Paul Finebaum (Joe Faraoni/ ESPN Images)

Earlier today, ESPN announced the hiring of the “Voice of the SEC,” Paul Finebaum. With duties that will range from hosting a daily radio show (eventually simulcasting it on the SEC Network) to appearing on a variety ESPN shows and platforms, Finebaum will work with a wide cross-section of people at ESPN. Here, a few offer their thoughts on the multi-talented Finebaum.

“Paul knows the SEC better than anyone – the passion, the rivalries and the hot buttons for an electric fan base. We are thrilled to have Paul join the ESPN team. He will be a fantastic addition and help both ESPN and the SEC Network serve sports fans in a unique and powerful way.” – Justin Connolly, ESPN Senior Vice President of College Networks

“You can shake your head at what you may hear but there’s no denying that The Finebaum Show is the beating heart of the SEC. It’s hard to imagine the passion and characters of college football so neatly corralled and then amplified by one broadcaster, but somehow through the years Paul has been able to do just that. From the moment we first outlined the 30 for 30 film, Roll Tide/War Eagle, there was no doubt his show would be the thread weaving its way through that story. Paul is a master at stoking the flames of the hot burning SEC fire with smarts and credibility.” – Joe Tessitore, Host of ESPN’s College Football Live and play-by-play announcer

“Paul Finebaum is must-listen for college football fans, especially those in the SEC markets. His knowledge and passion will bring great value to our ESPN Audio platforms.” – Tim McCarthy, Sr. Vice President, ESPN Radio

“I was raised in the house of a Vols diehard, in the swirl of the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry, back when UT was still winning on the Third Saturday in October more than it lost. Paul Finebaum was then, and still is, appointment listening among Southerners. Inevitably his reach has crossed the Mason Dixon and stretched to the other side of the Mississippi as more and more ears turn to the land of crystal footballs. He raises the ire of fans across the nation because of his clear-eyed views about the sports landscape, and the SEC’s place in it. He’d have the same opinions over a cup of coffee in the back of the local drug store. That’s what makes ‘The Finebaum Show’ such a staple: To talk SEC sports and be taken seriously, you have to be one of us.” – LaRue Cook, General Editor, College Football, ESPN The Magazine.

Mike Humes, Carrie Kreiswirth, Diane Lamb and Keri Potts contributed to this post.

The Pulitzers are nice, but Don Van Natta Jr. had a bucket list moment from the May 22 episode of “Jeopardy!”

Don Van Natta Jr.’s career in journalism has reached peaks only imagined by most of his colleagues. A winner of multiple Pulitzer Prizes at the Miami Herald and the New York Times, Van Natta is also an accomplished author and in relatively short time with ESPN, he has made an indelible mark on the company’s sports journalism.

But it wasn’t until yesterday’s episode of the long-running game show, “Jeopardy!,” that Van Natta truly ascended to a place few will ever reach. He shares his story with Front Row:

A pal left the voicemail message at 7:57 last night: “Dude, the $1000 clue today on JEOPARDY!… ‘Wonder Girl,’ under Sports Biographies. It was awesome.”

This was an awesome surprise. “Wonder Girl” is the title of my third book, a 2011 biography of the phenomenal all-sport athlete, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, widely considered the greatest female athlete in American sports history. Born in 1911 in Port Arthur, Texas, Babe was an All-American basketball player, won two track and field gold medals at the 1932 Olympics and became a champion golfer before making an astonishing comeback from cancer in the mid-50s.

“Wonder Girl” making Jeopardy! as a clue in the category, ‘Sports Biographies” (“A sports star of the 1930s”) was as cool as hearing that contestant, Cecily Squier (see tweet below), gave Alex Trebek the correct response: “Who is Babe Didrikson Zaharias?”

Everyone in my family is fans of Jeopardy! (my mother never misses an episode — she, too, was watching last night). Making Jeopardy! is a cultural touchstone, like discovering your name or your book’s title in the New York Times crossword puzzle. (I came close, in 2003, when my first book, “First Off the Tee”, was the hidden answer in a Times’ acrostic).

Better yet, the timing was fortuitous: “Wonder Girl” was just published in paperback. My book won the United States Golf Association’s Herbert Warren Wind Book Award, a great thrill.

But I was as thrilled to hear about Jeopardy!’s nod. A couple of Twitter friends shared in my special moment:

Today, I noticed Alex Trebek had hardly turbo-charged my book’s sad Amazon sales ranking. But I’m not letting that spoil this party.

ESPN Stats & Information’s Jeremy Mills. (Courtesy of Jeremy Mills)

Perfection is imperative for ESPN researchers responsible for supplying facts and nuggets for use on air or in print. Jeremy Mills from ESPN Stats & Information is seeking perfection in another, more forgiving area: college baseball Bracketology. This is the fifth year he has projected the field of 64 teams in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship.

Mills’ most recent Bracketology is available on ESPN.com. His final projection of the season will be available Sunday before the official brackets are released Monday at noon ET on ESPNU. He spoke with Front Row about how it all started, the projecting process, fellow bracket generator, Joe Lunardi, and more.

How did you come up with the idea of Bracketology for college baseball?
It seemed strange that the network with the most postseason coverage wasn’t predicting the brackets. So I pitched the idea to ESPN.com editor Lauren Reynolds and went from there.

What is your process for bracketing out the 64 teams?
There are only five delineations — eight national seeds, eight additional No. 1 seeds and 16 each Nos. 2-4 seeds — so I usually start by bucketing teams rather than creating a true S-curve like you see for basketball. With the committee, there’s no difference between being the 17th and 32nd best teams. In baseball, they can pair any No. 1 seed with any No. 2 seed, as long as they aren’t from the same conference, which is a stark contrast to the balancing of strength across regions in basketball.

I’m looking at a variety of numbers to create the buckets. RPI drives the seeding a lot more in baseball than in other sports, so the original grouping starts there. But other considerations are records against various RPI categories, record in weekend series (which carry more weight than midweek games since that’s the postseason format) and standing within the team’s conference.

As for particular location assignments, the NCAA prefers to keep teams as close to home as possible. Even knowing the 16 sites, it’s hard to get all four teams at a location correct. Usually I get one or two of the 16 regionals completely correct and three of the four teams in a handful [of other regionals].

What is your success rate?
I’ve had 63 out of the 64 twice. Two years ago, I missed two and both were cases of the committee rewarding teams from mid-major conferences for good seasons over lower teams in the power conferences.

Do you exchange ideas and concepts with Joe Lundardi about his Bracketology?
I’ve had the opportunity to work with Joe on shows as part of my “day job” in research, but we’ve never discussed compiling brackets. Maybe I need to pick his brain the next time we’re in the same room.

Editor’s note: Yesterday, SportsCenter reporter Shelley Smith was in Oklahoma City neighborhoods devastated by Monday’s tornado. Smith and producer Shari Greenberg were with Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant as he toured the area. She shared some thoughts on the visit with Front Row.

Producer Shari Greenberg and I were headed to San Francisco for 49ers OTAs when we were re-assigned to Norman, Okla., to cover the devastation and its effect on the area’s sports teams. While we were in the air, ESPN got an invitation (shared with select media outlets) from the Red Cross and Kevin Durant’s foundation director, Emmanuel Bailey, to tour the destruction with Durant.

Police told us only four cars would be allowed into the area, so in a refreshing example of media togetherness, journalists from all the outlets piled into vehicles — stacking people onto laps. An Associated Press photographer climbed onto the middle console of the SUV I was driving, crammed beside Shari, our two-man camera crew, and a reporter from The Oklahoma Daily, Joe Mussatto, whom we enlisted the night before via email to be our runner/navigator/photographer.

Because of Durant’s status, and his $1 million relief donation, we had a police escort. I realized as we approached the designated site we were following the storm’s path. First we saw trees down, then shingles from houses, then complete roofs, houses and utter wreckage. There were trailers on top of houses, cars on top of cars, tons and tons of debris and wires, homes in total disrepair.

“Where,” I kept asking myself, “do you even start cleaning up?”

When Durant got out and began to walk, residents slowly plowed through what was left of their homes and inched toward him, at first, incredulous that one of their sports heroes was really sharing in their grief and supporting their strength and resilience.

He seemed sad at first, but he fought to smile. Durant posed for photographs, signed every autograph and listened to every story. After walking about a mile to a flattened Briarwood Elementary School, Durant said his heart was broken knowing children had been killed in other schools, but also that children at Briarwood were cowering in utter fear as the storm went through.

He promised he would return, and return again, to the school and the entire area to do what he could to lift spirits in the state he calls home, whose residents he considers family.

“Kevin has always talked about the Thunder being part of the community, and he really showed that today,” Mussatto told me. “It wasn’t him doing something physically necessarily, it was his presence — I think it really helped those kids who came up to him.”

Durant didn’t do this for publicity. At first, he didn’t want anyone to know, but in the end, he said he wanted to call attention to what athletes can do, and should do, for communities they want to support, as much as they are supported.

Today, Smith will provide a special report on the Oklahoma softball team, currently No. 1 in the nation, as they compete for a spot in the Women’s College World Series (WCWS). The team plays tonight against No. 16 Texas A&M in the Norman Super Regional airing on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET. ESPN also will air every game in the WCWS from Oklahoma City, Okla. May 30-June 5.

As told to Dan Quinn

INDIANAPOLIS — SportsCenter anchor Lindsay Czarniak will host ABC’s live telecast of the 97th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race (ABC, Sunday, pre-race coverage beginning at 11 a.m. ET, green flag at 12:15 p.m.). Taking on a role most recently filled by Brent Musburger and in past years by such luminaries of sports television as Jim McKay, Bill Fleming and Chris Schenkel, Czarniak will be the first woman to host the telecast of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

Czarniak spent this past weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, reporting on Indy 500 qualifying for SportsCenter and preparing for this weekend’s race telecast. While she had covered the NASCAR Brickyard 400 at the track, she’d never been there during Indy 500 time. As part of her immersion, she took a ride around the track in a two-seater Indy Car with racing legend Mario Andretti, reaching speeds close to 200 miles per hour. Front Row caught up with Czarniak to talk about her first Indy 500:

Now that you’ve seen it first hand, what are your thoughts on the aura of the Indy 500?
It honestly blew my mind. Going into it, I had had so many people that told me about what to expect and what it feels like, and this is what the event day is like. But when I was there, it became so clear, so fast that this is such a unique event. The thing that hit me off the bat was the tradition and the history that is so evident in all the people that were there and the stories I heard from fans. This is going to sound funny, but it made me thankful and I felt blessed to be able to be a part of it and I realized the magnitude of this opportunity that I have. I get chills talking about it now.

How was your ride with Mario Andretti?
It made me wish that I could drive. At first, I was terrified, and then there was a point where I realized, “All right, we’re not going to crash, and I’m just going to sit here and look around and take in this moment.” It was just the ride of a lifetime. And he was so gracious and he’s so funny. The next day the whole left side of my neck was in pain because you realize that you’re compensating, and it’s just incredible thinking about what these drivers deal with and it’s no big deal [to them] because it’s what they love.

What was your biggest takeaway from qualifying weekend?
I realized just how important it is to people who have been going year in and year out and as a broadcaster it gives me a different sense of how I want to approach it because it’s like I want to make sure that I’m really transmitting what a big deal it is to them. And to Brent, he’s such a legend, and they were big shoes to fill before, but now that I’ve been there it’s just an even greater sense of “give it its due.”

The Pardon the Interruption set with Tony Kornheiser (L) and Michael Wilbon. (Randy Sage/ESPN Images)

Bonnie Berko is not only Pardon the Interruption’s assistant director. She’s also the show’s designated prop manager. Here are some of the favorite pieces she’s bought, collected and curated for the PTI set in Washington, D.C. over the past 12 years.

1. LADY LEG LAMP

One of PTI’s first props, the lamp was purchased as a gift for the show by resident “stat boy” Tony Reali.

2. “PTI GOTHIC”

Berko had this “American Gothic” inspired caricature of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon created.

3. BOBBLEHEADS

Berko has acquired an assortment of Kornheiser, Wilbon and Reali dolls through the years.

4. WALL OF HEADS

This signature PTI backdrop changes daily based on sports and pop culture newsmakers. Executive producer Erik Rydholm prints, cuts and pastes these himself. Seen here: Paul Pierce, Dwight Howard, Tom Brady, Bobby Orr, Kevin Garnett, Lance Armstrong, Mike Tyson — and even Katie Couric.

5. MAD MEN DOLLS

AMC sent Joan Harris and Roger Sterling dolls a few years ago when they learned Kornheiser and Wilbon were fans of the popular cable drama.

6. KATE MIDDLETON DOLL

Berko’s husband, Arty, is an ESPN producer whose assignments include covering the Olympics. Through the years, he has purchased Olympic mascot dolls for the set, as well as this doll of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, which he picked up during a site visit to London before the 2012 Summer Games.

7. STATUE OF LIBERTY

One of her first show purchases, Berko bought this from a local home décor store and drove to the office with Lady Liberty sticking out the back seat of her convertible. When studio guests bring hats and shirts to PTI, Berko often adorns the statue with them so they can be seen on TV.

8. ROBOT

Robots are a popular item on set (FYI: so are penguins). This one was made by a local D.C. artist.

9. PET JELLYFISH

Berko named the show’s gelatinous friends “Cuff” and “Link” after the pet turtles in Rocky. They were purchased at the annual Toy Fair in New York, a popular destination for Berko to find toys and trinkets for PTI.

10. PTI WINE

Made by one of Kornheiser’s friends, the bottle is a longtime favorite item of the staff. The PTI logo is etched in the glass – not a printed label.

11. EMMY STATUE

PTI received this Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show in 2009. It’s also a home for the Binghamton Bearcats mascot (Note: Binghamton, formerly Harpur College, is Kornheiser’s alma mater.)

12. NESTING DOLLS

One of the newest additions to the set, these dolls were custom-made just two weeks ago with the faces of Kornheiser, Wilbon and Reali.

Last night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, the 38th annual Gracie Awards were held, honoring “exemplary programming created for women, by women, and about women in all facets of media including radio, television, cable and digital media.”

ESPN was recognized with awards for Outside the Lines and espnW. ESPN anchor Hannah Storm was both a winner (for the W series she produced) and a presenter. ESPN reporter Michele Steele accepted the honor on behalf of OTL.

“What an honor to receive a Gracie last night in Los Angeles, my third as a producer,” Storm said. “It’s such an empowering event that promotes stories by women, for women and about women.

“Last night’s Gracie for Internet content was for a story I produced through my company Brainstormin, for espnW for the ‘Journeys and Victories’ series we developed for Procter and Gamble,” she said. “This story was user-generated content and Payge McMahon tells her story of following a bucket list she found of her mother’s, after her mom passed away. It changed her life.

“Another big highlight was awarding a Gracie to Michele Steele for the OTL feature about WNBA star Seimone Augustus. It was great getting to hang out with her and espn.com’s Ramona Shelbourne, who was coming off a long day writing about the Clippers.”

Said Steele: “I accepted a Gracie award on behalf of Outside the Lines, of which our submission included my feature on WNBA star Seimone Augustus’ fight to marry her partner legally in Minnesota. The Alliance for Women in Media recognizes work that reflects a realistic and multifaceted portrayal of women across many platforms and it was an honor to be recognized and included in OTL‘s entry.

“I am thankful to [Senior Coordinating Producer] Dwayne Bray, [OTL producer] Nicole Noren and my own manager [Senior Director of Digital Media and Video] Ronnie Forchheimer, who supported my work on the piece last year. The last 12 months have seen breathtaking change in attitudes towards gay athletes — and I’m glad to have played a part in telling their stories.”

The night provided a bonus for Storm: “As a mom of three teenage girls and an avid watcher of Pretty Little Liars, I was really excited to sit at a table with the stars of ABC Family hit show Ian Harding and Lucy Hale, who play Ezra and Aria, respectively. I tried to pry details of next season out of Ian and Lucy, but Ian said he’s not even allowed to tell his own mom plot lines. He did intimate that Ezra has some wild plot twists, which isn’t surprising.”

Storm and Steele supplied the photos seen in the gallery above.

Fans who watch ESPN telecasts of NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races hear the voices of anchor Allen Bestwick and analysts Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree as they call the action perched high above the start/finish line at racetracks across America.

But what fans don’t see is the sophisticated bank of high-tech equipment that the announcers use in the television booth.

Bestwick’s position has multiple screens, including a monitor showing what’s on the air, a screen aligned with NASCAR’s timing and scoring system, a touchscreen that allows him to access stats and information, a monitor for previewing upcoming video, a telestrator and a standard iPad showing local weather.

All the equipment in the booth travels from race to race with ESPN’s NASCAR production team and is installed — and then disassembeled — every week.

In this video for Front Row, Bestwick gives a tour of the booth, providing a behind the scenes look at ESPN’s NASCAR coverage.

Note: ESPN’s coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series continues Saturday, May 25, from the Charlotte Motor Speedway with the History 300, the first race of the season on ABC. NASCAR Countdown begins at 2:30 p.m. ET with the race’s green flag at 3:02 p.m. ESPN2 will also televise qualifying earlier that day at 11 a.m.