Nick Piccone
In the ever-changing landscape of the 24-hour news cycle, ESPN decided to undertake a harsh reality some of us face in our lives at some point – laying off a bunch of their employees. Now, we could argue semantics all day. Getting laid off is different than getting fired to some. For instance, I’ve been laid off before simply because the company I worked for couldn’t afford to continue my position because the workload slowed down. I didn’t do anything wrong, they just didn’t have a need for me anymore. So, was I fired, or laid off? Does it really matter?
Well, for 100 some ESPN employees today, it definitely matters. The network began informing many household names of their fate this morning, and we’re going to list them below. It’s not something we enjoy doing, but it’s important to note these changes are just over a year after the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News laid off a lot of their employees, many of whom either branched out into a different industry or continued their career paths with other organizations. I doubt many of those ESPN employees laid off will be hurting for work before long.
You know, for a network that never focused on hockey as a priority, they’ve laid off two of the best hockey reporters I’ve ever followed. Go figure. But, I’m sure they’ll land somewhere. Maybe at a network that gives hockey some love.
Here’s a list of those that were let go (updated Thursday at 7:57 A.M.):
Trent Dilfer
Ed Werder
Jayson Stark
Pierre LeBrun
Scott Burnside
Jay Crawford
Ashley Fox
Dana O’Neil
Jane McManus
Jaymee Sire
Jim Bowden
Chantel Jennings
Justin Verrier
Danny Kanell
Ethan Strauss
Roger Cossack
Greg Ostendorf
Melissa Isaacson
Chris Hassel
Robin Lundberg
Dottie Pepper
Reese Waters
Paul Kuharsky
Rufus Peabody
David Ching
Joe McDonald
Max Olson
Marysol Castro
Doug Padilla
Eamonn Brennan
Len Elmore
Calvin Watkins
Austin Ward
Ted Miller
Brendan Fitzgerald
Mark Saxon
Johnette Howard
Jeremy Crabtree
Brian Bennett
C.L. Brown
Brett McMurphy
Derek Tyson
Jean-Jacques Taylor
Jesse Temple
Mike Goodman
Charles Arbuckle
Tom Farrey
Dave Tuley
Jim Caple
Doug Glanville
Dallas Braden
Raúl Ibañez
Josh Parcell
David Hirshey
Darren Haynes
Jarrett Bell
Jade McCarthy
Jerry Punch
UPDATE 5/1/17: Adam Caplan announced he’s been let go.
Special thanks to: @AdamSchefter for recommending me for the job in 2013, @tunaweasel believing in me, @camboespn for his guidance along the way, @GerryMatalon for his coaching and pushing me to be fearless, Todd Snyder for his terrific producing on “NFL Insiders” and for his understanding of what I brought to the table, and to the other great producers and colleagues that I had a chance to work with over the 4+ years.
I loved every minute of it.
On to the next move(s)–stay tuned…
You can follow Nick Piccone on Twitter (@nickpiccone) and e-mail him at [email protected]. Subscribe to his podcast on iTunes here. Click here to read his pro wrestling articles on PhillyVoice. Follow Philly Influencer on Twitter (@PHL_Influencer), Facebook and Instagram.