Tom Rinaldi Is Telling the Emotional Story of ESPN Right Now
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When Willie Mays would drive a double or a triple in the gap, Giants announcers whether from the shores of the Harlem River or a California bay would say that the only man who could have caught the ball, hit it.
Tom Rinaldi, an unassuming dynamo who slowly but surely reshaped the role of on-air sports reporters through emotion and minor chords struck in production bays, is the latest in ESPN s exodus. He s the Willie Mays in this narrative. The person most suited to handle the delicate and depressed reaction at the Worldwide Leader, to offer hope with a nod of resilience, is out on Jan. 1, bound for the fast-charging Fox where he ll add to a steady trickle of what s become a trendy kinetic energy pipeline. There s no doubt the power balance is shifting with ESPN appearing more outwardly vulnerable than it has in a long time.