Week in review

l-r Emcee Brian Kenny, SVP Corp Outreach Rosa Gatti, Honoree Butch LeClair and Kevin Martinez, Sr. Dir. Corp Outreach.

Friday on our Bristol campus, six employees were recognized as winners of ESPN’s 2011 Presidential Volunteer Service Awards.

Two of our colleagues in ESPN’s Communications group — Front Row contributors Diane Lamb (Green Team Pioneer Award) and Josh Krulewitz (V Spirit Award) — were among the six honored. Also hailed were Butch LeClair (VoluntEAR of the Year, pictured above), Maria Delgado (Regional Award), Dick Vitale (Commentator Volunteer Award) and our Global X Games unit (Team Of The Year).

The ceremony was a highlight of a busy week.

Other Front Row highlights included a visit from Team USA members Abby Wambach and Heather O’Reilly to reveal the official roster for America’s entry in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011.

ESPN Radio host and SportsNation co-host Colin Cowherd and Mark Schlereth gave Front Row a peek inside the CBS sitcom pilots each has inspired.

Alyssa Roenigk provided a look back at ESPN The Magazine’s “Live Issue” — it was one of those “you had to be there” affairs.

Next week, Front Row will take you inside the “Upfront” in New York City — one of the TV industry’s biggest events as networks unveil new shows, products and platforms for advertisers; we’ll have a behind-the-scenes look at Wambach and O’Reilly’s visit;
we’ll take you on a tour of the Bristol campus as hundreds of runners saw it; and you’ll meet the man behind the music used on many ESPN shows.

We’ll also be keeping an eye on our man in Africa.

For the next week in Tanzania, NFL Live analyst Tedy Bruschi is part of an NFL-sponsored climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. Before he left for Africa, Bruschi told Front Row about the challenge, which will help raise funds for the Wounded Warriors Project.

We wish Bruschi safe travels.