Outside the Lines: XFL: Xcess or Success?, January 26, 2001 looked at the new Xtreme Football League prior to its debut. Segments were XFL: The Anti-NFL; Smackdown on NBC?; Opportunities for Black Head Coaches; The Vegas Effect.

Outside the Lines: Foreign Imports - The International Invasion of High School Basketball, March 2, 2001 looked at the influx of foreign student athletes playing basketball in American high schools, both public and private. It examined whether these players are truly here to gain a better education, or are being systematically recruited by high schools and colleges for the sole purpose of playing basketball and winning championships.

Outside the Lines: Have Game, Will Travel, April 9, 2001 examined one of the few aspects of sports that all athletes have in common - travel. The program featured a behind-the-scenes look at the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies during an extensive road trip, and examined the history of sports travel, as well as how travel affects individuals and teams on a day-to-day basis, and sometimes, how it can affect someone's entire life.

Outside the Lines: Talent, Trouble & Tragedy - The NBA Class of '86, June 5, 2001 examined the star-crossed 1986 NBA Draft featuring potential stars as Len Bias, Roy Tarpley, Chris Washburn, William Bedford and others. Bias, with no apparent record of drug use, was found dead from a cocaine overdose two days after being selected by Boston, a death which shocked the league and its fans, changed the way the NBA scrutinized potential draft picks.

Outside the Lines: Witness to a Defection, July 12, 2001 presented the exclusive behind-the-scenes story of Rolando Viera, the Cuban pitcher who left his family behind to follow his dream of playing Major League Baseball. Six months in the making, the program featured interviews and exclusive footage of Viera, his family in Cuba and his extended family in the United States, chronicling the unique story of his defection, and the uncertainties he faced in leaving.

Outside the Lines: Sports In Court - Lawsuits & Litigation, August 9, 2001 examined lawsuits and litigation in sports, and how America's favorite pastimes - from pee wees to the pros - are not immune to an increasingly litigious society where cases range from heartbreaking, to groundbreaking, to shocking.

Outside the Lines: NFL Out Loud, August 29, 2001 presented two National Football League roundtable discussions moderated by Andrea Kremer; one among players (Jerome Bettis, Warren Sapp, Shannon Sharpe, Brian Urlacher), the other with head coaches (Brian Billick, Tony Dungy, Steve Mariucci, Dick Vermeil) covering such topics as family sacrifice and safety, trash talking, sportsmanship and money.

Outside The Lines: Lives Remembered, September 25, 2001 continued ESPN's reporting on the September 11 terrorist attacks from a sports viewpoint - while keeping sports in its proper perspective - in this show which honored and commemorated victims and survivors with connections to the sports world by talking with them, or their families, friends, teammates and coaches.

Outside the Lines: Broken Trust - Coaches & Sexual Abuse, October 12, 2001 examined the issue of sexual abuse in youth sports, showing how prevalent the crime is, that every child is vulnerable, and that in most cases, children are molested by a person who is very close to them or their family.

Outside the Lines: World War II - Fields of Play, Fields of Battle, December 7, 2001 on the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, OTL focused on three angles: the Montana State football team, which had 14 players die in service; allied prisoners of war in Germany who played sports behind barbed wire; Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned in their own country and found comfort in the national pastime.