Couple Name Child "ESPN"
Posted: July 6, 2004 1:42 pm
from boston.com:
ESPN the boy getting visit from network
June 26, 2004
PAMPA, Texas -- 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."
ESPN the boy getting visit from network
June 26, 2004
PAMPA, Texas -- 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."
