Chris Broussard

Christopher Dana Broussard (born October 28, 1968[1]) is an American sports analyst and commentator for Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports Radio. He is best known for his coverage of the NBA. Previously, he worked for The New York Times, ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, and made appearances on ESPN's SportsCenter, NBA Countdown, First Take, and NBA Fastbreak as an analyst.

Chris Broussard
Broussard in 2019
Born (1968-10-28) October 28, 1968
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.
Alma materOberlin College
OccupationSports columnist, TV sports color analyst, TV personality
Years active1990–present

Early and personal life

Broussard was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and is an African-American of Louisiana Creole descent.[2] Due to his father's job as a personnel manager for Traveler's Insurance Co., Broussard and his family moved often during his childhood. He lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, Indianapolis, Syracuse, New York, Des Moines, Iowa, and Cleveland, Ohio, before finishing high school. In 1986, he graduated from Holy Name High School in Cleveland. A standout football and basketball player at Holy Name, Broussard was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2016. He matriculated to Oberlin College, from which he graduated in May 1990 with a bachelor's degree in English.[3] He played point guard on the Oberlin basketball team. [4]

He has been married to his wife, Crystal, for 24 years. The couple have twin daughters named Alexis and Noelle.[3] He has spoken publicly about his Christian faith, which he has had since 1989.[5]

In addition to his work as a sports commentator, Broussard is the Founder and President of The K.I.N.G. Movement, a national Christian men's organization that seeks to strengthen men in their Christian faith and lifestyle by providing support, accountability, teaching, fellowship and brotherhood. K.I.N.G. is an acronym that stands for Knowledge, Inspiration, and Nurture through God. It has chapters in various cities and has had celebrities such as Shaun Alexander, Brian Dawkins, Aeneas Williams, Greg Jennings, Troy Vincent, Darryl Strawberry, Lionel Hollins, Bernard King and Mykelti Williamson participate in its events. Broussard is a frequent speaker at churches and schools throughout the nation. He is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Career

Sportswriting career

In 1990, Broussard began his sports writing career for The Plain Dealer.[6] He worked there for four years before moving to the Akron Beacon Journal where he started covering the NBA, spending two-and-a-half seasons with them as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat writer. Broussard then went on to work for The New York Times in 1998, where he covered the New Jersey Nets for two years, the New York Knicks for three years, and the NBA in general for one year.[3] In September 2004 Broussard joined ESPN The Magazine.

TV career

In 2004, in addition to his writing duties, Broussard began making regular appearances on ESPN as an NBA insider and analyst, and occasionally as a panelist on First Take debating sports topics with Skip Bayless. For the 2011–12 NBA season, Broussard was added to ABC's NBA Countdown pregame show as an NBA insider. He also spent three years as a sideline reporter for nationally-televised games on ESPN and ABC.

In April 2013, Broussard was criticized for comments he made on an ESPN Outside the Lines program about NBA player Jason Collins coming out as homosexual.[7] Broussard had expressed his views on homosexuality and other sexual behaviors which he characterized as sins, stating "If you're openly living in unrepentant sin...I believe that's walking in open rebellion to God."[8] He later released a statement clarifying his remarks, saying that he had merely offered his "personal opinion as it relates to Christianity," and conceded that he realizes "that some people disagree with my opinion and I accept and respect that."[9]

In October of 2016, Broussard left ESPN for FOX Sports 1. He has stated that he left ESPN because the network's offer to return would have relegated him strictly to a reporter's role. At that stage of his career, he found FS1's offer to be more of a commentator, analyst and personality more appealing. At FS1, Broussard is a regular panelist on Skip and Shannon: Undisputed, The Herd, First Things First, and Lock It In.[10]

In 2018, Broussard became co-host of a daily national radio show called The Odd Couple. His co-host is Rob Parker, another FS1 sports analyst. The Odd Couple can be heard on FOX Sports Radio and Sirius XM Channel 83.

References
  1. Chris Broussard at IMDb
  2. Broussard, Chris (ed.). "Its come to my attn some folks wondering bout my ethnicity. Answer - I'm Black. Birth certificate says "Negro." Black Creole from Louisiana". Twitter. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  3. "Sportswriter Chris Broussard - Ask a Reporter". NYTimes.com.
  4. http://www.nba.com/nets/news/AllAccess_Online_First_Ever_Nets_Media_Hoops_Challenge.html
  5. ESPN's Chris Broussard talks NBA, shares testimony at I Am Basketbalue All-Star Event
  6. http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/19076
  7. Jon Weisman (April 29, 2013). "ESPN's Chris Broussard Under Fire Over Homosexuality Comments". Variety.
  8. Josh Vorhees (April 29, 2013). "Slatest PM: ESPN Analyst Uses Jason Collins' Announcement to Call Homosexuality a Sin". Slate (magazine).
  9. Mitchell, Houston (April 30, 2013). "Chris Broussard clarifies his ESPN remarks about Jason Collins". Los Angeles Times.
  10. Youtube Undisputed Search https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Chris+Broussard+UNDISPUTED
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