To tweet: https://es.pn/1beZHU5

Utah’s Swim Coach Controversy
Outside the Lines (Sunday 8 a.m. ET, ESPN2)

For years, swimmers and their parents complained to the University of Utah about the alleged abusive behavior of head swim coach Greg Winslow. But it wasn’t until a sexual abuse investigation of Winslow in another state became public that Utah finally took action. Steve Delsohn spoke with some of the swimmers and their parents and reports why they want more action against Utah’s athletic department.

“A manipulator, a monster and somebody that I have absolutely no respect for.” – Lauren Hewson, former Utah swimmer on how she would describe coach Greg Winslow.

“I don’t think they cared at all. I think they were just trying to make us go away.” – Austin Fiascone – former Utah swimmer on allegations that the university failed to respond to complaints about Greg Winslow.

 

Finley’s Way Back
Sunday NFL Countdown  (Sunday, 10 a.m. ESPN)

Four weeks after Packers tight end Jermichael Finley suffered a concussion while trying to make a catch over the middle in Week 3, another hit left him with a bruised spinal cord, which landed him in intensive care and ended his season. Finley does his first TV interview to discuss his recovery after spinal fusion surgery. Josina Anderson reports.

“I just saw, like, the – the white jersey we had, and nobody really had a head.  Nobody had legs.  It wasn’t a soul in the stadium, and– it– it was– it was wild.” – Jermichael Finley, Green Bay Packers tight end on concussion suffered in Week 3

“…that’s the first person that I got — I got a call from. And, of course, I couldn’t answer it but he left — he left a message and he said, ‘Daddy, I want you to quit this game’. And, it’s like — it’s crazy — to see how, I mean, how important you are…I got a five year old that really don’t know what the game brings, but knows it’s something wrong when he sees Dad hit the ground.” – Jermichael Finley on his son

 

NFL Hot Read: How Riley Cooper put slur in past
ESPN.com

Elizabeth Merrill writes: “. . . Cooper’s story is about more than redemption. It’s about a team with strong leadership. It’s about forgiveness. It’s about a young athlete who was seemingly born with everything waking up one day and realizing he was on the verge of winding up with nothing.”

 

Tech Talk

ESPN’s Bowen Dou (2nd from left, seated) was part of this week’s
NewsTechForum in New York.

This past Monday, Bowen Dou, a project leader for ESPN’s Cross Platform News Gathering Unit, was part of a panel at the NewsTechForum conference at New York’s Hilton Hotel. Dou was one of five experts discussing “The Changing World of Enterprise News Gathering (ENG).” She was also the lone woman on the panel.

“I’ve attended many workshops and seminars ESPN offers to female employees, the most recent one being ‘ESPN Women: Personal Branding Workshop’,” said Dou, who joined ESPN in 2008. “We have been shown strategies for strengthening female employee’s personal brand and how to differentiate ourselves from others in the workplace. These techniques benefited me tremendously during this experience as a panelist.”

Dou also benefitted from her nearly three years of oversight for ESPN’s implementation of new technologies for newsgathering in the field.

“Cellular- and IP-based systems have revolutionized the industry from acquisition to contribution, production and delivery,” said Dou, a graduate of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan, who earned her Masters Degree in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts from Central Michigan University. “The panel discussed how organizations get the most out of these systems to enhance the quality of the content they produce and become more competitive. The panel also discussed what the future looks like to make these systems more reliable and accessible for news organizations.”

Dou detailed ESPN’s approach of deploying new tools in phases, rather than all at once.

“This was to acknowledge the different learning curves our producers had with the new technologies and to make sure we could answer some of their questions and better our workflow before taking on more challenging assignments,” Dou said. “We wanted to make sure our producers felt as comfortable as possible in this transitioning process that asks them to handle many more tasks during an already demanding job.”

“It’s really important to us that Bowen attends and participates in technology forums like this one, as it allows us to learn from others in the industry and share our experiences,” said Jill Frederickson, Senior Coordinating Producer of ESPN’s Bureaus. “Bowen had led our effort regarding technology surrounding news and information gathering and represents the impact women are making in this space here at ESPN.”

Dou sees the value in continuing to participate in similar future events.

“Technology is advancing at a record speed and we as news organizations should try to be more proactive instead of reactive to new advancements,” she said.