SVP on Returning to DC & How COVID-19 Reinforced the move, Playing Pickup with Len Bias and More
Maryland Superfan Scott Van Pelt will be right at home when he debuts a new era of his show from right outside his hometown in Washington D.C. Monday night.
The midnight edition SportsCenter host recently explained on the University of Maryland Athletics’ Hear The Turtle podcast that the reason why he moved the show from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. to D.C, a transition that was announced in January, was simple.
“You know what it is. Home’s home, man. It’s where I’m from,” Van Pelt said. “I told [Terps football coach Michael Locksley] this when I was on his show back in the spring, like if you’re from here and you tell someone about the DMV and what it is, they get it. And maybe we’re silly to act like it’s different than if you’re from, I don’t know, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, San Diego or Dallas, or anywhere, but this place, I don’t know, I just think if you’re from here, this is who you are. This is always who I was, I just never thought there’d be a reason to come back.”
In reality, there were plenty of reasons why Van Pelt wanted to return home. When he pitched the idea to Erik Rdyholm, the executive producer of a number of ESPN shows, including DC-based Pardon The Interruption, at last summer’s ESPY Awards, though, he was pleasantly surprised when his idea wasn’t met with pushback.
“I just batted it around and I told him look, I get it if we can’t, but someone’s got to explain to me why we can’t,” he said.
The show will mostly look the same, but as always, expect Van Pelt to find ways to pay homage to D.C. area with local references and shoutouts. He enlisted Trouble Funk, a legendary go-go band, to play the intro music at the start of the show.
“What I'm most excited about is to be able to come on the air in a way that will say to people from here, that I'm back here," he said.
The move was officially announced in January, less than a year after the idea was pitched, and a few months before the world was changed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
And while you could imagine complications arising from such a move during a pandemic, it's been mostly smooth sailing since the plan was hatched.
“From the idea to the end, it’s amazing how straight of a line it’s been,” Van Pelt said. “I would’ve thought there’d be all kinds of, ‘well I don’t know, maybe’, and hail marys, but it’s been, gratefully, mostly a straight line from ‘A’ to DC, sort of speak.”
Van Pelt had to restructure his show at the start of the pandemic, but he kept content fresh without sports, unveiling new segments such as “Senior Night”, which paid tribute to college athletes who saw their final seasons end prematurely. The idea that he could host his show from anywhere was reinforced during that time as he conducted informal virtual interviews with celebrities and big-time athletes, including Marshawn Lynch, Jack Nichlaus, James Corden and the Beastie Boys, from their cars, kitchens and even garages.
“You can do this anywhere. That’s what we figured out,” he said. “So why DC? Cause it’s home.”
More from Van Pelt…
On playing pickup with Len Bias:
“Being on the floor with Len Bias, he was just different. Like, really different. Just in terms of physical makeup, ability, competitiveness, it was, you know, I think I told this story on there with Rece [Davis].
“We used to play [pickup] in the Armory to 11 and it was by 1s and it was straight or it was [win] by 2 depending [on the game[, but if you’re playing 11 straight and Len’s team was down by one, he was going to score, he was going to block a shot at the other end and he was going to go down and score again. And everyone was powerless to deal with the guy. He was really almost like a mythical figure because everyone knew he was that guy, and he was on the floor.
“The fun part about being able to play in those games, for me, is those dudes forgot them the second they walked out of the gym. They were just getting a run in. But for me, I’m out there running around with guys who were friends, but guys who were just different. I was a student, they were students, but they just seemed different to me because they were Maryland basketball players. Particularly Leonard who was again, I said on the show with Rece, he’s like a fish story that was real. Nobody could be like that. He was like that. “
On Cole Field House memories:
"It just smelled like Cole Field House. It smelled like cigars and popcorn. It was hot as hell. It would be January and a blast of heat would hit you when you walked in. You'd walk in at the street level and you'd be above the floor and there'd be these signs that were painted by the pep club on either side of the floor. But when I was a little kid, I always wanted to see what the sign said. It was always some rhyme about beating North Carolina or NC State or whatever. But I went with my Dad who had season tickets and we'd sit there and I got to see the greats of all time, like the famous [Michael] Jordan 'rock the cradle' dunk was at the end of the game when Leonard [Bias] and Michael went back and forth the whole game. I was there that night. The legend of ACC and Tobacco Road felt mythical and I got to see so many great players come through.
“Growing up there and sitting next to my Pop … it's why when I got to come back and bring my show home when Maryland played Georgetown it was so emotional to me - and my Dad passed when I was in college - because if you had told me someday I'll have a show and I'll get to bring it back to Maryland and have it on the floor after a Maryland-Georgetown game and I told my Pop that, he would have lost his mind. So memories of my Dad and other family friends in Cole are really, really special. It was an incredible place. Ask Gary [Williams]. XFINITY [Center] is a great building. It has all the bells and whistles. Cole Field House was just different. It felt like it was alive. And on ACC nights, it was.”
SVP's all-time Maryland starting five:
"Leonard Bias. I've got to put Greivis in there because that was my guy. I love Greivis Vasquez forever. Forever I will love that kid. Because he loves Maryland like I love it. Juan Dixon is the reason they won the title - not just him - but I'll pick him from that era. So I need bigs. This is impossible! This is impossible! Walt Williams saved Maryland basketball, but Walt probably doesn't make it because I have to put Buck Williams on there. Buck was a bad, bad man. He was like 6-8 and undersized and he used to terrorize Ralph Sampson. John Lucas went number one in the draft - he's got to be on there. I'm terrible at lists! I'm looking for a pen! Probably Andrew Terrell on there somewhere - we'll finish it with that. It's so hard to do. You can do five and then another five. [Steve] Francis was more of a Haley's Comet. He came in and did some outrageous stuff, but his time was so brief. Like Len Bias was here four years!"
On the worst loss he's had as a fan:
"There's a lot of games I could have said, but I reacted in the moment. I said when Michigan State and Korey Lucious hit a shot at the buzzer to beat Maryland [in 2010]. Go back and look at that game log. I want to say the last six shots Greivis took, he made. The last two gave Maryland the lead. He hit one, then Draymond Green hit one, then Greivis hit one and Maryland had the lead again. And then the kid (Lucius) hit a shot and the thing about that shot was it ended the game, it ended Maryland's season and it ended Greivis Vasquez's Maryland career. And on the other side of that Kansas had been beaten by Northern Iowa. I'm not saying it's a given, but the path was there for them to maybe make a run. And that team - they beat Duke at home on Greivis' senior night. I just wanted to see Greivis get to go as far as he could. His career ended with him absolutely - you know that John Snow picture holding the sword - Greivis was holding the sword and he knocked a lot of Spartans out on the way, but in the end they got him. To me, that's who Greivis is. He was such a badass."
Basketball & recruiting writer