January 5, 2025

CLAY TRAVIS: From Bush’s First Pitch After 9/11 To Epic Fail At Sugar Bowl, ESPN’s Collapse Came Fast.

[I]n the fall of 2015, ESPN made a 30 for 30 documentary entitled simply, “First Pitch,” about the impact of that George W. Bush first pitch for sports fans.

I thought about that movie, even went back and watched it, this Saturday morning as I was contemplating how a sports network like ESPN could have failed to cover the national anthem and the moment of silence in New Orleans the day after the Sugar Bowl was postponed in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack on Bourbon Street.

Even though it was just nine years ago, it feels like a totally different era at ESPN, a time when the sports network existed to unite sports fans of all races, sexes, ethnicities, and, yes, political beliefs in common love of competition, before the network became infested with identity politics, before woke sports destroyed the ESPN brand.

How in the space of less than a decade did ESPN go from making a documentary about the importance of a first pitch in the wake of a terror attack to not even acknowledging a moment of silence the day after a terror attack that required the very game it was covering in that city itself to be moved by a day?

And, in so doing, how much does this decade represent a lost unity, the collapse of sports as something that brought us together, and became instead yet another political wedge of divisiveness?

If you haven’t heard about it, on Thursday afternoon in the Superdome in New Orleans, ESPN failed to cover the national anthem, the moment of silence for terror victims, the incredible USA chants echoing throughout the stadium and Notre Dame running on the field led by a player carrying the American flag.

Each of these moments was iconic and important, a symbol of the people in that stadium, the players and coaches, and the city of New Orleans, rallying as one and letting the terrorists know they would not defeat us, that the spirit of America is unconquerable.

More epic fail from ESPN here: Ohio State QB Stopped From Getting on Stage After Rose Bowl Win, and Theories As to Why Are Disturbing.

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Speculation abounds, and some of them point to ESPN, others point to the NCAA, but the prevailing theory is that they were attempting to restrict Howard’s access so that he wouldn’t bring up Christ on the stage. This is, of course, currently unconfirmed, but it seems to be the most popular of the guesses.

I’d go with that explanation, given Scott Van Pelt’s petulance last year when interviewing an openly pro-faith QB: ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt to Houston Texans’ QB C.J. Stroud: Let’s Talk About Something Besides Your Faith, M’kay?

Posted at 8:14 pm by Ed Driscoll