Page 19 - Program 2018

Where Does the Water Go? Is This The End of Men? The Future of ESPN
David Owen Hanna Rosin James Andrew Miller
Wednesday 3–3:45 pm Wednesday 3–3:45 pm Wednesday 3–3:45 pm
Walt Disney Room Anne Rice Room Joan Didion Room

Water problems in the western United States can Men have been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn ESPN began as an outrageous gamble with a lineup
seem tantalizingly easy to solve: just turn off the of mankind. Hanna Rosin noticed that this long-held that included Australian Rules football, rodeo, and a
fountains at the Bellagio, stop selling hay to China, truth is, astonishingly, no longer true. Today, by almost rinky-dink show called Sports Center. Thirty years later,
ban golf, cut down the almond trees, and kill all the every measure, women are no longer gaining on men: the empire stretched far beyond television into radio,
lawyers. But a closer look reveals a vast man-made many would argue they have pulled decisively ahead. magazines, mobile phones, restaurants, video games
ecosystem that is far more complex and interesting Rosin reveals how our current state of affairs is radically and more, while ESPN’s personalities became global
than the headlines let on. Patt Morrison and David shifting the power dynamics between men and women superstars that rivaled the sports icons they covered.
Owen, author of Where The Water Goes: Life and at every level of society, with profound implications for Recently ESPN has struggled to adapt to changes in
Death Along the Colorado River, will tackle some of marriage, sex, children, work, and more. the way viewers consume information resulting in the
the intricate issues surrounding water. April 2017 layoff of 100 employees—many of them
big name journalists, athletes and analysts. David
Davis joins James Andrew Miller in a conversation
on the future of ESPN and sports broadcasting.

“They think about sexism in the
same way people in London must
think about bad weather: It’s an
omnipresent and unpleasant fact

of life, but it shouldn’t keep you
from going about your business.”
— Hanna Rosin, The End of Men

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