If you were watching the Saturday night Week 18 matchup between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans, you might have been wondering what was going on with the microphones for the ESPN announcers and reporters.
The microphone flags that display a company logo were backwards whenever ESPN announcers appeared in front of the cameras. You can see with announcers Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, as well as reporters Lisa Salters and John Sutcliffe (who works for ESPN Deportes).
In honor of Damar Hamlin, the broadcast crew has turned the ESPN mic flags from an E to a 3 ❤️#ForDamar pic.twitter.com/VtKhLW4uR0
— ESPN (@espn) January 8, 2023
No, those weren’t examples of the broadcast team trying to protest or show disrespect to the network. Rather, that was done intentionally as a tribute to Damar Hamlin.
Hamlin’s jersey number is 3, so a backwards “E” for ESPN becomes a three.
Teams across the league had gestures of support for Hamlin planned for Week 18. ESPN joined in as well to show their support for the Buffalo Bills safety, who is recovering after going into cardiac arrest in Week 17 and has made great progress.
