ESPN sends Neil Everett off with classy video after final SportsCenter

It was last call for Neil Everett on Friday’s edition of SportsCenter. The longtime ESPN anchor signed off for the final time as he departs the network after more than 20 years, and he got a classy sendoff.

Everett — seated next to longtime partner Stan Verrett — said farewell to the anchor desk at which he’s sat since 2009 in Los Angeles. He joined ESPN in 2000 as an anchor on ESPNEWS and moved to California to join forces with Verrett as part of the late-night SportsCenter from LA.

Verrett is still with the network, but Everett is on his way out the door as the network prepares for layoffs and cost-cutting. He left in true Neil Everett fashion, too.

A worthy sendoff for Neil Everett on his final @SportsCenter. pic.twitter.com/nCnYkYJaNz

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 24, 2023

“Well, this is the end of the line for me,” Everett said. “I’m not on social media, but Stan has told me that some of you have left some favorable tweets, and I appreciate that.

“You do this to entertain you all out there and to entertain yourself. … Love is a long road. I’ll see you down it.”

Although he’s not on Twitter, Everett still saw some of the responses via Verrett and some of his friends. He made sure to point out his favorite, which summed up his sense of humor perfectly.

“The one tweet I remember, somebody sent it to me. It was attached to a tweet chain and it said, ‘I’ve been watching SportsCenter religiously for 20-plus years and I’ve never heard of Neil Everett,'” he said with a smile.

Everrett was known for his many catchphrases behind the SportsCenter desk. “Bartender, Jack” was one of his most notable, as “Aloha means goodbye.” The latter came from his time in Hawaii, where he worked before arriving at ESPN.

Everett also enjoyed making music and movie references during the show. When he would read the Top 10 plays and the countdown got to No. 8, he’d say “Mark it eight, Dude” — referencing the line from “The Big Lebowski.”

Now, he’s ready to focus on some of his other ventures, as he told Front Office Sports when confirming his decision to leave ESPN. He has worked for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers the last couple years, and FOS also reported he has “several side projects in the works.” 

“ESPN changed my life, but now it’s time for me to change my life,” Everett said in a statement to FOS. “Time to write a new chapter.”