What began as a dream for more than 10,000 hopefuls last September became reality on Sunday, March 28, for 22-year-old Mike Hall.
Hall, a Glen Ellyn, Ill., resident and University of Missouri student, was the winner of “Dream Job,” ESPN's entry into the reality TV genre. Hall had endured nearly six months of intense tasks that included writing copy, doing interviews, and performing a variety of on-camera segments.
Less than 24 hours after his victory, Hall appeared on Monday's 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Sportscenters as well as Tuesday's 1 a.m. edition, all live from Bristol, Conn., home of the 25-year-old sports cable channel.
"I just tried to focus on being calm and collected and just being myself," he said. "And I had the confidence I was going to do great."
The winner's package included a one-year contract with ESPN as an anchor on SportsCenter and a brand new Mazda 3.
"Dream Job" was a two-year brainchild of Carol Silver, a former director of special events at ESPN.
"In all the years I traveled, people said being on ESPN's SportsCenter was my dream job," Silver said. "They all want to think they can do it better. So I thought let's open up the doors for those that are eighteen and above and think they missed their dream job or are on the cusp and give them a shot."
The search for the next ESPN SportsCenter anchor began back in mid- September during a 29-city, six-week tour. The first two auditions were held at the ESPN Zone in New York City and Yankee Doodle's in Los Angeles.
"Over 1,000 people showed up for the one in New York and the first one was there at 3:50AM in the morning for a 9 a.m. call," said ESPN's senior publicist Keri Potts.
The Pittsburgh version was held at Sports Rock Café on Sept. 24. It attracted 186 contestants, with three of them, David Klug, Mark Spagnola, and Mark Steffey receiving callbacks. Beano Cook and Rocky Bleier served as judges.
"Dream Job" was hosted by one of ESPN's more flamboyant anchors, Stuart Scott, who invented "hugs and hand pounds" and coined the expression, "Booya." The panel of judges consisted of Tony Kornheiser, a radio personality and co-host of "PTI" (Pardon the Interruption); co-host of ESPN2's new morning show, "Cold Pizza", Kit Hoover; NFL All-Pro linebacker LaVar Arrington of the Washington Redskins, by way of North Hills High School and Penn State; and Al Jaffe, the surly, yet precise VP of Talent and an ESPN employee since 1987.
Anchor hopefuls were graded on distinctive presentationstyle, writing ability and overall sports knowledge.The final two hour show included Maggie Haskins, a 20-year-old student at Brown University by way of Chicago; Hall, a University of Missouri student; 21-year-old Aaron Levine of StanfordUniversity; and 28-year-old Zachariah Selwyn, an actor, writer, and musician who lives in Los Angeles and attended USC.
"Wow" was Hall's reaction to winning. "Every hour there's something more impressive that comes along. It's just a surreal experience," said an elated Hall. "I thought the judges were great," he added. "I enjoyed it when they gave me criticism. It's tough not to listen extra hard to Al (Jaffe) though."
A half-hour after Hall had won the competition, he went through one more contest – to set his salary. His base salary was set at $70,000 a year. The twist: he would receive an extra $5,000 for every correct answer, and each incorrect response he gave would result in a $10,000 deduction.
After answering five questions correctly, Hall was not confident enough to answer how many Grand Slam titles Andre Agassi had won and stopped at $95,000.
Hall hopes to last more than a year. "My plan is when the year is up, that they (ESPN) will tell me they trained me well and that I'm going to stay around."
Silver said she couldn't have been more pleased with the results of the show. "Pleased is a huge understatement. The show was exactly what I wanted, what ESPN wanted, and what all the finalists wanted," she said.
And Keri Potts, will there be a sequel to "Dream Job⢠"I think it's very possible that we will do a second show." Additional Information:
