Enterprise Journalism Release – May 19, 2011

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Casey Martin: 10 Years Later
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN; re-air 10 a.m. ESPN2)
The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap (Friday, 10 p.m., ESPN Radio)
ESPN.com (Jeff Bradley piece)

A decade ago, Casey Martin was at the center of a debate that transcended sports. An All-America and teammate of Tiger Woods at Stanford, Martin turned pro, despite an incurable and debilitating disease weakening his right leg. He asked the PGA Tour for permission to use a cart in competition under the Americans with Disabilities Act. When the Tour refused, citing the integrity of competition, Martin sued. A four-year legal battle culminated in a Supreme Court ruling, May 29, 2001, granting Martin the right to use a cart on the PGA Tour. Shelley Smith catches up with Martin in his hometown of Eugene, Ore., where he is now head golf coach at Oregon. This report will also feature rarely seen video from the January 1998 depositions of Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, each supporting the PGA Tour.

“I don’t have ill will towards the Tour or Tim Finchem at all, I really don’t. I look back and say ‘thanks’ in a lot of ways, because certainly when you have that tension and that drama, it makes for a great story and people want to be around it and it’s kind of made me in a lot of sense, who I am today.” -- Casey Martin, on the four-year legal struggle with Commissioner Tim Finchem and the PGA Tour

“Casey has exceeded my expectations over the past 10 years. I would’ve thought that he would have either had a fracture or had enough discomfort that he would request an amputation, so I anticipate that will be the case in the future, but I would love to be wrong.” – Dr. Donald Jones, Martin’s orthopedist since the 1970s

“My career as a golfer wasn’t a great one, I’m not going to lie. I was frustrated most of the time. It’s hard to compete at the PGA Tour level, period, no matter who you are, let alone if you have a physical disability that you’re dealing with and then all the attention that comes with it.” -- Martin, on making the cut only once in a PGA Tour event after the Supreme Court’s 2001 ruling

“We were only required to provide a cart in cases where it was absolutely necessary for being able to play the game at all. It’s kind of like they (the seven Supreme Court justices who decided for Martin) wanted to give him a cart, but they wanted to protect the basis of why we were making the argument.” – Finchem, on his view that the Supreme Court’s decision for Martin was a “win-win”

Busted: Sports Scandals and Why Fans Can’t Get Enough
ESPN The Magazine (on newsstands Friday)
College Football Live: (Monday, 3:30 p.m. ESPN)
Show will be dedicated to the cover story, featuring guests ESPN The Magazine’s Ryan McGee, Urban Meyer, Mike Bellotti, Robert Smith, and Brock Huard.

The cover story examines scandals in college football and basketball this past year, and explores how Twitter, Facebook and other online sources complicate what coaches and schools face once a scandal breaks.

In addition to Bruce Pearl, Jim Tressel, and Cam Newton, the story notes the surge of various NCAA violations, and questions whether schools are cheating more or there is simply more scrutiny today. More importantly, it raises the question: Is it fixable?

NOTE -- ESPN The Magazine this week received two awards from The New York Press Club for reports on concussions: a Peter Keating piece on helmet testing (Best Sports News, Internet); a four-issue “Concussion Report” series (Best Sports News, Magazine)

Dario Franchitti: A Speedy Scot Seeks Strength from Homeland
SportsCenter (Sunday, 11 p.m., ESPN)

Dario Franchitti is the biggest star in his sport, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and three-time IndyCar champion. He is also married to actress and activist Ashley Judd. Yet Franchitti himself is a private man, for whom his native Scotland is the source of his inner strength and much of his success. For the first time, Franchitti reveals the places in his homeland where his greatness was forged, the moments in his past that both shattered his spirit and spurred him onward, and the people whose love and support he relies on to this day. Chris Connelly offers an intimate portrait of a proud native son looking later this month for his third win at Indianapolis.

NBA’s Thunder Rallying Point for Oklahoma City
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN; re-air 10 a.m. ESPN2)
The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap (Friday, 10 p.m., ESPN Radio)

The Oklahoma City Thunder has become one of the most promising teams in the NBA, and the team’s run in the playoffs has united a city still healing from the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing. Tom Friend reports on this special bond between team and city.

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