October 18, 2023 • 15 mins
Marc Vandermeer talks to FOX TV's Kevin Kugler about calling the Taylor Swift game that wasn't - Jets-Eagles, which had the largest TV audience since the Super Bowl, plus his excitement about the 2023 Houston Texans.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello Texans, Welcome to the podcast Off Week. It's really
not a buye is it? Technically? A bye is a
playoff sort of thing where you get to miss around.
You're not missing anything because you're gonna make up the
game anyway. Everybody gets one, but we call it the
bye week. I don't want to get technical. And it's
fun because the Texans are coming off win. They're three
and three. They're a hotly contested item in the NFL
(00:27):
right now. Very much appreciated the progress that the Texans
have made. A lot of national pundits showing the love
right now for CJ. Stroud, Tmiko Ryans, etc. Blake Cashman
winning AFC Defensive Player of the Week. How about Steven
Nelson three picks tied for the league lead. That can
change over the week. And of course, because the Texans
do not play. How about the running game one hundred
(00:49):
and twenty yards, second best performance of the year. That's good.
Running defense top ten in points allowed this d now
the running defense top half of the league. That's big progress.
They've been residing at the bottom of the league for
a long time, so it's really wonderful to see this progress.
And let's talk about it a bit with Kevin Kugler,
just a bit here because we're going to go national
(01:10):
and then zoom in because Cougler does the preseason TV
broadcasts for the Texans as well as a play by
play man. But Taylor Swift comes up in this conversation. Omaha,
Nebrasko with the college World Series. Boy, that's a wide
array right there. Let's get into it with Kevin. It's
Texans preseason TV play by play man, Kevin Kugler, who
(01:31):
also happens to do Fox Games and Westwood One and
a lot of other stuff. And Kevin, congratulations on doing
the most watched TV program since the Super Bowl with
Jets Eagles getting what was it, twenty six million people.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, kind of crazy. We're assuming that it was, you know,
it helped it. It was a really good game. We're
assuming though, that the rumor that Taylor Swift was going
to be at the game drove up some audience early
and then they just stuck around, maybe when they found
out Travis was there, hoping that Taylor might show up.
I don't I don't know. It's crazy to think that
that that was our broadcast, but it was a lot
of fun. It was a really fun game to be
(02:07):
in New York for that atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
All right, be honest, Now, how much Taylor Swift material
did you have at the ready to talk about should
she be at the game?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
You know me? You know I None of us go
into these without some amount of preparation. So there were
there were references ready if we had needed them. There
were you know, we didn't have music ready because there's
legal ramifications for using music that is not permitted to
be used, So we didn't have the music ready, but
we did have I did have many many things at
(02:38):
the ready just in case Taylor Swift showed up. Luckily,
I have daughters, says you know, Mark, so I can
lean on them for any of my Taylor Swift needs.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
What about but what about the producers and everything? I mean,
this had to come up in the production meeting because
I know people get tired of it. But it is
cool stuff to cross over into pop culture and that
kind of thing, and you have to be able to
capitalize on it. And twenty six million maybe you did.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I think you have to always discussed. I mean,
you have to bring it up. You can't ignore the situation.
And I know we had a little bit of a
a little bit of help because the Thursday night game
previously had lots of Taylor Swift and they did a
pretty good job of not over killing the whole Taylor
Swift thing. So we had a little bit of a
(03:26):
blueprint to go off of just in case. But it was,
you know, the story is the game, regardless of whether
there's a pop culture phenomenon that's there. And hopefully without
her there, we still we must have We did a
decent job, I think, and making sure that the pictures
and the sounds and the stories of the game got told.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Kevin Kogler joining us just called Jets and Eagles. We'll
talk about some of the other action you have coming up, Kevin,
but back to that game for a moment. Jets are
on the Texans schedule December tenth at the Metalands. What
did you think of them? And that was a heck
of a performance being able to knock off the Eagles.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It was really an interesting game because the Jets went
into that with both of their corners down. Reid and
Gardner were both out with injury, and so you kind
of saw Philadelphia play into that a little bit and
you look at that and say, yeah, we need to
throw the ball more. And Jaleen Hurts threw the ball
all over the lot, and the Jets did a really
good job of making sure that the Eagles couldn't cash
in on all those yardage opportunities through the air. They
(04:21):
really kind of bent and didn't break. They forced a
bunch of turnovers. That defense is what's going to carry
the Jets, especially with the fits and starts that the
offense is going to go through with Zach Wilson at quarterbacks.
But all of a sudden, the demise of the Jets
seems to have been greatly exaggerated. When Aaron Rodgers went down,
that was it. Everybody was trying to figure out how
(04:43):
they could not have the Jets on their broadcast, how
they could not worry about the Jets anymore. And the
Jets team still has a pretty salty defense, and with
Bryce hallback able to run the football, and they didn't
run much against the Eagles, but nobody's going to be
able to run much against that Eagles front this year.
But that Jets team, I think is going to create
some problems for people. They're not as good as they
(05:04):
would be with Aaron Rodgers healthy and at quarterbacks, but
I still think they're going to be a force to
be reckoned with in the battle for a wild guard spot.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
All right, Kevin, you've been in the production meetings with
Demiko Ryans for the preseason games from the Texans, and
you were there with Robert Sala. I don't know if
you've had Mike McDaniel yet, but tell me about the
Dimico connection with Sala. Did that come into your mind
at all? Did you ask about it? How do you
feel about it?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I think there's just such a really that whole connection.
You know, we talk about coaching trees. The Shanahan coaching
tree is growing pretty quickly, and it's growing with pretty
good results. Considering what we've seen Dimiko do in his
first year with the Texans so far and the development
that we've seen from the young guys under his tutelage,
Robert Sala certainly has his hands full in trying to
(05:49):
grow a young quarterback in Zach Wilson, who a lot
of people forget is still just twenty four years old,
and you know, has already been written off in a
very difficult market. I worked with a guy in Mark
Sanchez every week understands what it's like to be a
young quarterback in a major market like New York City
because he was a young quarterback in a major market.
Likes New York City as the quarterback of the Jets.
(06:09):
So you see what these coaches are dealing with growing
young quarterbacks while trying to build their franchise. And I
think right now you have to say thumbs up to both.
It's not an easy task to do that, especially with
everybody looking at you and demanding immediate results. But so far,
so good for both coaches. And I have to say,
(06:30):
and I'm not just saying this doesn't talking to you, Mark,
I have so enjoyed watching the Texans, and I cannot
tell you how many times somebody has said to me, boy,
I'm really into this Texans team. Boy. DJ Stroud is fun. Boy,
this team is really fun. The excitement nationally is growing.
I can only imagine for Texans fans what you must
(06:50):
be feeling right now watching this team and this quarterback
grow up right before your eyes.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, everybody's ecstatic so far, and three and three at
the bye very nice for the Houston Texan and we'll
see where it goes from here. They have Carolina up
next a week from Sunday, So we'll see how that goes. Kevin,
if Jets Eagles wasn't the best game you've called this year,
what is.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
If it wasn't, I'll go with Chargers Vikings. That was
another game that we had Week three of this season,
came down to the wire, had a bunch of wacky
plays in it. Two teams that were incredibly desperate to
try to get a win, and two teams that quite
honestly have disappointed from their preseason expectations. I think everybody
thought the Viking We're going to walk away with that division,
(07:34):
and it clearly is not the case. Detroit is by
far the best team in that division, maybe one of
the top three teams in the NFC, depending on how
we see the season unfold, and the Chargers have been
a disappointment, unable to get that offense consistently on track
despite having one of the best young quarterbacks in the game,
and justin Turberts, that was a great game. It was
a very important game early in the season for those
(07:57):
two teams, and neither one of those two teams has
been able to do anything off of that game of
any consequence. So it really was a harbinger of things
to come. They had some struggles, They had some really
awkward moments on each side in that game from a
play calling standpoint or a game management standpoint, and it's
kind of been the way things have gone the rest
(08:17):
of the season so far for each of those two teams.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Kevin Kogler of Fox Westwood One Texans Preseason TV joining
us on Texans Radio. How far in advance does Fox
give you your game? How much leeway or runway do you
get to prepare for a game?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Not much, especially with so many flexing options these days,
you know, Thursday Night Football Conflex, Monday Night Football Complex,
Sunday Night Football Complex. We're all just sort of in flux,
waiting for the flex each.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And every week.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
So we're we're ahead right now two weeks, and that's
as far as we have gotten with our schedule. Usually
we'd get a couple of weeks each time. Maybe we'd
be three or four weeks ahead right now. But I
only know myself my schedule through week now at this point,
and I think it's going to get even tighter as
we move into the late stages of the season because
we don't know week to week what the games might be.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I know you get this. I get this too. Preseason games.
You do the Texans preseason TV broadcast. You do a
hell of a job. But people say, ah, this preseason,
preseason is harder than regular season. True or false?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Oh, one hundred percent true. And there's so many more players.
Think of the volume of players you have to have
some amount of information on for the preseason versus the
regular season. I have to have a fifty three man roster.
Six or seven of those guys aren't going to see
any action. Maybe I've got to come up with a
couple of guys who come up from the practice squad
the day before, and I've got to prepare for them
(09:42):
the night before a game. But the preseason, my goodness,
you've got one hundred players. You've got to try to
figure out who these guys are, and any one of
those guys in a preseason game could make a play.
I need to be able to say his name correctly,
as you know. That's the first thing any of us
do and play by play want to do, is make
sure we're saying the guy's name right, and then maybe
add in a little bit of information as to who
(10:03):
in the world that person is, because if you're a
fan watching a preseason game, there's a good chance you
don't know who this guy was that was picked up
off waivers from the Vikings two days earlier and has
just shown up in this preseason game. It's a I
love it. I mean, it's fun to do. It's exciting
to see these guys start off their seasons, and it's
(10:23):
why I've been so excited to be part of it
for so many years now. But it is work. There's
a lot of people you need to know. It's not
ditch digging, but it is certainly work to prepare to
make sure you have all those names.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Kevin, you used to do a lot of Big ten
network stuff college football broadcasts. Do you do any college
football anymore? I got to think you don't have time
to do that with the Fox NFL stuff, But how
much do you miss it? If that's the case.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You know what you miss from college football mark is
the atmospheres. There is just differ in certain ballparks and
certain stadiums. There is a different energy than you get
in NFL stadiums. And I don't know why it is.
Maybe it's the band, maybe it's just the collegial feel
being on a campus. But that's the one thing that
you notice sometimes is that it's a different kind of
(11:09):
energy in a crowd. You go to Michigan for a
night game, it's a different energy than maybe if you
go to Atlanta. Not to disparage the Falcons, but that's
the first team that came to mind. There are certain
NFL places that are collegiate type atmospheres. Kansas City is
a collegiate type atmosphere. Buffalo is an atmosphere all its own.
(11:31):
But there is just a difference in the crowd in
certain college environments that you cannot replicate at the NFL level.
Doesn't mean it's different. It doesn't mean it's bad or good.
It just means it's different. And that's the one thing
that I've noticed the most doing exclusively NFL for the
last few years is that the crowd volume, the crowd
(11:51):
energy is a different feel in certain NFL places when
you compare it to some of the best college places.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Kevin, I know you get into a lot of college
baskeetball with Westwood One, Big ten network. When does that
start up for you and what are you looking forward
to in that department?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Oh, I jump right in feet first with Fox and
Big ten networks in college basketball games. I think I
have nine of them in November. N I'll be I'll
be yeah, I'll be plenty, I'll be plenty versed in it.
I get to see Michigan State, I think four times
in the month of November. I think Tom Izzo has
a team that could go to the Final Four again.
Creighton is a team that I'll see a couple of
(12:28):
times by virtue of the fact that I base in
Omaha and they're going to be a top ten team.
They're number eight in the preseason poll to start things off.
So I jump right in feet first into the world
of college basketball, and I get a chance to see
some of these national title contenders in their formative stages.
And that's that's always exciting. It's good to get a
(12:49):
look at these teams early and then be able to
compare them later when they roll into the NCAA Tournament. Think, Okay,
I saw them when they did this. Look at the
leap they've taken.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
You've done so many College Worlds, and you've done the
Masters as well for Westwood One, and I got to
think you got to pinch yourself sometimes because yeah, you
do the final four, but those events also have such
an iconic feel to them. To be at Augusta National,
to be at at one time Rosenblatt Stadium, I don't
even know what the stadium is now. But the College
(13:19):
World Series is still such a special, unique event.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
It is all of those college moments and really just
those unique moments. I've been fortunate. I've gotten to be
at every Master's except the Fall twenty twenty Masters during
the COVID year when everything was weird. Since two thousand
and nine, I got to see Tiger when his last
green jacket still one of the most remarkable. You talk
(13:42):
about atmospheres, I don't know if there's anything I've been
around that is quite like Augustin National Golf Club when
Tiger Woods is on a prowl Sunday to win a
green jacket. That is one of the most incredible atmospheres
I've ever been around, regardless of sport. And I still
think about that from time to time. Just I can't
believe I was sitting at Amen corner calling Tiger Woods
(14:07):
playing for a green jackets just remarkable and maybe the
last one he ever wins. Although at this point, I
would never put anything past Tiger Woods or any of
the great athletes, but you look at some of those
events in some of those places, I've been very fortunate,
and I you know, I consider myself fortunate every time
I get to go into an NFL stadium and call
a game. You and I have jobs that there are
so many that would love to have. They would give
(14:30):
up almost anything they have to have those jobs. We're
extremely fortunate, and I'm I'm I'm blessed. I know it
every day.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Well, we're fortunate to have you on with us today, Kevin,
Thanks so much for the time and best of luck
this weekend of the rest of the season.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Thanks Mark, looking forward to seeing you down the road.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
There's our talk with Kevin Kogler. I hope you enjoyed
the conversation, and check out all the other podcasts wherever
you got this one hit, subscribe to whatever you can
subscribe to, and keep listening. Let's have a nice bye
week and then back at it against the Carolina Panthers.
Get forward to it so much. Have a great weekend.
Go Texans.
Hello Texans, Welcome to the podcast Off Week. It's really
not a buye is it? Technically? A bye is a
playoff sort of thing where you get to miss around.
You're not missing anything because you're gonna make up the
game anyway. Everybody gets one, but we call it the
bye week. I don't want to get technical. And it's
fun because the Texans are coming off win. They're three
and three. They're a hotly contested item in the NFL
(00:27):
right now. Very much appreciated the progress that the Texans
have made. A lot of national pundits showing the love
right now for CJ. Stroud, Tmiko Ryans, etc. Blake Cashman
winning AFC Defensive Player of the Week. How about Steven
Nelson three picks tied for the league lead. That can
change over the week. And of course, because the Texans
do not play. How about the running game one hundred
(00:49):
and twenty yards, second best performance of the year. That's good.
Running defense top ten in points allowed this d now
the running defense top half of the league. That's big progress.
They've been residing at the bottom of the league for
a long time, so it's really wonderful to see this progress.
And let's talk about it a bit with Kevin Kugler,
just a bit here because we're going to go national
(01:10):
and then zoom in because Cougler does the preseason TV
broadcasts for the Texans as well as a play by
play man. But Taylor Swift comes up in this conversation. Omaha,
Nebrasko with the college World Series. Boy, that's a wide
array right there. Let's get into it with Kevin. It's
Texans preseason TV play by play man, Kevin Kugler, who
(01:31):
also happens to do Fox Games and Westwood One and
a lot of other stuff. And Kevin, congratulations on doing
the most watched TV program since the Super Bowl with
Jets Eagles getting what was it, twenty six million people.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, kind of crazy. We're assuming that it was, you know,
it helped it. It was a really good game. We're
assuming though, that the rumor that Taylor Swift was going
to be at the game drove up some audience early
and then they just stuck around, maybe when they found
out Travis was there, hoping that Taylor might show up.
I don't I don't know. It's crazy to think that
that that was our broadcast, but it was a lot
of fun. It was a really fun game to be
(02:07):
in New York for that atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
All right, be honest, Now, how much Taylor Swift material
did you have at the ready to talk about should
she be at the game?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
You know me? You know I None of us go
into these without some amount of preparation. So there were
there were references ready if we had needed them. There
were you know, we didn't have music ready because there's
legal ramifications for using music that is not permitted to
be used, So we didn't have the music ready, but
we did have I did have many many things at
(02:38):
the ready just in case Taylor Swift showed up. Luckily,
I have daughters, says you know, Mark, so I can
lean on them for any of my Taylor Swift needs.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
What about but what about the producers and everything? I mean,
this had to come up in the production meeting because
I know people get tired of it. But it is
cool stuff to cross over into pop culture and that
kind of thing, and you have to be able to
capitalize on it. And twenty six million maybe you did.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, I think you have to always discussed. I mean,
you have to bring it up. You can't ignore the situation.
And I know we had a little bit of a
a little bit of help because the Thursday night game
previously had lots of Taylor Swift and they did a
pretty good job of not over killing the whole Taylor
Swift thing. So we had a little bit of a
(03:26):
blueprint to go off of just in case. But it was,
you know, the story is the game, regardless of whether
there's a pop culture phenomenon that's there. And hopefully without
her there, we still we must have We did a
decent job, I think, and making sure that the pictures
and the sounds and the stories of the game got told.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Kevin Kogler joining us just called Jets and Eagles. We'll
talk about some of the other action you have coming up, Kevin,
but back to that game for a moment. Jets are
on the Texans schedule December tenth at the Metalands. What
did you think of them? And that was a heck
of a performance being able to knock off the Eagles.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It was really an interesting game because the Jets went
into that with both of their corners down. Reid and
Gardner were both out with injury, and so you kind
of saw Philadelphia play into that a little bit and
you look at that and say, yeah, we need to
throw the ball more. And Jaleen Hurts threw the ball
all over the lot, and the Jets did a really
good job of making sure that the Eagles couldn't cash
in on all those yardage opportunities through the air. They
(04:21):
really kind of bent and didn't break. They forced a
bunch of turnovers. That defense is what's going to carry
the Jets, especially with the fits and starts that the
offense is going to go through with Zach Wilson at quarterbacks.
But all of a sudden, the demise of the Jets
seems to have been greatly exaggerated. When Aaron Rodgers went down,
that was it. Everybody was trying to figure out how
(04:43):
they could not have the Jets on their broadcast, how
they could not worry about the Jets anymore. And the
Jets team still has a pretty salty defense, and with
Bryce hallback able to run the football, and they didn't
run much against the Eagles, but nobody's going to be
able to run much against that Eagles front this year.
But that Jets team, I think is going to create
some problems for people. They're not as good as they
(05:04):
would be with Aaron Rodgers healthy and at quarterbacks, but
I still think they're going to be a force to
be reckoned with in the battle for a wild guard spot.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
All right, Kevin, you've been in the production meetings with
Demiko Ryans for the preseason games from the Texans, and
you were there with Robert Sala. I don't know if
you've had Mike McDaniel yet, but tell me about the
Dimico connection with Sala. Did that come into your mind
at all? Did you ask about it? How do you
feel about it?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
I think there's just such a really that whole connection.
You know, we talk about coaching trees. The Shanahan coaching
tree is growing pretty quickly, and it's growing with pretty
good results. Considering what we've seen Dimiko do in his
first year with the Texans so far and the development
that we've seen from the young guys under his tutelage,
Robert Sala certainly has his hands full in trying to
(05:49):
grow a young quarterback in Zach Wilson, who a lot
of people forget is still just twenty four years old,
and you know, has already been written off in a
very difficult market. I worked with a guy in Mark
Sanchez every week understands what it's like to be a
young quarterback in a major market like New York City
because he was a young quarterback in a major market.
Likes New York City as the quarterback of the Jets.
(06:09):
So you see what these coaches are dealing with growing
young quarterbacks while trying to build their franchise. And I
think right now you have to say thumbs up to both.
It's not an easy task to do that, especially with
everybody looking at you and demanding immediate results. But so far,
so good for both coaches. And I have to say,
(06:30):
and I'm not just saying this doesn't talking to you, Mark,
I have so enjoyed watching the Texans, and I cannot
tell you how many times somebody has said to me, boy,
I'm really into this Texans team. Boy. DJ Stroud is fun. Boy,
this team is really fun. The excitement nationally is growing.
I can only imagine for Texans fans what you must
(06:50):
be feeling right now watching this team and this quarterback
grow up right before your eyes.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Yeah, everybody's ecstatic so far, and three and three at
the bye very nice for the Houston Texan and we'll
see where it goes from here. They have Carolina up
next a week from Sunday, So we'll see how that goes. Kevin,
if Jets Eagles wasn't the best game you've called this year,
what is.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
If it wasn't, I'll go with Chargers Vikings. That was
another game that we had Week three of this season,
came down to the wire, had a bunch of wacky
plays in it. Two teams that were incredibly desperate to
try to get a win, and two teams that quite
honestly have disappointed from their preseason expectations. I think everybody
thought the Viking We're going to walk away with that division,
(07:34):
and it clearly is not the case. Detroit is by
far the best team in that division, maybe one of
the top three teams in the NFC, depending on how
we see the season unfold, and the Chargers have been
a disappointment, unable to get that offense consistently on track
despite having one of the best young quarterbacks in the game,
and justin Turberts, that was a great game. It was
a very important game early in the season for those
(07:57):
two teams, and neither one of those two teams has
been able to do anything off of that game of
any consequence. So it really was a harbinger of things
to come. They had some struggles, They had some really
awkward moments on each side in that game from a
play calling standpoint or a game management standpoint, and it's
kind of been the way things have gone the rest
(08:17):
of the season so far for each of those two teams.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Kevin Kogler of Fox Westwood One Texans Preseason TV joining
us on Texans Radio. How far in advance does Fox
give you your game? How much leeway or runway do you
get to prepare for a game?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Not much, especially with so many flexing options these days,
you know, Thursday Night Football Conflex, Monday Night Football Complex,
Sunday Night Football Complex. We're all just sort of in flux,
waiting for the flex each.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
And every week.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
So we're we're ahead right now two weeks, and that's
as far as we have gotten with our schedule. Usually
we'd get a couple of weeks each time. Maybe we'd
be three or four weeks ahead right now. But I
only know myself my schedule through week now at this point,
and I think it's going to get even tighter as
we move into the late stages of the season because
we don't know week to week what the games might be.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I know you get this. I get this too. Preseason games.
You do the Texans preseason TV broadcast. You do a
hell of a job. But people say, ah, this preseason,
preseason is harder than regular season. True or false?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Oh, one hundred percent true. And there's so many more players.
Think of the volume of players you have to have
some amount of information on for the preseason versus the
regular season. I have to have a fifty three man roster.
Six or seven of those guys aren't going to see
any action. Maybe I've got to come up with a
couple of guys who come up from the practice squad
the day before, and I've got to prepare for them
(09:42):
the night before a game. But the preseason, my goodness,
you've got one hundred players. You've got to try to
figure out who these guys are, and any one of
those guys in a preseason game could make a play.
I need to be able to say his name correctly,
as you know. That's the first thing any of us
do and play by play want to do, is make
sure we're saying the guy's name right, and then maybe
add in a little bit of information as to who
(10:03):
in the world that person is, because if you're a
fan watching a preseason game, there's a good chance you
don't know who this guy was that was picked up
off waivers from the Vikings two days earlier and has
just shown up in this preseason game. It's a I
love it. I mean, it's fun to do. It's exciting
to see these guys start off their seasons, and it's
(10:23):
why I've been so excited to be part of it
for so many years now. But it is work. There's
a lot of people you need to know. It's not
ditch digging, but it is certainly work to prepare to
make sure you have all those names.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Kevin, you used to do a lot of Big ten
network stuff college football broadcasts. Do you do any college
football anymore? I got to think you don't have time
to do that with the Fox NFL stuff, But how
much do you miss it? If that's the case.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
You know what you miss from college football mark is
the atmospheres. There is just differ in certain ballparks and
certain stadiums. There is a different energy than you get
in NFL stadiums. And I don't know why it is.
Maybe it's the band, maybe it's just the collegial feel
being on a campus. But that's the one thing that
you notice sometimes is that it's a different kind of
(11:09):
energy in a crowd. You go to Michigan for a
night game, it's a different energy than maybe if you
go to Atlanta. Not to disparage the Falcons, but that's
the first team that came to mind. There are certain
NFL places that are collegiate type atmospheres. Kansas City is
a collegiate type atmosphere. Buffalo is an atmosphere all its own.
(11:31):
But there is just a difference in the crowd in
certain college environments that you cannot replicate at the NFL level.
Doesn't mean it's different. It doesn't mean it's bad or good.
It just means it's different. And that's the one thing
that I've noticed the most doing exclusively NFL for the
last few years is that the crowd volume, the crowd
(11:51):
energy is a different feel in certain NFL places when
you compare it to some of the best college places.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Kevin, I know you get into a lot of college
baskeetball with Westwood One, Big ten network. When does that
start up for you and what are you looking forward
to in that department?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Oh, I jump right in feet first with Fox and
Big ten networks in college basketball games. I think I
have nine of them in November. N I'll be I'll
be yeah, I'll be plenty, I'll be plenty versed in it.
I get to see Michigan State, I think four times
in the month of November. I think Tom Izzo has
a team that could go to the Final Four again.
Creighton is a team that I'll see a couple of
(12:28):
times by virtue of the fact that I base in
Omaha and they're going to be a top ten team.
They're number eight in the preseason poll to start things off.
So I jump right in feet first into the world
of college basketball, and I get a chance to see
some of these national title contenders in their formative stages.
And that's that's always exciting. It's good to get a
(12:49):
look at these teams early and then be able to
compare them later when they roll into the NCAA Tournament. Think, Okay,
I saw them when they did this. Look at the
leap they've taken.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
You've done so many College Worlds, and you've done the
Masters as well for Westwood One, and I got to
think you got to pinch yourself sometimes because yeah, you
do the final four, but those events also have such
an iconic feel to them. To be at Augusta National,
to be at at one time Rosenblatt Stadium, I don't
even know what the stadium is now. But the College
(13:19):
World Series is still such a special, unique event.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
It is all of those college moments and really just
those unique moments. I've been fortunate. I've gotten to be
at every Master's except the Fall twenty twenty Masters during
the COVID year when everything was weird. Since two thousand
and nine, I got to see Tiger when his last
green jacket still one of the most remarkable. You talk
(13:42):
about atmospheres, I don't know if there's anything I've been
around that is quite like Augustin National Golf Club when
Tiger Woods is on a prowl Sunday to win a
green jacket. That is one of the most incredible atmospheres
I've ever been around, regardless of sport. And I still
think about that from time to time. Just I can't
believe I was sitting at Amen corner calling Tiger Woods
(14:07):
playing for a green jackets just remarkable and maybe the
last one he ever wins. Although at this point, I
would never put anything past Tiger Woods or any of
the great athletes, but you look at some of those
events in some of those places, I've been very fortunate,
and I you know, I consider myself fortunate every time
I get to go into an NFL stadium and call
a game. You and I have jobs that there are
so many that would love to have. They would give
(14:30):
up almost anything they have to have those jobs. We're
extremely fortunate, and I'm I'm I'm blessed. I know it
every day.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Well, we're fortunate to have you on with us today, Kevin,
Thanks so much for the time and best of luck
this weekend of the rest of the season.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Thanks Mark, looking forward to seeing you down the road.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
There's our talk with Kevin Kogler. I hope you enjoyed
the conversation, and check out all the other podcasts wherever
you got this one hit, subscribe to whatever you can
subscribe to, and keep listening. Let's have a nice bye
week and then back at it against the Carolina Panthers.
Get forward to it so much. Have a great weekend.
Go Texans.
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