Michelle Beadle Returns To ESPN, Tackles Michael Jordan Legend

Michelle Beadle is back with ESPN’s SportsNation after burning bridges at her stint with NBC.

The popular commentator returned to the panel-style show, which suffered a drop-off in ratings with Charissa Thompson, Marcellus Wiley, Max Kellerman, and others trying to take over for her.

Beadle’s return was announced by ESPN earlier this month.

“Michelle Beadle will return to SportsNation on ESPN2 today, hosting the show alongside commentators Max Kellerman and Marcellus Wiley. Kellerman and Wiley will continue to offer their opinions and different viewpoints on the weekday afternoon show based in Los Angeles. The trio will together continue the clever and off-beat SportsNation tradition of discussing the day’s hottest sports topics weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2. “

Michelle Beadle made a hasty exit from NBC after making negative comments about her how, The Crossover.

“I love what we’re doing now, but then again I’m not an idiot. I realize we’re on a network that is new and struggling and we don’t get a lot of promotion,” Beadle said. “So I kind of battle with that every day. Do I fight the good fight and promote the show on my own? Do I just give up and act like a whiny person? It’s interesting, but we have such a good crew and they work hard.”

After being vocal about what she felt was mismanagement, Beadle was handed her walking papers. She was again quite frank in letting fans know that the end had come:

“Crossover is donzo. Thanks 2 the crew who tried their damnedest. I’ll let ya know what’s next.”

Beadle wasn’t joking about the show’s mismanagement, by the way. At the time it was cancelled, she actually had more Twitter followers than the show had viewers.

In her return to ESPN, Michelle Beadle hosted a segment about the most misunderstood sports stories. The first edition tackled the 1995 story about Michael Jordan punching teammate Steve Kerr in the face.