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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏀 For years, women’s basketball fans have implored ESPN to cover the WNBA more regularly. Finally, ESPN's VP of Production for the NBA and WNBA studio, Hilary Guy, hinted that a daily WNBA Today program could be coming soon. Guy told Front Office Sports they plan to expand the regular WNBA Today segment within the hourlong NBA Today show at 3 p.m. ET, and a new show could branch off of that. “Lots of plans in the works.”

⚾ As soon as the news of Pope Francis’s passing was announced, all eyes turned towards the patron saint of somber news: Nick Castellanos. The Phillies slugger, who has a penchant for hitting homers when bad news strikes, saw odds around him hitting a home run Monday frozen because so many people bet on it. Alas, he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a loss to the Mets. He is mortal after all.

🏈 Perhaps due in part to all the complaining and whining from the ESPN talking heads, Heather Dinich reported Monday that the College Football Playoff committee might take TV ratings, amongst other factors, into consideration when deciding who makes the playoff and how they’re seeded. With the deck already so stacked in favor of the Big Ten and SEC, it’s a reminder just how much the college football power brokers hate underdogs.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

The Shannon Sharpe allegations are speed-running an all-too-common timeline

A lot happened in 24 hours involving ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe, so let’s get you up to speed.

On Easter Sunday, Sharpe was served with a 13-page lawsuit by a woman who alleged the popular sports media personality committed sexual assault and battery against her and secretly recorded sexual encounters without her knowledge.

Sharpe appeared on First Take on Monday morning, but the lawsuit was not mentioned (although it was referenced on The Pat McAfee Show).

Later that afternoon, Sharpe responded publicly, sharing a two-page statement from his legal counsel saying he “categorically denies all allegations of coercion or misconduct.” Sharpe’s lawyer also included text messages purportedly sent by the plaintiff, who they name as Gabriella Zuniga, that are intended to show that she consented to the sexual acts with Sharpe. Also included in the statement are claims that Zuniga deceptively edited video of her and Sharpe’s sexual encounters to suggest the acts were non-consensual.

According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Sharpe will appear on First Take on Tuesday, but he is not expected to address any of the allegations on air.

Alright, we’re all caught up. Now, what do we make of all this?

Well, it’s hard to say, to be honest. Alarming allegations have been made. Powerful denials have been made. It appears that the person at the center of it all will perform business as usual for the time being. And so we wait.

It all feels quite similar to what’s going on at Fox Sports, where former FS1 host Skip Bayless (Sharpe’s previous debate partner), current FS1 host Joy Taylor, and Fox Sports executive Charlie Dixon were named in a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by former Fox Sports hairstylist Noushin Faraji. In the case of Taylor and Bayless, despite the severe allegations against them, they refused to comment publically, dealt with the PR hit, and now find themselves in settlement talks.

Dixon’s story is a bit different. Fox Sports host Julie Stewart-Binks filed a similar lawsuit against him, and he was placed on administrative leave. He has since denied any wrongdoing in that case. 

These certainly weren’t the first lawsuits and allegations of this kind to be brought against individuals like Bayless, Taylor, and Sharpe; nonetheless, the pattern has become clear. With Sharpe, it almost feels like they’re speed-running their way towards whatever the result ends up being.

Back when I ran a college sports blog, there was a dark joke about how, to be a sports blogger, you also had to be a lawyer, because you invariably ended up writing about players and coaches getting into legal trouble so often (sadly, a more accurate statement than you might even imagine). Sometimes, it feels that way now writing about sport media as well.

As for Sharpe, we can make presumptions and follow the narrative, but it’s hard to know what the truth is. What I can say is that as ESPN fully ensconses itself in this superstar era, that works wonders when the people you invest in are making positive headlines, but it can be a nightmare when they’re making bad ones. Fairly or not, this isn’t the first time Sharpe has been embroiled in accusations and legal issues. Not to mention he’s made some questionable missteps along the way. And given that Sharpe is considered a potential replacement if Stephen A. Smith ever leaves (by becoming President??), there is a reputational hazard that could come with that, regardless of the truth.

And if there’s anything a co-host of First Take should know, it’s that the truth is often far less important than the narrative.

👀 AROUND AA 📰

J.A. Adande on the legacy of ‘Around the Horn’ and life as a Northwestern professor

J.A. Adande built one of the most impressive careers in sports media and then left his full-time job at ESPN to do something different. In 2017, he returned to his alma mater to become the director of the sports journalism program at Northwestern University's Medill School, where he also serves as an associate professor.

Adande, who also worked for the Chicago Sun-Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, is also known for his appearances on Around the Horn. While he still occasionally appears on the show, that will end when Around the Horn airs its final episode on May 23. We caught up with Adande to ask about Around the Horn, his current gig, and being honored with the Curt Gowdy Print Media Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last October.

“I feel very appreciative that I was part of a show [Around the Horn] that was on for more than two decades. There are very few shows that get that type of run. I’ve heard from so many people who say that’s the show that made them want to get into sports journalism or sports media. One of the benefits of the show being on so long was that we’ve got the newer generation of people who are on the show and grew up wanting to be on it. That wasn’t something that I ever aspired to do because the show didn’t exist when I was a kid.”

Click here to read Michael Grant’s interview with Adande. 

📣 NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

• “Who’s the smart ass? You, the one that’s gonna get deported.” - WWE’s Paul Heyman to a fan during The Pat McAfee Show.

• “And you go, ‘Wiseman, you know Stephen A. Smith really sucks right?’” - Also Heyman, ribbing Pat McAfee over his relationship with ESPN’s highest-priced talent.

• "CM Punk does as much good to my reputation as Shannon Sharpe does to ESPN’s… Don't 'ooooh' me, I'm not the one getting sued." - ALSO Heyman, commenting on the Shannon Sharpe allegations while on ESPN.

• “I understand the question and I addressed that at the combine, but today I just want to talk about the draft and Jets players.” - Jets general manager Darren Mougey taking my advice to ignore Aaron Rodgers.

• "I knew Luka [Dončić] was important to the fan base. I didn’t quite know it to what level." - Mavericks GM Nico Harrison, who should take Charles Barkley’s advice and shut up.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

On a day when he was left gagged by Paul Heyman’s comments on his ‘progrum,’ Pat McAfee was literally gagged and choked out by WWE Superstar Gunther on Monday Night Raw. Presuming he shows up Tuesday, Pat’s got a lot to talk about on Tuesday’s show.

📈 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 📺

• ESPN will broadcast the NFL Draft this Thursday, just like it has done every year since 1980. Despite this being the final year the Worldwide Leader owns media rights to the draft, the network does not anticipate that 2025 will be the last year it airs the event. According to Mollie Cahillane of Sports Business Journal, ESPN is “optimistic” that it will retain the rights to the NFL Draft, despite reports that the league has fielded bids from companies such as Amazon, Fox, Netflix, and YouTube. Puck’s John Ourand reported that the NFL does plan to sell international rights to a U.S.-based streamer.

• MASN, the regional sports network that broadcasts Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals games, finally launched a streaming service on Monday. MASN+ will stream all games and studio programming from both teams live. This leaves the Houston Astros as the only MLB team without a streaming service fans can subscribe to for live game broadcasts.

• During WrestleMania 41, WWE announced WWE: Unreal, a 10-episode docuseries that will take fans inside the writers’ room and behind the scenes of their shows. The project is being produced by WWE, Omaha Productions, NFL Films, and Skydance Sports.

• On the day Sharon Lokedi broke the women’s Boston Marathon record, ESPN and the Boston Athletic Association announced a multi-year media rights extension that will keep the Worldwide Leader the exclusive national broadcaster of the iconic race. Next year’s marathon will air on ESPN, an upgrade over this year’s ESPN2 slot.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

John Cena is living the press conference dream

On Sunday night, WWE Superstar John Cena accomplished his goal of winning a 17th world title, breaking a record establishing by pro wrestling legend Ric Flair. Cena defeated former champion Cody Rhodes with a bit of chicanery, which wasn’t out of character considering the legendary wrestler turned heel (bad guy) a few months back.

That was a shocking move at the time, given Cena’s squeaky-clean image for much of his WWE career, especially once he became a main eventer. The Peacemaker and Fast & Furious franchise star is tapping into years of fan frustration with the way he was pushed as a babyface (good guy), often to their annoyance and anger.

Cena has been playing the heel brilliantly against fans, but after his record-breaking victory, he also brought that energy to the reporters at the post-match press conference. While the WWE presser is hardly a space of journalistic integrity as wrestlers often remain in character, rarely do we see someone commit so hard to the bit as Cena did, refusing to answer anyone’s question and accusing everyone of asking “clickbait” question before walking out after only a few minutes. It’s a delight to watch.

Cena followed that up with a Monday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, where he refused to give the host and the rest of the panel any leeway with their questions and resisted their inquiries and speculation, making everyone feel bad, as a good heel should.

I imagine that many professional athletes have watched Cena’s work and thought, ‘Man, I wish I could do that someday.’ There must be nights after bad games when you just want to tell every reporter to shut up, walk out, and not care about the consequences. Some have certainly tried, but it rarely ends well.

They’ll have to get their thrills vicariously by watching Cena be the unrepentant butt-kicker they might sometimes want to be. And to be fair, that’s often the point of watching pro wrestling in the first place.