- ESPN25
ESPN25 is a special event conducted to mark the 25th anniversary of
ESPN .During the run-up to the anniversary date of
September 7 , 2004, the network counted down the top sports moments of the last 25 years (the "ESPN era"). The list featured concentrated almost exclusively on moments involving Americans. Each Tuesday, a new 25-to-1 list was unveiled, as was the next headline in that 25-to-1 countdown. In addition, each day during "SportsCenter ", the next moment in the list of the top 100 moments of the ESPN era was shown. The celebration concluded by declaring theMiracle on Ice hockey game between the United States and the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games the #1 moment, game, and headline of the last 25 years.The Headlines
ESPN also had a weekly series, "The Headlines", hosted by
Bob Ley , counting down the top 25 stories since 1979, "stories that at some point jumped off the sports page, and onto the front page."Who's #1?
Immediately following "The Headlines" (before "The Headlines" in the early portion of the summer),
Stuart Scott hosted "Who's #1?", which counts down the top 25 of the last 25 years in some category. "Who's #1" has since expanded into a weekly series onESPN Classic , with additional categories and a new host,Trey Wingo . In this version, only 20 items are revealed, and, in a post-show segment, the "Second Guessers" debate the choices.Missing footage
Conspicuously absent from the entire ESPN25 series was all but a few seconds of footage from
National Football League games. During the "Headlines" show about 9/11, ESPN aired the entrance ofDallas Cowboys defensive backGeorge Teague enteringTexas Stadium with theAmerican flag when the NFL resumed play after the attacks; otherwise, it had to air still photographs whenever the league was mentioned. Neither the league nor ESPN explained why the footage was absent, but the network had just shown "Playmakers ", a weeklydrama show about a fictitious professional football team called the Cougars. The show's blunt treatment of off-the-field problems drew criticism from NFL officials, and reports surfaced that the NFL threatened not to renew ESPN's television contract with the league if "Playmakers" was renewed for a second season. The show was not renewed.
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