Central High

Outside the Lines, Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN

SportsCenter, Sunday, 10 a.m., ESPN

SC Featured Special, Monday, 5:30 p.m., ESPNU

Central High School in Tuscaloosa, Ala., was an academic and athletic powerhouse, a model of integration success. But in 2003, Central High was re-zoned into three separate schools. The new Central student population became 99 percent African-American, the majority coming from the largely impoverished West Tuscaloosa. Head football coach Dennis Conner has slowly been rebuilding.  From the 2014 home opener, a playoff appearance, to National Signing Day, SC Featured: Central High chronicles a coach and his team trying to rise above, both on the field and off it. Jemele Hill narrates.

“They can’t say, ‘Coach, you don’t know’, because I do know.  You got to make your life better because if you don’t make your life better, no one else will.” – Dennis Conner, Central High head football coach

“That football program believes Coach Conner, because he’s been there, he’s done it. One who’s been there through the time of segregation and desegregation, who understands where Central came from and where Central needs to get to.” – Robert Coates, Tuscaloosa Public Schools director of secondary education

“You have a group of students who are on that borderline, who could go either way. The perception is that they are not going to make it and each year I can see them growing and growing and improving. I’m more excited about that than wins and losses.” – Dr. Clarence Sutton Jr., Central High principal

Why the Chris Paul Incident May not be the Right Time to Cry Foul

espnW

Sure, Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul crossed the line with one sentence in his criticism of Lauren Holtkamp. But let’s face it: Referees and umpires have heard a whole lot worse. Melissa Isaacson reports.

ESPN.com Profiles Charles Barkley and John Wall Ahead of NBA All-Star Weekend

Charles Barkley

ESPN.com features an in-depth profile of NBA Hall of Famer and Turner Sports analyst Charles Barkley. Commissioned by the TheUndefeated.com, ESPN’s new site that will focus on the intersection of sports, race and urban culture, senior writer Jesse Washington pens an expansive, 9,000-word piece titled, “Up from Leeds: The People, the Place and the Privilege that Made Charles Barkley a Role Model.”

John Wall

In a separate long-form story this week on ESPN.com, TheUndefeated.com columnist and feature writer Mike Wise examines the maturation of Washington Wizards’ John Wall and the path the NBA All-Star guard took from an insolent youngster growing up in the Raleigh, N.C. area, to becoming a beloved leader for a resurgent team in a city passionately steeped, by equal measure, in sports and politics. Read “Little John Wall’s unvarnished climb.”

Sports Reporters

This week’s Panel* (Sunday, 9:30 a.m. ESPN; 10:30 a.m., ESPN2)

Mike Lupica, guest host

Kate Fagan

William C. Rhoden

Bob Ryan

*Subject to change

From The Grounds Up

ESPN.com

The opening match of the Cricket World Cup, between host New Zealand and Sri Lanka, will be the first major sporting event in Christchurch since a 2011 earthquake killed more than 180 people and devastated a city that’s still picking up the pieces. Can the return of the Cricket World Cup help the survivors move on? Wayne Drehs reports.

 Julio Cesar Chavez

Reportajes Especiales – ESPN Deportes – Sunday

After leaving behind his alcohol and drug addictions, legendary Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez now lends a hand to those struggling as he once did. The five-time World Champion spoke candidly with Reportajes Especiales about the demons of his past.

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