The music blared loudly in Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, during a timeout. The crowd swayed in unison as Gwen Stefani and Akon’s “The Sweet Escape” rang from the surrounding speakers. They bellowed out the infectious “Weeehooooo!" from Akon’s hook as if they were being guided through some satanic ritual. Brian Windhorst usually couldn’t stand these in-game extracurriculars of the NBA. Most beat reporters can’t. It’s the same songs, the same in-game promotions, the same guy demanding the crowd “GET LOUD!!!” for 82 games plus the playoffs every year. But Windhorst, then covering the Cavs for the Akron Beacon Journal, enjoyed this particular pause in the action.
“What’s the name of this song?” Windhorst asked the gaggle of reporters sitting with him at a media table located a few hundred feet above the court. “I like it.”
That was Windhorst then, in 2007, without Twitter, relatively carefree, without television appearances under his belt and without an audience of millions. Windhorst’s schedule is now presidentially busy. On some days, his requirements for ESPN dictate that he works from 7 a.m. until 2 o’clock the next morning. A typical workday could look like this: A SportsCenter spot, a podcast appearance, a call in to an ESPN affiliate’s radio show, writing an article, and then flying off to another city to cover that night’s biggest game.
No longer just writing one article, maybe a blog, and calling it a night, Windhorst, 37, has fully saturated the market. And because of his newfound fame, he’s beginning to face the consequences of becoming one of ESPN’s most recognizable personalities: the wrath of the Internet.
Whether it’s because he’ll forever be tied to LeBron James, his sometimes-critical nature, or his status at the Worldwide Leader, Windhorst catches more flack than most reporters in his field.
Goodbye, sweet Gwen Stefani. Hello, sports fan culture in 2015.
