ORLANDO, Fla. — Some people sleep with a night-light.

Josh Baker has ESPN.

He falls asleep watching West Coast games, dreams right through the 3 a.m. replays. He awakens to "SportsCenter," then watches it recycle three times in the morning before he feels comfortable enough to leave his dorm room.

He arranges his classes at the University of North Florida so he doesn't miss "Cold Pizza." He checks the Web site every hour, reads "ESPN the Magazine" during classes.

His favorite show is the bombastic "Pardon the Interruption," and he is back to "SportsCenter" again by 6 p.m., which leads him into that evening's games. In case he misses anything, there is the ESPNEWS channel, which he can find throughout campus.

He went shopping last week for an ESPN mobile phone, where he can accelerate his ability to stay even more timely with sports, getting scores, updates, highlights and commentary anytime he likes.

His life is an ESPN menu.

"Oh, I guess you could say I'm addicted, that I'm a junkie," Baker said matter-of-factly. "But what did you guys ever do before ESPN started up?"

His college major, naturally, is sports management.

Baker, who graduated from Orlando's Lake Mary High School in 2005, might be a bit extreme, but he is a perfect example of the stranglehold that ESPN has on today's sports fan, particularly those under 40.

One of the most recognizable brands in corporate America, ESPN has become the leading distributor in all things sports, capturing and captivating an entire generation of fans, dictating and determining what will be served and how it will be viewed.

The 800-pound gorilla of sports now rules with unquestioned domination, dwarfing anyone who tries to enter the arena.

"Without ESPN, I'm not sure there would be sports — at least not like we know sports today," Baker said. "I don't know if a lot of people follow it quite like me, but everyone I know who likes sports, likes sports because of ESPN."

From a modest beginning in 1979, ESPN has grown into a multimedia, multifaceted company that will produce an estimated $5 billion in revenues this year. What started as a simple cable-television venture, directed from a trailer in Bristol, Conn., has grown into a ubiquitous sports metropolis and a cluster of 50 different businesses, arguably the most envied franchise in the world of entertainment.

ESPN is to sports what Coke is to cola. Except there is no Pepsi in sports.

"I used to be so amazed at all the things ESPN does that it literally made my head hurt just thinking about it," said Chris Berman, its most recognized on-air star, who has been with the network from its inception. "I don't even know how to use all the resources we have."

From television to print to the Internet, ESPN has moved into everything sports, from themed restaurants to video games. It has crafted its niche through the latest technology, putting its name on broadband, wireless and high definition.

In television, there is ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, the one-year-old ESPNU, which is pure college sports, ESPN Deportes, the Spanish-language station, and a host of ESPN offshoots in Asia, India and the United Kingdom.

"Clearly, global domination is our goal," joked ESPN anchor Trey Wingo.

Its dominance has trivialized television sportscasts at the traditional, major network affiliates such as NBC, CBS and ABC. ESPN.com has crushed all other sports sites for popularity on the Internet. There was a time when CBS Sportsline thought it could compete, but not anymore.

The ESPN magazine prompted the once-stodgy Sports Illustrated to adjust dramatically to avoid being relegated to second place. It has changed the way newspapers present their sports sections.

"We can touch sports fans in a lot of different ways," said Dave Berson, senior vice-president for program planning and development. "If people out there are consuming sports in any way, we want to be there to help them."

The biggest testament to its success might have been the ability to land NFL's Monday night football telecast rights beginning next season, paying $8.8 billion for an eight-year deal. As part of the contract, ESPN was sure to get wireless rights, too, which will allow it to deliver Monday night highlights to cell phones.

Its previously biggest deal was the $2.2 billion it paid for eight years of Major League Baseball. There is NASCAR, the NBA, World Cup Soccer. ESPN has turned things like the NFL draft and NFL Combine into must-see television for fans.

"You may not believe this, but we still believe we're the Little Engine That Could type of company," said George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN. "We just didn't fall out of bed to be No. 1. We work very hard at it."