The AA Podcast is back! After a summer hiatus we’re back for a new fall season of the Awful Announcing Podcast. And what better guest to invite on the program than one of the most respected journalists and hosts in the history of sports media – ESPN’s Bob Ley. The OTL host has been there since the beginning and we were fortunate enough to spend an hour chatting with him talking about a number of topics including…

– Saying goodbye to ESPN’s World Cup coverage.
– Making the case that Germany 7, Brazil 1 being the most shocking result in the history of sports.
– ESPN’s next steps in soccer and increased competition in the sports rights derby.
– ESPN’s growth into a multi-billion dollar corporation and whether some of the soul of the network’s beginnings is still in tact.
– How ESPN has adjusted to being watched by sports media observers and reporters.
– What advice he would give to someone starting out at ESPN and how the network can continue to push forward.
– The recent Redskins OTL special and the nickname debate as well as his personal commentary that drew attention from both sides. (If you want to jump straight to this it’s at the 34:00 mark.)
– His feelings on using the nickname: “I’ve chosen to not use the word Redskins as best as I can for about the last year, but I haven’t made a big deal about it. It’s just a personal choice.”
– The media and NFL reactions to the Redskins nickname debate and what it says regarding the larger culture of both.
– The OTL timeshift and how the show hopes to power through being pushed to a worse timeslot for football season.
– Why a trip to Wembley is what’s left on Bob Ley’s bucket list.

For more from Bob, follow him on Twitter @BobLeyESPN.

Subscribe via iTunes or our AA Podcast RSS Page.

Comments are closed.