Craig James Not Returning to ESPN

Submitted by hart20 on

Something that we've all been hoping for has finally happened: No more Craig James. Craig James is not returning to ESPN next year as per:

 

...ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz essentially eliminated the prospect of James returning to the network.

ESPN’s Krulewitz: “We have no intention of bringing Craig James back in the future.”

Thus ends the second tenure of James at ESPN, which began in 2003. James, whose ESPN contract expires before the 2012 football season, also worked for ESPN in the early ’90s following his NFL playing career.

While I am somewhat saddened by the prospect of not reading about how CRAIG JAMES KILLED 5 HOOKERS during Saturday liveblogs this fall, I am pretty happy that we don't have to hear his constant hatred of Michigan during every single game on ESPN.

Any thoughts on who will replace him?

 

Link:http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/espn-no-intention-of-bringing-back-james-29980

I know, I know, it's SportsByBrooks but this article isn't a sensationalist one. Even if it was, the main take from the article and the quote is from an ESPN rep. I doubt that he's lying about it.

Oh, and even though the article is old, I did a bunch of searches and didn't see it posted.

M-Wolverine

March 13th, 2012 at 9:56 PM ^

Craig James, obviously.

Edit: HA! Craig James. I pos-banged everyone so you are powerless. The only net neg effect you can have is on me. And I have points to spare...I'm not some defenseless hooker!

jmblue

March 13th, 2012 at 8:36 PM ^

I am pretty happy that we don't have to hear his constant hatred of Michigan during every single game on ESPN.

Do you have any examples of this "hatred"? It seems to me that he's been bullish on Michigan ever since we hired Hoke.

 

EGD

March 13th, 2012 at 8:38 PM ^

I always despised Craig James because he campaigned for Nebraska to get the MNC ahead of us in '97. I also read Mike Leach's book, in which James comes off terribly (it's just Leach"s perspective, I know, but still). So I am glad he's gone, whether or notIT IS TRUE THAT CRAIG JAMES KILLED FIVE HOOKERS.

SamirCM

March 13th, 2012 at 8:55 PM ^

I wouldn't worry about him winning the office, within the Republican primary he is pulling under 5 and has near universal name recognition....in other words, the people know who he is and they HATE him. Sorry to bring politics into it, I will stop now.

Yeoman

March 13th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^

that 4% of the people polled say they would vote for the man. Whatever his politics might be, can you imagine telling a pollster with a straight face that you intended to vote for Craig James in a US Senate race?

Maybe they misunderstood the question.

exmtroj

March 13th, 2012 at 9:11 PM ^

Was there some type of incident between him and ESPN? The quote seems to indicate pretty strongly that ESPN is cutting him loose, I got a sense of hostility there

Yeoman

March 14th, 2012 at 9:30 AM ^

The context was a question from SI's Richard Deitsch: he asked how ESPN/Disney would evaluate James's political statements if he tried to be rehired, the spokesperson said "you are asking a hypothetical since we don't intend to bring Craig back."

Two ways to read that--statements he's made during his political campaign were a little too controversial or offensive for the mothership to want to deal with, or they'd already made a decision not to hire him back so what he's saying and doing became irrelevant.

Tater

March 13th, 2012 at 9:21 PM ^

This is the best news I have heard in a long time, and something I posted here as the "best-case scenario" a few months ago.  It's a lot harder to fire someone than it is to not hire them back after they leave.  

I am guessing that everyone in the ESPN HR department was extremely happy when he left.  He was a lightning rod for criticism and controversy, and contributed absolutely nothing to their product.  Whoever stroked his ego enough to make him think he actually had a chance of winning an election should, at the very least, get a lifetime pass to every paid ESPN service.