Oct 15, 2026 · 17 min · 9 segments
A journalist said she quit ESPN over the network getting in bed with sports gambling. I'm fascinated by these people who don't seem to understand how things work. How is it people are totally cool…
Josh InnesHost
All right, so this lady, uh, Nicole Norin, spent 24 years producing award-winning journalism at ESPN.
However, the network's all-in embrace of sports betting finally convinced her to walk away.
In a detailed interview with Columbia Journalism Review, Norin worked at, Norin worked at ESPN for 24 years, mostly on the investigative program Outside the Lines, which it sucks that Outside the Lines doesn't exist.
Like, does Real Sports? I don't think Real Sports exists anymore, right? I think that they stopped doing those as well.
They're just interested in drama, and people aren't interested in real journalism.
Like, I, I saw somebody, one of the, the big guys at ESPN apparently said that, you know, Pat McAfee is, you know, very interested in journalism and shit.
Like, I think people throw out, you know, anytime they disagree with someone who's on TV or a writer or somebody, they say, "Oh, that's bad journalism.
You're not a good journalist." Okay, well, a guy that hosts a talk show is not a journalist.
Might be a media person, but he's not a fucking journalist, okay? Journalists are actually people that are, you know, legit.
Meanwhile, ESPN licensed its name to the ESPN Bet app in 2023, then pivoted to DraftKings after the app flopped.
She detailed her personal feelings over her departure, in addition, her personal experiences with the dangers of sports gambling.
All right, so this lady, uh, Nicole Norin, spent 24 years producing award-winning journalism at ESPN.
However, the network's all-in embrace of sports betting finally convinced her to walk away.
In a detailed interview with Columbia Journalism Review, Norin worked at, Norin worked at ESPN for 24 years, mostly on the investigative program Outside the Lines, which it sucks that Outside the Lines doesn't exist.
Like, does Real Sports? I don't think Real Sports exists anymore, right? I think that they stopped doing those as well.
They're just interested in drama, and people aren't interested in real journalism.
Like, I, I saw somebody, one of the, the big guys at ESPN apparently said that, you know, Pat McAfee is, you know, very interested in journalism and shit.
Like, I think people throw out, you know, anytime they disagree with someone who's on TV or a writer or somebody, they say, "Oh, that's bad journalism.
You're not a good journalist." Okay, well, a guy that hosts a talk show is not a journalist.
Might be a media person, but he's not a fucking journalist, okay? Journalists are actually people that are, you know, legit.
Meanwhile, ESPN licensed its name to the ESPN Bet app in 2023, then pivoted to DraftKings after the app flopped.
She detailed her personal feelings over her departure, in addition, her personal experiences with the dangers of sports gambling.
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