After 34 years and more than 5,500 episodes anchoring sports television's longest-running program, SportsCenter, Linda Cohn decided it was time for something different. Earlier this year, Cohn was celebrated in a daylong presentation during her return to Bristol, Connecticut. Memories, tributes and a highlight package or two were included, all with a focus on the impact and legacy Cohn left on so many over her three decades of service to the network.
In the days that followed, Cohn got right back to work. The project wasn't another network or a return to her earlier days in radio. Instead, the National Sports Media Hall of Famer launched a YouTube channel dedicated to providing content that embraced the newfound freedom she gained by leaving the halls of the worldwide leader.
"The stuff that I have strong opinions on is the stuff I haven't been allowed to say," said Cohn. "The stuff that's usually trending and hot topics are the things I tend to want to discuss the most. That's the stuff that I had the gag order on every year I was with ESPN and weren't allowed to talk about."
Twice per week, Cohn now hosts The Linda Cohn Show from her palatial estate in Los Angeles. The topics can range from sports to pop culture. The opinions are her own, written and presented from the heart. Cohn has never lost her passion for sports, but she also never had a platform to truly choose and discuss her personal feelings on subject matter at length.
That's why it made all the sense in the world for Cohn to immediately enter the digital content ******* e following her ESPN departure.

#cohn

Caitlin Clark has been dominating over the second half of the season. In her most recent outing, a 95-91 overtime win over Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream, Clark scored 26 points and added 9 ****** ists. The Fever star is the only player in the league in the top three in both points and ****** ists per game, and former ESPN sportscaster Linda Cohn recently gave her unapologetic opinions on Caitlin Clark's MVP status.
Clark, despite being a clear candidate for the award, has been largely left out of the discussion, and Cohn makes it very apparent that the third-year star would have her vote.
"Take Caitlin Clark off the Indiana Fever, and what are they?" Cohn asked on her self-titled YouTube show.
"I'm not voting for Caitlin Clark because she's the biggest star in women's basketball, no. I'm not voting for her because she sells tickets," Cohn continued. "I'm not voting for her because millions of people tune in to watch her; she's appointment viewing. No, that's not why I would vote for her; I'm voting for her for what she does on the basketball court."
On the other hand, four-time MVP recipient and current frontrunner for the award this year is A'ja Wilson, as she leads the league in scoring and chases a career high in points per game.

#voting #league

It was one of those July days in Middle Tennessee. The punishing kind, where shade is at a premium, no one's clothing stays dry and forearms are seared by leaning against metal fences.
Between those fences, 24 high school football teams had braved the blistering sun for hours, contesting a 7-on-7 tournament. It had, mercifully, ended by the afternoon, and 23 teams had long since vanished from Lebanon High School's campus into the air-conditioned comfort of a ride home.
But not Pearl-Cohn.
On an otherwise empty field, the Firebirds were crowded under a tent. Heart-to-heart sermons from ***** istant coaches to players, preaching toughness and dedication, rolled without an end in sight. "They got to hear it right now," Pearl-Cohn coach Tony Brunetti said, watching approvingly from an adjoining tent.
Crazy thing was they hadn't performed poorly in the tournament. Pearl-Cohn reached the championship game before losing to powerhouse Oakland High. Nothing for the Firebirds to be ashamed of in that showing, but to Brunetti, it was the way they lost.

#firebirds

The Tennessean is embarking on a season-long journey with Pearl-Cohn High School to document its 2026 TSSAA football season.
The plan is to give readers a window into the life of a public school program that for decades has been consistently among the best in Metro Nashville, with feature stories, documentary-style video, game highlights and plenty of photo galleries.
As we count down to the Firebirds' season opener against Montgomery Bell Academy on Aug. 21, here are some quick facts about Pearl-Cohn athletics.
Nickname: Firebirds
TSSAA enrollment (as of 2024): 524 students

#pearl #firebirds #school

Last Saturday, Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington elbowed Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham in the face while attempting a chase-down block. Carrington was ******* sed a Flagrant 2 and ejected from the game.
After the Fever beat the Sky, Fever head coach Stephanie White commented on the controversial play.
"I mean, look, it was a hard foul," White said at her postgame press conference. "I don't think that DiJonai intentionally came out to get her across the neck like she did, but it did happen, and I thought it was the right call. But one of the things about [Carrington] is that she's gonna play her ******* off, man. She's gonna compete. ******* ody's gonna go walking in for a layup. I don't oppose the hard foul, but I also don't think she intentionally went for the neck."
Before returning home to Indiana to become the Fever's head coach in November 2024, White was head coach of the Connecticut Sun for the 2023 and '24 WNBA seasons, winning the 2023 WNBA Coach of the Year award. She coached Carrington on the Sun for those two years. So, if anyone not named DiJonai Carrington has the authority to speak on her playing style, it's White.
But, as with all matters of the WNBA, people who otherwise don't care about women's basketball latched onto this and blew it out of proportion. Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith publicly called for White's job. Beckwith wasn't alone in criticizing White, as the likes of Linda Cohn and Jason Whitlock joined the chorus.

#carrington #indiana

Linda Cohn leaving ESPN feels like a generation ago after seeing the number of prominent on-air personalities who were laid off this week.
Cohn mutually agreed to part ways with ESPN last month after a tenure that lasted more than three decades. And as the longest-tenured SportsCenter anchor in ESPN history, Cohn received a proper sendoff that was both deserved and earned. Three weeks later, however, ESPN reminded everyone how coldblooded the industry is when they executed their latest round of layoffs. And while everyone understands layoffs are part of the business, ESPN has been condemned for the manner in which they handled those cuts.
"The ESPN layoffs were awful. You hate to see anybody lose their job," Cohn said on her recently launched YouTube show. "It's all bad. When you're laid off, when you're fired, when your salary is cut, when you have to think, 'what do I do now?' Well, the ESPN layoffs, that was awful. What made it even worse, if that could be possible, was the way ESPN PR handled it, or mishandled it, because they treated everyone on this latest firing list with zero respect. Zero. Beginning with Ryan Clark."
"That whole PR nightmare could have been avoided if Ryan Clark was alerted, how about the night before? And how about before he took the set for NFL Live?" Cohn continued. "If you knew there were media outlets going to break the news and you were concerned about Ryan finding out by looking at his phone during the show, then why didn't you just tell him before the show? That is **** bling and fumbling. That buffoonery electrified this story in a negative way even more."
Clark was arguably the most prominent personality laid off by ESPN this week, but it was the fact that he learned his fate during a commercial break on NFL Live that garnered the most headlines. ESPN learned Outkick was set to report the news on Clark's looming layoff while he was on NFL Live Monday afternoon. Not wanting to risk Clark's phone blowing up with news of the layoff while he was on-camera, ESPN decided to let him go during a commercial break.

#espn #live #break

Linda Cohn spent 34 years watching the face of ESPN evolve. She has a more informed perspective on the question than most.
Appearing on Yahoo Sports Daily following her retirement from the Worldwide Leader, Cohn was asked whether Pat McAfee had supplanted Stephen A. Smith as the face of the network.
“It’s apples and oranges,” she said. “They’re totally different people, totally different shows, totally different lanes they’re in.”
The question, in her view, presupposes a hierarchy that doesn’t exist. According to Cohn, both men occupy the same rarified ******* e at ESPN simultaneously, just through entirely different avenues.
Her historical reference point for McAfee wasn’t Smith. It was Dan Patrick. Patrick built The Dan Patrick Show into a fully independent production with a loyal core crew around him, syndicated nationally and eventually acquired by NBC, without surrendering creative ownership to anyone. McAfee replicated that blueprint on a grander scale, cultivating a massive audience outside ESPN before licensing the show to the network under an arrangement that left him with complete creative control.

What Murfreesboro area TSSAA football game are you most excited to watch in 2026?
You can vote below.
Nominees include Oakland at CPA, Riverdale at Blackman, Oakland at Pearl-Cohn, Blackman at Oakland, Rockvale at Riverdale, MTCS at PCA, Oakland at Riverdale and Smyrna at Stewarts Creek.
The poll will close at noon on July 10.

The Tennessee Sports Writers ******* ociation boys and girls all-state teams have been released for the 2026 TSSAA track and field season.
Pole Vault: Tyler Bailey, Happy Valley, Sr.; Jullian Pate, Happy Valley, Sr.; Elijah Spence, Gatlinburg-Pittman, Sr.
Long Jump: Adrian Crawford, Union City, Sr.; Dayon Cooper, South Pittsburg, Jr.; Jackson Savarese, Gatlinburg-Pittman, Jr.
Triple Jump: Miles Helton, Memphis Middle College, Jr.; Kohl Ward, Tyner Academy, Jr.; Stephen Saulter, Pearl-Cohn, Jr.
High Jump: Adrian Crawford, Union City, Sr.; Miles Helton, Memphis Middle College, Jr.; Kamron Mitchell, Bluff City, Sr.

The Tennessee Sports Writers ******* ociation boys and girls all-state teams have been released for the 2026 TSSAA track and field season.
Pole Vault: Tyler Bailey, Happy Valley, Sr.; Jullian Pate, Happy Valley, Sr.; Elijah Spence, Gatlinburg-Pittman, Sr.
Long Jump: Adrian Crawford, Union City, Sr.; Dayon Cooper, South Pittsburg, Jr.; Jackson Savarese, Gatlinburg-Pittman, Jr.
Triple Jump: Miles Helton, Memphis Middle College, Jr.; Kohl Ward, Tyner Academy, Jr.; Stephen Saulter, Pearl-Cohn, Jr.
High Jump: Adrian Crawford, Union City, Sr.; Miles Helton, Memphis Middle College, Jr.; Kamron Mitchell, Bluff City, Sr.

Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS) is among the Best Semiconductor Stocks.
On June 23, Piper Sandler upgraded Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS) to "Overweight" from Neutral. The ****** yst raised the price target to $550 from $450 on the shares.
Analyst Clarke Jeffries said the firm expects a faster-than-anticipated recovery in Synopsys' intellectual property business. The ****** yst noted improving expectations for Intel's 18A-P manufacturing node as a practical alternative to constrained Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing capacity. Jeffries said that the shift could speed up the recovery of intellectual property demand at Intel, which is Synopsys' largest customer.
Earlier, on May 27, Reuters reported that Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS) reached a settlement with Elliott Investment Management, appointing managing partner Jesse Cohn to its board and expanding the board to 11 members.
The chip design software maker said Cohn will also join the corporate governance and nominating committee. Cohn said the firm is in the right direction to benefit from rising AI investment and growing engineering complexity.

Linda Cohn anchored her final SportsCenter on Friday night.
Sitting alongside Madelyn Burke, Cohn was asked what the secret was to lasting 34 years at the top of her field, and her answer was the same way she had apparently been approaching every broadcast for three and a half decades.
"Even though I was on SportsCenter for 34 years, I make believe somebody is watching me for the very first time, and I have to prove to them that I belong and that I earned a seat in this chair," Cohn said.
Burke compared the mindset to Michael Jordan's line from The Last Dance — that there's always someone in the gym who's never seen you play — and Cohn didn't push back on the comparison. Staying a genuine fan of the sport, she added, was the other half of the formula. A lot of people in the business become jaded over time, she said. She never did.
The conversation turned to legacy, and specifically to a line from her farewell that had resonated widely, that what she was most proud of was that her career lasted long enough to watch little girls who grew up seeing her on SportsCenter enter the business and succeed in it. Burke, who is one of those women, asked why that thread meant so much. Cohn said she came to realize during her time in the chair that young people were watching and drawing conclusions about what was possible. The men who grew up watching her often told her the same thing — that she was the first person from whom they had taken sports coverage from a woman.

After 34 years at ESPN, Linda Cohn is calling it quits.
The longtime "SportsCenter" anchor announced on Monday that she is retiring at the end of June. Cohn is the longest-tenured "SportsCenter" anchor and a pioneer as one of the first women to take on full-time hosting duties at the network.
Few names are as synonymous with "SportsCenter" as Cohn's. Cohn hosted her first episode of SportsCenter in 1992 and has anchored more than 5,500 since. Per ESPN, that's more than anyone else in the history of the show.
Her final shows will air on Friday at 6 p.m., 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET, and she'll officially retire from the network on June 30.
In a statement, Cohn said that she'll look most fondly back on her role as a trailblazer for girls and young women to embark on careers in sports broadcasting