Spandan "Spoon" Daftary (born April 13, 1981 in New Castle, Pennsylvania

New Castle, Pennsylvania

New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Pittsburgh and near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border just east of Youngstown, Ohio; in 1910, the total population was 36,280; in 1920, 44,938; and in 1940, 47,638. The population has fallen to 26,309 according to the...

) is a 2-time Emmy Award-winning associate producer, whose most recent work includes ESPN2

ESPN2

ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...

's Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith

Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith

Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith was a nightly one-hour television show on ESPN2 hosted by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and ESPN reporter Stephen A. Smith. The show premiered on August 1, 2005. It was cancelled on January 11, 2007 because of low ratings. Smith called the cancellation a...

, which was cancelled by the network in January 2007.

Professional career

Spandan worked on ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

's Sportscenter

SportsCenter

SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...

 in 2003 and 2004 when the show won consecutive Sports Emmy awards for "Outstanding Daily Studio Show."

High school athletics

Spandan started at forward for Sewickley Academy

Sewickley Academy

Sewickley Academy is a private coeducational college preparatory day school located in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Located approximately 12 miles north of Pittsburgh, Sewickley Academy is the oldest independent school in the Pittsburgh area dating back to 1838...

's 1999 Section Championship squad. The head coach of the team, Victor Gianatta, gave Spandan the nickname, "Spoon".