Stuart Scott

Stuart Scott (born July 19 1965 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American sportscaster for ESPN, most visibly as an anchor on SportsCenter. Scott graduated in 1987 with a bachelor of arts in speech communications from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He played club football for four years at UNC.

Scott is famous for his amblyopia and on-air "catch phrases", including:

• "Booyah!"
• "Mojo!"
• "Hater in the House!" (usually after an american football interception or other great defensive play.)
• "Playa please!"
• "Holla at a playa when ya' see him on the street." (home run or a nice play)
• "Can I get a witness from the congregation?"
• "He shoots hot like a brother at a police convention."
• "As cool as the other side of the pillow."
• "That run was as fat as Oprah laying down in flour."
• "Call him butter, 'cause he was on a roll."
• "He steals the rock like Jesse at an fundraiser"
• "Call him Bus (reference to Jerome Bettis) 'cause he took them to school"
• "And the Lord said, 'You got to rise up!'" (à la a Southern Baptist preacher, "Lord" pronounced with an extra-long open-mid back rounded vowel and with an alveolar flap instead of an alveolar approximant)
• "I ain't gonna be sayin' nothin', but that ain't right!"
• "You know he can score if the white ladies are tuggin at his shorts, Boohyah!!."
• "[He] takes/brings it to the house." (when an American football player scores a rushing touchdown)

Scott's use of non-standard English and catch phrases elevated his profile as a sports broadcasting pioneer. It also made him the target of criticism.

In the 2003 SportsCenter Island poll about the popularity of SportsCenter anchors, on the Web site of USA Today, Scott got the most "kick off" votes and the second-most "keep" votes. USAToday.com writer Michael Hiestand summarized on an article, "Scott stands out on 'SportsCenter'" [1].

Stuart Scott was injured on April 3, 2002, at the New York Jets training camp while reporting for ESPN when a machine that throws footballs for receivers to practice on hit him in the left eye with a football, requiring Scott to undergo surgery of the cornea [2].

Scott recently hosted the ESPN series Dream Job, the network's talent search for a new SportsCenter anchor. It is from this show that the now common phrase "hugs and handpounds" was first introduced to the American television audiences by Stuart. He is the current host of Monday Night Countdown and once co-anchored NFL Primetime with Chris Berman and former NFL linebacker Tom Jackson. His stint on NFL Primetime was noteworthy for the fact that Scott would anchor highlights of the less glamorous matchups of the week. Berman would often dub these lackluster games "Stu games".

Scott has two daughters and lives in Connecticut.

Scott is a prominent member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.

Filmography

• He Got Game (1998)
• Enchanted (1998)
• Drumline (2002)
• Mr. 3000 (2004)
• The Longest Yard (2005)
• TV commercials:
  • Heineken beer
  • Brinker International Chili's restaurants
  • Johnson & Johnson Tylenol analgesic

External links

• USA Today article about Stuart Scott entitled "Boo-yah or just boo?"
• Stuart Scott's entry at IMdB.com
• Issue 44 -- Television Sportscasters (African-American)
• NPR Interview transcript: Is Stuart Scott Frontin'? [3]