December 6, 2023 • 40 mins
Welcome to Unbreakable! A mental health podcast hosted by Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer. On today’s episode, the host of FOX NFL SUNDAY, America’s most-watched NFL pregame show the last 26 years Curt Menefee joins Jay on a wild ride through their 30 plus year friendship. Buckle up!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast
helping you out of the gray and into the blue.
Now here's Jay Glacier.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome into Unbreakable, the Mental Health Podcast with Jay Glazer.
I'm a Jay Glazer and what's cool about my podcast
here is I get to bring on experts of all
walks of life. And before I get to this expert,
he is an expert in what he does, which is
television hosting, but he's also more of an expert than
probably anybody on the planet and dealing with Jay Glacier's crazy.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So he's the perfect gift for today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So before I get to him, if you're like many people,
you may be surprised to learn that one in five
adults in this country experienced mental illness last year.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
You have far too many fella received the support they need. Carolyn.
Behavioral health is doing something about it.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
They understand that behavioral health is a key part of
whole health, delivering compassionate care that treats physical, mental, emotional,
and social needs. Intented Carol and behavioral health raising the
quality of life through empathy and action. And so Welcome
into Aunbreakable Mental Health Podcast with Jay Glazer, and I
would like to introduce to everybody here. Some of the
America already knows one of America's favorites, but certainly one
(01:12):
of my favorites of all time. He is one of
my best friends. He is a mentor, He is my psychiatrist.
He is our humble host. He is the one and
only Kurt Benafie.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
How are you, brother, hey Man? Always good to be
with you.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Yes, I put up with your self, but you should
probably think my wife for putting up with your stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
That later on.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
But your wife doesn't. You have to deal with me
on Sundays. You do.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
That is true. That is true, pil. But I've been
doing this for thirty years now.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Yeah, and I've known each other since nineteen ninety five,
right was when we first met in New York. And
it is one of the things I always tell people
I admire about you, is you know you were writing
for the Free Giants US paper and correctly, if I'm wrong,
you got paid sometimes and sometimes you didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
No more most of the times I did.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Yeah. The people see you now and they go, Okay,
look at Jake Laser and he's at this position. I go,
he's worked his ass off to get there, and he's
fought through a lot and overcome a lot of hurdles.
But you made yourself.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
You're.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
If there's a definition of a self made man, you are.
And so that's why I'm a big support of you.
I'm a big believer in you. And that's why I
love you to death.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Brother.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I appreciate you, brother.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And what people don't realize here also, and this is
a good lesson for people is again I was trying
to piece it together roll those years, and every time
I can get any sort of job for any kind
of money, I get.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Well.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
One year, I was doing a radio show early on
for call Unnecessary Roughness for basically it was a free
stake right at it was a Mickey Mantles restaurant at
another place and MSG network was turning into a.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
TV show and they said to me, you could pick
anybody you.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Want to co host this with, any player you want
to post this with.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Who do you want? And I said, I want Kurt
Menafee And they said Kurt Menafie. He's not a player.
I said, I said, well.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
He was back in grade school, but exactly middle school,
middle school in school.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Give me credit.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
But the bigger thing.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
For me was I said I want to co host
with Kurt Menafie and they said why. I said, because
I want to learn how to do TV and who
better to learn from than Kurt. And it really was
like I got like I wasn't a host and also
like people my first TV gig was New York one
TV and they said, I didn't go to school for this.
I just went on there like, oh, we're I like this.
I think I'll get girls with, you know, with being
(03:24):
on camera. But that was a big.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Thing for me to learn how to do TV from you.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
I appreciate you saying that, but I think that what
you talked about is an example. It's one thing that
I tried to share with particularly young people who always ask, hey,
you know, how can I do this or how can
I get to a certain position in life? And I
go do anything and everything. I mean, your exemple is
a great one, but I go but the same thing.
You know, I went to co college and see the
rapetie or Division three school. You know, everybody's who watches
(03:53):
our show has heard the jokes about you know, fourteen
hundred students all.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
This kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
But I've never taken a journalism class in my life.
I think they had speech for one or something.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
I didn't take that.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
So like we didn't have a campus radio stations, we
didn't have anything. But I knew that this is what
I wanted to do, so I found a way and
I called up though. I interned at CNN the summer
after my freshman year in college because CNN's based in Atlanta.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
I grew up in Atlanta, and back then this is
how old I am. CNN did sports.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
They had Sports Tonight, Hickman and Nick Charles, and it
was actually bigger than Sports Center was at the time,
and so I in there just again. I got paid
five dollars for every three hours I worked, so that's
definitely not even legal anymore.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
But that was what I did for the summer because
I knew I wanted to do this business.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
When I went back that fall, I called up every
local station, said, Hey, I interned at CNN. I'm willing
to do anything. And one guy wrote my number down
and called me back four months later and said, are
you willing to carry a gear? I just need someone
to do this. You don't get to be on TV,
you don't get to be famous for John Campbell's name,
and I still.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Keep in touch with him. He's retired now.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
But this is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where I went
to school, and so I did it the next week
he said will you do it again?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I did, and then he said, you know, what, what
do you want to do in this business?
Speaker 5 (04:57):
And I said, well, I think I want to be
a producer because I wanted to be behind scenes.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And you know, I never thought about that.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I never knew that about you.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, I never knew that. Never. And I was nineteen
years old. And so I did that for a while.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
I taught myself how to edit by hanging around to
see and end and watching the editors, and he taught
me how to shoot a camera. And then he said,
why don't you take the highlights we do at night
and just put your voice down on tape.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Just see what it sounds like, how it feels okay? Sure,
And so I did that.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
He took it to the news director unknownst to me,
and they said, well, why do we have him start
reporting on high school sports and co college? And then
I started doing Iowa and Iowa State, but all they
started when I was nineteen, and they go back to
the same point, you know, with you, and it's a
great lesson find a way, you know, this path that
we all want for our careers and our lives, and
we go, Okay, this person did this, this, this, That's
(05:45):
not how it's laid out for everybody, and that's not
always how it works.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
You're going to reach a fork in the road and
you're going to have to make a decision. And I
made those decisions to volunteer.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
You made those decisions to make the commitment to something
you want to do and stick with it, and they're
going to be bumps in the road. It is not
all going to be smooth, but it's never going to
be laid out the way you sit down and try
and draw out a plan and say, Okay, in five years,
this is where I'm going to be.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
What was the first I guess in your mind, big
thing you did in the early part of that career.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
And I say big thing, you know it could.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Be your first you know, local high school thing, whatever,
because we're all shitting in our pants in those first
days we're doing and still, you know, you go through
different things because you want to be you want to
call so break from how you do it.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Yeah, you want to, you want the end result. Yes,
you know you don't want We've all been there, and
some of us more than others. But you know how
like you go on vacation or whatever, you take a
break and then you got to get back in the gym,
and that first eight sucks. You know, it's it's like,
oh man, I didn't realize how. But we all want
the end result. We want it to be like we
are going to the gym all the time. But it's
not like that. When you start with your career or
(06:46):
with your life or anything. There's there's the sucky part.
And and so I think probably the first big thing
I did what I would consider a big thing, and
I can tell you what it got me a lot
of notice, so much of the people I was working with,
So that's probably a better way to say it was
that the University of Iowa hired a new basketball coach.
And at the press coffs, you know, you're working local
(07:07):
TV and you're doing everything. I'm stringing up cable, I'm
you know, trying to help set up the live shot
and then you know, Iowa in February, there's snow on
the ground and there's this hill I have to climb
up and down and up and down. You're trying to
look like you should be on TV, but I'm you know,
I'm snow covered, my feet are wet, I'm cold, and
on it. And I did that, and I went on
the air, and looking back, it probably wasn't as flawless
(07:29):
as people told me, but it felt flawless.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It felt smooth.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
I got the first interview with a new coach, live
on TV, all those kinds of things, and that got
me a lot of accolades because not only did people
see it, and I'm at that point, I may have
been twenty because it was my junior year in college,
but the people that I work with saw that I
wasn't someone who just wanted to be on TV and
be famous or whatever. You know, and I know it's
cedar rapids, but I was willing to do the work
(07:53):
and I was willing to help out. I was willing
to be one of the guys, and that gave me
more opportunities, because I like everything else, the more you do,
the more people allow you to do, you know, if.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
You show that you can do those kinds of things.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
And so I think that was a big, big moment
in my career because so much of what we do,
and you and I have talked about this, and all
of us on the show talk about it is relationships
and trust amongst.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
The people you work with.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Everybody, you can get them on your side, then you're
allowed to do so many more things well. And also
you feel more comfortable and you have the freedom to
do it. But you know, it's not that you're doing
it because it's transactional. It's because you want to be
respected by the people that you work with and that
you consider, you know, the closest to you. So I
think by doing that and having people say, wow, this
kid's willing to bust his ass, this kid really wants
(08:38):
to do this. He doesn't just want to be on TV,
So why don't we try to help him out? And
people put their arm around me. And again, you know,
when I graduated from college, I had been on the
air for two and a half years, you know, and
that's better than any classroom education you ever get.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
But I got that because people embrace me and put
their army. Run.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Hey, you know, I think you know, for Kurt and
I too.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Again, he and I they said, we walked this walk
together for so freaking love on. My first year in
New York was eighty nine, and it took me so
ninety nine to get a full time job.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
And you have these relationships that you meet. But I
also remember where you, for me, really came on the scene.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It was ninety I moved to ninety five, right right,
So we became friends in ninety five. By ninety seven
you broke the story of the New York Giants hire
and Jim Fostl and who else they were interviewing.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I'm like, Daviness, what I'm trying to do? And a
local five.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Guy who was by one of my closest friends hasn't
even told me he's got to beat on this stuff.
But again, we've been able to see this different part
of us for all those years. So, hey, you, breaking
news has helped you build with you in New York,
and they did it because they trust you. Me trying
to do television has established me better what I've done. Also,
I'm not just trying to be an insider a breaking
(09:48):
news guy anymore. I'm trying to be a TV personality,
which have more longevity.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Yeah, But also, I keep repeating, it goes back to
trust and relationships. I can tell the story now because
he's no longer with us, so it's not revealing a source.
But you know, I was a local guy, went to
New York in ninety five. You and I the reason
we became friends. I would hang out in the media
room and all that. So it's nothing but a bunch
of writers, you.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Know, and me. The TV guys.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
They come in, they get an interview for the one
hour that the team less them, and then they go home.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
They don't establish relationships. And so that was one of
the things I did.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
And so I remember being in the office one day
and the late Great Georgia, my mentor, and the same thing,
same thing, and he's like, look, I see how hard
you work.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
You ever need anything, call me.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
Now, I'm not saying George was feeding the stuff all
the time, but you know, he helped. He's helped, and
he also helped if I had any questions about anything
or trying to established relationships.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
And I know he was big for you, but that
was the kind of man that he was.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
And everybody saw the old gruff and you know, curmudgeon
guy who hated agents and all that kind of stuff,
But he was another sign of someone they had trusted
me because they saw my work ethic and how committed
I was to try to do the right thing. And
he just goes back to man, there's so much of
this business, and really life is about trust.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And and kurtwcy Or in the early days too, I
would I was players coach guy, and the Giant people
and Johnson are trying to get me fired all the time.
And George Young, they were trying to get me fired,
people fired to lose my career.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Everything newspaper. He wasn't even getting right at New York
on TV, which was giving me a car service.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
That was it. And George Young would screaming people in
the bell like leave up the helllone. He's a good
yet he works hard.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
But that same George Young when I finally did start
covering the NFL, George never had to drop of alcohol
in his life. And you know, as you know kurtim,
I was always doing it different than everybody else.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
I was.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
You know, everybody else would have coffee meetings. I get up,
i'd go fight, I'd come back. I'd drink in the
bar till whatever time. And that was how I established it.
George Young in the early NFL owners meetings, would sit
with me in the bar late at night just to
establish me to other people that they could trust me.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
And that's where you and I together.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I think it's always been what we've had on the
rest of the world. It's that authenticity, it's that loyalty,
it's that trust. That's what goes so long. And I
was trying to tell young reporters, like, don't go for
the scoop. You work on the relationship exactly. You go
for the school and get.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
This put right.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, you'll get.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
This to what's the early piece of advice that you got,
Like I'm saying here, you know, don't go for the scoop,
go for the relationship. What's the early piece of advice
that still resonates with you to this day.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
I think it's it's for yourself, you know, when you
start out. And again I think this transferreds to this
banking insurance. Doesn't matter what you're doing. We all see
people we go I want to be that person. I
want to be like that person. Well, that person already
has that job. You know, You've got to be you.
You can't become them. You can learn from them. You
(12:51):
can find out that the pitfalls, you can find out
that the benefits, the positive ways to do it, but
you still got to do it within yourself and who
you are. And again go back to don't make this
a love fest, but I mean you you found a
way to do it your way. You weren't doing it
the same way that other insiders were doing it, or
writers when you were writing for the New York.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Post were doing it, and the same way with me.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
It's like, you've always got to be yourself because if
you're trying to be someone else, you're going to fail
at that because again, that job's already taken, but you
can only fake it for so long.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
You've got to be yourself.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
And I don't care what business that is, what industry
it is, or what relationship. I mean, hell, if you're
married or dating someone, you can't think being the person
that you're not. And I think that was a piece
of advice I got really when I was starting out
in this business. Probably I talked about John Campbell, the
same guy that got me started, and sit put your
boys down on tape. You know, don't try to sound
(13:43):
like someone else. Just your voice works for you, your
rhythm works for you. Your cadence works for you. Do
it your way, and then you'll get better at it.
You'll find a way to massage your personality or your
job skills into the job that's required.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
But it's still got to be you.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
You know exactly what you're saying. I've always tried to
be different and different scary for most people, right. People
want to be a face in the crowd. I'm always like,
fucked out, I'm gonna build my own crowd.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
But I needed my people when all the hours were
getting shot at me for being different, to lean into.
And that was always you. That was always straight hand.
And by the way I talked about that show, Kurt
and I did unnecessarily rough this. We had to convince
a different Jet Giant to drive into New York City
once a week in the cavern in Madison Square Garden,
(14:27):
which was outside in the cold, and do this show
with us, and most people bailed on us.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Must people bailed on us. So our go to guests
was always straight ahead.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Yeah, because also, like you said, there was no car service,
there was you know, nothing they got for doing it
other than just to thank you from us and any
one of whose listeners driving him out of the city
from New Jersey, and if you might correct me, I
think we were doing the show at like six thirty
seven o'clock, so then we rush.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Yeah, you know, so they really had to do a favor.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
But again he goes back relationships, and you know, I
give you credit for all of those relationships.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
People were doing it as a favor for you.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Also, but you were also okay, but you were also
in this work. A guy like Michael got it.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
You were telling them and Tiki got it to it's saying, hey, guys,
this is your chance. You would tell them, this is
your chance to work on something that you could do
after you're.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Done with football. And that's why they jumped in it.
But that was you. You saw that. I didn't see it.
That was just my relationship you.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
That was your self, teamwork. That's it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So there is another part of again our relationship here, folks.
And it happened this past Sunday. But I've been doing
it for a long time. Is when I have my
meltdowns on Sunday, I would turn to Kurt.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I wouldn't turn anybody else, return to Kurt. And been
doing with that for for thirty years or whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
You know, of Sundays, even when we were doing Fox,
but even at Fox and Umple Sunday, I turned to you.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And I'm like, oh, man, I'm just I would have meltout.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
We'd have basically therapy sessions before we're going on the air.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, which is like, I don't know how you were
able to multitask that.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
And it's not just for me. It's with Terry, it's
with everybody else. But you're able to multitask. But man,
without being able to have that, you know, I don't
know how I would have gotten through.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
It all these years.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
I'm appreciative of you saying that, but to me, it's
just what you do for a friend.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
You know.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
You can say it's before we go in the air,
and it helps you, you know, on the broadcast, or.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
It makes the broadcast better. Whatever.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
Good that's a side benefit of it. But it's what
you do for a friend. If you've got a friend
that's in need. And whether that's you know, in that moment,
or whether it's a long term thing. You know, we
all struggle. I mean, even those of us who are
fun and happy all the time, we all have our
moments man, where we just kind of need somebody to
lean on, somebody to talk to. And you know, I
(16:50):
think you've been at the forefront of having this discussed,
particularly in the macho world of sports. And I mean
you look at you your MMA and football, which are
probably two of the most alpha male sports there are,
And you made it okay for people to talk about it.
But before that, you needed someone to talk to at
that moment. And I'm your friend, and I'm here for you.
How can I help you? And you know, and I
(17:11):
think one of the struggles that we all have, or
at least I'll speak for myself that I have, is
you want.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
To help that friend.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Sometimes there's nothing you can do except put your arm
around him and listen and have a conversation with him.
You can't shake someone out of this. Sometimes you can't. Hey,
suck it up and be talking. You can't force somebody
you know into a place you want them to be.
Sometimes the way you do that is just by sitting
there listening and letting you open up and letting you
share or just go you know what, Hey, I get
(17:38):
your brother.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
There are days like that.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
I'm sure it sucks, but I'm here for you, and
sometimes that's all you can do. But you know, according
to you, at least that makes a big difference for you.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
You know you're different. I was gonna hear just good time.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
I think we all get tied up in when someone
comes to us, we want to have the answers, and
sometimes the answer is I don't know the answer, but
I'm here for you, and that's okay, and that's good
enough sometimes.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
But where you're different than most of the world is
you don't do it on your timeline.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
So this Sunday is just Sunday is a big a
day for you, is for the rest of America.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
And yet you know my and I don't mean to
pull away, and people just say, why don't you tell
those guys because it's there's Sunday too.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
I don't want to do it.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
But all these years I did tell Kurt, and it
could be fifteen minutes before going.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
On the air and something's in my head. I'm melting down.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
And for other people just don't like that, where they
just go, Okay, I'm about to have the biggest moment
of my life. Also here every single Sunday, but let
me go step aside for him, Kurt.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
People just aren't like that.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Dude. Well, just not like that you are.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
I'm appreciate of you saying that I believe in helping others,
and to me, that's a way to help. It costs
me nothing other than a smile. And yeah, i'man mostly
invested because you're my friend. But I mean, there's there's
no dollar costs, there's no time costs. It is me
doing the best I can for someone I care about,
someone I love, and to me, that's all I look at.
(19:05):
And so I try to live my whole life that way.
Am I perfect? Absolutely not? But you know, everything I do,
I try to serve other people in some capacity and
not look at it. What do I get out of it?
Because for me, and I know this sounds hippie and
hoki and all this kind of stuff, But I get
joy out of other people's pleasure, out of other people's happiness.
(19:27):
I can go back to and again, I can tell
this story because he's not believing anymore, and I know
people look at it. Jim tom Sula was considered a
failure as a head coach in the National Football League.
He coached one year with the San Francisco forty nine ers.
I knew Jim tom Sula when he was volunteering as
a coach at Catawba College in North Carolina, then started
volunteering to do NFL Europe. Guy never had a coaching job,
(19:50):
wind up with Mike Nolan in San Francisco. You know
his family and I have been friends all these years.
The reason I'm telling his story is I was the
year he got hired. Was in January, and I was
in New York City and I get out of the
subway station. On my phone, I have a message from
Jim tom Sulla. So I answer it, and I still
have it on my phone to this day. He lasted
(20:11):
one year, got fired, became an assistant in Washington. He's
out of the league now back living in Europe. But
the point was, he was so excited about getting that
head coaching job for the San Francisco forty nine ers
that it made my heart happy.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
It brought me joy.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
It brings me joy to see other people in good
positions and to be happy. And that's how I try
to live my life in every single way. So if
you're in a bad spot and I can help you
get into a good spot, no matter what it takes,
to me, that's the benefit of it. You know, that's
the joy that I get. That's the pleasure I get.
So that's how I look at him.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Again.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
I know it sounds idealistic, and you know what's it
the John Lennon imagine.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
You know, you may say I'm a dreamer, but.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
The only one you know how I know how people
are out there and then you may just not run
into them on a daily basis, or maybe they don't
share it with you, But there are a lot.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Of people out there that their joy is other people
do it.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
So Kurt and I we just had a town hall
meeting this week of Fox our thirtieth year at the
NFL Fox and you said it in front of everybody,
and you said it a lot, and we both agreed, like,
I think the best moment we've.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Ever had Fox Sports.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
It's exactly what you were saying about when something happens
to somebody else. When Jimmy Johnson got notified he who's
getting inducted into the.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Hall of Fame live on our air.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, which, by the way, you see me running out
late to this because you thought our producer Bill Richards
told me.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Bill thought you told me.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
I'm sitting in our Kurt and I was share a
green room or a dress room, gout. I'm sitting there
trying to get scoopage and I look up on the
monitor and on my fellow David Baker doing it. I
come run in here late, but just kind of replay that.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Yeah, for the world, I consider that the greatest movement
of thirty year hit through the Fox Sports.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Yeah. I've been on the pregame show for eighteen is
this nineteen for you? Twenty twenty?
Speaker 5 (22:03):
So like you and I have not been there from
day one, but we've been there hell of a long time. Yeah,
we had I think we can. We're qualified to say
what are good moments? U. And So I knew that
happened obviously on a Sunday. It was a playoff game
between Saddle and Green Bay. And I'm trying to think
I knew on Tuesday or Wednesday that week that I
was told, but I couldn't say a word to anybody.
(22:23):
And I knew they didn't like even tell our director,
our producer, our CEO of Fox Sports, Eric Shanks, Jill
Rich's our producer, and myself. We were the only three
people that knew everybody else They kept secret audio people
type of people whatever so I had to keep this
a secret all week.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
That was the other challenge.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
So on the Saturday, did you tell your wife?
Speaker 4 (22:45):
No?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
No, what's she mad? No?
Speaker 4 (22:49):
She she enjoyed moment like that. She understand how happen.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
It's a valid question.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Valid question. But if I tell her and in a
moment she let it slip to you know, yeah, yep, yep.
She talks to Howie's wife a lot, and and you know.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
You don't want it to get out. So anyway, on Saturday,
CBS has a playoff game. We're all sitting in the
hotel room and we're watching the game and David Baker
from the Pro Football Hall of Fame goes on the
show to announce Bill Cowers going into the Pro Football
Hall of Fame, and it's emotional and everything, and so
Jimmy sees that and he goes, well, I guess I'm
not getting in this year.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Now.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
I know he's getting in, but I can't say, don't
worry about it, you're getting in. So I got to
kind of play along, and I'm like, well, you know,
it's not that big, Jimmy.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
You know, it's like, you know, happen for you at
some point. Oh, I don't even care.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
You know, I don't need I can get, but you
know he's got to be the tough guy at that point.
So then I saw him the next morning early the
next morning, came in and I could see he was
still he was he was He's bummed out because he
thought that was the year he was going to get it.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
He was bummed out, and I'm.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Inside, I'm just like, God, just let me give him
a little bit of a relief and tell him it's
going to be okay. But if I do that, then
it gives away at least a hint towards the secret.
So I have to keep it. We go when we
do the pregame show, because the previous game on CB.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
We're all consoling him like I would see with everybody thought,
yeah we're all right, happen And you had to watch
all of us console him that day.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Knowing right, I should win an oscar for my.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
I really should. Yes.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
So at CBS they have a Sunday morning playoff game.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
It runs long, so our pregame show is on.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
But we know, look, people are watching that playoff game,
so the audience isn't that big.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
You want to do what you want to do it in
front of a big audience.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
It had been planned to be on our pregame show
that Sunday, but because the other game ran so long,
they decided let's not do it.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
Let's save it for halftime.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
So then we go through a pre game and again
Jimmy's like, well, they did it on the CBS pre
game yesterday. They didn't do it for me yesterday. They
didn't do it in the pre game. So he's definitely done.
I mean, he's just like, all right, it's not going
So then that's when it became fun, actually, because I
knew he's going to be totally surprised by it. So
when we go on for the halftime, they asked Troy,
who was doing the playoff game, to stay there. They
(25:06):
put a camera and Troy didn't know why they'd like
to stay in and watch halftime, so they put a
camera on him, and I think you saw the tears
with Troy, you saw the joy of us in the studio,
and I just knew my job was, hey, before we
get to the highlights, I want to bring out a
special guest. And then that's when David Baker walked out
and made the announcement. That Jimmy Johnson, you're going to
be I can't remember the number, but whatever it is
(25:27):
in the Pro Football.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
And we all thought Jimmy was going to pass out
at that point, yep, because Jimmy has asthma.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
He's got a.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Neverbot But he started breathing and like, oh boy, is
he going to die right here on the set, you know,
So that was.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
The big worry at that point.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
But it was one of the again we talked about
great moments in the history of Fox Sports, and sorry
to believe the point, but it's one of those things
that I got Joe out of because I knew much
it meant to Jimmy, even though he wanted to try
and pretend it didn't.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
And what was cool, folks, is afterwards, me and Jimmy
and Bill and our whole crew.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
And that's the good thing about us at the NFL
Fox are It's not just this six of us that
hang out constantly. It's our producers, our directors, our associate producers,
tour president, our CEO are exactly like everybody. It's a
rolling party. It never stops, and it's what makes us all.
You know, Shan on the air because all of us
are so close. We went to Dantown's restaurant after and
(26:18):
this was like, got a hangover it right.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
We go in there and Jimmy comes in.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
It goes up on the on the TV in there,
and people start singing Happy Hall of Fame, like his
Happy Birthday, people throwing up napkins.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
A guy from zz Top was there.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
It was like a movie. Billy Gibbons came over.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
It was like the Hangover's unbelievable exactly.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
It was perfect.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
And so that was really kind of a cool moment
because not only did Jimmy get in, you got the
announcement on TV.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
You got to see the emotion with.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Him and Troy, one of his former players, and all
his current co workers of those of us doing it.
But then he goes up there and he sees how
much he's appreciated by the general public, how much this
moment meant to other people, and I think he got
emotional again. And so again that is not only what
the top moments in Fox sports history, it's one of
the top moments of my life. Like when you go back,
that's of all the cool things that we've been blessed
(27:07):
and fortunate enough to be a part of that's gonna
be in the top three for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
What is the cool? So all right, so we've done again.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
People don't know Kurt and I man, we label, we work,
we work, we work, and we work and every time
we get to and we're the only ones not on
the show that the other ones that we know why
they're on the show. They are Hall of Fame players
or coaches. Are we are a Hall of fam hustlers though, yeah, right,
that's exactly what we are.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
We have outworked the fucking world to get to where
we are, and we have been turned down and rejecting.
We just we don't.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Stop, right, But every time something really cool happens for us,
I'll usually turn to Howie and go, hey, and now
we're supposed to act like we've been there before, but.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Fuck that, I have it. This is cool.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Right, So we've got I did that. We got inducted into,
you know, broadcasting, the Hall of Fame. And for the
coolest one for me, we were doing the Emmys pre show.
You're at the desk, you Howie, Jimmy and I and
Kurt Stray and Terry doing interviews on the red carpet
and I'm right. I'm telling you card of my current
(28:08):
so far from New York One TV and MSG Network
right on.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
That to me is still kind of stuck out. It's
just like, you've got to be shitting me, how did
I get here? Give me the biggest moment for you
of like, how the fuck did I get here? Type
of moment.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
I always go eight year old me, that's my line. Okay,
I can tell the eight year old me, you're going
to do this. You think you're crazy. So that's my
perspective with everything, and I think it is. It's kind
of a I know this is gonna sound like a
cop out, but it's not the general answer of being
able to call not only work friends but real friends,
(28:43):
Howie Long, Michael Strahand, Jimmy Johnson, Jay Glazer, Terry Bradshaw,
Hall of famers. Like when I was a kid, the
first NFL game I ever went to, I saved up
my grass cutting money, bought a ticket to in Atlanta
Falcons Pittsburgh Steeler season game, went by myself, sat in
the stand. It was Kerry didn't even play that game
(29:06):
because his preseason here hurt his elbow, so I didn't
get to see. But like he was a guy who
was winning super Bowls when I was a kid. Howie
Long was winning super Bowls when I was a kid. Yeah,
I knew Michael the second year in the league, but
I mean, Michael's a Hall of Famer in a whole
different category of human being.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Jimmy Johnson was coaching the Dallas.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Cowboys to two super Bowls when I was in Dallas
as a local guy, and he was the mean, rough guy.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
That you barely con tied with.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
But like, you get all these people and you're like, okay, wow,
I get to be with them and watch football and
learn from them.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
I mean so much of it. You know, you're there.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
We'll sit there and they'll break down a play or
strategy or hey, Jimmy, what would you do in this situation?
And you know, it's taught me a lot about the
game to be with them on a regular basis, but
also to consider them friends and to spend time.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
In the off season.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Or you know, I'll sit here and the phone rings
and it's Jimmy, and Jimmy's like, hey, Kurt, what you
got going? You just call him to shoot the crape.
Like Jimmy Johnson is calling me to shoot the crap.
I mean, that's all it is. There's no under there whatsoever.
So I think those are the moments that I look
and I go, I can't believe this is where I
am in life, you know, I really do. It sounds
(30:09):
again like a cop out, and I'm not selling the show.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
It is a cop out. So no, I want to
I want Tom answer.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
No, I want a moment though that I want one
of these things that we've done, because that's the other
cart and I will also pull each other's side and go, oh,
we can't really tell each other like man, we just
because we don't. You do want to act like you've
been there before, but you also say a thing I
want eight year old Jason and you know eight year
old Curtis.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
No, here's one and it didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
But oh, then you can't say it if it didn't happen. No, no, no,
no no no.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
I don't understand why. The first Super Bowl I was
host of for Fox was in uh was the Giants
against the Patriots the upset year okay, oh seven straight
year yeah, two thousand and eight January that year in
the Super Bowl in Arizona.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
And so you know obviously they halftime showing all this
kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
And Scott actor and was our producer at the time,
and he pulled me to the side and he goes, hey,
you know the Super Bowl Sunday, Tom Petty is doing halftime,
but he's asked.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
For you to introduce him.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
And I go, what he is, Yeah, but I want
you to know that Fox is fighting it because they
want Ryan Seacrest to introduce him because American Idol was
the big show at the time. They want to tie
into music. Is what I didn't want.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
You want a shitty thing to tell you before. This
is the day before Okay, okay, you're talking about Game D.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
That's when you need to turn to me.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Okay, I know, I'm sad.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
And his point he goes, look, I'm telling you because
I don't want you to hear from someone else that
he wanted it and Fox fought it. They're doing it
because they're trying to pump up American Idol, which was
a new kill at that time.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
All this kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
At that point, I'm like, I didn't know this. I'm
all the same thing. I'm like Tom Peenny knows who
I am. Are you serious? He goes, yeah, specifically he
asked for you. He didn't just say somebody else. He's
at Kurt benefit. So that was one of the coolest things.
And it didn't happen because Fox one and Ryan se
But that's a cool moment to have in your life,
in your background. It's like, eh, I'll stay close.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
That is really damn close.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I still we do get to work with our best
friends obviously, right, it really is true, like man, we
are best friends, and it's just it.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Will never happen again. Like that we talk about, you know,
the last dance our show is the last dance.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
It will never happen because I don't think you'll ever
have another show that is able to check individual egos
the way we do that how much we just love
each other and want the best for each.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Other and hang out with each other, and even though.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
We do have a million other things going on, we
make sure hanging with each other is a priority. So
I always talk about in mental health, you know, make
sure you have your team. You know, having a team,
having a team helps you out through those dark times.
And if you can get through those dark times and
the good times are waiting to happen for you. It's
how you handle those dark times. But it is having
that team. I don't think there'll ever be another team
(32:53):
like this that ever exists in the history television.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
I just can't see it wrapping them. I think the
thing you said is everybody checks their ego at the door.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Uh, And I think that's really clear with everything we do,
and not only do you check your ego at the door.
It goes back to a little bit what a I was
saying earlier. Everybody supported one though, right, I want you
to succeed how he wants me to succeed.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
You know, Michael wants Jimmy.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
Everybody's pulling for each other, you know, with the Rise
and Tide lifts all both that kind of philosophy.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
Whatever. I think it's more than that, because I think
it's a genuine caring.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
It's not that if he's big, it'll make the show bigger,
which will make me bigger. No, no, no, it's I
want him because he's my boy, he's my guy. I'm
pulling for him to succeed. And that's what I don't know, certainly,
not with you know, six different personalities who're all you know,
taking but you know they're all Hall of famers that
they're all right. You know, they've all got as how
(33:45):
he likes to say, region of the peacock. Everybody's got
their own strength that they bring. Yet everyone is willing
to go what's best for us.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
And we're all very alpha, and yet we're also Yeah,
you're right, you feel protected in there.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
We check each other a lot, but man check kind
of like crazy.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah, you know it.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Well, we love each other right right off the bat, right,
Colonel come to me and go, hey, I'm just telling
you this, and I'll fucking melt down at Kurt at
one time, particularly right, I want to kind of went
off on you, and I called you later and I
and said, hey, thank you for telling me that like
I need.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
That's a friend. That's it, and that's how it should be.
Though we only need those people in our lives. To
me and using that as an example. But one of
the worst things you can do as a friend is
just always tell them what they want to hear. Sometimes
you got to tell your friends they don't want to hear.
But if you're really their friends, this is what they
(34:33):
need to hear. This is where they need to be
this is what they need to realize in the moment,
and it goes both ways. That friend has to be
willing to share that with you and just say, you
know what, I think you're being a little sensitive about this,
or you know you're going down the wrong path and
you're reading this the wrong way, rather than just.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Go yeah, screw that.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
You know we can all be to be that, but
that's not what you need an a genuine friend. But
I think that's what helps you handle the ups and downs,
you know, the ups and downs that come in all
thatspects and all walks of life.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Before I let you.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Go and ask you one question and I ask every yes,
we have all give me one moment that should have
broken you, could have broken you, but didn't. As a result,
you came through the other side of that tunnel stronger
and you're able to use that as your currency for
the rest of your life.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Certainly from a professional standpoint, one of the things that
stands out is that you know, I told that Third
on the Year when I was nineteen years old working
to see the rappittsile. I graduated from there and got
off the job in news because they didn't want to
add a third full time person in sports. I said no,
I want to do sports. Wound up going to Des Moines,
worked there and went to Madison, Wisconsin, which first job
(35:37):
I had behind an anchor desk. I was the weekend
sports taker. So I was there and I was coming
up two years. My contract was coming up, and there
was this organization called Mislows Sports News Network SNN and
they were what ESPN news, well what that used to
be now, but it was just sports news twenty four hours.
They didn't do games, they didn't do anything else. It
was highlights news, highlights news. They were based out Washington,
(36:00):
d C. And they said, hey, you know we're starting
up the stational company. This is nineteen ninety. Well it's
actually it was the end of nineteen ninety August to
nineteen ninety, going into ninety one, and they offered me
a job looking to take the next level going for
me the weekend anchor at Madison, Wisconsin, this nationale platform.
I said, yeah, I'll do it. So I left and
went again. Being single certainly helped. I went there in
August of nineteen ninety. In December ninety they go bankrupt
(36:23):
and so you got the holidays nobody's hiring. January of
ninety one, the first Gulf War breaks out, nobody's hiring
sports guys in particular. So I'm unemployed at that point,
and I'm like, okay, you know, and I'm twenty five,
so it's not like I have a life savings. You know,
I got no money. I'm unemployed. I come from a
single parent household. So I went back and spent Christmas
(36:44):
with my mom, but it wasn't like there was money
I could rely on there. I go back to Madison, Wisconsin,
and I wound up living with some friends, my husband
and wife, and they allowed me to stay with them.
But they were college friends, so I knew them. And
I wound up being out.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Of television for eight months until July the following year.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
And then I got offered a job in Jacksonville, Florida,
and wound up going there, and the rest.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Wound up being history, as they say.
Speaker 5 (37:11):
But that's a moment where I had to decide, Okay,
am I committed to this or am I going to
do something else?
Speaker 4 (37:17):
You know. I did whatever I could.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
And there was no freelance TV jobs back then, for sure,
or freelance radio. It was I went and volunteered. I
went and worked on a Senate campaign for rustlank goals
that wound up beating this four term senator. At that point,
he was a local guy and the only reason I
worked for this campaign because I needed a job and.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
I met him on a flight.
Speaker 5 (37:39):
So I met him on the flight when I was
going to SNN for the interview and he was sitting
beside me. He recognized me from TV. We got to talking,
exchanged numbers. So when I got back and I kind
of need something to do, He's like, okay, wants to
come work on my campaign. So he wound up winning.
But that's beside the point. The point is there was
eight months where I had pretty much no income zero.
(38:00):
I was living with friends in a town that I
didn't grow up there, and I had to make a decision, Okay,
how committed are you to this being your career, because
at that point you kind of need a job, You
need something else. Maybe it's time to turn the corner
and not do this, you know, maybe I need to
sell in shorge or work at a bank, or whatever
(38:21):
the other job is.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
I was a history major. They need to be a teacher.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
But I knew that in my heart, I'd be disappointed
in myself if I didn't keep fighting, and something would
show up and that would allow me to do what
I want to Now what level. I never thought about
being a network show or whatever. It was just getting
a job and being in sports locally again. And when
I got the job in Jacksonville, it was a sense
of relief. But it taught me how to fight through
(38:48):
adversity because we all like to think we could in
moments when times are tough, I'd be tough. You don't
find out until times are tough, you know. And that
was an eye opening moment, and that's one that I
will never forget, uh And it's one that I don't
mind sharing with people because I think a lot of
people get in that situation, you know.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
It's the book that I wrote.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
Losing is in everything about people losing famous events and
World Series and Olympics. But part of the reason I
wrote that because I wanted people to get lessons out
of it. And my stories are saying life is not smooth.
We're all gonna have adversity. You're gonna lose your job unforcedly,
you get divorced, you lose the loved one, They're hard.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Things that we have to deal with.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
I think there are lessons that come out of sports
and jobs and things you can learn from other people,
But what are those lessons? And that's why I don't
mind sharing that story, because I think I've certainly learned
that lesson about perseverance, and hopefully other people can too
just by hearing it.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Man, Well, I'm obviously so glad you didn't quit, because
if you didn't quit.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
How would be screwed? I'd be screwed again. He is
America's pregame ost to me.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
You should say America Sweetheart. That's what you're gonna say.
Speaker 6 (39:57):
America's Sweetheart's my therapist slash posts and one of my
best friends I could ever hope for my life.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Man, I appreciate your brother. Again.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Kurt Menafee here in the Apreakable podcast, thank you, abut
thank you,
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast
helping you out of the gray and into the blue.
Now here's Jay Glacier.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome into Unbreakable, the Mental Health Podcast with Jay Glazer.
I'm a Jay Glazer and what's cool about my podcast
here is I get to bring on experts of all
walks of life. And before I get to this expert,
he is an expert in what he does, which is
television hosting, but he's also more of an expert than
probably anybody on the planet and dealing with Jay Glacier's crazy.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
So he's the perfect gift for today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
So before I get to him, if you're like many people,
you may be surprised to learn that one in five
adults in this country experienced mental illness last year.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
You have far too many fella received the support they need. Carolyn.
Behavioral health is doing something about it.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
They understand that behavioral health is a key part of
whole health, delivering compassionate care that treats physical, mental, emotional,
and social needs. Intented Carol and behavioral health raising the
quality of life through empathy and action. And so Welcome
into Aunbreakable Mental Health Podcast with Jay Glazer, and I
would like to introduce to everybody here. Some of the
America already knows one of America's favorites, but certainly one
(01:12):
of my favorites of all time. He is one of
my best friends. He is a mentor, He is my psychiatrist.
He is our humble host. He is the one and
only Kurt Benafie.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
How are you, brother, hey Man? Always good to be
with you.
Speaker 5 (01:24):
Yes, I put up with your self, but you should
probably think my wife for putting up with your stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
That later on.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
But your wife doesn't. You have to deal with me
on Sundays. You do.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
That is true. That is true, pil. But I've been
doing this for thirty years now.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Yeah, and I've known each other since nineteen ninety five,
right was when we first met in New York. And
it is one of the things I always tell people
I admire about you, is you know you were writing
for the Free Giants US paper and correctly, if I'm wrong,
you got paid sometimes and sometimes you didn't.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
No more most of the times I did.
Speaker 5 (01:58):
Yeah. The people see you now and they go, Okay,
look at Jake Laser and he's at this position. I go,
he's worked his ass off to get there, and he's
fought through a lot and overcome a lot of hurdles.
But you made yourself.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
You're.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
If there's a definition of a self made man, you are.
And so that's why I'm a big support of you.
I'm a big believer in you. And that's why I
love you to death.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Brother.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I appreciate you, brother.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And what people don't realize here also, and this is
a good lesson for people is again I was trying
to piece it together roll those years, and every time
I can get any sort of job for any kind
of money, I get.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Well.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
One year, I was doing a radio show early on
for call Unnecessary Roughness for basically it was a free
stake right at it was a Mickey Mantles restaurant at
another place and MSG network was turning into a.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
TV show and they said to me, you could pick
anybody you.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Want to co host this with, any player you want
to post this with.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Who do you want? And I said, I want Kurt
Menafee And they said Kurt Menafie. He's not a player.
I said, I said, well.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
He was back in grade school, but exactly middle school,
middle school in school.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Give me credit.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
But the bigger thing.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
For me was I said I want to co host
with Kurt Menafie and they said why. I said, because
I want to learn how to do TV and who
better to learn from than Kurt. And it really was
like I got like I wasn't a host and also
like people my first TV gig was New York one
TV and they said, I didn't go to school for this.
I just went on there like, oh, we're I like this.
I think I'll get girls with, you know, with being
(03:24):
on camera. But that was a big.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Thing for me to learn how to do TV from you.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
I appreciate you saying that, but I think that what
you talked about is an example. It's one thing that
I tried to share with particularly young people who always ask, hey,
you know, how can I do this or how can
I get to a certain position in life? And I
go do anything and everything. I mean, your exemple is
a great one, but I go but the same thing.
You know, I went to co college and see the
rapetie or Division three school. You know, everybody's who watches
(03:53):
our show has heard the jokes about you know, fourteen
hundred students all.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
This kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
But I've never taken a journalism class in my life.
I think they had speech for one or something.
Speaker 4 (04:00):
I didn't take that.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
So like we didn't have a campus radio stations, we
didn't have anything. But I knew that this is what
I wanted to do, so I found a way and
I called up though. I interned at CNN the summer
after my freshman year in college because CNN's based in Atlanta.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
I grew up in Atlanta, and back then this is
how old I am. CNN did sports.
Speaker 5 (04:15):
They had Sports Tonight, Hickman and Nick Charles, and it
was actually bigger than Sports Center was at the time,
and so I in there just again. I got paid
five dollars for every three hours I worked, so that's
definitely not even legal anymore.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
But that was what I did for the summer because
I knew I wanted to do this business.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
When I went back that fall, I called up every
local station, said, Hey, I interned at CNN. I'm willing
to do anything. And one guy wrote my number down
and called me back four months later and said, are
you willing to carry a gear? I just need someone
to do this. You don't get to be on TV,
you don't get to be famous for John Campbell's name,
and I still.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Keep in touch with him. He's retired now.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
But this is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where I went
to school, and so I did it the next week
he said will you do it again?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
I did, and then he said, you know, what, what
do you want to do in this business?
Speaker 5 (04:57):
And I said, well, I think I want to be
a producer because I wanted to be behind scenes.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
And you know, I never thought about that.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I never knew that about you.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, I never knew that. Never. And I was nineteen
years old. And so I did that for a while.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
I taught myself how to edit by hanging around to
see and end and watching the editors, and he taught
me how to shoot a camera. And then he said,
why don't you take the highlights we do at night
and just put your voice down on tape.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Just see what it sounds like, how it feels okay? Sure,
And so I did that.
Speaker 5 (05:23):
He took it to the news director unknownst to me,
and they said, well, why do we have him start
reporting on high school sports and co college? And then
I started doing Iowa and Iowa State, but all they
started when I was nineteen, and they go back to
the same point, you know, with you, and it's a
great lesson find a way, you know, this path that
we all want for our careers and our lives, and
we go, Okay, this person did this, this, this, That's
(05:45):
not how it's laid out for everybody, and that's not
always how it works.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
You're going to reach a fork in the road and
you're going to have to make a decision. And I
made those decisions to volunteer.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
You made those decisions to make the commitment to something
you want to do and stick with it, and they're
going to be bumps in the road. It is not
all going to be smooth, but it's never going to
be laid out the way you sit down and try
and draw out a plan and say, Okay, in five years,
this is where I'm going to be.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
What was the first I guess in your mind, big
thing you did in the early part of that career.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
And I say big thing, you know it could.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Be your first you know, local high school thing, whatever,
because we're all shitting in our pants in those first
days we're doing and still, you know, you go through
different things because you want to be you want to
call so break from how you do it.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Yeah, you want to, you want the end result. Yes,
you know you don't want We've all been there, and
some of us more than others. But you know how
like you go on vacation or whatever, you take a
break and then you got to get back in the gym,
and that first eight sucks. You know, it's it's like,
oh man, I didn't realize how. But we all want
the end result. We want it to be like we
are going to the gym all the time. But it's
not like that. When you start with your career or
(06:46):
with your life or anything. There's there's the sucky part.
And and so I think probably the first big thing
I did what I would consider a big thing, and
I can tell you what it got me a lot
of notice, so much of the people I was working with,
So that's probably a better way to say it was
that the University of Iowa hired a new basketball coach.
And at the press coffs, you know, you're working local
(07:07):
TV and you're doing everything. I'm stringing up cable, I'm
you know, trying to help set up the live shot
and then you know, Iowa in February, there's snow on
the ground and there's this hill I have to climb
up and down and up and down. You're trying to
look like you should be on TV, but I'm you know,
I'm snow covered, my feet are wet, I'm cold, and
on it. And I did that, and I went on
the air, and looking back, it probably wasn't as flawless
(07:29):
as people told me, but it felt flawless.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
It felt smooth.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
I got the first interview with a new coach, live
on TV, all those kinds of things, and that got
me a lot of accolades because not only did people
see it, and I'm at that point, I may have
been twenty because it was my junior year in college,
but the people that I work with saw that I
wasn't someone who just wanted to be on TV and
be famous or whatever. You know, and I know it's
cedar rapids, but I was willing to do the work
(07:53):
and I was willing to help out. I was willing
to be one of the guys, and that gave me
more opportunities, because I like everything else, the more you do,
the more people allow you to do, you know, if.
Speaker 4 (08:02):
You show that you can do those kinds of things.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
And so I think that was a big, big moment
in my career because so much of what we do,
and you and I have talked about this, and all
of us on the show talk about it is relationships
and trust amongst.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
The people you work with.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Everybody, you can get them on your side, then you're
allowed to do so many more things well. And also
you feel more comfortable and you have the freedom to
do it. But you know, it's not that you're doing
it because it's transactional. It's because you want to be
respected by the people that you work with and that
you consider, you know, the closest to you. So I
think by doing that and having people say, wow, this
kid's willing to bust his ass, this kid really wants
(08:38):
to do this. He doesn't just want to be on TV,
So why don't we try to help him out? And
people put their arm around me. And again, you know,
when I graduated from college, I had been on the
air for two and a half years, you know, and
that's better than any classroom education you ever get.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
But I got that because people embrace me and put
their army. Run.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Hey, you know, I think you know, for Kurt and
I too.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Again, he and I they said, we walked this walk
together for so freaking love on. My first year in
New York was eighty nine, and it took me so
ninety nine to get a full time job.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
And you have these relationships that you meet. But I
also remember where you, for me, really came on the scene.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It was ninety I moved to ninety five, right right,
So we became friends in ninety five. By ninety seven
you broke the story of the New York Giants hire
and Jim Fostl and who else they were interviewing.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I'm like, Daviness, what I'm trying to do? And a
local five.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Guy who was by one of my closest friends hasn't
even told me he's got to beat on this stuff.
But again, we've been able to see this different part
of us for all those years. So, hey, you, breaking
news has helped you build with you in New York,
and they did it because they trust you. Me trying
to do television has established me better what I've done. Also,
I'm not just trying to be an insider a breaking
(09:48):
news guy anymore. I'm trying to be a TV personality,
which have more longevity.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
Yeah, But also, I keep repeating, it goes back to
trust and relationships. I can tell the story now because
he's no longer with us, so it's not revealing a source.
But you know, I was a local guy, went to
New York in ninety five. You and I the reason
we became friends. I would hang out in the media
room and all that. So it's nothing but a bunch
of writers, you.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Know, and me. The TV guys.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
They come in, they get an interview for the one
hour that the team less them, and then they go home.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
They don't establish relationships. And so that was one of
the things I did.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
And so I remember being in the office one day
and the late Great Georgia, my mentor, and the same thing,
same thing, and he's like, look, I see how hard
you work.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
You ever need anything, call me.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
Now, I'm not saying George was feeding the stuff all
the time, but you know, he helped. He's helped, and
he also helped if I had any questions about anything
or trying to established relationships.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
And I know he was big for you, but that
was the kind of man that he was.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
And everybody saw the old gruff and you know, curmudgeon
guy who hated agents and all that kind of stuff,
But he was another sign of someone they had trusted
me because they saw my work ethic and how committed
I was to try to do the right thing. And
he just goes back to man, there's so much of
this business, and really life is about trust.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And and kurtwcy Or in the early days too, I
would I was players coach guy, and the Giant people
and Johnson are trying to get me fired all the time.
And George Young, they were trying to get me fired,
people fired to lose my career.
Speaker 6 (11:14):
Everything newspaper. He wasn't even getting right at New York
on TV, which was giving me a car service.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
That was it. And George Young would screaming people in
the bell like leave up the helllone. He's a good
yet he works hard.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
But that same George Young when I finally did start
covering the NFL, George never had to drop of alcohol
in his life. And you know, as you know kurtim,
I was always doing it different than everybody else.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
I was.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
You know, everybody else would have coffee meetings. I get up,
i'd go fight, I'd come back. I'd drink in the
bar till whatever time. And that was how I established it.
George Young in the early NFL owners meetings, would sit
with me in the bar late at night just to
establish me to other people that they could trust me.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
And that's where you and I together.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
I think it's always been what we've had on the
rest of the world. It's that authenticity, it's that loyalty,
it's that trust. That's what goes so long. And I
was trying to tell young reporters, like, don't go for
the scoop. You work on the relationship exactly. You go
for the school and get.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
This put right.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Yeah, you'll get.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
This to what's the early piece of advice that you got,
Like I'm saying here, you know, don't go for the scoop,
go for the relationship. What's the early piece of advice
that still resonates with you to this day.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
I think it's it's for yourself, you know, when you
start out. And again I think this transferreds to this
banking insurance. Doesn't matter what you're doing. We all see
people we go I want to be that person. I
want to be like that person. Well, that person already
has that job. You know, You've got to be you.
You can't become them. You can learn from them. You
(12:51):
can find out that the pitfalls, you can find out
that the benefits, the positive ways to do it, but
you still got to do it within yourself and who
you are. And again go back to don't make this
a love fest, but I mean you you found a
way to do it your way. You weren't doing it
the same way that other insiders were doing it, or
writers when you were writing for the New York.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Post were doing it, and the same way with me.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
It's like, you've always got to be yourself because if
you're trying to be someone else, you're going to fail
at that because again, that job's already taken, but you
can only fake it for so long.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
You've got to be yourself.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
And I don't care what business that is, what industry
it is, or what relationship. I mean, hell, if you're
married or dating someone, you can't think being the person
that you're not. And I think that was a piece
of advice I got really when I was starting out
in this business. Probably I talked about John Campbell, the
same guy that got me started, and sit put your
boys down on tape. You know, don't try to sound
(13:43):
like someone else. Just your voice works for you, your
rhythm works for you. Your cadence works for you. Do
it your way, and then you'll get better at it.
You'll find a way to massage your personality or your
job skills into the job that's required.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
But it's still got to be you.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
You know exactly what you're saying. I've always tried to
be different and different scary for most people, right. People
want to be a face in the crowd. I'm always like,
fucked out, I'm gonna build my own crowd.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
But I needed my people when all the hours were
getting shot at me for being different, to lean into.
And that was always you. That was always straight hand.
And by the way I talked about that show, Kurt
and I did unnecessarily rough this. We had to convince
a different Jet Giant to drive into New York City
once a week in the cavern in Madison Square Garden,
(14:27):
which was outside in the cold, and do this show
with us, and most people bailed on us.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Must people bailed on us. So our go to guests
was always straight ahead.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Yeah, because also, like you said, there was no car service,
there was you know, nothing they got for doing it
other than just to thank you from us and any
one of whose listeners driving him out of the city
from New Jersey, and if you might correct me, I
think we were doing the show at like six thirty
seven o'clock, so then we rush.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Yeah, you know, so they really had to do a favor.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
But again he goes back relationships, and you know, I
give you credit for all of those relationships.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
People were doing it as a favor for you.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Also, but you were also okay, but you were also
in this work. A guy like Michael got it.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
You were telling them and Tiki got it to it's saying, hey, guys,
this is your chance. You would tell them, this is
your chance to work on something that you could do
after you're.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Done with football. And that's why they jumped in it.
But that was you. You saw that. I didn't see it.
That was just my relationship you.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
That was your self, teamwork. That's it.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So there is another part of again our relationship here, folks.
And it happened this past Sunday. But I've been doing
it for a long time. Is when I have my
meltdowns on Sunday, I would turn to Kurt.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
I wouldn't turn anybody else, return to Kurt. And been
doing with that for for thirty years or whatever.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
You know, of Sundays, even when we were doing Fox,
but even at Fox and Umple Sunday, I turned to you.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And I'm like, oh, man, I'm just I would have meltout.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
We'd have basically therapy sessions before we're going on the air.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Yeah, which is like, I don't know how you were
able to multitask that.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
And it's not just for me. It's with Terry, it's
with everybody else. But you're able to multitask. But man,
without being able to have that, you know, I don't
know how I would have gotten through.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
It all these years.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
I'm appreciative of you saying that, but to me, it's
just what you do for a friend.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
You know.
Speaker 5 (16:23):
You can say it's before we go in the air,
and it helps you, you know, on the broadcast, or.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
It makes the broadcast better. Whatever.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
Good that's a side benefit of it. But it's what
you do for a friend. If you've got a friend
that's in need. And whether that's you know, in that moment,
or whether it's a long term thing. You know, we
all struggle. I mean, even those of us who are
fun and happy all the time, we all have our
moments man, where we just kind of need somebody to
lean on, somebody to talk to. And you know, I
(16:50):
think you've been at the forefront of having this discussed,
particularly in the macho world of sports. And I mean
you look at you your MMA and football, which are
probably two of the most alpha male sports there are,
And you made it okay for people to talk about it.
But before that, you needed someone to talk to at
that moment. And I'm your friend, and I'm here for you.
How can I help you? And you know, and I
(17:11):
think one of the struggles that we all have, or
at least I'll speak for myself that I have, is
you want.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
To help that friend.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
Sometimes there's nothing you can do except put your arm
around him and listen and have a conversation with him.
You can't shake someone out of this. Sometimes you can't. Hey,
suck it up and be talking. You can't force somebody
you know into a place you want them to be.
Sometimes the way you do that is just by sitting
there listening and letting you open up and letting you
share or just go you know what, Hey, I get
(17:38):
your brother.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
There are days like that.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
I'm sure it sucks, but I'm here for you, and
sometimes that's all you can do. But you know, according
to you, at least that makes a big difference for you.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
You know you're different. I was gonna hear just good time.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
I think we all get tied up in when someone
comes to us, we want to have the answers, and
sometimes the answer is I don't know the answer, but
I'm here for you, and that's okay, and that's good
enough sometimes.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
But where you're different than most of the world is
you don't do it on your timeline.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
So this Sunday is just Sunday is a big a
day for you, is for the rest of America.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
And yet you know my and I don't mean to
pull away, and people just say, why don't you tell
those guys because it's there's Sunday too.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
I don't want to do it.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
But all these years I did tell Kurt, and it
could be fifteen minutes before going.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
On the air and something's in my head. I'm melting down.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
And for other people just don't like that, where they
just go, Okay, I'm about to have the biggest moment
of my life. Also here every single Sunday, but let
me go step aside for him, Kurt.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
People just aren't like that.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Dude. Well, just not like that you are.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
I'm appreciate of you saying that I believe in helping others,
and to me, that's a way to help. It costs
me nothing other than a smile. And yeah, i'man mostly
invested because you're my friend. But I mean, there's there's
no dollar costs, there's no time costs. It is me
doing the best I can for someone I care about,
someone I love, and to me, that's all I look at.
(19:05):
And so I try to live my whole life that way.
Am I perfect? Absolutely not? But you know, everything I do,
I try to serve other people in some capacity and
not look at it. What do I get out of it?
Because for me, and I know this sounds hippie and
hoki and all this kind of stuff, But I get
joy out of other people's pleasure, out of other people's happiness.
(19:27):
I can go back to and again, I can tell
this story because he's not believing anymore, and I know
people look at it. Jim tom Sula was considered a
failure as a head coach in the National Football League.
He coached one year with the San Francisco forty nine ers.
I knew Jim tom Sula when he was volunteering as
a coach at Catawba College in North Carolina, then started
volunteering to do NFL Europe. Guy never had a coaching job,
(19:50):
wind up with Mike Nolan in San Francisco. You know
his family and I have been friends all these years.
The reason I'm telling his story is I was the
year he got hired. Was in January, and I was
in New York City and I get out of the
subway station. On my phone, I have a message from
Jim tom Sulla. So I answer it, and I still
have it on my phone to this day. He lasted
(20:11):
one year, got fired, became an assistant in Washington. He's
out of the league now back living in Europe. But
the point was, he was so excited about getting that
head coaching job for the San Francisco forty nine ers
that it made my heart happy.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
It brought me joy.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
It brings me joy to see other people in good
positions and to be happy. And that's how I try
to live my life in every single way. So if
you're in a bad spot and I can help you
get into a good spot, no matter what it takes,
to me, that's the benefit of it. You know, that's
the joy that I get. That's the pleasure I get.
So that's how I look at him.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Again.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
I know it sounds idealistic, and you know what's it
the John Lennon imagine.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
You know, you may say I'm a dreamer, but.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
The only one you know how I know how people
are out there and then you may just not run
into them on a daily basis, or maybe they don't
share it with you, But there are a lot.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Of people out there that their joy is other people
do it.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
So Kurt and I we just had a town hall
meeting this week of Fox our thirtieth year at the
NFL Fox and you said it in front of everybody,
and you said it a lot, and we both agreed, like,
I think the best moment we've.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Ever had Fox Sports.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
It's exactly what you were saying about when something happens
to somebody else. When Jimmy Johnson got notified he who's
getting inducted into the.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Hall of Fame live on our air.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Yeah, which, by the way, you see me running out
late to this because you thought our producer Bill Richards
told me.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Bill thought you told me.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
I'm sitting in our Kurt and I was share a
green room or a dress room, gout. I'm sitting there
trying to get scoopage and I look up on the
monitor and on my fellow David Baker doing it. I
come run in here late, but just kind of replay that.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
Yeah, for the world, I consider that the greatest movement
of thirty year hit through the Fox Sports.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Yeah. I've been on the pregame show for eighteen is
this nineteen for you? Twenty twenty?
Speaker 5 (22:03):
So like you and I have not been there from
day one, but we've been there hell of a long time. Yeah,
we had I think we can. We're qualified to say
what are good moments? U. And So I knew that
happened obviously on a Sunday. It was a playoff game
between Saddle and Green Bay. And I'm trying to think
I knew on Tuesday or Wednesday that week that I
was told, but I couldn't say a word to anybody.
(22:23):
And I knew they didn't like even tell our director,
our producer, our CEO of Fox Sports, Eric Shanks, Jill
Rich's our producer, and myself. We were the only three
people that knew everybody else They kept secret audio people
type of people whatever so I had to keep this
a secret all week.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
That was the other challenge.
Speaker 5 (22:41):
So on the Saturday, did you tell your wife?
Speaker 4 (22:45):
No?
Speaker 3 (22:46):
No, what's she mad? No?
Speaker 4 (22:49):
She she enjoyed moment like that. She understand how happen.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
It's a valid question.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Valid question. But if I tell her and in a
moment she let it slip to you know, yeah, yep, yep.
She talks to Howie's wife a lot, and and you know.
Speaker 5 (23:05):
You don't want it to get out. So anyway, on Saturday,
CBS has a playoff game. We're all sitting in the
hotel room and we're watching the game and David Baker
from the Pro Football Hall of Fame goes on the
show to announce Bill Cowers going into the Pro Football
Hall of Fame, and it's emotional and everything, and so
Jimmy sees that and he goes, well, I guess I'm
not getting in this year.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Now.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
I know he's getting in, but I can't say, don't
worry about it, you're getting in. So I got to
kind of play along, and I'm like, well, you know,
it's not that big, Jimmy.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
You know, it's like, you know, happen for you at
some point. Oh, I don't even care.
Speaker 5 (23:38):
You know, I don't need I can get, but you
know he's got to be the tough guy at that point.
So then I saw him the next morning early the
next morning, came in and I could see he was
still he was he was He's bummed out because he
thought that was the year he was going to get it.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
He was bummed out, and I'm.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Inside, I'm just like, God, just let me give him
a little bit of a relief and tell him it's
going to be okay. But if I do that, then
it gives away at least a hint towards the secret.
So I have to keep it. We go when we
do the pregame show, because the previous game on CB.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
We're all consoling him like I would see with everybody thought,
yeah we're all right, happen And you had to watch
all of us console him that day.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Knowing right, I should win an oscar for my.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
I really should. Yes.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
So at CBS they have a Sunday morning playoff game.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
It runs long, so our pregame show is on.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
But we know, look, people are watching that playoff game,
so the audience isn't that big.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
You want to do what you want to do it in
front of a big audience.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
It had been planned to be on our pregame show
that Sunday, but because the other game ran so long,
they decided let's not do it.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
Let's save it for halftime.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
So then we go through a pre game and again
Jimmy's like, well, they did it on the CBS pre
game yesterday. They didn't do it for me yesterday. They
didn't do it in the pre game. So he's definitely done.
I mean, he's just like, all right, it's not going
So then that's when it became fun, actually, because I
knew he's going to be totally surprised by it. So
when we go on for the halftime, they asked Troy,
who was doing the playoff game, to stay there. They
(25:06):
put a camera and Troy didn't know why they'd like
to stay in and watch halftime, so they put a
camera on him, and I think you saw the tears
with Troy, you saw the joy of us in the studio,
and I just knew my job was, hey, before we
get to the highlights, I want to bring out a
special guest. And then that's when David Baker walked out
and made the announcement. That Jimmy Johnson, you're going to
be I can't remember the number, but whatever it is
(25:27):
in the Pro Football.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 5 (25:28):
And we all thought Jimmy was going to pass out
at that point, yep, because Jimmy has asthma.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
He's got a.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
Neverbot But he started breathing and like, oh boy, is
he going to die right here on the set, you know,
So that was.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
The big worry at that point.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
But it was one of the again we talked about
great moments in the history of Fox Sports, and sorry
to believe the point, but it's one of those things
that I got Joe out of because I knew much
it meant to Jimmy, even though he wanted to try
and pretend it didn't.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
And what was cool, folks, is afterwards, me and Jimmy
and Bill and our whole crew.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
And that's the good thing about us at the NFL
Fox are It's not just this six of us that
hang out constantly. It's our producers, our directors, our associate producers,
tour president, our CEO are exactly like everybody. It's a
rolling party. It never stops, and it's what makes us all.
You know, Shan on the air because all of us
are so close. We went to Dantown's restaurant after and
(26:18):
this was like, got a hangover it right.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
We go in there and Jimmy comes in.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
It goes up on the on the TV in there,
and people start singing Happy Hall of Fame, like his
Happy Birthday, people throwing up napkins.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
A guy from zz Top was there.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
It was like a movie. Billy Gibbons came over.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
It was like the Hangover's unbelievable exactly.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
It was perfect.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
And so that was really kind of a cool moment
because not only did Jimmy get in, you got the
announcement on TV.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
You got to see the emotion with.
Speaker 5 (26:45):
Him and Troy, one of his former players, and all
his current co workers of those of us doing it.
But then he goes up there and he sees how
much he's appreciated by the general public, how much this
moment meant to other people, and I think he got
emotional again. And so again that is not only what
the top moments in Fox sports history, it's one of
the top moments of my life. Like when you go back,
that's of all the cool things that we've been blessed
(27:07):
and fortunate enough to be a part of that's gonna
be in the top three for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
What is the cool? So all right, so we've done again.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
People don't know Kurt and I man, we label, we work,
we work, we work, and we work and every time
we get to and we're the only ones not on
the show that the other ones that we know why
they're on the show. They are Hall of Fame players
or coaches. Are we are a Hall of fam hustlers though, yeah, right,
that's exactly what we are.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
We have outworked the fucking world to get to where
we are, and we have been turned down and rejecting.
We just we don't.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Stop, right, But every time something really cool happens for us,
I'll usually turn to Howie and go, hey, and now
we're supposed to act like we've been there before, but.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Fuck that, I have it. This is cool.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Right, So we've got I did that. We got inducted into,
you know, broadcasting, the Hall of Fame. And for the
coolest one for me, we were doing the Emmys pre show.
You're at the desk, you Howie, Jimmy and I and
Kurt Stray and Terry doing interviews on the red carpet
and I'm right. I'm telling you card of my current
(28:08):
so far from New York One TV and MSG Network
right on.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
That to me is still kind of stuck out. It's
just like, you've got to be shitting me, how did
I get here? Give me the biggest moment for you
of like, how the fuck did I get here? Type
of moment.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
I always go eight year old me, that's my line. Okay,
I can tell the eight year old me, you're going
to do this. You think you're crazy. So that's my
perspective with everything, and I think it is. It's kind
of a I know this is gonna sound like a
cop out, but it's not the general answer of being
able to call not only work friends but real friends,
(28:43):
Howie Long, Michael Strahand, Jimmy Johnson, Jay Glazer, Terry Bradshaw,
Hall of famers. Like when I was a kid, the
first NFL game I ever went to, I saved up
my grass cutting money, bought a ticket to in Atlanta
Falcons Pittsburgh Steeler season game, went by myself, sat in
the stand. It was Kerry didn't even play that game
(29:06):
because his preseason here hurt his elbow, so I didn't
get to see. But like he was a guy who
was winning super Bowls when I was a kid. Howie
Long was winning super Bowls when I was a kid. Yeah,
I knew Michael the second year in the league, but
I mean, Michael's a Hall of Famer in a whole
different category of human being.
Speaker 4 (29:20):
Jimmy Johnson was coaching the Dallas.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
Cowboys to two super Bowls when I was in Dallas
as a local guy, and he was the mean, rough guy.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
That you barely con tied with.
Speaker 5 (29:28):
But like, you get all these people and you're like, okay, wow,
I get to be with them and watch football and
learn from them.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
I mean so much of it. You know, you're there.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
We'll sit there and they'll break down a play or
strategy or hey, Jimmy, what would you do in this situation?
And you know, it's taught me a lot about the
game to be with them on a regular basis, but
also to consider them friends and to spend time.
Speaker 4 (29:48):
In the off season.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Or you know, I'll sit here and the phone rings
and it's Jimmy, and Jimmy's like, hey, Kurt, what you
got going? You just call him to shoot the crape.
Like Jimmy Johnson is calling me to shoot the crap.
I mean, that's all it is. There's no under there whatsoever.
So I think those are the moments that I look
and I go, I can't believe this is where I
am in life, you know, I really do. It sounds
(30:09):
again like a cop out, and I'm not selling the show.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
It is a cop out. So no, I want to
I want Tom answer.
Speaker 4 (30:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
No, I want a moment though that I want one
of these things that we've done, because that's the other
cart and I will also pull each other's side and go, oh,
we can't really tell each other like man, we just
because we don't. You do want to act like you've
been there before, but you also say a thing I
want eight year old Jason and you know eight year
old Curtis.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
No, here's one and it didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
But oh, then you can't say it if it didn't happen. No, no, no,
no no no.
Speaker 5 (30:37):
I don't understand why. The first Super Bowl I was
host of for Fox was in uh was the Giants
against the Patriots the upset year okay, oh seven straight
year yeah, two thousand and eight January that year in
the Super Bowl in Arizona.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
And so you know obviously they halftime showing all this
kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
And Scott actor and was our producer at the time,
and he pulled me to the side and he goes, hey,
you know the Super Bowl Sunday, Tom Petty is doing halftime,
but he's asked.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
For you to introduce him.
Speaker 5 (31:09):
And I go, what he is, Yeah, but I want
you to know that Fox is fighting it because they
want Ryan Seacrest to introduce him because American Idol was
the big show at the time. They want to tie
into music. Is what I didn't want.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
You want a shitty thing to tell you before. This
is the day before Okay, okay, you're talking about Game D.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
I was like, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
That's when you need to turn to me.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Okay, I know, I'm sad.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
And his point he goes, look, I'm telling you because
I don't want you to hear from someone else that
he wanted it and Fox fought it. They're doing it
because they're trying to pump up American Idol, which was
a new kill at that time.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
All this kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
At that point, I'm like, I didn't know this. I'm
all the same thing. I'm like Tom Peenny knows who
I am. Are you serious? He goes, yeah, specifically he
asked for you. He didn't just say somebody else. He's
at Kurt benefit. So that was one of the coolest things.
And it didn't happen because Fox one and Ryan se
But that's a cool moment to have in your life,
in your background. It's like, eh, I'll stay close.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
That is really damn close.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I still we do get to work with our best
friends obviously, right, it really is true, like man, we
are best friends, and it's just it.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Will never happen again. Like that we talk about, you know,
the last dance our show is the last dance.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
It will never happen because I don't think you'll ever
have another show that is able to check individual egos
the way we do that how much we just love
each other and want the best for each.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Other and hang out with each other, and even though.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
We do have a million other things going on, we
make sure hanging with each other is a priority. So
I always talk about in mental health, you know, make
sure you have your team. You know, having a team,
having a team helps you out through those dark times.
And if you can get through those dark times and
the good times are waiting to happen for you. It's
how you handle those dark times. But it is having
that team. I don't think there'll ever be another team
(32:53):
like this that ever exists in the history television.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
I just can't see it wrapping them. I think the
thing you said is everybody checks their ego at the door.
Speaker 5 (33:00):
Uh, And I think that's really clear with everything we do,
and not only do you check your ego at the door.
It goes back to a little bit what a I was
saying earlier. Everybody supported one though, right, I want you
to succeed how he wants me to succeed.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
You know, Michael wants Jimmy.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
Everybody's pulling for each other, you know, with the Rise
and Tide lifts all both that kind of philosophy.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
Whatever. I think it's more than that, because I think
it's a genuine caring.
Speaker 5 (33:23):
It's not that if he's big, it'll make the show bigger,
which will make me bigger. No, no, no, it's I
want him because he's my boy, he's my guy. I'm
pulling for him to succeed. And that's what I don't know, certainly,
not with you know, six different personalities who're all you know,
taking but you know they're all Hall of famers that
they're all right. You know, they've all got as how
(33:45):
he likes to say, region of the peacock. Everybody's got
their own strength that they bring. Yet everyone is willing
to go what's best for us.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
And we're all very alpha, and yet we're also Yeah,
you're right, you feel protected in there.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
We check each other a lot, but man check kind
of like crazy.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
Yeah, you know it.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Well, we love each other right right off the bat, right,
Colonel come to me and go, hey, I'm just telling
you this, and I'll fucking melt down at Kurt at
one time, particularly right, I want to kind of went
off on you, and I called you later and I
and said, hey, thank you for telling me that like
I need.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
That's a friend. That's it, and that's how it should be.
Though we only need those people in our lives. To
me and using that as an example. But one of
the worst things you can do as a friend is
just always tell them what they want to hear. Sometimes
you got to tell your friends they don't want to hear.
But if you're really their friends, this is what they
(34:33):
need to hear. This is where they need to be
this is what they need to realize in the moment,
and it goes both ways. That friend has to be
willing to share that with you and just say, you
know what, I think you're being a little sensitive about this,
or you know you're going down the wrong path and
you're reading this the wrong way, rather than just.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
Go yeah, screw that.
Speaker 5 (34:50):
You know we can all be to be that, but
that's not what you need an a genuine friend. But
I think that's what helps you handle the ups and downs,
you know, the ups and downs that come in all
thatspects and all walks of life.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Before I let you.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Go and ask you one question and I ask every yes,
we have all give me one moment that should have
broken you, could have broken you, but didn't. As a result,
you came through the other side of that tunnel stronger
and you're able to use that as your currency for
the rest of your life.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Certainly from a professional standpoint, one of the things that
stands out is that you know, I told that Third
on the Year when I was nineteen years old working
to see the rappittsile. I graduated from there and got
off the job in news because they didn't want to
add a third full time person in sports. I said no,
I want to do sports. Wound up going to Des Moines,
worked there and went to Madison, Wisconsin, which first job
(35:37):
I had behind an anchor desk. I was the weekend
sports taker. So I was there and I was coming
up two years. My contract was coming up, and there
was this organization called Mislows Sports News Network SNN and
they were what ESPN news, well what that used to
be now, but it was just sports news twenty four hours.
They didn't do games, they didn't do anything else. It
was highlights news, highlights news. They were based out Washington,
(36:00):
d C. And they said, hey, you know we're starting
up the stational company. This is nineteen ninety. Well it's
actually it was the end of nineteen ninety August to
nineteen ninety, going into ninety one, and they offered me
a job looking to take the next level going for
me the weekend anchor at Madison, Wisconsin, this nationale platform.
I said, yeah, I'll do it. So I left and
went again. Being single certainly helped. I went there in
August of nineteen ninety. In December ninety they go bankrupt
(36:23):
and so you got the holidays nobody's hiring. January of
ninety one, the first Gulf War breaks out, nobody's hiring
sports guys in particular. So I'm unemployed at that point,
and I'm like, okay, you know, and I'm twenty five,
so it's not like I have a life savings. You know,
I got no money. I'm unemployed. I come from a
single parent household. So I went back and spent Christmas
(36:44):
with my mom, but it wasn't like there was money
I could rely on there. I go back to Madison, Wisconsin,
and I wound up living with some friends, my husband
and wife, and they allowed me to stay with them.
But they were college friends, so I knew them. And
I wound up being out.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Of television for eight months until July the following year.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
And then I got offered a job in Jacksonville, Florida,
and wound up going there, and the rest.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Wound up being history, as they say.
Speaker 5 (37:11):
But that's a moment where I had to decide, Okay,
am I committed to this or am I going to
do something else?
Speaker 4 (37:17):
You know. I did whatever I could.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
And there was no freelance TV jobs back then, for sure,
or freelance radio. It was I went and volunteered. I
went and worked on a Senate campaign for rustlank goals
that wound up beating this four term senator. At that point,
he was a local guy and the only reason I
worked for this campaign because I needed a job and.
Speaker 4 (37:37):
I met him on a flight.
Speaker 5 (37:39):
So I met him on the flight when I was
going to SNN for the interview and he was sitting
beside me. He recognized me from TV. We got to talking,
exchanged numbers. So when I got back and I kind
of need something to do, He's like, okay, wants to
come work on my campaign. So he wound up winning.
But that's beside the point. The point is there was
eight months where I had pretty much no income zero.
(38:00):
I was living with friends in a town that I
didn't grow up there, and I had to make a decision, Okay,
how committed are you to this being your career, because
at that point you kind of need a job, You
need something else. Maybe it's time to turn the corner
and not do this, you know, maybe I need to
sell in shorge or work at a bank, or whatever
(38:21):
the other job is.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
I was a history major. They need to be a teacher.
Speaker 5 (38:25):
But I knew that in my heart, I'd be disappointed
in myself if I didn't keep fighting, and something would
show up and that would allow me to do what
I want to Now what level. I never thought about
being a network show or whatever. It was just getting
a job and being in sports locally again. And when
I got the job in Jacksonville, it was a sense
of relief. But it taught me how to fight through
(38:48):
adversity because we all like to think we could in
moments when times are tough, I'd be tough. You don't
find out until times are tough, you know. And that
was an eye opening moment, and that's one that I
will never forget, uh And it's one that I don't
mind sharing with people because I think a lot of
people get in that situation, you know.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
It's the book that I wrote.
Speaker 5 (39:10):
Losing is in everything about people losing famous events and
World Series and Olympics. But part of the reason I
wrote that because I wanted people to get lessons out
of it. And my stories are saying life is not smooth.
We're all gonna have adversity. You're gonna lose your job unforcedly,
you get divorced, you lose the loved one, They're hard.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
Things that we have to deal with.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
I think there are lessons that come out of sports
and jobs and things you can learn from other people,
But what are those lessons? And that's why I don't
mind sharing that story, because I think I've certainly learned
that lesson about perseverance, and hopefully other people can too
just by hearing it.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Man, Well, I'm obviously so glad you didn't quit, because
if you didn't quit.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
How would be screwed? I'd be screwed again. He is
America's pregame ost to me.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
You should say America Sweetheart. That's what you're gonna say.
Speaker 6 (39:57):
America's Sweetheart's my therapist slash posts and one of my
best friends I could ever hope for my life.
Speaker 3 (40:04):
Man, I appreciate your brother. Again.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Kurt Menafee here in the Apreakable podcast, thank you, abut
thank you,
Hosts And Creators
Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
Jonas Knox
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