Episode 136 of the Sports Illustrated Media podcast features ESPN SportsCenter anchor Kenny Mayne and longtine college football analyst Ed Cunningham, who opted this spring to no longer call college football for ESPN. 

In this podcast, Mayne discusses moving across country to host the 11 p.m. SportsCenter from Bristol, Ct.; how SportsCenter has evolved since the 1990s; how one can forge an untraditional career at ESPN; the role of comedy in sports television; why the company wants him to speak to media buyers; how he views mixing politics on his social media feed and those who tab ESPN as left-leaning; why he likes what Marty Smith is doing; his five-week marriage anniversary, and much more. 

Cunningham discusses why he decided to leave his job as a college football analyst and why he no longer can reconcile being a cheerleader for the sport given the health concerns and trauma on the field; how ESPN’s layoffs impacted his decision; how much Iowa handling of former quarterback C.J. Beathard during the Outback Bowl drove him to quit; how Cunningham feels about Al Michaels and others not seeing their role in the booth as an ethical dilemma and much more.

 

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