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When the New York Knicks’ modestly inspiring run at NBA championship glory ended last night for the 52nd consecutive year, they became the latest team to be immortalized by TNT’s satirical send-off of teams that are eliminated during their coverage arc–a photoshopped graphic that incorporates players, fans and anything else associated with the ousted city ready for a fishing expedition–hats, rods and deck shoes included. But this bon voyage was a little more poignant than usual, because it was the last that the network will offer as their 36-year association with the league came to an end.
The sensational INSIDE THE NBA, arguably the most watchable and informative post-game show of any sport on any network or platform, ended its TNT run last night in the atrium of Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the program’s common practice in recent years during conference finals coverage to be a traveling road show. It was emotional to be sure, with the talent bidding heartfelt farewells to the crew and their mic flags. But the real tearjerker occurred at the end of the previous round when the last show to eminate from the Turner compound on Atlanta’s Techwood Drive aired. And the most loyal employee and face of the program paid homage to the moment last week, as ESSENTIALLY SPORTS’ Rohan Bhaunt reported:
After almost four decades of being arguably the greatest sports show on television, everyone’s beloved crew will transition to ESPN and ABC starting next season, because of NBA’s new $76 billion media rights deal. Although Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith will continue their unfiltered analysis and friendly banter, it will not feel the same without the TNT logo on their set. Following last night’s Pacers vs Knicks Game 4 broadcast, NBA on TNT posted a wholesome image of the entire Inside the NBA team on the main studio set. Along with it was a heartfelt message by the Godfather himself, Ernie Johnson, “This is the greatest family in TV history, right here.” We have never taken for granted what we get to do here. You know its special.” He said on TNT’s new documentary Going Inside. Obviously, as the show reaches its end, Ernie is flooded with emotions. But he still faces the camera with the same smile and enthusiasm he had the first time he hosted Inside the NBA, “Meeting with the fans, and signing stuff, and taking pictures, that’s the best part about taking the show on the road. And you think ‘Man, is that not gonna happen anymore?’ That’s the bittersweet part.”
And while Johnson went out of his way to remind us, and it would seem his castmates, that they will exist next fall, being produced in Atlanta with a number of key production executives also making the move in a unique arrangement orchestrated by none other than Yosemite Zas himself that will see a direct competitor (ostensibly) producing a show for a network that hasn’t been able to create a successful version of their own in an even longer association with the NBA, the same cannot be said for a couple of other studio-based sports shows at their new network that aired their last episodes in the last month. THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER needed both Tony Maglio and Alex Weprin to tell that tale just before Memorial Day week:
This week is probably not among the “Top 10” in ESPN history. On Monday, the final SportsCenter in Los Angeles signed off, and on Friday, long-running afternoon debate show Around the Horn will see host Tony Reali crumple his stat sheet, the last page in his daily research packet that lists the career win total of the day’s panelists (and is later either recycled or signed and sent to a fan), for one final paper toss.
Fellow Penske-verse veteran Cynthia Littleton weighed in with some additional context in VARIETY! a week later:
Longtime ESPN host Tony Reali took his final lap “Around the Horn” on Friday, closing out the sports debate series after 23 years and more than 4,900 episodes…Reali has not been shy in recent interviews about “Around the Horn” having been canceled despite its long tenure.
“The absence of explanation and the silence said enough for me. And then I maybe come from a school of thought that everything in TV goes away,” Reali said in an interview with Sports Illustrated published earlier this week. Reali’s voice became more emotional as he zeroed in on his farewell. “I was 24 when I started on this show. I grew up on this show. This show helped me grow up. Maybe some of you feel the same way too,” he said. “Life came fast, then slow as it does, gradually, then suddenly, I’ve shared through it all the highs and lows, because I believe life is best when it’s shared in full, and fullness has highs and lows.”
Reali will be fine, thank you–more than two decades of ESPN host salary all but assures that– but the same cannot be said for the loyal staffers at ESPN’s satellite Washington, D.C. studios where the show was produced. Many production assistants with far less reserve and far fewer options have now joined the unemployment line at a sensitive time for the entire industry, particularly as even The Worldwide Leader is cutting back. The same is true for several dozen folks who worked on Sportscenter in Los Angeles, which closed out a 16-year run of its own. And as THE SPUN’s Andrew Gould reported last week, even the more prominent there weren’t spared:
Stan Verrett will become the latest ESPN mainstay to leave the company. Last week, ESPN held its final SportsCenter from Los Angeles. Verrett later confirmed that he’ll depart the network this summer after 25 years. Verrett expanded on the forthcoming split in an interview with Awful Announcing’s Michael Grant published Thursday. “The L.A. studio was closing and so it just didn’t make sense for me to go back to Bristol in terms of where my life is right now,” Verrett said. “For me, it wasn’t a career decision. It was a life decision. Even if there had been a renewal, that call for me to move back to Bristol, that’s not something I was interested in. It was totally amicable.
As for his most recent partner in crime, my one-time SUNY Oswego classmate and female sportscasting icon Linda Cohn, she’s kinda TBD, as the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER duo noted:
Cohn’s future work with ESPN is TBD, though she remains under contract. Cohn joined both the company and the show’s anchor desk in 1992. Since then, she has (by far) anchored the most SportsCenter episodes in history; by 2016, ESPN was already celebrating her 5,000th SportsCenter. (ESPN estimates she’s now done about 5,300 SportsCenter episodes – she’s had a much lighter schedule in recent years.)
She’s got personal ties to both coasts, most recently a new side hustle gig as a contributor to Seattle Kraken telecasts in the city from which she was recruited by ESPN. They eventually won out over my FOX colleagues who dispatched me as a envoy when they were contemplating replacing the sports anchor at KTTV Los Angeles, an “honor” I was given after my own ill-conceived candidacy to be part of the team was mercifully denied after it was revealed I couldn’t read a prompter without squinting through my contact lenses. So I do have a little emotional skin in that game.
She sure appeared fairly emotional herself in her show’s on-air farewell, as you can see. But FWIW, I’m pretty sure Linda’s not ready to go fishing just yet. She tends to prefer frozen water and rubber pucks.
Courage…