SportsCentury

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Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox television SportsCentury is an ESPN biography television program that reviews the people and events that defined sports in North America throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Using stock footage, on-camera interviews, and photographs of their athletic lives, who grew up.

In 1999, ESPN counted down the Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century, selected from North American athletes and voted on by a panel of sports journalists and observers,[1] premiering a new biography highlighting each top athlete every week throughout the year. The episodes for the top two athletes, Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, appeared on a special combined edition broadcast on Christmas Day on ABC. The top two names were announced in no particular order, and the final positioning was announced at the conclusion of the two episodes. An additional list of numbers 51–100 were announced on the ESPN SportsCentury website. Themed specials such as Greatest Games, Greatest Coaches, Greatest Dynasties, and Most Influential Individuals were premiered throughout the year, as well as six SportsCenter of the Decade programs.

After the initial run was complete, the episodes were rerun at various times on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. The original plan for the series was to expand to include #51 through #100. Ultimately, the series featured just over half of the athletes from #51 to #100, and instead expanded to include over 150 other athletes, coaches, owners, personalities, and notable moments in sports history. Acknowledgements were given to athletes that were notable for more recent accomplishments, even if they spent only a small part of their career in the 20th century (e.g., Tiger Woods, Tom Brady), or were recently deceased (e.g. Pat Tillman, Dale Earnhardt). Special subsets of episodes were created revolving around a particular event, including athletes associated with the particular sport. They would typically air in the days leading up to those events. (e.g., Winter Olympics, golf majors, Indianapolis 500, etc.)

ESPN Classic began to feature the program with host, Chris Fowler, as the highlight of its weeknight prime-time programing, airing five nights a week. After cycling through the entire series several times, and after debuting several new episodes, it was removed as a nightly program. since 2007Template:Dated maintenance category (articles)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"., reruns of the documentary series airs Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. The last original program was that of Shaquille O'Neal, which aired in November 2007.[2]

Controversy

The final order of choices led to debate, some of which came from the SportsCentury camp. Bob Costas, one of the series' voters, said, "I had Babe Ruth as my number one, but I think the list they came up with was a good one. Everybody more or less deserved to be there." ESPN writer Bud Morgan conceded that the Secretariat pick "was kind of controversial because a lot of people took the attitude 'What is a four-legged animal doing on this list?'"

Tony Kornheiser, whose ballot was topped by Ruth, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, said, "I can't conceive of how Ruth didn't finish number one. He had the greatest impact of anybody on a sport by far... Michael Jordan didn't have as many championships as Bill Russell and didn't score as many points as Wilt Chamberlain, and really didn't do anything to advance his sport, so maybe in retrospect I upgraded him a bit too much because the way he performed was so spectacular, and because of television I got to see highlights. They may have overpersuaded a lot of us... Did Jim Thorpe get the praise he deserved? Probably not, because there weren't enough people old enough to really remember him."

ESPN anchor Charley Steiner said "I think picking [Jordan] number one was a generational decision, not a historical one. Babe Ruth deserved it more."[3]

Don King lawsuit

In 2005, Don King and his promotional company, Don King Productions, Inc. filed a $2.5 billion defamation suit against the Walt Disney Company, the current owners of ESPN and ABC Cable Networks Group, and Advocate Communications, after a documentary alleged that King had "killed, not once, but twice", threatened to break Larry Holmes' legs, had a hospital invest into a film that was never made, cheated Meldrick Taylor out of $1 million, and then threatened to have Taylor killed. Though the documentary repeated many claims that were already made, King said he had now had enough. King's attorney said "It was slanted to show Don in the worst way. It was one-sided from day one, Don is a strong man, but he has been hurt by this."[4]

The case was dismissed on summary judgment with a finding that King could not show "actual malice" from the defendants, and that King had failed to prove that any of the challenged statements were false. The judgement also pointed out that the studio had tried on a number of occasions to interview King for the documentary, but he had declined; while not suggesting that King had a legal obligation to do so, the court sympathized with ESPN's circumstances on those grounds. King appealed the decision and, 3 years later, the Second District Court of Appeals upheld the summary judgement, but disagreed with the original finding that none of the statements were false. In any case, Judge Dorian Damoorgian ruled, "Nothing in the record shows that ESPN purposefully made false statements about King in order to bolster the theme of the program or to inflict harm on King".[5]

Recognition

SportsCentury won a Peabody Award in 1999 "for overall excellence in sports broadcasting."[6]

SportsCentury: Top 50 American Athletes of the 20th Century (Original series)

File:Ruth1921.jpg
Babe Ruth was voted No. 2
File:Muhammad Ali NYWTS.jpg
Muhammad Ali was voted No. 3
Number Athlete Sport
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9 Script error: No such module "Sort". Golf
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12 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
13 Script error: No such module "Sort". Basketball
14 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
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16 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
17 Script error: No such module "Sort". Basketball
18 Script error: No such module "Sort". Basketball
19 Script error: No such module "Sort". Tennis
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21 Script error: No such module "Sort". Ice hockey
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23 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
24 Script error: No such module "Sort". Boxing
25 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
26 Script error: No such module "Sort". Basketball
27 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
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29 Script error: No such module "Sort". Golf
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33 Script error: No such module "Sort". Swimming
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41 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
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44 Script error: No such module "Sort". Golf
45 Script error: No such module "Sort". Tennis
46 Script error: No such module "Sort". Speed skating, cycling
47 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
48 Script error: No such module "Sort". Tennis
49 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
50 Script error: No such module "Sort". Tennis

SportsCentury: 51–100

File:Mario Lemieux 2001.jpg
Mario Lemieux was voted no. 55
File:Pete Rose Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.jpg
Pete Rose was voted no. 56 despite serving a lifetime ban from baseball.
Number Athlete Sport
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52 Script error: No such module "Sort". Boxing
53 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
54 Script error: No such module "Sort". Diving
55 Script error: No such module "Sort". Ice hockey
56 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
57 Script error: No such module "Sort". Horse racing
58 Script error: No such module "Sort". Basketball
59 Script error: No such module "Sort". Tennis
60 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
61 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
62 Script error: No such module "Sort". Basketball
63 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
64 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
65 Script error: No such module "Sort". Tennis, golf
66 Script error: No such module "Sort". Horse racing
67 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
68 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
69 Script error: No such module "Sort". Speed skating
70 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
71 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
72 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football, baseball
73 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
74 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football, baseball
75 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
76 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
77 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
78 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
79 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
80 Script error: No such module "Sort". Auto racing
81 Script error: No such module "Sort". Tennis
82 Script error: No such module "Sort". Ice hockey
83 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
84 Script error: No such module "Sort". Horse racing
85 Script error: No such module "Sort". Ice hockey
86 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
87 Script error: No such module "Sort". Boxing
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89 Script error: No such module "Sort". Baseball
90 Script error: No such module "Sort". Auto racing
91 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
92 Script error: No such module "Sort". Auto racing
93 Script error: No such module "Sort". Football
94 Script error: No such module "Sort". Basketball
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96 Script error: No such module "Sort". Track and field
97 Script error: No such module "Sort". Horse racing
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100 Script error: No such module "Sort". Boxing

Athlete statistics

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Additional SportsCentury episodes

Athletes

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Coaches, owners, and other personalities

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Games, teams, and other special episodes

Special episodes

SportsCentury: Greatest Games of the 20th Century

"Greatest Games" was a top ten countdown of the best games/matches voted on from a wide variety of team and individual sports.

  1. "The Greatest Game Ever Played" – (1958 NFL Championship): Baltimore Colts vs. New York Giants (1958)
  2. The Shot Heard 'Round the World – Bobby Thomson's home run (1951)
  3. Super Bowl III – New York Jets defeat Baltimore Colts (1969)
  4. Miracle on Ice – U.S.A defeats U.S.S.R. (1980)
  5. "Thrilla in Manila" – Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier (1975)
  6. "Ice Bowl" – Green Bay vs. Dallas (1967)
  7. Game 6 of the 1975 World Series – Carlton Fisk's home run (1975)
  8. Tiger Woods wins the Masters (1997)
  9. Willis Reed and Knicks beat Lakers in Game 7 (1970)
  10. Borg-McEnroe Wimbledon thriller (1980)

SportsCentury: Greatest Coaches of the 20th Century

"Greatest Coaches" was a top ten countdown of the best coaches voted on from a wide variety of team sports

  1. Vince Lombardi
  2. John Wooden
  3. Red Auerbach
  4. Dean Smith
  5. Bear Bryant
  6. John McGraw
  7. George Halas
  8. Don Shula
  9. Paul Brown
  10. Knute Rockne

SportsCentury: Greatest Dynasties

SportsCentury: Most Influential Individuals

Another top ten countdown special, focusing on influential figures in sports during the twentieth century, namely off-the-field contributors.

  1. Branch Rickey
  2. Pete Rozelle
  3. Roone Arledge
  4. Marvin Miller
  5. Kenesaw Mountain Landis
  6. David Stern
  7. Avery Brundage
  8. Walter O'Malley
  9. George Halas
  10. Mark McCormack

SportsCentury: The Year in Review

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Also included in the overall production was "SportsCenter of the Decade", a series of six two-hour programs (1900–1949, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s). Each episode was presented as a fictional episode of SportsCenter, in the way ESPN would have covered the events at the time (styles, studio/production design, and other various pop culture references).[10]

Notes

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Citations

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  3. ↑ Miller, James and Shales, Tom, Those Guys Have All the Fun, Little Brown & Co., 2011, pgs. 420–422
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  6. ↑ 59th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2000.
  7. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281438/episodes?ref_=tt_ql_6 Template:User-generated source
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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References

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