ESPN’s award-winning news magazine, E:60, wraps up its fall season of news magazine shows Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN with an in-depth profile of Carolina Panthers Quarterback Cam Newton, an investigative piece regarding the United States Air Force Academy and its football team, and an inspiring story about a boy with a rare disease, his three-legged dog, and their incredible bond.
I AM CAM
Cam Newton is used to being number one. He was the first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. He led his Auburn Tigers to the 2010 BCS National Championship. That season he also won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award and the Davey O’Brien Award, given to the nation’s top quarterback. Even his jersey with the Panthers is #1. It’s been this way since his father pushed him into youth football, and since he starred as a high school quarterback in Atlanta. Greatness has been always been expected of Newton. But now in his fourth season with Carolina, many are wondering if he will reach the same heights in the NFL. Reporting for E:60, Cari Champion tells the story of the immensely talented Cam Newton, to whom much was given, and of whom even more is expected. Newton recounts, along with his father, the past incidents that cast doubt upon his integrity, and describes the maturation that could ultimately deliver the NFL success so many expect.
http://youtu.be/2BpAMrKdNVg
OPERATION GRIDIRON
This is not supposed to happen at a US military academy. After all, these are institutions where the nation’s future military leaders are shaped, schools that pride themselves on codes of conduct and honor. And yet, the United States Air Force Academy and its football team are embroiled in a controversy that places them in stark contrast to everything they stand for. Eager to root out sexual assault and drug abuse among cadets, in 2011 the Air Force created a secret network of informants to gather information. One of those informants was Eric Thomas, a member of the Academy’s soccer team. The information Thomas provided led to the convictions of three football players and included the first successful prosecutions of sexual assault at the academy in more than a decade. But not long afterward, the program was shut down, and Thomas was expelled for actions, he claims, were part of his work as an informant. According to Thomas and his Air Force handler, top players “seemed very well protected” and as soon as they were implicated in wrongdoing, military leadership sought to end the program. The Air Force disputes Thomas’ version of events and the reasons for his expulsion. E:60’s Jeremy Schaap reports on the debate raging over the program labelled Operation Gridiron, its use of informants, and whether members of the Air Force football team received preferential treatment.
http://youtu.be/ZhbZRwhPVA8
OWEN & HAATCHI
This is a story about a boy and his dog…but not just any boy, and not just any dog. Together, Owen and Haatchi, with their improbable winning streak and their remarkable bond, are like nothing you have ever seen. Owen Howkins is a nine-year old English boy with Schwartz-Jampel syndrome, a condition that affects fewer than 50 people worldwide and causes intense muscle cramping and pain. Owen’s disease led him to withdraw from the world and left him isolated and lonely. Enter Haatchi, an abandoned Anatolian Shepherd, a mountain of a dog, with a story of his own. Haatchi had been beaten and left on a railway line to die. He lost one of his hind legs, but survived and ended up in an animal shelter. That is where Owen’s parents, looking to find a companion for their son, found him. They rescued Haatchi and from the first moment he met Owen, the boy was transformed. They became best friends. They entered a local dog show — in the category of best rescue dog — and won. They kept winning and eventually made it to the biggest dog show in the United Kingdom. As E:60’s Tom Rinaldi finds out, along the way, through friendship and love, Owen and Haatchi have uplifted one another and inspired a nation. This is a story about a boy and his dog —and a whole lot more.
http://youtu.be/jHvNYhfxiZg