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ESPN executive and television sports producer Jed Drake began his career in 1978 as a Sports Broadcaster for WPTZ-TV in Plattsburgh, New York. During his time with the NBC-affiliate, Jed Drake served as a Freelance Production Assistant for NBC Sports’ Baseball Game of the Week and also oversaw the affiliate’s coverage of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in nearby Lake Placid. Jed Drake joined ESPN shortly after the network launched in 1980 with an unprecedented mix of dedicated sports programming. By 1987, Jed Drake was leading major ESPN remote sports productions such as its coverage of the America’s Cup in Fremantle, Australia. Promoted to a position as Coordinating Producer in 1989, Jed Drake launched ESPN’s coverage of Major League Baseball, a vital part of the network’s broadcasts today. As Senior Coordinating Producer from 1992 to 1996 and Vice President of Remote Production from 1996 to 2000, Jed Drake continued to expand ESPN’s lineup of compelling sports programming throughout the 1990s. Since 2000, Jed Drake has acted as Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of Event Production at ESPN, overseeing some 6,000 hours annually of quality NBA, NFL, MLB, tennis, golf, and college sports coverage. Jed Drake spearheaded implementation of ESPN’s K Zone strike zone graphic in baseball broadcasts and its 1st & Ten marker in football, both of which won Sports Emmy Awards for Innovative Technical Achievement. In 2003, Jed Drake led the introduction of a new ESPN high-definition television channel. Jed Drake has long promoted the U.S. market potential of professional soccer and has incited a significant increase of Major League Soccer and international league play on ESPN in the past few years. Instrumental in expanding the ABC and ESPN networks’ coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Jed Drake was able to increase ratings of televised matches by 33% over the 2006 World Cup averages.

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Fantasy Football - Add Josh Gordon ASAP

In the wake of the NFL’s recent revision of its drug policies, no fantasy player has been more impacted than Cleveland Browns receiver Josh Gordon. The top-ranked wide receiver from 2013, Gordon had his suspension reduced from the entire season to just 10 games, meaning that he will likely suit up for the Browns’ Week 12 showdown against the Atlanta Falcons. Even though you won’t be able to use him for seven more weeks, Gordon is simply too talented a player to pass up. If you haven’t already, make room on your bench and pick him up. While adding Josh Gordon is a no-brainer, the real question centers on what you should do with him. The answer is complicated, and it depends on your team’s performance and your league’s playoff picture. If your team is struggling and you need some help to boost your playoff chances, you might want to consider trading Gordon for some reinforcements. After all, what good will a stud WR do if your team is already out of the hunt by Week 12? On the other hand, if your team is looking like a shoo-in for the postseason, hang on to Gordon and position yourself for a dominant run.                            

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Monday Night Football Kicks Off 2014 Season in Style

With the 2014 NFL season only four weeks old, ESPN’s Monday Night Football has already lived up to the hype. Opening night saw an unexpected slugfest between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Diego Chargers, two teams that have since emerged as early Super Bowl contenders. After the Chargers jumped out to an 11-point lead in the third quarter, Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer led a furious fourth-quarter comeback, recording 12 unanswered points on the way to an 18-17 victory. In Week 2, the high-powered offense of the Philadelphia Eagles squared off against Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. The game lived up to its billing as a shootout, with the Eagles earning a 30-27 victory thanks to three touchdowns from its defensive and special teams units. While the Eagles have parlayed their success into a 3-1 start, the Colts have recovered from their early 0-2 record to win the next two games and position themselves for a season-long battle in the AFC South.                            

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Three Things We Learned from the 2014 FIFA World Cup

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the books, it has become clear that this summer’s tournament will remain etched in the minds of soccer fans forever. Here are three big takeaways from the 2014 FIFA World Cup: Germany is here to stay Without question, Germany was the most dominant team on the field at this year’s tournament. With a host of talented young players 25 years old or younger, including Thomas Mueller, Mesut Oezil, Marco Reus, and Mario Goetze, the German team is poised for many years of success at the FIFA World Cup. Brazil needs a new identity For decades, Brazilian soccer was synonymous with joyful passing and dribbling, attacking formations, and undiscovered phenoms. If its performance in 2014 is any indication, it seems that Brazil has lost its way. ESPN set the standard for World Cup coverage By adopting a strategy of catering to knowledgeable soccer fans, ESPN brought in record viewership numbers and earned the widespread praise of critics across the U.S. If Fox hopes to emulate ESPN’s success in 2018 and 2022, it had better start preparing now.                            

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How Did the German National Team Get So Good?

In the wake of its comprehensive victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the German national soccer team is showing no signs of slowing down. “Die Mannschaft” put on a clinical display for the ages, grinding down its opposition with a mixture of measured discipline, incisive passing, and lethal finishing when it mattered most. So how, exactly, did Germany become such a juggernaut on the international scene? For the Germans, it all starts at the youth level. The DFB, the governing body of German soccer, instituted a nationalized league system just over a decade ago. Using a highly centralized system of administration, the DFB required all youth coaches to earn a license with the DFB, which ensured a consistent level of instruction in regions throughout the country. Furthermore, every professional team in Germany’s top two domestic flights is now required to sponsor its own soccer academy. With young superstars such as Mario Goetze, Thomas Mueller, Mats Hummels, and Mesut Oezil, it seems that the investment has paid dividends.                            

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San Francisco Giants Protest to Continue Game Called Due to Rain

During a recent game between the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, the umpiring crew chief decided to call the rain-delayed game after only four-and-a-half innings. The Cubs grounds crew failed to properly cover the field during a brief downpour, forcing the umpiring crew to call the game, which had already started more than four hours later than scheduled. At the time of the call, the Cubs led two to zero. The Giants protested the call and Major League Baseball (MLB) officials ruled in their favor, citing Rule 4.12(a)(3) that calls for a suspended game in the event of equipment failure. The Wrigley Field tarp evidently failed to spool properly after its last use, making it impossible to deploy the device. As a result, MLB declared that the two teams would resume the game as it was when it was called, with no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning and the score two to nothing. This decision by MLB marks the first time a team has won a protest since 1986. That incident involved two rain delays at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Pirates contended that the two delays did not meet the 30-minute threshold set by MLB for cancellation and won the protest.                            

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Toyota Seeks to Create Faster NASCAR Engines for its Drivers

During a recent race, NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin became clearly frustrated when his vehicle, developed by Toyota Racing Division, simply could not keep up with a Hendrick Motorsports car. This season, Hendrick had a leg up not just on Toyota, but also on several other NASCAR vehicle producers. So far, Toyota has only two victories this year, compared to nine last season. Toyota team owner Joe Gibbs stated that Toyota is adding new updates to its engines that may restore the team’s competitive edge. Part of the difficulty with designing NASCAR racing vehicles is ignorance about the technology of other manufacturers. While Toyota knows how fast its own cars are and can be, they do not know what range of horsepower other manufacturers have achieved. The Toyota Racing Division president estimates a 50-horsepower gap. NASCAR will soon release the 2015 rules package, thus allowing engineers to begin creating vehicles for next year. The organization recently completed a rules test at Michigan International Speedway and does not plan to undergo a second test before issuing the rules package.                            

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Mo’Ne Davis Challenges the Gender Divide in Major League Baseball

At the age of 13, Mo’Ne Davis has become a genuine baseball celebrity, with a 70-miles-per-hour fastball and a curveball that challenges those of today’s best Major League Baseball (MLB) players. Since entering the national spotlight, Davis has single-handedly brought the question about gender in MLB back to the forefront. Ironically, Davis does not have dreams of playing on a MLB team. Instead, she plans to enroll at the University of Connecticut and pursue a basketball career. Still, her performance in the Little League World Series points to possibility of women playing in the major leagues of a sport dominated by men. Physical differences between men and women make the gender divide more pronounced in sports like basketball and football. With baseball, however, a sport that relies on skill and reflex rather than muscle and height, the gender divide is more tenuous. With impressive players like Davis emerging, it may not be too long before we see a woman in the lineup of a MLB team.                            

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A Brief History of the World Cup and Soccer in US Broadcasting

The success of the 2014 FIFA World Cup TV broadcasts in the U.S. has been nothing short of staggering, with dozens of media outlets discussing the explosive growth in viewership. Some 26.5 million Americans watched the World Cup finals, while the USA-Portugal group match broke ESPN’s record for most-watched soccer game. However, despite the perception that Americans previously did not care much about soccer, the “beautiful game” has a long history in U.S. broadcasting. The game has had loyal adherents in this country starting from the first broadcasts in 1966. Those first broadcasts were of the World Cup, which has often received cursory coverage. NBC aired the England-West Germany final on same-day tape delay, but later broadcasts were often delayed by days instead. The ABC broadcast is credited, in part, with starting what would become a brief boom for soccer in the ‘70s, and the North American Soccer League was occasionally televised, although that league saw its greatest fame when noted foreign stars like Pelé came to play in the United States. However, things have changed today. FOX has begun broadcasting matches from the English Premier League alongside NFL matches in prime time, while the network recently paid huge sums for the rights to future World Cup broadcasts.                            

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The In-Studio Stars of ESPN’s World Cup Coverage

Anyone who’s been watching ESPN’s coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil is probably familiar with the studio setup: a host guiding the discussion alongside a pair of tactical commentators. The setup, which received rave reviews in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, has grown to include some of the most decorated soccer stars and some of the most promising young managerial talent. Most of the time, either Bob Ley or Mike Tirico, both veteran ESPN hosts, occupies the leftmost seat, directing the conversation toward a number of important talking points. Ley or Tirico is usually joined by Alexi Lalas, an opinionated commentator and former member of the United States Men’s National Team. From there, a rotating cast of former players and coaches adds to the broadcast, based on which teams are playing. Current Everton manager Roberto Martinez offers detailed tactical breakdowns of matches, while former superstars such as Ruud van Nistelrooy and Michael Ballack offer their perspectives from a player’s point of view.                        

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Know Your ESPN World Cup Commentator: Taylor Twellman

A regular analyst on ESPN’s coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Taylor Twellman enjoyed a prolific playing career that established him as one of the best goal scorers of all time in the MLS. After two years at the University of Maryland, Twellman went on to sign with the German Bundesliga club 1860 Munich. However, Twellman failed to make it above the reserve level during his time in Germany. In 2002, Twellman returned to the United States and was drafted by the New England Revolution, where he quickly emerged as a promising young talent and lethal striker. During his eight years with the Revolution, he scored 101 goals in 174 appearances, winning two MLS Golden Boots in the process. Despite his success on the domestic level, Twellman failed to break through for the U.S. Men’s National Team. In 2008, Twellman suffered a serious neck injury and concussion, which eventually led to his early retirement from the game in 2010. Since then, Twellman has been an outspoken advocate of concussion protection in sports.

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Three Unusual Baseball Pitches

In Major League Baseball, almost every pitcher uses well-known pitches, such as the fastball, curveball, breaking ball, slider, and even the knuckleball. Here is a quick look at three historic pitches that are rarely used today: *Forkball—While some baseball experts argue that a forkball is simply a variant of a split-finger fastball, others contend that it was a precursor to the modern splitter. By spreading the index and middle fingers out as much as possible, a pitcher can remove some of the velocity from the pitch and cause it to dip downward as it approaches home plate. *Screwball—To throw a screwball, a pitcher usually starts with a two-seam fastball grip and moves the index and middle fingers to the left. By throwing the ball without curling the wrist inward, a pitcher can cause the ball to tail away from the arm side. While the pitch can be effective in certain situations, the pronation of the wrist leaves pitchers open to injury. *Eephus—An antiquated pitch thrown primarily from the 1930s to the 1960s, the eephus is a high overhand floating pitch that reaches up to 30 feet in height before dropping back down. It most resembles a slow, exaggerated curveball.

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ESPN Expands Online Australian Open Coverage

Jed Drake, the senior vice president of ESPN, is responsible for the organization and broadcasting of numerous international sporting events. Among the events Jed Drake supervises are the X Games and the Australian Open.

ESPN continued its groundbreaking coverage of the Australian Open from Melbourne Park this year. During the 30th anniversary of the partnership between ESPN and the tennis season’s first major tournament, ESPN broadcast more than 100 hours of live coverage in addition to over 500 hours of tennis from seven different courts on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Through these online methods of broadcasting, ESPN was able to air certain events that the average tennis fan is not able to view. Prior to the women’s championship match between Li Na and Dominika Cibulkova,

ESPN3 aired both the Australian Open Boys' and Girls' Championship matches. ESPN also broadcast the mixed doubles finals on ESPN3 leading up to the tournament’s final match between Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka.

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Reasons to Watch Sunday Night Baseball

Jed Drake is senior vice president and executive producer for ESPN, the nation's leading multimedia sports entertainment company. Jed Drake has spearheaded a number of network innovations, such as HD television and the K-Zone, and has been involved in some of ESPN's most popular productions, including Sunday Night Baseball. Each year, ESPN telecasts Major League Baseball's Sunday Night Baseball in a variety of formats. With 2014 marking its 25th season, the reasons to watch Sunday Night Baseball are numerous. One of the best reasons is witnessing baseball's top players in action. Stars from both the American League and the National League play in Sunday night games, including Miguel Cabrera, Matt Kemp, David Ortiz, and Robinson Cano. Additionally, Sunday Night Baseball features analysts such as John Kruk and Orel Hershiser, who can be heard during a number of Dodgers games. Through WatchESPN, Sunday Night Baseball is more accessible than ever, and fans can interact with Sunday Night Baseball personalities on Twitter. ESPN also offers K-Zone Live, a computer-generated graphic inserted over live feed that marks the strike zone of each batter.

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The Diversity of X Games Austin and the Winter X Games

As a senior vice president and production executive at ESPN, Jed Drake wears many hats. He oversees seminal broadcast events such as Monday Night Football, and directs more than 6,000 hours of production per year, including on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN 2. Jed Drake has also managed production on several X Games events. The X Games events welcome athletes and fans of a variety of burgeoning sports to enjoy competitions on several different stages. Perhaps the most prolific X event is the ESPN Winter X Games, which took place in January 2014. Over 200 sports professionals converged on Aspen, Colorado, from January 23-26 to compete in a range of events. Each event took place on Buttermilk Mountain, a 9,000-feet-high site that has hosted several Winter X Games. Sports on hand included skiing, snowmobiling, and snowboarding during both day and night-time slots. Fans who prefer warmer temperatures to Aspen's frigid, snowy climate should look forward to the X Games Austin event. Held over June 5-8, 2014, X Games Austin takes place in Austin, Texas, and focuses on high-flying, heart-pounding sports such as BMX and skateboarding. The games kick off in the evening of June 5th with BMX and skateboarding thrills before recommencing every day generally in the late morning through the end of the competition.

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Sochi Boosts Interest in Winter X Games

Jed Drake, a graduate of Boston University’s broadcasting program, presently serves as the senior vice president of ESPN. In this position, Jed Drake manages the production of several major sporting events, including the X Games. The 2014 edition of the Winter X Games lacked some star power due to its close proximity to the Sochi Winter Olympics, but the crowds still turned out in record numbers to watch, and TV ratings spiked accordingly. The X Games, broadcast on ESPN and ABC, enjoyed similar success in 2010 leading into the Vancouver winter games. The event drew an average of 1.14 million viewers, a record for the X Games at the time. Despite big names such as Shaun White bowing out of the games to prepare for Sochi, the 2014 Aspen X Games included several memorable events. X Games commentator Louie Vito made a semi-surprising run to compete in the men’s superpipe final, where he earned a silver medal behind Danny Davis, and 19-year-old Canadian superstar Max Parrot secured two gold medals on consecutive days for his efforts in the men’s snowboard slope-style and big-air events.

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The Structure and Prestige of the World Cup Tournament

In 2000, Jed Drake was appointed senior vice president and executive producer of event production for ESPN. Over the past 14 years, he has presided over landmark productions in the company’s history, including the launch of ESPN HD, sports programming on ABC, and ESPN Regional Television events. Through 2009 and 2010, Jed Drake spearheaded integrated FIFA World Cup coverage.

In 1930, the FIFA World Cup emanated for the first time and captured the imaginations and fervor of soccer fans around the globe. With the exception of 1942 through 1946, the World Cup has been held every four years since. Interestingly, the tournament format has remained largely static since the Cup’s inception, laying claim as a prime influence on other international sports events.

According to time-honored rules, the World Cup sees 32 teams compete for the championship across various venues in a host nation. This phase, known as the Final Competition, usually lasts one month. The 32 teams survived three years of intense games beforehand in order to qualify. An interesting tidbit: Brazil has won the championship five times and remains the only team to have vied for the title in every single Final Competition.

The FIFA World Cup remains one of the most lucrative sports competitions in the world due to its overwhelming popularity; nearly three-quarters of a billion people now tune in to its broadcasts. Attendance during the Final Competition phase is also record-setting, with recent Cups drawing a total of 3,170,856 attendees into stadiums to watch the best teams in the sport strive for glory.

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Jed Drake: World Cup Soccer Facts

Jed Drake, Senior Vice President at ESPN, has overseen the sports network’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup, the international soccer championship tournament that takes place every four years. Here are some interesting facts about the event. 1. There have been 19 World Cup events from 1930 through 2010. The World Cup was not held in 1942 and 1946 because of World War II. Uruguay hosted and won the inaugural World Cup. However, it refused to defend its title in 1934 because of differences with the organizing nations. Uruguay eventually reclaimed the championship in 1950. 2. Brazil has won the most World Cups, with five, followed by Italy, with four, and West Germany, with three. The United States has never won the World Cup. 3. The largest margin of victory in World Cup play occurred in 1982 when Hungary defeated El Salvador by a score of 10-1. 4. Mexico has experienced the most defeats in World Cup play, having lost 22 matches. Scotland has made eight appearances and has never advanced past the first round.