April 9, 2025 • 55 mins
What does it take to thrive behind the mic—and still be present for your family at home?
In this Best Of replay episode, we continue our conversation with acclaimed sportscaster Ian Eagle, the voice of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the NFL on CBS, and the NBA on TNT and YES Network.
While Part 1 explored Ian’s early career and creative roots, Part 2 takes us behind the mic and into the relationships, lessons, and values that shaped his rise to the top of the sports broadcasting world. Ian shares revealing stories—from learning on the job with childhood heroes to mentoring new voices like his son, rising broadcaster Noah Eagle.
Episode Highlights:
- What Ian learned from working with over 170 broadcast partners
- The role of listening, empathy, and preparation in delivering a great call
- How a last-minute assignment launched his NCAA Tournament career
- The emotional story behind watching his son call the Olympics
- Insightful career advice for aspiring broadcasters—and why “the tape doesn’t lie”
Whether you're a sports fan, a media professional, or someone exploring your own career path, Ian’s reflections on communication, humility, and personal growth offer valuable inspiration.
To discover more episodes or connect with us:
- website: https://www.nowrongchoices.com/
- instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowrongchoicespod/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/no-wrong-choices-podcast/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nowrongchoices
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086704773105
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Larry Samuels (00:00):
Hello and welcome to no Wrong Choices.
I'm Larry Samuels, soon to bejoined by Tushar Saxena and
Larry Shea.
This episode is part two of ourconversation with the highly
respected play-by-playcommentator, ian Eagle.
Ian is known for his work asthe lead voice of the NCAA Men's
College Basketball Tournamenton CBS and coverage of the NFL
(00:21):
and NBA.
In episode one, we explored theevolution of Ian's career
dreams, his creative familyroots and how he broke into the
business.
Now we'll dig into how he hitthe big time, the importance of
teamwork and the emergence ofthe Eagle family legacy, as his
son, noah, is a rising star inthe business as well.
Ian also provides great advicefor any young broadcaster hoping
(00:44):
to break into the business.
We'll pick things up with LarryShea asking Ayan about the
importance of being a goodlistener, which proves to be a
perfect setup for the Ayan Eaglethat I love to hear on a
broadcast.
Larry Shea (00:57):
I often think about an announcer what are they going
to say?
Whereas I think it might bemore important to listen to your
partner and working with them,in a way.
How important is the listeningaspect?
Because you're the king ofworking off of something they
say, whether it be innocuous ornot, and making it hilarious or
interesting or sarcastic, likeyou said.
(01:19):
So how important is that aspectof it rather than what am I
going to say next?
Ian Eagle (01:25):
I'm sorry, larry, I didn't hear your question.
Perfect Perfect.
And there it is Well done.
No, it's the secret back toMike and the Mad Dog in many
(01:46):
ways and their ability to havenatural chemistry.
Their styles just worked.
There was a yin and yang towhat they were doing, mundane
Wednesday afternoon, to findsomething, some grain of gold,
(02:08):
that then they turned into amasterpiece of radio.
So that year 1992, beingintimately involved, I also was
Chris's chauffeur for the yearbecause I lived on the Upper
East Side, he lived midtown.
I drove him home every day fora year.
So you're getting a differentlevel of relationship when
(02:33):
you're now with someone an extra35 minutes at the end of your
day, going over the 59th StreetBridge and shooting the breeze
and getting into personal stuff,not just radio but real
personal.
So I got to know the human andMike was great to me as well.
I got to know him on a humanlevel and I do think it played a
(02:56):
role in how I ended up workingwith analysts.
I had a eureka moment when I gotthat jet job.
So it's 1993.
I'm 24 years old, I've beenhanded the keys to a very
important new part of the radiostation, which is New York Jets
(03:20):
football, and I'm told that myco-host for the pre and post
game will be Freeman McNeil, theformer Jets running back, who,
just as an aside, was myfavorite Jet growing up, so you
just have that in and of itself.
By the way, I did a show calledFriday Night Hoops the year
(03:41):
before for FAN, and my co-hostwas Bernard King happened to be
my favorite basketball playergrowing up.
So when you're put in thesepositions at a young age and
they are the neophytes in radioand they're leaning on you, I
(04:05):
realized very quickly that I hadto take on an ownership role in
the relationship.
But that also meant making themlook good.
So I'm going to clean up thestory.
But Freeman McNeil the firsttime I meet him is the first
(04:27):
pregame that we're doing for thepreseason, so it's the first
broadcast.
He comes to the studio, theJets are on the road.
He comes to the studio twohours before the game, so we
have about an hour to get toknow one another and we just
chat.
We have a lovely conversationabout his wife, his kids, about
his post-playing career.
Couldn't have gone any better.
(04:49):
After about an hour I excusemyself.
I tell him hey, I need to go inthe other room just prepare
some notes for the show.
I'll come and get you whenwe're about 15 minutes out,
great.
So I leave Rumi McNeil in theback.
I go, do my stuff.
I grab him.
We now go into the main studio.
We're sitting there.
It's 10 minutes to the top ofthe hour.
(05:09):
It's five minutes to the top ofthe hour.
I'm nodding at him.
He's not.
He has zero experience.
He has never done anything inmedia.
It's now one minute until thetop of the hour when the show is
going to start.
It's my first show, as well asthe host of Jets pre and post
game, and again I'm just goingto clean it up.
(05:32):
I said you good?
He said yeah, yeah, yeah.
He said hey one thing.
I said yeah, forward op says 45seconds.
He says don't screw me hereCleaning it up.
I said what he said you know,don't screw me here.
I said no, no, no, freeman, I'mnot going to screw you, I'm
(05:55):
going to make you look good.
And he smiled.
I said we're going to do reallywell here.
I said everything that we weredoing in the other room we're
going to do here.
He went okay, yeah, yeah,perfect, and that was it.
And I realized in that momentthis is a guy that played in the
Rose Bowl in the NFL high levelin front of 75,000 people,
(06:19):
100,000 people, in his collegedays.
But in this moment, 30 secondsbefore going on air, he was
uncomfortable.
Larry Samuels (06:28):
Yeah.
Ian Eagle (06:29):
And it was my job to make him comfortable and that
really hit home for me and I'vetaken that with me for the rest
of my career.
When I'm working with newpartners, old partners, that's
the job.
The job is to make that personcomfortable so they can do their
best work, and it's your job tobe malleable.
(06:52):
I can't force someone to goalong with the humor if they're
not humorous, so pull back,don't do that.
I can't force someone to talkstrategy.
If they're not comfortabletalking strategy, fine, we'll
find another way.
X's and O's player backgrounds,biography If they're not into
(07:19):
it, it's not my job to forcethem.
It's my job to find what theyare comfortable with and really
highlight that part of theirpersonality.
Larry Samuels (07:30):
You know, when I think about Freeman being
nervous going into that firstbroadcast, it made me think
about your first broadcast withthe Nets doing play-by-play.
That moment.
What were your emotions walkinginto that building that day?
Ian Eagle (07:48):
The game was in Houston and the Rockets were
getting their championship rings.
I was working with MichaelCorrin, who could not have been
a nicer human being and a betterperson to work with Terrific.
He was just as perfect apartner as I could have been
possibly paired with in thattime.
(08:10):
He was a former net, played alittle bit with the Washington
Bullets.
He was a star at North Carolina, New Jersey, guy from Jersey
City through and through and, byhis own admission, not a
polished media guy, but he washimself and he came through.
A polished media guy, but hewas himself and he came through.
So we sit down now we're goingto call the game in Houston and
(08:34):
we've got an engineer.
He's got really old equipmentand I put the headset on and
it's not comfortable and I justreminded myself hey, this is
what you've worked towards, thisis your opportunity.
I'm doing this in relativeanonymity.
The Nets were certainly notgetting big ratings and on radio
at that time I'm not surepeople even knew where to find
(08:55):
them.
They were on 1560 AM, if Iremember correctly.
Wow.
Tushar Saxena (09:03):
Were you on WPAT at the time.
Ian Eagle (09:04):
I think it was also on selected radio stations
throughout New Jersey.
Wpat was one of those.
There was the station out inthe Rutgers area.
I have the information backhere.
In fact I could get it rightnow.
I have it framed.
I'm not joking of the pressrelease that came out with the.
In fact I could get it rightnow.
I have it framed.
(09:25):
I'm not joking of the pressrelease that came out with the
Nats.
I could give the whole radionetwork.
It was five of them in NewJersey, so New Brunswick was one
of them.
And I just reminded myself hey,do your thing, you're going to
be able to pull this off andwe're about five minutes from
(09:49):
air and I realize they're goingto do the ceremony now and we
have a pre-game show that wehave to do.
David stern is there and Iturned to the engineer.
I said hey, we're going to needyou to to pot up pa.
The public address announcergoes pa, this is in hou in
Houston.
I said yeah, yeah, pa, he goes.
Oh, we don't have PA.
Tushar Saxena (10:08):
I said so you don't have PA.
Ian Eagle (10:10):
He goes, we don't have PA.
I said, okay, is there a way toget PA?
He goes, can't get you the PA.
So I look at Mike and Mike saysdon't worry.
So I look at Mike and Mike saysdon't worry.
Well, no, meanwhile we'retalking and it's all happening.
Thunderous applause, they'regetting their rings Hakeem
(10:33):
Olajuwon, sam Cassell, robertOry and I can't hear myself.
I can't hear Mike.
I'm leading to sound that theyfire at the studio.
I can't hear that.
This is the worst possible wayto start my play-by-play career.
In addition, now I don't sweatnormally in life.
I start feeling myself likeflop sweat and because the
(10:57):
headsets are so decrepit and old, the material on the earpiece
of the headset is cracking andit's black.
You know what I'm talking about.
I'm trying to describe.
Yeah.
Tushar Saxena (11:11):
Your ears are black?
Ian Eagle (11:12):
Yes, and it's like there's a film to it.
So we get through the pregame.
I start calling it.
The game is really fast.
I'm realizing quickly like ohboy, and I'm just trying to keep
up.
And we get to the first breakand Mike says hey, you know
you're doing well, just you knowlock in.
(11:32):
And it gets better as the gamegoes on.
Halftime hits and I see Mikelike clearing some stuff, like
because he looked at me and he's, he's doing this, but I don't
put two and two together but wefinished the game.
Not memorable by any stretch,but I get through it.
(11:53):
And now we're flying from thereto dallas.
There's a a storm in texas likethe state has never seen.
What should be an up and down40 minutes is not.
We are circling for hours.
It feels it's like a two-hourordeal.
(12:14):
And we're up dropping grown men, nba players are shrieking and
I'm just sitting in in my seat.
What the hell is going on?
We land, we get to the hotel, Iget to my room.
Finally, I just want to get outof these clothes, sweat, soaked
, and I look in the mirror andmy ears are caked with this
(12:41):
black substance.
It's in my ear, it's behind mylobe.
I'm like, oh Mike.
And finally, the next day Imeet Mike for lunch.
I go dude, why didn't you tellme he goes?
You were having a rough enoughnight.
Tushar Saxena (12:59):
I don't want to.
Larry Samuels (13:01):
He was entertaining himself.
Ian Eagle (13:03):
Oh, my God.
The second broadcast was muchbetter.
The third broadcast was evenbetter than that.
Tushar Saxena (13:13):
Did they find the PA?
No, no PA.
Larry Samuels (13:14):
We don't have PA, that's brilliant.
Tushar Saxena (13:15):
So, uh, just to give folks an idea, how many
people have you worked with uhplay-by-play analysts in your
career?
Ian Eagle (13:21):
at this point I think I'm at 171, I believe I
got to check the latest numbers.
I do keep a running list.
It's funny Bill Raftery and Iworked together for so many
years and that meant a lot oflunches with him.
It also meant a lot of beersand a lot of wine and Sambuca.
And we were at lunch inMilwaukee one day, just me and
him.
(13:41):
And I asked him.
I said hey, how many partnershave you had?
He goes oh, that's a greatquestion, bird.
And he takes out the napkin andhe's writing on the napkin and
he starts writing names down onthe napkins.
He gets about 10 deep and hegoes ah, there's too many.
And he just crumbles up thenapkin and he throws it away.
And it hit me in that moment IfI get into a similar situation
(14:12):
I'm talking about this is mysecond year doing it, so it's
probably 1996.
If I get into a similarsituation, I'm going to keep a
running list, and I have, andit's pretty wild to look back on
.
So I think I'm somewhere inthat neighborhood about 171.
That means a lot ofpersonalities you've got to
judge, yeah, and that's what itis Truly.
Something else that you don'trealize that will play a role
later in your life is how youconnect with other people and
(14:38):
the importance of finding commonground and being a good
teammate and being a goodpartner.
So I can look back on my youth,being put in very unique
circumstances based on myparents and what they did for a
living, based on their situation, flying cross-country by myself
(15:01):
at the age of eight and nowhaving to fend for yourself and
being plopped next to someperson on the flight and that
person chatting with you andhaving the ability.
I sat next to a blind man.
I remember this quite vividlyand we spoke for five
(15:21):
consecutive hours.
And we spoke for fiveconsecutive hours.
I don't know if he had any ideahow old I was truly, until the
end, when he said how old areyou?
By the way, I said I'm eight.
Larry Samuels (15:34):
I just talked to this kid for five hours.
Ian Eagle (15:38):
And he asked which I probably shouldn't have given,
but he was really a nice man.
He said well, what's your name?
And I gave him my name and hesaid you know where do you live?
And I said Forest Hills.
I didn't give him my addressand he ended up sending a letter
to my parents and and itdetailed just how impressed he
(16:04):
was by someone that could carrysay truly interested, and then
being interesting in your ownright.
Do you have something to say?
(16:34):
Do you have a point of view?
Are you well read?
Are you learned?
What else other than sportsoccupies your time?
I think it served me well.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I can look back now and
see all of these differentexperiences that played a role
(16:58):
in having that confidence to Ado this job and then B do it
with others that were at the topof their respective fields as
athletes or coaches, and stillfind a level playing field in
which to operate.
Tushar Saxena (17:15):
I obviously know you as the voice of the NFL, or
one of the voices of the NFL,one of the voices of the NBA,
but my particular favorite ofyours is as the voice of the
NCAA.
You, to me, have so many greatcalls from your time calling
college basketball, whether itbe regular season, but
especially the tournament.
If you had to rank out yourfavorite times of the year, your
(17:38):
favorite sports to call, whichwould they be?
Ian Eagle (17:41):
The college basketball part of it was very
unexpected.
This was not something that Ianticipated in my career and
certainly didn't go into thisthinking one day that I could do
the final four.
That was not even on my radar.
To be perfectly frank, I getthe job in 1998 in an almost
(18:05):
excuse me fashion.
Cbs was doing the WinterOlympics in Nagano and they
needed three play-by-playannouncers for that weekend just
before the Olympics started,because all of their announcers
were in Japan.
And I got a call and ithappened to be all-star weekend
(18:26):
in the NBA and I did Vanderbiltat Arkansas on February 7th 1998
.
And nothing of note took placein that game, nothing.
It was a typical SEC game.
Arkansas was really good.
It came down to the wire.
(18:47):
Arkansas pulled away one byeight or nine points in the end.
But my agent got a call fromTerry Ewert who was taking over
as the executive producer of CBSSports once the Olympics ended
and he said I was very impressedwith how Ian handled the
(19:08):
traffic.
You don't know, terry Ewert,but that's an excellent
impression.
Larry Samuels (19:14):
Was he at NBC?
I think I may have met him.
He was.
He was.
Yes, terry was at.
Ian Eagle (19:18):
NBC.
Yes, terry was a very good guyand actually lived not far from
me in New Jersey.
And my agent then calls me andsaid did you like help get the
cars out after the game?
I said no, I did not.
I said why.
He said well, he was veryimpressed by how you handled the
traffic.
(19:38):
I said yes, the traffic of thebroadcast, I think, is what he
means, and this is your question.
Tushar Saxena (19:46):
Yeah, well, did you?
Ian Eagle (19:47):
fire him Eventually?
Yes, what do?
Larry Samuels (19:47):
you think I do for a living buddy.
Ian Eagle (19:49):
For a different reason.
That's probably a whole otherpodcast in and of itself.
So I said, great, they end upcalling me to see if I was
available for aSyracuse-Georgetown game on
February 21st.
I was not.
I had a net pacer game.
I had nothing in my deal thatlet me out of these games.
(20:12):
I had to turn it down, whichwas crushing.
That was a dream, to maybe oneday do Syracuse-Georgetown.
And the woman on the phone,maddie Hetzel, who worked at CBS
for many years.
She said, oh well, that's ashame.
She said I'll let you know whenour tournament seminar is and
you'll block out the dates forthat.
I said, okay, I'm thinking shedoesn't know.
(20:38):
She's just saying, because Iwas maybe supposed to do this
game, that I was doing thetournament.
So I call my agent, the sameone that thought I was directing
traffic out of the game.
I said, hey, just check, maybewith Terry Ewert Am I doing the
tournament?
And my agent said, no, I don'tthink so I'll check.
(20:59):
Calls me.
Two hours later.
He said yeah, you are doing theNCAA tournament.
So then I had to actually callmy bosses at MSG, that's who
oversaw the Nets production atthe time.
It was all under the cablevision umbrella and get
permission, which Mike McCarthywas my boss.
He did give me permission totake two Nets games off.
(21:23):
I flew to Sacramento.
I did the NCAA tournament.
I was at the seminar and thatjust happened to be when CBS got
the rights to the NFL,literally that week.
Usa, did you remember when theUSA Today used to come to your
hotel room?
Tushar Saxena (21:38):
door, just sitting there, absolutely.
Ian Eagle (21:40):
And you know I was.
I'd read the red and then I'dlook at the purple section and
then I'd look at the map.
Tushar Saxena (21:46):
Maybe on the main section.
Main section I'd throw away.
Ian Eagle (21:51):
I don't care about the green section, and in the
red section Rudy Marski had acolumn and the headline CBS gets
the rights to the AFC packageand that was it.
I was in the right place, righttime.
I did well at the tournamentand then I had been doing the
Talk about the differencebetween the sports, you know.
Larry Shea (22:26):
I mean NCAA, nba is very different Basketball flow,
different energy, differenteverything compared to NFL.
I mean I want to take thisconversation and talk about my
UConn Huskies and how amazingthey are, but we'll stay away
from that for a minute, Larry.
We'll stay away from thatJuggernaut.
Yeah, I mean they have a chanceto three-peat.
I mean, what are the you know?
(22:46):
But I want you to talk aboutthe rhythm and how you prepare
for three various, verydifferent energetic sports.
I mean, people think NCAA andNBA are the same.
It's such different energy, Ithink, isn't it?
Ian Eagle (23:00):
Yeah, oh, you nailed it and we'll start there.
Nba is very highlight driven.
It's very high energy.
Don't look at your notesbecause you could miss the dunk
of the year at any moment of anygame.
And I learned that the hard way.
When you start and you lookdown at your notes and now miss
(23:22):
the dunk of the year.
So that happens once.
You don't let that happen again.
The difference, I would say, ispacing and the level of play.
Nba a two-on-one break there'sa 95% chance they're going to
finish.
Lay up, dunk, what have you?
(23:44):
Two-on-one break collegebasketball lower that number.
That's now 55%.
Let's say so as a play-by-playannouncer.
Nba your mind is working in amanner to anticipate what's
going to happen.
A three-pointer on the way inthe NBA 40% chance it's going in
(24:04):
.
So you have to be ready forthat call.
You have to be ready to deliver.
College basketball percentageisn't as high.
You have to be ready for that.
So what I learned was pacingwas very different.
And then atmosphere, ambiance isvery different.
You do a game at UConn, atGampel regular season game,
(24:29):
uconn goes on a 12-0 run.
I had it this past year againstSeton Hall.
It was, I think, a moreextended run.
Even than that.
They tended to do that Crazy.
Yes, the place is going crazy.
You can barely hear yourself onair.
You're trying your best to cutthrough and get in before the
(24:52):
crowd erupts.
Nba game 12-0 run.
Yeah, crowd's into it, but game38 of 82, there's not going to
be the same fervor.
So that's just being a smartbroadcaster, that's recognizing
that situations are different.
You can't call it the same way.
(25:13):
You can't apply your approachin the same manner.
You've got to attack itdifferently.
Final four completely differentHuge, cavernous venue in Phoenix
.
My setup is different.
The floor is elevated.
(25:33):
Your sight lines are not whatthey are normally when you're
calling a game where you'reabove it, the table.
They gave us higher chairs soit's just a little different
feel, but your angle isdifferent.
So things that are automaticwhere your eyes go.
(25:53):
I had to adjust that first fewminutes of the first game of the
final four of oh, wait, asecond.
Normally I look this way.
I'm going to have to make achange here and you do adjust.
I've called literally thousandsof basketball games Adjust,
figure it out, problem solve.
So those are some fundamentaldifferences.
(26:15):
Football, to me, is an analystsport on television.
It really is.
It's set up for the analyst,it's play, it's replay one look,
two look and then get back intothe next play.
I do my best to be efficient inmy calls and not be verbose
(26:39):
when it comes to football.
Try to just highlight the bestmoment of what you just saw and
pick out the most important andpivotal part of that play.
Time and time again, if it's acut, if it's a juke move, if
it's a dive, if it's a snag, howcan you describe it?
How can you pick the perfectword in that moment, as all
(27:02):
these words are flying throughyour head and that's probably
the essence of this where youhope to get to a place, when
you're calling play-by-play,where you feel like you're in it
and not hovering above it, andthat's a really fine line.
There are plenty of excellentannouncers that probably never
(27:27):
feel that comfortable.
Where they're in it, where theplay is happening and it's
automatic, it's firing synopsesin your brain of what it is.
You want to say how you want tosay it, and if you're hovering
above it, it's more reactionaryand you're tagging as opposed to
(27:51):
calling, and there is a nuanceto it, no doubt about it.
Tushar Saxena (27:56):
All right, let's talk a little bit about your
family life and meaning.
You know you mentioned at thebeginning about how you kind of
raised yourself.
Your father was on the road agood portion of the year, home,
maybe a hundred days a year.
It's kind of come full circlein that sense.
Right, because you are on theroad a good time a good portion
of the year.
I mean to have you now for thismuch time has really been.
(28:19):
Look it was, it was the yaltaconference trying to get people,
trying to get you to agree.
Agree to this was great,because to get this much time
with you is such I know howprecious your time is.
Your free time is how under,and I know your wife.
I've known your wife for alittle while.
She's unbelievablyunderstanding and she's the best
.
Your kid's extremely talented.
How do they deal with their dadnot being around?
(28:41):
You know, let's say, for six orseven months of the year, not?
Ian Eagle (28:45):
being around, you know, let's say, for six or
seven months of the year.
Yeah, the way I view it is, Idid not see what my childhood
was like as a realisticpossibility for my kid's
childhood.
There was no way.
You know, unfortunately, my dadhe went to one little league
game.
My mom went to zero.
That's just how it was.
(29:05):
It wasn't because they didn'twant to be there, it was because
they couldn't.
I was a tennis player growingup.
My father went to zero matchesof my high school career, zero
Mother, same deal.
So you have one of two choicesyou can either get really angry
and bitter about it and thenthat is something you carry with
(29:28):
you for the rest of your life,or you can try to peel it away
and understand the situation.
This is what my parents neededto do in order to fulfill their
life and make money and becreative and be happy.
Tushar Saxena (29:48):
Hell put food on the table right.
Ian Eagle (29:51):
For me.
Yes, the career took me in thisdirection and it required a
great deal of time on the road,but it didn't take away my
ability to connect with my kids,to be involved in their lives
and to do everything in my powerto get back home every chance
(30:14):
that I had.
So, if there were opportunities, even though logic would tell
you, well, you can't, you can'tfly home in between, right, yeah
, I can and I will.
And that went a long way.
Both my kids knew that whenthey had me there, they had my
full attention.
I wasn't yesing them, I wasn'tnodding, I wasn't disinterested.
(30:40):
It was the opposite.
I was engaged, I cared abouttheir lives, I cared about them
as people, and the lessons theywere learning from me were also
very valuable that I loved mywork, that anyone I met I was
kind to didn't matter thesituation and I think a lot of
that rubbed off on them is arock star and was so
(31:04):
instrumental in keeping themgrounded and reminding them of
what was important andpriorities in life.
And what you put into situationsis hopefully what you'll get
out.
But don't put it in just to getit out.
Put it in because it's theright thing to do, and Noah and
Aaron are two reallywell-adjusted and wonderful
(31:27):
people.
More than anything else, youcould put them in any situation
and they will get by.
Not just get by but thrive,because they have that sense of
what life is supposed to be.
So really proud of them andwhat they took away from this
(31:48):
upbringing.
And look, there were a lot oflaughs.
It was very fun.
I think they saw real love andjoy between their parents and
that goes a long way in shapinghappiness and you just hope that
(32:09):
they get to do the things thatthey want to do.
That's really what it comesdown to when you're trying to
pass it on and pay it forward.
You can't shield them fromeverything in life, but you can
help show them the way.
Larry Samuels (32:25):
Looking from the outside, as a father of a
five-year-old.
So I have a lot of work to do.
Still, I aspire to pass some ofmy passions and some of my
loves onto my son, and you're aninspiration in that regard.
Knowing that your son justcalled the Olympics, I mean,
(32:48):
talk to us a little bit abouthow it feels to know that you
were able to inspire your son insuch a way that he's, in a way,
carrying a family traditionforward.
It's the ultimate compliment.
Ian Eagle (33:00):
It's the ultimate compliment, but it didn't have
to be this way and I thinkthat's why it has worked.
He was never pushed towardsthis, he was never urged to do
(33:30):
this and not me or my wifewanting him to do this.
So once you get to that place,then it's real, it's authentic,
it's not.
Hey, you should maybe thinkabout this.
I think the other part too,just thinking about your
five-year-old there's one schoolof thought of, hey, I'm going
(33:52):
to teach you everything that Iknow and yes, of course that's
that's what you want, but it'snot in a lecture form, of course
, it's in living, yep, andwatching, showing them and them
observing.
That's the part I knew.
My son was very observant, itfrom a very young age you could
(34:14):
tell he was taking all of it inall the time, perceptive,
sometimes to a fault where youcan see too much.
And then that affects yourexperience, because you think
one thing, based on somethingthat you noticed in a situation,
the part that I didn't quiterealize until now, as I look
(34:38):
back all of the, the work that Iwas doing, the way in which I
did it, the way in which Iconducted myself when he joined
me in the broadcast booth, thefact that I knew people's names.
I knew their wives' names ortheir husbands' names or their
kids' names.
I never told him hey, by theway, this is what you should do
(35:00):
in life.
He just watched, he just tookit in.
He saw that that's the betterway, that's the right way to
take real interest in anotherhuman being.
So, yeah, as we get inundatedwith, becoming so caught up in
(35:24):
texting and emails and directmessages, there is still
something about the humancondition that people respond to
real, true admiration andrespect, and that's the part
that both of my kids, I think,saw more than anything else
(35:45):
Amidst any successes.
That's what really rang truefor them.
Larry Samuels (35:52):
How did it feel watching your son call the
Olympics?
What were those emotions?
Ian Eagle (35:59):
Incredibly surreal.
My wife and I looked at oneanother countless times during
the Olympics and thought how,how did this happen?
How it was a thrill.
It was very much a proud momentfor our family.
(36:25):
Obviously I was nervous assomeone just watching the game
because the games were sothrilling and dramatic.
And then I was nervous as afather watching my son call the
Olympics and knowing that therewere a lot of people that were
(36:46):
locked in on this and thewomen's championship in
particular, because it was thelast thing that happened, the
final call.
I just know way too much as aplay-by-play announcer where
your head can go, where youreyes could go.
So the player from France madeher move down by three, took the
(37:11):
final shot, stepped just insidethe three-point line, banked it
in the fact that Noah called ita two-pointer as he saw it in
the air.
Proud moment yeah, Recognized inthat moment that the US was
going to win the gold andcontinued with his call.
(37:32):
Gold and continued with hiscall.
That's the stuff that it caneasily go sideways easily for
any play by play.
Announcer.
So that was really somethingfor me to to see him handle that
in the way that he did it was.
It was pretty wild, prettyamazing.
Tushar Saxena (37:51):
So I have a couple of things there that, um.
One, I know why you and yourwife are sitting around saying
how and why, because, likeanyone who's in the business, we
never want our kids to go inthe business.
So it's like we did a bad jobin making sure our kids had like
a real job.
But two, I remember textingwith you a little bit during the
Olympics and asking you theolympics and asking you hey,
(38:14):
aren't you, are you in france?
And I did this.
When you said no, I was like Idid this because hearing noah
call games, I was like how is it?
Just, it sounded like you, itsounded like iron eagle calling
games.
Then when you tell me, no,noah's doing the tournament, I
couldn't believe it.
And yes, you're right, hiscalls on the women's game, uh,
the women's championship gameunbelievable.
(38:35):
But I guarantee you, and I'mtelling you, telling you this
now we will be hearing noaheagle's calls of that men's
champion, of both the serbiagame and especially the france
championship game.
They, they will, they will beon parts of highlight reels for
the olympics, forever, forever.
And there are there were momentsin there where I was laughing
(38:59):
to myself, saying this isexactly like the way he was able
to weave in so many, uh, somany, um, uh, let's say, modern
day references or pop culturereferences, which something you
do a great deal.
You know weaving in steph curryis inevitable.
You know weaving in Steph Curryis inevitable.
You know, from the Avengers,the other thing is inevitable.
Hearing that made me maybe justrealize hey look, my friend has
(39:23):
has taught this, as he'slearned, he's learned from one
of the feet, from the feet ofthe master, and I am proud of
your son.
I know you're you're extremelyproud of your son, but I am
proud of your son.
I know you're extremely proudof your son, but I am proud of
your son too.
Thank you, because I canremember the tournament that you
actually interviewed your sonwhen he was going to do his
first game of the tournament forSyracuse, yes, syracuse, miami.
(39:45):
You interviewed him in a pregameagainst Miami.
I write it's Syracuse, miami.
You interviewed him forWestwood one and it was because
it was such a unique experience,father and son calling the game
um.
I don't know if I really have aquestion, except to say I
appreciate everything you said.
Trust me I don't know if no, itmeans a lot.
It means a lot thank you guys,truly appreciate it except to
(40:08):
say at this point you know,obviously you have given, your
son has learned at your feet andso the advice you've given him
maybe it's very little, but hehas obviously.
Ian Eagle (40:17):
No, there's a lot of advice there, and it's not in
the form that people wouldassume with a laundry list of
criticisms after a game.
Tushar Saxena (40:26):
Absolutely.
You're not critiquing.
Ian Eagle (40:27):
No, it's done in a completely different manner and
it's in the flow of conversation.
And it's in the flow ofconversation.
It might pop up when we'retalking about something else and
something that I noticed from aprevious game or a previous
broadcast might be a questionthat he has, but there's a clear
separation between church andstate, but there's also an open
(40:47):
line of communication.
He knows that at any moment,any day, any hour, he can ask me
something in regards to whathe's doing and know that I've
probably done it and had to doit, and can explain approach.
Certainly, when he starteddoing play-by-play, there were a
(41:08):
lot of questions as to how toprepare and how to get your
thoughts organized and then howto deliver.
In the moment, he's watchedmore of my stuff than any human
being out there.
So, yes, it's not shocking thathis style might be similar and
(41:34):
congruent to mine and in someway it's just in him, literally
the genes, and then in his brain, because he's just he's viewed
so many of my games from hisadolescence to now.
Larry Shea (41:52):
We said it before, the apple doesn't fall far from
the tree, right?
So that makes a lot of sense.
I can't imagine the pride youfeel with that and how special
that is.
Let's face it, there's 100questions I'm never going to get
to here, but I have to ask thisone as we come close to winding
down here, which is you know,it's a different age now.
(42:14):
It's a different era.
You know, how much moredeliberate or careful do you
have to be, Because your callsride that razor's edge of pop
culture and sarcasm, et cetera.
We've talked about it.
How much more deliberate do youhave to be than, say, Howard
Cosell during his time?
I mean, people are ready topounce, right?
Ian Eagle (42:34):
They are.
They are, and I think everyonerecognizes that.
There are people out there thatare looking for the gotcha
moment.
So I think it's one of thosethings that's hard to describe.
But you really have to trustyour instincts in situations and
in my case my instincts haveled me to a really good place.
(42:58):
But that doesn't mean that thenext broadcast you have your
instincts fail you, you didn'tget as much sleep as you would
have liked, or you misheard whatyour producer said, or you
misinterpreted something thatyou saw and, boom in a flash,
you can get yourself into someserious trouble.
(43:19):
I just fall back on my maintenets of doing this job.
I'm never going to say anythingabout somebody that I wouldn't
say to their face.
So mocking someone, trying tomake someone the butt of a joke
when they shouldn't be the buttof a joke to me that's off
limits.
(43:40):
By play with analysts, you knowthe dynamic that you have and
you know where the boundariesare.
You've got to follow them andyou've got to be smart and
prudent in relation to it.
And then a cute line here, aclever saying there you better
(44:04):
be sure.
Larry Samuels (44:05):
yeah I do take some chances?
Ian Eagle (44:07):
yes, I do, but I feel like I've got, you know the
the animal house proverbial,one on one shoulder the angel
angel and the devil yes, and thedevil can chime in occasionally
, but you can't go full devil.
Larry Samuels (44:28):
I think he was talking to lawrence in that, in
that scene too right larry larrylaw.
I like the theme here, yes, yes.
So as we wrap up each of ourshows, the underlying theme here
is to help younger people whoare starting on a path to
potentially get through thatpath a little bit faster.
(44:48):
So in today's world, with mediaproliferation being as wide as
it is, there are probably a lotof opportunities for folks to
practice and to develop somechops.
What advice do you have for ayoung person who wants to break
(45:09):
into this business and take aswing at becoming a play-by-play
guy?
Ian Eagle (45:13):
The positive is there are more places to do it
than ever before.
The negative is that there aremore people that want to do it
than ever before.
So you have to go in eyes wideopen that this is a very
competitive field the part thatI've always believed in.
That, I think, is still truetoday.
Maybe the mechanism in whichyou share this is different, but
(45:37):
the basic essence of it is thesame.
The tape doesn't lie, and I'm atrue believer in that.
You can record play-by-play,you can record a sportscast, you
can record an opening monologue, you can record an interview,
you can record any of thesethings.
And when you play it back forsomebody, if someone is really
(46:01):
good at this and stands out, thetape will not lie.
You will know TV, radio,podcast, it doesn't matter.
So that's the first step.
If you're ultra talented, youwill do something in this
business.
How you handle it?
I don't know how you navigatethrough relationships.
(46:24):
I don't know how you handlesuccess.
I don't know how you handlefailure all of that is unknown.
But if the talent is there,there will be a place for you to
do it.
The second part, which I thinkmost people fall into the
category, is all right.
Well, how do you get started?
(46:45):
Well, it requires you to comeout of your shell and do it.
Don't talk about doing it,don't ponder doing it.
You have to do it In this dayand age, with a laptop, with a
phone, with a microphone.
(47:06):
It's all there, it's allavailable, you have all the
tools in which to do it, but youhave to go, do it.
And then, by the way, you haveto then do it for somebody else,
so not just for yourself, butnow you have to venture into
that other area of the world,which is other humans, and try
(47:28):
to connect with people, try tonetwork with people.
Take any opportunity that comesabout, If it gets you in that
place, even if it's not the jobthat you ultimately want.
Get there, osmosis, observe, bein the background.
You've got to see it, you'vegot to understand it, and only
(47:50):
then can you visualize yourselfdoing it.
And only then can you visualizeyourself doing it.
But first step is taking thebull by the horns and doing it.
Tushar Saxena (48:00):
Ian, you've been extremely generous with your
time for us.
Ian Eagle (48:02):
You got it guys.
I really really appreciate it.
Tushar Saxena (48:05):
But I'm going to tell you that I'll say it again,
guys, that there are lots oftimes I tell people that in this
industry you get jaded with thepeople you meet.
You meet a lot of folks.
But the one thing I am alwaysproud to say, always proud to
say, that I am a friend of IanEagle and I know Ian Eagle
because you know, very, very fewpeople in this, in this
(48:26):
industry, are what you wouldcall really good guys, and this
is the salt of the earth.
I mean, you know, and I reallyappreciate it, my friendship is
very important to us, very, veryimportant to us, and I'm, you
know, I'm unhappy and I'mextremely happy to once again
call you a colleague.
We're both over.
Ian Eagle (48:42):
Yeah, it's great.
So I mean, I'm extremely happyto call you a colleague.
I'm sorry, what's your nameagain?
Larry Samuels (48:50):
perfect way to end every episode should end
with tushar getting roasted yes,we're gonna make a best of
episode of that alone.
Tushar Saxena (49:03):
I thank you.
Thank you so much reallyappreciate it again.
Larry Samuels (49:06):
I really appreciate it so that marks the
conclusion of our incredibleconversation with Ian Eagle T
Tushar.
Thank you so much for bringinghim forward.
Tushar Saxena (49:17):
Well, I knew we'd have a great time with Ian.
I mean what we experiencedthrough these two episodes I was
lucky enough to experience foryears at WFAN and then obviously
further on down the line, he isobviously one of the most
compassionate, one of the nicest, one of the friendliest people
I've ever known.
You know what really struck methroughout this entire interview
(49:40):
after hearing it back even forus, because you know, obviously,
when we're in it we don'talways really get to, we don't
really observe what's happeningin it.
But as I had a chance to kindof listen back to this interview
, we laughed a lot.
We laughed a whole lot becauseand that really is to me like
that epitomizes who iron eagleis he's one of the funniest
(50:00):
people I know as well and he'sso, he's so good at making
everyone feel at ease, feel calmand like we're, like we've all
been friends forever, right,just sitting down at a table and
then talking to him about hiscareer, talking to him about
life, and that is what IronEagle is to a T.
Larry Shea (50:16):
Yeah, he really gave a lot of advice, too right.
He really showed you and toldyou how to get into this
business and how to succeed inthis business.
I mean the ability to beinterested and interesting.
I'm just like fascinated withthat.
And you hear that when what agreat line, that is right, yeah.
And just like when he's doinghis calls, I mean just the
(50:36):
wittiness, the, the.
You know he doesn't talk aboveyou, he talks to you but it's
like things you didn't thinkabout and he brings perspectives
that you didn't realize werethere, that could be touched
upon.
But the advice you know how doyou get started and we really
hope a lot of people take hisadvice.
You know the tape doesn't lie.
You got to just do it.
(51:00):
You know, get yourself in frontof a microphone All the tools
are available to everybody andjust really let your life kind
of be put on that tape.
And you hear that when you hearIan Eagle's calls, you know,
take the bull by the horns, takeany opportunity that comes your
way, even if you don't want todo it in the moment, because
it's going to give youexperience and you could see how
a lifetime of thoseopportunities have led to ian
(51:23):
eagle being at the top of hisfield and a great listen for any
broadcast look it's.
Tushar Saxena (51:29):
It's okay to not be good when you start out,
because no one's born being ableto do this stuff, right, I mean
even I am being able to doanything exactly.
No one's born I was I wasn'tborn to do talk radio.
I wasn't born to do, you know,to do the career, that path that
I was.
But we all have to learn itsome way or another.
And and you know, I'm withgreat advice there, right, you
(51:50):
know, sometimes what you need todo is basically take the bull
by the horns, as you you said,chase, and just do it right.
So practice makes perfect.
And if it doesn't make perfect,it at least brings you further
closer to that notion ofperfection.
And the more you get used todoing it, the more comfortable
you get in doing it over andover and over, it's like working
(52:11):
out right.
You got to flex that muscle.
The more you flex that muscle,the easier it gets to do.
Larry Samuels (52:16):
Absolutely, and for me, one of the key takeaways
was his ability to creategenuine relationships, his
ability to listen and hisability to connect with others.
He talked about the fact thathe's worked with 171 partners
throughout his career, andeverybody's different.
(52:37):
Somebody's an analyst,somebody's a joker.
Somebody can't make a joke.
To save their lives, he needsto be able to take a step back
and understand who he's with,and his job is to make that
other person look good and toset them up for success, and
that's his primary objectiveevery time.
So I thought that was prettycompelling.
(53:00):
And going back to the MikeTirico story that he told about
when he was back at Syracuse wayback, when you need to say hi,
introduce yourself, make aconnection, keep that connection
, grow that connection, and Ayanis somebody who clearly is good
at that and, based uponeverything I've learned about
(53:21):
him through my network, throughTushar and others, this is a guy
that people love because it'sreal, it's genuine, he keeps it,
he protects those relationshipsand they endure.
Tushar Saxena (53:31):
You know, and you said it just a moment ago, the
idea that you know going up tosomeone and saying hi, we say it
all the time here is that youknow, sometimes networking and
getting that next job or gettingthat first job, sometimes this
is a contact sport.
It's about going out and sayinghello and making yourself open
to rejection, if it sometimeswill be the case, but also the
(53:52):
notion of hey, you know what, ifyou make that first
relationship, it can lead tobetter things down the line.
And you said about 170 partnershe's dealt with over the years.
That's also 170 friends.
Larry Samuels (54:03):
That's exactly right.
That's exactly right.
Well, I now consider him to bea friend of ours.
I'm incredibly thankful that hewas willing to spend all that
time with us.
He was so gracious, so generousand this really has been one of
my favorite conversations thatwe've had here on this show.
So, ian Eagle, thank you somuch for joining this episode of
(54:26):
no Wrong Choices.
On behalf of Tushar Saxena,larry Shea and me, larry Samuels
, thank you for listening to noWrong Choices.
If you enjoyed this episode,please be sure to follow us on
your favorite podcast platformand to give us a great review.
Also, if this episode made youthink of somebody who could be a
great guest, please let us knowvia our website at
(54:47):
norongchoicescom or via oursocial media channels, which
include LinkedIn, instagram,facebook, youtube Threads and X.
Thank you again for listening.
We'll be back with a newepisode next week.
Hello and welcome to no Wrong Choices.
I'm Larry Samuels, soon to bejoined by Tushar Saxena and
Larry Shea.
This episode is part two of ourconversation with the highly
respected play-by-playcommentator, ian Eagle.
Ian is known for his work asthe lead voice of the NCAA Men's
College Basketball Tournamenton CBS and coverage of the NFL
(00:21):
and NBA.
In episode one, we explored theevolution of Ian's career
dreams, his creative familyroots and how he broke into the
business.
Now we'll dig into how he hitthe big time, the importance of
teamwork and the emergence ofthe Eagle family legacy, as his
son, noah, is a rising star inthe business as well.
Ian also provides great advicefor any young broadcaster hoping
(00:44):
to break into the business.
We'll pick things up with LarryShea asking Ayan about the
importance of being a goodlistener, which proves to be a
perfect setup for the Ayan Eaglethat I love to hear on a
broadcast.
Larry Shea (00:57):
I often think about an announcer what are they going
to say?
Whereas I think it might bemore important to listen to your
partner and working with them,in a way.
How important is the listeningaspect?
Because you're the king ofworking off of something they
say, whether it be innocuous ornot, and making it hilarious or
interesting or sarcastic, likeyou said.
(01:19):
So how important is that aspectof it rather than what am I
going to say next?
Ian Eagle (01:25):
I'm sorry, larry, I didn't hear your question.
Perfect Perfect.
And there it is Well done.
No, it's the secret back toMike and the Mad Dog in many
(01:46):
ways and their ability to havenatural chemistry.
Their styles just worked.
There was a yin and yang towhat they were doing, mundane
Wednesday afternoon, to findsomething, some grain of gold,
(02:08):
that then they turned into amasterpiece of radio.
So that year 1992, beingintimately involved, I also was
Chris's chauffeur for the yearbecause I lived on the Upper
East Side, he lived midtown.
I drove him home every day fora year.
So you're getting a differentlevel of relationship when
(02:33):
you're now with someone an extra35 minutes at the end of your
day, going over the 59th StreetBridge and shooting the breeze
and getting into personal stuff,not just radio but real
personal.
So I got to know the human andMike was great to me as well.
I got to know him on a humanlevel and I do think it played a
(02:56):
role in how I ended up workingwith analysts.
I had a eureka moment when I gotthat jet job.
So it's 1993.
I'm 24 years old, I've beenhanded the keys to a very
important new part of the radiostation, which is New York Jets
(03:20):
football, and I'm told that myco-host for the pre and post
game will be Freeman McNeil, theformer Jets running back, who,
just as an aside, was myfavorite Jet growing up, so you
just have that in and of itself.
By the way, I did a show calledFriday Night Hoops the year
(03:41):
before for FAN, and my co-hostwas Bernard King happened to be
my favorite basketball playergrowing up.
So when you're put in thesepositions at a young age and
they are the neophytes in radioand they're leaning on you, I
(04:05):
realized very quickly that I hadto take on an ownership role in
the relationship.
But that also meant making themlook good.
So I'm going to clean up thestory.
But Freeman McNeil the firsttime I meet him is the first
(04:27):
pregame that we're doing for thepreseason, so it's the first
broadcast.
He comes to the studio, theJets are on the road.
He comes to the studio twohours before the game, so we
have about an hour to get toknow one another and we just
chat.
We have a lovely conversationabout his wife, his kids, about
his post-playing career.
Couldn't have gone any better.
(04:49):
After about an hour I excusemyself.
I tell him hey, I need to go inthe other room just prepare
some notes for the show.
I'll come and get you whenwe're about 15 minutes out,
great.
So I leave Rumi McNeil in theback.
I go, do my stuff.
I grab him.
We now go into the main studio.
We're sitting there.
It's 10 minutes to the top ofthe hour.
(05:09):
It's five minutes to the top ofthe hour.
I'm nodding at him.
He's not.
He has zero experience.
He has never done anything inmedia.
It's now one minute until thetop of the hour when the show is
going to start.
It's my first show, as well asthe host of Jets pre and post
game, and again I'm just goingto clean it up.
(05:32):
I said you good?
He said yeah, yeah, yeah.
He said hey one thing.
I said yeah, forward op says 45seconds.
He says don't screw me hereCleaning it up.
I said what he said you know,don't screw me here.
I said no, no, no, freeman, I'mnot going to screw you, I'm
(05:55):
going to make you look good.
And he smiled.
I said we're going to do reallywell here.
I said everything that we weredoing in the other room we're
going to do here.
He went okay, yeah, yeah,perfect, and that was it.
And I realized in that momentthis is a guy that played in the
Rose Bowl in the NFL high levelin front of 75,000 people,
(06:19):
100,000 people, in his collegedays.
But in this moment, 30 secondsbefore going on air, he was
uncomfortable.
Larry Samuels (06:28):
Yeah.
Ian Eagle (06:29):
And it was my job to make him comfortable and that
really hit home for me and I'vetaken that with me for the rest
of my career.
When I'm working with newpartners, old partners, that's
the job.
The job is to make that personcomfortable so they can do their
best work, and it's your job tobe malleable.
(06:52):
I can't force someone to goalong with the humor if they're
not humorous, so pull back,don't do that.
I can't force someone to talkstrategy.
If they're not comfortabletalking strategy, fine, we'll
find another way.
X's and O's player backgrounds,biography If they're not into
(07:19):
it, it's not my job to forcethem.
It's my job to find what theyare comfortable with and really
highlight that part of theirpersonality.
Larry Samuels (07:30):
You know, when I think about Freeman being
nervous going into that firstbroadcast, it made me think
about your first broadcast withthe Nets doing play-by-play.
That moment.
What were your emotions walkinginto that building that day?
Ian Eagle (07:48):
The game was in Houston and the Rockets were
getting their championship rings.
I was working with MichaelCorrin, who could not have been
a nicer human being and a betterperson to work with Terrific.
He was just as perfect apartner as I could have been
possibly paired with in thattime.
(08:10):
He was a former net, played alittle bit with the Washington
Bullets.
He was a star at North Carolina, New Jersey, guy from Jersey
City through and through and, byhis own admission, not a
polished media guy, but he washimself and he came through.
A polished media guy, but hewas himself and he came through.
So we sit down now we're goingto call the game in Houston and
(08:34):
we've got an engineer.
He's got really old equipmentand I put the headset on and
it's not comfortable and I justreminded myself hey, this is
what you've worked towards, thisis your opportunity.
I'm doing this in relativeanonymity.
The Nets were certainly notgetting big ratings and on radio
at that time I'm not surepeople even knew where to find
(08:55):
them.
They were on 1560 AM, if Iremember correctly.
Wow.
Tushar Saxena (09:03):
Were you on WPAT at the time.
Ian Eagle (09:04):
I think it was also on selected radio stations
throughout New Jersey.
Wpat was one of those.
There was the station out inthe Rutgers area.
I have the information backhere.
In fact I could get it rightnow.
I have it framed.
I'm not joking of the pressrelease that came out with the.
In fact I could get it rightnow.
I have it framed.
(09:25):
I'm not joking of the pressrelease that came out with the
Nats.
I could give the whole radionetwork.
It was five of them in NewJersey, so New Brunswick was one
of them.
And I just reminded myself hey,do your thing, you're going to
be able to pull this off andwe're about five minutes from
(09:49):
air and I realize they're goingto do the ceremony now and we
have a pre-game show that wehave to do.
David stern is there and Iturned to the engineer.
I said hey, we're going to needyou to to pot up pa.
The public address announcergoes pa, this is in hou in
Houston.
I said yeah, yeah, pa, he goes.
Oh, we don't have PA.
Tushar Saxena (10:08):
I said so you don't have PA.
Ian Eagle (10:10):
He goes, we don't have PA.
I said, okay, is there a way toget PA?
He goes, can't get you the PA.
So I look at Mike and Mike saysdon't worry.
So I look at Mike and Mike saysdon't worry.
Well, no, meanwhile we'retalking and it's all happening.
Thunderous applause, they'regetting their rings Hakeem
(10:33):
Olajuwon, sam Cassell, robertOry and I can't hear myself.
I can't hear Mike.
I'm leading to sound that theyfire at the studio.
I can't hear that.
This is the worst possible wayto start my play-by-play career.
In addition, now I don't sweatnormally in life.
I start feeling myself likeflop sweat and because the
(10:57):
headsets are so decrepit and old, the material on the earpiece
of the headset is cracking andit's black.
You know what I'm talking about.
I'm trying to describe.
Yeah.
Tushar Saxena (11:11):
Your ears are black?
Ian Eagle (11:12):
Yes, and it's like there's a film to it.
So we get through the pregame.
I start calling it.
The game is really fast.
I'm realizing quickly like ohboy, and I'm just trying to keep
up.
And we get to the first breakand Mike says hey, you know
you're doing well, just you knowlock in.
(11:32):
And it gets better as the gamegoes on.
Halftime hits and I see Mikelike clearing some stuff, like
because he looked at me and he's, he's doing this, but I don't
put two and two together but wefinished the game.
Not memorable by any stretch,but I get through it.
(11:53):
And now we're flying from thereto dallas.
There's a a storm in texas likethe state has never seen.
What should be an up and down40 minutes is not.
We are circling for hours.
It feels it's like a two-hourordeal.
(12:14):
And we're up dropping grown men, nba players are shrieking and
I'm just sitting in in my seat.
What the hell is going on?
We land, we get to the hotel, Iget to my room.
Finally, I just want to get outof these clothes, sweat, soaked
, and I look in the mirror andmy ears are caked with this
(12:41):
black substance.
It's in my ear, it's behind mylobe.
I'm like, oh Mike.
And finally, the next day Imeet Mike for lunch.
I go dude, why didn't you tellme he goes?
You were having a rough enoughnight.
Tushar Saxena (12:59):
I don't want to.
Larry Samuels (13:01):
He was entertaining himself.
Ian Eagle (13:03):
Oh, my God.
The second broadcast was muchbetter.
The third broadcast was evenbetter than that.
Tushar Saxena (13:13):
Did they find the PA?
No, no PA.
Larry Samuels (13:14):
We don't have PA, that's brilliant.
Tushar Saxena (13:15):
So, uh, just to give folks an idea, how many
people have you worked with uhplay-by-play analysts in your
career?
Ian Eagle (13:21):
at this point I think I'm at 171, I believe I
got to check the latest numbers.
I do keep a running list.
It's funny Bill Raftery and Iworked together for so many
years and that meant a lot oflunches with him.
It also meant a lot of beersand a lot of wine and Sambuca.
And we were at lunch inMilwaukee one day, just me and
him.
(13:41):
And I asked him.
I said hey, how many partnershave you had?
He goes oh, that's a greatquestion, bird.
And he takes out the napkin andhe's writing on the napkin and
he starts writing names down onthe napkins.
He gets about 10 deep and hegoes ah, there's too many.
And he just crumbles up thenapkin and he throws it away.
And it hit me in that moment IfI get into a similar situation
(14:12):
I'm talking about this is mysecond year doing it, so it's
probably 1996.
If I get into a similarsituation, I'm going to keep a
running list, and I have, andit's pretty wild to look back on
.
So I think I'm somewhere inthat neighborhood about 171.
That means a lot ofpersonalities you've got to
judge, yeah, and that's what itis Truly.
Something else that you don'trealize that will play a role
later in your life is how youconnect with other people and
(14:38):
the importance of finding commonground and being a good
teammate and being a goodpartner.
So I can look back on my youth,being put in very unique
circumstances based on myparents and what they did for a
living, based on their situation, flying cross-country by myself
(15:01):
at the age of eight and nowhaving to fend for yourself and
being plopped next to someperson on the flight and that
person chatting with you andhaving the ability.
I sat next to a blind man.
I remember this quite vividlyand we spoke for five
(15:21):
consecutive hours.
And we spoke for fiveconsecutive hours.
I don't know if he had any ideahow old I was truly, until the
end, when he said how old areyou?
By the way, I said I'm eight.
Larry Samuels (15:34):
I just talked to this kid for five hours.
Ian Eagle (15:38):
And he asked which I probably shouldn't have given,
but he was really a nice man.
He said well, what's your name?
And I gave him my name and hesaid you know where do you live?
And I said Forest Hills.
I didn't give him my addressand he ended up sending a letter
to my parents and and itdetailed just how impressed he
(16:04):
was by someone that could carrysay truly interested, and then
being interesting in your ownright.
Do you have something to say?
(16:34):
Do you have a point of view?
Are you well read?
Are you learned?
What else other than sportsoccupies your time?
I think it served me well.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I can look back now and
see all of these differentexperiences that played a role
(16:58):
in having that confidence to Ado this job and then B do it
with others that were at the topof their respective fields as
athletes or coaches, and stillfind a level playing field in
which to operate.
Tushar Saxena (17:15):
I obviously know you as the voice of the NFL, or
one of the voices of the NFL,one of the voices of the NBA,
but my particular favorite ofyours is as the voice of the
NCAA.
You, to me, have so many greatcalls from your time calling
college basketball, whether itbe regular season, but
especially the tournament.
If you had to rank out yourfavorite times of the year, your
(17:38):
favorite sports to call, whichwould they be?
Ian Eagle (17:41):
The college basketball part of it was very
unexpected.
This was not something that Ianticipated in my career and
certainly didn't go into thisthinking one day that I could do
the final four.
That was not even on my radar.
To be perfectly frank, I getthe job in 1998 in an almost
(18:05):
excuse me fashion.
Cbs was doing the WinterOlympics in Nagano and they
needed three play-by-playannouncers for that weekend just
before the Olympics started,because all of their announcers
were in Japan.
And I got a call and ithappened to be all-star weekend
(18:26):
in the NBA and I did Vanderbiltat Arkansas on February 7th 1998
.
And nothing of note took placein that game, nothing.
It was a typical SEC game.
Arkansas was really good.
It came down to the wire.
(18:47):
Arkansas pulled away one byeight or nine points in the end.
But my agent got a call fromTerry Ewert who was taking over
as the executive producer of CBSSports once the Olympics ended
and he said I was very impressedwith how Ian handled the
(19:08):
traffic.
You don't know, terry Ewert,but that's an excellent
impression.
Larry Samuels (19:14):
Was he at NBC?
I think I may have met him.
He was.
He was.
Yes, terry was at.
Ian Eagle (19:18):
NBC.
Yes, terry was a very good guyand actually lived not far from
me in New Jersey.
And my agent then calls me andsaid did you like help get the
cars out after the game?
I said no, I did not.
I said why.
He said well, he was veryimpressed by how you handled the
traffic.
(19:38):
I said yes, the traffic of thebroadcast, I think, is what he
means, and this is your question.
Tushar Saxena (19:46):
Yeah, well, did you?
Ian Eagle (19:47):
fire him Eventually?
Yes, what do?
Larry Samuels (19:47):
you think I do for a living buddy.
Ian Eagle (19:49):
For a different reason.
That's probably a whole otherpodcast in and of itself.
So I said, great, they end upcalling me to see if I was
available for aSyracuse-Georgetown game on
February 21st.
I was not.
I had a net pacer game.
I had nothing in my deal thatlet me out of these games.
(20:12):
I had to turn it down, whichwas crushing.
That was a dream, to maybe oneday do Syracuse-Georgetown.
And the woman on the phone,maddie Hetzel, who worked at CBS
for many years.
She said, oh well, that's ashame.
She said I'll let you know whenour tournament seminar is and
you'll block out the dates forthat.
I said, okay, I'm thinking shedoesn't know.
(20:38):
She's just saying, because Iwas maybe supposed to do this
game, that I was doing thetournament.
So I call my agent, the sameone that thought I was directing
traffic out of the game.
I said, hey, just check, maybewith Terry Ewert Am I doing the
tournament?
And my agent said, no, I don'tthink so I'll check.
(20:59):
Calls me.
Two hours later.
He said yeah, you are doing theNCAA tournament.
So then I had to actually callmy bosses at MSG, that's who
oversaw the Nets production atthe time.
It was all under the cablevision umbrella and get
permission, which Mike McCarthywas my boss.
He did give me permission totake two Nets games off.
(21:23):
I flew to Sacramento.
I did the NCAA tournament.
I was at the seminar and thatjust happened to be when CBS got
the rights to the NFL,literally that week.
Usa, did you remember when theUSA Today used to come to your
hotel room?
Tushar Saxena (21:38):
door, just sitting there, absolutely.
Ian Eagle (21:40):
And you know I was.
I'd read the red and then I'dlook at the purple section and
then I'd look at the map.
Tushar Saxena (21:46):
Maybe on the main section.
Main section I'd throw away.
Ian Eagle (21:51):
I don't care about the green section, and in the
red section Rudy Marski had acolumn and the headline CBS gets
the rights to the AFC packageand that was it.
I was in the right place, righttime.
I did well at the tournamentand then I had been doing the
Talk about the differencebetween the sports, you know.
Larry Shea (22:26):
I mean NCAA, nba is very different Basketball flow,
different energy, differenteverything compared to NFL.
I mean I want to take thisconversation and talk about my
UConn Huskies and how amazingthey are, but we'll stay away
from that for a minute, Larry.
We'll stay away from thatJuggernaut.
Yeah, I mean they have a chanceto three-peat.
I mean, what are the you know?
(22:46):
But I want you to talk aboutthe rhythm and how you prepare
for three various, verydifferent energetic sports.
I mean, people think NCAA andNBA are the same.
It's such different energy, Ithink, isn't it?
Ian Eagle (23:00):
Yeah, oh, you nailed it and we'll start there.
Nba is very highlight driven.
It's very high energy.
Don't look at your notesbecause you could miss the dunk
of the year at any moment of anygame.
And I learned that the hard way.
When you start and you lookdown at your notes and now miss
(23:22):
the dunk of the year.
So that happens once.
You don't let that happen again.
The difference, I would say, ispacing and the level of play.
Nba a two-on-one break there'sa 95% chance they're going to
finish.
Lay up, dunk, what have you?
(23:44):
Two-on-one break collegebasketball lower that number.
That's now 55%.
Let's say so as a play-by-playannouncer.
Nba your mind is working in amanner to anticipate what's
going to happen.
A three-pointer on the way inthe NBA 40% chance it's going in
(24:04):
.
So you have to be ready forthat call.
You have to be ready to deliver.
College basketball percentageisn't as high.
You have to be ready for that.
So what I learned was pacingwas very different.
And then atmosphere, ambiance isvery different.
You do a game at UConn, atGampel regular season game,
(24:29):
uconn goes on a 12-0 run.
I had it this past year againstSeton Hall.
It was, I think, a moreextended run.
Even than that.
They tended to do that Crazy.
Yes, the place is going crazy.
You can barely hear yourself onair.
You're trying your best to cutthrough and get in before the
(24:52):
crowd erupts.
Nba game 12-0 run.
Yeah, crowd's into it, but game38 of 82, there's not going to
be the same fervor.
So that's just being a smartbroadcaster, that's recognizing
that situations are different.
You can't call it the same way.
(25:13):
You can't apply your approachin the same manner.
You've got to attack itdifferently.
Final four completely differentHuge, cavernous venue in Phoenix
.
My setup is different.
The floor is elevated.
(25:33):
Your sight lines are not whatthey are normally when you're
calling a game where you'reabove it, the table.
They gave us higher chairs soit's just a little different
feel, but your angle isdifferent.
So things that are automaticwhere your eyes go.
(25:53):
I had to adjust that first fewminutes of the first game of the
final four of oh, wait, asecond.
Normally I look this way.
I'm going to have to make achange here and you do adjust.
I've called literally thousandsof basketball games Adjust,
figure it out, problem solve.
So those are some fundamentaldifferences.
(26:15):
Football, to me, is an analystsport on television.
It really is.
It's set up for the analyst,it's play, it's replay one look,
two look and then get back intothe next play.
I do my best to be efficient inmy calls and not be verbose
(26:39):
when it comes to football.
Try to just highlight the bestmoment of what you just saw and
pick out the most important andpivotal part of that play.
Time and time again, if it's acut, if it's a juke move, if
it's a dive, if it's a snag, howcan you describe it?
How can you pick the perfectword in that moment, as all
(27:02):
these words are flying throughyour head and that's probably
the essence of this where youhope to get to a place, when
you're calling play-by-play,where you feel like you're in it
and not hovering above it, andthat's a really fine line.
There are plenty of excellentannouncers that probably never
(27:27):
feel that comfortable.
Where they're in it, where theplay is happening and it's
automatic, it's firing synopsesin your brain of what it is.
You want to say how you want tosay it, and if you're hovering
above it, it's more reactionaryand you're tagging as opposed to
(27:51):
calling, and there is a nuanceto it, no doubt about it.
Tushar Saxena (27:56):
All right, let's talk a little bit about your
family life and meaning.
You know you mentioned at thebeginning about how you kind of
raised yourself.
Your father was on the road agood portion of the year, home,
maybe a hundred days a year.
It's kind of come full circlein that sense.
Right, because you are on theroad a good time a good portion
of the year.
I mean to have you now for thismuch time has really been.
(28:19):
Look it was, it was the yaltaconference trying to get people,
trying to get you to agree.
Agree to this was great,because to get this much time
with you is such I know howprecious your time is.
Your free time is how under,and I know your wife.
I've known your wife for alittle while.
She's unbelievablyunderstanding and she's the best
.
Your kid's extremely talented.
How do they deal with their dadnot being around?
(28:41):
You know, let's say, for six orseven months of the year, not?
Ian Eagle (28:45):
being around, you know, let's say, for six or
seven months of the year.
Yeah, the way I view it is, Idid not see what my childhood
was like as a realisticpossibility for my kid's
childhood.
There was no way.
You know, unfortunately, my dadhe went to one little league
game.
My mom went to zero.
That's just how it was.
(29:05):
It wasn't because they didn'twant to be there, it was because
they couldn't.
I was a tennis player growingup.
My father went to zero matchesof my high school career, zero
Mother, same deal.
So you have one of two choicesyou can either get really angry
and bitter about it and thenthat is something you carry with
(29:28):
you for the rest of your life,or you can try to peel it away
and understand the situation.
This is what my parents neededto do in order to fulfill their
life and make money and becreative and be happy.
Tushar Saxena (29:48):
Hell put food on the table right.
Ian Eagle (29:51):
For me.
Yes, the career took me in thisdirection and it required a
great deal of time on the road,but it didn't take away my
ability to connect with my kids,to be involved in their lives
and to do everything in my powerto get back home every chance
(30:14):
that I had.
So, if there were opportunities, even though logic would tell
you, well, you can't, you can'tfly home in between, right, yeah
, I can and I will.
And that went a long way.
Both my kids knew that whenthey had me there, they had my
full attention.
I wasn't yesing them, I wasn'tnodding, I wasn't disinterested.
(30:40):
It was the opposite.
I was engaged, I cared abouttheir lives, I cared about them
as people, and the lessons theywere learning from me were also
very valuable that I loved mywork, that anyone I met I was
kind to didn't matter thesituation and I think a lot of
that rubbed off on them is arock star and was so
(31:04):
instrumental in keeping themgrounded and reminding them of
what was important andpriorities in life.
And what you put into situationsis hopefully what you'll get
out.
But don't put it in just to getit out.
Put it in because it's theright thing to do, and Noah and
Aaron are two reallywell-adjusted and wonderful
(31:27):
people.
More than anything else, youcould put them in any situation
and they will get by.
Not just get by but thrive,because they have that sense of
what life is supposed to be.
So really proud of them andwhat they took away from this
(31:48):
upbringing.
And look, there were a lot oflaughs.
It was very fun.
I think they saw real love andjoy between their parents and
that goes a long way in shapinghappiness and you just hope that
(32:09):
they get to do the things thatthey want to do.
That's really what it comesdown to when you're trying to
pass it on and pay it forward.
You can't shield them fromeverything in life, but you can
help show them the way.
Larry Samuels (32:25):
Looking from the outside, as a father of a
five-year-old.
So I have a lot of work to do.
Still, I aspire to pass some ofmy passions and some of my
loves onto my son, and you're aninspiration in that regard.
Knowing that your son justcalled the Olympics, I mean,
(32:48):
talk to us a little bit abouthow it feels to know that you
were able to inspire your son insuch a way that he's, in a way,
carrying a family traditionforward.
It's the ultimate compliment.
Ian Eagle (33:00):
It's the ultimate compliment, but it didn't have
to be this way and I thinkthat's why it has worked.
He was never pushed towardsthis, he was never urged to do
(33:30):
this and not me or my wifewanting him to do this.
So once you get to that place,then it's real, it's authentic,
it's not.
Hey, you should maybe thinkabout this.
I think the other part too,just thinking about your
five-year-old there's one schoolof thought of, hey, I'm going
(33:52):
to teach you everything that Iknow and yes, of course that's
that's what you want, but it'snot in a lecture form, of course
, it's in living, yep, andwatching, showing them and them
observing.
That's the part I knew.
My son was very observant, itfrom a very young age you could
(34:14):
tell he was taking all of it inall the time, perceptive,
sometimes to a fault where youcan see too much.
And then that affects yourexperience, because you think
one thing, based on somethingthat you noticed in a situation,
the part that I didn't quiterealize until now, as I look
(34:38):
back all of the, the work that Iwas doing, the way in which I
did it, the way in which Iconducted myself when he joined
me in the broadcast booth, thefact that I knew people's names.
I knew their wives' names ortheir husbands' names or their
kids' names.
I never told him hey, by theway, this is what you should do
(35:00):
in life.
He just watched, he just tookit in.
He saw that that's the betterway, that's the right way to
take real interest in anotherhuman being.
So, yeah, as we get inundatedwith, becoming so caught up in
(35:24):
texting and emails and directmessages, there is still
something about the humancondition that people respond to
real, true admiration andrespect, and that's the part
that both of my kids, I think,saw more than anything else
(35:45):
Amidst any successes.
That's what really rang truefor them.
Larry Samuels (35:52):
How did it feel watching your son call the
Olympics?
What were those emotions?
Ian Eagle (35:59):
Incredibly surreal.
My wife and I looked at oneanother countless times during
the Olympics and thought how,how did this happen?
How it was a thrill.
It was very much a proud momentfor our family.
(36:25):
Obviously I was nervous assomeone just watching the game
because the games were sothrilling and dramatic.
And then I was nervous as afather watching my son call the
Olympics and knowing that therewere a lot of people that were
(36:46):
locked in on this and thewomen's championship in
particular, because it was thelast thing that happened, the
final call.
I just know way too much as aplay-by-play announcer where
your head can go, where youreyes could go.
So the player from France madeher move down by three, took the
(37:11):
final shot, stepped just insidethe three-point line, banked it
in the fact that Noah called ita two-pointer as he saw it in
the air.
Proud moment yeah, Recognized inthat moment that the US was
going to win the gold andcontinued with his call.
(37:32):
Gold and continued with hiscall.
That's the stuff that it caneasily go sideways easily for
any play by play.
Announcer.
So that was really somethingfor me to to see him handle that
in the way that he did it was.
It was pretty wild, prettyamazing.
Tushar Saxena (37:51):
So I have a couple of things there that, um.
One, I know why you and yourwife are sitting around saying
how and why, because, likeanyone who's in the business, we
never want our kids to go inthe business.
So it's like we did a bad jobin making sure our kids had like
a real job.
But two, I remember textingwith you a little bit during the
Olympics and asking you theolympics and asking you hey,
(38:14):
aren't you, are you in france?
And I did this.
When you said no, I was like Idid this because hearing noah
call games, I was like how is it?
Just, it sounded like you, itsounded like iron eagle calling
games.
Then when you tell me, no,noah's doing the tournament, I
couldn't believe it.
And yes, you're right, hiscalls on the women's game, uh,
the women's championship gameunbelievable.
(38:35):
But I guarantee you, and I'mtelling you, telling you this
now we will be hearing noaheagle's calls of that men's
champion, of both the serbiagame and especially the france
championship game.
They, they will, they will beon parts of highlight reels for
the olympics, forever, forever.
And there are there were momentsin there where I was laughing
(38:59):
to myself, saying this isexactly like the way he was able
to weave in so many, uh, somany, um, uh, let's say, modern
day references or pop culturereferences, which something you
do a great deal.
You know weaving in steph curryis inevitable.
You know weaving in Steph Curryis inevitable.
You know, from the Avengers,the other thing is inevitable.
Hearing that made me maybe justrealize hey look, my friend has
(39:23):
has taught this, as he'slearned, he's learned from one
of the feet, from the feet ofthe master, and I am proud of
your son.
I know you're you're extremelyproud of your son, but I am
proud of your son.
I know you're extremely proudof your son, but I am proud of
your son too.
Thank you, because I canremember the tournament that you
actually interviewed your sonwhen he was going to do his
first game of the tournament forSyracuse, yes, syracuse, miami.
(39:45):
You interviewed him in a pregameagainst Miami.
I write it's Syracuse, miami.
You interviewed him forWestwood one and it was because
it was such a unique experience,father and son calling the game
um.
I don't know if I really have aquestion, except to say I
appreciate everything you said.
Trust me I don't know if no, itmeans a lot.
It means a lot thank you guys,truly appreciate it except to
(40:08):
say at this point you know,obviously you have given, your
son has learned at your feet andso the advice you've given him
maybe it's very little, but hehas obviously.
Ian Eagle (40:17):
No, there's a lot of advice there, and it's not in
the form that people wouldassume with a laundry list of
criticisms after a game.
Tushar Saxena (40:26):
Absolutely.
You're not critiquing.
Ian Eagle (40:27):
No, it's done in a completely different manner and
it's in the flow of conversation.
And it's in the flow ofconversation.
It might pop up when we'retalking about something else and
something that I noticed from aprevious game or a previous
broadcast might be a questionthat he has, but there's a clear
separation between church andstate, but there's also an open
(40:47):
line of communication.
He knows that at any moment,any day, any hour, he can ask me
something in regards to whathe's doing and know that I've
probably done it and had to doit, and can explain approach.
Certainly, when he starteddoing play-by-play, there were a
(41:08):
lot of questions as to how toprepare and how to get your
thoughts organized and then howto deliver.
In the moment, he's watchedmore of my stuff than any human
being out there.
So, yes, it's not shocking thathis style might be similar and
(41:34):
congruent to mine and in someway it's just in him, literally
the genes, and then in his brain, because he's just he's viewed
so many of my games from hisadolescence to now.
Larry Shea (41:52):
We said it before, the apple doesn't fall far from
the tree, right?
So that makes a lot of sense.
I can't imagine the pride youfeel with that and how special
that is.
Let's face it, there's 100questions I'm never going to get
to here, but I have to ask thisone as we come close to winding
down here, which is you know,it's a different age now.
(42:14):
It's a different era.
You know, how much moredeliberate or careful do you
have to be, Because your callsride that razor's edge of pop
culture and sarcasm, et cetera.
We've talked about it.
How much more deliberate do youhave to be than, say, Howard
Cosell during his time?
I mean, people are ready topounce, right?
Ian Eagle (42:34):
They are.
They are, and I think everyonerecognizes that.
There are people out there thatare looking for the gotcha
moment.
So I think it's one of thosethings that's hard to describe.
But you really have to trustyour instincts in situations and
in my case my instincts haveled me to a really good place.
(42:58):
But that doesn't mean that thenext broadcast you have your
instincts fail you, you didn'tget as much sleep as you would
have liked, or you misheard whatyour producer said, or you
misinterpreted something thatyou saw and, boom in a flash,
you can get yourself into someserious trouble.
(43:19):
I just fall back on my maintenets of doing this job.
I'm never going to say anythingabout somebody that I wouldn't
say to their face.
So mocking someone, trying tomake someone the butt of a joke
when they shouldn't be the buttof a joke to me that's off
limits.
(43:40):
By play with analysts, you knowthe dynamic that you have and
you know where the boundariesare.
You've got to follow them andyou've got to be smart and
prudent in relation to it.
And then a cute line here, aclever saying there you better
(44:04):
be sure.
Larry Samuels (44:05):
yeah I do take some chances?
Ian Eagle (44:07):
yes, I do, but I feel like I've got, you know the
the animal house proverbial,one on one shoulder the angel
angel and the devil yes, and thedevil can chime in occasionally
, but you can't go full devil.
Larry Samuels (44:28):
I think he was talking to lawrence in that, in
that scene too right larry larrylaw.
I like the theme here, yes, yes.
So as we wrap up each of ourshows, the underlying theme here
is to help younger people whoare starting on a path to
potentially get through thatpath a little bit faster.
(44:48):
So in today's world, with mediaproliferation being as wide as
it is, there are probably a lotof opportunities for folks to
practice and to develop somechops.
What advice do you have for ayoung person who wants to break
(45:09):
into this business and take aswing at becoming a play-by-play
guy?
Ian Eagle (45:13):
The positive is there are more places to do it
than ever before.
The negative is that there aremore people that want to do it
than ever before.
So you have to go in eyes wideopen that this is a very
competitive field the part thatI've always believed in.
That, I think, is still truetoday.
Maybe the mechanism in whichyou share this is different, but
(45:37):
the basic essence of it is thesame.
The tape doesn't lie, and I'm atrue believer in that.
You can record play-by-play,you can record a sportscast, you
can record an opening monologue, you can record an interview,
you can record any of thesethings.
And when you play it back forsomebody, if someone is really
(46:01):
good at this and stands out, thetape will not lie.
You will know TV, radio,podcast, it doesn't matter.
So that's the first step.
If you're ultra talented, youwill do something in this
business.
How you handle it?
I don't know how you navigatethrough relationships.
(46:24):
I don't know how you handlesuccess.
I don't know how you handlefailure all of that is unknown.
But if the talent is there,there will be a place for you to
do it.
The second part, which I thinkmost people fall into the
category, is all right.
Well, how do you get started?
(46:45):
Well, it requires you to comeout of your shell and do it.
Don't talk about doing it,don't ponder doing it.
You have to do it In this dayand age, with a laptop, with a
phone, with a microphone.
(47:06):
It's all there, it's allavailable, you have all the
tools in which to do it, but youhave to go, do it.
And then, by the way, you haveto then do it for somebody else,
so not just for yourself, butnow you have to venture into
that other area of the world,which is other humans, and try
(47:28):
to connect with people, try tonetwork with people.
Take any opportunity that comesabout, If it gets you in that
place, even if it's not the jobthat you ultimately want.
Get there, osmosis, observe, bein the background.
You've got to see it, you'vegot to understand it, and only
(47:50):
then can you visualize yourselfdoing it.
And only then can you visualizeyourself doing it.
But first step is taking thebull by the horns and doing it.
Tushar Saxena (48:00):
Ian, you've been extremely generous with your
time for us.
Ian Eagle (48:02):
You got it guys.
I really really appreciate it.
Tushar Saxena (48:05):
But I'm going to tell you that I'll say it again,
guys, that there are lots oftimes I tell people that in this
industry you get jaded with thepeople you meet.
You meet a lot of folks.
But the one thing I am alwaysproud to say, always proud to
say, that I am a friend of IanEagle and I know Ian Eagle
because you know, very, very fewpeople in this, in this
(48:26):
industry, are what you wouldcall really good guys, and this
is the salt of the earth.
I mean, you know, and I reallyappreciate it, my friendship is
very important to us, very, veryimportant to us, and I'm, you
know, I'm unhappy and I'mextremely happy to once again
call you a colleague.
We're both over.
Ian Eagle (48:42):
Yeah, it's great.
So I mean, I'm extremely happyto call you a colleague.
I'm sorry, what's your nameagain?
Larry Samuels (48:50):
perfect way to end every episode should end
with tushar getting roasted yes,we're gonna make a best of
episode of that alone.
Tushar Saxena (49:03):
I thank you.
Thank you so much reallyappreciate it again.
Larry Samuels (49:06):
I really appreciate it so that marks the
conclusion of our incredibleconversation with Ian Eagle T
Tushar.
Thank you so much for bringinghim forward.
Tushar Saxena (49:17):
Well, I knew we'd have a great time with Ian.
I mean what we experiencedthrough these two episodes I was
lucky enough to experience foryears at WFAN and then obviously
further on down the line, he isobviously one of the most
compassionate, one of the nicest, one of the friendliest people
I've ever known.
You know what really struck methroughout this entire interview
(49:40):
after hearing it back even forus, because you know, obviously,
when we're in it we don'talways really get to, we don't
really observe what's happeningin it.
But as I had a chance to kindof listen back to this interview
, we laughed a lot.
We laughed a whole lot becauseand that really is to me like
that epitomizes who iron eagleis he's one of the funniest
(50:00):
people I know as well and he'sso, he's so good at making
everyone feel at ease, feel calmand like we're, like we've all
been friends forever, right,just sitting down at a table and
then talking to him about hiscareer, talking to him about
life, and that is what IronEagle is to a T.
Larry Shea (50:16):
Yeah, he really gave a lot of advice, too right.
He really showed you and toldyou how to get into this
business and how to succeed inthis business.
I mean the ability to beinterested and interesting.
I'm just like fascinated withthat.
And you hear that when what agreat line, that is right, yeah.
And just like when he's doinghis calls, I mean just the
(50:36):
wittiness, the, the.
You know he doesn't talk aboveyou, he talks to you but it's
like things you didn't thinkabout and he brings perspectives
that you didn't realize werethere, that could be touched
upon.
But the advice you know how doyou get started and we really
hope a lot of people take hisadvice.
You know the tape doesn't lie.
You got to just do it.
(51:00):
You know, get yourself in frontof a microphone All the tools
are available to everybody andjust really let your life kind
of be put on that tape.
And you hear that when you hearIan Eagle's calls, you know,
take the bull by the horns, takeany opportunity that comes your
way, even if you don't want todo it in the moment, because
it's going to give youexperience and you could see how
a lifetime of thoseopportunities have led to ian
(51:23):
eagle being at the top of hisfield and a great listen for any
broadcast look it's.
Tushar Saxena (51:29):
It's okay to not be good when you start out,
because no one's born being ableto do this stuff, right, I mean
even I am being able to doanything exactly.
No one's born I was I wasn'tborn to do talk radio.
I wasn't born to do, you know,to do the career, that path that
I was.
But we all have to learn itsome way or another.
And and you know, I'm withgreat advice there, right, you
(51:50):
know, sometimes what you need todo is basically take the bull
by the horns, as you you said,chase, and just do it right.
So practice makes perfect.
And if it doesn't make perfect,it at least brings you further
closer to that notion ofperfection.
And the more you get used todoing it, the more comfortable
you get in doing it over andover and over, it's like working
(52:11):
out right.
You got to flex that muscle.
The more you flex that muscle,the easier it gets to do.
Larry Samuels (52:16):
Absolutely, and for me, one of the key takeaways
was his ability to creategenuine relationships, his
ability to listen and hisability to connect with others.
He talked about the fact thathe's worked with 171 partners
throughout his career, andeverybody's different.
(52:37):
Somebody's an analyst,somebody's a joker.
Somebody can't make a joke.
To save their lives, he needsto be able to take a step back
and understand who he's with,and his job is to make that
other person look good and toset them up for success, and
that's his primary objectiveevery time.
So I thought that was prettycompelling.
(53:00):
And going back to the MikeTirico story that he told about
when he was back at Syracuse wayback, when you need to say hi,
introduce yourself, make aconnection, keep that connection
, grow that connection, and Ayanis somebody who clearly is good
at that and, based uponeverything I've learned about
(53:21):
him through my network, throughTushar and others, this is a guy
that people love because it'sreal, it's genuine, he keeps it,
he protects those relationshipsand they endure.
Tushar Saxena (53:31):
You know, and you said it just a moment ago, the
idea that you know going up tosomeone and saying hi, we say it
all the time here is that youknow, sometimes networking and
getting that next job or gettingthat first job, sometimes this
is a contact sport.
It's about going out and sayinghello and making yourself open
to rejection, if it sometimeswill be the case, but also the
(53:52):
notion of hey, you know what, ifyou make that first
relationship, it can lead tobetter things down the line.
And you said about 170 partnershe's dealt with over the years.
That's also 170 friends.
Larry Samuels (54:03):
That's exactly right.
That's exactly right.
Well, I now consider him to bea friend of ours.
I'm incredibly thankful that hewas willing to spend all that
time with us.
He was so gracious, so generousand this really has been one of
my favorite conversations thatwe've had here on this show.
So, ian Eagle, thank you somuch for joining this episode of
(54:26):
no Wrong Choices.
On behalf of Tushar Saxena,larry Shea and me, larry Samuels
, thank you for listening to noWrong Choices.
If you enjoyed this episode,please be sure to follow us on
your favorite podcast platformand to give us a great review.
Also, if this episode made youthink of somebody who could be a
great guest, please let us knowvia our website at
(54:47):
norongchoicescom or via oursocial media channels, which
include LinkedIn, instagram,facebook, youtube Threads and X.
Thank you again for listening.
We'll be back with a newepisode next week.
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