Report from ESPN The Weekend
By Sledge

Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened at 9 am to a packed crowd of avid sports fans. Directly beyond bag check was the usual tailgating set up next to the ESPN The Weekend sign. Last year had a Super Bowl tailgating theme, but this year was complete randomness.

Notice the “Caution: Cowboy Fan Zone” yet the truck has a Redskins (Redskins!?) decal on the front, driver’s side door. (Redskins!?)

After passing through the turnstiles the look down Hollywood Blvd. was a unique one. Now, the ESPN stage is blocking the Sorcerer’s Hat, which itself is blocking the Chinese Theatre. Take that, Sorcerer’s Hat!

At 9:30 was the “Motorcade and Q&A with NFL Players Shaun Alexander, Steve Smith and Charles Tillman hosted by Stuart Scott”. Steve Smith and Charles Tillman – along with a Disney character each – rode up Hollywood Blvd. on the back of individual cars as Disney cheerleaders danced around them. Upon arrival at the stage Stuart Scott announced that Shaun Alexander was late because he was off “getting a latte or whatever it is though Seattle people do”. A few minutes after the session had started Shawn snuck up behind Smith and Tillman and threw his arms around them.

The players took questions from the audience, one of which was “Do you believe in the Madden curse?” – an obvious reference to Alexander’s bad luck ever since appearing on the video game cover.

After the Q&A the guys left and it was time for a “Baseball Clinic with Cal Ripkin, Jr., Karl Ravech, John Kruk, Eric Young and Tim Kurkjian”. The star of this session was obviously Ripkin, who had a massive fan following at the event.

After a little conversation, Ripkin brought up some kids to take batting practice.

Then it was time to check out the ESPN Sports Zone, which on the map was laid out with six different areas; Radio Stage, Dick’s Sporting Goods, ESPN Play Your Way, MLB, NFL Flag, Tennis, X Games and NBA. The entrance for the ESPN Sports Zone was behind the large doors that usually remained closed adjacent to Rock n’ Roller Coaster. Upon entering the “Zone” everyone was handed a Dick’s Sporting Goods baggie with an autograph book and pen inside.

At the Dick’s Sporting Goods area fans could play a variety of different drills ranging from golf to lacrosse.

Over in the NBA area there were all types of hoop games to play. Some of the athletes would come over during the day and play some ball.

Past the NBA area was the X Games area where kids could take a lap around a small recreation of an X Games course.

Across from the X Games was Tennis which featured miniature courts and even smaller interest.

Neighboring the Tennis area was NFL Flag…

…and next to NFL Flag was the MLB area where you could take some batting practice.

Then was the area listed as ESPN Play Your Way which seemed to just be a mix of randomness put together. You could play 2K sports games while the littlest kids burnt off some energy with some games of their own. There was also a merchandise stand, which was getting a lot of attention.

Another cool thing about the ESPN Sports Zone was seeing Tower of Terror at a rare angle.

Because of the festivities taking place in front of the Sorcerer’s Hat, High School Musical was moved to the Fantasmic! courtyard.

Back at the stage, the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders preformed a few routines and gave out a few calendars. It was actually kind of humorous that no one seemed very interested in winning a calendar or even watching their routine.

At 11:00 was “1st & 10 featuring Dana Jacobson & Skip Bayless with guests Gary Carter, Mercury Morris & Martina Navratilova”. Fans came up with the topics to be debated and each athlete got a chance in the hot seat across from Skip.

Walking over to the Theatre of the Stars we saw Steve Philips filming a spot with Donald Duck
for Baseball Tonight.

In the Theatre of the Stars was “NFL Live featuring Sal Paolantionio, Mark Schlereth & Trey Wingo with special guests Shaun Alexander, Mercury Morris & Charles Tillman”.

Take a closer look at the above picture. Notice anything funny?

What are the odds?

Then there was this witch, who after someone yelled “The Patriots cheat!” flipped out and screamed “So does everybody they just haven’t gotten caught yet!” Wow, whatever helps you sleep at night, lady.

Outside the theatre, John Kruk and Tim Kurkjian were signing a few autographs.

Back at the ESPN stage the Globetrotters did a short performance and met a few of their fans.

Then it was time for another Motorcade and Q&A with Donovan McNabb, Tony Gonzalez, Cris Carter, Ben Watson and Harry Carson.

After some hilarious Q&A with the NFL stars, we made our way over to ESPN Dream Job: The Experience. The concept is simple; a celebrity panel judges three fans attempting to do SportsCenter highlights.

The first show we saw had Al Jaffe, the Vice President of Talent at ESPN, Cris Carter and Sage Steele as the celebrity panel.

Contestants sat down at the SportsCenter desk one at a time and chose a football, basketball or baseball highlight reel.

The second show we saw Al Jaffe, Rick Mahorn, Willie McGinest and Colin Cowherd as the celebrity panel. Rick Mahorn and Willie McGinest were absolute beasts.

Next to the host of the show, even Colin Cowherd looked like a beast.

After both shows fans rushed the stage for autographs.

Once we left the Sounds Dangerous theatre – where Dream Job was being held – we noticed the Goodyear blimp circling in the sky.

Overall the 2007 event was a little bit better. There seemed to be more A-list athletes in attendance and this year there was no SportsCenter taping. It was a great time and if you get the chance to go next year don’t pass it up.

 Quick mentions:

- The day wasn’t just limited to the sessions mentioned. At times more than one session will be going on and with something new to see every thirty minutes it makes it impossible to see everything.

- I thought it was interesting how many Giants jerseys there were in the crowd. Funny seeing as how this time last year it was predominantly Colts jerseys. The jerseys looked, oh, I’d say about a month old.

- McNabb was who they were referring to as the Host of the event, despite the fact that Stuart Scott was on the front of the map with Mickey. There were a ton of Eagles fans in attendance… unfortunately. So, how ‘bout dem Cowboys?

- Despite being in Florida there were minimal Bucs, Jags or Fins jerseys. Giants had the biggest representation thanks to the band wagon jumpers, followed by the Eagles, followed by the Steelers.

- We were told by a Rock n’ Roller Coaster Cast Member that we just barely missed Emmitt Smith and that Joey Fatone (former Nsync member) was on his way over. He told us he also heard the Tom Brady was in the park. None of the three names he mentioned were advertised to be there.