Daniel Patrick Pugh (born
May 15, 1956), professionally known as Dan
Patrick, is an American
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 101 Network, co-hosts
NBC's
Football Night in America,
and serves as a senior writer for
Sports Illustrated. He previously
worked (and is perhaps best known) for
ESPN for
17 years, where he often anchored the weeknight and Sunday 11 PM
edition of
SportsCenter.
He
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.
Biography
Early life
Patrick
was a basketball player in high school,
becoming an Ohio
all-state
selection his senior year. He attended Eastern Kentucky
University
on a basketball scholarship for two years before
transferring to the University of Dayton, where he joined the Phi
Sigma Kappa fraternity.
Before ESPN
Before
working with ESPN, Patrick was known by his real name, Dan Pugh, as
an on-air personality with the album rock-formatted 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."
Career at ESPN
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."
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"
Patrick told about the following at the ESPN25 Silver Anniversary
Spectacular.
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
On July 9, 2007, Patrick on his radio show announced his departure
from
ESPN/
ABC effective August 17, 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 were 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. 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 airways, 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
Reaction from media sources hit the internet by storm. Many
webpages, blogs, and news media outlets have speculated on the
reasons for Patrick's departure and 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 claimed that Patrick was fired from ESPN as was falsely
reported of Olbermann. 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 wants to be on both television and
radio again although some newspapers were reporting he only wanted
to do radio.
Last shows
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.
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, 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.
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
DirecTV channel 101 August 3, 2009.
NBC Sports
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. 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.Patrick served as the
Super Bowl XLIII trophy presenter after the
Pittsburgh Steelers defeated
the
Arizona
Cardinals.
Other appearances
Movies and television
Patrick has made cameo appearances in many movies and TV shows;
they are as follows:
Commercial spokesperson
Patrick appears as the commercial spokesman for the following
advertisement campaigns:
Music videos
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 ",
with the quote "Brad Paisley, dare I say, 'en fuego'."
References
- http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/dan-patrick/bio/213784
- http://www.brooksinternational.com/Dan_Patrick_748.htm
- http://www.sportscasters.info/p/Dan_Patrick.htm
- Dan Patrick Will Return for Farewell Week at ESPN
Radio - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog
- Dan Patrick (I)
External links
radio ads promoting their graduate
programs.
Wikis
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