[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17437]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        25TH ANNIVERSARY OF ESPN

  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I have the high honor and great 
personal privilege of coming to the Chamber this afternoon to extend my 
congratulations to everyone at ESPN. All of us who are ESPN sports fans 
and viewers and those at the network itself are celebrating 25 years of 
excellence by this remarkable group of people in sports broadcasting.
  As a sports fan and a Senator from Connecticut, I speak as one who is 
very proud that this American dream has occurred in our State, located 
in Bristol, CT, and a tremendous citizen of the State which brought 
almost 3,000 jobs to Connecticut. We are very proud in a very direct 
sense and very grateful to ESPN for all they contribute to Connecticut.
  I must say, when I have been traveling, and at the end of a long day 
when I get to the hotel room and turn on the TV, there is nothing more 
comforting than turning on ESPN and knowing that signal is coming to me 
right from Bristol, CT.
  I say this is an American dream story because ESPN was the idea of 
two people, a father and son, the Rasmussens, who thought originally 
that they would like to find a way to broadcast University of 
Connecticut sports events to people around the State on cable. 
Consulting some experts I believe at RCA, they found they could buy 
satellite time to do that, and then one of the folks at RCA said to 
them: Incidentally, it will cost you the same amount of money to 
broadcast around America and the world via satellite as it will in 
Connecticut. And that began 25 years ago ESPN, the Entertainment and 
Sports Programming Network, which is today the worldwide leader in 
sports. It started small and ended big, going strong, and all as a 
result of hard work and a lot of innovation.
  I had the privilege of visiting ESPN's studios in Bristol, CT, last 
week. It is really a campus now. I had the thrill of touring the ESPN 
new digital center. This was about as good as it gets for someone who 
grew up not dreaming of being a Senator but dreaming of being a Major 
League baseball player, a center fielder, for that matter--not a 
preference for political inclinations, not a left fielder or right 
fielder but a center fielder.
  The closest I got to that dream is what I did that day sitting at the 
anchor desk on the brandnew, very impressive sports center studio set 
with none other than the closest thing the sports world has to Walter 
Cronkite, the honorable Chris Berman. It was a lot of fun and a great 
treat. I also got the chance to look at the new studio we will soon be 
seeing on the NFL programming and then next year on the baseball 
programming. There is a lot of excitement there.
  As we celebrate ESPN's 25th anniversary, I offer my congratulations 
on a magnificent first 25 years to George Bodenheimer, ESPN's 
president, and to the almost 3,000 employees of ESPN who have changed 
our lives as sports fans and changed so much for the better in the life 
of the greater Bristol community.
  Chris Berman, in addition to my comparison--perhaps a little 
overstated--to Walter Cronkite, has been the great originator of 
nicknames. The most famous and the one I love best is when he called a 
particular baseball player Bert ``Be Home'' Blyleven. I could go on.
  I watched the ESPN retrospective on their first 25 years last night. 
I did notice in the show that one fan held up a sign that kind of got 
even with Chris Berman, and it said: ``Chris, beast of Berman.'' Let 
that speak for itself.
  In any case, probably the best tribute one could pay to this 
extraordinary network and the people who work at it is that as you look 
back at the 25 years, to paraphrase Berman himself, no one could have 
guessed that this network could go all the way. It has gone all the 
way, and it will just keep on going for the next 25 years, more 
successful than the first 25 years, and beyond. So thanks and 
congratulations to all the people at ESPN.
  I think the most fitting one-word tribute I can use to close a 
celebration on the Senate floor of ESPN's first great 25 years is to 
say simply and enthusiastically: Booyah.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, while the distinguished Senator from 
Connecticut is still on the floor of the Senate, I commend him for his 
remarks. The real success, of course, is due to NASCAR. I hope the 
Senator appreciates that. In any event, I share his sentiments.

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