Dan Le Batard

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Dan Le Batard is an American newspaper sportswriter, radio host, and television reporter based out of Miami, FL.

Le Batard graduated from the University of Miami in 1990 with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and politics. During his college career, he was a sportswriter for the college newspaper, The Miami Hurricane. He received criticism for helping to escalate the rancor in the UM versus Notre Dame rivalry by publishing the phone number of the Notre Dame athletic department and by referring to coach Lou Holtz as Sir Lou, or Lou Sir (Loser), calling on readers to call all through the week of the game to help distract the coaches.

Le Batard began work at the Miami Herald in 1990 and is a columnist for their sports section. His first major work for The Herald was to investigate his former college's football team, leading to the Pell Grant scandal and NCAA sanctions against the football team. He has also written for a number of magazines including Cosmopolitan, Maxim, and ESPN The Magazine.

In addition to his work for the Miami Herald, Le Batard hosts an afternoon radio show weekdays with Jon "Stugotz" Weiner on WAXY 790 The Ticket in Miami. Le Batard is known for his self-deprecating humor, which carries over onto the show through running jokes. For example, after Le Batard casually disclosed that he sometimes sleeps on the balcony of his apartment/condo, it has become a running gag to introduce anything related to balconies during the show.

Le Batard prides himself on being the "uncomfortable" sports journalist. He often writes about controversial topics, especially race. This carries over to his radio show, where guests may be asked questions ranging from the racial undertones of the Michael Vick case to the effect that race has on how players are drafted into the NBA. After writing a column for the Herald on the former topic, Le Batard was featured on Fox News's Hannity & Colmes to discuss the issue.^[1] The result of the panel discussion was as uncomfortable as the topic itself.

Le Batard is an outspoken critic of disciplinarian coaches on his radio show and in his columns for ESPN the Magazine, feeling that the disciplinarian style of coaching is ill-suited to the modern era of high player salaries and guaranteed contracts.

Le Batard is a frequent contributor to many programs on the ESPN television network. Among others, he is a recurring guest on Outside the Lines, The Sports Reporters, and College GameDay. He is also a regular guest host of Pardon the Interruption, where he has been christened "The Hatable Dan Le Batard" or Dan LeBastard or Flounder due to his sometimes controversial (and usually contrarian) opinions. Hosting duties on PTI have allowed Le Batard the implementation of the catch-phrase "Bam!", which he exclaims in various ways at the beginning of each show he guest hosts.

In May 2008, he announced that he will be taking a year long sabbatical from his media responsibilities.