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ESPN the Boy Getting Visit From Network
AP ^

Posted on 06/28/2004 7:29:44 AM PDT by esryle

PAMPA, Texas (AP) -- A Texas couple who named their son ESPN after the cable sports network will soon get a visit from the toddler's namesake.

An ESPN film crew is coming to the Panhandle town of Pampa next month to interview the family of 2-year-old ESPN Malachi McCall for a feature on children around the country with the unique name.

ESPN (pronounced Espen) McCall is one of at least three youngsters in the United States known to be named for the sports network. A couple in Corpus Christi named their son Espn Curiel in 2000, the same year Espen Blondeel was born in Michigan.

"We don't have viewers. We have fans," ESPN spokesman Dave Nagle said Saturday. "And I guess there's no better testament than when someone names their child after your product. It just shows the bond we have with people."

Nagle said the feature will air Sept. 6 as part of a two-hour special celebrating the network's 25th anniversary.

Rebecca and Michael McCall said their son's name started as a joke after they heard on the radio about another couple naming their son "ESPEN."

"He looked at me and said, 'That's a cool name,'" Rebecca McCall said in Saturday's editions of the Amarillo Globe-News.

Rebecca McCall said she resisted her husband's idea at first, but the idea grew on her.

"I didn't like it until he was born," she said, adding that by then, she couldn't think of calling her son anything else.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: booyah; espn; namesake
www.esryle.com
LOCAL NEWS ACROSS THE NATION
1 posted on 06/28/2004 7:29:45 AM PDT by esryle
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To: esryle
Are they also gonna film ESPNs brothers, Armour All, Rustoleum, WD-40, and Duck Tape?

So9

2 posted on 06/28/2004 7:35:01 AM PDT by Servant of the 9 (Screwing the Inscrutable or is it Scruting the Inscrewable?)
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To: esryle

That poor kid is sure in for some teasing.


3 posted on 06/28/2004 7:37:10 AM PDT by martin_fierro (I transcend you.)
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To: esryle

Wonder if his parents will have him wear a big sign to school that says "My name is ESPN beat me up"


4 posted on 06/28/2004 7:38:38 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: esryle

Nothin new. Agent Mulder was named after Fox.


5 posted on 06/28/2004 7:41:45 AM PDT by Leroy S. Mort
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To: esryle

wow...some people have no imagination at all...wonder if they even bothered taking the wheels off their home...


6 posted on 06/28/2004 7:44:43 AM PDT by gdc314
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To: esryle
Johnny Cash sang about doing something like this:
BOY NAMED SUE
My daddy left home when I was three,
And he didn't leave much to Ma and me...
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.
Now, I don't blame him cause he run and hid,
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me 'Sue'.

Well, he must o' thought that is was quite a joke,
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk.
It seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red,
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head.
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named 'Sue'.

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,
My fist got hard and my wits got keen.
I'd roam from town to town to hide my shame.
But I made me a vow to the moon and stars
That I'd search the honky-tonks and bars,
And kill that man that give me that awful name.

Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July
And I just hit town, and my throat was dry.
I thought I'd stop and have myself a brew.
At an old saloon on a street of mud,
There at a table, dealing stud,
Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me 'Sue'.

Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
From a worn-out picture that my mother'd had,
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old,
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold,
And I said: "My name is 'Sue!' How do you do! Now you gonna die!"

Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes,
And he went down, but, to my surprise,
He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear.
But I busted a chair right across his teeth
And we crashed through the wall and into the street
Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer.

I tell ya, I've fought tougher men,
But I really can't remember when,
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss,
He went for his gun and I pulled mine first,
He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.

And he said: "Son, this world is rough,
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough,
And I know I wouldn't be there to help ya along.
So I give ya that name and I said good-bye.
I knew you'd have to get tough or die,
And it's that name that helped to make you strong."

He said: "Now you just fought one hell of a fight,
And I know you hate me, and you got the right
To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do.
But ya ought to thank me, before I die,
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye
Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you 'Sue'."

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I come away with a different point of view.
And I think about him, now and then,
Every time I try and every time I win,
And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but sue! I still hate that name!


7 posted on 06/28/2004 7:51:27 AM PDT by mc5cents
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To: esryle

Along the same lines, my daughter is going to name my second grandchild Reagan, whether a girl or boy.


8 posted on 06/28/2004 8:02:12 AM PDT by subterfuge (Liberalism is, as liberalism does.)
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To: Servant of the 9
Are they also gonna film ESPNs brothers, Armour All, Rustoleum, WD-40, and Duck Tape?

Of course not.
His younger brother is "ESPN 2".
His older brother is "ESPN Classic"
His sister is "Fox"

9 posted on 06/28/2004 8:11:02 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: esryle
"And I guess there's no better testament than when someone names their child after your product...."

Yeah, it's all about the marketing angle nowadays. Some folks would be devastated without their TeeVee to tell them what to think, wear, and vote for.

10 posted on 06/28/2004 8:18:43 AM PDT by Sam's Army (Reject Materialism)
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To: esryle

ESPEN KNUTSEN 21

Center

Height 5' 11"

Weight 195

Shoots Left

Born Jan 11, 1972

OSLO, NOR

The Hartford Whalers selected Knutsen in the 10th round (204th overall) of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, but the center remained in Europe for the next seven years. Overseas, Knutsen played in his native Norway and in the Swedish Elite League. In 1996, the Whalers traded Knutsen's rights to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for Kevin Brown. Knutsen finally made his NHL debut in 1997-98 and tallied his first League goal Oct. 10, 1997, against the Ottawa Senators. But after that season, which Knutsen split between the AHL and NHL, the playmaking pivot returned to Europe for two more years. In 2000, Anaheim sent Knutsen to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fourth-round draft pick. Knutsen returned to North America in 2000-01 and shined, notching 53 points (11 goals, 42 assists) in 66 games.

11 posted on 06/28/2004 8:37:47 AM PDT by buccaneer81 (Rick Nash will score 50 goals this season ( if there is a season)
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To: Servant of the 9

"Are they also gonna film ESPNs brothers, Armour All, Rustoleum, WD-40, and Duck Tape?"

And his sisters Chevelle and Impala.


(For real, two kids who were named after the vehicle of their conceptions)


12 posted on 06/28/2004 8:40:34 AM PDT by Rebelbase ( aka Gassybrowneyedbum)
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To: esryle
Rebecca McCall said she resisted her husband's idea at first, but the idea grew on her.

She probably originally wanted to name him "Lifetime" or "Oxygen".

13 posted on 06/28/2004 8:43:27 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: Izzy Dunne

You forgot ESPN 8 "The Ocho!"


14 posted on 06/28/2004 8:54:32 AM PDT by GOPyouth (De Oppresso Liber! The Tyrant is captured!)
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To: Izzy Dunne

His sister wouldn't be Fox. ESPN is owned by Disney, which owns ABC.

I'm guessing her name will be Disney, just because ABC (pronounced AhBuhK) isn't a very pretty name.


15 posted on 06/28/2004 8:58:04 AM PDT by sharktrager (Help Laura beat Tuh-Ray-Za http://scoreboards.hotornot.com/2004electionwives)
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To: esryle

Even a salt of the earth place like Pampa has its share of idiots, I guess. Poor kid.


16 posted on 06/28/2004 9:08:43 AM PDT by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: Sam's Army
Yeah, it's all about the marketing angle nowadays. Some folks would be devastated without their TeeVee to tell them what to think, wear, and vote for.

They'd have been better advised naming him after the high school football team, the Pampa Harvesters.  At least it would be Harvey, for short.
17 posted on 06/28/2004 9:10:46 AM PDT by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: esryle

"Namesake"? They mean "eponym."


18 posted on 06/28/2004 12:42:40 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: esryle
adding that by then, she couldn't think of calling her son anything else

Oh, so that's it

19 posted on 06/28/2004 12:45:23 PM PDT by BSunday (YES AMERICA CAN !)
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