[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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