Let’s pour one out for the retiring Lee Corso. 

After 38 years, the legendary coach and ESPN college football analyst will make his final College GameDay headgear pick on Saturday, Aug. 30, during Week 1 of the 2025 college football season. College football Saturdays will never be the same.

Corso, who turns 90 in August, has been a part of GameDay since the show’s premiere in 1987. He made his first headgear pick in 1996, when he put on Ohio State’s Brutus Buckeye mascot head. At the time, Corso and ESPN knew the then-new wife of Kirk Herbstreit, Alison, had been a Buckeyes cheerleader. After some “high-level” negotiations, they scored the Brutus headgear. The coach slapped it on. And a beloved college tradition was born. Since then, Corso has made 430 picks.

“ESPN has been exceptionally generous to me, especially these past few years. They accommodated me and supported me, as did my colleagues in the early days of College GameDay,” said Corso in a statement. “Special thanks to Kirk Herbstreit for his friendship and encouragement. And lest I forget, the fans … truly a blessing to share this with them. ESPN gave me this wonderful opportunity and provided me the support to ensure success. I am genuinely grateful.”

Corso suffered a stroke in 2009, but ESPN still kept him on the air. “Lee Corso has developed a special connection to generations of fans through his entertaining style and iconic headgear picks,” said ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro in a statement. “Lee is one of the most influential and beloved figures in the history of college football and our ESPN team will celebrate his legendary career during his final College GameDay appearance this August.”

Tim Brando, College GameDay’s original host, saluted Corso on  X/Twitter Thursday. “A Coach in his heart, but an Entertaining one, that ya knew would be a hit and he was BIG TIME!”

Current host Rece Davis said Corso’s iconic headgear pick should be retired. “I think I’m going to have to tackle anybody that tries to do a headgear pick other than Lee Corso. That to me is his signature moment and it should stay with him,” he told CNN.

The phone ban employed by The Masters was widely hailed for improving both the tournament’s in-person experience and TV coverage. But don’t look for golf’s three other majors to emulate August National Golf Club’s strict ban on cellphones.

FOS has learned that the PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and Open Championship will continue to allow cellphones this year—albeit with restrictions. It’s not just about enabling paying fans to capture their experience. The advent of digital ticketing has made cellphones almost de rigueur when attending many sporting events.

As I wrote, the electric atmosphere of The Masters translated like a current right through the TV screen, and it seems clear to many there that the phone ban was part of it. But it appears that in the immediate future, Augusta National will stand alone.

For more on the three majors’ stances about phone usage during tournaments, you can read Michael McCarthy’s full story here.

The WNBA draft drew 1.25 million viewers on ESPN this year, simultaneously a 49% drop from last year’s event that featured Caitlin Clark, and easily the second-highest-rated draft in that league’s history. It correlates to broader trends around women’s college basketball; the game has grown a great deal, but Clark remains an outlier.

“That’s idiotic. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen.”

—FS1’s Colin Cowherd on WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark being left off this year’s Time 100 Most Influential People list, which includes the NFL’s Jalen Hurts, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, and the WNBA’s Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. It’s also inexplicable given that Time named Clark its 2024 Athlete of the Year.

66.5

The winning percentage for retiring College GameDay legend Lee Corso’s mascot headgear picks. Heading into his last show, Corso has made 430 selections, with an all-time record of 286–144. Corso donned the headgear of 69 different schools. Ohio State leads that list, with 45 selections, followed by Alabama (38), LSU (25), Florida (22), and Oregon (21).

Many readers reacted to our column advocating that golf’s three other majors copy The Masters’ strict ban on phones to improve their own TV coverage.

Ryan wrote on X/Twitter that he could see the difference. “Great piece, Michael. I’m starting to favor this idea more and more every time I watch the Masters. I don’t know if it could work in other sports, but some bands at concerts seem to use the same phone ban strategy as well. Like you said, you could really feel it through the TV.”

JustinD2473 agreed. “All tournaments … not just majors. And stop the screaming after people’s tee shots. If AGNC can do it, everyone can,” he tweeted.

Yankees podcaster Gary Sheffield Jr. wants to go further: “Obviously the elephant in the room is banning cellphones has increased the experience at The Masters to the point where folks now want them gone at all major sporting events. What no one talking about is how cellphones ruin almost every experience we have, including restaurants.”

But Rugby Kobi wants to keep his cellphone. “I get its better for the TV product, but having been to plenty of majors I can tell you I am glad phones were allowed. Its a truly amazing experience and I would be upset if I could not capture it. Its not everyday you are five feet from Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.”