ESPN

Nick Saban is getting another tribute at Alabama -- the school just announced it is renaming the Bryant-Denny Stadium field in his honor.

Bama will hold a ceremony on September 7 ... when the Crimson Tide host the South Florida Bulls.

The university shared a special video to reveal the news ... featuring several memorable soundbites from Saban's historic career.

Madison Keys' fiancé found himself in a pick-le ... 'cause ESPN jumped to him at the wrong time -- and, they caught him fingertip deep in his nostril.

The American tennis star was in the third set of her round of 16 match against Italian player Jasmine Paolini Sunday when ESPN's broadcast flashed over to her coach and fiancé, Bjorn Fratangelo.

Check out the clip ... Bjorn's hanging out and chatting with a woman to his right, when he brings his fingers up to his nose and decides to drag out a bothersome boogie.

Prince Harry has key figures in his corner amid the outrage over ESPN's decision to honor him with the Pat Tillman Award for Service -- at least 2 former winners say Harry is definitely deserving.

Jake Wood, a U.S. Marine and former college football player who won the award in 2018, tells TMZ … the Duke of Sussex is a natural fit for the Tillman honor because of Harry's military service and his dedication to veterans.

Jake feels Prince Harry is a good choice because he's dedicated his life to serving and supporting the military and veterans -- Harry served 2 tours in Afghanistan -- and that should be commended because there are hundreds of different ways a British royal could live his life.

ESPN is standing firm in its decision to honor Prince Harry with the Pat Tillman Award for Service at this month's ESPYs ... doubling down and saying the Duke of Sussex is a rightful recipient of the honor.

As we previously reported, Tillman's mother, Mary, was dissatisfied with this year's pick for the award ... saying there were plenty of lesser-known candidates that deserve some recognition -- and referring to Harry as "controversial and divisive" in the process.

ESPN talent Pat McAfee also dogged the selection ... claiming it felt like the network was purposely trying to strike a controversy.

A baseball fan who went to the College World Series is slamming ESPN for turning cameras on her while she ate ice cream -- because the shot's gone so viral, she's being compared to the "Hawk Tuah" girl.

In case you missed it ... during Monday's national championship baseball game, ESPN cameras zoomed in on 2 women in the stands quickly licking ice cream, racing to finish before it melted in 93-degree heat.

The video spread across social media like wildfire ... with folks leaving some explicit comments about the young women, including lots of "Hawk Tuah" references.

Brian Windhorst basically dropped a Kendrick Lamar-esque diss track on Luka Doncic following the Dallas Mavericks' Game 3 loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday ... going in on the NBA superstar for his "unacceptable" performance.

The Slovenian baller dropped 27 points before fouling out with four minutes left in the Finals matchup ... adding another chapter to his ongoing beef with officials as he visibly and audibly expressed his frustration with calls throughout the contest.

The ESPN analyst was clearly fed up with Doncic's on-court antics ... teeing off on the matter after the game.

Stan Van Gundy is going scorched earth on The Worldwide Leader ... after the network unceremoniously dumped his little brother Jeff Van Gundy after nearly two decades with ESPN, and he's PISSED!

Jeff -- an NBA head coach for 11 seasons (Knicks, Rockets) -- worked for ESPN for 17 years until he was laid off last summer.

JVG has largely been quiet about the shocking move ... but, not so much for his brother Stan, who aired out his frustrations on Dan Le Batard's "South Beach Sessions" show.

It apparently didn't take long for Jason Kelce to find work in retirement -- the Philadelphia Eagles great is reportedly joining ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown" pregame show this season ... after getting interest from pretty much every major network.

The Athletic shared the All-Pro center's next move on Monday ... saying ESPN landed the big fish over NBC, CBS, Amazon and more.

It's really a no-brainer -- Kelce is one of the most charismatic athletes out there ... and he already has experience breaking down games on his "New Heights" podcast with his brother, Travis.

ESPN is distancing itself from Aaron Rodgers' recent comments about Jimmy Kimmel ... chalking his controversial appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show" up to a bad attempt at comedy.

The New York Jets quarterback sparked an intense feud with the ABC late-night host earlier this week ... when he suggested Kimmel could be among the famous names on Jeffrey Epstein's client list.

Kimmel was furious with Rodgers ... firing back by claiming the comments could put his family in danger -- and threatening to take legal action if he continued to bark up that tree.

Mike Foss -- ESPN's senior vice president of digital and studio production -- addressed the whole issue in an interview with Front Office Sports on Friday ... and he said the comments never should have came out of Rodgers' mouth.

"Pat announced today that he’s planning on Aaron joining the show Tuesday," Foss told the outlet. "Aaron made a dumb and factually inaccurate joke about Jimmy Kimmel."

"The show will continue to evolve. It wouldn’t surprise me if Aaron’s role evolves with it."

Based on the latter part of that statement, it certainly sounds like the network won't step in and prevent Rodgers from going back on the show ... but on Friday's show, Pat accused ESPN exec Norby Williamson of sabotaging his program amid the drama.

Of course, the beef between Rodgers and Kimmel is complicated -- McAfee and the TV personality are both in the Disney family and wildly popular in their respective fields.

The woman who went nips out for some beads during ESPN's Sugar Bowl broadcast is being offered a deal more eye-opening than the viral clip ... with an adult company willing to shell out up to $100k to get her to perform an encore on its platform.

The folks over at Camsoda laid out the terms of the proposition on Tuesday ... saying it's trying like hell to track down the Bourbon Street patron who exposed her boob during the TV broadcast of Monday night's game between the Washington Huskies and Texas Longhorns.

If CS is able to get a hold of her, the site says it would like to invite her to do a live one-hour webcam show next week ... and they are ready to drop some serious coin for her time.

"One could argue that she was the real MVP of the game last night," Camsoda Vice President Daryn Parker said in a statement.

"We see a lot of breasts on our platform but these certainly caught our eyes ... and all of America's. I didn’t know ESPN was into that kind of stuff!"

Of course, the network issued an apology over the accident ... saying it regrets sharing the footage for the millions of viewers tuning into the College Football Playoff matchup.

Peyton Manning tuvo que experimentar la "clásica bienvenida de Filadelfia" como Santa Claus, porque después de ponerse el traje rojo fue bombardeado divertidamente con bolas de nieve de Ricky Watters y Matt Millen!

El QB del Salón de la Fama se convirtió en el blanco fácil en el episodio navideño del programa "Peyton's Places" en ESPN, donde se lo ve montando un camión de bomberos dentro del Lincoln Financial Field antes del partido de Navidad de los Eagles.

Watters, que jugó de running back para Philly durante dos temporadas, y Millen, ex linebacker y ejecutivo de la NFL, están en las gradas abucheando a Manning y luego empiezan a bombardearlo con bolas de nieve.

"¡Boo! ¡Eres un pésimo Santa!" Gritó Millen mientras lanzaba sus bolas a Peyton.

Por supuesto, este es un remake del partido de los Vikings vs. los Eagles de 1968 en Navidad, en el que los aficionados de Filadelfia empezaron a lanzar bolas de nieve a Papá Noel durante el espectáculo del descanso debido a la mala actuación y temporada de su equipo.

El tipo que se disfrazó de Papá Noel, Frank Olivo, que entonces tenía 20 años, dice que recibió más de 100 bolas de nieve durante su aparición.

Eso sí, Olivo fue elegido de entre las gradas para interpretar el papel por el director de animación de los Eagles, ya que una tormenta de nieve la noche anterior impidió que el actor original de Papá Noel llegara al partido.

Peyton Manning got to experience the "classic Philly welcome" as Santa Claus ... 'cause after he put on the red suit, he was hilariously pelted with snowballs from Ricky Watters -- and Matt Millen!

The Hall of Fame QB became the sitting duck for the holiday episode of "Peyton's Places" show on ESPN, where he's riding a firetruck inside the Lincoln Financial Field ahead of the Eagles' Christmas game.

Watters -- who played running back for Philly for two seasons -- and Millen, a former linebacker and executive in the NFL, are in the stands booing Manning ... and start hitting him with snowballs.

"Boo!! You're a lousy Santa Claus!" Millen yelled while throwing bombers at Peyton.

Of course, this is a remake of the 1968 Vikings vs. Eagles game on Christmas ... where the Philly fans started throwing snowballs at Santa Claus during the halftime show due to their team's poor performance and season.

The guy who dressed up as Santa, then 20-year-old Frank Olivo, says he was hit with more than 100 snowballs during his appearance.

Mind you, Olivo was picked out from the stands to play the role by the Eagles entertainer director, since a snowstorm the previous night kept the original Santa actor from getting to the game.

Brittney Griner's story is getting the Mickey Mouse treatment -- the WNBA superstar just inked a deal with Disney, ESPN and ABC for multiple upcoming projects ... including a documentary about her Russian drug case.

"The last two years have been the most harrowing, transformative and illuminating period of my life, and I am grateful to be in a place now to share my story with the world," Griner said in a statement on Thursday.

"I’m proud to partner with ESPN and Disney to share this very personal story because of its incredible potential to inspire hope around the world and their proven ability to do just that."

The partnership also includes the development of a scripted limited series on Griner's life, which is said to already be "in the works."

Griner was arrested at a Russian airport in February 2022 for cannabis possession. She was sentenced to nine years in prison ... before the U.S. government made a deal to get her back in Dec. 2022 that involved Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Since Griner's release, the center signed a one-year deal with the Phoenix Mercury -- averaging 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game last season -- and has become an advocate for Americans who have been detained in another country.

"Brittney is an exceptional athlete whose hardship and resilience are nothing short of extraordinary," ESPN president Burke Magnus said. "We are thrilled to be working with her to tell the nuances of her story and feel confident that this documentary will captivate audiences everywhere."

The documentary will feature previously unreleased footage, records and letters from Griner's time in prison.

Theo Von has entered the college football chat — and he confused the hell out of some OGs on the air … which was absolutely hilarious to watch.

ESPN tapped into the TikTok zeitgeist and hired Theo Von as their celebrity guest panelist for “College GameDay” Saturday … where he, Pat McAfee and the rest of the professional analysts sat around making picks ahead of a packed schedule.

The only difference this time around was Theo’s very unpredictable nature and rants — which certainly shone through during the telecast, especially when he was talking about the matchup between Louisville and Florida State.

Apparently, TV thought it was 2013 again … ‘cause he invoked Jameis Winston’s name to talk about the Seminoles’ chances. Only problem … Winston has long left the university, something Pat reminded Theo of … forcing him to pivot and come up with a new rationale.

It was pretty typical Theo, but Lee Corso couldn’t believe (or comprehend) what he was hearing … making for a funny-ass exchange live on TV.

Peyton Manning got behind the wheel of late NFL legend John Madden's bus ... hilariously attempting to steal the iconic Madden Cruiser from the Pro Football Hall of Fame!!

But no need to check the jail records ... it was all part of the quarterback's "Peyton's Places" show on ESPN, where Manning and 49ers great John Taylor got an up-close experience with the vehicle.

In a clip of the Omaha Productions project, Manning and Taylor line-hop to get right onto the bus in Canton ... before the two-time Super Bowl champ decides to make a run for it!!

Of course, Madden -- who was famously terrified of flying -- would crisscross the country in his luxurious Madden Cruiser, going from city to city, depending on his broadcasting schedule.

The whip was actually a Greyhound bus before Madden flipped it in the late '80s.

The Madden Cruiser has now been restored to its original condition ... including two color TVS, radio, two laser disc players, stereo and VHS layer.