After a 30-year run, ESPN is canceling The Sports Reporters.
The sports talk show first aired in 1988, setting the table for journalists to get out of the newsroom and onto television to add their intelligent voices to the national debate and discussion of what was of interest on the national sports landscape.
The Sports Reporters was can’t miss TV for me, because it stood head and shoulders above the nonsense that currently saturates the radio and television airwaves. Dick Schaap, who hosted the show from 1989 to 2001, and John Saunders, who hosted from 2001 until his death in 2016, brought a dignity and intelligence to the discussion that appealed to both my inner sports enthusiast, fan and nerd.
Over the years, it has become a part of my weekend routine, one that I will certainly miss. My dream was to one day appear on the show alongside one of my journalistic role models who appeared regularly, William C. Rhoden. Now, I’ll have to set another goal.
The show will be replaced by an hour-long version of E:60, its excellent sports journalism magazine show, which will also incorporate some elements of its investigative dynamo Outside The Lines.
