\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a powerful, powerful emotion, nostalgia, and I\u2019m leaning into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
-Rich Eisen<\/p>\n
A podcast series about the glory days of\u00a0SportsCenter seems so obvious that you wonder why it had not been tried before.<\/p>\n
Credit Rich Eisen for recognizing the value of nostalgia and for creating one of the summer\u2019s better pods. This Was SportsCenter: Stories from the Set concluded its six-episode first season earlier this month, and it was a delightful listen. Real inside-baseball stuff for old heads and really anyone who follows sports media.<\/p>\n
Season One featured\u00a0Dan Patrick<\/a>,\u00a0Chris Berman<\/a>, Mike Greenberg,\u00a0Linda Cohn<\/a>, Chris Fowler, and\u00a0Craig Kilborn<\/a>. We heard stories about Patrick getting into an ultra-competitive basketball game with the late Stuart Scott, a SportsCenter anchor having a panic attack just before going on air, and Kilborn\u2019s hilarious Clint Eastwood story. And much more.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n There was a time when\u00a0SportsCenter was more than a highlights show. It was not only a place to get a daily download of the day\u2019s sports news. This version of infotainment was an integral part of pop culture. Every athlete wanted to be on it, and every viewer connected with it on a deeply personal level. The SportsCenter anchors were rockstars, and spotting them in a music video<\/a> or out in the wild<\/a> was a big deal.<\/p>\n Those days are gone. While\u00a0SportsCenter remains a major part of the ESPN brand, it no longer holds the same cultural relevance, through no fault of its own. Times have changed. Nobody sits around anymore waiting for the highlights. You can get them on demand on your phone. The SportsCenter anchors still matter, but not as much as they once did.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be another collection of SportsCenter anchors like that anymore,\u201d said MLB Network\u2019s Robert Flores, a former SportsCenter anchor. \u201cWith all due respect to the current and future SportsCenter anchors, we\u2019re just not going to have the same cultural impact or relevance that Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Craig Kilborn, Linda Cohn had. Because the industry is different. ESPN is a different company. Their priorities are different. The world is different. I thought it was a pretty cool podcast series.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n One reason This Was SportsCenter works is that Eisen is the ideal host. When one media member interviews another, there needs to be an essential level of comfort. Eisen gets his guests talking, so it feels more like a conversation than a straightforward interview. He\u2019s part of an exclusive fraternity, a former SportsCenter anchor who succeeded both while at ESPN and after he left.<\/p>\n During his interviews with Patrick, Berman, Cohn, and others, he weaves in his own experience and perspectives, lending the podcast added weight. It\u2019s the kind of inside-the-industry dialogue that many podcasts can\u2019t fully deliver.<\/p>\n Credit to ESPN as well. Based solely on the frankness of the interviews, it seems The Worldwide Leader in Sports stayed out of Eisen\u2019s way. Eisen, a SportsCenter anchor from 1996-2003, had an\u00a0acrimonious exit from ESPN<\/a>. That\u2019s not unusual. But now the two are reunited because of the ESPN-NFL Network merger.<\/p>\n Of course, Eisen now has more leverage. He owns his content through Rich Eisen Productions, which is distributed across ESPN\u2019s various platforms. Still, ESPN must recognize that serving its audience the truth, rather than a sanitized version of the facts, is better for the podcast and the network.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Linda Cohn tried one SportsCenter catchphrase that was immediately banned by ESPN executives. https:\/\/t.co\/BqaNJmvrtn<\/a><\/p>\n
The best compliment you can give This Was SportsCenter is that it leaves you wanting more. It\u2019s like hanging out with your college friends and suddenly realizing that time\u2019s up and everyone has to go home. There is the hope that there will be a Season Two.<\/p>\n
\n\u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n