ESPN The Weekend

Launchpad

Launchpad

Account Suspended
Original Poster
Just got back from ESPN The Weekend. It was my first year at the event and I had a blast. I was under the impression there would be autograph sessions but you'd basically have to scream for them to come over after their bits.

There was a Dream Job - The Experience show where 3 contestants would compete by highlighting a clip they choose. There would be 3 celebrity judges. It was a great show and I saw all four of them today. After the show a lot of people just leave but if you rush the stage you can get some autographs pretty easily. I met Drew Brees, Hines Ward, Fred Taylor, and Steve Smith just from this one show. Oh and Mr. Booya himself. =)

Inside the old ABC theatre they hadit turned into ESPN Theater. They had NFL Live, Cold Pizza, ESPN Fantasy Baseball, SportsCenter and a Hall of Fame Legends Q&A. The names of the show can be misleading. I was under the impression that they would be filming bits of the shows, but it was more or less just they people from the show doing a 20 minute stage show with Q&As. This was also a good way to meet the athletes. I met Thurman Thomas, Jim Palmer and Mike Singletary during the Hall of Fame Legends show. Warren Moon ran off as soon as the show was over, as did Dan Patrick and Linda Cohn during their SportsCenter show. Peter Gammons had to go as soon as Fantasy Baseball was over. Trey Wingo and Mark Schlereth were great after NFL Live. They stayed for a long time after each show to sign and take pictures.

SportsCenter went live at 6:00 in front of the Sorceror's Hat. I got on camera a few times in a Bucs jersey. :sohappy:

Random notes:
  • Don't plan on getting Ben Roethlisburger or Adam Vinateri's autograph. It wasn't that they were rude it was just the fact that they are involved in a lot more than the others it seems.
  • Mike Metzger was totally awesome. While waiting for Tony Gonzales (who tried to come over later on but was pulled away by a CM taking him to his Motorcade) Mike Metzger came walking by to the side of the stage for his bit. As he walked by he came over and randomly started talking to me. He was a really nice guy and signed a bunch of autographs, although most people had no clue who he was.
  • Linda Cohn is hideous in person without all her TV make-up. She looks much older than she appears on TV.
  • Stuart Scott is an awesome guy. He's really hilarious and sarcastic.
  • The Hall of Famers were all class acts. They talked about how so many athletes today are so unappreciatve of everything, how they like the attention in public, and their most memorable moments.
  • Donnie Edwards is the nicest guy all day. He was really chatty with everyone and giving people a hard time about their favorite teams. He came off as a great guy and was one of my favorites.
  • In the ESPN SportsZone ________'s was giving away autograph books and pens. You could also shoot hoops, throw baseballs, hit golfballs and tons more.
  • There is a different show to see every 30 minutes.
  • There are more Steelers fans than any other team, which seemed weird. Hardly any Colts and only a few Bears jerseys.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.
 
Launchpad

Launchpad

Account Suspended
Original Poster
I almost forgot. The outside of the park was decorated with a tailgate party scene complete with SUVS, grills and Colts and Bears jerseys.

:wave:
 
L

LpMcQuack

New Member
Got Stuart Scott's autograph last year, along with Jerry Rice, from Dancing with the Stars fame.........think he played a little football too........j/k, & got pictures & autographs with the lovely Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders!!! My wife was not impressed with that.:lol:
 
Mansion Butler

Mansion Butler

Active Member
Launchpad said:
Random notes:
  • Don't plan on getting Ben Roethlisburger or Adam Vinateri's autograph. It wasn't that they were rude it was just the fact that they are involved in a lot more than the others it seems.
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Vinatieri actually did alot of signing when Simba1 and I were there. Roethlisberger wasn't there.

  • Linda Cohn is hideous in person without all her TV make-up. She looks much older than she appears on TV.
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Hideous seems a bit harsh. I certainly didn't think she looked anything different in person, and never anything close to "hideous."

  • Stuart Scott is an awesome guy. He's really hilarious and sarcastic.
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Ask Simba1 for a good Scott story.

  • Donnie Edwards is the nicest guy all day. He was really chatty with everyone and giving people a hard time about their favorite teams. He came off as a great guy and was one of my favorites.
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He is awesome, as is Tony Gonzalez. I saw them a few times, most notably when they were helping out at Millionaire, and when they rode the Haunted Mansion. Very cool guys. It was Gonzo's birthday (actually like two days before, but he was celebratining) when he rode. He had an It's My Birthday pin and embroidered ears, to boot.
  • There are more Steelers fans than any other team, which seemed weird. Hardly any Colts and only a few Bears jerseys.
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I don't find that weird at all, it's certainly one of the largest fan bases, and argued as the best traveled fan base. When I was there it was definitely Kansas City fans, though.


My ESPN the Weekend story came during watching a shooting of Battle of the Gridiron Stars. I called my brother, waking him up, to tell him I was watching Chad Johnson and Derrick Burgess play basketball. Johnson yells at me "who you talking to?" I told him my brother and he took the phone out of my hands and starts asking my brother (having no idea who he was talking to) if he could cover him. It was hilarious.

My friend also got called up on stage to dance with Jerry Rice. She was crying.
 
S

Simba1

New Member
Mansion Butler said:
My ESPN the Weekend story came during watching a shooting of Battle of the Gridiron Stars. I called my brother, waking him up, to tell him I was watching Chad Johnson and Derrick Burgess play basketball. Johnson yells at me "who you talking to?" I told him my brother and he took the phone out of my hands and starts asking my brother (having no idea who he was talking to) if he could cover him. It was hilarious.
Click to expand...

Ahem... See the picture here.
http://bp3.blogger.com/_I8H_0mGUPfw/RekV3vACKYI/AAAAAAAAALY/RtFiWYGeHwI/s1600-h/DSCN1764.JPG

(For some reason, I can't get the picture in the post. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong... Sorry!)
 
joelleharbert

joelleharbert

New Member
OK, we were debating on whether to go next year to WDW during ESPN the weekend and you've totally convinced me it's worth it! Even without getting autographs, it'd be great to see some of the athletes and personalities in person! It was Big Ben's b-day yesterday, maybe he was in a hurry to celebrate?:lol:

Also, it was great to hear the Steelers were so well-represented! As a Steelers fan since birth, I look forward to sporting my game jersey next year along with my Terrible Towel!!
 
Launchpad

Launchpad

Account Suspended
Original Poster
We all sang Happy Birthday to Ben. It was funny cos it sounded like "Happy Birthday dear Brenthlisberger", half the people said Ben the other half said Roethlisberger.

From the sound of it it seems like other years had more to see and do. This is the only year I've been so I'm not sure. Everything this year seemed to be in Sounds Dangerous, ABC Theatre and the Sorceror's hat, as well as the interactive stuff behind RnRC. It also seemed like other years had a lot more bigger names than this year and I loved the idea of having the Battle of the Gridiron stars. This year seemed mainly Q&A and behind the scenes of SportsCenter. Don't get me wrong. It was a blast and I'm still trying to decide if I'm going tomorrow or not.
 
Mansion Butler

Mansion Butler

Active Member
Launchpad said:
We all sang Happy Birthday to Ben. It was funny cos it sounded like "Happy Birthday dear Brenthlisberger", half the people said Ben the other half said Roethlisberger.

From the sound of it it seems like other years had more to see and do. This is the only year I've been so I'm not sure. Everything this year seemed to be in Sounds Dangerous, ABC Theatre and the Sorceror's hat, as well as the interactive stuff behind RnRC. It also seemed like other years had a lot more bigger names than this year and I loved the idea of having the Battle of the Gridiron stars. This year seemed mainly Q&A and behind the scenes of SportsCenter. Don't get me wrong. It was a blast and I'm still trying to decide if I'm going tomorrow or not.
Click to expand...

It sounds like you've got just as much as we did, 'cept we had Battle of the Gridiron Stars one day. That's all.
 
Launchpad

Launchpad

Account Suspended
Original Poster
Mansion Butler said:
Hideous seems a bit harsh. I certainly didn't think she looked anything different in person, and never anything close to "hideous."
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She had just a normal amount of make up on and didn't look very good at all. Certainly nothing like how she did when I had a crush on her. :lol: No, she didn't look hideous, but compared to how she looks on TV, she didn't look very good.:shrug:
 
Piebald

Piebald

Well-Known Member
I'm a CM at the Studios and usually I avoid going on my days off unless my friends or family REALLY wanna go.

I worked Friday and Saturday of ESPN weekend so I didn't really get the whole vibe from it until today (my day off). I brought like 5 of my friends with me and let me just say it was a LOT of fun! More fun than I expected! We didn't do any of the shows or anything like that but we spent a lot of time in the ESPN Zone behind Tower/RNRC. I got to compete in a Slam Dunk contest with David Robinson, played a game of knockout with the Harlem Globetrotters, Caught a football pass from Warren Moon and met a bunch of other athletes. We met Big Ben and Bill Walton as well as the ones I previously mentioned (all such huge guys by the way).

It was a blast, I recommend it to anyone who is even mildly into sports. Lots of celebrities walking around as well as all the interactive stuff. They had batting cages, a little dirtbike area for kids, basketball courts, video games, pitching and dunking contests,etc. Lots of fun!

My highlight was meeting the Admiral himself and competing in the little slam dunk contest with him. :D
 
dmmgp2000

dmmgp2000

Member
I totally agree with everyone who's said ESPN: The Weekend is worth going to. I went with a few friends today and had a blast!

David Robinson was part of the 11:30 Stump the Schwab show (for some reason Schwab was horrible though).

Definitely several highlights including pics/autographs with some of the Jaguars cheerleaders, standing directly behind Chip and Dale during the commercial lead-in during Baseball Tonight, and watching Dwight Howard play (and lose) knockout with several starry-eyed kids.

If you love Sports, this is the ultimate fan event! Can't wait until next year!
 
WDWBro

WDWBro

New Member
I went to my first ESPN: The Weekend on Friday, and if you are even a casual sports fan, I couldn't recommend it more. It's awesome.

I went to the NFL Live Q&A, and it was a lot of fun. Trey Wingo is a really funny guy, Fred Taylor should have an analyst job someday, and Steve Smith couldn't have been quieter.

I also went to the first Dream Job of the day, and I was one of three that they chose!

They took us into a back room where we all signed waivers, and we all picked the college football shot sheet as our highlight. I was able to prepare for about eight minutes before I went out on stage for my celebrity judges: Al Jaffe, Fred Taylor, and Hines Ward!

At the end, the cheers of the crowd decided who would be the winner, and it ended up being a tie between me and another guy. The three judges conferenced and chose a winner:

ME!

Wow. I was amazed. I won a $25
dks-l.gif
gift card, an ESPN The Weekend t-shirt, and a Grill! They'll send that to my house eventually.

I also got to meet Hines after the show and he signed my shot sheet. Awesome.

The ESPN Sportszone behind RnRC was cool, even if some of the lines were a bit long.

Stump the Schwab was fun, especially since I'm an avid viewer of the show.

And I was also near the set for NFL Live, so I was a member of the chorus for Big Ben's Happy Birthday song. (I sang: Happy birthday, Dear Ben.)

I'll add some pictures from Dream Job if anyone wants to see them.
 

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