The happiest moment of Sarina Morales' life turned to ashes one day at ESPN this fall. After climbing from the streets and baseball fields of the Bronx to co-anchor "SportsCenter:AM," Morales was proudly showing her father, Angel, around the hallowed halls of the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
One minute she was introducing her beaming dad to ESPN stars such as Adam Schefter, Jemele Hill and Ryan Clark in Bristol. The next she was horrified to learn ESPN management was not picking up the contract for what she termed her "dream job."
Morales' three-year tenure with ESPN ends Jan. 5. Even though the layoff had zero to do with performance, she's still wrestling with feelings of guilt.
"I've never seen (my father) so happy and so proud of me, and then I lose the job," Morales told Sporting News in an interview. "It really broke my heart."
Still, Morales said she is "super grateful" to ESPN for her time in Bristol, and she "respects" the fact Rob King, ESPN's vice president for "SportsCenter," news and information, delivered the bad news to her in person rather than farming it out to the HR department.
Morales is one of the untold stories associated with the network's most recent layoffs. The network publicly announced in late November it had pink-slipped 150 behind-the-scenes staffers, its third round of mass layoffs in two years. What ESPN didn't say was that it has been quietly declining to re-sign some on-air talent like Morales. Those employees are not counted among the big layoffs, but they're on the way out just the same.
"Many folks are let go under the radar," said one source. "I personally know of 10 that have been let go since the April layoff (of 100 on-air anchors/analysts/reporters)."
ESPN declined to comment.
All of those moves have come while ESPN hires outsiders such as Katie Nolan of Fox Sports, brings on out-of-work coaches like Rex Ryan and builds an expensive New York City studio for Mike Greenberg's morning show.
And as with several other decisions by ESPN over the past couple of years, Morales' layoff is a head-scratcher given the network's stated goals.
Diversity-minded network president John Skipper wants to put more women and people of color in front of the camera and behind the microphone. Morales, 31, is one of the top young Latina anchor/reporters in the industry. Her parents are of Puerto Rican and Colombian descent. She jokingly refers to herself as "half JLo and half Shakira."
Similarly, ESPN is making a strong push into digital to lure back millennial sports fans. Morales cut her teeth on social media. After graduating from Syracuse University in 2008, she won a national contest to become a Nike field reporter, blogging and producing live content for Nike.com. From there, she led National Geographic's social media efforts. During her two-year stint on "SportsCenter:AM" with Kevin Negandhi, Jay Harris and Jaymee Sire, Morales was active on Snapchat and Periscope during the daily three-hour telecast.
ESPN announced in November it was launching "SportsCenter on Snapchat," a hipper version of its flagship TV highlights show reimagined for a new medium/audience. As a social media whiz, Morales would have been perfect for the planned three- to five-minute segments. Instead, the jobs went to Nolan, Elle Duncan, Cassidy Hubbarth, country music artist Jason Fitz and comedian Cy Amundson.
Would Morales have liked a shot at the Snapchat project? Does a girl from the Bronx root for the Yankees?
"I've always loved the fact that social media gives us the option to tell stories in different ways. That's always been my bread and butter," she said.
During her stint on "SportsCenter:AM," Morales' fun-loving personality jumped off the screen. Even though she's bummed about losing her high-profile gig, she laughs often. She said she looked for a silver lining even as she left King's office.
"I thought, 'Oh, Sarina, what are you going to do now?' Then I thought, 'You know what? I hit my dream job. Now I've got the rest of my life to mess up. I'm good to go. I've got the rest of my life to do dumb things now that I was a "SportsCenter" anchor.'"
SportsCenter is fun. pic.twitter.com/K2YUNXTHMX
— Sarina (@sarina) July 22, 2017
Morales is represented by CAA talent agent Matt Olson. He's spreading the word she's a free agent. Morales has had some early discussions with interested suitors. So what would she like to do next?
Given her 10 years of playing hardball with the boys in the Bronx, she'd love to cover the major leagues, but she's also fascinated by the NBA. She jokes she's one of the few who closely watches college basketball in November. She'd prefer to stay in sports rather than move to hard news. Her ideal job would combine linear TV and online coverage. With online giants such as Twitter, Facebook and Google expected to expand their sports offerings, she's watching closely to see if they will revolutionize coverage.
"I'd love to host a show. Who knows? Maybe I end up at Buzzfeed, Twitter or Facebook," she said. "I'd love to work with a Google or a dot-com, (or) maybe a startup where I help them build their sports platforms."
When ESPN revamped the cast of "SportsCenter:AM," it shifted Morales to a feature reporting role. Instead of taking it as a demotion, Morales said she "had a ball" telling offbeat stories from the road, such as interviewing Packers fans at Eddie Lacy's garage sale.
"I really loved telling two- to five-minute stories that made people smile," she said.
Morales' 2017 can't end soon enough. Once she knew she was toast at ESPN, she decided to bolster her flagging spirits with what she jokingly called her own "Eat Pray Love" vacation to Singapore and Indonesia. Her plans went awry when she contracted dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease common in the tropics.
Lying by herself in an emergency room, she thought, "Yo, when am I going to catch a break?"
After experiencing three major layoffs over two years, many remaining ESPN staffers are fearful, waiting for the tap on the shoulder from their boss telling them to turn in their playbook. The pink-slipped employees try to stay positive. But lurking in the back of all their minds is this fear: They'll never land as good a job again. And that the best time of their career is over.
To their credit, individual ESPNers take care of their own, whether they still work there or not. While she was lying in that Indonesian hospital bed, Morales received text messages from former major league outfielder Doug Glanville, who was swept out the door in ESPN's April layoffs.
"He was like, 'Can I contact the (U.S.) embassy for you, Sarina, can I call your mother, what can I do?' It was the most surreal thing. I don't have a job at ESPN, I'm on vacation by myself and Doug Glanville is texting, 'What do you need me to do?' You'll see this with the recent layoffs. Once you're part of the ESPN family, you don't just leave. Once you're in, you're in," she said.
Now that word is spreading that Morales is out, the extended ESPN family is again taking care of one of its own.
Longtime "SportsCenter" anchors such as Kenny Mayne and John Buccigross have texted Morales. She has gotten together with former "SportsCenter:AM" castmates Harris and Randy Scott. Her buddy Sire, another of the April layoffs, offered a spare bedroom at her apartment in Brooklyn. ESPNers ranging from NFL analyst Ryan Clark to NBA commentator Amin Elhassan have offered support as well.
Flashback Friday... I miss my friend @jaymee pic.twitter.com/TQT0ors13D
— Sarina (@sarina) November 17, 2017
"Adnan Virk and Jorge Sedano have been really great mentors to me. They're helping me get through this process," she said. "It's a total shock. You feel like you failed, when it's not you. There's a pride thing, too. 'Man, I've been working my butt off. Why did this happen to me?' So there's a readjustment mentally. But man, I've never been more grateful for all the people who stayed in touch with me."
Ultimately, Morales is a native New Yorker, and native New Yorkers bounce back. Her family and friends in the Bronx have been a rock of support as she processes what's going on with her and sports media in 2017.
"There is this roller coaster of emotions you experience. I'm on the other side," she said. "The ride just finished. Now I'm like, 'What's the next ride I can get on?'"
