Lee Corso's retirement is a final farewell to ESPN's golden age
This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Happy Friday! You've made it to the end of the week.
Lee Corso announcing his retirement from ESPN's College GameDay has been a long time coming. Honestly, it's overdue. The guy has been doing the show for 38 years — it was certainly time to hang up the headgear. You could honestly argue it was well past time. So when the announcement of his retirement was officially made, all I could do was shake my head in agreement.
But, man, did that suck to admit.
WHERE IS HE GOING? Here are 7 places that make sense for Lee Corso's final College GameDay show
Corso has done this job for 40 years. That's longer than I've been on this earth. For my entire life — at least the part that I'm aware of — Corso has been on my television every Saturday morning, making picks, putting on stupid mascot helmets and making me laugh along the way.
As Corso has gotten older, things haven't been the same. His presence on the show has dwindled. The vibes aren't vibing like they used to. But when he was on, it was still Lee Corso, man. You still enjoy those moments. It's like when your uncle does that stupid magic trick he always does at Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah, you know how he does it now. You're too old for the magic to actually work on you. But it works anyway because that's your silly uncle and you love him.
That's the relationship so many people have had with Corso over these last few years. Rooting for him to stick around was less about him and more about the era that he represents. Corso's peak coincides with ESPN's golden age, when non-live sports sports programming seemed to be at a premium. You know what era I'm talking about. When the Sports Reporters were still a thing and Stump the Schwab was like our own personal Jeopardy! show. When Stuart Scott made SportsCenter appointment television, Around the Hornand Pardon the Interruption held us over until the games started. We had Outside The Lines exploring how sports connect to, and explain, the broader world.
We don't have that stuff anymore. Television doesn't exist like it did then. These days, people seem to be more interested in "debate" shows where big personalities bicker about things of little substance or consequence. ESPN is a shell of itself. Of course, there's still talent in the building. But the powers that be would rather platform hot take artists, conspiracy theorists and internet gossipers than feed people nutritious programming.
As silly as it is, Corso's presence has always been a reminder of what once was in sports television programming. You see him and you remember all the fun that you had. In the same way, his departure is a reminder that time has gone and it's probably never coming back.
Happy trails, Lee Corso. Thanks for all the memories.
Damian Lillard is back
In a pretty shocking — and fortunate! — turn of events, it looks like Damian Lillard will be back with the Bucks a bit sooner than anticipated.
It was barely a month ago that doctors discovered a blood clot in Lillard's right calf. The Bucks made the right decision in sitting him out indefinitely, despite the potential implications it could have on the team's near and far future.
As it turns out, moving so quickly to sit Lillard seems to have worked to the Bucks' benefit. Doctors have apparently cleared Lillard of his deep vein thrombosis. He's no longer on blood thinners and might be cleared to play a lot sooner than we think. He'll still be out for Game 1 against the Pacers, but the Bucks will begin to ramp him up to play soon, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
To put it simply, this is incredible. This process usually lasts for months. Sometimes, guys never come back from this at all. Seeing Lillard cleared in just a few weeks certainly feels great. No matter what happens on the court, I'm just glad he's healthy.
Waiting on Rodgers
The Steelers are putting themselves in quite the conundrum by waiting on Aaron Rodgers, our Cory Woodroof writes. The quarterback told the Pat McAfee show that there's "no deadline" on making a decision regarding his future.
But the Steelers can't really afford to wait too much longer. Here's Cory with more:
"If you're the Steelers, how long can you really wait to make a move? Next week's 2025 NFL Draft is probably the best time for Pittsburgh to make a decision on who it wants to bring in at the most important position on the roster.
Come to think of it, why has Pittsburgh chosen this path to find a new quarterback in the first place? The options for the Steelers aren't incredible right now at the position, and waiting this long to find a guy may come back to haunt them."
Is Rodgers even good enough for a team to do this for him anymore? It's not like we're talking about the guy in his prime.
If you're the Steelers, it feels like it's time to move on. If he actually wanted to be there, he'd be there by now.
Photo Friday: Charles Leclerc in action
Here's Charles Leclerc on the Bahrain International Circuit. This picture looks like you're looking at Speed Racer.
Quick hits: Stars with the most to gain in the NBA playoffs ... Redrafting 2015 ... and more
— Here's Robert Zeglinski with the NBA stars who have the most to gain (or lose!) in the playoffs this year.
— Cory Woodroof did a redraft of the 2015 NFL draft 10 years later. There's a new 3rd overall pick!
— Kirk Herbstreit had a touching message for Lee Corso after we learned about his retirement. Man. Gonna miss these two together.
— Prince Grimes power-ranked every playoff team by their chances to win it all. Check it out.
— Here are our NBA playoff staff picks.
— And here's Christian D'Andrea's latest studs and sleepers guide on linebackers in the NFL draft.
That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading this week. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️