Most sports fans know Dan Patrick from his days hosting SportsCenter on ESPN. He worked at the network and hosted the weeknight edition of SportsCenter for 17 years.
We grew to love “DP” as he introduced sports highlights to us night in and night out. He coined catch phrases such as En Fuego and The Whiff. He introduced us to rookie greats such as Derek Jeter, Tom Glavine, Michael Irvin, Pete Sampras, Ken Griffey Jr. and many many more.
Patrick left ESPN in August of 2007. Rumors flied as no one knew why he was leaving or even if he was indeed resigning from arguably the best job in the world. Either Mr. Patrick knew exactly what he was doing or he couldn’t stay out of work long.
Just two months later, in October of 2007, Patrick launched The Dan Patrick Show. Broadcast originally by a Chicago-based company, the show was syndicated on a station-by-station basis. By August of 2009 The Dan Patrick Show had been picked up by and broadcast on DirecTV’s 101 network.
So it seems like Dan Patrick had a masterful plan in mind. He gave up anchoring the most popular sports show in the world and two months later created his own radio show. Sideline Sam admires the innovation.
The Dan Patrick Show was originally broadcast from the attic in his own home. Once DirecTV picked up the show and agreed to broadcast a radio show on live television, the DIY network stepped in and built Dan a “man cave.”
The Man Cave includes a basketball hoop, golf simulator, a ton of sports memorabilia and a bar that can hold up to three kegs. Dan often bets wings and beers with his crew. If he wins, the crew owes him a case of Budweisers.
Currently, the Premiere Radio Networks nationally syndicates The Dan Patrick Show to more than 200 markets. The show is a well listened to national radio show that can be heard or seen by all that miss seeing Dan on SportsCenter each night.
It seems like Dan Patrick was happy at ESPN and did not leave bitter or did not get thrown out.
But rather, he had an idea, and a vision and ran with it like Mark Ingram.
He created and built – out of his own attic – a different sports talk radio show, one that would allow him more flexibility, more freedom and also give opportunities to the people that stuck by his side.
Sideline Sam cheers his achievement.