ESPN will air a tribute to the late Tom Mees at 11:00am EDT
on Sunday morning during their "SportsWeekly" program. Chris
Berman and Bob Ley, colleagues of Mees since ESPN first premiered
in '79, will anchor the tribute. Mees drowned Wednesday in a
neighbor's pool in CT. Mees' family has asked that contributions
be made to the Valerie Fund, which provides research for
children's cancer. The address is 1878 Springfield Avenue,
Maplewood, NJ, 07040 (Bill Fleischman, PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS,
8/16).
KICKING 'EM WHEN THEY'RE DOWN? In New York, Phil Mushnick
criticizes ESPN for holding the story of Mees' death until 6:55,
twenty five minutes into their 6:30 broadcast and well after news
of his death had hit the AP wire. Mushnick prefaces his comments
by saying "the last thing we want to do is to seize the occasion
... to beat up on the network," but he adds that ESPN "seems to
have lost is soul. Maybe even its mind." He notes ESPN
explained SportsCenter's audience increases at 7:00pm, but
Mushnick adds, "If that's the case, why not lead with the story
at 6:30, then repeat it" at 7:00pm. Mushnick: "Tom Mees deserved
better than that from his own" (N.Y. POST, 8/16).
