Speaker 1: You think you know somebody based on a SoundBite or
Speaker 1: what you see with them in a helmet or a
Speaker 1: basketball uniform. And they've all had moments of terror, They've
Speaker 1: all been completely insecure. They've had moments where they were tested.
Speaker 1: They've had sure great moments of triumph, but terrible defeats.
Speaker 1: They all come from parents. Some are parents that are around,
Speaker 1: some are not. Some are a rough dad, a nice dad,
Speaker 1: or whatever. And then you start building a catalog of
Speaker 1: these people who are the best of the best, and
Speaker 1: you go, my god, they're just like everybody else. Hi.
Speaker 1: I'm Joe Buck and I've done twenty four World Series.
Speaker 1: I've done six Super Bowls, I've done five US Opens,
Speaker 1: I've done like one All Star Games. But you know
Speaker 1: what I've never done until right now, Off the Beat.
Speaker 1: This is going to be special. Hello everybody, and welcome
Speaker 1: back to Off the Beat. I am well one, I'm
Speaker 1: excited and too. I'm your host. That makes me your
Speaker 1: excited host, Brian baum Gartner, and I gotta say thank
Speaker 1: you all for being here today because we're switching things
Speaker 1: up a bit with today's guest. We're going even further
Speaker 1: off the beat if you will, as you probably know
Speaker 1: by now. I am a big sports fan, and yes
Speaker 1: I root for certain teams, and I play a lot
Speaker 1: of golf. But what I truly love about sports is
Speaker 1: the camaraderie, the energy, the competition, getting lost in great games.
Speaker 1: And that is why I am so excited for today's guest,
Speaker 1: who might just no sports better than anyone, the legendary
Speaker 1: sportscaster Joe Buck. Now, Joe is going to be the
Speaker 1: first of several sports guests on the podcast. Don't worry,
Speaker 1: this is still an entertainment podcast at the end of
Speaker 1: the day. And by the way, Joe is an entertainer
Speaker 1: because yes he's in sports, and yes he's called some
Speaker 1: of the most iconic games of all time. But don't
Speaker 1: get it twisted. Joe's a TV guy, and he has
Speaker 1: to draw in an audience, and because currently his programming
Speaker 1: happens to be live, he actually gets the biggest audiences
Speaker 1: on television today. And if you've ever heard this man talk,
Speaker 1: you you know exactly what I mean. His voice is
Speaker 1: iconic and he has had an insane career from becoming
Speaker 1: Fox's youngest regular NFL announcer, to hosting his own shows
Speaker 1: to signing on too broadcast now for Monday Night Football
Speaker 1: on ESPN. Plus he's a podcaster too, hosting the Crazy,
Speaker 1: Funny and Interesting Dad the Issues podcast with Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 1: And yes that is actually the title. I won't keep
Speaker 1: you waiting. I can't wait for you to hear this
Speaker 1: man's voice and this man's stories here. He is the
Speaker 1: amazing Joe Buck Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble
Speaker 1: and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker, cooking it every month,
Speaker 1: left over from the nut before. What's up, Joe, Hi, Brian,
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm really good. Yeah. Well, I mean, you
Speaker 1: look professional as you should. You do, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know about that. I don't know about that, but
Speaker 1: I'm happy to be here. Thank you for doing the
Speaker 1: thing on ESPN the other day. That was fun. I
Speaker 1: hope you had fun. I had a great time. Michael
Speaker 1: Collins is uh, he's a hood right, He's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I I had never really been around him much except
Speaker 1: when when he was doing a radio show with Pat Perez,
Speaker 1: and Perez was here in St. Louis playing in the
Speaker 1: p g A a few years ago, and they they
Speaker 1: all came over to my house and I ended up
Speaker 1: hanging with him most of the night, and so when
Speaker 1: that whole thing came up, I was like, I gotta
Speaker 1: do it with Michael because he can carry it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't have to really do much. That's awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about your new big move and
Speaker 1: some of your your notable accomplishments, but I really want
Speaker 1: to start back your By the way, it seems like
Speaker 1: everyone I've talked to is from Kansas, Missouri. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know what is in the water down there, Joe,
Speaker 1: but like stone Street and Riggle and Keckner all Rudd, Rudd, Zubakis. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know. It's like you think New York, Chicago,
Speaker 1: comedy scene at Chico and now everyone is is from
Speaker 1: the middle of the country. So I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know what that says. I I don't know what
Speaker 1: that says either. I uh. I first met Paul Rudd
Speaker 1: when we were in college. His roommate was my best
Speaker 1: friend from high school. So we all kind of congregated
Speaker 1: at Indiana University, which is where I was. They came
Speaker 1: to visit me and then I returned the favor the
Speaker 1: next year, and so I've known Paul since I was
Speaker 1: guys since I was eighteen, and then prior to that,
Speaker 1: Jon Hamm. Jon Hamm is another one who was dating
Speaker 1: the sister of the previously mentioned best friends. So I've
Speaker 1: known this little group of people. And then it becomes
Speaker 1: six degrees of My friend's name is Preston Clark, but
Speaker 1: it's really six to reaves of Rudd and Ham for
Speaker 1: me getting to know Adam Scott and different guys that
Speaker 1: that they all interacted with when we were in our
Speaker 1: early twenties. So I was the sports guy, they were
Speaker 1: the cool guys, and uh, you know, all I was
Speaker 1: good for was getting them tickets to different events, different events,
Speaker 1: which actually makes you the most popular guy in the
Speaker 1: whole group. Yeah, and for a while and until you know,
Speaker 1: Rudd was doing uh you know, god knows what clueless
Speaker 1: object of my affection and uh, and Ham was mad Men.
Speaker 1: He was Mr Madman. So my cool factor dwindled. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I just I just had Mr ham on the podcast,
Speaker 1: so we uh we talked a lot about St. Louis.
Speaker 1: And now you're originally you're originally from Florida, is that right?
Speaker 1: Or you were born in Florida? Yeah, I was basically
Speaker 1: born in like uh in uh cardboard box in Florida
Speaker 1: during spring training because my dad was down in St.
Speaker 1: Pete Uh and my mom couldn't travel after spring training
Speaker 1: was over, so end of April I popped into the world.
Speaker 1: But I'm I'm a Floridian by birth only. And then
Speaker 1: I came to St. Louis six minutes later and I've
Speaker 1: been here ever since. Right, your family For those of
Speaker 1: you who don't know Jack Buck, the other legendary sportscaster,
Speaker 1: your dad, but you I understand it wasn't necessarily he
Speaker 1: that brought you into your current profession, even though you
Speaker 1: literally followed in his footsteps. Is that right? Yeah? No, definitely,
Speaker 1: I know where you're going with that. My dad, for
Speaker 1: sure is the main reason why I am who I am,
Speaker 1: I do what I do. I fell in love with
Speaker 1: broadcasting and sports because of him, because you know, he
Speaker 1: and I were best friends. He traveled constantly, but always
Speaker 1: took me with him. I think I was in every
Speaker 1: now League city by the time I was twelve. Um,
Speaker 1: I was in Vegas and on my own while he
Speaker 1: rolled crabs all night and I was playing Donkey Kong
Speaker 1: on whatever. Twenty dollar Billy handed me and checking myself
Speaker 1: back into the room and eating room service while he
Speaker 1: was up all night trying to trying to make a
Speaker 1: little money. But my mom was the one that that
Speaker 1: kind of pushed it forward when Fox dropped out of
Speaker 1: the sky and they got the rights to cover the
Speaker 1: NFC and bought those rights, uh for an exorbitant price
Speaker 1: back they took CBS out of the game. And I
Speaker 1: remember at the time, I was hosting a radio show
Speaker 1: in St. Louis, and I was in my early twenties,
Speaker 1: and I thought, this is a travesty. I mean, my god,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have you know, Joan Rivers and Bart Simpson
Speaker 1: doing the games and uh. And I was, you know,
Speaker 1: just apoplectic about it. And then shortly thereafter, my mom said, well,
Speaker 1: I gave your video tape to Patty Goren, her husband.
Speaker 1: It is running Fox Sports, and they want to fly
Speaker 1: you out for an audition. So that that is something
Speaker 1: my dad would have never done. He would have never
Speaker 1: been the one to push me on anyone anybody, but
Speaker 1: my mom, you know, was that person. Thank god. So
Speaker 1: I got flown out there during the spring of and
Speaker 1: I was twenty four at that time. And I was
Speaker 1: doing a game. I'd never done football in my life,
Speaker 1: and I was practicing for my audition with my dad
Speaker 1: doing color for me while we sat in his living room,
Speaker 1: and then I flew out to l A did the
Speaker 1: game off a TV in a studio and they basically
Speaker 1: like slug Worth and Willy Wonka came walking into me
Speaker 1: after the audition was over and said, you better get
Speaker 1: an agent because we're gonna be hiring you. Uh and uh,
Speaker 1: you did well. So it was often running after that.
Speaker 1: So I yeah, without my mom pushing that, I would
Speaker 1: have never even known about the auditions. And my dad,
Speaker 1: chrisec wasn't going to do that, right, you know. I
Speaker 1: read your your mom. She was an actress and a
Speaker 1: singer and an entertainer as well. Do you feel like
Speaker 1: there is any part of your style that is different
Speaker 1: from your dad because of your mom's influence early on? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think so. I think my mom was actually a
Speaker 1: really good influence on my dad. But my mom was
Speaker 1: my dad's second wife, and by the time my mom
Speaker 1: came into his life, his career, unbeknownst to either one
Speaker 1: of them, was about to take off. Because Harry Carey
Speaker 1: the long you know, everybody now knows him as a
Speaker 1: longtime voice of the Cubs, but prior to that, he
Speaker 1: was the Cardinals announcer. He got fired at the end
Speaker 1: of the sixties. And I was born in sixty nine,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of when my dad ascended to the
Speaker 1: number one spot with the Cardinals. And my mom, you know,
Speaker 1: being somebody that was comfortable walking out on a stage
Speaker 1: and singing and dancing. I mean she auditioned for a
Speaker 1: Burrows back in the day on Broadway. And that's Jim
Speaker 1: Burrow's dad for those of you who don't know. And
Speaker 1: Jim Burrow is one of the most you know, accomplished
Speaker 1: producers in the history of television. Uh so, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think she was. She was very aware of how to
Speaker 1: entertain a crowd, and I think she she helped my
Speaker 1: dad with a lot of the speaking engagements he did
Speaker 1: and as you guys would say in your business, punching
Speaker 1: up a script or a speech that he would put
Speaker 1: together and make it more fun and more funnier. And
Speaker 1: and so I saw that, and I think I pull
Speaker 1: as much from my mom as I do my dad.
Speaker 1: I I you know, the style is a bit different,
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't smoke for sixty years. So I
Speaker 1: don't sound like this. How my dad got me up
Speaker 1: for school in the morning, Get up, buck come on,
Speaker 1: get get your ass out of bed. And uh I
Speaker 1: I didn't. I don't have that, but but I think
Speaker 1: there's some similarities in the style. I try to have
Speaker 1: fun as much as you can in today's world. Um,
Speaker 1: and he was all about that. My dad was was
Speaker 1: kind of an off the cuff, funny, good grounded dude
Speaker 1: that just treated everybody nicely. So I I get I
Speaker 1: get plenty from both, trust me. I was very lucky. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I I mean, I'm going a little bit out
Speaker 1: of order here, but I've never told you this, you know.
Speaker 1: So I'm a little bit young for al Michael's right,
Speaker 1: And and do you believe in miracles? And like I
Speaker 1: I was, I was alive at that time in nineteen eighty,
Speaker 1: but that wasn't for me. The most iconic and heartbreaking
Speaker 1: call that I remember a sportscaster delivering and specifically to
Speaker 1: me into my heart and ripping it out, was your dad,
Speaker 1: Jack buck In. I grew up in Atlanta, and I
Speaker 1: would say today the greatest world series is in the
Speaker 1: history of world series that I've ever seen, or read
Speaker 1: or know about as a huge baseball fan, the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Braves against the Minnesota Twins, and that home run in
Speaker 1: Game six, and your dad's gravelly voice filled with the
Speaker 1: emotion that that gravelly voice could give him saying and
Speaker 1: will see you tomorrow night. And I had it on
Speaker 1: VHS tape because I was as sure the Braves were
Speaker 1: gonna win that game, you know, it was like that
Speaker 1: was that was gonna be my VHS tape and I
Speaker 1: have watched that and and the director whoever, I don't
Speaker 1: know if it was going I don't know who it was.
Speaker 1: But cutting to Charlie lee Brand's face and him walking
Speaker 1: off as stoically as possible, and then halfway to the
Speaker 1: dugout wiping and the silence that your dad gave amazing,
Speaker 1: I mean truly, like even as even though it ripped
Speaker 1: my heart out, I knew that that was like something
Speaker 1: special that I saw. And so cutting way ahead, we're
Speaker 1: skipping way ahead, But Inven you gave a nod to
Speaker 1: your dad in in the World Series in Texas and St.
Speaker 1: Louis giving that same call. Um this was planned obviously
Speaker 1: or was this just in the back of the recesses
Speaker 1: of your mind. It was in the back of my
Speaker 1: mind because prior to the game, it was almost twenty
Speaker 1: years from that that night that my dad said it
Speaker 1: and you were crying on your couch and and somebody
Speaker 1: had said, uh, because my dad did that game with
Speaker 1: Tim McCarver. And now I'm sitting next to Tim McCarver
Speaker 1: twenty years later, almost to the day, and somebody said,
Speaker 1: you know, twenty years ago, was that uh, that Kirby
Speaker 1: Pucket home run that that forced game seven? And here
Speaker 1: we are about to start Game six. And I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: and you know, getting ready and whatever. So I think
Speaker 1: that landed the seed. But you don't know what's That's
Speaker 1: the beauty and the fun of what I do is
Speaker 1: you don't know what's coming down the street at you
Speaker 1: at any time, and inning starts or they kick off
Speaker 1: or whatever it is, so you're ready for really anything
Speaker 1: that comes your way. And that game was so I mean,
Speaker 1: I know, this is way down into the weeds. But
Speaker 1: the Cardinals were down three games to two, They were
Speaker 1: down in the game, they were down to the last
Speaker 1: strike twice. They tied it twice, and then in the
Speaker 1: eleventh inning. David Freeze, who's a kid from St. Louis,
Speaker 1: hits the home run to center to force Game seven.
Speaker 1: And then that popped out of the back of my mind,
Speaker 1: out of my mouth, which is we'll see you tomorrow night,
Speaker 1: which was I don't know. On one hand, it was
Speaker 1: appropriate because there was gonna be a Game seven the
Speaker 1: next night. On the other hand, maybe itself serving. I
Speaker 1: think I was thinking to him, who would have been
Speaker 1: sitting one booth over to me watching the Cardinals, the
Speaker 1: team he loved, and this kid, David Freeze become the
Speaker 1: hero uh to force that Game seven. And so you know,
Speaker 1: I I retired being a Jackbuck cover band after that night.
Speaker 1: I was like, that's it. I've I've done some other things,
Speaker 1: I've said some things that he said in the past.
Speaker 1: It's time for me to branch out into my own, uh,
Speaker 1: into my own territory. So I'm not playing I'm not
Speaker 1: playing his hits. I'm gonna start making my own uh
Speaker 1: in these moments. But for for that one time, yeah,
Speaker 1: And and it was at the end of a crazy year,
Speaker 1: Brian I. I I had been through a vocal cord paralysis.
Speaker 1: I got hair plugs at the beginning, and I talked
Speaker 1: about all this in my book, which I'm not promoting
Speaker 1: because you can't find it anywhere. Uh. I got hair plugs,
Speaker 1: got intubated. The tube that they put down my throat
Speaker 1: sat on the nerve that fired my left vocal cord,
Speaker 1: and the whole year I sounded like this. I had
Speaker 1: one one vocal cord that was working in one that
Speaker 1: was laying there paralyzed. And that was about the time
Speaker 1: my voice started to kind of come back. And that
Speaker 1: World series, each game it got a little bit better.
Speaker 1: And so by the time Game six rolled around, you
Speaker 1: know I've been through. I was going through a divorce,
Speaker 1: I was on antidepressants. I thought my career was over
Speaker 1: because I wasn't gonna be able to broadcast or even
Speaker 1: order a coffee and allowed Starbucks, and and that that
Speaker 1: moment happened, and it forced a Game seven. Uh. It
Speaker 1: allowed me to win an Emmy that year in the
Speaker 1: worst year, not of my career, in the worst year
Speaker 1: of anybody's career. I sounded like I was dying every
Speaker 1: time I was doing a game. But yeah, that that
Speaker 1: was a year that was a complete Uh. I don't
Speaker 1: know what we can or can't say on this, but
Speaker 1: it was a ship show, so you can you can
Speaker 1: block that out, but I it was. It was crazy.
Speaker 1: So I'm proud of that moment at the end of
Speaker 1: a really hard year. Yeah, you know, it's I think
Speaker 1: this is fun. Maybe it's maybe it's just fun for me,
Speaker 1: but I'm you know, sitting here talking to you and
Speaker 1: thinking about you and and your experience and you being
Speaker 1: there in the booth that night watching that game. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, we have a number of people who
Speaker 1: worked on the Office who are from St. Louis and
Speaker 1: we're a big Cardinals fans. Phillis Smith, Jenna Fisher. I
Speaker 1: think I'm forgetting somebody right now. And so we were
Speaker 1: shooting at that moment, my least favorite episode to shoot
Speaker 1: in the history of the Office. We were in a
Speaker 1: pool for twelve to fourteen hours a day, and I
Speaker 1: was I was explained after complaining after like six hours
Speaker 1: that you could get hypothermia if you're in just a
Speaker 1: regular temperature pool for that many hours. So they had
Speaker 1: heated it to like degrees. Being in a pool for
Speaker 1: nine degrees is not that much fun for like fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: and it was like all day long, and we're shooting late,
Speaker 1: we're running late. Everybody's wed and angry. But we had
Speaker 1: the radio, so I didn't hear your call. But we
Speaker 1: are following that game and crazy, and we'd be on
Speaker 1: set and here people yelling in the background, and we
Speaker 1: were fully following that game. Now, as someone not from St. Louis,
Speaker 1: I was rooting for Texas, but I just transparently I
Speaker 1: was not rooting for St. Louis. But so there was
Speaker 1: some back and forth and I don't know, maybe some
Speaker 1: money changed hands at the end of that night. I
Speaker 1: don't remember exactly, but it was It's funny just to
Speaker 1: hear that. And of course I had, you know, as
Speaker 1: a big sports fan and baseball fan, I had taken
Speaker 1: it at home and then heard that call, and then
Speaker 1: it brought back everything from the nineties, and well, it's
Speaker 1: funny you're making me think of Uh. First of all,
Speaker 1: Ellie Kemper is the Ellie Kemper. Thank you, Yes, there
Speaker 1: you go. And so I was with a friend. I
Speaker 1: mean not to name drop, but I why not. I
Speaker 1: haven't stopped yet. Uh, Billy Bob Thornton, I was. I
Speaker 1: was with him at the filming of a movie did
Speaker 1: with a friend of mine another friend of mine as
Speaker 1: a reason why I was there. Jason Patrick's called the
Speaker 1: Alamo and uh, he's inside. They're like Billy Bob or
Speaker 1: whatever his character's name was, I don't know who he played.
Speaker 1: We need down the top of the walk here at
Speaker 1: the album and he's like, okay, but he's talking to
Speaker 1: me inside because you can't see they're shooting all from
Speaker 1: the outside, and he's talking to me about the Cardinals bullpen.
Speaker 1: He's a die hard Cardinals fan, and he's like, I mean, god,
Speaker 1: we need a left hander. The Cardinals do not have
Speaker 1: a left hander. And like hole, He's like, hold on
Speaker 1: a second. He walks up, walks up and down. They're
Speaker 1: like cut. He walks back down. I mean, if they
Speaker 1: can just get a left hander, they're gonna It's like
Speaker 1: there's like nothing even happened, and they're shooting this multibillion
Speaker 1: dollar movie and all he's caring about is talking about
Speaker 1: the Cardinals bullpen with me on the inside of the Alumo.
Speaker 1: It's funny how life goes on in and around these
Speaker 1: productions and and all people see is you know, post edit,
Speaker 1: when when everything's all tightened up right, you became the
Speaker 1: youngest person to announce regular NFL games on TV? Did
Speaker 1: that bring any stress for you? Was that? Was that
Speaker 1: a part of it? But it did? I mean you
Speaker 1: had so much experience just being around your dad, as
Speaker 1: you said, yeah, but it did you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know that that would have happened. And the answer to
Speaker 1: your question, if it happened in it would be harrowing.
Speaker 1: It would be, you know, blindfolded on the roller coaster
Speaker 1: in the dark at Disney World. Because it's in today's
Speaker 1: world with social media, especially when you're doing sports and
Speaker 1: everybody is so emotionally invested in it, it's a tough
Speaker 1: go and for anybody to start at that time, I was.
Speaker 1: I just turned twenty five. I'd never done an NFL
Speaker 1: game in my life. I had done a couple of
Speaker 1: practice games. And I'm standing at Soldier Field on opening Day.
Speaker 1: They're playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and I'm standing next
Speaker 1: to Tim Green, who the year prior was playing and
Speaker 1: and not only had he never broadcast football, he never
Speaker 1: broadcast anything at least that broadcasts some stuff. And he
Speaker 1: and I are looking at each other like, what in
Speaker 1: the hell are we doing here? They're about to kick
Speaker 1: off the Chicago Bears at home and and we're the
Speaker 1: guys standing here about to call this thing. And you
Speaker 1: know this is so if if you were to roll
Speaker 1: the clock forward with social media and all that, I
Speaker 1: don't know that that we would have been able to
Speaker 1: survive what would have been I think baptism by fire.
Speaker 1: I think it's changed that part of my business has
Speaker 1: changed a lot. Like if if somebody's gonna follow you
Speaker 1: on Instagram or Twitter or whatever, generally they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a fan of yours and all your great work that
Speaker 1: you've done for me. I'm sitting there as Switzerland, and
Speaker 1: so when people hear me do a baseball game in October,
Speaker 1: they're comparing me to their hometown announcer that all year
Speaker 1: long has been freaking out for when their team hits
Speaker 1: a home run and almost sad on the air when
Speaker 1: the other team hits a home run home run. Well,
Speaker 1: now I show up. The stakes are at their highest,
Speaker 1: and I'm screaming in Yellen for that guy's team, but
Speaker 1: I'm also screaming in Yellen for the other team. And
Speaker 1: all year long, you know, it's just it's weird to
Speaker 1: the to the senses for fans because they're like, why
Speaker 1: is he yelling and screaming for that other team? I
Speaker 1: hate this guy. He hates my team. And so it's
Speaker 1: it's a long winded way of saying on Twitter, if
Speaker 1: if I want to go there, I have to bring
Speaker 1: a snorkel to go in there and wade through all
Speaker 1: that stuff. And and for you know, the twenty five
Speaker 1: year old may Thank god social media wasn't around. I
Speaker 1: was established for the most part by the time social
Speaker 1: media popped up, and I was a little bit more
Speaker 1: mature and more equipped to handle all that stuff. So
Speaker 1: was I scared, yes, But was it like today's world. No.
Speaker 1: So I figured I would get through the game and
Speaker 1: and go from there. And that's kind of how it went, right.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about football a little bit more.
Speaker 1: But you also start working with Tim McCarver, as you
Speaker 1: mentioned before, who worked with your dad to call Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball as well. Now your father and Tim, as
Speaker 1: I understand how a tumultuous relationship you start working with him.
Speaker 1: How how is your relationship working with Tim? It was
Speaker 1: a ten out of ten and I'm I'm proud of
Speaker 1: of a lot of things. That first year of doing
Speaker 1: the World Series at seven and being at Yankee Stadium
Speaker 1: and sorry, they beat the Braves that year and my
Speaker 1: one of my closest friends now John Smaltz. Sorry to
Speaker 1: rub that in, but they did. That's history. I had
Speaker 1: nothing to do with it. Brian. I'm sorry, um, but
Speaker 1: I so I I get through that year and at
Speaker 1: the end of this World series in the Bronx, I'm
Speaker 1: staring into the camera. Tim was off to the side.
Speaker 1: It was a single shot and I'm recapping the World
Speaker 1: Series and all that, and it was such a big exhale.
Speaker 1: I was literally picturing my dad in the lens of
Speaker 1: the camera like I was talking to him because I
Speaker 1: was kind of and I don't want to say scared,
Speaker 1: but but the nerves were jumping around pretty good. And
Speaker 1: at the beginning of that year, as you said, my
Speaker 1: dad and Tim, when my dad and Tim were paired
Speaker 1: together in my dad, they pushed him up to the
Speaker 1: number one team. He was initially hired to be on
Speaker 1: the number two team with Jim Cott, but Brent Musburger
Speaker 1: got fired and so they pushed my dad up to
Speaker 1: work with Tim. And Tim at that time was he
Speaker 1: was the king. I mean, he ended up hosting Olympics
Speaker 1: and stuff, so he was the eighth pound gorilla and
Speaker 1: my dad wasn't used to that and really wasn't a
Speaker 1: TV guy, so it was it was hard on my dad,
Speaker 1: and it was hard consequently on his family like me
Speaker 1: and my mom and my sister, and we were all
Speaker 1: kind of freaking out with the criticism he was getting
Speaker 1: or whatever. And a couple of times Tim hung my
Speaker 1: dad out to dry with a comment that he made
Speaker 1: and I was not happy about it. And when they
Speaker 1: paired us together, the happiest person in the world when
Speaker 1: my dad found out that Tim and I were gonna
Speaker 1: be working together was my dad, And the second happiest
Speaker 1: was me because my dad knew that whatever was going
Speaker 1: to happen on the field, I'd be covered by a
Speaker 1: guy sitting next to me that had seen and done
Speaker 1: at all. It wasn't gonna be some young guy that
Speaker 1: had never broadcast or whatever. He knew I was with
Speaker 1: a veteran and they ended on good terms. I think
Speaker 1: the hard part was they they just didn't see eye
Speaker 1: to eye on what the role of the play by
Speaker 1: play guy was and the role of the analysts. So
Speaker 1: when that season began, I brought him into a room
Speaker 1: and I we were at a dinner at Fox, and
Speaker 1: I said, can I just talk to you for a minute.
Speaker 1: And I was twenty, I was a kid, and he
Speaker 1: was I don't know what he was then fifty something,
Speaker 1: and and I said, look, you know how I feel
Speaker 1: about my dad. You know we're very close. I know
Speaker 1: you and he did not have a great time broadcasting
Speaker 1: for those two years together. I'm I'm hopeful that we
Speaker 1: can just hit the reset button and start fresh. Like I,
Speaker 1: I need to build a relationship with you. And the
Speaker 1: only way this is gonna work is if you and
Speaker 1: I are good together. And he said, I really appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Saying that gave me a hug. Off. We went and
Speaker 1: and and we were together for eighteen years and did
Speaker 1: I guess sixteen World Series together. We never had one argument,
Speaker 1: and I I just I love the man. So it
Speaker 1: started rough, but it ended great. That's awesome. Joe lead
Speaker 1: play by play announcer, taking over for Pat Summer all
Speaker 1: in two thousand two through also twenty three World Series,
Speaker 1: twenty one All Star games for Fox Baseball or Football Baseball.
Speaker 1: Game seven there's nothing like a Game seven. But the
Speaker 1: game needs some tweaking, and I'm not going to be
Speaker 1: the guy that gets out of it because I'm not
Speaker 1: doing baseball this year for the first time since I
Speaker 1: was eighteen, and I'm not going to be critical of
Speaker 1: it other than to say I think all parties know
Speaker 1: that they need to get back to some more action.
Speaker 1: Once a gatting starts. It's not the overall time of game.
Speaker 1: It's a lack of action because these guys are actually
Speaker 1: really good, and the pitching is can be so dominant,
Speaker 1: and all they're worried about his home runs and launching
Speaker 1: the ball and blah blah blah. But I think a
Speaker 1: game seven, there's just nothing like it. You know, when
Speaker 1: you consider these guys go to spring training pictures and
Speaker 1: catchers in mid February, and now here you are at
Speaker 1: the end of October, sometimes the beginning of November. They've
Speaker 1: been going at it that long and now it's you know,
Speaker 1: this team against that team. It's that guy on the
Speaker 1: mound against that guy at the plate with a bat
Speaker 1: and made the better team win. It's just it's awesome
Speaker 1: and and it's it's exciting, and I don't have to
Speaker 1: do much when I'm sitting there. It's like the game
Speaker 1: kind of carries itself and you're there to accent it.
Speaker 1: But football is so big and and these games, the
Speaker 1: ratings are so crazy compared to everything else that's on
Speaker 1: TV that when you do a Super Bowl and you're
Speaker 1: opening your mouth and thinking of something to say and
Speaker 1: words are coming out and it's going on the televisions
Speaker 1: of a hundred and twelve million people, that that's stunning.
Speaker 1: And and it's one of those like you know, the
Speaker 1: server puts a plate down and says, the plate's really hot,
Speaker 1: don't touch it, Like the first thing I do is
Speaker 1: touch it. Or if you're on a high ladder, don't
Speaker 1: look down. You look down. It's like, hey, don't think
Speaker 1: about a hundred and twelve million people being on the
Speaker 1: other side of that camera. And then you start thinking
Speaker 1: about a hundred and twelve million people being on the
Speaker 1: other side of that camera. So it's just it's it's
Speaker 1: a different world. But for my sensibilities and what I
Speaker 1: like to talk about and talk about strategy, a baseball
Speaker 1: game seven is just the best thing on the planet.
Speaker 1: Do you consider yourself an entertainer? Um? Yeah, maybe not
Speaker 1: compared to you. Um, But I think the game has
Speaker 1: changed like the job has changed. If you go back
Speaker 1: and listen to the broadcasts from people that are considered
Speaker 1: the all time grades, and they are, I mean, they
Speaker 1: were pioneers. But it's like, you know, so hanging in
Speaker 1: the groundball to short short stop, picks it up, throws
Speaker 1: the first he got them two out like that. That
Speaker 1: doesn't fly today. Like you you have to be up
Speaker 1: on you know, what's going on in the world. You
Speaker 1: have to. You have to, you know, the job of
Speaker 1: a television play by play guys, you're bringing a replay in,
Speaker 1: you're talking about a graphic, you're explaining spin rate, whatever
Speaker 1: it is that and and through all that you have
Speaker 1: to entertain some and you have to have some moments
Speaker 1: of levity. So yeah, I think it's more than just
Speaker 1: cut and dried. I'm a stiff baseball announcer or football announcer.
Speaker 1: I don't think that works anymore. And you know, so
Speaker 1: you try to find that balance, try not to overdo,
Speaker 1: you know, being entertaining, But I think you have to
Speaker 1: sprinkle that in. Well, it's interesting, you know, being a
Speaker 1: part of network television for so long, and I mean
Speaker 1: what you say is obviously exactly true. I mean the
Speaker 1: biggest entertainment programs, The biggest numbers are for football. Now
Speaker 1: you know, it's not scripted television anymore, because that element
Speaker 1: of the live means if you could watch it what
Speaker 1: it's happening, that's what you want to watch it. Because
Speaker 1: it's really hard now, as you say, with your phone
Speaker 1: and notifications and you know, the days of like not
Speaker 1: being able to find out what happens until it's over
Speaker 1: if you're a big fan becomes almost impossible. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think very much. So you're I mean,
Speaker 1: you are entertaining, but also you truly are the conduit
Speaker 1: with which we all who watch sports watch. The most
Speaker 1: popular show that people consume live. Yeah, and and it's
Speaker 1: you know, I don't I don't know if the TiVo
Speaker 1: is a thing anymore. It's it's recording proof. As you said,
Speaker 1: I mean, nobody's ever in the history of time said, hey,
Speaker 1: don't tell me who wins the Super Bowl. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: watch it next week. Right, you can't do it, So
Speaker 1: you know that that's that's what leads to, uh, these
Speaker 1: big numbers. If if people care, and football is just
Speaker 1: so different because of fantasy football and because of office
Speaker 1: pools and as of whatever it is. It's just easier
Speaker 1: to wrap your head around now a seventeen game season
Speaker 1: as opposed to a hundred and sixty two you know,
Speaker 1: the I I tip my cap to all fantasy baseball
Speaker 1: players because that's like a job, you know, every day
Speaker 1: of you know, reading who's heard and who may or
Speaker 1: may not be in the lineup, And I mean it's
Speaker 1: just overwhelming. So I yeah, it's different than anything else
Speaker 1: that's out there. It can bring extreme joy, it can
Speaker 1: bring extreme heartache. I think most of the time when
Speaker 1: Hollywood tries to recreate it, certainly in film, it falls
Speaker 1: a little short for whatever reason. And then there are
Speaker 1: things that happen in these games that if you wrote it,
Speaker 1: they'd throw out because it would be unbelievable and people
Speaker 1: would say, oh, that will never happen. But stuff does
Speaker 1: happen that that you can never imagine when the day starts.
Speaker 1: So I take all that, you know, I I come
Speaker 1: from kind of the old world being around. My dad
Speaker 1: adds the leg as a kid hanging onto it when
Speaker 1: we're walking out of the stadium every night, to what
Speaker 1: we're doing in calling the game has not changed, but
Speaker 1: all of the other stuff has changed from from the
Speaker 1: social media and the outside stuff to the inside stuff
Speaker 1: with how crazy these replays are and cameras and pylons
Speaker 1: and microphones in the outfield wall and on the second
Speaker 1: base bag, and you know, you're trying to make it
Speaker 1: an immersive, live experience and that that carries with it
Speaker 1: a lot of risk and and you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of intensity from the chair I sit in. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: you said a moment ago. It brings joy, it brings heartache,
Speaker 1: it brings But that to me is why I love
Speaker 1: sports and why I think it is to a large degree,
Speaker 1: pure entertainment, because it brings something. It's it's going to
Speaker 1: elicit an emotion into anyone who you know, who cares
Speaker 1: about it. That's what I love about sports. And your
Speaker 1: voice has become synonymous with some of the biggest moments
Speaker 1: that I have I've witnessed in sports. Uh favorite favorite
Speaker 1: baseball call or something else? Yeah, I I yeah, I
Speaker 1: think so, you know, not just because we talked about
Speaker 1: it and went through it, but I think because of
Speaker 1: what it the game that had ended that game itself,
Speaker 1: and I went down and talked to Tony LaRussa, the
Speaker 1: Cardinals manager, right after and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: Tony that and he was he was a great friend
Speaker 1: of the family, and so that was crazy that. I
Speaker 1: mean that that's unbelievable and typical. Tony's like, well, if
Speaker 1: we don't win tomorrow doesn't mean you know, Jack and Tony,
Speaker 1: can you can you enjoy something for one second? Every
Speaker 1: time I'd walk into his office before the game, I'm like, hey, Tony,
Speaker 1: what's up are you doing? I'll let you know at
Speaker 1: ten o'clock. Like I really, I'm not really asking how
Speaker 1: you're doing. It's just a way of saying hello. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just how intense he was. But I you know,
Speaker 1: there's been so many great games between the Yankees and
Speaker 1: the Red Sox that I got to do, um the
Speaker 1: oh four World Series. You know, when when you get
Speaker 1: to be the one to call the Boston Red Sox
Speaker 1: being World champions for the first time at eighty six years,
Speaker 1: when you get to call the Chicago Cubs being the
Speaker 1: world champions for the first time in a hundred and
Speaker 1: eight years, you know, you're sitting at Wrigley Field. There
Speaker 1: hadn't even been a World Series in that stadium since nine,
Speaker 1: and they hadn't one since before the Titanic sunk, you know,
Speaker 1: let alone World War One and World War two and
Speaker 1: you know all that other stuff. So baseball has always
Speaker 1: been kind of you know, I'm not going to go
Speaker 1: into a field of dreams monologue, but but it has
Speaker 1: kind of mirrored society and it's always it's always been there,
Speaker 1: and you can mark where you were in your life
Speaker 1: depending on who won the World Series that year. That
Speaker 1: that's kind of how I go about my life. So
Speaker 1: I you know, they're they're all so different it's hard
Speaker 1: to pick one. But I think as far as a game,
Speaker 1: that Game six ofven was just perserk. It was crazy.
Speaker 1: And two thousand one is another year that gets overlooked
Speaker 1: for baseball because of everything that was going on in
Speaker 1: the country after nine eleven. But there we are in
Speaker 1: the beginning of October and Mariano Rivera like for one
Speaker 1: of only two times I think in the postseason, blew
Speaker 1: a save chance in Game seven of the World Series,
Speaker 1: and the Arizona Diamondbacks won the World Series um in
Speaker 1: one of the great series of all times. So I
Speaker 1: you know, you can go year by year by year,
Speaker 1: and it's just it's it's fun to do and it's
Speaker 1: also exhausting because they're also darned good. Your favorite football
Speaker 1: call for me is is easy. The Packers beating the
Speaker 1: Steelers in even end of the season. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think I know what you're gonna say, but football the
Speaker 1: greatest game you ever called. Well, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: not to just piggyback off what you said, but when
Speaker 1: you can call the green Bay Packers the world champs
Speaker 1: and the Lombardi Trophy is going to Green Bay, that's
Speaker 1: pretty good. But uh, I don't know. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think the Stefon Diggs call was that moment when he
Speaker 1: had a walk off touchdown. Rarely do you get a
Speaker 1: walk off moment in football that doesn't involve a kicker.
Speaker 1: Nothing against him, But when Stefon Diggs makes the catch
Speaker 1: on the sideline against the Saints, a game that went
Speaker 1: back and forth, and then you just expect out of
Speaker 1: out of almost uh kind of a muscle trigger memory
Speaker 1: kind of thing that if he makes a catch, he's
Speaker 1: got to hop out of bounds so they have a
Speaker 1: chance to win the game with a field goal, and
Speaker 1: he spins around and nobody's there and he just takes
Speaker 1: it into the end zone for a touchdown and the
Speaker 1: place felt like it was going to collapse. It was
Speaker 1: so crazy. So, uh, that's one that just stands out
Speaker 1: to me. But you know, I don't know, what, what
Speaker 1: did you think I was gonna say? Well, No, I
Speaker 1: know you've talked a lot about the Patriots undefeated season
Speaker 1: and the helmet catch and that game against the Giants
Speaker 1: with them coming back to win. Yeah, that's one where
Speaker 1: I get criticized for the for the helmet catch, and
Speaker 1: I just going back to what we talked about earlier.
Speaker 1: When you know a hundred and twelve million people are
Speaker 1: on the other end, you have to make sure that
Speaker 1: the catch has made before you're standing on your head.
Speaker 1: And I didn't really know that the catch was made
Speaker 1: until we had a second to digest it. And then
Speaker 1: if you go back and you start screaming and yell,
Speaker 1: and you kind of feel like you're making it about
Speaker 1: you instead of the moment that David Tyree catch. But
Speaker 1: but that was a great game. I mean, when you're
Speaker 1: you know, that was the second Super Bowl that that
Speaker 1: I had done, and so I was still pretty out
Speaker 1: of my head, nervous and New York. You know, anything
Speaker 1: involving New York just takes on a bigger feel, and
Speaker 1: it's against the Patriots, who are going for a perfect season.
Speaker 1: The games back and forth, and the Giants take the
Speaker 1: lead on a Plexico Burris touchdown, and now it's Brady
Speaker 1: and you know they're they're trying to become the second
Speaker 1: team to go undefeated in a season and win it all.
Speaker 1: Uh man, it was one of those where I felt
Speaker 1: my heart beating. I almost could look down and see
Speaker 1: my shirt moving, just not because I was nervous, but
Speaker 1: because it was just so intense and your your concentration
Speaker 1: goes to a different level. Like I'm not a drug guy,
Speaker 1: but I I don't know what drug that would be,
Speaker 1: but I was just so laser focused on not screwing
Speaker 1: it up that it I was like almost beside myself.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that that was an incredible, incredible game. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Uh well, I know, you know I'm I'm a Packers fan,
Speaker 1: and I will just mention this last one. I just
Speaker 1: had a conversation with Randall Cobb and we talked about
Speaker 1: I mean, for me, truly, one of them just like
Speaker 1: blew my mind sports moments that I've seen ever was
Speaker 1: that catch about a fifty yard catch against Chicago in
Speaker 1: Soldier Field for Green Bay to go to the playoffs
Speaker 1: that year. You called that. I mean that was just personally,
Speaker 1: that was that was awesome, crazy game. It's funny because
Speaker 1: you know, for whatever reason, it's out there Packer fans like,
Speaker 1: why do you hate the Packers and everybody else, every
Speaker 1: other fan is like if Buck and Aikman don't shut
Speaker 1: up about how great Aaron Rodgers and before him, Brett Farvar.
Speaker 1: I mean that was that was Frank Caliendo's stick with
Speaker 1: Madden talking. You know, Bret far Bred far Bret far
Speaker 1: Like everything that Bret Farve does is magical and uh
Speaker 1: and the same. You know, we carried that forward from
Speaker 1: Brett Farve to Aaron Rodgers. I just if I could
Speaker 1: pick somebody to watch every game broadcast or not just watch,
Speaker 1: it would be Aaron Rodgers. And and just because of
Speaker 1: the way he plays the game and his kind of
Speaker 1: higher level thinking, catching defenses with too many men and
Speaker 1: quick snap counts and you know, stuff around the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage and then the you know, if you need
Speaker 1: a hail Mary, he's your guy too. So you know that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're we're we're huge fans of of Aaron Rodgers and
Speaker 1: everybody in Green Bay's like, good, you hate the Packer
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I just I don't see how that's possible. Like,
Speaker 1: go back to that Randall cob call he just talked
Speaker 1: about and tell me that you know somehow and and
Speaker 1: deepen my soul. I hate the Packers. That was unreal.
Speaker 1: I They've provided us with more great moments on TV
Speaker 1: than really any team we've covered. Yeah. I was gonna
Speaker 1: ask you that question because you and I have talked
Speaker 1: about that a little bit in the path. What fan
Speaker 1: base do you think? How do I say this? You
Speaker 1: can say, hey, okay, all right, I'll say it like that,
Speaker 1: what fan base hates you the most because they think
Speaker 1: you don't like them? Who would it be there's a
Speaker 1: tie at the top, or it could be a team
Speaker 1: that because you're they're convinced that you love somebody else
Speaker 1: more or whatever. Well that's Chicago because I'm from St. Louis,
Speaker 1: so you know, doing the Cubs in the World Series
Speaker 1: to a large portion of their fan base Like, oh,
Speaker 1: of course the St. Louis guy whose dad's pictures on
Speaker 1: the outfield wall in St. Louis is doing this and
Speaker 1: we know he hates the Cubs, and I'm like, this
Speaker 1: was the greatest highlight of my life. It's a hundred
Speaker 1: and eight years Are you kidding me? But uh, that's
Speaker 1: one thing. The other side of it is, it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter who If I show up, you know, Boston, they'll
Speaker 1: they'll give you trouble. New York definitely. I did a
Speaker 1: thing on Funnier Die about that, which I'm really proud
Speaker 1: of about. You know, different people around the city, the
Speaker 1: people you would never expect to scream at me about
Speaker 1: why why do you hate the Yankees? Why do you
Speaker 1: hate the Giants? Why do you hate them? Ments? Uh?
Speaker 1: But the one fan base that seems a little more
Speaker 1: biting than the others is San Francisco. For whatever reason,
Speaker 1: San Francisco fans, I'll never forget doing a Giants World
Speaker 1: Series game. And the game's over and I think they
Speaker 1: had one, and I'm packing all my stuff up in
Speaker 1: the booth of stadiums empty. I think it was a blowout.
Speaker 1: Wind stadiums empty, and I hear this little kid yelling
Speaker 1: Mr Buck, Mr Buck, And I'm like packing stuff, and
Speaker 1: I'm hold on one second, I'm getting stuff, Mr Buck,
Speaker 1: And hold on one second And I'm packing stuff into
Speaker 1: my backpack and I stand up and I looked down
Speaker 1: and it's a father and son and they both give
Speaker 1: me the finger. And I was like, man, that that
Speaker 1: was special, and uh, I'd love to take a picture
Speaker 1: of this and show this and show and tell at
Speaker 1: your school. But yeah, that was That was the next level. One.
Speaker 1: I got chased into a bar in Boston, the Beantown
Speaker 1: Pub one time when the Yankees were playing the Mets.
Speaker 1: I got chased into the hotel with two guys coming
Speaker 1: out of the bean Town Pub. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: people will say something and then they come up and
Speaker 1: pat you on the back and buy a drink. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's never really personal. It's just kind of a thing.
Speaker 1: So you just you just have to embrace it. Almost yeah,
Speaker 1: for what it's worth. You know, people talk about Philly
Speaker 1: and they talk about Boston, and I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: antagonize those fan bases to behave worse than they are.
Speaker 1: I've had the opportunity to go there. This specifically is football.
Speaker 1: I've never been more scared then I was at a
Speaker 1: game at Old Candlestick arc Never, never, never, I thought
Speaker 1: I'm not getting out of this place alive. These people
Speaker 1: are insane, I know, and they're definitely if you're not
Speaker 1: one of them, you're dead to them, not literally, but
Speaker 1: they don't have any time for you. And now if
Speaker 1: you're not one of them and you're calling their games
Speaker 1: on television, good luck anything different for you from your
Speaker 1: time doing other shows besides calling the game. You know,
Speaker 1: you also did Joe Buck Live for a while, the
Speaker 1: Already Lang show that was That was the Already Lang
Speaker 1: episode of Joe Buck Live HBO, which to some people
Speaker 1: will never live down, even though Artie and I became
Speaker 1: friends the next day and I wrote the foreword to
Speaker 1: his book. But yeah, I think you bring a little
Speaker 1: more calm to the broadcast for whatever reason, when you
Speaker 1: do interview shows or you know, I've been on brock Meyer,
Speaker 1: I've been on Stern a couple of times, and I
Speaker 1: think that it gives an opportunity for people to see
Speaker 1: the other side of you. And that's really why I
Speaker 1: do any of that stuff. It's people have an impression
Speaker 1: of who they think you are based on calling ball strikes,
Speaker 1: home runs, touchdowns, whatever, and that's the smallest fraction of
Speaker 1: who I am. I feel like I've got a decent
Speaker 1: sense of humor. I feel like I'm a I'm a
Speaker 1: good dad on the dad's scale. I feel like I've
Speaker 1: I've done well with my four kids so far. I
Speaker 1: haven't raised an ax murderer to my knowledge, uh, And
Speaker 1: I feel like I've I've got a lot more sides
Speaker 1: than what I get to show during the course of
Speaker 1: a baseball, football game, golf, whatever it is. So that's
Speaker 1: why I do that stuff, and it gives me a
Speaker 1: little extra, you know something when I walk back into
Speaker 1: the play by play booth to to call the next game.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think it really helps me well and
Speaker 1: for what it's worth in a large degree, that's why
Speaker 1: I'm doing this too. I mean I have I have
Speaker 1: very much been defined as one very specific type of
Speaker 1: person through my work as well, but more for me
Speaker 1: doing this, you know, especially with sports and guys like you,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel that it truly is one of
Speaker 1: the great blessings of my life. And what I ended
Speaker 1: up doing in my life is the ability to meet
Speaker 1: guys like you at the American Century Championship there in
Speaker 1: Lake Tahoe and Michael Jordan's event or Derek Jeter's event,
Speaker 1: or you know, various golf events around the world because
Speaker 1: I am such a huge sports fan and it's so
Speaker 1: much fun for me to hear the stories and also
Speaker 1: get to know guys like you who are exactly very
Speaker 1: different than just calling balls and strikes. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: think what it does is it it gets you behind
Speaker 1: the rope to learn the big secret that they're just people.
Speaker 1: They're they're people who are incredibly gifted, but who work
Speaker 1: extremely hard at their craft, whether it's throwing a football,
Speaker 1: catching one, shooting a hockey puck, shooting a basketball, whatever
Speaker 1: it is, that is no different than me trying to
Speaker 1: show you know, I'm not I don't go to bed
Speaker 1: like calling play by play of me putting my toothpaste
Speaker 1: on my toothbrush and my wife doing the same. And
Speaker 1: you're not, you know, walking around the house reciting lines
Speaker 1: from the office. You've got you know, other stuff that
Speaker 1: makes you tick and go and get you excited. And
Speaker 1: the point is you think know somebody based on a
Speaker 1: SoundBite or what you see with them in a helmet
Speaker 1: or you know, a basketball uniform, whatever it is. And
Speaker 1: and they've all had moments of terror, They've all been
Speaker 1: completely insecure, They've had moments where they were tested. They've
Speaker 1: had sure great moments of triumph, but terrible defeats. They
Speaker 1: all come from parents. Some are parents that are around,
Speaker 1: some are not. Some are a rough dad, a nice dad,
Speaker 1: or whatever. And then you start building a catalog of
Speaker 1: these people who are the best of the best, and
Speaker 1: you go, my god, they're just like everybody else. When
Speaker 1: I talked to Michael Phelps on that show and we
Speaker 1: showed the picture of him on the Sports Illustrated cover
Speaker 1: with twenty plus metals around his neck, I said, what
Speaker 1: what do you think of when you see that picture?
Speaker 1: And he said, I see a guy with big ears
Speaker 1: and an awkward smile who got picked on on the playground.
Speaker 1: And I said, well, for the rest of the world,
Speaker 1: all we see are the medals. And you know, it
Speaker 1: was the same thing like when he went to rehab
Speaker 1: and what that was like and being just shaken, and
Speaker 1: you just realized that everybody's trying their best, and everybody's
Speaker 1: trying to get through the world. And yes, they have
Speaker 1: these moments on the court, the ice, whatever, but god,
Speaker 1: they they're also flawed human beings, just like you and me.
Speaker 1: That's right. Do you have a podcast with my good
Speaker 1: friend as well Oliver Hudson daddy issues. You're talking about
Speaker 1: family on the podcast. How is that for you? It's
Speaker 1: great if I could ever get Oliver to return text
Speaker 1: and actually set up time when we're gonna record our
Speaker 1: stupid thing. We've had great guests. I mean, I've had
Speaker 1: Eddie Vetter and Mark Cuban, and I mean it's a
Speaker 1: long list of people that mainly I know for some reason,
Speaker 1: I don't know anybody that could be Goldie hans Son
Speaker 1: and Kurt Russell's steps on and Kate Hudson's brother and
Speaker 1: Whyatt Russell's brother, and he knows nobody. Nobody will return
Speaker 1: his call, and that's why he's got daddy issues. His dad,
Speaker 1: Bill Hudson, walked out of the family when he was
Speaker 1: around ten years old and he's been going to therapy
Speaker 1: ever since. Now he's a dad, and he's got a
Speaker 1: boy that's about to start high school, and he's got
Speaker 1: two younger kids, and uh, you know, I've got girls
Speaker 1: that are in their mid twenties, ones acting, one just
Speaker 1: finished film school at usc and then I've got four
Speaker 1: year old twin boys. So we've got kids up and
Speaker 1: down the line. And it's more about being you know, Uh,
Speaker 1: he's forty five. I'm fifty three, married in my case, divorced, remarried,
Speaker 1: more kids, you know, all the stuff he deals with,
Speaker 1: a feeling like the black sheep of the family. Uh.
Speaker 1: And yet I'm close with the rest of his siblings
Speaker 1: and his parents, and they all think he's the most talented,
Speaker 1: but he's never tapped into all that. So that's kind
Speaker 1: of the through line of the podcast. And then there's
Speaker 1: just a bunch of junk that that follows. Well. I
Speaker 1: have to tell you, I think this is the greatest
Speaker 1: compliment anyone could give you, because it's it's what I observe,
Speaker 1: and it's what I've heard from my own bizarrely unique
Speaker 1: spot in the locker room being the golf course. I
Speaker 1: cannot imagine athletes could speak any higher of you than
Speaker 1: they do. You have their respect, and that is not
Speaker 1: universally true, by the way, without mentioning anybody else's name,
Speaker 1: that people respect the job that you do, the amount
Speaker 1: of work and research you put into it, and how
Speaker 1: respectful you are in calling the games, and for me,
Speaker 1: by the way, you and Troy, I I mean, the
Speaker 1: best in the business, best in the business. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you saying that that from somebody like you, that that
Speaker 1: means a lot. And I think sometimes everybody is so
Speaker 1: quick to absorb all the negative, and then when somebody
Speaker 1: says something nice, you just kind of gloss over it
Speaker 1: because I'm not I'm not good at compliments. But I
Speaker 1: will tell you this. When my dad dropped me off
Speaker 1: at Triple A my first year, we drove up from
Speaker 1: spring training from Florida and he dropped me in Louisville,
Speaker 1: and then he went on to St. Louis On the
Speaker 1: way up, he told me a couple of things. He said, One,
Speaker 1: you've been watching Big league baseball your whole life. Unless
Speaker 1: you think, as the play by play guy of these
Speaker 1: minor league guys that you could make that play ten
Speaker 1: times out of ten, realize that they're trying their best,
Speaker 1: and don't criticize that way. The game is way harder
Speaker 1: than we all realize, especially when you're sitting up in
Speaker 1: the broadcast booth too. Same deal with the umpires, you know,
Speaker 1: like layoff, it's it's easy to get, you know, our
Speaker 1: pictures not getting anything. They're not getting any called just layoff,
Speaker 1: call the game. Shut up. Three Nobody cares that the
Speaker 1: announcers hot. Nobody cares. If you're in the booth and
Speaker 1: you're cold, Nobody cares. If you're tired, Just call the game.
Speaker 1: And most importantly, if you get hit by a bus
Speaker 1: going into the game, realize that they're still gonna play
Speaker 1: the game. They're not going to stop the game. It's
Speaker 1: still gonna be on the radio and people are still
Speaker 1: gonna listen to it. It doesn't So don't act like
Speaker 1: anybody has ever gone up and down the dial going
Speaker 1: where's the Joe Buck game? No, this is where's the
Speaker 1: Cardinal game? Where's the Packer game, Where's the Cubs game?
Speaker 1: Where's the Braves game? It's not you, So don't act
Speaker 1: like they're they're listening for you. So I I think
Speaker 1: with regard to the players, hopefully nobody feels like I've
Speaker 1: been unfair when when I'm calling games, And hopefully they
Speaker 1: know that the person up there that's calling what they
Speaker 1: do for a living, cares to do a good job
Speaker 1: and puts work into it, and and that's that's kind
Speaker 1: of how I go about it. Big move this spring,
Speaker 1: you're moving to ESPN, And as you said, no baseball. Now, okay,
Speaker 1: with no baseball I am. I had told Fox that
Speaker 1: this was gonna be my last year doing it, you know,
Speaker 1: after you do. It would have been my twenty five
Speaker 1: world series. I feel like that's enough. I I it's
Speaker 1: for those keeping track. It's the most anybody has ever
Speaker 1: called played by play I walk Away now tied with
Speaker 1: Tim McCarver foremost ever by anybody. And I like that.
Speaker 1: And none of that stuff really matters to anybody, including me.
Speaker 1: But I think it's just time for a new voice.
Speaker 1: And then for ESPN. I never thought I would work
Speaker 1: at ESPN. I it just was like, that's over there.
Speaker 1: I'm at Fox. I've been here since I was in
Speaker 1: my mid twenties. I'm now almost you know, mid fifties.
Speaker 1: I've lived my whole life over here. And then their
Speaker 1: situation with Troy unraveled, Troy ends up at ESPN. I
Speaker 1: was like, well, I mean, I'm only signed one more year.
Speaker 1: I love working with Troy. I want to keep working
Speaker 1: with Troy. Let's see if we can make this happen.
Speaker 1: And in other layer that nobody you know puts together
Speaker 1: is my wife does the Monday Night Countdown interview. So
Speaker 1: she does the the Profile personality interview with a player
Speaker 1: in that Monday night game. So now she and I
Speaker 1: are going to work on the same nights, and we've
Speaker 1: got these four year old twin boys at home. So
Speaker 1: it was just like everything was lining up, like if
Speaker 1: we can make this happen somehow, and ESPN wanted it
Speaker 1: to happen. It was only up to Fox to let
Speaker 1: me out of the last year of my deal, that
Speaker 1: this would be a good time to kind of force
Speaker 1: some change. And I think change is good. You know.
Speaker 1: I talked to the guy that hired me at Fox
Speaker 1: when I was in my mid twenties, David Hill, who
Speaker 1: built that network. I called him and I let him
Speaker 1: kind of have the final say in my brain because
Speaker 1: I was going back and forth on it, and Fox
Speaker 1: offered me an extension, and it wasn't like they were
Speaker 1: sick of me yet. But David Hill said, the ten
Speaker 1: years I've been gone from Fox have been the most
Speaker 1: rewarding years of my life. And for you, you've done
Speaker 1: the same thing over and over and over again at
Speaker 1: the same place with the same people. You're gonna be
Speaker 1: nervous before your first Monday night football game. That's good.
Speaker 1: You're gonna grow. And he said, if if you're asking
Speaker 1: me I think you should leave. And once he said that,
Speaker 1: then I put the full court press on and now
Speaker 1: here we are, so I can't wait. I'm I just
Speaker 1: wish I was working. Yeah, that's awesome. Um, thank you,
Speaker 1: so am I am. I seeing you in a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. I will see you, my friend. Hopefully they
Speaker 1: can put us together that first day. That'd be a blast.
Speaker 1: Are are you there to like hold Aaron Rodgers hand?
Speaker 1: You probably have your group. Yeah, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: crash your party. No, that's why I see. That's the
Speaker 1: thing is, that's why I asked if you're an entertainer,
Speaker 1: because then now that you said yes, ish or I
Speaker 1: made you say yes, then that means we can. You know,
Speaker 1: they like the first day. They like to put like
Speaker 1: like people together, you know, like they'll put him with
Speaker 1: quarterbacks and me with entertainers. Maybe maybe me you and
Speaker 1: Larry the cable guy, something like that. I'm watching that.
Speaker 1: I'm not although he's gotten better, right, he's a better
Speaker 1: of golfer now that he has gotten better. Yeah, all right, good,
Speaker 1: I would like Yeah, thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Best of luck to you at ESPN. I'll start reaching
Speaker 1: out to get tickets now once we hit the fall
Speaker 1: any and we'll do it. Thanks so much, Joe. I'll
Speaker 1: see in Green Bay all right, Brian, see you, buddy, Joe.
Speaker 1: What more is there to say? Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining me. I appreciate you taking the time. I
Speaker 1: cannot wait to listen to you on well Monday Night
Speaker 1: football next season. And I'm gonna take some notes next
Speaker 1: time I listened to your podcast listeners, you should definitely
Speaker 1: do the same. And of course we will see you
Speaker 1: next week for another episode of the podcast. How far
Speaker 1: off the Beat will we go? Will we even be
Speaker 1: able to see the beat? I'm gonna see yes, but
Speaker 1: only time will tell. See you next week. Off the
Speaker 1: Beat is hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer Langley. Our producers are Diego Tapia,
Speaker 1: Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and Hannah Harris. Our talent producer
Speaker 1: is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak
Speaker 1: performed by my great friend Creed Bratton, and the episode
Speaker 1: was mixed by seth Olandski