UZI Suicide 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2005 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/foot...espn/index.html ESPN fired Trev Alberts on Sunday after the college football analyst failed to show up for work at ESPN's studios in Bristol, Conn. "He phoned and said that he wasn't going to show up," Mark Shapiro, ESPN's Vice President of Programming and Production, told SI.com on Tuesday night, "and when he didn't, he was in breach of his contract and we terminated him." Alberts, a former All-American defensive end at Nebraska and member of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, was embarking on his fourth season as part of ESPN's popular College Football Scoreboard and College Football Gameday team. But on Sunday morning, in the midst of college football's first big weekend of the season, Alberts phoned ESPN's coordinating producer of college football, Ed Placey, and voiced his discontent. "He phoned us and told us that he was unhappy with his role on College GameDay," said Shapiro. "He felt that he was playing second fiddle." As the day wore on, according to both Shapiro and Alberts, there were several conversations between Alberts and ESPN senior vice presidents Jed Drake and Norby Williamson. Finally, Alberts announced that he would not be reporting for work that afternoon (ESPN and ESPN2 aired three college football games between 3:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.). Once Alberts failed to appear for his studio show assignment with host Rece Davis and fellow analyst Mark May, he was fired. "They first wanted me to resign," Alberts said on Tuesday night from his Atlanta home. "Then they fired me. I obviously have a serious problem with the word 'breach', but that's something my attorney will work out." Alberts joined ESPN's studio show in 2002 after five years of working in a similar capacity at CNN/SI. Cantankerous, passionate and opinionated, Alberts often feuded with May about issues relating to the sport, but the feud never turned (or even appeared to seem) personal. Davis played the role of genial arbitrator to a tee. "We were just trying to be three guys in a frat house talking football," said Alberts. As far as his discontent and the phone calls to management, Alberts said that both began long before Sunday. "It wasn't just this weekend," he said. "There were conversations for awhile. I fully understood the privilege of the seat I sat in. And it was never about wanting to be part of the GameDay crew. But no matter what business you're in, if you're not respected internally, you're going to have a hard time being respected externally." Alberts declined to elaborate. The GameDay crew, with Chris Fowler as host and sidekicks Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit, has evolved into a wildly popular cult phenomenon. Each Saturday the trio's visit to a college campus is cause for pre-game pandemonium among the tailgating set. Alberts claims that he never aspired to that, nor does he begrudge Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit their widening popularity. "The GameDay guys have earned that," Alberts said. "Mark, Rece and I, we had searched for something we could call ours. All we wanted was something we could take ownership of. We felt like the midnight wrap-up show was ours, but as the season began I could see that we'd be more of a support crew for [Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit]. "Never once did I say, Why aren't I on commercials? Why aren't I making more money? I'm a huge fan of all these people who work at ESPN, including Mark [shapiro]. It's just a matter of not wanting to be marginalized." Shapiro concurred that the ESPN stable may have had a few too many thoroughbreds. "Over the years there's been some discomfort over how to integrate the two teams," he said on Tuesday. "But, it's like a coach who has a lot of good backs and receivers. Everyone has a role to play." Everyone except Alberts. He has been dismissed from the team. Shapiro said that in the short term a replacement will come from in-house, but as for a full-time replacement for Alberts, "essentially, we're open for business." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest *KNK* Report post Posted September 7, 2005 I don't even know who this guy is, so I won't miss him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest *KNK* Report post Posted September 7, 2005 <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That guy? Good fucking riddence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest I miss Test. Report post Posted September 7, 2005 I didn't agree with much of the stuff he said... but, career wise, probably best for him. He's got the perfect look, and can at least pretend he knows what he's talking about. I'm sure one of the big networks would love scooping him up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Damaramu 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2005 He was a heel. He played the heel. He went after whatever was popular. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
therealworldschampion 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2005 All ESPN has to do now is fire Merril Hoge and all will be right with the world... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted September 7, 2005 He's coming bitches...he's coming Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Damaramu 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2005 All ESPN has to do now is fire Merril Hoge and all will be right with the world... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> /sarcasm/Pfft......we all knew the Eagles would go 8-8. They just won in spite of good ole' Merril. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kkktookmybabyaway 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2005 I don't even know who this guy is, so I won't miss him. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> He was also the guy who got drafted by the Colts and Mel Kiper Jr. threw a fit because he thought the Colts should have drafted someone else. Someone from the Colts punked him out and good times were had by all (Did Mel want Indy to draft Dilfer?...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2005 Yes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UseTheSledgehammerUh 0 Report post Posted September 8, 2005 "IF THERE IS ONE TEAM THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES DO NOT WANT TO PLAY THIS WEEK, IT IS GREEN BAY!!!!!" - Meril Eagles scored something like 5 straight TDs... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iggymcfly 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 Does anyone else miss Trev Alberts already? Lee Corso already has the crazy old man thing covered; Lou Holtz doing the same thing is just overkill. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 Lou doesn't say alot. Just sits there and smiles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 It is kind of a coincidence that Lou Holtz happened to be hired by ESPN. The first week of the season Trev Alberts is canned. Not saying ESPN conspired to remove Alberts. But maybe they knew he wasn't happy and could pull something like this. So they had Holtz ready to take over. Of course this is assuming Holtz is the full time replacement. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slabinskia 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 Does Merril Hodge hate owens or the eagles in general ?I saw him pick dallas to win the division and talk again about how the eagles won't make the playoffs. Worst case scenerio is owens snaps and the offense goes back to struggling again.They still have a top 5 defense imo that can win alot of games by themselves.Of course I am biased because I like the eagles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
therealworldschampion 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 Merril basically wants to be in the news. He's simply doing this act to piss the Eagles fanbase off because he did it last year as well with the 8-8 prediction. He couldn't do any segments in Jacksonville during the Super Bowl because the Eagles fans down there were booing the shit out of him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 To use a wrestling term. Guys like Salisbury, Kruk, Hodge are getting X-Pac heat. People don't like them, and don't want them on. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BruiserKC 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 Who couldn't miss Trev Alberts' consistent shilling of the Cornholer football program. Nebraska was always supposed to go 12-0 and never even give up a point for crying out loud if you listened to Trev. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Czech Republic 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 Who the hell is "Trev Alberts" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iggymcfly 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2005 It is kind of a coincidence that Lou Holtz happened to be hired by ESPN. The first week of the season Trev Alberts is canned. Not saying ESPN conspired to remove Alberts. But maybe they knew he wasn't happy and could pull something like this. So they had Holtz ready to take over. Of course this is assuming Holtz is the full time replacement. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well, ESPN certainly seems high on him. If memory serves me, he was actually on regular Gameday for a while until he took the job at South Carolina. The problem is, he doesn't really seem to get into analyzing games. He just seems like this kindly old man, that's only interested if you're talking about some place he coached at like ND or SC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vern Gagne 0 Report post Posted September 12, 2005 I know he spent some time on CBS for going to South Carolina. You're right he doesn't analyze anything. But it's Lou Holtz for crying out loud. It's just funny watching him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest MikeSC Report post Posted September 12, 2005 He was actually pretty accurate this weekend --- but he has a terrible voice for TV. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
