ESPN: The Ocho started as a joke.
The cult classic Dodgeball, starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, saw its sport showcased on a fictional network that was a play on ESPN’s ever-expanding empire as the worldwide leader in sports. ESPN8 was a home for sports that may have existed beyond the scope of ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, or ESPNU. The image of The Ocho and the fictional commentary team of Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks are still go-to memes on the internet and social media today, even among people who weren’t alive when the movie was released in 2004.
The real ESPN bringing The Ocho to life began as an idea in ESPN’s programming department to leverage the humorous movie reference to fill a day of content on ESPNU during the college sports offseason. But as The Ocho celebrates its tenth anniversary this summer, it has become a four-day event featuring live coverage at Disney’s Wide World of Sports and over 70 hours of programming. This year’s edition will take place from August 6-9 across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and the ESPN app. The bulk of the content will air around the clock on ESPN2.
Ten premier Ocho staples will take place on-site at the Wide World of Sports complex, creating a totally unique environment that you won’t see anywhere else in sports. The live coverage has taken The Ocho to a whole different level as an event, with the energy of a live crowd cheering on competitors in all different kinds of events.
A tradition unlike any other
How did something that started as a way to poke fun at ESPN become one of its most popular and long-standing traditions? According to ESPN Programming Coordinator Chris Solomon, the answer is simple. Everyone loves The Ocho.
“Brand sentiment is on a scale of -100 to 100, and what we found was that The Ocho actually has a higher sentiment than ESPN itself. People really take a lot of pride and confidence in The Ocho. It’s something they love and enjoy every single year. Seeing that metric was really cool because it allowed us to say it’s a good opportunity to show everyone that we don’t always take ourselves so seriously,” Solomon said.
The rise of The Ocho has also coincided with a broader appetite for unconventional sports entertainment, perhaps none more so than the Savannah Bananas. The Bananas have taken the world by storm as games sell out in stadiums across the country and they have their own rights deal. This year, they will be featured in the programming block of the Ocho once again with two games during the event. It will be their 20th and 21st games on ESPN platforms this year.
But the ultimate testament to the growth and success of The Ocho is not just sold-out stadiums across the country to see Banana Ball. It’s in just how many sports, events, and competitions are now involved. This year ESPN is adding 23 events to the lineup, including Fire Department Racing, Bare Knuckle Fighting, Ice Wars, the Hacky Sack Championship, and the Death Diving League.
This is an entirely separate universe to the round-the-clock cycle of mainstream sports, news, and opinions that usually air on ESPN. In fact, when Awful Announcing spoke to SportsCenter anchors Phil Murphy and Cristina Alexander, who will serve as hosts of The Ocho in Orlando this year, it was on the day that LeBron James announced he would sign with the Philadelphia 76ers. Alexander had just finished a midday episode of SportsCenter that hit right after the news broke, which was a pure adrenaline rush. Murphy was preparing to totally reimagine what ESPN’s flagship program would now be at 6 p.m. ET with arguably the biggest news story of the summer.
That breakneck speed and relentless news cycle that exists on a daily basis at ESPN makes The Ocho even more of a respite as something that is truly about having fun. And it’s something that their colleagues inside Bristol are not just curious about but also energized and excited about.
“It’s a palate cleanser from what we have in our day-to-day because truly you have to stay informed and know exactly how these teams are doing,” Alexander said. “Then you pivot to this, and it’s something completely different than your day-to-day. It’s like the little kid in everyone. ‘I want to go, ‘that sounds so fun.’ That’s definitely the general reaction.”
Just a couple weeks after leading a national television audience through the live reactions to LeBron James making his free agency decision, Alexander and Murphy will be guiding viewers through the Housekeeping Games.
The perfect Ocho sport
So many of the sports featured on The Ocho are games that everyone played as kids, from kickball to Pop-A-Shot. But there’s one sport that is a universal favorite from fans in attendance, the anchors, and programmers.
Slippery stairs.
“To me, the slippery stairs is the most fun to watch because it’s so intense. People are just drawn to it. Phil wants to go on the slippery stairs, don’t lie Phil,” Alexander said.
While Murphy doesn’t want to necessarily channel his inner Rich Eisen and make a run up the slippery stairs into an annual tradition, he accepts that it’s inevitable that he will be peer-pressured into it.
“Him running in a suit, we can laugh at a sub-6 40. There’s a lot of wardrobe malfunction potential going up and down the slippery stairs. I have a feeling I will be peer-pressured by Cris and my wife and whoever else is in my entourage to get on the slippery stairs as much as I might want to dig my heels in,” Murphy stated.
Even at the administrative level, the allure of the slippery stairs has broken through. It’s even started to be featured outside of the traditional Ocho programming block in August.
“Slippery stairs is insane. It’s absolutely perfect for The Ocho. We even in the last couple years have been taking a couple taped shows from them,” Solomon added.
But slippery stairs is just one of the stars in a constellation full of the obscure, surreal, ridiculous, and rewarding. This year’s lineup will feature everything from adults racing in giant inflatable T-Rex costumes to diving chess. That’s a game of chess played… underwater.
Murphy’s sport of choice is one that went viral even before the official Ocho event kicked off, with people flooding social media asking why it was on ESPN – roofball. The sport has taken on a life of its own, and Murphy fondly remembered playing a version of it growing up, moving frequently with his military family.
Roofball is my new favorite sport. pic.twitter.com/GdGANuNHcn
— Coach Duggs (@CoachDuggs) February 22, 2023
“The amount of times I was yelled at for doing that at my house, and I could have gone pro. I had the potential. I want to see if my dream could have been a reality if I can find a roof at the Wide World of Sports where I could try that,” he reminisced.
Seeing your childhood sport suddenly transform into an event that reaches the worldwide leader in sport generates a universal feeling. And it’s part of why The Ocho endures and has grown. It reminds everyone why any kid picks up a ball or stick or anything else to play with. It’s the ultimate reminder that sports are supposed to be fun.
Not everyone can know what it feels like to hit the game-winning shot in the NBA Playoffs or NCAA Tournament. But there is an instant relatability that spans sports fans of all times and ages for hacky sack or frisbee. Everyone has had a moment where they have thought to themselves that they could live out their dreams and make it to the big time as an athlete. And now The Ocho has given that chance to scores of individuals each and every year.
Fun and games
As for how Murphy and Alexander can possibly prepare for covering everything from Pop-A-Shot to Slippery Stairs and Popdarts to the Housekeeping Games in Orlando, it seems like an impossible task. Raise your hand if you know the rules to combat archery or flugtag. When it comes to bare-knuckle fighting ice wars, that one is shockingly self-explanatory. But the goal for the hosts is to have something of a working knowledge of the sports featured, at least the ones centered in Orlando. And when it comes to preparing for sports outside the mainstream and effectively telling the stories of the games and athletes, a natural comparison comes to mind.
“A lot of people watch the Olympics; there was so much drama in curling. And you didn’t have to know the exact rules of curling to appreciate the drama going into it or the fact that someone is trying to jump higher than anybody else has ever had and then seeing that athlete celebrating with their significant other. To me, it’s the Olympics for these athletes that have been preparing day-in, day-out, or it takes years for them to make it an Ocho sport because we’re seeing 23 new ones debut this year. I like to focus on what it took a certain athlete to make it to this point and the pride that goes behind it,” Alexander said.
“My litmus test is: can I describe how this competition works to my wife in 30 seconds in a way that she can understand it? If I have that level of fluency, then I can do it in a succinct, direct, clear manner on-air because we’re not the stars of this. That’s what’s cool about The Ocho. These athletes who would not be on ESPN otherwise have the platform to do so,” Murphy added.
Of course, winning an Olympic gold medal is a slightly different level than winning an Ocho event. But only one of them features corgi racing and the Wiener Dog Derby. Just as the Olympics is pushing new bounds of possible sports, so too is The Ocho. In discussions about potential new sports for 2026, there was a discussion about grandparent racing. It was ultimately shelved due to the potential risk for injury.
In its coverage of these events, everyone at ESPN is careful to strike the right balance between having fun and embracing levity while also celebrating the athletes and families who are enjoying their only chance to receive widespread acknowledgment for their achievements.
“People like to have fun with The Ocho, but a lot of these people, this is their dream: having a chance to be featured on television or being able to win a championship. It might not mean everything to all the viewers, but it means everything to them, and we’re trying to make sure we’re honoring that and honoring their stories,” Solomon stated.
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