WEBVTT - A Dallas Star 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.360 Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.600 Show weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm Pacific. 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.440 If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.000 was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.640 the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:21.520 crackheads in the ghetto Cutter the same as the rich 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:25.599 pill poppers in the penthouse. The clearing House of Hot 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.360 takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:34.599 Ben Maller starts right now that it does. We are 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:40.000 in the a everywhere you name it. We are here 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:42.960 for you eight days a week, because four hours obviously 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.800 not enough the overnight, and we do thank you for 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.960 finding the Fifth Hour podcast. There is no advertising budget. 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.280 There is zero advertising budget. This is a spinoff of 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.880 the radio show which has heard on Fox Sports Radio. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:57.840 It's part of the I Heart network. But this is 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.200 not a Fox Sports radio production. It just sounds like 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:05.280 a Fox Sports radio production unless it does not. And 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.240 the thing you can do to help this podcast is 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:10.319 to tell a friend, Tell a friend, tell a friend, 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.560 and hey, anywhere you get your podcast, not just on 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.240 the I Heart network, but anywhere you get your podcast, 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.560 You can here this show, and we are joined yet 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.560 again by the man, the myth, and the legend in 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:28.960 his own mind. David Gascon is here west of the 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:30.880 four oh five. He's coming in to hang out with 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.040 us here a little bit west four five. Look at 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:35.960 that's I'm going from hanging out west the four five 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.480 to indoors with you, because man, it's getting little nippiots 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:42.520 side these days. Come on, you know, that's the people 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.720 rip California. It's a little it's in the sixties, so 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.240 people freak out, what's wrong with you? Well know, it 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.360 gets windy, and then obviously if you're down near the water, 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:53.800 it gets a little bit colder. So I don't like 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:58.400 working out in the cold. You I actually I've been 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:00.880 walking and it's been cold. I don't really mind it. 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.320 It's not like I got this guy Mark the Walker 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:07.800 in Rochester. Well that's cold. Yeah, that's I mean, this 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.320 is I mean, this is not We're not exactly in 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:14.799 Alaska here. No, you know, it's not the Arctic. M Yeah, 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.400 if it gets below freezing, we've got a problem. But 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:21.080 you know, I'll let you know when's so cal moves 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.440 to Siberia. But yeah, it's it's different than it has 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:25.440 been because before it was like a hundred degrees where 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.080 I live every day. Now you go outside, you got 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.280 goose bumps. Right now. There's two places, Chicago and Philadelphia. 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:36.360 Two years ago, I went outside during the wintertime and 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:40.000 it was so cold. My my ears were were in pain, 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.320 like the wind was piercing and it felt like I 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.639 had immediate frostbite on my ears. In Chicago and Philadelphia, 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:52.600 it was that cold. Yeah. Well, my experience was in Stanford, Connecticut. Uh, 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:57.200 when I was doing television and we went out one 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.160 of the guys on the show. We all got together 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.800 and had had dinner at Bobby V's. Bobby Valentine has 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:04.160 got a restaurant, don't know if he still does, but 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.840 it was in Stanford, Connecticut. So we want to air 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.200 and it was like maybe four blocks from the hotel 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.679 I was staying at. It was wintertime, you know, it 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.600 was it was one of time. So I went there, Uh, 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:17.160 I gotta ride. The guy was going in a different 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.080 direction than the hotel, so I said, don't worry, I 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.800 got this, you know, And I thought, you know. I 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.600 walked back to the hotel. It was ten thirty eleven 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.160 o'clock at night, you know, something like that. And as 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.920 I remember it, and uh, so I got out of 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.320 the restaurant and I started walking and I knew where 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:35.720 the hotel was. It was the biggest building there in Stanford, 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:39.200 and so I started walking and I made it about 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:44.320 half a block and oh my god, this intense, this 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:49.200 intense feeling just overwhelmed me of coldness. And I kept 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.760 going though, because I'm stubborn, all right, So I kept 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:56.160 going and it kept getting worse and worse and worse. 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.160 My nose starts running from the cold, and there was 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.760 just it was unbelievable. And I made it to the hotel, 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:06.280 but oh my, I was not prepared. I didn't have 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.840 the proper cold gear. And it was one of the 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:11.800 dumber things that I've done. Now, were you wearing pants, 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:16.400 slacks or or something else? No, No, I had like 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.800 just like pants on. I had a lightweight jacket. I 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.120 didn't have gloves. I didn't have a hat, you know 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:25.440 things you're supposed to have a scarf, you know things 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.640 that normal people who live in cold weather. Half what 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.600 kind of socks did you have on? I said, normal socks? Yeah, 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:32.520 that's the other thing. My my brother told me that 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:34.280 that's a cheap code, right, you go, you live in cold, 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.320 whether you gotta get those wool socks, right, those thick 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:40.800 wool socks are amazing. And I didn't know that, but 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:42.360 now you know. Now that was a long time ago. 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:44.720 So now when I go back, I uh, you know, 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:47.920 I don't mind going in the cold. And uh, I 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.800 love when you fly into like JFK and you take 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:54.880 the drive in to New York City and you see 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.919 all the dead trees when you go in the wintertime 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:03.159 and everything's dead, everything's gray and dead. But yeah, so 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:06.720 good times. That's that's where we're at though right now. 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.200 Like that's the distinct thing about California. I don't know 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:11.320 if you feel the same way, but when I look 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.560 at it, it's we go from summer and there's no fall. 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.000 It's just go right into winter. At least it feels like, yeah, 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.040 it's like a California winner. And it never rains, Like 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.480 it rains for like one month. Maybe maybe it'll rain 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.560 for a month. If we have Anno, then it all 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.040 rain a lot and then everything. The good thing about 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.599 is everything grows and turns green and then everything's you know, 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:37.000 primed to burn again. So It's perfect. It's the circle 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.520 of life on the West Coast, is what it is. 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.840 So anyway, this is and this is a interview podcast. 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.040 It is and also a bonus. Not only this is 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.440 a two for one special, by the way, because not 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.080 only do you get to hear one of the legends 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:56.239 of the NFL who's slumming with us, but also we'll 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.359 have an exclusive story that no one else has after 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:03.080 we get on with our our man here that's gonna 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:04.880 be hanging out with us. Uh. And I'll then to 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.760 lose him properly here in a second. But well, have 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:12.279 you gotta be joking after we get done with this conversation. 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:16.680 This is a I Heart Podcast fifth hour exclusive. But 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:22.640 right now, though, let's begin our conversation with the voice 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:28.480 of America's team. This man has been calling Dallas Cowboy 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:33.560 football games since I was in diapers. Okay, his name 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.320 is Brad Sham. He's also called Texas Ranger games. Briefly. 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.240 He's been with the Dallas Cowboys for forty years. When 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:46.800 he started ed to Tall Jones, Rogers, Stabach all the 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.560 legends of the Dallas Cowboys. In the nineteen seventies, Tom 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:55.560 Landry was the coach. When Brad Sham started calling Cowboy games, 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:59.240 he actually started as the color commentator with Verne Lundquist, 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.360 the legendary broadcaster Verne Lundquist, who was the play by 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.040 play guy for the Cowboys at that time. But he's 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.080 seen it all. He knows where all the bodies are 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.280 buried with the Dallas Cowboys. Uh. And you know the 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:16.400 star Box Pearson too tall, Jones all the way through 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:20.600 the glory days of the nineties with Troy Aikman, Michael 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:25.440 Irvin and Emmett Smith, the Tony Romo years now that 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.120 Dak Prescott here. He was there before Jerry Jones, way 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.520 before Jerry Jones became the Cowboy owner. So he has 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.560 been part of all of that. He has seen the 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:39.760 changing of the NFL. And I give it up now 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:45.480 for Brad Sham, the voice of America's team, the Dallas Cowboys. 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.760 And Brad welcome man, Thanks for thanks for doing this 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:53.520 Number one. Number two man, How how has this been 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.480 this year with COVID and all the changes. It's been 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.800 a wonky year. How's it been for you? It's ridiculous, Ben, 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.120 I mean there's but but it's the same problem that 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.080 that everyone's having in every sport. I mean we're we 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:10.680 are not traveling, which is true for I think twenty 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.840 four of the thirty two radio crews, and we don't 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:19.679 have any personal access or contact any players or coaches, 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.600 which is true of all of the teams. But the 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.080 most important thing is getting the games played and not 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:29.240 getting people sick. So um, we we sold her on. 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.920 We do the best we can and try not to 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.680 bother the listening audience with our problems because they don't 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.839 care and they shouldn't. It's our job to give them 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:41.760 some respite from their own difficulties. So when you're calling 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.760 a game off a monitor, did you do that back 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.880 in the day when you were starting out, like just 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:50.400 messing around? I mean, well, I'm not that old, Ben, 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:55.319 Come on, I actually have done that. I've done some 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:59.240 soccer games that way, and and it's really hard because 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:07.240 you can only say what the picture shows you, so 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:11.160 you can't see what's going on outside of camera range. 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:15.240 And those are things that would normally be brought into 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.600 play to help paint the picture. And then this year 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:23.239 we throw in the addit COVID benefit of empty stadiums 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.319 in most places that they've been they've been to l 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:28.960 A nobody there. They've been to Seattle, nobody there. I 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.280 think they were a smattering of people in Philadelphia. I 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:36.080 don't believe there was anybody in Washington. So that's really eerie. 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.600 Even though they're mixing in crowd noise and the same 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:43.120 thing people at home who are watching games are experiencing. 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.400 You kind of low yourself to sleep. You go along 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:48.880 with the crowd noise. They do their best to modulate it, 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:50.400 and then all of a sudden there's a wide shot 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:52.839 and there's nobody there. You go, oh, yeah, this is 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:57.040 a little different. Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty crazy this year. 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.120 And and how does you star in the nineteen seventies 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.680 doing the Cowboys? You've seen every you know all the 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.040 secrets of the Cowboys? Are you like the secret keeper 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.640 for the Cowboys brand? With all the time you spent 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:11.400 in What was it like in the early days that 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.200 when you started back in the in the seventies when 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.560 Roger Stabach was the quarterback, right when you when you 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.959 started doing yeah, I got the end of Roger's career. Um, 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:25.640 there were so many things that were different in every 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.280 aspect of the sport that it would it's way too 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:35.840 numerable to mention, and that goes from media access to 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:42.520 the offensive and defensive rules and formations. So it was 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.720 the same sport e loving guys out of side hundred 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.760 yards length to the field. But there are many ways 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:54.600 in which the industry and the sport are are vastly different. 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:59.240 It was a lot more personal, um the relationship between 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.640 a media, let alone a team broadcaster and the and 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:07.320 the players and coaches and front office. It was a 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:13.040 lot more personal before. So many things in the world changed. 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.199 And I'm not talking about the pandemic. I'm just you know, 0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:20.559 I'm talking about money and social media. All of those 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.920 things have not necessarily the money has been great for 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.840 the players. And free agency, I think is something that 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.600 they the rest of us have free agency. Why shouldn't 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.160 athletes have it. But it definitely changed all of that stuff. 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.000 It's a whole different culture than it was. This is 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.360 my forty second year, so than it was all those 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.719 years ago. And back in the seven I watched you know, 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.440 NFL films, highlight videos and stuff, and you talk about 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:48.839 the violence of the NFL and how it's a lot 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.560 obviously a lot different now. But when you were calling 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.880 Cowboy games, did you have you noticed a tangible difference 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.839 in the way people tackle, and so sure, yeah, you 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.320 know when I when I started, that it was I 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:05.120 think it was the head slap, for instance, was still legal. 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:09.120 That was something that Deacon Jones made famous with the 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.800 rams and uh, and it became taught. Ernie Stoutner, the 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:16.000 Hall of Fame defensive lineman for the Steelers, was the 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.600 Cowboys defensive coordinator when I started. And that was a 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:23.400 technique and he he had guys like uh, he got 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:29.480 Randy White in seventy and Randy quickly became a martial 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:33.680 arts expert and learned all kinds of techniques about slapping 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:35.880 the guy in the head. And a lot a lot 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.400 of that stuff's changed. And I just saw. I'm a 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:42.640 Chicago kid and I was in high school when the 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.320 Bears drafted Buckas and Sayers. And I just saw on 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.760 Twitter the other day a little montage of maybe about 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:55.040 a minute of Nick Buckas tackles. The shoulder pads are different. 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.920 But the way they attacked people, uh, And whether it 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:03.040 was Butckas or No This or niche Key or all 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:08.000 those great Steelers players, um, the uh, you know, all 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:11.520 of those guys just they just tackled differently, even the 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:17.000 even the rams with with the Firresome Foursome. Now I 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:19.960 didn't know him well, but I got to know Merlin 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.199 Olson a little bit, and he was such an incredible 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:27.360 gentleman that you had difficulty thinking of him as vicious. 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.360 But the young Bloods you could think of that way, 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.520 and and Merlin was a very physical player. Was all 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.440 just it was. It was just different than it is 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.400 now that and there were some of these rules are 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.960 better for the safety of the players, it will prolong 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.480 the game, but it was it was a different thing 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:46.000 to watch. Brad, what what do you look at the 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:50.280 state of of the Cowboys right now? Prior Totack getting hurt. 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.880 Had you ever seen such a discrepancy wide range from 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.680 offense to defense or maybe vice versa defense to offense 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:01.400 and all the time you've been Dallas, Well yeah, they, 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:03.600 I mean they They've had some years where there were 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.760 big discrepancy, some of Tony Romo's best years as quarterback. 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:12.480 To the defense was not very good. I don't think 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:18.480 I have ever seen the overall defensive performance be as 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:22.280 abject as it has been most of this year. The 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.360 I think that the worst Cowboys team I've ever seen 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:30.880 was Tom Landry's last one in they were three and thirteen. 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:34.960 They they had gotten old. There was a strike in 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:39.240 eighty seven which kind of masked some of the aging 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:43.120 of some of the players, and some of them Tom 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:46.240 uh and Texts let hang around a little too long, 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:51.080 and so that manifested in and that was eight was 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.400 a much worse team than eighty nine. That was Jimmy 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.880 Johnson's first team, and he was just churning people through 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.560 that They could have won more than one game if 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:00.720 they wanted to, but that wasn't the point that year, 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.480 and the point became very clear to three years later. 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.720 But that eight team was really horrible. And this one, defensively, 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.600 um is as bad as anything I've ever seen. They 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.120 really had some terrible times. And I want to say 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:19.600 twenty thirteen, Monty Kiffin was the defensive coordinator and and 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.840 it was really really bad. But this there's a lot 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:25.320 of reasons for why they would have been so bad 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.560 this year, everything from the absence of the off season 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:36.960 to uh over evaluating some personnel, to coaching mistakes, but 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:42.840 this has been abject and the discrepancy was really it 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:48.120 would have even been more um in relief. It would 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:54.280 have been even even more harshly uh seen if they 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:56.360 had not turned the ball over so many times the 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.920 first few games before dark Prescott got hurt, Elliott fall 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:02.400 but a few times, and Dak fumbled two or three times, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:04.960 and so they got themselves in a terrible hole. They 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.640 put their defense in horrible positions. And then they compounded 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:11.800 that by playing just as poorly as it was almost 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:15.920 humanly possible to play. And um, and still the the 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.800 offense was scoring points. And I mean, they've got some 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.880 good personnel, but now a lot of it's on the 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.000 injured list right now. But that's true of a lot 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:27.240 of teams, but there have been some years where there 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.960 were discrepancies to this year just seems like everything said 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.640 of it once well, with social media being where it 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.520 is right now, can you take us through what it's 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.720 like to work for the Cowboys then, because get l 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.120 a where it's like a Lakers and Dodgers town, New 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.400 York with the Yankees and the Knicks being in Chicago. 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:47.680 Obviously got the Cubbies, the Bears, the whole nine yards, 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.600 but Dallas is different, especially because you have the ownership 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:53.200 group and has so hands on with the team and 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:58.000 the personnel. Well, this is a Cowboys town. It's a 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:03.720 football town. I came here, uh in in seventy came 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.480 to Tendon and start working on Cowboys broadcast then, but 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:11.200 I started I came town college football was the biggest thing. Um, 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.600 the Cowboys were just starting to win. Football is always 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:18.479 going to be the biggest thing here when the Rangers 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:21.680 are doing well, which is a distant memory right now, 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:24.960 even though it's only been like ten years. Um, baseball 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:28.159 is very popular and the Mavericks are very popular. But 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:32.160 in St. Louis, for example, I don't care how many 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:35.400 Stanley Cups the Blues were. And that's a Cardinalstown period 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:38.560 and um, you know you can you can have a 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.480 debate in places like Chicago and New York. I mean 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.840 my feeling is that that in l A, not living there, 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:48.800 the Lakers and the Dodgers are going to split it 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.280 up and everybody else is gonna is gonna have what's left. 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.119 And I don't care how good the Rams are for 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.840 how long. That's what That's just how it is, and 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.639 that's how it is here. This is Cowboys town. Now. 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:05.200 The fandom will not show up in person when they're 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.199 not doing well. And once upon a time it was 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.639 phone calls to call in shows. I did one for 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.720 a long time. But now the social media, as you say, 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:21.800 everybody's everybody's a critic, and everybody's got a form and um, 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:26.960 whether you're a team employee or an affiliate like I am, 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:29.520 you just can't look at that stuff. You can't pay 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:32.760 attention to it because all of us have been fans 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.120 at one point or another. If we haven't been fans, 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.560 we shouldn't be doing this. And as a fan, you 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:44.000 react viscerally and emotionally, and that's not conducive to running 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:48.399 a business, and that's what pro football is. But we 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.320 do know what the reactions are and people will react, 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.720 so you just have to ignore that stuff because everyone 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.000 has a shingle to hang out now thanks to Twitter 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:02.639 and Facebook. Brad. I'll go back in your your game prep. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:05.480 I know I've talked to guys that did talk radio 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:07.639 back in the day, and it's it's all different how 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:09.879 you prepare for for show and all that. You've been 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:11.480 a radio guy your whole life, which I like. I 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:13.960 love that your radio guy buddy, when you when you 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.400 prepare for a game back in the in the seventies 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.320 and the eighties, there wasn't that much information. You've got 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:21.760 everything out of newspapers, it's seen. There was no internet obviously, 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:24.760 So how is it too much now? How much? How 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.000 much different is it? And how much time do you spend? 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.000 Is it a paralysis of analysis situation? With all the 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.160 information that's available now, that's the biggest danger that you run. 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.199 I'll never forget Um. I want to say it was 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:40.920 in the late nineties when the Cowboys were playing Um 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.840 Seattle and Seattle was still in the a f C. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:46.800 And one day they were getting ready to play Seattle. 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.399 It was like Wednesday, and I got an envelope in 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:54.520 the mail and there was a VHS tape of Seattle's 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.400 last game, so I could watch that game to help 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:04.840 prepare and and I almost died of sheer delirium. And 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.600 then and then Denver did the same thing the next week. 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:13.600 And so watching tape or film that wasn't something we did. 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:16.320 And you're right, it was all out of newspapers. It 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:21.119 was clippings. People would make clippings and facts you copies, 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:24.480 or you would go to a bookstore and get copies 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:28.600 of out of town newspapers, and it was culturally just 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:33.600 as different as it could possibly possibly be. And so 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:40.280 you do run that risk of um paralysis by over analysis. 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:44.640 Since that day when those UH tapes showed up, I've 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:48.720 always said the good news about the Internet is that 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:55.320 there is an unlimited amount of information available twenty four seven. 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.399 The bad news is there's an unlimited amount of information 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:02.480 available twenty four or seven. You have to learn where 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:04.960 to draw the line, what you can really use, and 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.959 what what rabbit holes. That takes some learning in and 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:11.280 of itself. But I'm much more prepared to do a 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:13.679 game now than I was then. I just didn't know 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:17.600 it then. Yeah, and uh, and what do those guys 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:19.840 are gonna be listening to this? And women as well. 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:21.280 I think I want to be a play by play 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:23.159 person someday. I want to be the next voice of 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.560 the Cowboys down the line. Any words of wisdom, Brad, 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:28.560 that you have, you know you've learned over the years, 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:30.520 you can pass on to the to the guys and 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:32.399 the gals that are coming after you that want to 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:35.040 do the play by play down the line. Well, if 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:37.760 if they are looking to do play by play for 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:41.440 the Cowboys, my advice is to wait about ten years, um, 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:46.720 if because I'm gonna try to keep the job that long. UM. 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.240 Generally speaking, yeah, I think that you have to learn 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.359 how to prepare and you have to be you have 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.680 to be ready for that preparation to be pretty much 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:00.240 all consuming. You're never done when the season starts. Really, 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:04.600 when the preseason starts, game passes another. It's a beauty, 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:08.280 it's a fantastic thing. I can watch any game all year, 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:14.440 any time, um. But there's literally work to be done, 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.760 different and specific work every single day of the week. 0:22:18.160 --> 0:22:21.320 So there are no you know the old I guess 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:24.600 it was originally a Belichick saying no days off, but 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:26.720 it's true. In the NFL during the season, there are 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:29.800 literally no days off, and and that's okay. You just 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:33.600 have to be prepared for it. Well, Brad say, I 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:35.560 know you gotta go, but I appreciate it coming on 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:38.840 spending a few minutes with us and continued the success. 0:22:38.840 --> 0:22:40.359 You're great man. We love listening to you on the 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.120 play by play calls. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. 0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:47.439 Everybody stayed safe and healthy. Alright, awesome, Thank you Brad 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:50.639 Sham again the voice of the Dallas Cowbany. You already 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:53.240 knew that you've been listening to this podcast, and he 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.840 had to go. He's a very busy man. The man 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:57.800 is the voice of the Dallas Cowboys. He can't be 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.800 slumming too long on a random podcast. We gotta we 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:04.360 gotta get him back because I I only guess gon 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.600 I just barely put my toe in the water. Like 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:12.280 I have so many questions, uh, from different eras of 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:14.439