Bob Ley boils down the essence of "Outside The Lines." "Let's go commit some journalism," Ley said. There isn't another show on sports television -- and few others in television, period -- that can match ESPN's crown jewel when it comes to committing quality journalism on a regular basis. "Outside the Lines," also known as OTL, will celebrate its 25th anniversary Tuesday with a one-hour special on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET. Ley, who was the anchor for the first OTL on May 7, 1990, admits the landmark anniversary caught him by surprise. "A bunch of us were sitting around and we went, 'Holy crap, we've been doing this for 25 years,'" Ley said. "They cleared out an hour in primetime for us to do a show. The task has been uplifting and unfortunate because it's been impossible to decide what to put in." OTL initially was conceived by former ESPN executive John Walsh as a periodic special to allow the network to take what Ley calls "a deep dive" into subjects that go beyond the playing field.
The first show examined the obstacles athletes face in adjusting to life after retirement. In 2000, OTL became a regular staple on Sunday mornings and now also airs Monday through Friday at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Quite simply, it is consistently the best program on ESPN. There are numerous days when other outlets are required to react to a story "first reported by ‘Outside The Lines.'" In lauding OTL's anniversary, ESPN president John Skipper called Ley, "The Walter Cronkite of sports journalism." Ley found that platitude to be "extremely humbling." However, a more apt comparison for Ley and OTL might be to the vintage heyday of Ted Koppel on ABC's "Nightline." On most days, the show gives an intense examination to one or two subjects. Many of those shows have dealt with issues that detail the profound impact of sports on our culture: Sexual abuse, PEDs, racial issues, to name a few. For instance, Sunday's show featured an excellent follow-up report from John Barr on the plight of former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice, who was fired after OTL did a show in 2013 revealing videos that exposed his questionable coaching practices.
"It's not highlights and it's not sexy sometimes," said OTL producer David Brofsky. "Plenty of our topics are ones you won't see other shows ever touching. We're going to do those stories because they are important, and we're going to do them well." In addition to its own staff, OTL works with ESPN's enterprise unit. Ley points to a recent picture of himself with Barr, Tom Farrey and Mark Fainaru-Wada, three of the best reporters in the business, as an example of ESPN's depth of talent. However, there is a considerable investment to maintain a staff of that quality. Fox Sports 1 recently made cutbacks in its news division. Ley says the journalism commitment should be an essential part of ESPN's overall mission. "Sports are such a big part of our culture," Ley said. "There are going to be times when stories arise and people will tune to ESPN [for coverage]. When we cover these stories, you want to have that credibility and track record." Ley says OTL has caused "church-and-state" issues with sensitive stories on ESPN's network partners with pro and college leagues.
Brofsky maintains network executives never have told OTL to stay away from covering a story, and that includes the NFL concussion issue. Ley admits the fallout from ESPN pulling out of the "League of Denial" concussion documentary with PBS had an impact on OTL because of the perception issues. "It was not a pleasant situation," Ley said. "I think if all parties had to revisit that situation, we might have had a different outcome." OTL, though, never backed off its coverage of concussions, breaking several stories. "Has anyone been more aggressive on concussions than ‘Outside The Lines'?" Ley remains the show's constant presence through the years. Brofsky marvels at his commitment. "What makes Bob so good is that he cares so much about what we do," Brofsky said. "I'll get an email from Bob at 1 in the morning and then another one at 6 [a.m.]. His preparation is amazing." The good news for OTL is that Ley, 60, recently signed a new multi-year contract with ESPN.
That means he should be around for the show's 30th anniversary in 2020. However, he wouldn't commit to being on hand for the 50th anniversary. "I just hope I'm on the right side of the grass," he said. The enthusiasm remains strong for Ley. He says breaking stories on OTL "never gets old." "We're proud of what we've created," Ley said. "The tough part is to maintain that quality. Nobody sets the bar higher than we do for ourselves." Here's more reading on OTL: The complete rundown for what will be featured on Tuesday's show via my site at Sherman Report. Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News does a Q/A with Ley. has interviews and continues to his campaign to get ESPN to give OTL better placement. Recommended reading on sports journalism: Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing writes on how the rising costs of rights fees could force sports networks to make cuts elsewhere. examines the bizarre interview Jim Harbaugh had with Colin Cowherd.
The Povich Center for Sports Journalism at Maryland has assembled quite a schedule of guest speakers for its summer camp. Correction: David Brofsky's name was misspelled in the original story.In 1996, Kevin Plank, a 23-year-old former University of Maryland special teams captain, turned an idea born on the football field into a new industry that changed the way athletes dress forever. Back in his playing days, Plank hated having to change his sweat-soaked cotton T-shirts over and over again during two-a-days. Knowing that there simply had to be something better, he set out to create a solution. Plank named his new company Under Armour, and after extensive research on the athletic benefits of synthetic fabrics, he designed the first Under Armour HeatGear® T-shirt, which he named the #0037. Engineered with moisture-wicking performance fibers, the shirt helps keep athletes cool, dry, and light in the most brutally hot conditions. Working from his grandmother's basement in Washington DC's Georgetown neighborhood, he traveled up and down the East Coast selling his revolutionary new product out of the trunk of his car.
By the end of 1996, Plank made his first team sale, and Under Armour generated $17,000 in sales. In 1997, Under Armour introduced the now-famous ColdGear® fabric, which keeps athletes warm, dry, and light in cold conditions, and then the AllSeasonGear® line, which keeps athletes comfortable between the extremes. By the end of 1998, Under Armour outgrew grandma's basement and moved to an all-new headquarters and warehouse in Baltimore. In 1999, Under Armour played a supporting role in one of the year's most-talked about movies. Plank and his team signed on to supply product for the Oliver Stone film Any Given Sunday starring Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx. In the film, the football team wears Under Armour apparel and accessories in key scenes. Realizing the incredible opportunity to leverage the exposure from Any Given Sunday, Plank bet big and bought his first print ad in ESPN the Magazine. A risk at the time, the move paid off, generating awareness and a $750,000 increase in sales.
For the first time since starting Under Armour, Plank officially put himself on the payroll. Over the next two years, the Brand formed relationships with key retail partners and professional sports leagues [including Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and the Baltimore Marathon]. In 2002, to support its continued growth, the Brand moved its global headquarters to an old soap factory in the Tide Point section of south Baltimore located on the historic Inner Harbor. With word of mouth growing every day, the Brand bet big again and launched its first-ever TV campaign. In 2003, the legendary Protect this House® TV commercial featured former University of Maryland football standout Eric "Big E" Ogbogu and a group of young athletes bringing the Brand's voice and overwhelming passion to life in a way no one had ever seen before. Protect This House became a rallying cry for athletes everywhere, it established the Brand as the authentic voice for the next generation, and it officially made Under Armour a household name.
Under Armour officially launched its women's line, UA Women, in 2003. In 2004, the brand introduced lines specifically for boys' and girls' and Outdoor athletes. Under Armour Golf was introduced in 2005, and, in the same year, Under Armour signed its first all-school deal with Plank's alma mater, the University of Maryland. On November 18, 2005 Under Armour went public and became the first U.S.-based initial public offering in five years to double on its first day of trading. Less than 10 years after its launch, Under Armour ended the year with $281 million in revenue. In 2006, Under Armour set its sights on dressing the athlete from head to toe. A new campaign, Click-Clack® launched the brand into the footwear business through the introduction of its first line of football cleats and the Brand captured a 23% share of the market in just the first year. On the heels of this enormous success, the Brand expanded its cleat business to include baseball, softball and lacrosse cleats.
In 2008, after nearly 12 years of providing technically advanced performance accessories and apparel, and less than two years removed from its foray into cleated footwear, Under Armour revealed its highly anticipated line of performance trainers marking its official entry into the athletic footwear market. This period also marks the beginning of key additions to Under Armour's elite roster of world-class athletes, including future NFL Hall-of-Famer Ray Lewis, gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn, MMA World Champion Georges St-Pierre, and Brandon Jennings, the first US basketball player to go straight from high school to a European professional league. But that was just the beginning. By the end of 2010, the Brand added the most accomplished Olympian of all-time and Baltimore native Michael Phelps, two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, and a young tennis phenom named Sloane Stephens. In the midst of launching new product lines and new athlete partnerships, Under Armour also opened its new European headquarters in the old Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam and built its first branded-retail store in Annapolis, MD.
In 2010, on the biggest stage in college football field, the Under Armour sponsored Auburn Tigers won the 2010 BCS Championship game, led by future Under Armour athlete and NFL Rookie of the year Cam Newton. 2010 ended with a truly incredible financial milestone as Under Armour surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue almost quadrupling revenues in a five-year period. Over the years, Under Armour has made significant strides in establishing a strong presence outside of the US. Through on-field partnerships with elite professional teams and players, the Brand gained enormous traction with athletes in Japan, Europe, Canada, and Latin America. The international footprint skyrocketed in 2011 when Under Armour opened its first-ever brand store in China and became the official technical partner to Tottenham Hotspur of the Barclays Premier League. The Tottenham Hotspur partnership is Under Armour's largest individual team deal to date. 2011 is the same year the Brand ended a long-running feud with one of its biggest enemies: cotton.
After years of declaring, "Cotton is the Enemy," Under Armour further cemented its reputation for relentless innovation by developing Charged Cotton®, a line of cotton apparel that dries fast and performs. From Charged Cotton came Charged Cotton Storm, which gives athletes the same quick-drying cotton with revolutionary water-resistant technology. In 2012 and 2013 two key Under Armour athletes celebrated monumental accomplishments. In the summer of 2012, on sports biggest international stage, Michael Phelps cemented his legacy as the most decorated Olympian off all time by winning seven medals and increasing his medal total to 22 including 18 gold medal performances. In January of 2013, Ray Lewis capped off his career as one of the game's best ever-defensive players by bringing home the second Super Bowl ring for the Baltimore Ravens. 17 years after that first moisture-wicking T-shirt, Under Armour innovation took center stage once again with the launch of all-new Armour39™, the first-ever performance monitoring system that measures what matters most to an athlete: your WILLpower™.