Craig Kilborn is one of the more interesting figures in ESPN history.
The former "SportsCenter" host and late-night TV show star recently appeared on Rich Eisen's podcast, "This Was SportsCenter," and he recalled getting suspended by the network, for making fun of ESPN2.
Kilborn, known for his sense of humor, certainly didn't like to hold anything back. But this time, it ended up getting him in trouble. Kilborn was ultimately suspended from ESPN for a week for his comments.
Kilborn, now 63, revealed that he was toward the end of his time at ESPN. He was very much ready to do something else.
Eisen revealed that he had heard that things between Kilborn and his ESPN bosses were not great, pointing to an issue about ESPN2 that he had heard about.
“After about 2 and a half years or so, I said, I’ve never had a Bristol Day,” said Kilborn, per Awful Announcing. They didn’t give me Bristol Days. They gave the other guys Bristol Days, right?”
“That’s on the schedule where it would just say ‘Bristol,’ where you weren’t on the air. If somebody called in sick, you might be pressed into service,” explained Eisen. “It was just another day off.”
“I should point out that up until that point, the first two years, I didn’t want a Bristol Day. I loved writing jokes and being on camera and doing things,” said Kilborn. “Then I exhaled. I go ‘I need a break. I need a Bristol Day.’ And they wouldn’t necessarily give me a Bristol Day, and then they did. I thought it was odd that they wouldn’t necessarily.
“They put me on ESPN2, and I was not on camera. There was a college basketball game, and during the break, I would say, ‘Creighton is beating Drexel.’ I would give scores. ‘LaSalle is getting killed in a non-conference game to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.’ And as I’m doing this, different anchors would text me or whatever. Not text me, they would send me a message. You could message me. And they were mocking me. They were mocking me.”
“Dan [Patrick] was mocking you?” asked Eisen.
“Absolutely,” replied Kilborn. “Other people were mocking me. So I had fun the next time I did a score, and I go, ‘Ohhhh, Kilborn on the Deuce.’ Okay? Now, that, of course, is mocking, I guess, ESPN2. No one told me. I got suspended for a week. … No pay, suspended for a week. And no explanation.
“In my opinion, they could have brought me in. I would have said, well, these guys are razzing me, so I just wanted to have a little fun and stick it to them or whatever I wanted to do. But they didn’t. There was no communication. And I disagreed with that, but I don’t care because I said I’m leaving anyway.”
ESPN doesn't confirm Kilborn's suspension
Awful Announcing reached out to ESPN to ask if Kilborn was actually suspended, but the network declined to comment.
