Iconic FOX Sports Broadcaster Chris Myers Joins the Show

Iconic FOX Sports Broadcaster Chris Myers Joins the Show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One o two on Sports Talk seven to ninety c. J.
Stroud is not on the field as the Texans allow
media access for a few minutes. Thus, the thought him
playing on Sunday is very much still up in the air. Look,
with the Texans playing the Bills a week from tomorrow,
the best case scenario is for him to take this

(00:20):
week off, let Davis Mills do his thing as the
Texans try to beat the Tennessee Titans. The man it
will call the game for Fox one of the most
recognizable television personalities we have seen in the history of
sports television, and we'll be calling the Texans Titan game
in Nashville. It's Chris Myers with us here on the
Matt Thomas showld Ross, Chris, it's been a few years.
Thank you for the time in good afternoon to you.
How are things.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm good, Matt, Thank you for that that kind of reduction. Yeah,
it's good to talk to you.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah. I want to get to your book.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
I want to get to how you and I had
our first conversation many years ago. But I want to
get to first and foremost the NFL. Right now, you well,
I'm sure i've watched the Jacksonville Houston game.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
You call the game against.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
The Jaguars in Vegas Raiders the week before that Jacksonville
has lost their mind.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
You have to understand why. I mean that way. That
performance last week was quite amazing to a lot of folks.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, they're still I mean watching the reaction of Liam Cohen.
I mean, everything that had to go wrong for them,
did I know, there were a couple of key penalties
in there, but everything that had to go right, you know,
for the Texas happened, and that's how it goes. I mean,
it went in their favor, different team, different circumstances. The
week before obviously against the Raiders, but some crazy stuff

(01:32):
happened late. You know, they had the record field goal,
they were able to survive going for two when the
Raiders could have beat them. So that's how the games
are playing a lot of one score games. I know
Texan fans are familiar with that. And Jacksonville is a
good team. They're a little thin, you know, some of
the things that have happened to their game plan with
Travis Hunter and now out for the year. But the

(01:52):
division is really about the Colts I think at this point,
and who could either slow them down or get in
as a wildcard. If the Texas have still hopes, they're
along with Jacksonville the.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
NFL television schedule, folks, for those who don't know, primarily
Fox had been an NFC teams, But you guys are
doing more AFC games than ever before.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
And you've saw New England a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
And we don't talk much Patriot football here and won't
do a whole lot, but the fact of the matter
is that's one of the teams that could be in
the Texans way.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Are you surprised at some of.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
These teams like Indianapolis and New England have just come
on the scene like they have so far this season,
You know.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Not really. I mean, if you have your quarterback and
you develop them properly, or at least he connects with
the kind of offensive scheme that you have, then I
think you're gonna do well. And Mike Rabel came in
and you could see a difference the way that Drake
May was being coached. Again, he was a rookie and
he didn't start right away, but later in his rookie year,
and then this year, Josh McDaniel's coming in and His

(02:50):
strength is as an offensive coordinator that a head coach,
even with a limited receiving corps. What they've done with
him and having called a couple of their games a
very impressive. He's got all the physical skills, got the
right kind of attitude. You're seeing him emerge. He's good.
He's going to be even better there, and he's he
can take off at a run if he needs to, but
he's not gonna live on that. The culture a unique situation.

(03:11):
They have a little bit of a I'm not saying
they're the Eagles, but the Saquon Barkley Jalen Hurts combo.
They have that potential with with Daniel Jones and what
Jonathan Taylor has has done, and their offensive line is solid.
A key pickup with lou Anarumo, the defensive coordinator who
is kind of kicked out of Cincinnati, has kind of
molded that defense and they had some strong points there

(03:33):
as well. So Daniel Jones, he's fallen back a little
into the you know, turnover prone Daniel Jones we might remember,
but he's learned a lot and actually he spoke when
I talked to him. His stop in Minnesota was of
great value. When when he was there with Sam Darnold
and learning from some of the things in their system
that he thinks is made of a better quarterback. So
I think those teams are for real? Are they for

(03:55):
Are they good enough to beat? You know, the Chiefs
and Bills at their peak, but we've seen achieves some
Bills look very vulnerable. So I think the AFC is
really wide open. Then you're ultimately what your record says
it is, and then it will matter if you get
into the playoffs and how will you perform there.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Chris Myers is whether it's some Fox Sports, we'll call
the Texans and Titans game, and we've always had a
chance when we talk to game broadcasters. You get a
chance to visit with coaches and players on Fridays or Saturdays.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Depending on who's the home team.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
With social media, Chris and the worrisome of intelligence getting out,
have those conversations. Are they still pretty off the record
helping you guys out or do you find yourself with
these coaches being a little more tight liped than maybe
when you were calling games ten years ago.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah? No, I think you were always tight lipped, And
I got to say some of the coaches were very
I don't want to say incooperative. Some were more cooperative
than others. That's probably the way to work another they
would give you more information if they were familiar that
they could trust you and say, hey, if you see
this scenario in this part of the game, we might
fake it. So just so you're aware, because our director

(05:03):
sits in there with our producer and myself and the
analyst and our reporters. So so, in other words, we're
trying to serve the audience, and they trusted. I had
a coach tell us, hey, if this guy comes in
the game, this wide receiver, you know he's not going
to catch. We're not throwing at him because he's a coward.
He's afraid to go over the middle. But just be
aware that you know he's out there at a block. So,
I mean, you have to respect you and you wouldn't

(05:25):
leak some of that information, but you do use it
in the broadcast. Well what I what I have found
is that a lot of information is out there before
you even sit out to talk to these guys. I mean,
you know they'll they'll tell you things and I don't
even know if they're aware of how it leaked. Out
through their staff or people covering the team, and and
and because of all of the I guess the sources
surrounding a particular team, but I still find them valuable.

(05:48):
Even I know some teams want to do zooms a
little bit more to keep it since that era has happened.
It keeps it easier on them. But but I, for example,
we're this weekend, we're we're setting up. We're going to
obviously talk with Themiko Ryans who we want to the
few players who want to talk to I think Cody
Barton is on our list for Saturday when the Texans
get into get into Nashville. But we don't know who
the quarterback is going to be. And I heard what

(06:09):
you said. We're kind of assuming that strout is They're
going to wait, and the league has been tougher a
little bit about concussion protocol where they're kind of, you know,
not not allowing teams to push things along. So we're
assuming it's going to be Davis Mills. But so we're
ready for either one, but they won't tell us that
until we actually sit out, And sometimes coaches will say, hey,
we'd rather just not be out till tomorrow morning or whatever,

(06:30):
and so you have to that trust has to be there,
and I think over years we've lived up to that,
and most of the coaches know that.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
The conundrum of Texans fans here Chris have is this
is a defense and with Will Anderson you've called games
before with him, this is a squad that could be
a legitimate AFC title contender. The offense with the offensive
line has been a work in progress. I'm not giving
you information that you don't already know, but I'm curious
how often do you run in that around your weekly

(06:58):
circles about man, there is one side of the ball
that's so prolifically good, on the other side that still
has so many question marks.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, you do have teams and oddly, look look at Denver.
You know, you had Sean Payton, this offensive minded quarterback
guru whatever, and yet he's got, you know, an outstanding
Bronco defense and that offense even though bo Nix is defeloping.
But it's not exactly we saw in their most recent game.
It's not exactly a high powered offense. I mean, Brian Billick,
who is this great offensive coordinator and head coach of

(07:27):
the Ravens, won a Super Bowl because of the Ravens
defense going back historically, so those things happen. What I
love about you know, I look, Amiko Rods, I had
the pleasure called a you know when he first took over,
and C. J. Stroud was drafted, so I've kind of
seen and then there were some games in there. I
didn't get to watch the Texans a lot, but I
think there's a good core there and other than it, Look,
they've tried drafting in the offensive line. So the one

(07:48):
area that Texans just can't seem to hit. Let's hope
that the nursery is a guy that can develop. But
I love, I really do like what the healthy this defense.
We hope Petrie can play too. In concussion protocol for
this week, I mean number one scoring in defense and
number one in total defense. There was an interesting stat
about that that never before the Super Bowl era has

(08:09):
a team that has led the league in that not
been a playoff team. So if they continue that, that's
an encouraging stile. And I still think you can win
with defense. The Eagles are really doing more of that.
You just need your offense to kind of do their part.
And you know, I think the speed and the secondary's outstanding.
I think that Danil Hunter emerges Will Anders. I mean,

(08:31):
you know, I think there's a lot to like about
this defense, and that's going to have to All their
losses have been one score games, and if the offense
had done a little bit more, you know, then maybe
the record would be different. So I guess your question is, yeah,
you can be a little lopsided, but the other side
of the ball is going to have to do something
or you're not going to go very far if you
do get in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Chris Meers Fox Sports with usfore you let him run.
I want to talk about his book a little bit.
It's called That Deserves a.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Whole untold stories of legends and champions. You've got an
audio CD. How long did it take you to do that?
By the way, was that a.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Quick Well, the audio part took a long time to
go into a booth by yourself. I kind of read
what you wrote, yeah, but and you know you could
add to it a little bit. Sometimes there were some
moments after taking about a year to write it, going
back into the pandemic, putting together notes from ESPN, a
decade to twenty plus years at Fox and covering some

(09:24):
Super Bowls and World Series and interviewing you know, some
interesting people through the years, went up close. But it
was a lot of fun to kind of look back
on and really connect to where we are now. And
people who've had the audiobook really really appreciated that. But yeah,
it's about you know, I mean, time goes so fast.
You're in there and you're working, and you know it
is you're under the next assignment. And so when they

(09:44):
approached me, they said you had some unique things happen
and that you know, the OJ Simpson interview, the first
ever live you know, you were there at the at
the Earthquake World Series, you were there when Dale Earnhard
died at Daytona. I mean, these are moments that you know,
when Brady came back and won that Super Bowl, the
greatest comeback ever with the Falcon so and you were
in the middle of those for the network broadcasting ore

(10:06):
Network live on the air, and those moments. We want
to make sure people know about what it's like behind
that and what you were thinking at the moment. So
I tried to do the best of that, relating it
to how I was raised at my background in the
business to kind of bring the viewers. That's always what
you got to think of first, the listener of the viewer,
what they want to know, what they can know, and
what you can give them based on the great events

(10:27):
that I've been able to be around.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
My last question is I didn't interview you many many
years ago, and I was in nineteen ninety eight.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
You were at ESPN doing the.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Up Close Show and I was twenty six. I was
newly married and didn't have any kids. I could watch
whatever I wanted to do because that's what we did.
We didn't have kids. So I put a close on
on a RANDO day and there you are interviewing OJ Simpson,
and you came out all guns of blazing, and it's
worthy for those of you that never saw it.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
I'm sure it's on YouTube. It won't take you hard
to find it.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
It was one of the most amazing interviews of the
now deceased OJ Simpson. And just for a one minute
of background, if you don't mind, tell me what it
was like when you got in the studio with him.
Did he know that you were going to be as
forthcoming as you were?

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Set that up?

Speaker 1 (11:11):
And then what was it like when the conversation was
done and the cameras were turned off.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yeah, and it was the first live interview that OJ
Simpson had done after both, you know, not only the
double murder trial, but the wrongful death of lawsuit and
that one. Obviously he was found accountable and he had
wanted to come on the show. I think those are
the two conditions. It had to be live. And I
couldn't ask about his children, and I said, okay, that's fair,
but I got to ask everything else. And obviously he

(11:37):
wasn't happy. He knew I was going to ask about
what went on. I'm not going to talk about his
Heisman trophy or football days. And at the end of
that interview it was a little smug. They had great
talk in sports with you. That was his sarcastic shot.
But beforehand, in the Green real way, he was chilling.
I just I didn't say much. Usually I'll go in
and chat a little bit with people before we do
the show. In this case, I just said, thank you

(11:58):
for doing this. I appreciate it. He brought a pr
person and you know, we had some protesters. People thought
I shouldn't do the interview, that I was going to
glorify a killer. But it was the chance to ask
and this is why I brought up and in the
book some people in broadcasting have talked about it, the
chance to ask the questions that people would have asked,
or an attorney would have asked had he taken the stand,
you know, in that in that double murder trial which

(12:18):
he was acquitted, and I had really great help in
preparing talk to the lawyers, detectives, you know, doctors. I
saw evidence that even the jury didn't get to see it,
and there was no question that he was guilty. I
wanted to be fair, but I had to ask those
things and and and there were a few times he
tried to spin it. They told me, you know, I
think I mentioned this is the book. One of the

(12:38):
attorneys who defended him said, off the direct, I, you know,
I wouldn't do this interview. I said, why is it
just because he makes everybody attached to him, it's bad.
It turns out bad for you. I'm like, well, you
defended him, you know, it's like your issue. So uh yeah,
it was one of those things you just and I yeah,
you can watch it on YouTube. People still to this
day of the trial of the century for a great
athlete to have gone through that, uh and not so

(12:59):
great a person. I think you'll learn a lot about
him by watching that and reflecting a lot of the
information that has come out since the name.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
Of the book that deserves a while, untold stories of
legends and champions. They're wins and heartbreaks, written by Chris Myers,
who will be on the call for Texans Titans this
Sunday on Fox. Hope we get you a couple of
times next year. We want to do this again. Thank
you for the visit, mister Myers. We really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Well, yeah, my pleasure. Thank you. Come on with you
anytime you take care and enjoy the game.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
Thank you very much. Chris Myers, Fox Sports with us
here