Reischea Canidate plays the role of a news anchor, delivering ESPN2’s weekday sports updates.   On Wednesday, July 20 she was asked to play the role of country singer/”American Idol” winner Carrie Underwood. 

ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike in the Morning (simulcast on ESPN2 during Canidate’s shift) frequently incorporates song parodies into the show to poke fun at the news of the day. When the latest selection, which debuted Wednesday, called for a female singer, Canidate was the logical (and easy logistical) choice. 

To view today’s Mike & Mike song segment, click HERE

Canidate explained the song was recorded a week ago to prepare for the next time an athlete would “stick his Tweet in his mouth.” One of the show’s producers, Curt “Joaquin” Kaplan, the creator and crooner of most of the show’s parodies, came up with Underwood’s “Before he Cheats,” turning the chorus “Maybe next time he’ll think before he cheats” into “before he Tweets.”

The song “dropped” after Minnesota Vikings’ punter Chris Kluwe become the latest athlete to send a controversial Twitter message,

“We had discussed doing a song ages ago, but nothing really came about, then Curtis asked me about this one, and I was all for it,” said Canidate, whose “performance” instantly elicited 40 Twitter love hits to her account, and e-mails to the Mike & Mike in-box.

While Canidate did perform the National Anthem at the San Diego Spirit’s 2001 WUSA inaugural game (Julie Foudy was on the team) while serving as sports anchor and reporter at KSWB in San Diego, she says her singling has since been limited to a few weddings since joining ESPN. “Between work and my five-month old son, time isn’t as open as it used to be,” she says.

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