ESPN’s latest 30 for 30 documentary stays close to home, covering the life of Stuart Scott, an icon of the Worldwide Leader’s SportsCenter era.
Rich Eisen’s time at ESPN overlapped, and the two manned the SportsCenter desk together while also becoming close friends before Scott passed away in 2015 from appendiceal cancer.
Since then, Eisen has always spoken eloquently and lovingly about his experiences with Scott.
“It was an incredible ride for all those years, and I can’t believe he’s been gone nine years,” Eisen told the Awful Announcing Podcast last year. “And I miss him.”
With the release of Boo-Yah: A Portrait of Stuart Scott, you might have thought Eisen would jump at the chance to see a documentary about his friend. However, during an appearance on Good Morning America, he shared that he hasn’t watched it yet.
“I just can’t bring myself to see it yet. I get emotional just even thinking about it,” Eisen said. “But my wife and I, we met in the newsroom at ESPN, Stuart had a front row seat to our courtship and was just an awesome force and somebody who I adored. But my kids were 17, 14, and 12, really never saw him do this thing, ever, and also have no idea what he means to his parents and also what he did.
“They also do know that my computer in my office is password-protected, and the clue for it, if I forget, says Stuart Scott. My youngest son says to me, Dad, could part of the password be Boo Ya? I’m like, don’t know if I want to answer that question. They might crack the full code.
“But we want to all watch, obviously, when there’s school work and everything, and the responsibilities of the soon-to-be-ending semester are over, we’ll sit down and watch it together as a family.”
In August, Eisen paid tribute to Scott when he hosted SportsCenter for the first time in 22 years.
And of course, Rich Eisen’s return to SportsCenter included a tribute to his longtime partner, the late, great, Stuart Scott. https://t.co/beaPmgJU36 pic.twitter.com/NBA5LlRmmN
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 19, 2025
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.