If there’s one thing that sportswriters love more than taking pictures from the press box and publicly complaining about their issues with airlines, it’s Bruce Springsteen.
In fact, loving “The Boss” is about as innate to sports media as a Syracuse degree and loving the shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo’s.
So as Springsteen took the stage for a concert at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Thursday night, it was hardly a surprise that there were several sportswriters in attendance. That included ESPN’s top NFL, NBA, MLB and college football insiders, with Adam Schefter, Adrian Wojnarowski, Jeff Passan and Pete Thamel teaming up — along with Michigan men’s basketball coach Dusty May — for what might as well be a picture of the Worldwide Leader’s version of The Avengers.
Woj, Schefter and Passan links up at a Bruce Springsteen concert last night
(Via @GetUpESPN / h/t @ClutchPoints ) pic.twitter.com/4Wtu2jGQ6w
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 16, 2024
ESPN Insiders assembled like The Avengers for last night’s Bruce Springsteen concert pic.twitter.com/NZ1C7J2Zdm
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 16, 2024
“If you were looking for a lot of big news to break last night, there might have been some significant impediment to that,” Mike Greenberg said as he shared the photo during Friday’s episode of Get Up.
“I didn’t think all of those people were allowed to be in the same place at the same time. Like how the president and vice president can’t be on the same plane,” Dan Graziano, whose invitation apparently got lost in the mail, said. “That’s very risky.”
“If we lose Schefty and Woj, the network has to cease,” Greenberg replied. “We can’t be on anymore. I didn’t know that was allowed.”
“That picture is not salary cap-friendly,” Mike Tannenbaum joked.
Despite Greeny’s insistence otherwise, attending the concert didn’t stop Schefter from posting to his X account at 7:01 p.m. and 8:58 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, Wojnarowski, Passan and Thamel’s own X accounts were unusually quiet, as they jammed out to the likes of “The Promised Land,” “The E Street Shuffle” and, of course, “Born to Run.”
[Get Up]
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.