Ron Franklin Sues ESPN For Wrongful Termination

((HT: TheYoungTurks))

Former ESPN announcer Ron Franklin has sued the network over his firing in the Jeannine Edwards incident in Atlanta during Chick-Fil-A bowl week.

The wrongful termination lawsuit filed in Texas state district court claims ESPN had no grounds for dismissing him. The suit says Franklin exchanged "contentious words" with a colleague who repeatedly interrupted a private conversation before the pair worked at the Chick-fil-A Bowl without incident.

Sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards has said Franklin called her "sweet baby" and chased that with an "Alpha-Hotel" proper noun when she reportedly didn't like the first predicate noun Franklin used. Franklin apologized, was pulled off the Fiesta Bowl and then fired.

An ESPN spokesman ((probably Josh Krulewicz)) said the network "is confident that the action we took was appropriate."

Franklin had worked for ESPN since 1987.

Here's the Young Turks discussion on the firing in the first place...


The HQ remembers that Franklin apologized to the network, but not to Edwards directly... part of the reason he got fired...

And the HQ doesn't see how this will work in Franklin's behalf...
At all...

So Much For That Idea...

Edwards vs. Gillispie version 3.0 fizzled completely...
But Maurice Patton of The Tennessean caught up with Jeannine and asked her comments on what happened when she interviewed Kevin Stallings instead...

"After a couple of frosty halftime interviews with Kentucky Coach Billy Gillispie, ESPN sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards declined a third opportunity Tuesday night.

"I cut my losses," said Edwards, who spoke briefly with Stallings at halftime.

Gillispie bristled at an Edwards question at halftime of the Jan. 27 game at Ole Miss and gave her a similar reception at the break of last week's Florida matchup."

So, to conclude...

A Little Ditty...

'Bout Billy And Jeannine...

Ryan Parker, once again, gets to the bottom of the irresistable story...



A HT of five-star proportions to you, Ryan...
Huzzahs and hurrahs all around...

There's No "I" In "Team," But There Is One In "Rejection..."

((via SbB))

Now we know why... maybe...

Here's the reason, perhaps, of the tete-a-tete between UK Head Coach Billy Gillispie and the four-letter's Jeannine Edwards...

She shot him down...but she did not shoot the dep-you-tee...

From Brooks:
"Edwards’ queries in both instances didn’t seem all that ill-informed to me at the time, so it was a little curious to see Gillispie snap back at her in that fashion, especially on national television.

That is, until I heard more about Gillispie’s private dealings with Edwards.

A source recently told me that Gillispie made a past, amorous advance at Edwards which was subsequently denied by the ESPN reporter. I have no more details than that. But again, I have confirmed that Gillispie did make clear to Edwards that he was interested in spending some quality time with her away from the court. And she shut him down."

Here's Round One:
Courtesy: ESPN/SEC


And The Rematch:
Courtesy: ESPN/SEC


Those of us at OSG HQ reserve our own personal judgements on Coach G and Jeannine E. if there is any kind of unknown animus between the two.

But we'll give you three guesses as to the sideline reporter is scheduled to be for the game. Looking at the UK Gamenotes it's Brad Nessler, Jimmy Dykes, and someone named Jeannine...

Best two-out-of-three...?