The Season with Peter Schrager: Dan Patrick

Peter is joined by legendary sportscaster Dan Patrick. Dan shares stories from his history coming up at CNN Sports and ESPN, including stories of Chris Berman, Keith Olbermann, and Grant Hill. Then they go through some of Dan’s stories from being a part of the Adam Sandler cinematic universe with the likes of Dave Matthews and Nicole Kidman. And finally, Peter bookends his Celebrity Jeopardy experience, giving a behind the scenes look at how the game went.

#dpshow

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Schreeger is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's Up, Everybody, Welcome to
another episode of the Season with Peter Schreger. We are

(00:27):
recording this on Halloween Tuesday morning. It is trade deadline
day as well, so we're not gonna get too much
into potential transactions or transactions that might happen, because by
the time you listen to this, it's gonna be already done.
But if you listen to this podcast, you know it's
been an ongoing couple weeks where I've been previewing and
giving out a little bit of information about my Celebrity

(00:49):
Jeopardy appearance. Now that it aired last Wednesday, the cat
is out of the bag and I promise not to
mention it every week for the rest of my life. However,
my two beautiful producers slash executives on this podcast are
both on with me now. Aaron Wankof's been the greatest
producer in the game, and Jason English, who is in
that studio every single week with us, is from the

(01:12):
iHeart team. I wanted to open up the phones and
open up the lines and allow you guys to more
or less ask me anything you might have as questions,
but also serve as a press conference of sorts. I
will start with this though for the listener who has
not watched the episode. It was myself, Mira, Sorvino, and
Adam Rodriguez, who is an actor. We went down to

(01:34):
the final Jeopardy question. Servino had a small edge on me.
I bet just about everything and Sorvino bet everything and
we both got it right and she won. I will
give you some behind the music though now as I
think it does pertain to some of your questions, and
we'll get into all of it. If you watched, you
might want to rewatch it so we can get to

(01:56):
the nitty gritty depending on Aaron and Jason's questions. But
here is the backstory of Final Jeopardy if you watched.
So we go into the last couple questions and Servino
got like a one thousand or a fifteen hundred dollar
question and like a five hundred dollars question, so it's
a big point swing of like two thousand dollars and

(02:17):
she had, I want to say, like a thousand dollars
lead on me going into it. It was you know,
it might have been like nine thousand to eight thousand
whatever it is. Now she had twelve thousand, so it
was twelve thousand to like eleven hundred. So she was
up by like a thousand on me. And I'm like,
give me something because I was rolling, I was in
the zone here. I'm like, give me a topic that

(02:39):
I know I can bet it all for and I
can get it right. The topic comes up and it's
tween Lit. My heart sinks. Here's the process of how
it works in real life, just as you see on TV.
You get that final topic, they give you thirty seconds
to write in your wager. So she's up a thousand

(03:03):
on me. I'm like tween Lit. I'm like, like, they
couldn't give me Arizona Cardinals wide receivers. They couldn't give
me like nineteen eighties Van Damn movies. I would have
been money with anything, anything US history. I would be
good tween Lit as much as I'm a pop culture guy.
It is a blind spot. And as I look over

(03:24):
and I would like the Jeopardy producers to hear this,
Mira Cervino has multiple teenage children sitting in the first
row of the crowd, and she looks over to them,
and I get like a thumbs up from them that
they're encouraging her. I'm like, oh, so like any tween
lit of the last ten years. She knows. So my
brain starts scrambling and I'm not intimidated. But I'm also like,

(03:47):
who wrote the Twilight books. I'm like, damn it, who
wrote the Twilight books? I'm Abrams. I knew it. I
was like, it's like Abrams that. I'm like, who wrote
the Hunger Games? I didn't read any of these books.
I've never read any of these books. I'm like, Hunger
Games Collins, Suzanne Collins, this is just walking by a
Hudson News every week for five years, going to two

(04:11):
different NFL games, going to LA being delayed, walking through
Hudson nudes. Then I'm like, all right, what the It's
Edward and Richard or Edward and Charlie. Who are the
two Vings?

Speaker 2 (04:22):
It's Edward and Jacob and it's Stephanie Meyers. It's Stephanie.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Stephanie Abrams. Like the Georgia political like in the Democratic
Party shows you how smart I am. I'm glad I
didn't get local election politics either. Thanks for correcting me.
I would have gotten that one all along. So Stephanie Abrams,
we see, is that her name, Stephanie Abrams, the one
down in Georgia? Can we look that up? Or is
that wrong?

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Stacey?

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Stacey Abrams? Okay, what was the guy?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Stephanie Abrams is a news actor meteorologist on the Weather Channel.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
There you go, yeah, shout out to Stephanie.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
That's great.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
Just like everyone asked me, who'd you go up against
its celebrity Jeopardy, and I said, meet Lacunas for the
first two weeks, and it was actually Mira Servino.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Not great with names.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
I'm like me Lacunas. They're like, really, Mila Cunis. It
was Mira Servino.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Anyway, Serveno's got these kids, and I'm like, I don't know,
you know, so I just said I'll bet just about everything.
I think. I bet seventy two hundred. I had eleven hundred.
And I see her smiling, and I'm like, she knows this.
So we get to it. The question is and I
don't know if the word for word, but basically it
was like this tween literature author later said she regretted

(05:39):
not calling her famous book just Margaret as opposed to
the long title, and I'm like, are you there, God, Margaret,
that's probably wrong, but I'm like, that's Judy Bloom. I
know Judy Bloom. I know Tales, what fourth grade? Nothing,
I know super Fudge. I'm like, hell yeah, I go
seventy two hundred dollars. I'm already in pop committed. Who
is Judy Bloom? I have enough time where I could write,
you know, hello, Melon Betty, my kids. I've always wanted

(06:01):
to do that. I was on cloud nine here, but
then I look over and Serveno Slash Kunis Slash whoever
had already written her answer, and it's just like staring
off into oblivion. I'm like, so then they come to
me and it's like, all right, Peter, did you have
you know the correct answer? I'm like, who is Judy Bloom? Hello,

(06:22):
Melon Betty? And he's like, that is correct. Jennings by
the way, a mensch loved this guy. He's like, that
is correct, Peter, how much did you wager? Seventy two hundred?
And you want to say hello to Melon Betty? And
I said good night, guys, good night, Melon Betty, my
two kids, and like that was cool, great, got that
in now, I'm like a competitor in me. As much
as I want everyone's charity to do well, and I

(06:44):
want to, I want Servina to fall in her face.
I want her to come out here and be like,
who's another teen literature person? JK.

Speaker 5 (06:52):
Rowling?

Speaker 1 (06:53):
I wanted to see something. I want her to get something.
She comes out and she's like, who is Judy Bloom?
And she is right? And she bet it all so
she was nervous about me, which I liked. She bet
twelve two hundred. So I can go to sleep at
night knowing I played a great game. I also can
go to sleep knowing that even if I wagered all
of mine eleven thousand, she still would have won because

(07:15):
she met all of hers. In closing, Michael Davies, the
executive producer who also works at Sony and has a
million other shows, Watch What's Happening Live and Good Morning Football,
all these things. He has put in this thing for
Jeopardy Now where you can go online and look up
the stats how many times you've buzzed right, how many
times you got here was the backbreaker for me, if

(07:36):
you noticed, and we'll get through it. The first first category,
I didn't even get a buzzer in. I was in
a two thousand dollars hole from Go where both Cervino
and Rodriguez had the buzzer down. The buzzer will screw
me up. I finally got the rhythm down, but I
buzzed in on. I got nineteen questions right, Aaron Jason,

(07:59):
I only got three questions wrong my entire jeopardy experience,
nineteen right, re wrong. Two of them happened to be
daily doubles, so I got burned on those where I
got them wrong, and we can go through them the
correct answers. I don't know if you asked me twenty
times if I would have gotten either one of them.
I have no regrets on those, but the one that

(08:21):
really screwed me. There was some question about funguss at
the end, and it says something with the internet and
a web, and these guys both answer, and it was
fifteen hundred dollars and they both answer wrong. And if
I had just stayed quiet and not guessed anything, I
would have had a nice three thousand dollars swing. I

(08:43):
probably would have wanted the final jeopardy with the most points.
I probably would have won the entire thing because I
got Final Jeopardy right, but there was this like like
I'm feeling it. I was hot. I felt like Michael
Jordan against Utah, like I'm like I can't miss right now,
and this is like Cliff Robinson and the Blazers, and
I'm just shrugging to the crowd because I'm so hot.
I buzz in and I'm like, what is the dark web?

Speaker 3 (09:04):
And everything?

Speaker 2 (09:04):
It's a great answer.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Every It was about fungus and a web, and everyone
in the crowd like gasped because you know, on the
dark web it's like porn and like child like disgusting things.
I don't even know what the dark web is, but
I'm like the dark web and he's like, sorry, that's incorrect.
The answer was wood wide web, which I don't know
what that even is. I mean, this is Celebrity Jeopardy.

(09:27):
We're domba, like, what are you doing with wood wide web?
I got it wrong. It cost me fifteen hundred dollars.
I was in a funk after that, and I'll be honest,
if I didn't buzz in, I probably would have won
Celebrity Jeopardy. I have no regrets. I did it so
I got nineteen right, three wrong. Sorvino got like twenty

(09:49):
six right and like seven wrong. So she was quicker
on the buzzer. So if I had like twenty two
that I even got a chance to answer. She had
thirty three. She was quicker on the buzzer around like
eleven of them. So I will take my hat and
I will I will do hats off to mirror Servena.
She kicked my ass in Jeopardy at the last second,
and she did so by being better on the buzzer.

(10:12):
She was a worthy opponent. I am proud of her.
We have not said a word to each other since
and watching it back, she had kind of a snide
comment after I guessed who is Debbie Gibson, like she
was surprised that I would know Debbie Gibson. Mira, please, well,
you were starring in Oscar winning films. I was in
my shag carpet den of a computer room down in
free On, New Jersey, listening to not only Debbie Gibson,

(10:34):
but to Tiffany, to Sina Easton, to Blinda Carlisle, to
the Bengals. I go deep on pop music. That was
my experience. We can ask all the questions. We got
about five minutes until our guest comes on, So I'll
start with you on a press conference. I will call
on you guys, ask me anything. We'll start. We're gonna

(10:55):
start with you, Aaron. What is your first question about
the Jeopardy experience.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
So, mister Schrager, when the categories are shown and they're revealed,
which was the one that a gave you the most
anxiety and the one that be you were like, I got.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
This, okay, most anxiety was Nobel Prizes. Didn't know what
we're talking about, the Peace Prize, didn't know if we're
talking about like some scientists. And sure enough, one of
the daily doubles was about the Nobel Prize for science
or something, and it was like this this city. I
guess do you remember the.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Question where this? What city is it? Are they awarded
in it?

Speaker 1 (11:35):
But it wasn't where they awarded in?

Speaker 6 (11:37):
Wasn't it like it, where's the newest prize awarded in
this Scandinavian?

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (11:44):
Yes, I wouldn't have gotten that one. Jason.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
I was I'm like Scandinavian, so I'm thinking Helsinki. I'm thinking,
like I got what's Norway? And I didn't have it,
and I'm like, is Denmark? And I was like, I'm
gonna go Denmark. I'm gonna say Copenhagen, which sounds like
an elegant city, great city, and I had just been
watching The Bear and that restaurant. What's the restaurant like Noma?

(12:08):
Is that what it's called. It's like the fanciest restaurant
in the world, and I think it's in either Copenhagen
or Amsterdam. I was like, what is Copenhagen, feeling like
it was chance. The answer was what is Oslo? And
I'm kicking myself. I'm like, of all the daily doubles,
why do I get one in Nobel Prizes? So that's
a great question. The one I felt most confident in
was the EI E I Oh.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
You did so well in that yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
And I cleaned up bro And it was basically pop
stars who have those letters or pop bands yeah songs
And I got one there in the Gemina bottle from
Christina Aguilera One direction and Debbie Gibson. Kicking myself afterwards,
they said, which Madonna's greatest hits is? E? I E,

(12:51):
I Oh? And I'm thinking about Madonna's greatest hits and Honestly,
I'm thinking of the movie what was it Truth or Dare?
And I'm thinking, is it called Truth or Dare? It
doesn't make sense, and like it was around the same time,
and of course it's the Immaculate Collection, which I had
that two CD in my bedroom and I'm kicking myself.
But no regrets.

Speaker 6 (13:09):
That was a hard one because they didn't give you
a ton of letters in that one either.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
No, it was just like blank, all right, Jason, what
do you got?

Speaker 3 (13:17):
All right?

Speaker 6 (13:17):
So I don't often request to come on the podcast here,
but I felt this is important. My favorite thing about
this show is when you go deep with coaches gms
about their origin, how they started making copies, cut breaking
down film.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
I feel like you have a.

Speaker 6 (13:36):
Similar Jeopardy story where you were a viewer and then
you were playing on the Commodore at sixty four for sure,
and then you were you got to read a clue?
Was that last year?

Speaker 1 (13:49):
That was last year I got to read a clue?
It was like this NFL quarterback went from the forty
nine ers to the Chiefs and then beat the forty
nine ers the first time they played who is Joe Montana?
All right? Go on?

Speaker 6 (13:59):
So that for most people, that would have been enough Jeopardy,
that's the pinnacle. But this season Celebrity Jeopardy, the advanced analytics,
I think.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Are going to back up your claim, your your.

Speaker 6 (14:14):
Strong candidate, second place finish, acquitted yourself.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
Well, solid showing.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
I don't I'm getting to a question.

Speaker 6 (14:22):
I'm getting to a question.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
I love your question. You're like me on these podcasts.
I don't want to end there.

Speaker 6 (14:28):
I think that we've got a lot of influential sports
media and media people who listen to this show. Michael
Davies your your friend.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
He doesn't listen to this, but go on.

Speaker 6 (14:39):
We can forward him the bar, this clip, this part
Sports Jeopardy. Why isn't there Sports Jeopardy? And why aren't
you the host? This should be on six hundred markets
across the world.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Jason, it's a great question. I'll go even more specific.
The NFL the most powerful brand in the business. Jeopardy
the most powerful game show. I think we could just
do NFL Jeopardy and it would be a huge hit.
Throw it on the NFL network instead of re airing
a preseason game from twenty fourteen or showing some crappy
you know, reair of a game that we haven't throw on,

(15:13):
just episode after episode. We could bank hundreds of these
and it would do really well. I think people from
the NFL network, in the NFL media, you know, conglomerate
that that employs us, listen to this. I'm not trying
to say it's the biggest no brainer in the world,
but it wouldn't cost much. I would do it with
such joy. We could bank four hundred. Now here's my

(15:35):
question to you, though, because I'll spin it on you.
I think it's a no brainer. Do you have current
NFL personalities as the guests or do you have the
most hardcore football fans as Jeopardy contestants? Or do you
like have like Sean mcva verus Kyle Shanahan versus Nick

(15:55):
Sirianni Jason your thoughts.

Speaker 6 (15:59):
I think I'd want some personalities in there. So you're
the host, are we bringing on play show?

Speaker 5 (16:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (16:08):
No, no, no, I just said coaches, Like we have
coaches and gms, and you have owners and you have
some players. But like then you got to really sort of,
you know, narrow it down to the current day. But
I was thinking, like, you know, let's have an owner's
edition let's have NFC West coaches Pete Carroll goes up
against Sean McVay, who goes up against Kyle Shanahan. Do
you want to go that cerific because there's a way

(16:29):
to do that or is it just the smartest celebrity fans,
the guys and gals who live and breathe this thing,
and you can go real deep and be like, who
were number twenty five for the Denver Broncos in the
late seventies. It's like boom, who is you know, Haven Moses?
You know, like, do you want that?

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (16:45):
I think I think I want that. I think it
would be too difficult to to get the coaches, get
the g you know, get your buddies who you know
no football Like, you can't just always be like we
when you guys do that good morning football game, or
you just show pictures of old quarterbacks like that could
be the one hundred dollars rat yes, and then and

(17:08):
move on and get that the elite level. Who are
you inviting on in this first first season sweeps week?
Who we got Aaron Rodgers is a guest, Tom Brady's
a guest, and Peyton Manning's a guest. That's your first episode, the.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
Three, the three intellectual quarterbacks, the three you know, smartest
Jeopardy guys. I would have all those guys on. Then
I would go sports media style. I would have Collinsworth
versus Aikman versus Oh I don't need herb Street he
I think NFL like voices who Romo. I would go
Romo versus Collinsworth versus Aikman and have Greg Olsen. You know,

(17:46):
maybe if one of those guys is not available or
whatever it is, with slide Greg and like, that's how
I would look at it, and then you can have
Eisen versus Turrico versus you know, James Brown. I don't know.
There's a million ways to go about this thing, and
I think it's a great idea. Again, the IP is there,
the NFL is there, and I don't want to give
any more away because someone listening is gonna probably take

(18:08):
it and Rich Eyes and Linda posting it instead of me.

Speaker 2 (18:11):
All right, I got one more for you on your
final quick one of all the nineteen questions you got right,
which is the one you're most proud of?

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Great?

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Great question. I took a few guesses that were right.
One of them was the two bridges connecting or the
bridge that connected two peninsulas. It was like the upper
and lower peninsula this state, and it was what is Michigan?
And that was a complete shot in the dark. Another
one was a fungus question. It was early on it
was like this fungus in it. I was just like,
I don't know any fungus, but it's a two hundred
dollars question. What is mushroom? And they're like, that's correct,

(18:42):
and I pretend like I knew what it was. I
didn't know what it was. And then I took a
wild guess on the veal one and it was like
this type of veal is named after a famous musician
who did it my way, and I'm like, oh, that's Sinatra.
So I didn't know and I originally said what is
then I changed it to who is I was. I
was in the zone. I had an amazing experience. And
like I said, the producers were great. Everyone was great.

(19:04):
And it's over and you know, my son got to
watch it. He was proud of me. My wife got
to watch it. I think she was into me for
the first time in like a year. So it was cool.
I got text from I got text from so many
people that I had not heard from in years, but
also people that I didn't even think would be Jeopardy
watchers who didn't know I was going to be on
the show. It really meant a lot. And if you

(19:26):
do know me and you didn't text me, I also
remember that as well, because that's just how I lived
my life, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (19:34):
It just you know, no beef held there, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, We've got a great guest, as you see in
the title here. In a second, we're going to get
to him. But real quick, it's Halloween today and I
dressed as Al Davis on the show, and I like
watched forty five minutes of Al Davis interviews just to
like get down the affect and the Brooklyn yet also
get the walk right. And it felt great. You'll appreciate this.

(19:58):
They blow dry, They did the blow dry of the hair,
but then they slicked it back. It was like a
concrete like slab on my head. I had the white
on white satin with the with the amazing white pants.
I had chains, I had pinky rings, I had the
whole thing. So we get done with the show, I
take it off and I'm like all right time to

(20:19):
go back to Brooklyn. I, you know, take a subway back.
I get back off the subway, look at and I
realized I never removed the rings of the necklaces. So
I'm sitting there with this crazy hair, regular clothes and
pinky rings and a necklace that was like a big,
gaudy silver necklace. I almost got myself pickpocket. I don't

(20:41):
know what I was thinking I was on the subway,
but yes, that was my experience. And then later today
I'll be trick or treating and I gotta be honest,
I kind of want to get back in that Al
Davis gear. I kind of liked embodying Al Davis. It
felt kind of good. Aaron, are you trick or treating?
Do you do this as a man with no children
at the moment? Do you still engage?

Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (21:00):
We did two parties this weekend now just like yeah,
very active we can for me. And also just like
last year, I remember you asked me what I was
doing for Halloween.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
As like Beethoven symphony or something like.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
I went to the dog Halloween costume contest.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
How was it?

Speaker 2 (21:18):
I did it again this year and it was incredible.
I love that I was I think, I was telling
Shane afterwards, I have never felt more strong. I was
like it was like rooting for a sports team. There
was one dog in particular I wanted to win, and
they did win.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
What did the dog go?

Speaker 2 (21:33):
As David Byrne in the oversized suit?

Speaker 1 (21:37):
It was making sense?

Speaker 3 (21:40):
It was so good.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, and like, I truly have never loved a costume
like that. And then I went as Carmi from the Bear.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Yes, dude, great, Why Carmie?

Speaker 6 (21:51):
Why not?

Speaker 1 (21:51):
Why not still have my temporary tattoo on? Nice? Why
not Richie? Too deep cut? You like Carmi?

Speaker 2 (21:58):
I had the equipment for Carmi a little bit easier,
I think.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
Okay, all right, I would have I would have gone.
It was his name, fac Hodagan. What was his name,
Mattie Matheson? What was his character? He was great? I
love him in the back. All right. One more thing
I have This year, I've been in devouring books on
my flights to LA and back. I've read the Michael
Lewis book about SBF. I've read the Isaacson one on Musk.

(22:27):
I'm reading all the stuff that's out. I'm I have
to make a recommendation everybody read the John Stamos memoir.
It just came out. There's been a lot of press
about some of the things he says about his marriage
to Rebecca Romaine. Don't be sidetracked by that being what
this is. This is a true Hollywood story. He goes
from a kid working the griddle at his dad's Greek

(22:51):
diner in I want to say, like Irvine, California, to
being a soap opera star in the eighties on General Hospital,
to then going to full House, to then a movie
career to then er and all the way in between.
He's got stories about hanging with Don Rickles and Frank Sinatra,

(23:13):
and his relationship with Saggot and Dave Coolier and the
Olsen twins, and then there's some really like honest and
vulnerable stuff about marrying a woman who at the time
was a model, and then after he married her went
on to be the swimsuit Model of the Year Starr
in the X Men movies and had a giant, giant

(23:33):
career while his career kind of the took to the
back burner. And I thought Stamos in this book is
incredibly He's vulnerable and basically says she emasculated him and
her career was such a force in his world that
you know he couldn't live with it. And then he
goes into what he discovered on her and how do
you lift yourself back up? But like, great stuff about
him and his father's relationship, great stuff about him and

(23:56):
Saggot's relationship. I gotta tell you, I didn't expect to
be crying at the end of a John Stamos memoir,
but that is my recommendation to all of you. Stamos
is new. I don't even have the name of it. Aaron,
do you have the name out there, because I'd like
to pass it along.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah. His memoir is called if you would have told me.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
If you would have told me, it's fantastic. So everyone,
I promise you will not be disappointed. My favorite book
of all time is a memoir. It's Andrea Agassi's Open
I also think Matthew Perry's Last Year Very Appropriate Now
was incredibly well written and well done and great stories
and tragic in its own way. Another celebrity memoir I've
always suggested to people if you want to read a

(24:35):
good one is The Kid Stays in the Picture, about
Robert Evans. And then another one that is not as
well known. Rob Lowe had a really good one about
a decade ago, and his life is even crazier than anybody.
It's with what he went through as far as celebrity
and fame goes. So all that to get to another
book author, a guest who was on here to talk

(24:57):
about a very cool project he's doing, but figure we'll
do a little deeper dive with him. An idol of mine, truly,
Dan Patrick joins us next. He's a hero of mine.
He's still the top of his game, and he's become
a friend and a guy that I really really do love.

(25:17):
Has got a new book out also, it's called The
Occasionally Accurate Annals of Football. It's with a co author,
Joel H. Cohen. But the guest on the season with
Peter Schrigger this week, it is an honor, mister Dan Patrick,
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (25:31):
Are you nervous a little bit? Okay, don't be. You're
used to being asked questions or now you're doing the asking.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, let's break the fourth wall here. Like when your
guys first asked me to come on as a guest
to your show, it was almost like being asked to
host starting a live or something. I was like, this
is I've been watching you, listening to you for much
of my life and also throughout my career, and you'd
always had everyone else, the Peter Kings and the other sports.

(26:00):
Right now, I was like, oh, I got the call
up to the big leagues, and I just never wanted
to myself when I was on your show. I just
wanted to always do a he's did enough job where
I can get asked back. And now I feel like
Seinfeld that the Today's Tonight's Show with Johnny I would
get the callback. And I've probably gone on like eleven times,
so it's really crazy for me to be interviewing you
right now.

Speaker 5 (26:18):
I didn't know that's the goal to not yourself, but
hopefully you achieved your goal. But no, I like enthusiasm.
I like somebody who's different. You did your homework. The
Good Morning Football is a fun show, and you know
that's that's what you want. You want guests that get
your show. They can play along, and you certainly have

(26:38):
and that's why you know we enjoy having you on
and Kyle Brandt as well. You know, it's just getting
fun people on saying interesting things.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
I appreciate it. So I'm sure you think I just
grew up watching Sports Center, but I actually before that, Like,
I don't think people realize that CNN had a powerhouse
of a sports department and program like I used to
watch I think it was Nick Charles and one of
the Cellini brothers who.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
Was at VINCE or whatever it was Vince, but it
was Fred Hickman and.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
Fred Hickman and Nick Charles, right, and I would watch
them every night on their CNN show, and then on
the Sunday nights they would have an NBA show at
like ten thirty and it was and it had Stephen A.
Smith on it before, like Steven A. Smith was like
this national guy. But this is like mid nineties, early nineties,
and you were the dude in the late eighties early
nineties on that network that I fell in love with you. Then,

(27:30):
does the CNN Sports era of sports TV just get
completely overlooked in an ESPN like you know world that
we're in right now.

Speaker 5 (27:40):
Yes, And I think that at the time when we
had CNN Sports, we were a better sports department than
ESPN was because we had talent. We also had really
good writers journalists. Because you had to at CNN, not
to say you didn't have it at ESPN, but I
don't think that was a priority. I think entertainment was
a priority there. And when we did our show, Nick

(28:04):
and Fred were as good as any team who's done it.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
What was the show called? Do you remember what it
was called?

Speaker 3 (28:09):
Just CN in Sports Tonight.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
To be in Sports Tonight, and I was always like
Sports Center or CNN Sports Tonight, and then CNN Sports Tonight.
We never talked about.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
Anymore, no, And there were a lot of there's a
lot of talent that came through there, and Dan Hicks,
Hannah Storm, Vince Cellini, Gary Miller, Dennis Dummler, Nick and Fred.
Those were the people that were there when I was there,
and a lot of people behind the scenes went on
to do great things. The person who started it was
Bill McPhail, who was the first president of CBS Sports back.

(28:41):
You know, he put on the you know, the greatest
game ever played with the Giants and the Cold Cults. Yes,
and he was there for the first instant replay and
you know, so he was a legendary figure. His brother
was the American League president McPhail. His dad, I think
owned the Yankee. I mean, it was great to talk
to Bill, and he ran the sports department, and I

(29:03):
just remember I was there for five years and I
didn't even have an agent. And what happened was I
had lost out on a weekend job in Dayton, Ohio.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
I thought I was going to get it.

Speaker 5 (29:14):
They gave it to Ken Kettering, who was a better
looking guys first time, like the reality hit of Oh
they may not hire the best guy, but they hired
the best looking guy, and he was. He even thought
I was going to get the job. So I'm devastated.
I'm twenty seven. I'm thinking I'm never going to get
into TV. I was doing radio morning drive radio, and

(29:35):
I go to Atlanta. A former girlfriend was down there
and she said, you should come down here. CNN's hiring.
I go, I couldn't get a job in Dayton, Ohio,
and now I'm going to get a job at CNN.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
Ted Turner's not hiring me.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
Yeah, So I go in.

Speaker 5 (29:49):
I bring an audition tape, an audition tape that didn't
get me the job at Channel two and Date, and
I thought, okay. So the last day I'm there, I
don't even know the process. Peter of how to get
an interview. I have no coaching, know nothing, and I
walk in and I go to the front desk, just
like anybody else who could walk in. I said, hey,

(30:11):
is the person in charge of sports here? And they go, well,
who are you looking for? I go, I don't know
who's who's the head of sports? Is incredible and they go,
hold hold on, yes, I have a gentleman out here
and he wants somebody, uh in sports, and I believe
he has a resume TEP and then they go. She goes, uh,

(30:32):
just leave the tape and somebody will get back to you.
I go, well, I'm going back home. And then she
she called back to the sports department, goes, who.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
Is this woman that's this is the light changer. This
is unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (30:44):
He's going He's going back home. He wants to know
if somebody can look at it. So they said back,
she goes, where are you going? Are you driving back home?

Speaker 3 (30:52):
Like?

Speaker 5 (30:52):
How far away? I said, I'm going back to Ohio.
She calls back and says he's going back to Ohio.
Bill McPhail happened to be from Columbus, Ohio, come on,
and he said, have him come back because I said, oh,
I'm going back to Dayton, Ohio.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
I go back.

Speaker 5 (31:08):
I meet him and he puts the tape in and
he watches three and a half minutes, three and a
half of five minutes, and then he popped it out
and he goes, when can you start?

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Dan?

Speaker 1 (31:19):
I'm about to cry. I love this story. I've never
heard this. Have you told the story anywhere? This is incredible.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
I've mentioned it. But I got hired to do headline sports. Sure,
I'm making eighteen thousand. I took a ten thousand dollars
pay cut to go to CNN. But I wanted to
do sports, and I'm doing it and I'm not even
on camera.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
I'm doing headline Sports. But I loved it.

Speaker 5 (31:43):
You know, I'm editing all the highlights, voicing it, and
then you you know, get it over to headline News.
Six months later, Keith Oberman leaves the New York bureau
at CNN to take a job in Boston, and my
boss says, have you ever been to New York? I said, oh, yeah, Now,
I had never been to New York. I'm from a

(32:03):
small town in Ohio. I've never been to New York.
And then they go, well, would you be interested in,
you know, being the New York Bureau reporter, replacing Keith,
and I said, yeah, I took the job. I went
and I stayed in the Downtown Athletic Club, which is
where they met. So I stayed there for three months.

(32:24):
I was only supposed to stay for a month, but
I was so nervous that I didn't. I didn't have
enough money to get an apartment in New York, and
so I said, can I stay a couple extra months?
And then I did at the DAC, and I remember
that I finally got an apartment. I made eight hundred
dollars a month and my apartment was five point fifty.

(32:48):
So I wasn't really killing it, but I was. I
was covering New York, Boston, Philly, d C. Any story
that came up. So I'm covering Larry Bird against the
Lakers in the NBA Finals. I'm covering Billy Martin with
the Yankees. I'm there with the eighties World Series with
Bill Buckner in the met I got to cover so

(33:10):
many great events just by being up there, and you know,
it really changed my life.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
And I met my wife at CNN.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
That's incredible.

Speaker 5 (33:20):
And I don't encourage people to lie, but you don't
always have to tell the truth.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
How about that?

Speaker 1 (33:27):
And I do you think there's a message there though,
because you went to Dayton, you know, I went to Emery,
which is not exactly a hotbed for sports. I think
there's an impression amongst young people in our industry that
you have to go to Syracuse or Northwestern or USC
and there's a path. There isn't a path. You have
to be cunning. You've got to be flexible. You got

(33:48):
to be willing to in my case right for any
blog that would have you, and in your case move
to any city. You have all these students now at
the Full Sell like, what is your message to them
as far as getting into the.

Speaker 5 (33:59):
Door, Well, what I wanted to do at Full Sale
University and they have the Dan Patrick School to sportscasting.
Your degree is in sports. Your bachelor's degree is sportscasting.
We want you to understand, you know how tough. This
is what you need to know. We want to give
you the answers before the test. But as I tell
all these students, I can get you over the wall.

(34:20):
Are you running when you get over? Are you walking?
Are you crawling? Because this is a. It's the most
competitive job field in America in my opinion, because everybody
thinks they can do it. Like they all sit there
and go I could do I could talk sports, Okay,
you can. What do you do after fifteen minutes when
you run out of things to say? But I tell
my students, we're going to get you ready. But it's

(34:42):
up to you when you go in there being professional
understanding ins and outs. You may not be on camera,
there's nothing wrong with, you know, being behind the scenes.
And I brought Gus Ramsey with me, who worked with
me at ESPN for over twenty years, and we hire
people who have been in the business. You get hands
on experience. There there is no faculty that is better

(35:05):
and has more experien pence than mine because we have
over two hundred factor in my experience. Then all the
people I worked with at ESPN assignment desk, reporters, producers,
you're hearing it from the people who actually did it.
And that's what I wanted them to understand. This is
the business. If you're lucky, this can be your job.
But there's a your full time your first job is

(35:27):
being a student at full sale university because there's no
frat parties, there's you know, it's it's not socials, it's
none of that.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
You're showing up.

Speaker 5 (35:36):
This is your first job, and you know it gives
them that dosa reality of how tough this is going
to be. And our job is to make it look easy.
That's why, like I wanted to do it. When I
saw Bob Constance, I go, yeah, that looks easy.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
It's not.

Speaker 5 (35:52):
It's those who can do it really well make it
look easy and fun. You can never have a bad
day at Sports Center. No one would let you have
a bad day, because how can you have a bad day.
You're doing Sports Center. But you can have a day.
It's just you can't let anybody know because that was
the dream job years ago.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
Absolutely so much so that there was an ESPN reality
show called ESPN Dream Job And guess who stood online
with two hundred people in front of the ESPN Sportszone
in Atlanta in Buckhead and guess who. My first break was.
I wait in that line and I was wearing a
shirt that said that said I just want to meet

(36:31):
Bill Clement And it was the most random, like ESPN
person I could think of, the hockey guy I get
in there, I'd never done any broadcasting. They give me
a quiz and I got the quiz all right. I
got ten out of ten. And then I got pulled
aside by Howie Schwab and Al Jaffey and Howie Schwab
was the reacher and they said, what do you want

(36:52):
to do? I said, I'll do this show, sure, but
all I want to do is write for ESPN dot com.
I'm a huge Bill Simmons fan. I love Ralph Wilie,
I love the writing. I loved reading The Hunter s
Thompson at the time I was writing for ESPN dot com,
like I love it. I just want to chance to write.
And then they led me to a different department who
were the editors on the website, and it all happened

(37:12):
because I wore a terrible T shirt but stood out
and waited in that line. And that was the job
for me. Dream job for you. You go from CNN,
then you get to ESPN. I have to imagine you
go to Bristol. It's not a huge, bustling metropolis, it's
a campus. I have to imagine there's a lot of ego,
a lot of testosterone. What's the pecan order? When Dan

(37:33):
Patrick shows up to Bristol, Connecticut in the late eighties
early nineties.

Speaker 5 (37:37):
I got there late eighties, March of eighty nine, okay,
and Chris Berman was he was basically their Mount Rushmore.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (37:47):
I mean it was Chris and he probably deserved two
heads up there on Mount Rushmore, Tommy's and Bob Lee
and I got there and look, I thought what we
did at CNN was better than what they did. So
I didn't go in there intimidated from the standpoint of
I don't know if I'm on equal footing. Now people
have to understand where Chris Berman was back then. I

(38:09):
mean without Chris you don't have a ESPN, you just
and Bob and Tom you just don't. Because they were
doing it, we didn't, you know, they probably didn't know
who's watching, how many people, like, what place they had
in somebody's life.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
But I got there. They made me observe for three months.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
You didn't get on air until three three months watching.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
Them, and I would and I kept saying, I can
do this. I know what I don't I've done it before.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (38:37):
And what happened was I would come in and Chris
Berman would call me the Charlotte observer.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
He'd go, it's this Charlotte observer.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
And all I did is I would sit there from
like five in the afternoon until midnight watching them put
together you know, Sports Center. They had everybody wrote their
own scripts. And in the right corner, so we had
this wall of monitors, so all these games are up
there in the in the bottom right corner was porn.

(39:08):
So Porn was playing after management.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Spice Network just on.

Speaker 5 (39:13):
He scrambled, and I just remembered it was right there
in the right corner. All these games are going on
and porn is in, you know, the right, bottom right
corner of it. And I go, I'm not at CNN anymore.
And I was going to do my first show, and
I don't know who was going.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
To anchor with me.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
Who's anchoring with you?

Speaker 5 (39:35):
Chris Berman had just done the eleven o'clock. He stayed
and said, I'm doing your first show. Hell yes, And
I was so honored by that because he stayed. And
I just remember he was so loud when we got
on the air, and I even said that, I go, man,

(39:56):
you're loud, and he goes, you can always go back
to CNN, and I was like, all right, let's go.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
I'm all in with this.

Speaker 5 (40:05):
But the fact that Chris and I never forgot that,
I thought it was a wonderful gesture. And then soon
after that I started doing the eleven o'clock with Bob
Lee and stayed doing the eleven for fifteen years, and
then decided that I wanted better hours to be a
better father and husband and did the six o'clock Sports

(40:26):
Center the last three years.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
A quick anecdote, and tell me if this lines up
with but he was larger than life at ESPN, and
he's still larger than life. We're at the Super Bowl
two years ago in LA and Kyle Brant and I
are like at SOFI Stadium on the outside campus, like
outside the stadium. Everyone's going into the stadium. We're on
the outside and a golf cart pulls by it and

(40:48):
this guy's wearing a I mean, and again my memory
might make it even like it's like a tall tail,
like it's Paul bunnyan or something, but a giant straw
hat in a golf cart, and I just had to
I'm like Chris Berman, and without even hesitation, he tips
the cap and just bows at us.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
And then I've been in airports with him. You could
have Leo DiCaprio, you could have you could have Margot Robbie.
The line of people who line up to say hello
to Chris Berman is unlike anything I've ever seen, and
he's larger than life.

Speaker 5 (41:23):
He's probably the first guy who connected with people so
personally because it was every night. And think about when
you watch TV at night, are you in somebody's bedroom,
their living room. I mean there is a shared intimacy
to that that he's kind of in my room with me.
He's taught you know, people would say they felt like

(41:44):
they knew me because I was always in their house.
They could hear my voice, and that's the power of ESPN.
But Chris is the first guy nationally who was able,
I think, to connect with people every single night, and
you know, that made him endearing to so many people.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
So then eventually you and Olberman link up, and I
will tell you we called it the Big Show, and
it felt like rock and roll. Honestly, that these two
guys were, you know, the ones in the back of
the class while everyone's in a suit and tie. It
was the two of you guys making little underhanded comments.
You had inside jokes you had jokes with the viewers,

(42:23):
and you guys just hit it off in such a
way that at that time in my life, I'll just
you know, everything's personal with me because I'm an egomaniac,
So I bring it back to me. It was Saturday
Night Live, and it was the era of Sandler and
Myers and Farley and Spade and those guys, and then
it was you guys on Sunday nights, and it was
like Saturday Night and Sunday Night. Those were my dudes.

(42:44):
Did it feel that way?

Speaker 6 (42:46):
No?

Speaker 1 (42:46):
When you were doing it, did you realize the impact
you were making on an entire generation?

Speaker 5 (42:50):
We later we did. But you have to understand. Management
did not encourage us. They didn't want us to call
it the Big Show. They were worried, and you know,
a former boss of mine said, we don't want another Berman.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
We don't want somebody.

Speaker 5 (43:05):
Who we can control larger than the brand. Yes, and
they were worried about that, and I understand that. But
Keith and I we just sort of said, Okay, we
have to do this in a clandestine way.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
That's why we had inside jokes. That's why it was sneaky.

Speaker 5 (43:20):
It was never overt and I think it made for
a better show. It's like, you know when I used
to listen to Howard Stern, when you couldn't say certain
words or you couldn't show something, it made it even
more impactful. It's like, oh my god, now I can
visualize that we weren't allowed to be in front of
the product. It was you had to be sort of

(43:42):
pick your spots have fun with it. But Keith was
such a wonderful team player that he wanted to make
a great show every single night, every single night. And
we never took it for granted. You never mailed anything in.
It was every night and you wanted to entertain each
other that we never knew what you were going to write.

(44:03):
I never looked at his scripts, he never looked at mine.
Probably sixty to seventy percent of the show was AdLib
and we only had three camera people and a floor director,
and you were trying to entertain them, and we thought
if we made them laugh, then maybe the people who
were watching. But we never really knew the impact until

(44:24):
a little bit later on, and then Keith was only
there for I think five years.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Yeah, but it was it was magic.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
We never ever ever discussed why it works or let's
change something. It never we would type our scripts. Keith
would usually type his in forty five minutes, it would
take me three hours, and then we would get together.
They didn't want to they didn't want to pay for
a makeup artist, so we had to put our own
makeup on in the bathroom at ten thirty at night,

(44:54):
and then we'd be on the air at eleven and
then we go our separate ways. But when we got
to ESPN, we were doing a show. But that was
really the only interaction that we had. But I liked
it because we didn't waste things.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
Yeah, you know, we.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Meet Kyle Bran, I do the same thing. We don't
ever reveal. I didn't even know what he's doing is
Halloween today, Like we don't ever reveal anything. Yeah, for
the air, say for the air, I.

Speaker 5 (45:19):
Like the surprise element of it. But it was live,
and there's something about doing live. But also we would
do the highlights and the fact that we were on
at eleven o'clock at night. Let's say a game ended
at eleven o'clock or eleven oh seven. They'd have to
edit the highlights and then bring them in. We hadn't
seen them sure, so you're getting a shot sheet. Yeah,

(45:39):
they give me a shot sheet, they bring it in.
I'd be I can't tell you the number of times
I'd be on camera. So I'd be reading the prompter
here and I go and Cleveland hosting Milwaukee, and Kenny
Lofton is having an incredible streak. You know, he's nineteen
games in a row. I'm reaching out over here off
camera to get and let's go. Let's go to Cleveland,

(46:00):
you know, Municipal Stadium, boom, And then I looked down
at the shotsheet and then we start the highlights. Yeah,
and just the rush that you would have such a
though it's live and there'd be names on there, spelling henmanship,
and you'd just go, you know what. And that's why
we came up with catchphrases because it allowed you to

(46:24):
cheat a little bit. So if there was Greg Maddox tomorrow,
you know, three to one to Mark McGuire gone, and
then I would pause because then I could look on
the shot sheet and go, McGuire's thirty second of the year.
You know, he's got ninety four RBIs and the Cardinals
leave five three. So it allowed us to kind of
gather and then you could look at the shot sheet

(46:47):
and it just kind of helped. And then after a
while we sort of mocked ourselves with let's come up
with catchphrases that are so stupid because of them, it
was cow Hide joy Ride and I remember, okay, it
was a home run, and I was like, that's a
cow hide joy ride. And I remember keep going cal

(47:07):
like he even said it on the air. It's like,
cal height, what what? And I just I got the
biggest kick out of We wanted to make each other think, laugh,
you know, whatever emotion you could get out of somebody.
If it was a serious story, you know you wanted
you wanted that. But you know it worked. And I

(47:30):
remember when he left, I said, you'll never have this again.
He had gotten I think he had gotten bored. I
think he wanted a different lifestyle and he went to
Fox and I just said, you'll never get this ever again.
And you know he realized that soon after, and I
never got it back again. I had wonderful people to
anchor with, but there was nothing like that with anybody else,

(47:53):
just because man, when you're on that wire and there's
no net and you know you can trust that person,
you know you really build a bond, and we certainly
had that.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
It's special, But then you guys crossed into like beyond
just Sports Center here, I mean the commercials which you
guys dubbed this is Sports Center. But then I think
a major moment for like back now every rapper has
athletes in their videos, and every musician is dating and
a half. It wasn't necessarily the case when you guys
were on that Hooty and the Blowfish video. That was

(48:24):
major for everyone, Like that was major. Can you take
us through the impetus and the genesis of that story.

Speaker 5 (48:29):
Well, I'll go back to the this is Sports Center
ad campaign because that started after Keith and I got
scolded for basically trying to secede.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
From the union.

Speaker 5 (48:42):
Like hey, well you guys, you know, we were a
hot air balloon that was tethered, but we were still
drifting pretty high up, and I remember we got called
in and management yelled at us, I mean really yelled
at us, and I remember they didn't they wanted us
to stop calling at the big show. We wanted every
time you go to break when you're teasing things, we
want you to end with this is Sports Center. And

(49:06):
I remember when we came out of the meeting, and
Keith famously said, I'm shell shocked. I mean, I'm like,
I can't lose this job. I got three kids. And
so Keith goes and I go, well, yes, they're not
going to fire us. We'll say this is Sports Center.
I go, okay, So this is in the afternoon. We

(49:27):
have to do a show that night. I mean, imagine
how we feel we just got aired out by manager.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
I've had those talks.

Speaker 5 (49:34):
We get there doing the show, we go to break
after like eighteen minutes, and then you know, coming up
Da da da, and Keith goes this and Smarts Center,
and I go, all right, it's on right there. And
then they created the ad campaign. So I go to

(49:55):
my boss, John Walsh. I go, why don't we promote
Sports Center? He goes, we don't need to. I said,
you promote all these other shows, you know, NFL Countdown.
And then he said, all right, we'll do an ad
campaign and it was called this is Sports Center. We
couldn't get any athletes to show up because you have
to go to Bristol, Connecticut.

Speaker 3 (50:13):
They don't pay you.

Speaker 5 (50:15):
They gave you a like a donation stipend of two
thousand dollars for charity.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
And I called Grant Hill.

Speaker 5 (50:22):
I called a lot of people, but I called Grant
Hill and Jason Kidd, and I said, would you like
to be in a commercial co Rookies of the Year,
Let's go, I know, and you know it turned out
they both were like, well, where do we have to go?
And I go Bristol, Connecticut. What do we get paid?
I go, well, you don't get paid, and thank god
they did it. So Grant played the piano in the lobby.

(50:46):
When I have a bad show, he's, you know, the jacket,
the jacket over my shoulder. And then and then Jason
Kidd we went to a helipad and he was getting
out of a helicopter with his videotape of his game
and here were his highlights, and then he was telling
us what highlights those were the first two and then

(51:06):
after that everybody wanted their own Sports Center commercial. And
then I think because hooting the blowfish they had just
broken with hold my hand yep, I actually ran into
we crossed paths at the Masters. I've known those guys
for it's twenty nine years now, but they were too afraid,

(51:30):
nervous to say allow to me and I didn't see
them there, but they said, you know, we walked by you,
and I think it was the ninety four Masters, and
they reached out and said would we like to be
in the video. And I don't know if Keith was
aware of them or how aware I was, and I
knew he was going to have Dan Marino and some
other people, and then we became friends, so i've been.

(51:54):
My fortieth birthday, I went to Europe with them for
eight days, traveling around with them London, Scotland and Ireland
doing the shows, first time they'd been over there as
a band. And the fiftieth they came to my house
and performed. And then my sixtieth I went with some friends,
my brothers and Darius and we went to Pebble Beach.

(52:15):
If I'm around when I'm seventy, I'm not sure what
I'm going to ask them to do, but they'll probably
you know, at least Darius is going to be involved
in it because he's he's been around for a long time,
good friend.

Speaker 1 (52:26):
So cool. Then you get the connection with the Sandler
guys and you're in probably like a dozen Sandler.

Speaker 5 (52:32):
Movies, twenty I think twenty or twenty one movie. It
sounds that sounds, you know, pretentious that I don't know
how many movies, but it's I think it's twenty I.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
Mean, and it's not just you, it's the Danet's, it's
all the guys.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Yes, well, he's extremely loyal as.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
Oh I can imagine. I mean, look at their guys
in his movies, all of them.

Speaker 5 (52:51):
Yeah, he goes, Danny, once you're in, you're in, and
I you know, it's like a mob family, Like you're in,
you're in for life.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
What was what was the first movie you did with him?

Speaker 5 (52:59):
I did water Boy, okay, and then I told him
I didn't want to play myself like once again hell arrogant,
Like all good, I don't want to be myself and
he goes, all right. Sandler goes, you're Danny mcpatrick. You're
going to be a police officer and wear a mustache.
And I'm in the longest yard and I'm a police
officer wearing a mustache, and uh, we try to arrest

(53:23):
Sandler at the beginning of the movie.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
I remember, I remember all of what was the that's
that's my boy, that's my boy.

Speaker 5 (53:30):
I go, Yeah, he wanted me to be a sort
of a Jerry Springer type guy talk show host and
just go with it. I'm on stage with Dave Matthews,
Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman. I mean, he's he's been very
very generous. I don't know if it's to the detriment
of the you know, finished product, but he's been very

(53:52):
very generous through the years. And he wrote the forward
to this book. He didn't even know what a forward was,
because I said, Sadman, can you write the forward to
this book?

Speaker 3 (54:03):
Danny? What's a forward?

Speaker 5 (54:04):
I said, you know, the beginning the book, and you know,
you kind of write whatever. He goes, what am I
writing about? I said, you can write about your love
of the Jets, all right? Can I write about how
much I hate the Patriots? I said, yeah, yeah, go ahead.
He goes, how long is it going to be? I
go just go until you stop up? And he goes, Okay.
Next day he sends me his forward, the draft, and

(54:29):
then he goes there, hopefully that's what you need and
I said, awesome, Sam Man, it'll be great. And then
the next day he texts me he said, Danny got
to take Tom Brady's stuff out. You know, I hated
tom Brady because he was with the Patriots. But I
don't want to say I hate Tom Brady now, okay,
And then I said, yeah, we'll take it out, don't

(54:49):
worry about it. So it's about his love of the Jets,
growing up in New Hampshire, being a Jets fan.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
So good.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
They say that his sets, like when you're filming is
he's so hospitable, he's so gracious, and it really is
as fun as it looks, and a lot of times
it's in some pretty cool locales. Do you have a
good story about where you went from one of these movies?

Speaker 3 (55:09):
Well, I went to Hawaii.

Speaker 5 (55:10):
That's for just go with it, right, that was just ya,
just go with it. And and it was a big part.
I mean I had a big part. And I'm on
stage with Aniston and Kidman and I remember the night
I got I shot part of my scene. And then
Nick Schwartzen, the comedian Minnesota guy. Yeah, so Schwarty shows up.

(55:33):
He's in the movie. But he goes, uh, Danny, we're
going drinking tonight and I'm gonna drink you under the table.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
And I said, I said, Nick, don't do that.

Speaker 5 (55:43):
And he's like, okay, yeah, you know, I said, I said, Schworty,
I'll crush you. Well, he didn't believe me. I walk
into the bar. It's a Tommy Bahamas bar in Hawaii,
and he gets me a mind eraser that is in
a tall glass and he goes and I said, I said,

(56:06):
what are we doing?

Speaker 3 (56:06):
He goes, We're downing these.

Speaker 5 (56:09):
I said, wait, we're gonna take down the whole and
he goes, yeah, And so I down a mind a
racer and then next thing I know, there was another
one that came over, and then another one came over
and I go, I said, Schwarty, you know what, I
owe it to Sandler to be ready to go tomorrow.
And he goes, oh, are you being you want to?

(56:29):
And I go all right, I said, look, if you die,
you asked for this. This is self inflicted. Well we
kept going. Next morning, nobody knows where Schwarty is. Afternoon,
nobody can find Nick Schwartzen. Later in the evening, nobody's
heard from Nick Schwartzen. I'm getting ready to shoot my scene.

(56:55):
Schwartzen comes in, looks horrible, disheveled. Best yeah, I mean
he doesn't want to go to begin with, but he goes, hey,
come here, come here. You can't tell Sandler, you can't
tell I said, what.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
The principal or big brother daddy.

Speaker 5 (57:14):
He got so messed up he fell asleep in the
uh sand trap at the golf course across from the hotel. Incredible,
lost his keys, lost his cell phone and uh no,
he didn't lose his key, lost his cell phone so
nobody could get in touch with it. But he comes
in and he might have just gotten out of the
sand trap. I just remember, I said, I said, shorty.

(57:37):
He goes, You're right, I won't do it again. The
next night we went out. He didn't have a drink. Yeah,
you know.

Speaker 3 (57:43):
We went south to a sushi place.

Speaker 5 (57:45):
But Sandman will always say, look, just don't make don't
make the newspaper, don't make the newspaper doing anything.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
And then we went out with Dave Matthews.

Speaker 5 (57:54):
First night I was there and I'd never met him,
and yeah, wicked sense you humor. But he didn't know
he knew no sports.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
He doesn't know like South African, like cricket or right.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
Don't you think he knew No, No, I don't think
he knew anything.

Speaker 5 (58:07):
Now Ertie L's guy, but he he goes, yeah, I
guess you're the sports guy. I go, yeah, I'm Sandler
would always introduce me as the sports guy to Anniston. Hey,
this is Danny's the sports guy. Kidman didn't care. She
couldn't care less about me. But I'm sitting down at
a large picnic table at a restaurant and I went

(58:29):
to I'm across from Dave Matthews and I reach out
to shake his hand. I knock my beer over into
his lap and he goes, wow, that's quite an introduction.
And he was. He was great. He was so much fun.
Like he would always walk up to me and he goes,
you're pretty tall. How tall are you? Well, they in

(58:51):
the movie there's a scene where he says something about
that guy up there on stage is pretty tall. Yeah,
it was just Sandler left it in there. Uh. Aniston
was wonderful, spectacular, funny, gorgeous, nicole kidmun had just had
a baby, and she was in incredible shape. But she
was an actress. Yeah, I know that's a thing like

(59:12):
I couldn't. I couldn't go over there and seek So
I was trying to prevent them from figuring out too
soon that I didn't know how to act. That was
my goal, and it didn't take long before Kidman's you know,
sizing me up and realizing this guy is not an actor.
Anniston may have been a little more generous, but I thought, God,

(59:32):
if I ever get a loan with Kidman, I'm not.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
Going to have anything to say.

Speaker 5 (59:36):
Well, I'm thinking, I'm not going to be, you know,
off the set, you know, talking to her. I'm in
the green room of sorts for actors who were ready
to do their scene or waiting to do their scene.
I walk in and Sandler's bulldog is in there, and
you know, some sporting eventison, So I said, got Sandler's
Bulldog with me, and Nicole Kidman walks in. Well, it's

(01:00:00):
one of those where you walk in a room and
you hope somebody doesn't see you and then they walk
back out. But she walked in and then we made
eye contact, so she had to stay. So she comes
over and sits down. Nothing's being said, it's it's it's
excruciatingly quiet, and I just and my daughter said, hey,

(01:00:23):
if you ever want to bring up something an icebreaker
for Nicole Kidman, I've got one. You know, I'm born
on the same day as her daughter, and I'm thinking, Okay,
if I ever need it, it's in my back pocket. Well,
first thing I say to her is, hey, you know
I have my daughter is born on the same day
as your daughter.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
And she goes, Oh, that's wonderful.

Speaker 5 (01:00:49):
That's it, that's it. We we had, we had nothing,
we had nothing. Well, a couple of days later, Keith Urban,
her husband, comes to the set.

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
He sees me. He wants to talk about the.

Speaker 5 (01:01:06):
Yeah, and her look on her face is like, you
know this guy and all you want to do is
talk about Tennessee Titans. But Sandman does have you know,
it's it's usually good locations and fun people, and it's
you get things done, but it's you know, you're having
fun along the way.

Speaker 3 (01:01:26):
That's really important.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
We only have a few more minutes, but they want
to ask you a couple couple other quick ones here,
because the Sandler connection is one thing. But you've also
been on The Simpsons before, and I think that's a
good segue to the book. How does this book come
together and you're experience to the Simpsons, what's the connection.

Speaker 3 (01:01:42):
Well.

Speaker 5 (01:01:42):
Joel Cohen, who co wrote this with me, is one
of the head writers on The Simpsons and he reached
out to me and said, hey, we have an episode
where we need an announcer and it's Homers involved in
a rock skipping contest and yeah, and so I said, oh,
I'd be honored. I'd love it, and he said, all

(01:02:05):
you know, I'll set up the script and we'll do
us some kind of moment here where we recorded. I
go okay, and he goes, you know, while I have you,
how do we fix the Jets? And I go, well,
how much time do you have? And he goes, no,
I think I can fix the Jets. And then he
brought up the butt fumble.

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
Why is it?

Speaker 5 (01:02:24):
You know, all the blame goes to Mark Sanchez and
not the offensive lineman who was blown up by Vince Wilford.
So these were things that were bothering him. And then
you know, he would talk about the Patriot mascot hat
the Patriot like all of these things. He goes, I
don't have an outlet like you do, and I go
and then I threw a couple of things back at him,

(01:02:48):
and then it was I liken it too. It was
verbal tennis match where we're just throwing things back together,
and he said, I'm going to write these down. He goes,
would you want to write a book? And I'm thinking sure,
like yeah, and then I didn't realize but he said
he sent some stuff back. He goes, all right, this
is what you said this when I said, and I

(01:03:09):
think we got somebody who will publish this book.

Speaker 3 (01:03:12):
And I go, what, whoa why? What? I go?

Speaker 5 (01:03:18):
Does America need this? He goes, well, football books are
always serious. They're about men, they're about you know, integrity,
the Yeah, they're gladiators. And he said, let's just have fun,
you know, like, let's talk about Ken Stabler smoking bacon
wrapped cigarettes like you know, that's his diet. Let's let's

(01:03:38):
compare Tom Brady's diet to Ken Stable. I said, all right,
I said I I And he goes, we don't have
to be accurate. That's you know, it's the occasionally accurate.
So we're not burden by truth. We don't, but we
we do represent every team. We look at the decades,
we look at football, what it'll be like in twenty

(01:03:59):
seventy three.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
And it was just it was just fun.

Speaker 5 (01:04:02):
He's an extremely bright guy and it just made the
process so much more enjoyable. And then I do the
audio version so if you want to bedtime story, I
can read this to you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
And that was a fun problem.

Speaker 5 (01:04:18):
Like we have something on Nipplegate with Justin Timberlake, and
there were two of them that I and Andy Richter
wrote a story. Part of the chapter Conan's Sidekick. And
then Joel started telling his friends. So his friends go, hey,
I got it. I got a story. So I mean
I was like, I can't turn this down. I'm going

(01:04:40):
to write a book, but everybody else is going to
write the book for me. And you know, we just
sort of there was nothing that was off limits. We
just thought there would be something. If something was funnier,
then we took out something. But it was it's been rewarding,
it's been enjoyable, and you know, Joel has become a
friend as a result.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
And it's in black and white, right, and it aesthetically
looks really cool. Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
We do like the Wizinator Ontario Smith.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
Yeah, I remember on Tara Smith Vikings running back. Couldn't
do that airport, that's unfortunate.

Speaker 5 (01:05:13):
We fix we fix penalties. Uh, let's see things you
don't bring to a tailgate. We made the Immaculate Reception
a sermon we do talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:05:25):
We have people who critique me in the media if
I'm any good, and so there's trash talk. I mean,
there's there's there's quite a few things in the book,
but it's it's meant to be tongue in cheek, but uh,
and hopefully people take it that way. But it was
and every team is represented, and some of the best
players who have played for these teams. We have fun

(01:05:46):
at their expense.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Uh. In closing, I got this podcast here as like
a second or third gig, and I love it. It's
like my own name on it. It's the first thing
I've had that. It seems like everyone's got a podcast.
Everyone thinks they can be Dan Patrick. You've seen the
explosion of podcasts, and you know the explosion of McAfee
and you name it. Now there's you go on your
Twitter feed and it's a different young woman touting gambling

(01:06:09):
tips and it's her own show. Like it's everywhere. It's
become an explosion of talent facing like here's my takes
on this and that, and there's an audience for it.
Did you ever imagine it could explode like this and
our industry would go down this direction?

Speaker 5 (01:06:24):
Well, yes and no, because if you could do a
twenty four hour, seven day a week sports channel, and
then another twenty four hour day, seven day a week
sports channel, and then another, then yes that the explosion
could be there because there's only so many radio outlets

(01:06:44):
for people. Now, you give them an opportunity to have
their view of a certain sport or sports or whatever
it might be. I just worry that and it's going
to sound like, get off my launch, Oh, let's go,
I'm trying the same boat journalism. Yeah, that's because everybody thinks,
where in the mid nineties got to have a catchphrase

(01:07:05):
to be a sportscaster, now have to have a hot
take to be a sportscaster podcaster. I just want to
make sure that because a lot of people will be
loose with language. They'll say, you know, I'm hearing or
and I'm hearing gets left out where Peter Schreger says,
you could say, hey, I'm hearing, and then all of
a sudden it's no Peter Schreger says that the Raiders

(01:07:28):
are moving on from Devonte Adams. Sure they don't listen
all the way and therefore it becomes his story. And
I always caution, my students, have a source. Don't be
afraid to have a second source. When we were on ESPN,
we had to have two sources if you had a story.
And as crazy as this is going to sound, I

(01:07:50):
was on vacation with my wife and sitting next to
us was Tony Dungee's agent, and he said, hey, did
you hear that Tony's going to get the Tampa Bay job?
And I go no, he said no, I'm on vacation,
and I thought, well, let me call into the assignment desk.

(01:08:10):
I called him the assignment desk and they it might
have been Steve Perrisman was the guy maybe, and I
just remember he needed another source.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
You're like, god, no, no, no.

Speaker 5 (01:08:21):
The agent just but I couldn't tell him that I'm
getting it from the agent because the agent said, don't
attach my name, and I'm going I have an unbelievable source.
And then he said I need a second source. They
got a hold of Andrea Kramer, and Andrea was able
to confirm it, and then Andrea, I think, broke the news.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
But I'm like, I'm on vacation.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
I don't even know what this news.

Speaker 3 (01:08:50):
I'm not an insider.

Speaker 5 (01:08:51):
I'm telling you, hey, Tony's gonna get the job with
the buccaneer, and I just remember, it's like, Holy, I
don't want to work this hard at a story I
won't get credit for.

Speaker 3 (01:09:01):
I don't want credit for it.

Speaker 5 (01:09:02):
I want credit for But you know, I caution those
who do it that don't don't be afraid if you're
going to say something that you have something to back
it up, because everybody can do the following. Oh, you know,
a source told me. Why don't have to tell you
my source? But you hope that people are still going

(01:09:23):
through the process. And look, I came up with CNN,
and this is the way you did it, and I'm
going to go out that way. You can't be loose
with Oh I'm hearing.

Speaker 1 (01:09:35):
Well. I feel fortunate enough that I spent twenty years
having to do sources and that by the time I
say something on air, you're not questioning that process. A
lot of times now, I see people saying stuff on
air online I don't know who this person is. I
don't even know what this Twitter handle is. I don't
know where to believe it or not, and the check
marks are all ascue, so I can't. So it's very complicated,

(01:09:57):
especially you know when it talks to off season stuff
and trades and numerous because then I'll hear from the
GMS and coaches and be like, I read this from
this Twitter feed. I'm like, I don't I don't know
who that is. I don't even know who the person
is behind that. Someone said it, well, this is the
era of anonymous reporters.

Speaker 5 (01:10:13):
Yeah, that's another thing where you're going, I don't know,
I don't know who the reporter is, but they're breaking
this story on Tom Brady and then you have to
follow that story and then you have to figure out
is it true or not?

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
And it's a real person.

Speaker 5 (01:10:27):
Yes, and if somebody has an opinion. We had Rick
neuheiseel on and I said, where's Jim Harbaugh on a year?
He said he'll be in the NFL. Well, that's just
his opinion. It's not like he's reporting that. That's not
Bruce Feldman saying, yes, it's Rick Neuheisel said he thinks Jim.

Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
But that's how it.

Speaker 5 (01:10:46):
When we think that people go, they'll obviously know that Hey,
I'm saying this in jest or I'm just telling you
something that's my opinion. It becomes you know, the truth,
and then it's out there and then all of a
sudden people run with it and you're like, hold on,
like you can't bring it back. And I hope that

(01:11:07):
people who do this understand you can have a hot take.
I like to have an informed take. It may not
be hot, but if it's warm, great, I hope it's accurate.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
More importantly, you're amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
You're awesome. I feel like we could do a part
two and we haven't even talked about your interview prowess.

Speaker 3 (01:11:24):
And we can do a part two whenever you want to.

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
People do it, So appreciate your time. Guys, everyone who's listening.

Speaker 3 (01:11:30):
The Jamie Jamie's pregnant.

Speaker 1 (01:11:32):
Yeah, Jamie's prego.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:11:35):
She told us that a couple of weeks ago. We're like, okay,
that's amazing, and she's like, but I don't know how
to reveal to the audience. So today on Halloween, she
dresses Rihanna, who of course performed the Half of Me,
and then she kind of dropped the bomb on the
audience and is like and yeah, just like Rihanna, I'm pregnant.
And they're like, okay, Yeah, she's awesome by the way, Yeah,
amazing teammate.

Speaker 5 (01:11:54):
I never met her, and I've talked to Kyle before,
and uh, you know, his angry runs are epic. Yeah,
I worry that he's Yes, something's going to happen, He's
not a something's gonna burst.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, Dan Patrick. Such a thrill. Thank
you so much for doing the show.

Speaker 3 (01:12:13):
Man, Peter, thank you, and I'll be watching.

Speaker 1 (01:12:19):
Aaron Dan Patrick as good as advertised, maybe better? Was
that not awesome? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
I didn't. I don't think I've heard him speak so
casually and openly about like a bunch of historical not historical,
but like the glory days of Sports Center, and like
that was I loved it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:38):
Yeah, it's interesting. There was that giant ESPN book that
James Andrew Miller wrote, and I'm maybe Patrick shared that
in there. But like when he starts talking about the
stuff with bosses and the bigger than the brand, that's
all news to me. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm a big fan,
you know, like it's a thrill for me. Obviously I
was s geeking out. I felt like Chris Farley, like
what was it? Like, you know, he's talking to Paul McCartney.

(01:13:00):
That was it. The book I'll get, I'll read, I'll
probably listen to it. I like Dan's voice, I'll listen
to it. But that was cool, and this podcast was cool.
And as we wrap up, we got to do our
weekly sponsor and this is with Uber Eats, our peeps,
it's time for Delivering Results presented by Uber Eats, and

(01:13:21):
this week's Delivering results winner is Jamiir Gibbs. I was
like a proud papa watching Jamiir after I hyped him
all of August as a number one running back, as
a fantasy guy, as the person you need to be following,
as the guy that is going to make the Lions
a contender out of nowhere. With Montgomery hurt, he gets
the Lion's share that carries. Finally, and Monday Night's win

(01:13:43):
over the Raiders one hundred and eighty nine yards from
scrimmage jumped into the crowd. Kyle Brandt, my co host
on Good Morning Football, had a good one. He said,
that's called the Ford pickup. You know got the Lambeau Leap,
That's the Ford pickup delivering results. He's our winner this week.
And that was delivering results by Uber Eats. Where you
can get almost almost anything, the official on demand delivery

(01:14:07):
partner of the NFL order now on behalf of Aaron
Wan Kaufman on, behalf of the great Dan Patrick On,
behalf of Jason English, who made his second appearance on
the Microphones from iHeartRadio. He's a very very very vocal
part of this podcast in the direction it goes, and
all in good ways. As far as all the guys

(01:14:30):
in LA we meant to say it, Aaron. Oddly enough, Shepherd,
you did not hold up their end of the bargain.
They lost. But Arizona, which is the secondary team where
our executives Jason Kleinman and Matt Schneider are proud alums,
they did a major upset victory on would they beat

(01:14:51):
Washington or was it Oregon State? They beat a massive
number eleven team, so they did their job. But the
Shepherd guys and my man Ernie McCook just didn't get
the job done. So we got one out of two
this weekend, real quick, Aeron, I think think I might
go to USC Washington. It's homecoming at USC in Kingsbury.

(01:15:12):
Kingsbury invited me to go as a guest to his
but if I'm being completely honest. I probably am not
gonna go. Seems like a lot of work. I gotta
If I go to a college football game, I got
a drink and then I get to there and it's
like I'm always constantly checking my phone, Like I want
to go home. I've got a show in a four
am wake up. Maybe I'll tell Cliff I'm gonna go

(01:15:34):
and I'll just lie to him and watch it on TV.
How does that sound?

Speaker 2 (01:15:37):
No, you can't do fat.

Speaker 1 (01:15:38):
He doesn't know. He's gonna be busy. I don't even
know what his job is with the USC. He's like
involved with the offense, but he's not the offensive coordinator.
He's not the head coach. But not I would only
go for the pregame and just say hello to him,
and then I would peace. But I do want to
see Kayleb Williams warm up and Pennix too. All Right,
I'm wasting too much time. Thank you everyone for listening.

(01:15:59):
It's Halloween. I'm gonna go trick or treat uh enjoy yourselves,
Please be safe and we'll see you next week. The

(01:16:21):
Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the NFL
and partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.