The death of ESPN's Stuart Scott crossed over to mainstream news outlets today, with all three network morning shows airing reports of the 49-year-old's passing. ABC's "GMA" aired part of a 15-minute tribute that originally aired yesterday on ESPN and was voiced by Robin Roberts. In the studio, Roberts told her "GMA" co-hosts, “Stu changed the way we view sports on television.” "CBS This Morning" aired a report from CBS Sports’ James Brown, with show co-host Gayle King noting Scott was a “groundbreaking personality on a cable network that changed American sports.” NBC’s Savannah Guthrie on "Today" referenced the "emotional response to the passing of an ESPN sportscaster.” NBC’s Carson Daly said “so many turned to social media to remember the great Stuart Scott” as within the last 24 hours, there had been “1.3 million tweets mentioning his name." Scott's death also resonated on yesterday's NFL pregame shows. In addition to ESPN predictably taking a considerable amount of time to remember the former "Monday Night Countdown" host, CBS, Fox and NFL Network all paid tribute to Scott (
THE DAILY). CBS' Jim Nantz also took time during the Colts' win over the Bengals in the AFC Wild Card game to honor Scott: “We arrived at the stadium this morning and walked right into the news that just crushed us all, the passing of Stuart Scott. All 250 strong here, our hearts go out to the Scott family, the ESPN family. A career of tremendous accomplishment and class and a life filled with courage. What a man. What a loss today” (
“Colts-Bengals,” CBS, 1/4).
PUTTING THE TRIBUTE TOGETHER: SI.com's Richard Deitsch reported the "beautiful, moving tribute" to Scott that aired on "SportsCenter" yesterday was "completed months ago" by ESPN feature producers Mike Leber, Miriam Greenfield and Denny Wolfe. The three "began working on it shortly after Scott’s emotional speech at the ESPYs last July 16, when the anchor amplified how difficult his cancer had hit him." The group "completed the feature on September 18." Leber said that he and Greenfield "cast a wide net for subjects; they wanted people who had worked with Scott for a long time, including those that had left ESPN like the NFL Network’s Rich Eisen and NBC’s Dan Patrick." Deitsch noted Leber and Greenfield found out early yesterday morning Scott had died and "hustled to get the piece ready for air." Leber said that producers "were working on some of the auxiliary Scott pieces that ran on Sunday as late as two weeks ago." Scott's family "asked ESPN to hold the piece until 9:45am ET so relatives, friends and loved ones could be informed it was running" (SI.com, 1/4). In Boston, Chad Finn writes it was "impressive, and perhaps a little jarring," that ESPN had a tribute video ready to run as soon as it did. The segment "featured anecdotes and recollections from friends and peers, a tribute to a life well lived." Finn: "But it must have been strange for them to record such a farewell and to speak of Scott in the past tense before he was gone" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/5).
SKIPPER MOVED BY SHOW OF SUPPORT: ESPN President John Skipper appeared on ESPN Radio's "The Herd" this morning to discuss Scott and said he "really was moved and really do appreciate our partners -- the NFL and the NBA -- both having moments of silence." Skipper: "It showed you that everybody understands that Stuart changed things. I happened to see the Cowboys-Lions moment of silence, and when you saw the athletes' faces, it was not just preemptory for them. It was a profound moment. You could see that they were thinking about Stuart. So it meant a lot." He said the net has "already had some discussions about the right kind of remembrances and memorials for Stuart." Skipper: "I'm very proud that our guys made the decision to give Stuart the Jimmy V. Award. ... We’ll need to figure out how we remember Stuart from now on” (“The Herd,” ESPN Radio, 1/5).
