Thursday, March 28, 2024

Black History Month at ESPN: ‘SportsCenter’ at Hampton for Historic Lacrosse Match; ‘Rise Up’; ‘Spike Lee’s Lil Joints’; NBA’s John Wall & Miyah

Hampton University Lacrosse Team
Hampton University Lacrosse Team

*As part of its Black History Month programming, ESPN’s SportsCenter will broadcast from Hampton University in Va. on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 10 a.m.

Jay Harris and Lisa Kerney will anchor the two-hour broadcast, which will lead into Hampton’s first men’s lacrosse match as a Division I program, making Hampton the first HBCU to field a D-1 men’s lacrosse team since Morgan State in 1981. A  player from that team, Lloyd Carter, is now Hampton’s head coach.

The Pirates will take on Division II Roberts Wesleyan College. 

Misty Copeland on ESPN's "Rise Up"
Misty Copeland on ESPN’s “Rise Up”

The following day, ESPN premieres “Rise Up: A SportsCenter Special” (Feb. 14 at 5 p.m.), an hourlong program consisting of four segments featuring prominent African-Americans sharing firsthand accounts of the events in the news cycle that impacted their lives.

The four topics:

  • Taj Gibson on rising up against gun violence – Gibson, who plays for the NBA’s Chicago Bulls, has spoken candidly about losing four friends to gun violence the last four years. In his interview, Gibson shares how gun violence has impacted him. His teammate Jaokim Noah has worked with author Alex Kotlowitz, to produce a mini-documentary focusing on the negative impact of gun violence in Chicago.
  • Missouri Football on rising up against authority — The captain of the University of Missouri Football team, Ian Simon, shares his perspective on what led the team to stand behind Jonathan Butler, the student who staged a hunger strike to raise awareness to race relations on campus.
  • James Blake on rising up against racial profiling – The former professional tennis player takes the viewer inside the moment he was tackled and arrested by an undercover New York City police officer while standing in front of his hotel and speaks of his commitment to help stop profiling.
  • Misty Copeland on rising up against prejudices – The ballet star tells the compelling story of how she was able to overcome racial stereotypes, poverty and her own family’s objections and become the reigning queen of ballet.
Tameka Catchings and Kobe Bryant in the Spike Lee short "Italian Imports"
Tameka Catchings and Kobe Bryant in the Spike Lee short “Italian Imports”

Preceding “Rise Up” on Sunday at 4 p.m. will be three short films from the banner “Spike Lee’s Lil Joints”:

  • Kobe Bryant and Tamika Catchings remember growing up together in Italy while their fathers were playing basketball in “Italian Imports.”
  • The short film “Of the Father and of the Son” visits with David Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s youngest son, in Tanzania.
  • And then in “Ray Allen/AKA-Jesus Shuttleworth,” Spike Lee explores the meaning behind some of the best nicknames in the NBA.
615-Wall-and-Miyah-posing-for-picture
Miyah with John Wall of the Washington Wizards

Sunday, Feb. 14, will also mark the return of “SC Featured,” a segment of “SportsCenter” that airs during the NFL’s offseason, debuting in the 10 a.m. ET broadcast and re-airing in the 11 p.m. hour and at other times throughout the day.

The first “SC Featured” of the 2016 season is “The Meaning of Miyah,” a story of the friendship between 6 year-old Miyah, who lost her battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Washington Wizards star John Wall.

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