ESPN surprised many by making Notre Dame-Pitt the focus of its college football coverage this past weekend, but it gave the network a chance to honor the legendary running back Tony Dorsett at his alma mater.
Unfortunately, in the process of lifting up the Heisman Trophy winner’s greatness at Pitt in the 1970s, ESPN aired an interview that also showed the downturn Dorsett’s life has taken in recent years.
During College GameDay on Saturday morning, reporter Jess Sims caught up with Dorsett pregame on-field for a quick hit. Dorsett lost his train of thought multiple times in the short interview and appeared to be in a daze. People on the internet quickly clipped the interview and tagged it with all sorts of assumptions about Dorsett being inebriated or affected by brain trauma such as CTE.
In a response on TikTok this week, veteran sports reporter and author Jeff Pearlman crushed ESPN and Pitt public relations staff for putting Dorsett (and Sims) in position for the uncomfortable interview in the first place.
“It’s pretty f*cking shameful on two counts here,” Pearlman said.
“First of all, why is Pitt, whoever works for Pitt, allowing Tony Dorsett to talk to ESPN? What I mean is, someone needs to talk to the ESPN reporter from Pitt and say, ‘He’s not capable of this.’ Number two, why does ESPN not know that Tony Dorsett have cognitive issues? I’ve never even interviewed Tony Dorsett, and I know he has cognitive issues just from reading over the years. It is heartbreaking and also irresponsible. And the interviewer … is doing her best to kind of maintain professionalism, but it’s just sad and painful and heartbreaking.”
@jeffpearlmanauthor ESPN’s recent Tony Dorsett interview is heartbreaking. And irresponsible. #tonydorsett #espn #pressboxchronicles #cte #nfl ♬ original sound – Jeff Pearlman
While his GameDay hit shined a light on his deteriorating cognitive function, Dorsett also appeared on the ACC Network pregame show, seemingly without a hitch. The 71-year-old Dorsett was full of life, working the crowd and showing off his family in attendance.
The Dorsett that ESPN viewers later saw on-air with Sims was far different. That may be because, as many news outlets covered more than a decade ago, Dorsett was one of four living former NFL players who were effectively diagnosed with CTE as a result of the brain trauma they suffered playing football. There is no definitive test to confirm the presence of CTE in living people, but is indicated by a buildup of brain fluid, according to ESPN.
Because this information is readily available, Pearlman also scolded people running with false assumptions about Dorsett online.
“People questioning whether he was drunk is also painful and heartbreaking,” he said.
“Football beats the sh*t out of you, and I understand a lot of these athletes choose to do it, and you could say, ‘Well he knew what he was getting into, blah, blah, blah.’ I question that. But I don’t think there’s any reason for putting these guys, unless you’re trying to showcase what the game has done to them, I don’t think there’s any justification for ESPN interviewing a guy who’s been ravaged by memory loss and decreased cognitive skills for whatever reason.”
As viewers saw for themselves on Saturday, decisions with a person in Dorsett’s situation are not easy. He is a Hall of Famer and a living legend at Pitt and across the football world. Those people are honored each week on GameDay and around the country. Dorsett has remained a strong presence around football even since his diagnosis.
Denying Dorsett the chance to stay in the spotlight because he can slip into cognitive struggles may be the easiest choice, but it may not be what he wants.