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By Michael Hiestand, USA TODAY
Records are made to be broken — you just don’t know when. Here’s one that’s scheduled for next week: ESPN will set a new U.S. TV sports record for most-over-the-top-hype.
The idea, to be announced Wednesday, is to give ESPN’s first college football game this season — Louisiana State at Mississippi State on Aug. 30 — a whopping 25-hour lead-in. Rece Davis, saying he’ll play “the Jerry Lewis role” in hosting the marathon: “I might have to wear a tux. … And at the end, maybe we’ll dim the lights and I’ll loosen my tie and have more product in my hair than usual.”
What he’ll do for the kids.
ESPN’s Twenty-Five Hours of College Football Presented by TIVO starts at 7 p.m. ET Aug. 29 and continues until the Tigers-Bulldogs kickoff 25 hours later. Some regular shows, such as SportsCenter will remain intact, but with more emphasis on college football, while offbeat fare fills time slots. The University of Hawaii team practice was moved to 9 p.m. in their time zone to fill the 3 a.m. ET slot.
Davis says the format came up casually — “somebody said, ‘Why don’t we stay up all night?’ ” — and will serve fans “starved for more, more, more. I can’t imagine there’ll be much we’ll miss.”
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