PATRICK Leaving ESPN After 18 Years

(From The Houston Chronicle -- By David Barron)

DAN PATRICK, one of ESPN's signature voices for 18 years, said Monday he has decided to leave the network in mid-August because he felt he was doing average work while occupying one of ESPN's most high-profile positions.

"Over the last 2 1/2 years, I've been asking myself, 'Is this all there is? Is this all I'm capable of?' " he said. "I was looking for more fulfillment, and I wasn't getting that. And I said to myself a long time ago I would never take this job for granted, and I was starting to. Therefore, I wasn't being fair to it."

"I didn't want to leave it (ESPN). I felt it was leaving me," he said. "I go back to the adage in BALL FOUR (the book by pitcher JIM BOUTON), who said that you think you're holding the baseball, but eventually it holds you. It (ESPN) lost its hold on me, and I was OK to sort of wave goodbye."

Patrick Leaving ESPN After 18 Years