When ESPN reporter Holly Rowe was wheeled from surgery last week after doctors removed a cancerous tumor in her chest, a malignant tumor under her right arm and 29 additional lymph nodes, she found something waiting for her upon returning to her hospital room:
244 text messages.
One of the fairly initial texts came from Buddy Hield, the senior shooting guard and Gamer of the Year candidate from Oklahoma.
“My Mom and I are so upset and we are praying for you,” Hield texted Rowe.
Hield was portion of a boldfaced group of texters that included Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self, Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg, Texas men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart, UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and star forward Breanna Stewart, Turner Sports personality Charles Barkley, Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Lon Kruger, NBC Sports anchor Dan Patrick and WNBA gamers Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings and Brittany Griner, among numerous others. LSU football coach Les Miles and Good Morning America host and former ESPN anchor Robin Roberts called along with encouragement. South Carolina women’s coach Dawn Staley and her group posted video support on Twitter. Seattle Storm and former Notre Dame star Jewell Loyd sent Rowe flowers.
Rowe has actually additionally been inundated along with well-wishes from her ESPN colleagues. As quickly as she initial woke up in the hospital, the initial thing she saw was a flower arrangement from her college football colleagues (announcer Brad Nessler, analyst Todd Blackledge, producer Phil Dean, director Scott Johnson) and college basketball colleagues (announcer Brent Musburger, analyst Fran Fraschilla, producer Scott Gustafson and director Mike Roig.) There were tweets from Jay Bilas, Chris Fowler, Scott Van Pelt, emails from Kirk Herbstreit and texts from Dick Vitale. One of the very best people in the sports media business—you won’t locate anyone in the business that doesn’t speak warmly of her—Rowe said she has actually felt an enormous quantity of love after she announced publicly on Feb. 2 that she has actually a rare form of melanoma cancer that has actually spread through her body. It is her second bout along with cancer, including yet another cancerous tumor in her chest removed last May.
The ESPN reporter said that her broadcast colleague Doris Burke got the V Foundation involved in her health issue. They got her an appointment along with one of nation’s top experts at UCLA. Rowe said her cancer (desmoplastic melanoma) is fairly rare. The latest update on her health is positive.
“It was a quite painful and massive procedure and I won’t be wearing tank tops soon,” Rowe said. “However all 29 lymph nodes came spine along with no additional cancer and that was terrific news and promising.”
The next step is meeting along with doctors, followed by the likelihood of radiation and a clinical trial of immunotherapy, which is the use of medicines to stimulate a patient’s own immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells more effectively.
“It sounds daunting However I believe it is a quite good prognosis and I am fairly hopeful,” Rowe said. “The doctors believe I am ridiculous. They tell me I have actually cancer and my next question is, “Well, As quickly as can easily I go spine to work?” I feel good, However I have actually to remind myself I am not totally normal right now.”
Rowe will certainly take the next couple of weeks off from ESPN along with the goal of returning for Kansas at Texas men’s basketball on Feb. 29. She then plans to job the Big 12 men’s tournament and the women’s NCAA tournament prior to getting radiation and immunotherapy in April. She said ESPN has actually been excellent about reworking her routine and cited numerous ESPN-ers, including high-ranking executives, for personally reaching out to her. “They care about me as a person and I can’t thank them enough,” Rowe said. “Simply sweet and loving messages.
“As quickly as I found out I found cancer for a second time, I told my family, a couple of close friends and then I called Shelley Smith. It’s so funny. I don’t know Shelley that well However everybody always confuses us. people call me Shelley and call her Holly and we have actually produced a funny bond as TV sisters. I called her and said exactly what was going on and she has actually been unbelievable. I can easily text her and say, “I feel evil today. My arm hurts, this is draining.” And she is like, “here’s how I felt, here is exactly what I did.” yet another sweet person that called me was Robin Roberts, that I don’t even know that well. people that have actually gone through this know it’s scary and have actually reached out. Some days I wake up and go, “Oh, gosh, I have actually cancer.” Then others days I forget about it. It’s helpful to have actually others people walk you through it.”
Said Smith, in an email from Toronto: “She is one sturdy cookie, I’ll tell you that. So numerous people have actually asked me about her. She and I have actually gotten close—one of the numerous nice points that have actually happened in such a crummy situation.”
Rowe described hearing from people she has actually covered over the years akin to being an actor in a play and breaking the invisible wall to check out the audience.
“These are people that don’t know much about me personally However on a basic human level they are concerned about you,” she said. “exactly what has actually blown me away is that you feel like this is Simply a job However then comes this recognition that they appreciate you as a human being. Les Miles found out earlier compared to most because I was at LSU for a game and let people know I would certainly not be at Signing Day as a result of surgery. He called me 5 or 6 times the day prior to Signing Day to ask As quickly as I was going in and exactly what he could do. Simply unbelievable sweetness.”
As portion of an SI Media Podcast that will certainly be released on Monday, Rowe discussed her health along along with numerous others topics including exactly what it’s like for qualified over-40 women in the sports media to gone jobs to younger candidates.
“We call this the ‘hot factor’ and it is real,” said Rowe, 49. “I have actually looked at it across the landscape and I don’t believe it is only for women. I believe men are suffering from some of it. A lot of the guys on our air are smoking hot. TV is a visual medium and I am not naive to that. I do worry about it, though. I am always too chubby. I have actually been on thyroid medication for years and complications like that and I wish the public knew how hard I am working out so I’m not chubby. However at the end of the day I have actually to be myself and this is the very best version of myself today and I chance it is good enough. I believe I am good at my job, I love my job, and I believe my passion and commitment to do good stories I have actually to believe will certainly win the day.
“We are in a sports demo where our standard age of viewers is 18 to 45, so portion of all this is that bosses believe is watching and exactly what bosses believe people want to see. That is a fear. One time I got replaced on an event for a person that was younger and hotter. I won’t say that because it is a person higher profile. I was feeling in the tank. I didn’t know exactly what to do. I was thinking, “I Simply got replaced by Barbie and she’s not as good as me.” So my son, attempting to be helpful said, “However mom you are still cute enough to be Barbie’s mother.” Well I believed that was the cutest thing anyone had ever said to me because I am Barbie’s mom now. However I don’t want to hate on people that are younger and hotter Simply because they are young and hot. There are some fairly good young and hot people out there. I Simply don’t want that to be the only consideration. The quality of job must always be the top consideration. I don’t know if it is However I chance it is.”
THE NOISE REPORT
(SI.com examines some of the week’s most notable sports media stories)
1. Last week ESPN public editor Jim Brady examined the dissolution of Grantland, a long-awaited column that drew mixed reviews as Awful Announcing’s Andrew Bucholtz chronicled here. Brady’s principle takeaway from the piece was the following: “In talking to a number of ESPN insiders and former Grantland staffers, it appears that ESPN’s shifting focus, unanticipated staffing challenges and a culture clash between Grantland and ESPN led to the site closure. To varying degrees, each of these complications emanated from the May 8 announcement that ESPN would certainly not renew the contract of Grantland founder Bill Simmons.”
You must read Brady’s piece and ask yourself whether all your questions were answered. This much is clear: He had a fairly sturdy assignment given numerous Grantland staffers won’t talk publicly, including those that were at the site during its final days. He additionally ran in to complications along with ESPN executives and we’ll get hold of to those in a minute. Last week As quickly as SI requested an interview along with Marie Donoghue, the executive vice president, global strategy and original content for ESPN and the direct boss for Bill Simmons, regarding the subjects of the dissolution of Grantland, upcoming plans for the Undefeated, and the nexus between them as ESPN microsites, an ESPN PR spokesperson “respectfully declined” the request and said, “We are finished talking about Grantland.”
That’s surely the network’s prerogative—I have actually enjoyed talking to Donoghue in the past and would certainly have actually enjoyed this as well—in the same means any coach can easily refuse an ESPN reporter or radio personality’s inquiry (and then be subject to said ESPN staffers blasting them for declining the Global Leader In Interview Requests).
• DEITSCH: Editor-in-chief Kevin Merida talks ESPN’s Undefeated
But exactly what was particularly frustrating about this public editor piece was the lack of original quotes from ESPN execs such as John Skipper, the network’s president, Donoghue, John Kosner, ESPN’s digital leader and others. Brady clearly was no-commented in some portions and directed to previous statements elsewhere. That onus is squarely on ESPN management and exactly what appears to be a continued devaluing of the public editor placement from the days of the very best ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber. Brady, as per his ESPN contract not to talk to non-ESPN entities, declined comment for this piece to SI.
As I’ve always said, I admire ESPN has actually a public editor and I subscribe to the notion that all good news orgs must have actually one including Sports Illustrated. However readers are left this as a takeaway: ESPN’s executives not commenting on the record to its public editor for the Grantland piece derails the whole suggestion of having a public editor. It cuts the placement off at the knees.
“It feels like, at a basic level, there’s a responsibility to set an example and engage along with the public editor,” said Jason Gay, The Wall Street Journal’s great sports columnist. “If you have actually one and engage along with them only As quickly as you want to, it’s the definition of window dressing. Why must anyone else at ESPN bother to address a public editor query if their bosses won’t?”
• DEITSCH: Chris Connelly on went right, wrong along with Grantland
I reached out to Margaret Sullivan, the public editor at the New York Times and the very best I’ve ever seen in the role of ombudsman given her real-time job on multiple subjects, on the topic of a news organization not being accessible to their public editor. Said Sullivan: “I’ve never had the experience of an NYT editor saying ‘I’m not going to talk to you.’ That’s been fairly important.”
It’s one thing for ESPN PR to flit away a Sports Illustrated reporter over-curious about Grantland. It’s yet another thing for an organization to let previous statements from executives to Vanity Reasonable stand As quickly as your public editor inquires about a topic near and dear to your audience. The bottom line: Last week was a fairly bad one for the public editor placement at ESPN. Hopefully, the Kremlin stuff will certainly end. If not, the company must eliminate the placement for good and end the public charade.
1a. SportsCenter continues to experiment in finding ways to attract and retain audience in a declining ratings environment and one of the ways the brand has actually tried to distinguish itself—along with both triumph and failure—has actually been to send its anchors on the road to broadcast from the venues of events. On Saturday morning SportsCenter succeeded on multiple levels along with a excellent spot from Hampton University, as the college became the initial men’s lacrosse group at a historically black college or university to play at the Division I level. The coverage included features on the program, a Chris Connelly interview along with National Lacrosse Hall of Famer Jim Brown and snapshots of campus life on the Virginia campus. This was a smart idea, executed well, and it’s this kind of stuff that convinces me that all is not lost at ESPN.
2. Turner Sports announced last week that Marv Albert had signed a long-term contract extension along with the network. As portion of the agreement, Albert will certainly go on to be the lead voice on Turner’s NBA game coverage, including the NBA All-Star coverage and the NBA playoffs. One thing Albert will certainly provide up as portion of this deal is calling the NCAA tournament for CBS and Turner. A Turner spokesperson said the NCAA replacement for Albert would certainly be announced closer to the tournament. Brian Anderson and Ian Eagle would certainly be the logical candidates.
Said Turner Sports executive producer Craig Barry: “I can’t recall a play-by-play announcer as closely identifiable along with a league as Marv is to the NBA.”
2a. Golden State’s win over Oklahoma City on Feb. 6 averaged 3,230,000 viewers, the most-watched regular-season NBA game on ESPN since Oct. 31, 2014 (Cleveland-Chicago in an opening week game).
2b. Sportsnet’s Michael Grange profiled Turner Sports NBA reporter Craig Sager.
2c. The MMQB’s Jenny Vrentas had an outstanding long-form Q&A with Mike Carey on the ref-turned-broadcaster’s rough two seasons at CBS as an officiating expert and the state of officiating in the NFL today. “In two years on CBS, there is not a game that doesn’t go by without criticism,” Carey said. “I don’t live in a vacuum. However I think of how well I perform on each play, then exactly what I try to do is analyze exactly what I need to correct, and I try to correct it. No different compared to anything else I do.”
3. Episode No. 41 of the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast features Turner Sports host Ernie Johnson, that hosts Inside the NBA as well as NBA Fan Night on NBA TV.
In this episode, Johnson discusses navigating a studio show that is mostly ad-libbed, his views on race, how they produced and the racial dynamics on the set of Inside the NBA, As quickly as he knew Charles Barkley would certainly be good on television, how he prepares for hosting Inside the NBA, why Kevin Garnett would certainly be a terrific studio host as long as he avoided f-bombs, exactly what he learned from his father Ernie Sr., a longtime MLB broadcaster, his surviving non-Hodgkin lymphoma and much more.
A reminder: you can easily subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher, and you can easily view all of SI’s podcasts here. If you have actually any feedback, questions or suggestions, please comment here or tweet at Deitsch.
4. Sports pieces of note:
• From ESPN’s Don Van Natta and Seth Wickersham: The inside story behind the NFL’s wild, bitter return to L.A.
• From Scott Cacciola of the New York Times: Three days along with the Saint John Mill Rats of Canada’s National Basketball League
• Bruce Arthur profiled NBA TV’s The Starters and how they grinded to mainstream notice
• SI’s Alex Prewitt examines how NHL goalies deal along with the fairly real issue of exactly what to do As quickly as you need a bathroom trip
• ESPN’s David Shoemaker writes about Daniel Bryan’s retirement
• Vice Sports reporter Ed Zitron, on spending like a drunken sailor at the Super Bowl
Non sports pieces of note:
• Via The brand-new Yorker’s Maria Konnikova: How people Learn to Become Resilient
• From Lisa Rab of Charlotte Magazine: A working mother fights to provide her kids a much better life in a city where that’s next to impossible
• Via The Marshall Project: Why African-Americans don’t trust the courts—and why it matters
• From Craig Calcaterra: exactly what do Iran, China and the City of Cleveland have in common?
• From the terrific data journalist Mona Chalabi: The age you initial have actually sex is affected by race, gender + your mom’s education
• Seventeen years after Columbine, the mother of one of the killers finally tells her story
• From The Atlantic’s James Fallows: How America Is Placing Itself spine Together
• From Vox’s Ezra Klein: “This is the harshest thing I’ve ever written about a major presidential candidate. However it’s deserved.”
• Sirhan Sirhan, the man that assassinated Bobby Kennedy, is still alive and still in jail. From The Washington Post
• exactly what happens As quickly as a Supreme Court justice dies in an election year
• The nexus between Emmett Till and Tamir Rice
• Watch 1,400 Workers gone Their Jobs At Once—Because Their Jobs Are Going To Mexico
5. Duke meets North Carolina in basketball for the 241st time on Wednesday and prior to broadcasting the game, SiriusXM College Sports Nation will certainly present a special hour-long radio documentary that will certainly examine the history, intensity and emotions of the Duke-UNC rivalry.
5a. The Hollywood Reporter had news on that will certainly be running Bill Simmons’s upcoming HBO show
• FS1 changing Fox Sports Live after two years of lackluster ratings
5b. Bob Costas will certainly host “Rod Carew: The Fight of His Life” as portion of a brand-new episode of MLB Network Presents. The show premieres Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. ET and will certainly feature Carew’s thoughts on his near-death experience and his arduous recovery process.
5c. The terrific TSN journalist Rick Westhead examined the legal showdown between the National Hockey League and more compared to 100 of its former gamers suffering the long-term effects of multiple concussions for CTV. Here’s the link.
5d. HBO Sports debuts a five-portion collection this week on Gonzaga basketball titled: Gonzaga: The Road to March Madness. The initial episode airs Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET, along with episodes debuting subsequent Tuesdays. The finale will certainly air March 15, the initial day of the 2016 NCAA tournament.
5e. NBA Hall of Fame writer Jack McCallum posted his Top 50 gamers all-time.
5f. Please read this about hockey journalist Ira Podell.
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