ESPN’s ever-scrolling ticker at the bottom of our screens wasn’t always there. The technology and idea didn’t fully merge onto the network’s programming until 1995. As common place and necessary as it feels now, it was met with some disagreement internally at the beginning.

Linda Cohn recalled one of those moments when she and some of her cohorts were learning about this “new thing” that scroll on SportsCenter and give the final score sometimes before the highlights even aired. She told the story on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina.

“We were like, ‘what?’, said Cohn upon hearing of the idea at first. “I thought you cared about how we present our on-camera lead-ins, which is what we write, to present this big game and to build up the anticipation and to get the audience involved even though one of these teams they couldn’t care less about them.”

Cohn recalled Scott Van Pelt debating against the idea in the same meeting.

“So I remember Scott standing up, and when he stands up he’s even taller,” said Cohn, “he put on such a great debate saying everything we were thinking. ‘Wait a minute, how are we telling people the score before they see the highlights? That doesn’t make any sense.'”

Cohn added onto the discussion by giving a film analgy.

“It’s a like a great movie,” Cohn began. “We are telling the end of the movie before we saw the whole movie. What are you doing?”

In the end, ESPN still decided to adopt the technology onto their flagship show.

“We had no choice, we had no say, and we did it and the rest is history.”

Jason McCourty is just getting comfortable as one of the new hosts of Good Morning Football on NFL Network.

McCourty, who spent the majority of his 13 NFL seasons with the Titans and won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2018, has transitioned into a career in media. It was something he always felt like he wanted to do.

But in an interview on The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, McCourty told Andrew Marchand and John Ourand that he knew he didn’t feel cut out to work in the broadcast booth.

McCourty said at a recent NFL media boot camp, he had a chance to do a dry run as a game analyst. The news he said took him by surprise.

“That was kind of the thing I was the most freaked out about because I think the studio stuff, whether it was doing a podcast with my brother, those are the things that feel the most like a locker room,” he said. “Like you’re just sitting around, talking ball, the whole nine.”

McCourty added that he did get to settle in a little bit and get a tiny feel for things.

“When I got a chance to actually do it, I was like, ‘Wow, this gets the juices going,'” he said. “I feel like I’m almost in a game, and you have to make those decisions on what you’re gonna say and all of it’s happening so fast. And you do it, and whether it was good or bad you have to move on to the next play because there’s gonna be something else to analyze or give your input on.”

He finished by saying that experience only solidified in his mind that he was meant to do studio work.

“It was always in the studio, something kind of laid back, talking sports and being able to relate it to life a little bit,” he said.

The founder of a network of websites dedicated to college sports has filed a lawsuit against a former employee, alleging he violated the noncompete clause of his contract.

The Nashville Post reported On3, created by Rivals and 247Sports founder Shannon Terry, filed a lawsuit this week seeking an injunction against former writer Jeremy Birmingham.

Birmingham, who contributed to On3‘s Ohio State site Lettermen Row, resigned from his position in May. Since then, Birmingham has gone on to launch an Ohio State podcast called THE Podcast.

The lawsuit, which has since been transferred to federal court in Nashville, seeks an injunction against Birmingham. Birmingham believes he resigned for cause and is not subject to the noncompete in his On3 contract, which would prevent him from doing any sort of media work for six months.

On3‘s lawsuit alleges Birmingham has attempted to contact On3 advertisers in order for them to advertise on his podcast.

Birmingham argues that his resignation doesn’t subject him to the noncompete due to a number of factors, including “the subjectivity of restrictive covenants.”