Sam Ponder reveals her own brutal ESPN firing after Suzy Kolbers raw confession

Sam Ponder looked back on her ESPN firing after her former colleague Suzy Kolber shared emotional details of being laid off by the Worldwide Leader in 2023 after three decades on-air.Ponder, the former host of “Sunday NFL Countdown,” said she received a call from Kolber after being let go as part of the network’s cost-cutting layoffs in August 2024.“Suzy could have easily been a jerk to me when I started on ‘Countdown’ but she was incredibly kind and encouraging,” Ponder, who was at ESPN for 14 years, wrote on X in a quote tweet featuring Kolber’s interview with Sports Business Journal.“I remember feeling like it was a little weird that ESPN said nothing publicly, only leaking my firing so that I got a NY Times notification on my phone that I was out, when they fired me after 14 years there.

“Suzy called me soon after and I was quickly reminded what a fool I was to expect anything else.If anyone deserved a thank you, it was her.

She is an absolute legend and I regret that I didn’t show more obvious deference to her while I was still there.She is so classy and gracious and I’m so glad she’s gotten to be ‘just’ a volleyball mom these last few years.

Nothing better.” Kolber opened up for the first time publicly on her painful exit from ESPN after 27 years in an interview with SBJ.She explained that the most emotional part of being laid off was that the company never acknowledged her departure despite being one of the most well-known on-air talents, having helped launch ESPN2 in 1993. “Probably the most emotional thing was [Former ESPN exec] Norby [Williamson] saying to me [ESPN was] not going to say anything,” Kolber recalled.

“I was the first person hired for the launch of ESPN2.I was the first person assigned to the X Games.

I was part of ‘Monday Night Football’’s move to ESPN.I was part of some pretty big franchises.

I was like, ‘You’re not gonna say a word? Not thanks for 27 years.Just acknowledge it?’“I d...