ESPN Archives - Rolling Out

The famously bombastic Charles Barkley is creating more controversy, this time by throwing major shade at current NBA superstar Kevin Durant. In an interview with former ESPN sports anchor Dan Patrick on his radio show, Barkley, 57, barked that Durant is still not a “bus driver” and was a “bus rider” during his championship years…

The National Basketball Association has teamed up with ESPN in a campaign to highlight Black-owned businesses during the 2020 NBA Finals. The campaign is titled #ChampionBlackBusinesses, and the NBA is putting its vast spotlight on African American proprietors in the cities of the two teams competing for the championship — the Los Angeles Lakers and…

Lebron James is universally considered the best player in basketball by most pundits and a legion of hardcore hoop fans. Truth be told, James has been the focal point for every team he’s played on since high school. So when former Duke standout and Chicago Bulls point guard, Jay Williams, compared James to Scottie Pippen,…

Former ESPN sports reporter Jemele Hill is taking incoming fire on Twitter after she tweeted that American society was as bad as Nazi Germany. In a tweet Hill posted on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020, the former host of Sportscenter’s popular shows “His & Hers,” and “Numbers Never Lie,” referred to former New York Times reporter…

Jemele Hill and Cari Champion are two of the most prolific voices in media today. Besides being veteran journalists and boasting stellar careers at ESPN, the self-proclaimed BFFs have consistently refused to mute their voices when the conversation around sports spilled over into racial equality and politics. Currently, the besties are co-hosting an all-new late-night…

Michael Jordan’s illustrious career continues to reach new heights with the release of the ESPN documentary “The Last Dance.” Along with his historic battles against the Detroit Pistons “Bad Boys” and the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers, Jordan was also legendary off the court, so much so that he was often offered an enormous amount of…

Dwyane Wade admitted that he was very concerned that his wife Gabrielle Union was putting her life in danger from the multiple pregnancies and miscarriages and numerous IVF treatments. D-Wade, 38, was the subject of an ESPN documentary, “D. Wade: Life Unexpected,” that premiered Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020, that chronicled his tumultuous childhood and meteoric…

Mike Tomlin, the longtime Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, spoke about whether former malcontent wide receiver Antonio Brown would be welcomed back on the team. Brown, the outcast wide receiver who has compiled one of the greatest careers in NFL history, has been on a national apology tour where he has articulated contrition for his past…

Retired NBA legend Dwyane Wade had experienced a multiplicity of highs during his illustrious career that was punctuated by three NBA championships and a title MVP award with the Miami Heat. But he said the moment that he had to admit to then-girlfriend Gabrielle Union that he had a secret love child represented one of…

Long before Mike Hill decided to propose to “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Cynthia Bailey, the former ESPN reporter had to perform an autopsy on his previous marriages and undergo painful introspection on who he was as a person. As Hill, 49, will admit in his upcoming memoir, Open Mike, that he was a wayward…

Men from around the world have embraced being fathers to young women and girls. On Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, the hashtag #GirlDad began trending on social media after an ESPN story about Kobe Bryant’s love for his three daughters. On Tuesday morning, ESPN’s Elle Duncan shared a story about the time she met with Bryant…

Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady were once the NBA’s two most dominant and feared scorers. McGrady’s connection to Bryant is one he feels was different and perhaps deeper than any other player Kobe lined up with or against. That’s because when McGrady made the jump to the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, he spent a summer at…

The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers have decided to cancel Tuesday’s game which was to take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. In a tweet by the National Basketball Association, the league said the decision “was made out of respect for the Lakers organization, which is deeply grieving the tragic loss…

Stephen A. Smith doing a live ESPN segment at Wells Fargo Center (Photo by Derrel Jazz Johnson for Steed Media Service)

The NFL has another problem in terms of race. Beyond the issues the league is facing with Colin Kaepernick being snubbed, the NFL is also failing in terms of diversity at the head coaching position. Out of 32 teams, there are only three Black coaches: Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers); Brian Flores (Miami Dolphins); and Anthony…

Stephen A. Smith doing a live ESPN segment at Wells Fargo Center (Photo by Derrel Jazz Johnson for Steed Media Service)

Things turned ugly on ESPN’s mega-successful sports show “First Take” when NFL Hall of Famer Terrell “T.O.” Owens told Stephen A. Smith on air that his White co-host “almost seems Blacker than you.” The source of the Smith-Owens eruption was the fiasco surrounding Colin Kaepernick, the exiled former NFL quarterback whose tryout with the league…

Stephen A. Smith may be the best-known and highest-paid employee in the history of ESPN, but Black Twitter is having a love affair with Max Kellerman because of his views supporting exiled quarterback Colin Kaepernick. On the latest episode of the immensely popular ESPN show “First Take,” Kellerman endeared himself to the urban masses after…

Photo: A.R. Shaw

The NFL’s scheduled workout for Colin Kaepernick turned into a media circus. Initially, Kaepernick was scheduled to hold a private workout and interview session on Saturday, Nov. 16. 2019, with multiple NFL teams at the Atlanta Falcons facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia. However, Kaepernick changed the location of the workout hours before it was set…

Stephen A. Smith doing a live ESPN segment at Wells Fargo Center (Photo by Derrel Jazz Johnson for Steed Media Service)

Stephen A. Smith thoroughly slammed Colin Kaepernick after he changed venues at the last minute for the official NFL workout on Saturday, Nov. 16, in Atlanta. And then Eric Reid, the Carolina Panther player who originally knelt with Kaepernick back in 2016, responded to Smith on Twitter by likening Smith to a tap-dancing sellout. Smith…

Stephen A. Smith doing a live ESPN segment at Wells Fargo Center (Photo by Derrel Jazz Johnson for Steed Media Service)

Is it possible that Stephen A. Smith could be reunited with Skip Bayless on ESPN’s mega-successful sports show “First Take?” Some media outlets speculate that this is not a far-fetched concept. And, in fact, NJ.com reports that the two stars, Smith and Bayless, are amenable to making it happen. Smith and Bayless transformed “First Take”…

Antonio Brown took a moment to blast Ben Roethlisberger and Robert Kraft during a rant on social media. The embattled athlete shared his views on Twitter days after he was released by the New England Patriots. The 2019 Super Bowl champions cut Brown after accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced and the accuser released text messages…