be just another network. Here in 
     Bristol, ESPN is the king.

  So to the king of Bristol--and their royalty of American sports 
television--I say happy 20th, ESPN, and many more.
  Before I yield the floor, I want to give a special thank you to Eric 
Kleiman of my office staff who truly inspired this statement of 
gratitude and tribute to a great television network.
  I thank the Chair and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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