[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 104 (Tuesday, September 7, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8841-S8842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ESPN 25TH ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, on a lighter note and a moment of 
celebration, I would like to take a few minutes of the Senate's time to 
congratulate an institution located in my home State of Connecticut 
which is going to be celebrating today its 25th anniversary as an 
institution. I speak of ESPN, the network which is enjoying 25 years of 
existence as a network.
  I want to read the lead paragraph from a newspaper article that 
appeared on June 27, 1979, in the Journal Inquirer, a newspaper located 
in Connecticut. The lead paragraph of this story reads as follows:

       Cable television may be the place for over 150 hours of 
     local sports programming starting this fall. The 
     Entertainment and Sports Programming Network--

  ESPN--

     an independent cable television production company, announced 
     here Monday plans to televise up to 20 hours a week--

  Think of that, 20 hours a week--

     of both professional and amateur local sports programming.

  That was 25 years ago. I ask unanimous consent that this news story 
be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Journal Inquirer, June 27, 1978]

                       Network Planning TV Sports

                           (By Matt Buckler)

       Plainville.--Cable television may be the place for over 150 
     hours of local sports programming starting this fall. The 
     Entertainment and Sports Programing Network, an independent 
     cable television production company, announced here Monday 
     plans to televise up to 20 hours a week of both professional 
     and amateur local sports programing.
       Among the programs scheduled to begin in September are 12 
     state college football games and 24 state college basketball 
     games. Also in the planning stage is the televising of the 
     New England Whaler road games.
       ``We've had two exploratory meetings with the Whalers and 
     we have a full-blown proposal in the works,'' said Ed Eagan, 
     president of Cable Promotions. ``We could be televising more 
     Whaler games than have ever been on television before.''
       Other sports events scheduled to be shown in the first 
     phase of the project, which will run from September 9 to 
     Memorial Day, are a sports magazine show, which will feature 
     such topics as hot air ballooning and hang gliding, a Gordie 
     Howe instructional hockey series, and a talk show with 
     Colleen Howe.
       ESP will be offering these programs to the 20 cable 
     television companies throughout Connecticut. It will be up to 
     the individual companies whether or not they want to carry 
     the package and if they will charge extra for it to its 
     subscribers.
       ``We've talked informally to three cable companies and so 
     far they are very receptive to our idea,'' said Bill 
     Rasmussen, the vice-president in charge of programing. 
     Rasmussen was formerly the Communications Director for the 
     Whalers.
       Scott Rasmussen will serve as Production Director and WTIC 
     announcers Arnold Dean and Lou Palmer will handle the play-
     by-play.
       The series is scheduled to get underway September 9 with a 
     college football game. It is also probable that the company 
     will carry the scholastic basketball and hockey 
     championships, according to Eagan.
       Although the company will be based in Plainville, it is not 
     affiliated with any cable company. It will attempt to sell 
     its sports programing to the individual companies.

  Mr. DODD. That story was the harbinger of what has become one of the 
great stories of the media in the last 100 years or longer.
  It is not an exaggeration to say that ESPN has radically changed the 
way we see, hear, and follow sports, not only here in America, but 
around the world. The network has truly become, as its slogan 
proclaims, ``The Worldwide Leader in Sports.''
  Over the past quarter-century, ESPN has transformed itself from a 
minuscule cable television network to one of the leading names in 
national media, reaching over 94 million Americans each week. If ESPN 
were an athlete, it would be the little-known draft pick from a small 
school who made it all the way to the Hall of Fame.
  It is hard to believe it today, but in those early years, ESPN found 
it difficult to fill up its schedule with sports. The June 27, 1978 
issue of one of our local newspapers, the Journal-Inquirer, under the 
headline ``Network Planning TV Sports,'' reported the modest goals of a 
new station that would televise ``up to 20 hours a week of both 
professional and amateur local sports programming.''
  Today, to say that ESPN has managed to fill its schedule is an 
understatement. Today, if one is asked the question, ``What's on 
ESPN,'' the most appropriate response might be, ``Which ESPN do you 
mean?'' There is ESPN, the flagship network. There is ESPN2. There is 
ESPNEWS, the 24-hour sports news station. There is ESPN Classic, where 
nostalgic sports fans can relive the exploits of Mickey Mantle, Jim 
Brown, Muhammad Ali, and countless others. There is ESPN Deportes, a 
24-hour Spanish-language sports network, not to mention ESPN 
International and ESPN Radio. And, of course, there is ESPN.com, which 
has become one of the most popular sites on the internet, much to the 
dismay of office managers everywhere.
  ESPN has truly lived the corporate version of the American dream. As 
its announcers might say, when it comes to sports broadcasting, you 
can't stop ESPN; you can only hope to contain it.

[[Page S8842]]

  Yet even as it has transformed itself into a media giant, for 25 
years now, ESPN has called only one place home--the city of Bristol, in 
my home State of Connecticut.
  Some might question why a network of ESPN's stature might prefer a 
quiet city of only 60,000 people to the glitz and glamour of New York 
City or Hollywood. But, those of us who live in Connecticut aren't the 
least bit surprised that ESPN's executives, workers, and broadcasters 
have chosen not only to work in central Connecticut, but to buy homes 
and raise their families there as well.
  We are also especially proud of our ``homegrown talent,'' those ESPN 
broadcasters who first made a name for themselves at local stations in 
Connecticut. Most notably, of course, there is my friend Chris Berman, 
a native of Greenwich. Back when I was a member of the House of 
Representatives, Chris was a weekend anchor with WVIT-TV, Channel 30, 
in Hartford. His head of hair was much fuller then, and mine was much 
darker. In the two-and-a-half decades since, Chris has become one of 
ESPN's most well-known and beloved on-air personalities.
  Over the course of its 25 years, ESPN has set records, reached 
numerous milestones, become a household name, and revolutionized sports 
coverage as we know it.
  Whenever a major event takes place in the world of sports, fans know 
that ESPN will bring them the latest news, the first interviews, and 
the deepest coverage. Thanks to ESPN, fans across the Nation watched 
live when Cal Ripken passed Lou Gehrig, when Mark McGwire tied Roger 
Maris, and when the World Cup was played in the United States for the 
very first time. ESPN has also made countless innovations in the world 
of sports broadcasting, introducing techniques like the ``helmet-cam,'' 
the ``K Zone,'' the ``player mike,'' and ultra-slow-motion replay.
  Of course, one can't discuss ESPN without mentioning their most well-
known news program, SportsCenter. Watched by as many as 88 million 
people each month, SportsCenter is a phenomenon within a phenomenon, a 
program that has carved out its own niche in American culture.
  By combining all-star coverage with a knack for wit, SportsCenter has 
become the model that all other sports programs emulate. Its announcers 
have perfected a style that is, as one of them might put it, ``as cool 
as the other side of the pillow.'' Professional athletes admit that 
they stay up late after game nights to watch their own highlights on 
the 1 a.m. SportsCenter. Even in games of sandlot baseball or pickup 
basketball, players have adopted the lingo of ESPN announcers, calling 
exceptional plays ``SportsCenter highlights'' or ``web gems.''
  There is a great deal of uncertainty in our Nation today. We have an 
election in less than two months. Our troops are on the ground in Iraq, 
Afghanistan, and elsewhere. We are fighting a global campaign against 
terrorism.
  But even during these difficult times, sports have the power to 
capture our attention. It is an inescapable fact that sports are woven 
into the fabric of American life. The spirit of competition; the 
importance of fair play; courage in the face of adversity--these are 
all American values that we can and do celebrate with our enthusiasm 
for sports.
  Sports have the power to inspire us all to strive for greater and 
loftier heights. Who can forget Willis Reed limping onto the floor at 
Madison Square Garden in 1970, or the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's 
``Miracle on Ice,'' or the American women's team winning the 1999 World 
Cup?
  True, sports can inspire fierce rivalries. We in Connecticut, who 
live on the front lines of the Yankee-Red Sox divide, know that better 
than anyone. But more significantly, sports can unite us. At no time 
was that clearer than in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 
when the sight of baseball and football players taking the field helped 
restore a sense of normalcy, and in a small way, helped our Nation 
begin to heal.
  For the past 25 years, ESPN has helped bring the exciting, emotional, 
and magical world of sports into the living rooms of millions and 
millions of Americans. And in doing so, they have become a part of 
American history.
  I wish everyone at ESPN a very happy 25th anniversary, and I wish 
them nothing but success in the years to come.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. 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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