ESPN's Scott Van Pelt "made his debut" last night on the revamped midnight version of "SportsCenter," and if the first show is "any indication, it will be similar to a traditional SportsCenter with Van Pelt’s creativity and humor mixed into the show," according to Jonathan Adams of HEAVY.com. Popular segments like “Bad Beats” and “One Big Thing” have been "brought over to SportsCenter with Van Pelt" from his radio show. Meanwhile, some of the "big news" from the show was the appearance of former host Dan Patrick, who had not been on the program since he left ESPN in '07. Patrick appeared "briefly in the studio with Van Pelt early on" (HEAVY.com, 9/8). Patrick was on the show in part to mark the 36th anniversary of ESPN launching. He said of returning to the net for the show, “It was one of those where the car kind of guided itself and then you start to pull into the parking lot and then I go, ‘Wow.’" Van Pelt noted since being with NBC, Patrick has covered some of the biggest sporting events, but added, “Your time here, particularly your time with Keith (Olbermann), is like a mark on the wall; it represents something to people.” Patrick said he can “never get away from it." Patrick: "At the time, we did it for the right reasons. We didn’t have management backing us, so you had that Eddie Haskell feel of ‘Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver’ when you’d see management. We couldn’t wait for them to go home so then we could have fun.” Van Pelt interjected, “That’s why I’m on at midnight.” Patrick added, “It’s better that way. We were getting away with things, whereas now management would back us, give us full support. At the time, they didn’t want ‘another (Chris) Berman,’ they didn’t want somebody that was big. I thought, ‘Chris helped build this place.’ They just didn’t want egos out of control.” Patrick said he and Olbermann were trying to be the "juxtaposition of Chris." He said, "We weren’t loud. We wanted to be sneaky funny, sneaky good writers, just everything was sneaky at 11:00” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 9/8).
JUST VISITING: Patrick addressed his brief return to ESPN at the start of his radio show today, saying he "had fun" in his first trip back to Bristol in eight years. He talked about a wall of old catchphrases displayed in the lobby, saying, “They were pretty proud of that wall with all the catchphrases. Like, ‘Look, you're on the wall.’ I go, 'Great, great. I'm on the wall. Nobody’s going to see this wall. You don’t want me on that wall. You don't need me on that wall.’" He added, "For everybody who thinks that I forgot to take off my visitor's badge when I was on, I left that on for a reason. People behind the scenes said, ‘You have to take off your visitor’s badge.’ And I said, ‘No, no, no, I want everyone to know I’m just visiting here. This is just a drive-by, just visiting‘“ ("The Dan Patrick Show," 9/8).
TWITTER REAX: Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel wrote, "Watched some of @notthefakeSVP new SportsCenter show. Love the concept. Truly one of the good guys in sports media. Hope it succeeds bigtime." ESPN's Marc Stein: "Not fair how easy @notthefakeSVP and @dpshow make this @SportsCenter TV thing look. That was gold, boys." FS1's Alan Cavanna: "That @notthefakeSVP/@dpshow interview left me wanting more. That's the sign of a great segment." Bleacher Report's Bryan Fischer: "Nice to see a little glasnost from ESPN when it comes to the Cold War with Dan Patrick." FoxSports.com's Stewart Mandel: "Five minutes into his new show, SVP brushes off technical difficulty w/ Braxton Miller live hit and pivots effortlessly to video of a bunny." But NBA Kings announcer Grant Napear wrote, "This is what ESPN has been promoting the heck out of? I love SVP, but this is very boring and I really don't get the point."
ADULT EDUCATION: SI.com's Richard Deitsch profiled Van Pelt and the new "SportsCenter" initiative and wrote there are "only a few people ESPN would commit to building a solo 'SportsCenter' around." Van Pelt said, "I’m an adult and so are many of the viewers and we will approach it that way. I’m not going to talk down to you, I have a sincere enthusiasm for what we get to do and I think that will translate. I think it will work because they have put me in a position where if it does not I would be surprised. I’m not going to bulls--- you.” Deitsch noted for the past month, Van Pelt and his production team "have had hours-long show meetings where they took the topics of the day and put together theoretical run-downs for the show." Producer Tom DeCorte said, "The biggest challenge is consistently producing memorable content daily that stands out from all the other viewing options people have. I think we can meet that challenge for two reasons. First, we have the right host. Scott has a unique ability to take a story using his intelligence and wit and present it in a way others don’t. Second, we have the best staff of any show I’ve worked on" (SI.com, 9/6). NEWSWEEK's John Walters noted Stephen Colbert tonight "re-launches 'The Late Show'" on CBS just a day after Van Pelt's debut. Walters: "Wisdom and insight coming up right after your local news. ... Wit is returning to a television channel near you" (NEWSWEEK.com, 9/7).
