i'm chris cotter. earlier this week, we here at the espn on abc family lost one of our own with the passing of john saunders. john came to espn during the network's infancy in 1986 and quickly garnered the respect of the sports-viewing public with his friendly, engaging, no-nonsense style. he was highly respected in the industry and was beloved by those who got to work with him as a colleague and those who our bob ley had the privilege of working with john during his entire 30-year tenure at espn, and he filed this report on john's behalf. >> john saunders filled a room as he commanded the television screen with his vibrant personality, his hearty and frequent laugh. >> welcome to espn's tuesday night baseball -- [ laughter ] >> to know john, to work with him, was to pull up a chair at a comfortable dinner and share --