Speaker 1: Hey everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Dave
Speaker 1: Pash Podcast. I'm your host ESPN and Arizona Cardinals broadcaster
Speaker 1: Day Pash. Our guest this week is Fox Sports lead
Speaker 1: game analyst Greg Olsen, longtime Carolina Panther, also played for
Speaker 1: the Bears and finished up his fourteen year career as
Speaker 1: an NFL tight end with the Seattle Seahawks. Last year,
Speaker 1: he was on the number two crew at Fox with
Speaker 1: Kevin Burkhart. This year they're the lead crew and they
Speaker 1: will call the Super Bowl here in Arizona at State
Speaker 1: Farm Stadium. We'll talk about the Panthers and his thoughts
Speaker 1: on Baker Mayfield. We'll also talk about his time as
Speaker 1: a member of the Panthers, playing with Cam Newton on
Speaker 1: a team that went to the Super Bowl in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: Also Greg's thoughts on calling the Super Bowl, how he'll
Speaker 1: treat that week as a broadcaster. My approach this year
Speaker 1: is really get a good routine every week on how
Speaker 1: I prepare and how I go in with the mindset
Speaker 1: and how I want my style to be by the
Speaker 1: time I get to the playoffs. By the time you
Speaker 1: get to the super Bowl, you can just like as
Speaker 1: a player, you can really rely on that routine. We
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Speaker 1: Next step, All right, let's hear now from our guest,
Speaker 1: Former NFL tight end and current Fox broadcaster Greg Olson.
Speaker 1: Fires ends on and it's caught touchdown at the back
Speaker 1: of the end zone. Greg Olson, So Greg. The producer
Speaker 1: of this podcast is Jim Omohundro, but the executive producer
Speaker 1: for this particular episode is former Cardinal quarterback Drew Stanton.
Speaker 1: Who got you to do this? I really appreciate you
Speaker 1: doing this. I used to favor from Drew to get
Speaker 1: young because I know you don't do a ton of these.
Speaker 1: First of all, tell me how you and dreukes I
Speaker 1: know you guys are tight. How far you go back
Speaker 1: and just about your relationship. Yeah, Drew is one of
Speaker 1: my closest buddies. We So we first met so back
Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven, we both declared for the
Speaker 1: draft and we were preparing for the combine and we
Speaker 1: had the same agent, Drew Rosenhouse and Drew we all
Speaker 1: trained at a facility down in South Florida, um with
Speaker 1: a guy named Pete Bamrito, and Drew put all of us,
Speaker 1: all of his clients up in that year's class in
Speaker 1: the same um like condo building. So Drew and I
Speaker 1: lived across the hall, and just that was the first
Speaker 1: time we had ever met. And you know, for the
Speaker 1: next three months, we drove to training together, we ate together,
Speaker 1: We you know, became really good friends. Our our wives
Speaker 1: became really good friends. And to this day, he's a
Speaker 1: guy that, you know, I consider one of my closest friends,
Speaker 1: you know, in the uh you know, in the world.
Speaker 1: And he's just a great guy. His family, Christen, the kids,
Speaker 1: they're just they're just great people. And uh So, when
Speaker 1: Drew reaches out a friend of Drew as a friend
Speaker 1: of mine, fair enough, And are you as into wine
Speaker 1: as Drew as because the guy's out of control. I'm not.
Speaker 1: I should say I've learned a lot about wine through him.
Speaker 1: We love going to dinner, we love traveling with them
Speaker 1: because that's one thing that'll always be taken care of.
Speaker 1: But uh, yeah, Drew, Drew's love of wine. We went
Speaker 1: to a for a buddy's fortieth birthday years back. We
Speaker 1: all went out to NAPA and so the experiencing NAPA
Speaker 1: with the Stantons is h is quite the experience. So
Speaker 1: I don't pretend to know as much, but I've learned
Speaker 1: a lot from Drew, and anytime I have a question,
Speaker 1: he's my first call. Well, he's gotten really good at this.
Speaker 1: I think he, you know, enjoys broadcasting. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's going to be something that, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: he's going to want to pursue all in like you have.
Speaker 1: But I think he's really good. I think he could
Speaker 1: do really well in the business as you have. It's
Speaker 1: really interesting kind of watching your ascension, and I want
Speaker 1: to get into that. It's funny because I've had conversation
Speaker 1: with Drew about doing his games, even when he was
Speaker 1: at Michigan State. Because I've been at ESPN now doing
Speaker 1: college football for almost twenty years. I did your games
Speaker 1: at Miami and then obviously did your games with the
Speaker 1: Cardinals when you've been in the NFL, and I know
Speaker 1: you live in Charlotte. You had a great run as
Speaker 1: a player, spent nine years with the Panthers, three Pro Bowls,
Speaker 1: three straight one thousand yards seasons, which had never been
Speaker 1: done by its height end, and then you beat the
Speaker 1: Cardinals in the NFC Championship Game in twenty fifteen. I'm
Speaker 1: assuming that is up there with your fondest memories of
Speaker 1: being a Panther. What else would be at the top
Speaker 1: of the list of your memories with Carolina? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I was fortunate for nine years, you know, I was
Speaker 1: able to join to join a team that prior, you know,
Speaker 1: the two ten season was a little bit of a struggle,
Speaker 1: and it was really cool that in twenty eleven it
Speaker 1: was kind of the start of something pretty special. They
Speaker 1: had a really good nucleus of players, um, you know,
Speaker 1: Steve Smith and Ryan Khalil and Jordan Gross and Jonathan Stewart.
Speaker 1: I mean just a really good you know, Tom and
Speaker 1: Thomas David is just a good core group of guys
Speaker 1: that were there but you know, they just struggled. They
Speaker 1: had a tough season the year before for a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons. So that next year, um, you know, hired
Speaker 1: Ron Rivera and drafted Cam and they traded for me
Speaker 1: from Chicago. So it was cool. We all kind of
Speaker 1: started that chapter of our careers together. And you know,
Speaker 1: as you said, you know, the pinnacle was twenty and fifteen.
Speaker 1: You know, we made the playoffs year three and two
Speaker 1: thirteen U and kind of put ourselves on the map
Speaker 1: and made it again in fourteen and then you know
Speaker 1: kind of really you know, hit our peak in fifteen.
Speaker 1: But you know, we went fifteen to one, and like
Speaker 1: you said, we played Arizona in the NFC Championship. We
Speaker 1: had the best record in the league, and I believe
Speaker 1: they had the second best record in the league. I
Speaker 1: think they won like thirteen games that year. So it
Speaker 1: was it was a huge matchup. And the reality is
Speaker 1: we just played really well that night. Um. It was
Speaker 1: kind of a magical back in you know, back in
Speaker 1: back in Charlotte, and you know, I just remember standing
Speaker 1: on the field and you know realizing, you know, at
Speaker 1: the trophy presentation that we were in two weeks we
Speaker 1: were going to play in the Super Bowl, and just
Speaker 1: we had beat in Seattle in the divisional round and
Speaker 1: then to beat Arizona in the conference round. We had
Speaker 1: we had really gone through a pretty you know, a
Speaker 1: gauntlet of really really good teams just to make the
Speaker 1: super Bowl and then you know, we ended up just
Speaker 1: kind of laying an egg. But I have so many
Speaker 1: fond memories at that time there. I think the best
Speaker 1: thing was just building, you know, building that group of
Speaker 1: guys and building that team from the ground floor up.
Speaker 1: You know, they were they had the number one pick
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eleven, and we were back in
Speaker 1: the playoffs by thirteen and uh making a run in fifteen.
Speaker 1: So that that was probably the most special part, was
Speaker 1: just seeing how we can turn a franchise around when
Speaker 1: you had the right group of guys. And you mentioned
Speaker 1: that twenty eleven draft that that will go down as
Speaker 1: one of the greatest first rounds in NFL history. JJ Watt,
Speaker 1: Patrick Peterson, AJ Green, Von Miller, Cam Newton number one overall.
Speaker 1: What was it like to play with Camp because that
Speaker 1: year he was the best player in football. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't even close. In his MVP year, what he
Speaker 1: was able to do. But but even years prior, you know,
Speaker 1: and after, you know, it wasn't really until the injuries
Speaker 1: kind of set in in two thousand and seventeen that
Speaker 1: things kind of started to fade away for us, you know,
Speaker 1: not not just him and dealing in and out with
Speaker 1: the shoulder injury and then the foot, but you know,
Speaker 1: that was kind of the start of kind of the
Speaker 1: end of, you know, our run. We know, we made
Speaker 1: the playoffs in twenty and seventeen again UM ended up
Speaker 1: losing to New Orleans and then that was really the
Speaker 1: end of it. And after the nineteen season we were
Speaker 1: all gone. So UM. You know, camp Cam was a
Speaker 1: special guy. We saw that pretty quickly. You know, I
Speaker 1: got to train at Camp there in two thousand and eleven,
Speaker 1: after after I got traded to Carolina, and not really
Speaker 1: knowing what to expect. Of course, we had all seen
Speaker 1: him play at Auburn and we knew how special he was.
Speaker 1: But you gotta get you meet him, and at first
Speaker 1: you're just you're just blown away by his physical presence,
Speaker 1: just the way the guy looked, his size, his his
Speaker 1: just his physique. He was he was just there was
Speaker 1: not a lot of guys built like Cam Newton, and
Speaker 1: then you know his ability to run, both his speed
Speaker 1: and his you know, his physical nature that he'd run with.
Speaker 1: He just was unlike any quarterback really at the time.
Speaker 1: And you know, he just grew so much as a passer,
Speaker 1: he grew so much as just an all round player.
Speaker 1: He was awesome. He was so good for my career.
Speaker 1: We were able to accomplish a lot of really good
Speaker 1: things together. And you know, I'm the first to admit that,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of my success was a product
Speaker 1: of the two of us playing so long together and
Speaker 1: having so many games together, and you know, just really
Speaker 1: saw things the same way. So Cam Cam was a
Speaker 1: unique talent. There's there's not a lot of guys like him,
Speaker 1: and he's about as competitive a guy as I ever
Speaker 1: played with. And I think that carried him so long,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately some of those injuries kind of you know,
Speaker 1: got the best from there at the end. But man,
Speaker 1: for when when he was at his best, he was
Speaker 1: as good as anybody. I know. You're doing national games
Speaker 1: every week, and I totally get what that's like. You're
Speaker 1: honing in on the two teams you're prepared ring for,
Speaker 1: but you're still keeping abreast of what's going on around
Speaker 1: the NFL, and certainly when you live in Charlotte, you're
Speaker 1: paying close attention to the Panthers. And given that you
Speaker 1: played most of your career there, what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: on the Panthers and where they are? They had lost
Speaker 1: nine in a row. Their last win prior to this
Speaker 1: past weekend was against the Cardinals here, which really started
Speaker 1: the Cardinal's downfall last year. Yeah, and I think, if
Speaker 1: I remember it right, that was Cam's first game back.
Speaker 1: I think Cam ran for a touchdown and threw for
Speaker 1: a touchdown real early in that game. They kind of
Speaker 1: used them in and out of the lineup, So yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I think, you know, just this year, tough
Speaker 1: game in the opener they had, it had a tough
Speaker 1: kind of ending there at the end of the Browns
Speaker 1: game with a weird roughing the passer call and a
Speaker 1: weird grounding call that you know, gave Cleveland a chance
Speaker 1: to kick a field goal, and then you know, never
Speaker 1: expected they were going to lose, and the schedule came out,
Speaker 1: they thought the Giants game would be a win, but
Speaker 1: the Giants have proven to be a lot better than
Speaker 1: people thought. And you know, it's I think there's season
Speaker 1: started worse than they are. I think this past week
Speaker 1: getting a good win against UM, against New Orleans was
Speaker 1: big for them, just to kind of get that off
Speaker 1: their back. You know, anytime you lose for that long,
Speaker 1: you know what, you just need to win, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter how it comes, it doesn't matter the form
Speaker 1: or fashion. But sometimes it just allows everybody for one
Speaker 1: week to just take a collective deep breath and say,
Speaker 1: all right, we're good, broke the losing streak. Now we
Speaker 1: can just focus on, you know, honing into play. So
Speaker 1: I think they're a more talented team than their record shows.
Speaker 1: They're you know, not only this year's record, but just
Speaker 1: the record into into last year as you reference, they're
Speaker 1: losing streets. So I think they're talented. I think they
Speaker 1: have a lot of good young pieces. Um. Obviously Baker
Speaker 1: is still kind of getting you know, getting his legs
Speaker 1: under them here in Carolina as the starting quarterback. And
Speaker 1: I think as the year goes on, I really do
Speaker 1: believe that they'll continue to improve and that you know, defensively,
Speaker 1: they're pretty they're pretty stout. They got some really dynamic
Speaker 1: young players there. And then I think as the offense
Speaker 1: continues to find its way. They're not short on talent,
Speaker 1: they're not short on playmakers. I think it's just a
Speaker 1: matter of how they continue to gel and come together.
Speaker 1: But I think they're a talented group that's just trying
Speaker 1: to learn to win. Right now, tell me more about
Speaker 1: why you think Baker is the answer. And I've been
Speaker 1: told by several people that even though you're a tight end,
Speaker 1: you see the game the way a quarterback sees it,
Speaker 1: so you're certainly qualified to talk about Baker and his strengths.
Speaker 1: I think we all know about Baker's weaknesses. But tell
Speaker 1: me why you think Baker is the answer there for
Speaker 1: the Panthers. You know, I you know, is he the
Speaker 1: long term answer for the next ten years? I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I can't pretend to have that sort
Speaker 1: of insight and whatnot. But in my limited time studying
Speaker 1: them and and just you know, watching the games on
Speaker 1: replay and whatnot, you know, I think what he brings
Speaker 1: is is just stability. He brings he brings that competitive fire,
Speaker 1: but he brings a guy who's really played. He's played well,
Speaker 1: and I think he's played better than his reputation. I
Speaker 1: think if you looked just at last year, you know,
Speaker 1: last year in Cleveland, you know, he really he was
Speaker 1: out there kind of banged up, playing hurt. You know,
Speaker 1: could have easily said, hey, I'm not help, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: sit this out, but he didn't. He continued the battle,
Speaker 1: played with that shoulder, played with a litany of things,
Speaker 1: and didn't play well. But you know, I think he's
Speaker 1: a better player than what our most recent memory of him.
Speaker 1: So I think when you know, they went out and
Speaker 1: brought into Shawn and made him a bail. But I
Speaker 1: think there was there was talking Carolina for for a
Speaker 1: long time that Baker was going to eventually end up here,
Speaker 1: and then you know, it kind of happened a little
Speaker 1: later in training camp that people you know, going into
Speaker 1: training camp that people thought. But you know, I just
Speaker 1: think with the weapons that he has, Christian McCaffrey and
Speaker 1: DJ Moore and m you know, Robbie Anderson and you know,
Speaker 1: they got some they have some weapons. Offensively, they've improved
Speaker 1: their offensive line drastically from last year, drafted what they
Speaker 1: think is the next you know, ten plus year left
Speaker 1: tackle in Ikey. So I think as far as the
Speaker 1: core group of guys to work around. They have them,
Speaker 1: and now it's up to the quarterback. It's up to
Speaker 1: Baker to run the show. And he hasn't played great
Speaker 1: this year. I think he's played better as the year
Speaker 1: has gone on, but as he continues to get more
Speaker 1: comfortable in Ben mcadu's system. He's not short on playmakers.
Speaker 1: He's not short on guys to spread the ball too,
Speaker 1: and that's going to be the key to this growth
Speaker 1: of the offense is how does Baker run the show?
Speaker 1: How does Baker operate in this offense? We know he
Speaker 1: can be special, We know he can make the splash,
Speaker 1: flash play. Can he just make the easy play? Can
Speaker 1: he just make the easy read and get the ball
Speaker 1: into some of these dynamic players that they have offensively?
Speaker 1: And I think if he can find that balance between
Speaker 1: playmaker and just game manager at times, he needs to
Speaker 1: be both. And I think that's the recipe that I
Speaker 1: think they're looking for, because I think they had the
Speaker 1: players around him to do it. Graig, what are your
Speaker 1: thoughts on the Cardinals. You are out here for Fox
Speaker 1: doing the Baltimore game, and I get that in that game,
Speaker 1: nobody really played for the Cardinals, so it may be
Speaker 1: hard to fully give an evaluation properly on where the
Speaker 1: Cardinals are. But I think he did some Cardinals games
Speaker 1: last year, and as you know, the first half of
Speaker 1: last season and into the second half, they were the
Speaker 1: best offensive team in the NFL. Right now, they're struggling.
Speaker 1: No first quarter points. They have led in regulation at
Speaker 1: any point in three games this season. What do you
Speaker 1: make of what's going on out here? Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't I actually didn't end up getting any of
Speaker 1: their games um last year in the regular season. As
Speaker 1: you mentioned, I called their preseason game against Baltimore, zero
Speaker 1: of the starters played, but had a chance to visit
Speaker 1: with with Kingsbury and and some of the coaches and
Speaker 1: advanced Joseph. It just kind of get a vibe and
Speaker 1: a field and they felt really optimistic going into the year.
Speaker 1: They felt that as they got healthy. Of course, missing
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hopkins to start the year as a big blow,
Speaker 1: and you know they think a big reason for that,
Speaker 1: you know, late season kind of collapse that you mentioned,
Speaker 1: a lot of it was injury related. You know, they
Speaker 1: lost you know, Hopkins, they lost Um. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: Cayler Murray got banged up there and kind of played
Speaker 1: through some injuries. They lost JJ Watt. They you know,
Speaker 1: they were a veteran laden team, maybe a little bit older,
Speaker 1: and a lot of those key veterans that they were
Speaker 1: relying on, you know, they didn't have down the stretch.
Speaker 1: You know, JJ came back and attempted the play i
Speaker 1: think in the playoffs, but it didn't end up, you know,
Speaker 1: being too much in that Rams game. So I think
Speaker 1: they're going to be very dependent on staying healthy. I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna need some of these top you know,
Speaker 1: especially some of these older guys to stay healthy. They're
Speaker 1: gonna need some of these weapons, you know, Hollywood Brown
Speaker 1: and these guys to still in because DeAndre Hopkins is
Speaker 1: arguably one of the best receivers in the league, and
Speaker 1: you know, to expect just one guy to replace him
Speaker 1: as difficult. So they're gonna need collectively as a group.
Speaker 1: They're gonna need Kyler to play really well. They're gonna
Speaker 1: need their skill players to step up. They're gonna need
Speaker 1: to stay healthy. And from what I've seen this year,
Speaker 1: you know, the magical comeback win that they had two
Speaker 1: weeks ago was insane. I mean, the way that game
Speaker 1: ended was wild against the Raiders and really outside of
Speaker 1: that late flurry, as you mentioned, offensively, they've just been
Speaker 1: kind of blah. So they've got to figure out what
Speaker 1: their identity is. They've got to figure out, you know,
Speaker 1: what scheme they want to run, a little hybrid of
Speaker 1: what Kingsbury started running when first got there and you know,
Speaker 1: kind of what they've evolved to now. So I think
Speaker 1: they're still trying to figure that out. Obviously, they've hitched
Speaker 1: their wagon to Kyler Murray and you know, they're only
Speaker 1: going to go as far as he takes them. But
Speaker 1: I think they're still trying to figure out, you know,
Speaker 1: what that identity is, what's that balance of him as
Speaker 1: a runner as a passer. Yeah, they have too many
Speaker 1: good players to not be better offensively, and I think
Speaker 1: that right now that's the obvious thing that they're trying
Speaker 1: to figure out. So your last year playing was twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: and you were kind of the broadcaster in waiting. You
Speaker 1: have the coach in waiting, you were like the top broadcast,
Speaker 1: your top analyst in waiting. Everybody knew that when you
Speaker 1: were done, you were going to a high level booth
Speaker 1: at one of the networks. You're at Fox. Last year
Speaker 1: on the number two crew with Kevin Burkhardt, Joe Buck
Speaker 1: and Troykman come over to ESPN. So now you're on
Speaker 1: the League crew, You're doing the Super Bowl this year.
Speaker 1: I'm curious, Greg, when did you start to realize that
Speaker 1: you wanted to do this post football? And was it
Speaker 1: always I want to do games? Did you think you
Speaker 1: wanted to do studio or were you not really sure? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a good question, to be honest. It wasn't something
Speaker 1: that I ever early in my career. It was not
Speaker 1: something that I ever really thought about or dreamed about.
Speaker 1: You know. I was always so focused on just being
Speaker 1: a player. And then you know, kind of in you know,
Speaker 1: the later stage of my career, you know, fourteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: you know, through some context that I had, I was
Speaker 1: doing some local TV stuff in Charlotte's, some local regional
Speaker 1: network college football shows, some professional stuff, you know, Fox
Speaker 1: asked me to come out one summer, I think it
Speaker 1: was the summer going into the twenty fifteen season, and said, hey,
Speaker 1: why don't you come out. I was I was in
Speaker 1: LA visiting a friend, a former teammate of mine, and
Speaker 1: so why don't you come over to the studio and
Speaker 1: just call an audition game. And you know, for anyone
Speaker 1: who doesn't know an audition game, you just it's a
Speaker 1: game that already happened in the past. It was from
Speaker 1: the previous season. It's prerecorded, and you sit in a
Speaker 1: studio with a play by play guy and you just
Speaker 1: talk over the game and it's just a simulation to
Speaker 1: see how comfortable you are and whatnot. So from that,
Speaker 1: which was actually with Kevin Burkhart, who's my partner now,
Speaker 1: which is kind of a crazy um full circle moment
Speaker 1: that he called my audition. So now fast forward twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: They that summer, they reached out to us and said, hey,
Speaker 1: we'd love to put you in a three man booth
Speaker 1: on your bye week. We think it'd be really cool
Speaker 1: to have a current player and add him for for
Speaker 1: a one week kind of special thing. So I joined
Speaker 1: Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis. I became their third third
Speaker 1: member of the crew on my bye week. That was
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. It went well. Twenty nineteen, they said, hey,
Speaker 1: we'd love to see you do a game on your
Speaker 1: bye week again, but this time we'll put you as
Speaker 1: a two man crew. So I did it with Kenny Albert,
Speaker 1: and then that that next offseason, you know, right before
Speaker 1: COVID hit, they launched the XSL and me and Kevin
Speaker 1: Burkhart did the first five weeks of the XFL together.
Speaker 1: So it really was just a gradual process that just
Speaker 1: different opportunities came and to the point about calling games
Speaker 1: or studio. Did the pregame Super Bowl show, NFL Countdown,
Speaker 1: you know, on the field and before the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: So I did some studio stuff with them, did some
Speaker 1: studio stuff with Fox, CBS, really all the networks, and
Speaker 1: then just realized that my best opportunity to climb, my
Speaker 1: best opportunity to separate myself would be calling games. You know,
Speaker 1: those studios slots are really held for guys with really
Speaker 1: really long resumes and Hall of Fame jackets and quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and you know, it just it was a little bit
Speaker 1: of a different climb, but calling the games wasn't quite
Speaker 1: as dependent on that. You know, it was really about
Speaker 1: who's good, and we want to find guys who were good,
Speaker 1: and we're not so much wrapped up in name and
Speaker 1: in resume and playing career. So that was an opportunity
Speaker 1: that I was able to take advantage of. And fortunately
Speaker 1: after one year of twenty twenty one calling a full
Speaker 1: slated games as the B Crew, craziness happened and Joe
Speaker 1: and Troy ended up leaving from Monday Night Football and
Speaker 1: opened up the door for me and Kevin to slide
Speaker 1: up to the A Crew. So it was it was
Speaker 1: kind of a wild process, but it wasn't anything that
Speaker 1: was like this long plan of attack. It just all started,
Speaker 1: happened organ and try to take advantage of opportunities that
Speaker 1: I was given. I've been doing games for two decades
Speaker 1: and there are still certain games that you know are
Speaker 1: bigger than others. So during the week the butterflies are there,
Speaker 1: or in pregame you're thinking more about, man, I got
Speaker 1: to really nail this open. There are more eyeballs on
Speaker 1: this game than maybe the game you have last weekend.
Speaker 1: And you know you're supposed to say the right things
Speaker 1: that every game's the same, but it's not. Now you're
Speaker 1: going to be doing the Super Bowl. What do you
Speaker 1: think your mindset will be like Because you've played in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, but broadcasting it obviously is different. It's
Speaker 1: not as natural to you as playing was, but you
Speaker 1: become very good at it. What do you think that
Speaker 1: week will be like for you and Kevin? Yeah, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, it's hard to It's hard to say. You know,
Speaker 1: if you would have asked me as a player what
Speaker 1: playing in the Super Bowl was like, I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: been able to answer it either. And I think my
Speaker 1: experience playing in it was very different from what I
Speaker 1: thought it would be like. So I'm sure it's going
Speaker 1: to be very similar now as the announcer. You know,
Speaker 1: my approach this year is really like, really get a
Speaker 1: good routine every week on how I prepare and how
Speaker 1: I go in with the mindset and how I want
Speaker 1: my style to be, how I want people listening to
Speaker 1: my broadcast to come away with it like what I
Speaker 1: want them to come away with, and really try to
Speaker 1: do that consistently all year long. And I think if
Speaker 1: I can build that shorter routine and build that mindset
Speaker 1: over the course of the year, by the time I
Speaker 1: get to the playoffs, by the time you get to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, you can just like as a player,
Speaker 1: you can really rely on that routine. You can rely
Speaker 1: on those habits you've built throughout the course of the year.
Speaker 1: I think that all of a sudden you get to
Speaker 1: those playoff games, and you get to a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and you watch more tape, and you have a different board,
Speaker 1: and you make more storylines and you do more prep
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you've made the game bigger. That'd
Speaker 1: be like, you know, the week of the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: changing your practice plan from what had gotten you there.
Speaker 1: So that's really what I'm trying to just constantly remind
Speaker 1: myself of is at the end of the day, just
Speaker 1: like when you played, whether you're playing in front of
Speaker 1: ten thousand people, one hundred thousand people, earned on TV
Speaker 1: in front one hundred million people, the second you took
Speaker 1: your mind and eyes off of what you needed to
Speaker 1: do to not only prepare, but get yourself ready to
Speaker 1: go out and perform at a high level. Whether it's
Speaker 1: as a player, as a broadcaster, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: really similar you know, a lot of blot as that
Speaker 1: is and asja as that is. That's really the only
Speaker 1: approach I can rely on because I don't have experience.
Speaker 1: I don't have I don't know what it's like to
Speaker 1: sit in that chair with one hundred million people watching
Speaker 1: the game and be the voice of it. I have
Speaker 1: nothing to base it on. Other building a great routine
Speaker 1: throughout the course of this season, and hopefully all of
Speaker 1: that prepares me that that game, once it kicks off,
Speaker 1: feels normal. It feels it feels like every other you know,
Speaker 1: it feels like the game I just did this past
Speaker 1: week in front of twenty million people with the with
Speaker 1: you know, Green Bay and Tampa, right Like, I got
Speaker 1: to use all those games as prep to keep it,
Speaker 1: you know, keep it as regular and routine as I can.
Speaker 1: I've taught to a lot of former coaches and players
Speaker 1: and work with a lot that you say they enjoy
Speaker 1: the games because a lot of guys enjoy studio because
Speaker 1: of FaceTime. A lot of guys enjoy games because they're
Speaker 1: still that rush because you're there, you're present, you notice
Speaker 1: the crowd. There's still that palpable intensity. There is that
Speaker 1: rush there for you when you do a game. You know,
Speaker 1: I think that's why I've really gravitated towards the games.
Speaker 1: There's something about being medium. There's something about the unpredictability
Speaker 1: of a game that I really enjoy. And you know,
Speaker 1: I've had my opportunities to do different studio shows and
Speaker 1: I like it. But studio shows are very scripted, you know,
Speaker 1: you talk in sound bites, it's all rehearsed. It's all
Speaker 1: you know. Block A you're going to talk about the
Speaker 1: Chiefs secondary, and Block B you're gonna talk about you know,
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. And in block C you're going to talk
Speaker 1: about you know, Brian Dable and the Giants. Right, it's
Speaker 1: and you just you have your minute sound bite that
Speaker 1: you've rehearsed and you've kind of thought about, and you
Speaker 1: just spit it out and then you're done. The game.
Speaker 1: You can prepare all week, you can study, you can
Speaker 1: come up with really interesting storylines and really interesting just
Speaker 1: like as a player, you come up with a game plan.
Speaker 1: You're like, all right, here's how I'm going to attack
Speaker 1: this player, here's how I'm gonna run this route. And
Speaker 1: all week you practice and then on game day the
Speaker 1: balls kicked off and sometimes it works out as you planned,
Speaker 1: but more often than not, it's completely different than what
Speaker 1: you practice for and you have to adjust and act,
Speaker 1: you know, think on your feet and then and that's
Speaker 1: similar to calling a game. Right. We can study all
Speaker 1: we want and predict what's going to happen, but we
Speaker 1: really don't know what we're gonna see and what we're
Speaker 1: gonna have to talk about until the moment comes. And
Speaker 1: I think that's what's fun about the games, That's what
Speaker 1: keeps you on your toes, that's what keeps you stimulated
Speaker 1: and really engaged, because it's a challenge. You know, it's
Speaker 1: hard to talk to you know this, it's hard to
Speaker 1: talk for three hours in real time and react to
Speaker 1: what you see and come across as informed, come across
Speaker 1: as fun, come across as likable. You know, it's just
Speaker 1: hard to do when you don't know exactly what you're
Speaker 1: going to see and what you're going to have to
Speaker 1: talk about. So I've enjoyed that. There's a lot again,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of crossover between that and being a player.
Speaker 1: It's the original reality TV. It's totally unscripted. You never
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen. You come in prepared and
Speaker 1: you have things you want to talk about, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, something crazy happens in the first minute
Speaker 1: of a game and it totally changes perhaps the direction
Speaker 1: you guys were going to go. Were there some analysts
Speaker 1: that you really enjoyed watching growing up or when you're
Speaker 1: playing that you enjoyed meeting with that you studied or
Speaker 1: looked up to, or anybody in particular that's really offered
Speaker 1: help to you in terms of you coming along as
Speaker 1: a broadcaster. Yeah, it's funny. Until I started doing it,
Speaker 1: I don't even really know if I ever paid attention
Speaker 1: to broadcasters. I'll be honest, I've heard that before the game.
Speaker 1: As a kid, you know, I knew, you know, I
Speaker 1: knew who Monday Night football announcers were as a kid,
Speaker 1: you know, and deeered Off and Frank Gifford and Al
Speaker 1: Michael's and you always, you know, you remember listening to
Speaker 1: games with John Madden, like I mean, I remember them.
Speaker 1: I can't say I ever tuned into a game. I
Speaker 1: wonder who's quality game? Right? It was always kind of
Speaker 1: secondary to me. But it really wasn't until you know,
Speaker 1: later into my career and I had been on that
Speaker 1: other side of the camera and sat in those boots
Speaker 1: and called it where I would watch games and I
Speaker 1: would almost watch it more to hear what they were
Speaker 1: saying and more to see the replay sequence, more to
Speaker 1: see how the analysts used the telestrator and what points
Speaker 1: he made and what I found interesting, what I found boring,
Speaker 1: you know. So it really was was a later in
Speaker 1: the road process, but you know, when I was getting
Speaker 1: ready to do my auditionum, you know, Troy Aikman was
Speaker 1: was really cool. I was able to connect with him
Speaker 1: and he gave me some really good pointers. And then
Speaker 1: through the years both being at Fox and then you know,
Speaker 1: this past year with all this kind of you know,
Speaker 1: musical chairs and guys moving and shaking, he was really cool.
Speaker 1: He reached out to me, he really you know, he
Speaker 1: gave me great advice. He helped me kind of navigate
Speaker 1: the uncertainty of what was going on. So he was
Speaker 1: really cool. Years back when I was really making a decision,
Speaker 1: even prior to retiring two years ago, I had some
Speaker 1: opportunities to go to TV and was weighing it. I
Speaker 1: was able to chat with Romo about just what that
Speaker 1: transition was like, what it was like, you know, did
Speaker 1: you miss the game? Did it Phil? You know, and
Speaker 1: he gave me some really cool insight to how he
Speaker 1: dealt with retiring relatively soon to go full throttle into
Speaker 1: into TV. So I've been fortunate to, um, you know,
Speaker 1: have some good guidance and have some cool conversations. But
Speaker 1: as far as style, I don't try to be anyone
Speaker 1: there's not anyone where I say, oh, I want to
Speaker 1: sound like him, or I want to talk like him.
Speaker 1: I just kind of talk like me and I say
Speaker 1: things that I think are interesting and try to point
Speaker 1: out elements of the game that I find fun. And
Speaker 1: it might not be for everyone. Some people might not
Speaker 1: like my style. They might not like, you know, the
Speaker 1: the way I describe things or the way I coach it.
Speaker 1: But I think it's fun. I think it's interesting. I
Speaker 1: think our broadcast you come away learning the game of football,
Speaker 1: and I like that. I want that to kind of
Speaker 1: be what people tune in for. And some people don't
Speaker 1: want to learn. Some people just want to be, you know,
Speaker 1: talk down to and just you know, and it's just
Speaker 1: not my style. And I think the game is so
Speaker 1: fun and so interesting and complex, and the better we
Speaker 1: can do as analysts of portraying that. I think it's
Speaker 1: fun for the viewer to come away and learn a
Speaker 1: few things throughout the course of the game. I want
Speaker 1: to end with all the great charity work that you're
Speaker 1: doing in Charlotte, and I want to ask you about
Speaker 1: your son TJ and how he's doing and everything. But
Speaker 1: one more question related to broadcasting. What is the term
Speaker 1: I see but classy and is that something that you
Speaker 1: use in game broadcast? So if you Drew Stanton that
Speaker 1: that is something that the two of us have a
Speaker 1: deep history with and I think you're gonna have So
Speaker 1: it's actually a really good story and I'll share it.
Speaker 1: So there was this jeweler down in Miami who made
Speaker 1: like really flashy jewelry and a lot of guys would
Speaker 1: buy them. So one year we were training down there,
Speaker 1: like we have to go see this guy, Like we
Speaker 1: have to go down and like see what this all about.
Speaker 1: And I think me and Drew ended up buying something
Speaker 1: for the girls. And at the time I looked back
Speaker 1: and it was really had a lot of it was
Speaker 1: just a lot. I look back and I kind of
Speaker 1: laugh because I would never buy it today. But the guy.
Speaker 1: The way it was described to us is that it
Speaker 1: was icy but classy, meaning like it was really like
Speaker 1: blingy and gaudy and diamonds and whatnot, but like it's
Speaker 1: and it's just always been something that Drew and I
Speaker 1: have have always kind of shared a laugh over and
Speaker 1: we referred to a lot of things from inappropriate um
Speaker 1: that I won't go into, but but some things that
Speaker 1: we describe as I see but classy. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: Drew put you up for that that question because that
Speaker 1: is a that is an all time class Yeah, he did.
Speaker 1: The executive producer of this episode asked me to ask
Speaker 1: you that question. We need to find a way to
Speaker 1: work that into a broadcast that needs to become like
Speaker 1: a signature Greg Olson line seas and if I could
Speaker 1: pull that off, that would be legendary. We'll ask Rinaldi
Speaker 1: because you work with the greatest words smith in the
Speaker 1: history of broadcasting, Tom Rinaldi, So maybe he's got a
Speaker 1: way to work it in for you. Sometimes he used
Speaker 1: his words and I'm like, Tom, I don't know what
Speaker 1: that means. You have, you know, he has such as
Speaker 1: his vocabulary, his way with words, the way he can describe,
Speaker 1: and he is very very he is as intelligent and
Speaker 1: as smart and creative, and he's really and improved. I've
Speaker 1: really enjoyed I didn't know him much until the last
Speaker 1: you know, months or so, and God, is he impressive
Speaker 1: to be around. I've really enjoyed Tom. He is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite people in this business. I got to
Speaker 1: note Tom from working with him at the ESPN and
Speaker 1: going back to I think the worst. The first time
Speaker 1: I had worked with Tom was on the first Penn
Speaker 1: State game after Joe Paterno was fired, and having Tom
Speaker 1: there was such a security blanket for a play by
Speaker 1: play guy given all that was going on around the
Speaker 1: program at that time, and he and I he was
Speaker 1: very helpful then and had been helpful over the next
Speaker 1: decade until he left to go to Fox. I always
Speaker 1: joke with Tom that when he walks into a stadium,
Speaker 1: people start crying, because every time the guy talks, you
Speaker 1: want to tear up. I got a text with somebody
Speaker 1: this weekend. I guess I didn't see the feature on
Speaker 1: their pregame show College Football Saturday, but I guess it
Speaker 1: was a It was a tear jerker. Tom. If you
Speaker 1: need someone to tell your life story you hope one day? Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, so tell me about all the charity work
Speaker 1: you're doing in Charlotte. And also I'd love to know
Speaker 1: how your son, TJ is doing. TJ is doing great.
Speaker 1: You know. TJ is really a really special young Boy's um.
Speaker 1: He's about to be nine in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, he's nine, He's about to be ten. Here
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks, and yeah, TJ's had a
Speaker 1: tough road. He underwent you know, his first open heart
Speaker 1: surgery at two days old and had three subsequent surgeries
Speaker 1: and his most recent open heart you know, major surgery
Speaker 1: was last summer. He had a he had a full
Speaker 1: heart transplant. UM he was he went in the heart
Speaker 1: failure after years with living with a modified heart, UM
Speaker 1: with with a heart condition that he was born with,
Speaker 1: and UM had a heart transplant last summer and since
Speaker 1: then he's just flourished. He's he's a good kid. He's smart,
Speaker 1: he's getting big and strong, he's active, he's um. It's
Speaker 1: just he's an absolute miracle what he's gone through as
Speaker 1: a young kid, and the inspiration to start The Hardest Yard,
Speaker 1: which is our nonprofit program that we run here in Charlotte,
Speaker 1: and you just actually expanded into the Charleston region. So
Speaker 1: we we provide you know, we've provided about well over
Speaker 1: six million dollars and we provide you know, outpatient care
Speaker 1: for cardiac families. We built a brand new inpatient clinic.
Speaker 1: We do we do in home medical treatments for doctors
Speaker 1: and nurses and therapists for kids following discharge. From the hospital.
Speaker 1: So we offer our program offers a wide range of
Speaker 1: services for families, you know, not only in the Charlotte region,
Speaker 1: but now throughout the Carolinas, North and South Carolina. So
Speaker 1: it's something we spent a lot of time. It's something
Speaker 1: we're very passionate about, you know, the world of you know,
Speaker 1: congenital heart disease. It's the number one you know killer
Speaker 1: of young kids in America is general heart. So it's
Speaker 1: something that affects a lot of people at various degrees
Speaker 1: and we saw it at the most extreme with our son.
Speaker 1: And our goal is hopefully people that have a similar
Speaker 1: road behind this have it a little better, you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit of a better road, a little bit
Speaker 1: better access to care, a little bit better quality of care,
Speaker 1: both free and postoperatively as a result of the hardest yard.
Speaker 1: And that's our goal. And we're just we're really proud
Speaker 1: of our efforts and really proud of the impact we've
Speaker 1: been able to make, and just it's our way of
Speaker 1: giving back to a community that has really served us
Speaker 1: and giving us a second chance with our son, and
Speaker 1: we're just thankful now that we can give back a
Speaker 1: little bit to them. Well, it's incredibly, incredibly inspiring, and
Speaker 1: also what a blessing to hear that TJ is doing well.
Speaker 1: I know that that was a very public story about
Speaker 1: a year and a half ago, and I appreciate you
Speaker 1: sharing and giving us the great update on how he's doing.
Speaker 1: Really appreciate you spending some time talking about a lot
Speaker 1: of different things. Greg, You do a great job. I
Speaker 1: really enjoy you and Kevin together the times that actually
Speaker 1: get to see you, guys, because usually I'm working on Sundays.
Speaker 1: But the broadcast I've seen an excellent and I'm happy
Speaker 1: for you to get a chance to do the Super Bowl. Man.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the rest of the season. Hopefully we'll see at
Speaker 1: a Cardinal game. Glad we were put together through Drew.
Speaker 1: This is fun, all right, Thanks Greig, appreciate it all right,
Speaker 1: you guy it thanks indeed. It's great to hear how
Speaker 1: well Greg's son, TJ, is doing, and also how incredibly
Speaker 1: inspiring Greg and his family are in terms of what
Speaker 1: they're doing in the community to help young people. It
Speaker 1: really makes Greg even more likable. He's very relatable as
Speaker 1: a broadcaster, and have heard nothing but great stories about
Speaker 1: Greg as a person, and I think that really came
Speaker 1: through on the podcast terrific player, mainly with the Panthers.
Speaker 1: His best years in the NFL. We're with the Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 1: including the time to beat the Cardinals in the twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen NFC Championship Game. Is great to reminisce about that,
Speaker 1: his playing days with Cam Newton and what he's doing
Speaker 1: here in his second life as a broadcaster, working with
Speaker 1: Kevin Burkhart, Aaron Andrews, and Tom Rinaldi on the lead
Speaker 1: crew at fuck. We are presented by bet MGM, the
Speaker 1: official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by
Speaker 1: Hila River Resorts and Casinos. Follow us on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Pash pod, and we'd also love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Get your thoughts on the Dave Pash Podcast. You can
Speaker 1: tell us what you think by going to your podcast platform.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Greg Olson of Fox, and thanks to
Speaker 1: you for listening to another edition of the Dave Pash
Speaker 1: Podcast