Leaving ESPN has to come with an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty. Even if a star analyst or host is walking straight into a new job, there is still no way to know what is going to be next. That has to hold true for both Dan Le Batard and Cari Champion.
On the latest episode of the Naked with Cari Champion podcast, Champion asks Le Batard about how he has felt since he and ESPN parted ways earlier this year. He noted that it wasn’t easy to walk away from the validation working from ESPN made him feel.
“That place is hard to leave because it is a destination and I’ve been single all my life so I had 30 years of savings as a single man and I had plenty of journalism bona fides and I had opportunities and it was still scary to leave.
“For where it is, all of us wanted to arrive with our vanities, with our insecurities because they would make you madder, they would give you the bona fides, they would give you the reach of television and those four letters behind your name. It sort of masked whatever it is you felt fraudulent. They knighted people.”
Le Batard didn’t have bad things to say about ESPN. He just felt like he could no longer do the job he was hired to.
“I was hired to be a fire-starter. I was hired to talk about some of the difficult stuff and the company changed and the country changed. What didn’t change is the reason I was hired and what didn’t change is that I was going to be my most authentic voice and self. We left amicably and I don’t have hard feelings toward ESPN. They helped make us bigger. It was a mutually beneficial relationship for as long as it was a mutually beneficial relationship.”
One of the things that Le Batard enjoyed doing at ESPN was getting the chance to work with his father, but he revealed that Gonzalo “Papi” Le Batard didn’t want his television career to last as long as it did.
“The daily grind of it was hard for him to come in. He is well and my father is enjoying his retirement. My father was threatening to quit if they did not pay him better. He did not think they would actually pay him better. It wasn’t a principle, he just wanted to stop doing the show because he was tired.”
As for how the Le Batard and Friends podcast is doing now, he noted that there are many responsibilities now that he never had to worry about at ESPN and there are times he just wants to be silly.
“I loved just showing up talking to a microphone and seeing that direct deposit. I was always fooling around. I was somebody doing a show with my father. I was doing stuff that was silly and didn’t have any of these real responsibilities making sure our employees have healthcare and talking to accountants and attorneys…I don’t want to do the stuff that’s conquering and ambitious, I just want to giggle snorts with my friends and I did that for a long time at ESPN.”
Saw this story on my news feed. Don’t know what compelled me to click on it. Can someone tell me who this guy is? It’s a headline story on my Google News feed.
I never heard of him, and have no idea who he is. Who watches ESPN? The answer nobody with the exception of 16-18 year old teens. This guy appears to be 40 years of age, judging from the picture provided. And he thinks he is a known quantity to the entire nation because a handful of teenagers watch him?
I think this guy needs two things….a vaccination to prevent further hallucinations of thinking he is famous….and a serious dose of humility.
I also think the young man responsible for authoring this article needs to do a self check, and realize that an obscure figure who he seems to idolize, has no currency almost anywhere else.
EECH!!
Missed Dan Le Batard and Cari Champion on Firs Take
I think “Get a Grip” is LeBetard. If not, he’d certainly love the take.
He gets the show! (But no for real It feels like something Dan would type.)
I haven’t listened to espn since dan and the gang has left just not interested in therir programming anymore.