TV History: Jimmie Johnson - First Athlete To Guest Host ESPN’s SportsCenter

Thought you'd guys like to see this:

via press release -

Tuesday night’s recipe is simple, yet untested. Take one part Stuart Scott, one part Billy Crystal. Add a handful of Chris Berman, and a pinch of Ken Jeong. The result: Television history, as six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson becomes the first athlete to guest host ESPN’s flagship news and information program, SportsCenter.

Johnson will join regular anchors John Anderson and Lindsay Czarniak for the 6 p.m. ET show on Tuesday, Nov. 19 on ESPN.

The aforementioned actors Crystal and Jeong are the only other celebrity guest hosts of SportsCenter in the show’s 34-year history. Crystal was the first in 2012 and Jeong guest hosted earlier this month on Nov. 1.

Johnson, who wrapped up his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in 12 full seasons this past Sunday, has appeared on SportsCenter numerous times during his racing career both in-studio and via satellite, but always as a newsmaker. He also appeared in a humorous and memorable “This Is SportsCenter” commercial in which he used a pickaxe to remove speed bumps in the ESPN parking lot.

Tony Stewart spoke an Expletive!!

Tony Stewart is in trouble again when on Saturday morning, he used an expletive during a live broadcast on ESPN2.

Stewart used the language with a photographer when telling him to stop filming him. Stewart was being filmed during NASCAR Nextel Cup practice and the language was broadcast live. (Whoops)

A classic quote from a professional broadcasting organization: ESPN does not feel the need to use a tape delay for a broadcast "when working with professional athletes,".

Hmm, I guess they haven't been watching too many race broadcasts this and last year.

scenedaily.com

ESPN and Yellow Flag Restarts

Opinion by Bruce Simmons

It is a constant complaint from NASCAR fans. Why do the networks seem to miss so many restarts? I've noted this on my own blog at Yellow Flag Restarts on ESPN , and apparently I am not alone.

ABC's broadcast of Saturday night's Nextel Cup race from Richmond missed a few of the 12 restarts. One time, the network missed the restart and before commercials ended, caution came out again for oil on the track.

Ah, according to their best 'reason' for being the only broadcaster to miss restarts, ESPN is quoted to saying:
"Extending caution laps when we're in a commercial -- we try to do our breaks after pit stops around yellow flags -- could ultimately affect the game or affect the race because so many fuel-mile stories are involved in any given time."

And this shoddy coverage isn't going to change any time soon:
"The idea of running extra laps is not something under consideration at this time..."

Well, as I've heard time and time again, at least our sport is ON TV, even if it's sub par to what I have become accustomed to on other networks who manage to catch ALL the restarts.

See the entire detailed article over at The Roanoke Times