The Skipper

A year into helming ESPN's $8 billion sports empire, John Skipper knows success means staying ahead of the competition

Manti Te’o is crazy or stupid, and very possibly both. At present, the only thing the 14 people in an ESPN conference room can agree on is that, for good or ill, the story of the Notre Dame defensive standout and his imaginary dead girlfriend is going to eat up the first quarter hour, give or take, of the evening broadcast.

It’s an overcast morning at ESPN’s home base in Bristol, Conn., one day after the sports site Deadspin broke the news about the preternaturally gifted Te’o, a fearsome inside linebacker in the mold of a Jack Lambert or Ray Lewis.

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