Yesterday we told you about the wild story out of high school football, where ESPN aired a game between national power IMG and an Ohio high school named "Bishop Sycamore."
Bishop Sycamore was a school that claimed to have several DI prospects on their roster only for ESPN's broadcasters to admit on air that they had searched ESPN's own recruiting database and found none. The team actually went 0-6 last season.
It was clearly embarrassing, and on Monday the Worldwide Leader in Sports addressed it with a statement, placing most of the blame on Paragon Sports, a marketing firm that sets up these games.
Here is the statement:
“We regret that this happened and have discussed it with Paragon, which secured the matchup and handles the majority of our high school event scheduling. They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward.”
First off, I love that last line: "They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward.”
So you mean to tell me that the marketing firm that you probably pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a year, promises that they won't put any fake high schools, that went 0-6 the season before, and aren't accredited by the state they play in, on your airwaves next year?
Fantastic! Feel like "being a real high school" probably should be their No. 1 priority when booking these games. Then again, what do I know?
Regardless, this apparently brings an end to one of the wildest stories any of us can ever remember.
By the way, if you missed the audio of ESPN's broadcasters going in on Bishop Sycamore, you can listen below.