Florida State’s Rolle: Great Expectations
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN)
Florida State safety Myron Rolle earned AP third team All-American honors in 2008. That same year he graduated (in just two and one-half years) with a 3.75 grade point average. He was also one of 32 selected annually for a Rhodes Scholarship, joining a list of Americans with Bill Bradley, James Fulbright, and former President Bill Clinton. Rolle announced in January 2009 that he would study at Oxford for the 2009-10 academic year in order to earn an M.A. in medical anthropology. While his long-term future could be medicine or politics, he continues to train for the NFL combine, determined to become a first-round pick in April’s NFL draft. ESPN.com’s Wright Thompson reports.
A Fighter and his Father
ESPN2 Friday Night Fights (9 p.m.)
Shawn Porter, a former sparring partner for Manny Pacquaio and an alternate at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will fight for a junior middleweight title February 19 in his hometown of Cleveland. When he looks over to his corner, he says he will gain strength from Ken Porter, who is his trainer, his manager, his friend and his father. Thirty-five years ago, Ken Porter was 4 years old when he witnessed the harrowing death of his younger brother in a hit-and-run accident. As Ken grew older, he says he began training boxers so he could find “a new brother.’’ And all these years later, it is his son, Shawn, who has filled the void. ESPN.com’s Tom Friend reports.
Miracle on Ice
Outside the Lines (9 a.m. Sunday)
SportsCenter (10 a.m., 11p.m., Sunday)
What’s left to say about the Miracle on Ice? Plenty, thanks to fresh and surprising perspectives from people at the legendary 1980 U.S.-USSR Olympic hockey game and little-known stories and anecdotes from the U.S. players themselves. Which TV star got a ticket, only to find himself sitting in the Russian section? Which key play does the game’s referee now call “a little bit stupid?” Why, in today’s climate, might U.S. goalie Jim Craig not have been allowed to finish the game? Afterwards, which U.S. player flew home in tears? Thirty years after Team USA shocked the world, Chris Connelly tells the story of America’s most thrilling Olympic moment.
