ESPN YOUNG EXEC HITS THE MARK.Byline: TOM HOFFARTH Media Mark Shapiro Mark Shapiro (IPA: [mɑrk ʃəpʰaɪro]) is currently the General Manager of the Cleveland Indians. cracked open the latest issue of the Sporting News to check out its annual Power 100 rankings and found out something that almost floored him. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the magazine, this 32-year executive vice president of programming and production at ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network is throwing more weight around in the sports world Sports World are a British sports Retailer, formerly called Sports Soccer. Founded in the late 1970's by former county squash coach Mike Ashley, the group Sports World International is now the UK's largest retailer of sports clothing and accessories. today than Tiger Woods  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled. , Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) was CEO of The Walt Disney Company from September 22, 1984 to September 30, 2005. Early lifeMichael Eisner was born to a wealthy family in Mt. Kisco, New York, and raised on Park Avenue in Manhattan. , Rupert Murdoch, Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)[1] is an American billionaire entrepreneur.[2] He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA franchise[3] and Chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network. , Philip Anschutz, Scott Boras, Jerry Jones, Donald Fehr, CBS Sports boss Sean McManus, NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol, ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. Sports president Howard Katz, both Williams sisters, Mario Lemieux, Shaquille O'Neal, Tony Hawk, U.S. senator John McCain, Hootie Johnson and Martha Burk. Even The Rally Monkey. At No. 14 on the list, Shapiro's blurb blurb n. A brief publicity notice, as on a book jacket. [Coined by Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), American humorist.] blurb v. includes: ``Cocky and brash? Perhaps. But this golden boy leads ESPN in dramatic new programming directions, shaking up SportsCenter and producing ESPN's first original movies.'' ``It's nice to be acknowledged, but I seriously think I'm listed too high,'' said a less-than-cocky-and-brash Shapiro, in Hollywood this week to brief a national convention of media critics on the latest batch of ESPN projects that include another new movie based on the 1967 ``Ice Bowl,'' a variety show for Jim Rome and a reality-type show based on the crazy life of Bill Walton. Less than 10 years ago, Shapiro was a nameless production assistant offering research help for Rome on his ``Talk2'' show that was part of ESPN2's beginnings in 1993. Within six months, Shapiro was running Rome's show. After overseeing the network's ``Sports Century'' project, Shapiro's career arch has yet to flatten. Promoted to his current post in September, he's responsible for just a few things - the development, acquisition and scheduling of all programming for ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic, plus overseeing ESPN Original Entertainment, which includes the X Games X Games Sports medicine The official Olympics of 'extreme sports' sponsored by ESPN, held annually during the summer. See Extreme sports. and all the new high-budget movies. Ultimately, Shapiro makes the call on things like whether another LeBron James' high school basketball game gets national air time. The answer, by the way, is yes. ``We could have done as many games as possible,'' he said, defending the network's handling of it. ``With his team being ranked No. 1 in the latest USA Today poll, we'll be looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. another game to carry,'' Shapiro said, defending the network's decision for airing two games already that earned ratings of 1.9 and then, last Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, a 0.7. ``We didn't get into this for the ratings. We got into it because there was demand, there was interest and our viewers were crying out for it. ... If there's another (high school) player next year that demands the same media attention, we'll be there.'' Shapiro decides what the balance should be between live game coverage and his goal to get as many as four made-for-ESPN movies into production a year. ``The feedback we've received from viewers is that as long as we stay true to the brand (with live events) they'll stomach the nonfiction movies,'' he said with a laugh. ``The goal is to make it 5-to-10 percent original entertainment shows, but we'll always explore new events. We aren't straying from what we've built.'' Shapiro also can bring someone like Rome back to the network after a five-year run on Fox Sports Net, pushing aside any bad taste those in Bristol, Conn., still might have from the incident in 1994 when his brash interview with former Rams quarterback Jim Everett turned into a table-turning scuffle. ``Rome owns the male 18-to-34 demo,'' Shapiro reasons. ``He helped develop the ESPN2 brand. Sports is all about argument and debate and analysis and no one does it better than Rome. We're glad his career has come full circle with us.'' Walton's ``Long, Strange Trip,'' co-produced by NBA Entertainment, is scheduled for eight Sunday night episodes starting early next month. Rome's weekly hour-long show called ``Rome is Burning'' will debut in early May. When the two worked together years ago in a small Hollywood studio doing ``Talk2,'' Rome gave Shapiro the nickname ``Bornstein,'' after Steve Bornstein, then the head of ESPN. That's been updated. ``Now I call him Roone (as in Arledge),'' Rome said. CAPTION(S): box Box: SOUND BYTES By Tom Hoffarth |
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