Dan Le Batard is poised to take over the ESPN radio time slot vacated when Colin Cowherd was fired, which is ironic, considering Le Batard was one of the few radio personalities to come to Cowherd’s defense following racist comments aimed at Dominicans.
According to The Big Lead , Dan is nearing completion on a deal to replace Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio. The only hold-up at this point is so Le Batard can ensure his partner Jon “Stugotz” Weiner is taken care of financially as well.
“Dan Le Batard’s deal to move his radio show with Jon ‘Stugotz’ Weiner from late afternoon to Colin Cowherd’s old slot at 10am-1pm Eastern time is almost done. This is not to say that there is zero chance it doesn’t come together, but all indications are that it will be happening in time for football season.”
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald was the first to report the news via Twitter.
Had been asked not to report until now, but Dan Le Batard working toward deal to move to 10 am to 1 p.m. to replace Colin Cowherd…..
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 20, 2015
Colin Cowherd was unceremoniously dumped from the network following comments made when questioning how intelligent someone had to be to understand and play baseball versus other sports like football. The comments led to an uproar that saw Cowherd fired a week before his contract was to end with ESPN. Many pundits and Dominican athletes piled onto Colin’s comments, including Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez , calling for Cowherd to apologize (which he has since done).
But Dan Le Batard immediately came to his defense on his own program the following day.
“I’m hispanic … I think we know what he was trying to say. But we are in a climate where it doesn’t matter you were trying to say, and if we don’t like you, and if have a past near the 3rd rail, we will hold your body of work against you. I was not offended by this.”
Cowherd meanwhile will start his new gig with fledgling FOX Sports 1 in September. He spoke to the Hollywood Reporter recently on his excitement over making the switch.
“One of the things that was really attractive to me about Fox is they have the NFL, and baseball playoffs. Well, this year you could have the Mets, the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Cubs, the Cardinals. Are you kidding me?! Those are big numbers. When I look at Fox Sports 1, they’ve got games, they’ve got the attitude of the oval, they are well-funded. They’ve got, to me, momentum.”
Colin Cowherd’s debut will happen September 8th on FOX Sports 1.
[Colin Cowherd photo credit: Al Messerschmidt / Getty Images, Dan Le Batard image via USA Today ]
