Michael Raymond Wilbon (born November 19, 1958) is an American sportswriter and columnist. He is a columnist for
The Washington PostThe Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C. and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877. Being located in the nation's capital, it has a particular emphasis on national politics and international affairs...
, serves as an analyst for ESPN and has co-hosted
Pardon the InterruptionPardon the Interruption is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, ESPN America, XM, and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories...
on
ESPNESPN is an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting and producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day....
with former Post scribe
Tony KornheiserAnthony Irwin "Tony" Kornheiser is an American sportswriter and former columnist for The Washington Post, as well as a radio and television talk show host...
since 2001.
Career
Wilbon began working for
The Washington PostThe Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C. and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877. Being located in the nation's capital, it has a particular emphasis on national politics and international affairs...
in 1980 after summer internships at the newspaper in 1979 and 1980. He covered college sports,
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between...
, the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
and the
National Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
before being promoted to full-time columnist in February 1990. His column in the
Post, which deals as much with the culture of sports as the action on the court or field, appears up to four times a week.
In his career, Wilbon has covered ten Summer and Winter
Olympic GamesThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
for
The Washington Post, every
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League, the premier association of professional American football. In most years, the Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast. Many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event’s pre-game and...
since 1987, nearly every
Final FourFinal Four is a sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably the NCAA Division I college basketball tournament. Typically it refers to a tournament format where four teams play two rounds of single-elimination games, resulting in a...
since 1982 and each year's
NBA FinalsThe NBA Finals is the championship series of the National Basketball Association and the conclusion of the sport's postseason each June. The series was named the NBA World Championship Series until 1986....
since 1987.
After contributing to ESPN's
The Sports ReportersThe Sports Reporters is a sports talk show that airs on ESPN at 9:30 a.m. ET every Sunday morning . It is broadcast from New York City, New York at the ESPN Zone. However, before 1999, it was broadcast from a studio in Manhattan...
and other shows on the cable network, he began co-hosting ESPN's daily
Pardon the Interruption (
PTI) with Tony Kornheiser on October 22, 2001. He is also a member of
ABCESPN on ABC is the brand used for sports programming on the ABC television network. Officially the broadcast network retains its own sports division; however, for all practical purposes, ABC's sports coverage has been delegated to ESPN, a sports cable network majority-owned by ABC's parent, The...
's
NBA Countdown (with host
Stuart ScottStuart Scott is a sportscaster and anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter.-Early life and career:Scott attended Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and went to college at the University of North Carolina. He was also part of the on-air talent at the student-run radio station...
and analyst
Jon BarryJon Alan Barry is a retired American professional basketball player and current television analyst for ABC and ESPN.-Biography:...
) which is the pre-game show for the network's NBA telecasts.
In addition to his work at
The Washington Post,
PTI and ESPN, Wilbon appeared weekly on
WRC-TVWRC-TV channel 4 is the NBC owned and operated television station in Washington, D.C.. The station broadcasts on digital channel 48. Its studios and transmitter are located at 4001 Nebraska Avenue NW, in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, D.C....
in Washington, D.C. with WRC Sports Director
George MichaelGeorge Michael is a sportscaster best known nationally for his long-running American sports highlights show called The George Michael Sports Machine...
, and Pro Football Hall of Famers
John RigginsRobert John Riggins, nicknamed "The Diesel", is a former American football running back in the National Football League for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins. Riggins was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.-Early life:Riggins was born in Seneca, Kansas and attended...
and
Sonny JurgensenChristian Adolph "Sonny" Jurgensen III is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983....
on
Redskins Report during the football season. He also appeared with Michael,
USA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth...
basketball writer David DuPree and
Tony KornheiserAnthony Irwin "Tony" Kornheiser is an American sportswriter and former columnist for The Washington Post, as well as a radio and television talk show host...
on
Full Court Press during the basketball season. Both of these shows were canceled in December 2008 due to budget cuts. In 2001 Wilbon was named the top sports columnist by the
Society of Professional JournalistsThe Society of Professional Journalists , formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States...
.
Wilbon also forged a close friendship with former Marshall and current NFL quarterback
Byron LeftwichByron Antron Leftwich is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars seventh overall in the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Marshall.Leftwich has also played for the Atlanta Falcons and the...
while the young passer was a standout player for HD Woodson in Washington, D.C.
In recent years, he has become more known as an ESPN personality, and in late 2006, agreed to a multi-year contract extension with ESPN that will give the network priority in conflicts with his newspaper assignments. The first major example of this happened on February 4, 2007, when Wilbon covered a
Detroit PistonsThe Detroit Pistons is a team in the National Basketball Association based in the Detroit metropolitan area. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills.-From Fort Wayne to Detroit:...
-
Cleveland CavaliersThe Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team and won their first Eastern Conference Championship in 2007.-1970–1980: Expansion and early hope:The Cavaliers first...
game instead of
Super Bowl XLISuper Bowl XLI was an American football game that featured the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League champion for the 2006 season...
.
Personal
Born in the south side of Chicago, Illinois, Wilbon graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in 1976 and received his journalism degree in 1980 from
Northwestern University{{Infobox university|name = Northwestern University|image_name = NU seal.png|motto = Quaecumque sunt vera |mottoeng =Whatsoever things are true |established = 1851|type = Private|calendar = Quarter...
's
Medill School of JournalismNorthwestern University's Medill School is one of the premier journalism, integrated marketing, and media schools in the United States....
. Wilbon currently lives in
Bethesda, MarylandBethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
, but he also has a home in
Scottsdale, ArizonaScottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. As of 2007 the population of the city was 240,410. Scottsdale is regarded as an upscale tourist and shopping destination and as a representation of western American style...
.
Wilbon was a pitcher in high school and once threw a one hitter.
As a native of Chicago, Wilbon generally favors Chicago area teams including the Chicago Bulls, Chicago Bears, Chicago Blackhawks and the north-side Chicago Cubs.
Wilbon is good friends with former NBA star
Charles BarkleyCharles "Chuck" Wade Barkley is an American retired professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Sir Charles" for his aggressive and outspoken demeanor, and "The Round Mound of Rebound" for his unusual build and talent, Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association's ...
and has edited and written the introduction for his most recent books, "
I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It" and "
Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?", both of which were
New York Times best sellersThe New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered to be the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in the The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is usually found inserted in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, or as a stand-alone...
.
Wilbon has a cousin,
Travon Bellamy, who plays for the
University of Illinois football teamThe Fighting Illini are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The University offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports....
.
Wilbon suffered a mild
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, is the interruption of blood supply to part of the heart, causing some heart cells to die...
on January 27, 2008. After complaining of chest pains, he was taken to a Scottsdale hospital where doctors performed an
angioplastyAngioplasty is the technique of mechanically widening a narrowed or obstructed blood vessel; typically as a result of atherosclerosis. Tightly folded balloons are passed into the narrowed locations and then inflated to a fixed size using water pressures some 75 to 500 times normal blood pressure...
.
Wilbon's wife Sheryl gave birth to their first child, Matthew Raymond Wilbon, on March 26, 2008. Matthew is often referred to as "Lilbon" by the aforementioned
Tony KornheiserAnthony Irwin "Tony" Kornheiser is an American sportswriter and former columnist for The Washington Post, as well as a radio and television talk show host...
on his radio show.
On August 10, 2008, during a Cubs-Cardinals game at
Wrigley FieldWrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
, Wilbon threw out out the ceremonial first pitch and then sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as part of the seventh-inning stretch. Footage of Wilbon bouncing the pitch is frequently shown on
Pardon The InterruptionPardon the Interruption is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels, TSN, ESPN America, XM, and Sirius satellite radio services, and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories...
.
In May 2009, Wilbon competed in a made-for-TV "King of Bowling" show against pro bowling star
Wes MalottWesley Clint "Big Nasty" Malott is an American professional ten-pin bowler who resides in Pflugerville, Texas. He has six titles in six full seasons on the PBA tour, having won at least one title in each of the last four seasons. He also won the 2006–07 Showplace Lanes Megabucks Shootout, which...
. Wilbon beat Malott by a score of 256-248, but Wilbon received a 57-pin handicap and Malott had to use a plastic ball.
External links
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