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Rich Eisen
Eisen at the 2011 NFL Draft
Born	(1969-06-24) June 24, 1969 (age 43) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Occupation	Sportscaster
Website
NFL Total Access

Richard Eisen (pronounced /ˈaɪzən/; born June 24, 1969) is an American television journalist who works for NFL Network. He is married to Suzy Shuster, college football sideline reporter for ESPN on ABC. He wrote the book Total Access which was published in 2007.

Early life and education[link]

Eisen was born to a Jewish ^[1] family in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised on Staten Island.^[2] Eisen attended the University of Michigan, where he served as co–sports editor of the school's Michigan Daily. He graduated in 1990 with a bachelor of arts degree, and in 1994 he earned a master of science degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Broadcasting career[link]

Early years (1990–1996)[link]

Eisen was first a staff writer for the Staten Island Advance from 1990–1993, and the Chicago Tribune in 1993 and 1994. He was then a sports anchor and reporter at KRCR-TV in Redding, California from 1994 to 1996, and also worked in television as the Medill News Service's Washington correspondent (1994).^[2]

ESPN (1996–2003)[link]

Eisen (left) and Marshall Faulk during the 2010 NFL Draft

Before working for the NFL Network, he worked for ESPN. He was part of a duo with Stuart Scott, and became well known for his humor, most notably his impressions of Atlanta Braves broadcaster Skip Caray and provided interviews during the Home Run Derby. Eisen was also the host of ESPN's reality series, Beg, Borrow & Deal. For ESPN Radio, he served as host of Major League Baseball and as a guest host on The Tony Kornheiser Show and The Dan Patrick Show. Outside of the world of sports, Eisen hosted the ABC show Domino Day.

Among Eisen's notable achievements while at ESPN, was breaking the news of St. Louis slugger Mark McGwire's retirement from baseball in 2001 on SportsCenter. Days later, he sat down with McGwire for an exclusive interview elaborating on the decision.

NFL Network (2003–present)[link]

Rich Eisen was the first on-air talent added to the NFL Network roster in June 2003. Eisen is the face of the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week cable and satellite channel dedicated to football that debuted in November 2003. Currently, he serves as the main host of the show, NFL Total Access, the network flagship program which also airs on Saturdays on My Network TV.

Eisen signed a new long-term deal with NFL Network in 2010 and became the new host of NFL GameDay Morning, the first NFL pregame show on television. Eisen also remains host of NFL Total Access and NFL GameDay Highlights, as well as NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football pregame, halftime and postgame shows and special on-location coverage from league events such as Kickoff, Pro Football Hall of Fame, NFL Scouting Combine, NFL Draft and Super Bowl.

Eisen expanded his resume in 2010 with the debut of ‘The Rich Eisen Podcast,’ the first-ever podcast for NFL.com. The weekly podcast, available on NFL.com and iTunes, features guests from the world of sports and entertainment news talking football and all the latest headlines.

Eisen's 40-yard dash time (Recorded at the 2012 NFL Scouting Combine) is 6.03 seconds, a personal best.

CBS Sports[link]

He worked as a play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports coverage of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, in addition to serving as the anchor for the network's weeknight (and late-night) highlights show during the tournament.

Other projects[link]

Eisen is the host of the upcoming TNT original reality series The Great Escape, scheduled to debut June 24, 2012.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• NFL Total Access
• Rich Eisen on Twitter

Daniel Patrick Pugh (born May 15, 1956), professionally known as Dan Patrick, is an American Sports Emmy-winning sportscaster, radio personality, and actor from Mason, Ohio. He currently hosts The Dan Patrick Show which is broadcast on radio on Premiere Radio Networks, and on television on The Audience Network for DIRECTV subscribers, co-hosts NBC's Football Night in America, and serves as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He previously worked at ESPN for 18 years, where he often anchored the weeknight and Sunday 11 PM edition of SportsCenter.

Early life[link]

Patrick attended the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. His brother, Bill Pugh, is a longtime sports radio executive, and is currently the head of programming at Clear Channel San Diego. Patrick was a basketball player in high school at William Mason High School, becoming an Ohio all-state selection his senior year.^[1] He attended Eastern Kentucky University on a basketball scholarship for two years before transferring to the University of Dayton, where he majored in broadcast journalism. Patrick is also an alumnus of the Eta Hexaton Chapter of the Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity at Dayton.^[2]

Before ESPN[link]

Before working with ESPN, Patrick was known by his real name, Dan Pugh, as an on-air personality with the album rock-formatted WVUD and then, WTUE in Dayton, Ohio (1979–1983). Patrick was then a sports reporter for CNN (1983–89), where his assignments included the World Series, NBA Finals and Winter Olympics. From 1989–1995 Patrick did a daily sports segment for Bob and Brian, a syndicated Wisconsin-area morning show, and in the early 90s he did sports updates for the Columbus, Ohio, Rock Station WLVQ and appeared on the morning show "Wags and Elliot."^[3]

Career at ESPN[link]

Patrick was an anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter (1989–2006). He also hosted The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio from September 13, 1999, to August 17, 2007.

In the mid-1990s, Dan and Keith Olbermann were among ESPN's most recognizable faces. Olbermann used the catch phrase "Welcome to the Big Show" when Patrick worked with him on SportsCenter. After getting reprimanded by their superiors, they began saying "This is SportsCenter" sarcastically, accidentally spawning the show's new catch phrase as well as the name of their long-running promotional campaign. When Olbermann left, Patrick said, "This isn't the Big Show anymore."^[4] Patrick stated on his radio program that the ABC sitcom Sports Night was a semi-fictional account of the Olbermann/Patrick anchored SportsCenter, with Casey McCall (Peter Krause) representing Patrick.

Starting on March 19, 2006, until the final game of the NBA Finals, he became the host of ABC's then-titled NBA Nation, a pregame show for the network's NBA telecasts.

En fuego[link]

In 1994, when calling the highlights for a game in which Marv Albert described Sam Cassell as being "on fire," Dan Patrick said he was "el fuego", which he thought was Spanish for "on fire." A few months later, he received a letter from a Spanish teacher in Pennsylvania suggesting that he say that athletes are "en fuego" (on fire) rather than "el fuego" (the fire). Since then, Patrick has used "en fuego" on certain occasions when a player is said to be "on fire." Patrick started using the "en fuego" phrase because he believed the standard "on fire" phrase had become clichéd.

Departure from ESPN/ABC[link]

On July 9, 2007, Patrick on his radio show announced his departure from ESPN/ABC effective August 16, 2007, stating, "I am leaving ESPN August 17 to go out on my own and be a free agent...I think I was starting to take it (ESPN) for granted," Patrick said. He said ESPN tried to talk him out of it. If there was any animosity, he says, "I wouldn't be sticking around until August."

Patrick remained off air from ESPN Radio until August 15 for his three farewell shows.^[5] He was originally reported to be returning for a final week, but returned on Wednesday of that week.

ESPN's statement released to the media said that Patrick would be released from his contract August 31, 2007, exactly one year early from his deal that was to run until August 31, 2008. The statement also said this would be the final comment on Patrick's departure from ESPN. "ESPN contractually bans all employees from making specific announcements of their futures on their airwaves, but out of respect to Dan and all he's done for ESPN we allowed him an opportunity to end the speculation".

Reaction to Patrick's departure from ESPN/ABC[link]

Reaction from media sources hit the internet by storm. Many webpages, blogs, and news media outlets speculated on the reasons for Patrick's departure and his possible future. On July 10, 2007's The Dan Patrick Show, Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick himself put some of the rumors and comments to rest.

Patrick confirmed that he was asked by the producers of The Price is Right to audition for the vacant host position, but he declined. The job eventually went to Drew Carey. Patrick admitted that he was hurt when good friend, Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly (who ironically would move to ESPN) wrote that, "Patrick was making one of the top 5 biggest career mistakes in entertainment history," ranking right under Shelley Long's leaving Cheers and Katie Couric's leaving NBC's Today show for the CBS Evening News.

Keith Olbermann stated that it was only a matter of time before a website erroneously reported that Patrick was fired from ESPN, which was what happened in some reports when Olbermann left ESPN. Patrick again stated he was leaving on good terms with ESPN and that he could return to ESPN if he would so choose. Patrick said that he wanted to be on both television and radio again, although some newspapers reported that he only wanted to do radio.

On his new show, Patrick often relates anecdotes of his ESPN career, in both positive and negative lights. He often refers to his former employer as "The Mother Ship" (and less frequently, "ESPeon"), and expresses disappointment with their practice of preventing their talent from appearing as guests on his show, and frustration when an ESPN employee has agreed to come on the show only to later cancel.

Patrick is also often critical of current ESPN shows (such as SportsNation, SportsCenter, and ESPN First Take) for stealing content from his show.

Last shows[link]

August 17, 2007, was Dan Patrick's last day on ESPN Radio. He named his final three shows the "Farewell for Now" tour. The last 20 minutes of his show were filled with thank-yous and looks back. Guests included Bob Costas, Bobby Knight, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ken Griffey, Jr. and other sports stars. Will Ferrell also made a heavily promoted appearance in character as Ron Burgundy.

[edit] New radio-TV show/Sports Illustrated

Patrick signed a syndication deal with Chicago-based Content Factory, which soon launched his new version of The Dan Patrick Show on October 1, 2007. It was distributed nationally by Premiere Radio Networks. The show aired live on most stations from 9 a.m. to noon Eastern, although some opt to delay the show into the evening. The show ran delayed on Sirius XM Sports Nation on Sirius Radio channel 122 and XM Radio channel 143. It was also available as a live stream and in podcast form via Patrick's website.

In January 2009, Dan Patrick's show replaced Out of Bounds with Craig Shemon and James Washington on Premiere Radio's Fox Sports Radio network. This brought an additional 60 affiliates to Patrick's portfolio, and brought the total affiliate count to over 200. It also allows XM Radio listeners to hear the show live on the Fox Sports simulcast on channel 142, in addition to the delayed broadcast on channel 143. Sirius doesn't carry Fox Sports Radio.

In August 2009, The Dan Patrick Show started being broadcast on The 101 Network, following a show of DIY Network in which a toy-filled "man cave" studio was built in Milford. The radio-only show had been produced in the attic of Patrick's home. The Dan Patrick Show features "The Dannettes", who assist Dan with the show. "The Dannettes" are reported to be soft, but Patrick did not confirm.

Sports Illustrated also announced in October 2007 that Patrick would become the magazine's senior writer. He would also contribute blogs to SI.com's "Fan Nation" and host the magazine's Sportsman of the Year show. SI collaborates with Content Factory to produce Patrick's web site, and helps stream his radio show. Patrick said he will produce non-television content exclusively for Sports Illustrated. The Dan Patrick Show began simulcasting on Fox Sports Net, Comcast SportsNet, Root Sports, and MSG Plus in October, 2010.

NBC Sports[link]

On July 7, 2008, it was announced that Patrick would join NBC Sports as a co-host of the third season of Football Night in America with former SportsCenter co-anchor Keith Olbermann every Sunday night beginning in September during the NFL season.^[6] Patrick and Olbermann host a series of highlights on the show and a segment called "The Little Big Show" with the day's top NFL plays.

"The Little Big Show" refers back to Patrick and Olbermann's time at ESPN where they referred to the 11pm SportsCenter they hosted as "The Big Show." This name both annoyed the other hosts, who felt insulted, and management, who preferred them to call the show by the actual name. Frustrations mounted so high that management told them to just say, "This is SportsCenter." This phrase ironically became ESPN's major tagline for SportsCenter.^[7]

Patrick served as the Super Bowl XLIII trophy presenter after the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals, and again at Super Bowl XLVI after the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots. Patrick also contributed to the network's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics as a reporter for women's downhill skiing and snowboarding. He also hosted NBC's 2010 & 2011 Stanley Cup Finals coverage. In 2012, NBC named Patrick daytime co-host with Al Michaels for the London Olympics.^[8]

Other appearances[link]

Movies and television[link]

Patrick has made cameo appearances in many movies and TV shows, thanks in large part to his longtime friendship with actor Adam Sandler:^[9] Patrick also appeared in a Huddle House commercial.

• The Definite Maybe (1997)
• Arli$$ (1998)
• BASEketball (1998)
• The Waterboy (1998)
• Clerks (Animated ABC program) (2000)
• Clone High (2002)
• The Longest Yard (2005)
• Benchwarmers (2006)
• I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)
• The House Bunny (2008)
• Grown Ups (2010)
• Blue Mountain State (2011)
• Just Go With It (2011)
• Jack & Jill (2011)
• That's My Boy (2012)

Music videos[link]

Dan Patrick has appeared twice in music videos:

• The 1995 Hootie & the Blowfish song "Only Wanna Be With You." In the video, the group use their money to purchase several sports teams. Patrick said of the group, "Dare I say they're anything but 'en fuego'." He also uses another one of his famous catchphrases, "You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him."
• In the 2002 Brad Paisley song "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)", with the quote "Brad Paisley, dare I say, 'en fuego'."

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (May 2012)

External links[link]

• Dan Patrick Online Official website on CNN.com
• Cousins Subs website (with video of Patrick's ads for the chain)
• Dan Patrick biography