SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — ESPN, the worldwide sports leader, had a major bloodbath Wednesday. It got me thinking about how the network has come full circle.
In the mid-80s, the goal of most sportscasters was to get a job in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or San Francisco.
When ESPN hit big in the mid-90s, it pretty much wiped out traditional local sportscasts. If you didn’t attract non-sports fans, you were out of work.
Through the years, I had a couple of serious inquiries to move back East.
Being a Bay Area native, I felt lucky to have a good job in my home area, not to mention moving your kids from home to Bristol just so their father could say he worked at ESPN.
Today, ESPN became like every other media outlet.
The best survive. The others you better be young and work cheap. After 33 years, I’m convinced I made the right move–show up every day in a good mood with your own personality, and you can probably hang on as long as you can get out of bed.
Had I gone to ESPN, I more than likely would be walking around with Chris Berman wondering why they asked me to leave.
The Bay Area is home and I’m lucky to still be having fun here professionally.