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Marc Spears Staying With The Undefeated

“In addition to writing for The Undefeated, Spears has contributed multi-media stories to the site as well and anchored an SC Featured segment on Stephon Marbury’s stardom in China.”

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ESPN’s vertical covering the intersection of race, sports, and culture, The Undefeated, is keeping its senior NBA writer. ESPN reached a new multi0year deal with Marc Spears earlier this week.

In addition to writing for The Undefeated, Spears has contributed multi-media stories to the site as well and anchored an SC Featured segment on Stephon Marbury’s stardom in China. He has also contributed to E:60, Outside the Lines, and ESPN Radio.

“Marc is one of ESPN’s most valuable reporters, and indispensable to The Undefeated,” Senior Vice President of ESPN, and Editor-in-Chief of The Undefeated, Kevin Merida said in a press release. “The combination of his deep knowledge of the NBA and relationships with players has produced a countless number of original stories. Walking around with him at an NBA arena is like accompanying the mayor of a city.”

Spears came to The Undefeated 2016 from Yahoo Sports where he was a national NBA writer.

“I am thankful to be a part of the ESPN and The Undefeated family,” Spears said. “This is truly a blessing and an amazing storytelling opportunity covering the NBA for both entities that I don’t take lightly.”

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‘Saving Sakic’ to Premiere in U.S. April 17 on ESPN+

The documentary follows the high-stakes saga that ensued when Colorado Avalanche Chairman/CEO Charlie Lyons was blindsided by an attempt to sign away the captain of his team, Joe Sakic.

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Graphic for Saving Sakic

Prime Video and NHL Productions revealed the trailer for the upcoming original hockey documentary ‘Saving Sakic’ premiering on April 16 for Prime members in Canada and April 17 for ESPN+ subscribers in the U.S. 

The documentary follows the high-stakes saga that ensued when Colorado Avalanche Chairman/CEO Charlie Lyons was blindsided by an attempt to sign away the captain of his team, Joe Sakic. With only seven days to raise $15 million to save his star, Charlie finds a lifeline from an unexpected place – Hollywood.

Joe Sakic garnered a slew of accolades over his 20-season NHL career, first for the Quebec Nordiques, who selected him in the first round of the 1987 NHL Draft, and later for the Colorado Avalanche after the Nordiques relocated to Denver. In Colorado, he captured two Stanley Cups, won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, and the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs. As part of NHL’s Centennial celebration in 2017, Sakic was voted one of the 100 Greatest Players in League history.

‘Saving Sakic’  is directed by Jay Nelson with executive producers Steve Mayer, Ross Bernard, and Craig Axelrod for NHL Productions and Gary Cohen for Triple Threat TV. Saving Sakic joins sports content on Prime Video, including original documentaries Chosen One: Alexandre Daigle, Giannis: The Marvelous Journey, KelceAll or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs, and Sportsnet on Prime Video Channels.

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Saquon Barkley to WFAN’s Tiki Barber: “Don’t Feed Into the B.S.”

Barkley said any narrative that he chose to go to Philadelphia over staying with the Giants is incorrect because New York never offered him a contract.

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Logo for the New Heights podcast and a photo of Saquon Barkley

Former New York Giants and current Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley made an appearance this week on New Heights, the podcast hosted by Travis and Jason Kelce. In addition to several football related topics, Barkley spoke about his war of words with WFAN host and former Giants running back Tiki Barber.

After Barkley signed with the Eagles on a three-year, $37.5 million deal, Barber said that Barkley was “dead to us,” referring to New York Giants fans. Barber has said those comments were more about what the fans were thinking and were “tongue-in-cheek.” Barkley came back at Barber on social media and said he was a “hater” since he came to New York.

In explaining what made him upset about Barber’s response, Barkley said he didn’t think it was right to be attacked by a former player.

“I love seeing NFL guys, I love seeing OGs, I love seeing you guys, you have a platform, this is a place where you know ball, you can talk, you can educate fans,” Barkley said. “Maybe use that time to show, ‘Maybe this is why Saquon is going to Philly’ … the business side of it, use that to show, I’m not saying you got to have loyalty to me because I don’t care for that, to be honest, but you are an ex-NFL player, an ex-NFL athlete, don’t feed into the B.S., let fans do that, they’re supposed to do that, they’re emotional.”

Barkley said any narrative that he chose to go to Philadelphia over staying with the Giants is incorrect because New York never offered him a contract.

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Joe Buck Misses Calling Baseball But Says He’s Already Called it for “A Lifetime”

“People go, ‘Do you miss calling baseball?’ — I did it for 35 years, that is a lifetime in broadcasting…I feel like I put my time in.”

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Credit: Richard Shotwell AP

Longtime sports broadcaster Joe Buck gave up calling baseball when he made the switch to ESPN and, while he says he misses the sport, he’s called 35 years’ worth of the sport. On the latest edition of Nothing Left Unsaid with Tim Green, Green asks his former broadcast partner about the lack of baseball in his life. While Buck says he misses parts of baseball, he doesn’t miss all of it.

“People go, ‘Do you miss calling baseball?’ — I did it for 35 years, that is a lifetime in broadcasting…I feel like I put my time in. I did 24 World Series — that’s a lot, 24 more than I ever expected to do on national television. What I do miss is calling the game for the home crowd. I do miss the local stuff, where you go into the booth, and you’re the Cardinal announcer, and when the Cardinals win, ‘Yay,’ and when the Cardinals lose, ‘Boo.’ When you do the network stuff, it’s like death by 1000 cuts. It’s, ‘you hate my team, screw you,’ and it gets in your head and it takes a little bit of the fun out of it…I don’t miss the stress that comes with all that, but I do miss calling baseball for [a local team]…You show up, you’re not just there for an organization, but for their fans, and you’re kind of rooting along with them. That’s fun. And so, I miss that, but as far as the national stuff, I don’t miss a lot of that.”

Buck reiterated points he made months ago on 810 WHB with Jason Anderson. “I miss doing local baseball. I miss putting on a headset and being the eyes and ears of Cardinal fans, Royal fans, Rangers fans, whatever,” Buck said back then. “That’s more fun than being Switzerland and getting all the junk that comes with it.”

He stopped calling baseball when he and longtime football partner Troy Aikman moved from FOX to ESPN to call Monday Night Football. While he said publicly that he would miss calling the World Series, he also said the 2022 World Series would have been his last anyway. Buck says he may one day feel compelled to call baseball again, though, saying, “I’ve never said that before, but I just feel like I’m 53, basically 54, [and] I think it’s too early to say nevers at this point in my life. I think at some point, I’ll get the itch again.”

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