Every true sports fan has watched ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary on the air. On September 6th, Chris Berman (30 years), Bob Levy (30 years), and John Saunders (23 years), the elder statesmen of ESPN, hosted a trip down memory lane for this iconic sports recap show. The 90 minute special showed how the franchise had evolved over the past three decades from the set design to the daily anchors to the multitude of highlights.
I am one of the millions of sports fans who religiously watches “SportsCenter,” so you can understand how thrilled I was to be asked to co-host ESPN.com’s weekly poker show, “Inside Deal.” When we rehearsed for our initial show on one of the ESPN sets (Studio G), I could not have been more awestruck. It looked like the set I grew up watching and now I was sitting behind the desk as one of the hosts. Half-heartedly, I expected Stuart Scott or Scott Van Pelt (current “SportsCenter” anchors) to tap me on the shoulder and ask me to get out of their seats. During the entire taping, I kept humming the “SportsCenter” theme: Da-da-da… da-da-da.
After watching so many hundreds, if not thousands of shows, I was so honored to be part of the family of broadcasters who are privileged to be in the ESPN studios. Over the past several weeks, I have received numerous e-mails from not only family and friends (many of whom are insanely jealous), but also the readers of my columns and listeners of my radio show. Thank you for your kind words and please keep watching.
With “Inside Deal” running online for over three months, there definitely have been some key revelations about hosting the show:
ESPN
Could there be a more professional sports production? From our producer (Eric Pierce, who is truly the master behind the scenes) to my co-hosts, ESPN: The Magazine contributor Laura Lane and ESPN.com Poker Editor Andrew Feldman, the show is done so professionally. I am proud to be part of this team!
Teleprompter
When you use one, you read more vertically as opposed to when you read from a piece of paper horizontally. It is not as easy as you might think. From the beginning, I have been very impressed by my co-host Laura Lane’s ability to read from the teleprompter so smoothly. During lunch one day, Laura shared her secret on how she became so proficient. She explained that when she was in college at USC, she would watch the nightly news and hit the mute button. When the closed caption words would come across the screen, she would read text as if it was from a teleprompter. What a great idea!
Makeup
I never thought I would wear makeup. Before each show, we go to get our faces done. Ugh! I’m so glad I don’t have to do that every morning. After each taping is complete, I immediately head straight to the bathroom to wash my face thoroughly.
Earpiece
Somewhat undetectable on camera, each of us wears an earpiece that allows the producer and director to give us instructions during the show’s taping. The earpiece takes getting used to at the beginning, as you don’t want to react to the directions you are receiving in your ear. Additionally, when the director is speaking to my co-host and she answers, I used to think she was talking to me. It’s the small things that you have to get used to.
Opening Segment
I have thoroughly enjoyed helping create the opening segments of the shows. Back in my working days in marketing, I often created videos to inspire the sales force to learn the features and benefits of my specific product. I was known among my colleagues as the video marketing guy. Funny how that became preparation for my current job.
During the run of the show, our guests have included a “who’s who” in poker. The following are some interesting highlights from our first shows:
Episode #1: Chris Moneymaker tells the poker world that he lost his WSOP Main Event bracelet during a move.
Episode #2: Dennis Phillips discusses his near back-to-back November Nines and World Series of Poker (WSOP) Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack discusses the Day 1D sellout.
Episode #3: Barry Greenstein describes his charity work and shows his paternal side, while the cast of “2 Months, $2 Million” describe the Tilt Room.
Episode #4: Howard Lederer discusses his sister in “Celebrity Apprentice” and Eric Buchman (2009 November Niner) shows his “passionate” side.
Episode #5: Victor Ramdin breaks down East Coast versus West Coast poker debate.
Episode #6: Mark Seif discusses the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet scandals.
Episode #7: Michael Binger duels with Daniel Negreanu in a Twitter Battle Royale.
Episode #8: Joe Sebok announces his Ultimate Bet signing (also look out for Joel Mchale of E!’s “The Soup”).
If you haven’t seen the show, hopefully this will give you an incentive to tune in each week. A new episode is posted every Tuesday on ESPN.com/InsideDeal. After watching each episode, please tell me which opening you liked the best.
And as always, don’t forget to listen to my radio show, “The Bernard Lee Poker Show,” on RoundersRadio.com on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm ET and repeated throughout the week.
