[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16] [Senate] [Pages 23553-23554] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONORING 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESPN NETWORK Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I note there is a rule in the Senate against using props. I, just for a moment, ask unanimous consent for a transitional prop, if I might briefly hold this up. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. LIEBERMAN. I thank the Chair. This is my favorite ESPN parka. It gives you an indication of about what I am going to speak. It is in some sense as cultural as the first part of my comments. It does involve the influence of television on the American culture. But today, in this part of it, the news is good and the occasion is one to celebrate, particularly for those who may find some meaning in words that might confuse visitors from another planet, such as ``en fuego'' or ``boo-yaah.'' Twenty years ago, a small cable television enterprise, tucked away in the woods of central Connecticut, introduced itself to America with these words: If you're a fan, what you'll see in the minutes, hours and days to follow may convince you that you've gone to sports heaven. True to that prophecy, the past 20 years have marked our national elevation into another world of sublime sports saturation. In recognition of its outstanding contribution in shaping the sports entertainment industry, I wish to speak today--and I believe I speak for all of my colleagues, at least a great majority--in offering our kudos to an American sports institution and the pride of Bristol, CT-- the ESPN Network which turned 20 years old last month, on September 7. The folks at ESPN aired an anniversary special that night duly celebrating the network's unique constructive contribution to our culture, and yesterday there was a congressional reception in honor of that anniversary. Those of us who attended not only had the chance to toast ESPN but to meet an extraordinary group of American heroes: boxing legend Muhammad Ali, football great Johnny Unitas, and Olympian Carl Lewis. So I take the floor to pay tribute to one of my favorite corporate constituents, and I think one of America's favorite networks. The story of how ESPN came to be is really an American rags to riches classic, and that network's unbreakable bond with the small Connecticut city of its founding is part of that story. Bristol, CT, population 63,000, is a wonderful town, 20 minutes west of Hartford. Most famous previously for being the cradle of clockmaking during the industrial age, Bristol seemed an unlikely candidate to emerge as the cradle of electronics sports media, but it did. Believe it or not, ESPN probably would not exist today--certainly not in Bristol--if the old New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association had not had a disappointing season in 1978. The Whalers' public relations director, a man named Bill Rasmussen, one of several employees to lose his job in a front-office shakeup at the end of that season, decided he had an idea he wanted to try. He was a Whalers man at heart, and he figured he could stay involved with his team by starting a new cable television channel that would broadcast Whalers games statewide. He even had a second-tier dream of someday possibly broadcasting University of Connecticut athletics statewide as well. Rasmussen rented office space in Plainville, CT, near Bristol, and thought up the name Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, or ESPN. But before he had even unpacked in Plainville, he ran into his first problem--the town had an ordinance which prohibited satellite dishes. Undeterred, Rasmussen scrambled to nearby Bristol, found a parcel of land in an industrial park in the outskirts of the city, which he promptly bought, sight unseen, I gather, for $18,000. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, ESPN, from this same location, generates $1.3 billion a year in revenues and is seen in more than 75 million American homes. ESPN realized that second-tier dream that Rasmussen had. Earlier this year, his station provided exhaustive coverage of UConn athletics when the Huskies won the NCAA men's basketball championship--only the game was not broadcast statewide; it was broadcast worldwide. Twenty years after its founding, ESPN commands an international audience that watches every sport--from baseball to badminton to Australian rules football. The network's flagship, SportsCenter, is currently the longest running program on cable television, with more than 21,000 episodes logged--truly, the Cal Ripken of network television. In a measure of its enormous influence on our culture, the catch phrases coined by SportsCenter's quick-witted anchors routinely find their way into the American vocabulary, such as the aforementioned ``en fuego'' and ``boo-yaah.'' The program also has broadened sports appeal by peppering broadcasts with references to literature, history, and other high-minded fields not always connected with sporting events. The father of this breed of broadcasting, of course, is Chris Berman, probably my most famous constituent. He was hired from a Waterbury, CT, radio station at the age 24 to become one of ESPN's pioneering voices. What a great professional and source of great joy Chris Berman is. A testament to his place among sportscasting greats can be heard across ballparks in America each time a home run ball is struck. If you listen closely, as the ball nears the fence, you may think that the ballfield is being overtaken by a herd of chickens clucking: ``Back, back''--I am restraining myself here on the floor, Mr. President, but you get the idea--``back, back, back, back, back,'' in homage to the Swami's classic call. Berman is also the father of the modern sports nickname, concocting such classics as: Burt ``Be Home'' Blyleven, John ``I Am Not A'' Kruk, and Roberto ``Remember The'' Alomar. There are certain individuals unnamed in the Democratic Cloakroom who have attempted to emulate this style of nicknaming for sports figures, and they are not doing [[Page 23554]] badly. Oh, and lest we forget another household name, ESPN introduced us to the man who genuinely put the ``Madness'' into March Madness--the nattering nabob of Naismith, the great Dick Vitale. So thanks to Chris Berman, to Dick Vitale, and to all the others who have made ESPN part of our lives. ESPN is today to sports what Walter Cronkite once was to politics and public affairs--the authoritative voice fans turn to when a major story breaks. As political columnist George Will once wisely said: ``If someone surreptitiously took everything but ESPN from my cable television package, it might be months before I noticed.'' Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 3 more minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. LIEBERMAN. Despite ESPN's national prominence and its countless opportunities to relocate to a larger media market, the network has steadfastly stayed with bucolic Bristol, as it is endearingly referred to on the air. ESPN maintains its foothold in the same industrial park where it began 20 years ago, although the Bristol campus, as it is now called, spans today 43 acres and the network has 210 employees. We in Connecticut are very proud of this relationship and particularly of ESPN's leaders and broadcasters who have happily put down roots and raised their families in central Connecticut. I think John Leone, former mayor of Bristol, now head of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, may have summed up the relationship between the city and its network best when he said: In New York, ESPN would be just another network. Here in Bristol, ESPN is the king. So to the king of Bristol--and their royalty of American sports television--I say happy 20th, ESPN, and many more. Before I yield the floor, I want to give a special thank you to Eric Kleiman of my office staff who truly inspired this statement of gratitude and tribute to a great television network. I thank the Chair and suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________