Len Pasquarelli is an American sports writer and analyst with The Sports Xchange and a 25-year veteran of covering the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). The Sports Xchange is a network of professional, accredited reporters and analysts who cover each team or sport full-time. Prior to joining the Sports Xchange, he wrote for ESPN.com starting in 2001 and was a frequent contributor to the other

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

outlets, including '' SportsCenter'',

ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

, ESPN Radio and ''

ESPN The Magazine ''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year ...

''. Before ESPN, Pasquarelli served as a senior writer for CBS SportsLine.com. He has also covered the NFL for the '' Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' from 1989 to 1999, the ''

Fort Wayne News-Sentinel ''The News-Sentinel'' was a daily newspaper based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The afternoon ''News-Sentinel'' was politically independent. The papers suspended publication in November 2020, after the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic. Early history '' ...

'' from 1985 to 1989, ''

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League (NFL). It was owned by Pro Football Weekly LLC and headquartered in Riverwoods, Illinoi ...

'' from 1982 to 1985, and ''Pittsburgh Steelers Weekly'' from 1978 to 1982. Pasquarelli is a member of the

Pro Football Writers of America The Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA), sometimes known as Pro Football Writers Association, is an organization that purports to be " heofficial voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve ...

and has twice won national awards as the Best NFL Reporter of the Year. He also has won several writing awards, including an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

Deadline Sports Reporting Award in 1988. Pasquarelli has been on the committee that selects inductees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. During the annual selection meeting on February 2, 2008, he fell ill and was taken to an area hospital. The following day he had quintuple bypass surgery. While in rehabilitation for the bypass surgery, he began to experience new symptoms which were later diagnosed as

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation or pain oft ...

. Pasquarelli is a

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, Pennsylvania native and graduated from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

in 1972. He currently resides in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia. Pasquarelli's candid writing style has generated controversy at times, particularly his condemnation of the Washington Redskins franchise. He has openly admitted his distaste for the Redskins organization, including former coach

Joe Gibbs Joe Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former professional football coach. In football, he was head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1992, and ...

, to whom he referred derisively as "Ordinary Joe" during his second tenure. Moreover, he has confessed to disliking Redskins owner

Daniel Snyder Daniel Marc Snyder (born November 23, 1964) is an American businessman and owner of the Washington Commanders, an American football team belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He bought the team, then known as the Washington Redskins, ...

. His speculation that former Redskins safety

Sean Taylor Sean Michael Maurice Taylor (April 1, 1983 – November 27, 2007) was an American football safety for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected fifth overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Redskins, where he ...

was slain on account of his precarious lifestyle sparked additional resentment.

References

External links

Pasquarelli’s sports columns from ESPN.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasquarelli, Len Dick McCann Memorial Award recipients Writers from Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) ESPN Radio Sportswriters from Pennsylvania People with Guillain–Barré syndrome