Dearth of cicadas on ESPN campus prompts questions, theories and disappointment

Cicadas aren’t sports fans.

It is the only reasonable explanation as to why, after 17 years underground, billions of bugs visited suburban Bristol, Conn. but none were spotted on our ESPN campus (despite multiple searches from several of our best amateur entomologists).

Maybe they were waiting for an invitation to an ESPN “Car Wash?” Or hoping to get a first tour of the new Digital Center?

The Connecticut brood inspired the culinary crowd and raised the decibel level near ESPN Plaza (to employees listening carefully at their homes it sounded a bit like “Awesome, Baby” on a February evening.)

The last time the crustaceans visited Connecticut, Robin Roberts was preparing to anchor SportsCenter’s Atlanta Olympic coverage; Suzy Kolber was hosting the Spelling Bee; ESPNEWS hadn’t even been announced. . . yet. (It would launch six months later.) And college softball and the NBA were not yet staples of the schedule. The KISS principle – Keep It Simple Stupid – had not made its way to Bristol as evidenced by our website being called “ESPNET SportsZone” and our magazine clunkily referred to as “ESPN Total Sports Magazine.”

When our billions of friends return in 2030, all that is assured is we will have SEC games to lure them to Bristol.

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