Rich Eisen

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Rich Eisen (born June 24, 1969) is an American television journalist who works for the NFL Network. He is married to ESPN on ABC college football sideline reporter Suzy Shuster. He also wrote the book Total Access which was published in 2007.

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[edit] Early life

Eisen was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised on Staten Island.[1]

[edit] College

Rich Eisen attended the University of Michigan, where he served as co-sports editor of the school's Michigan Daily and was a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. He graduated in 1990 with a bachelor of arts degree. In 1994 he earned a master of science degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

[edit] Media career

[edit] Early years (1990-1996)

Eisen was first a staff writer for the Staten Island Advance from 1990-1993, and the Chicago Tribune in 1993 and 1994. He was then a sports anchor and reporter at KRCR-TV in Redding, California from 1994 to 1996, and also worked in television as the Medill News Service's Washington correspondent (1994).[1]

[edit] ESPN (1996-2003)

Before working for the NFL Network, he worked for ESPN. He was part of a duo with Stuart Scott, and became well-known for his humor, most notably his impressions of Atlanta Braves broadcasters and provided interviews during Home Run Derby. Eisen was also the host of ESPN's reality series, Beg, Borrow & Deal. For ESPN Radio, he served as host of Major League Baseball and as a guest host on the Tony Kornheiser Show and The Dan Patrick Show. Outside of the world of sports, Eisen hosted the ABC show Domino Day.

Among Eisen's notable achievements while at ESPN, was breaking the news of St. Louis slugger Mark McGwire's retirement from baseball in 2001 on SportsCenter. Days later, he sat down with McGwire for an exclusive interview elaborating on the decision.

[edit] NFL Network (2003-present)

Rich Eisen was the first on-air talent added to the NFL Network roster in June 2003. Eisen is the face of the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week cable and satellite channel dedicated to football that debuted in November of 2003. Currently, he serves as the main host of the show, NFL Total Access, the network flagship program which also airs on Saturdays on My Network TV.

During the 2005 NFL Scouting Combine, Eisen ran the 40 yard dash in a suit on NFL Total Access in 6.7 seconds. In 2006, he ran it again in a suit and cut half a second off his time, reducing it to 6.2 seconds. In 2007, he ran it once again and recorded a time of 6.34 seconds.

On the March 27, 2006, episode of NFL Total Access, which aired at the Owners Meeting in Orlando, Florida, Eisen jokingly announced his candidacy for NFL Commissioner to Adam Schefter on the "Around the League" segment of the show. Schefter did a favor for Eisen by lobbying for him with the owners.

On a June 15th 2007 father's day episode of NFL network, Rich Eisen's father was on the show as well as video footage of Eisen's Bar Mitzvah.

[edit] CBS Sports (2003-present)

He works as a play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports coverage of the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, in addition to serving as the anchor for the network's weeknight (and late-night) highlights show during the tournament.

[edit] Other Media Jobs

Rich has also done work on VH1's I Love the 70's, 80's, and 90's. On NFL Total Access, Eisen often boasts his pride for his alma mater Michigan when interviewing NFL players who also graduated from Michigan or jokingly taunts rivals from Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan State.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Rich Eisen Biography. Retrieved on November 6, 2007.
Persondata
NAME Eisen, Rich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Sports television journalist
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn, New York, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH