August 12, 2022 • 26 mins
Brent Musburger is a true legend in American sportscasting. Over the years Brent has called just about every big NFL, NCAA, and MLB matchup. He helped coin the phrase “March Madness,” and was the forefather of the modern NFL pregame show at CBS in the 1970s, for generations his voice is synonymous with excellence in sports broadcasting. Musburger spends a few quality minutes schmoozing with Big Ben about his career, what’s next in his life after leaving the Raiders radio booth and how he came up with his famous catchphrase “You’re looking live,” during this breathtaking appearance. You can and should follow Brent on Twitter @BrentMusburger and listen and watch him talk gambling on VSiN from Las Vegas. Follow Danny G Radio on Twitter @DannyGradio, Follow Big Ben on Twitter @BenMaller, and listen to the original "Ben Maller Show," Monday-Friday on 450+ terrestrial Fox Sports Radio affiliates, iHeart stream, and SiriusXM Radio channel 83, 2a-6a ET, 11p-3a PT!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kaboom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a
week was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants
of the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse. The Clearinghouse of Hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
(00:23):
Ben Maller starts right now in the air everywhere, and
we thank you for joining us. It's a brand spanking
new edition of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor and
Danny G. Radio. I know that's a surprise. You probably figured,
(00:44):
since I was away from my watch post on radio,
that I would not be here. But no, no, the
podcast must continue no matter what. So abraca dabber, here
we are and a special with Asian. I had teased
this on the radio show earlier in the week before
(01:04):
I took my brief hiatus. Will explain more about that
on the Saturday podcast. But anyway, listen, this is somebody
I wanted to have on. I mentioned his name on
a previous podcast a while back when I was a
kid growing up watching this gentleman on TV, and now
as an adult here I am a middle aged human being.
(01:26):
I hope I'm middle aged. Who knows. You never know
how old you going to live? Watching football on TV.
When I would see this guy call a game up
until the last couple of years and I would hear
his voice, I immediately went nostalgia, and I would flash
back to when I was a little kid, fat Benny,
(01:46):
and I wanted to be a sportscaster, and I wanted
to talk about sports on radio and television and all that,
and I would watch these games, and so I flashed
back to that. The great Brent Musburger, a Hall of
Fame broadcaster, the man that helped create the modern phrase
(02:06):
or the modern pregame show, I should say, the the
NFL today. He's also he coined the phrase march madness,
and you are looking wive as well. So so known
for that and so many other things, and over the years,
I don't need to tell you the man's resume. The
resume speaks for itself. But Brent Musburger, he was the
voice of college football for a number of years. Uh
(02:29):
he was involved in the n c A men's basketball tournament.
I mentioned the phrase march madness, which he popularized in
his day, and he's called the Final four of course,
with for that the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl, the
World Series, US Open, Tennis, the Masters, pretty much everything
(02:49):
other than hockey. He was raised in Billings, Montana, Brett Musburger,
and he just recently stepped down after doing play by
a for the Las Vegas Raiders. He still very much
active in sports media. He helped found and he's the
(03:10):
managing editor of the Vegas Stats and Information that work
at gambling outfit based in Vegas, and he will still
be part of that, very much a part of that.
Visten and so see Brent Musburger on that through the
football season. But we had a chance to catch up
the Brent from his humble abode in Montana, and what
(03:33):
an honor it is to speak to the great Brent Musburger. Brent,
welcome to the podcast. I thank you. I know you're
very busy. Thank you spent some time with this. So
this past NFL offseason we mentioned it. You were the
play by play voice of the Raiders from until this
past year. You decided to put the mic down again.
(03:55):
This your second retirement. You retired from Network TV a
few year is back and so now you're stepping away
from the Raiders. So the question here, Brent is why
was the time right? My eyes are now eighty three
years old. Those radio puss boxes they keep putting them
higher and higher. My binoculars keep getting stronger and stronger.
(04:16):
You know what I mean. I needed more time, more
time to spend on my VS. I in owned by
Draft Kings. Got to take part in all the contests
in Las Vegas. Enjoy them. I'm up here in uh,
Montana with the family right now. So things are good,
and I hope the Raiders do well. They got a
tough first five games in that schedule. At opening game
(04:38):
against the Chargers, Chargers favored by three and a half
of Los Angeles. And I'm sure the Chargers will remember
what happened to them on the last game a year ago,
knocking the Chargers out of the playoffs with Daniel Carlson's
six field goals and win a game in the last
few minutes, and so I'm sure the Chargers haven't forgotten
(04:59):
Justin Herberts, one of the best young quarterbacks in the
in the FFL. They'll be ready. Khalil Mack now a
Charger and Uh the Raiders played him when he was
at Chicago Bear once and he was full of fire.
He came right after Derek car caused us a whole
lot of double in that game. That was the only
time they've had to face khaliluding him to the Chicago
(05:21):
Bears when John first came in. So I gonna be
a very very interesting season a f C West obviously
the toughest NFL well, absolutely, And as far as the
play by play stuff, you guys of the press boxes
all the way up now near the roof in these stays,
where are you gonna miss most? I know you retired
a few years ago from TV. You've got obviously the
radio network, which you talked about in Vegas and whatnot.
(05:41):
But as far as just the the meat and potatoes
of play by play, what are you What are you
gonna miss most about calling the games on Sundays? I
would probably the excitement, Uh, probably the reaction from the
fans when good things. I mean, there's a big difference.
I spent a lot of time during college football play
by play, and people always ask me to college in
(06:03):
the NFL, I'd say it's the reaction of the fans.
The fans are entirely different. In the college game, it's
a celebration every Saturday. You've got the bands at halftime,
you've got all the cheerleaders down on the field. With
the NFL, it's you know how you're doing? Are you
getting in the end zone? That's when the fans go
crazy because they want their team to win. But it's
(06:24):
an entirely different scene around the stadiums in the NFL
and in college almost almost the reaction of the fans
at both levels, To tell you the truth, that will
be the one thing. I'm a Segon ticket over the Raiders,
so I'll be there for all the home games and
talking to the fans. And the nice thing is I
can break a cold one before the opening kick off.
(06:45):
I don't have to wait until after it's all over,
like when I was when I was broadcasting. You know
what I mean. I hear you on that and your
your last partner in the booth with the Raiders. Lincoln Kennedy. Lincoln.
Actually I worked with Lincoln at Fox Sports Radio. Great
guy and so massive human being, Lincoln Kennedy. People don't
realize how how huge, tall, and just husky a person
(07:07):
Lincoln is. He's a He's a great guy. I'm sure
he had fun doing these games with Lincoln over the
last a few years. Yeah, you know, Lincoln is just
as you pointed out, just a wonderful, wonderful I actually
haven't around his rackets along. I actually covered him doing
play by play when he was playing for the Washington
Huskies and Don James. So that's why I first met
(07:29):
Lincoln Kennedy of an absolute pleasure working alongside him for
four seasons with with the Raiders and Lincoln Lincoln is
just a wonderful, wonderful person. Could be around. Away from
the game, he would I I would fall in while
we go into the stadium, and I make sure I
get Lincoln about old five steps in front of me,
(07:49):
and I just falling behind him, you know, like a
good running back, and he just cleared away from me.
You know what I mean? I hear you. I hear
you on that. Uh now, can you share the secret?
But you mentioned your age. You haven't not lost your
fastball though, and you've been doing broadcasting for so long.
Are you gonna continue, as you said when you've got
the gambling network in Vegas? How do how do you
get to that point? Well? I think you have to
(08:11):
be a fan of the game and the people. Uh.
I watch a lot of baseball because I grew up
a baseball fan. But in the old days, baseball was
more a sports of characters, and now it's a sport
of statistics. And to tell you the truth, I think
the baseball is making a mistake. Um. For example, I
(08:33):
was watching here a judge. It is Pully fourth home,
Wrong Life night against Seattle on television, and nobody don't
care about the exit velocity. I'm interested and and why
Judges off to such a great start. What kind of
a percity is? What it feels like chasing Roger Marris's record.
So I've always been a people guy, but I always
(08:53):
get excited about people doing good things. Listen, truth of matters.
I would love to have played any game, be at baseball, football, basketball,
but I was never that could have an athlete, And
so I realized at a very young age that I
wanted to be around and I like the people. I'm
a people guys, So I still get excited even though
I'm not doing the Raider games. I'll be there as
a season ticket older pulling form. I think I think
(09:16):
the key is to stay enthused about the product and
um at the bottom. I'm I'm a fan of the games. Uh.
I love watching great context, great athletes, no matter what
the sport. Is that a matter to me? I mean,
I certainly grew up a soccer fan, but I can
sit there and watch a good Premier League team or
(09:39):
Champions League game, uh, real with I've got friends in
Las Vegas who had bets on Real Madrid against the Liverpool.
It was kind of interesting watching the game. So it
doesn't matter. I'm you know, it's the best form of
entertainment for me is sports. It's a grand escape from
the problems that have One great writer wrote, you know,
(10:01):
life's a bitch and then you die, and none of
the great escapes that you have during that journey is
to follow sports. And that's what I've done. Does maybe
it was people on broadcasting game or not. I'm interested
in the outcome. Yeah, And it does seem over the years,
you've called every major sporting event just about it. I
don't think have you done hockey over the years, Brent,
(10:21):
I don't. I don't remember you doing question. That's the
only one. It's funny to bring that up. People ask
me that, and I said, you know, hockey is the
only one. Now, I did cover it as a columnist
in Chicago before I came in broadcaster. I covered the
black Hawks. Actually, Bobby holl was a dear friend. That
was It was a great team with Bobby holland stand Makita.
(10:41):
But that was the old six team natural Hockey League.
And I tell people that at the level that they
operated at, that was the greatest league I was ever around.
And uh, they deluded with expansion, but understandably so. And
there were enough great players coming up and my life
and I go to watch the Golden Knights and I
(11:02):
love to watch it. But to go back to your question,
and I say, the only advantage I had not calling hockeys.
I didn't have to run out to pronounce all those names.
So we all laugh about that type of thing. But yeah,
hockey is Hockey is the one that I never did
play by play for. You're right, Brent Musburger is there.
I don't you don't have favorite kids or whatever, but
(11:22):
it's a play by play guy. I college football. You're
the voice of that for some long big NBA games,
of course associated with the NFL. What's is there a
favorite though you mentioned you love baseball. You still watch
baseball watching Aaron Judge the other night hit a home run.
Is there a favorite particular sport that you enjoyed covering
more than any other. No, I will tell you I
grew up. I grew up a baseball fan and not
(11:43):
around television. People don't understandable. I grew up in the
fifties up in Montana. It was radio that we followed
baseball on the game of the week back in the day.
And then of course I make a school with the
prep school Minnesota in the Northwestern So television came in
and the marriage between the football and televisions were elevated.
(12:05):
Football past baseball. Baseball remains a game that you need
to go see in person. Uh. You can still watch
it on TV, as I do, but occasionally, a couple
of weeks ago, I went to a minor league game. Uh.
And you go with friends and there's a lot of
time to converse. Uh. It's it's more of a social
(12:27):
event than football because there's a lot of more dead time.
But football and television are made for each other because
of the rhythm of the game, and you can get
the replays in what's happening in football through the years
is people realize that it's a better watch on television
at home in the stadium. So the franchises and the
colleges realized, we've got to do something, and they put
(12:50):
in these gigantic, gigantic scoreboards up in the end zone
so that they can show them the fan in the
stadium the replays like the folks are seeing at home.
It was the marriage. It was the marriage between television
and football that elevated football ahead of baseball as a
national pastime. Basketball. It's kind of interesting because it works
(13:13):
on it works on both levels, uh, being at a
basketball game because it's far more intimate. Your crowds are
down around twelve fifteen thousands opposed to sixty seventy five
at a football game forty five for baseball game. But
you can watch a big time basketball game like Mark
Madness and you can enjoy it as much on television.
(13:37):
It doesn't last that long. The one thing about basketball
is it's a lot more compact baseball. Baseball has a
time problem right now. Uh goodness. When I I used
to cover the Cups, I guess I covered everybody in Chicago.
But Bob Gibson would come to town with the Cardinals,
and invariably he would hook up against Fergus and Jenkins.
(13:57):
And I tell people this all the time that our
games lasted five less than two hours. These guys will
be done with the with the game. I mean, they
get the ball back and they just started it. And
also the hitters, the hitters today if you watch them
on television, but they step back out of the box
and uh, they were the batting gloves and they have
(14:20):
to reset the tape on them for whatever reasonable. Back
in the day that I'm talking about, only a handful
even walk atting gloves and they didn't step out of
the box. They just cap to and played, maybe with
the bad gap, ready for the next pitch. But now
the speed of a game of baseball is a problem.
They're gonna deal with it. I think they're gonna bring
in a pitch clock, uh and see what they do
(14:41):
about speeding it up, because they baseball has has a
problem with the younger generation and they and they have
to address it. Uh, and they have to get to it,
and they will. It's still it's still a wonderful game
and a wonderful way to spend a summer afternoon or
or a summer evening, whatever the case might be. Yeah,
well you you're okay with the change we saw. We've
(15:02):
seen in the last couple of years, a ghost runner.
When COVID started, they added the ghost runner in baseball.
They're they're getting rid of that, They're getting rid of
the shift that's coming. Next year, they're gonna have robot umpires.
How do you how do you feel about robot umpires brand? Well,
since I uh, I spent a year on party in
my leagues, I'd set against it, uh because I think
(15:25):
if you go back to people like Earl Weaver and
uh some of the great antics that he would pull
off against that, that's part of the human part of
the game. So I'm against it. I think players strike out,
spring into bad pitches, and occasionally the umpire will call
him out on a bad pastion. The human equation is good.
(15:48):
I don't I don't mind instant replay so much. They
seem to be moving that along. I'm dead set against
the ghost runner uh in the tenth and I think
that's hockey. And I think if and I understand why
they want they don't want to abuse pitchings that I
got all that, but I wish that they would say, uh,
(16:10):
we can have a tenth inning and eleventh inning with
no runners put on base automatically, and then maybe the
twelfth and something like that would adjust it. The shift
is rather interesting to me because I think when they
do away with it, and all the gossip indications that
they're gonna do it, they're gonna have two in fielders
on either side of sector base. They are going to
(16:31):
have more base runners, especially left handed hitters. They're gonna
hit those ground balls between the first and second basement
in the right field. I see at least at least
one a game because they said that that spare in
fielder against left handers deep into right field, short right,
and he throws them out time after time. So but
whether or not that's gonna help with the speed of
(16:52):
the game, obviously, they've got to get to a pitch clock,
and uh, they need to hurry up some of the
mound meetings. Even even to they tried. But I wish
him well and trying to do it even a little
bit more. So let's see, let's see how it works out.
Absolutely back to you, though, Brent, You've done it all
(17:12):
in your career, mostly recently over the last few decades
play by play, But you were one of the great
studio hosts, and we'll get to that in a minute.
But what is the harder, harder skill to have for you?
Was it doing the studio show or doing the play
by play? What what came more naturally to you? Well
back of the day with the studio obviously the local
(17:34):
news on the ten and the six, and then the
NFL today with with Phyllis and Irvan and Jimmy the Greek. Yeah,
actually probably requires more time to get ready for a
studio show play by play. You let the action come
to you and the game will decide you know where
(17:56):
you're going to go. But they were both both very
satisfying differ in their own way. I knew early on
at the studio guy that eventually I was going to
move to UH. I played the studio belonged to two
younger people, UH taking over in there and that's good.
And one led to another, so it was, it was.
(18:18):
It was a great transition and then UH perfect way
for me to to get out and then came back
into the studio of course with the Vegas status of
information networking Las Vegas, and that's where I'll be again,
especially on the Fridays the football season leading up, because
we've got the college football and then we've gone NFL
(18:39):
coming up of a week one. My goodness, we've got
college football coming on Saturday, August. My Northwestern wildcatsle be
in double in Ireland to play the Nebraska corn Huskers,
opening up with a big ten game. And uh, I
noticed that the Huskers are an eleven point favorite, So
I'm not my Wildcats can can come on and get
(19:03):
inside that. But I was just before you called, actually,
I was looking at the schedule in the and then
college will keep going on that Thursday, September one, as
well as the second, and they'll go right up through
the Labor Day. On Monday, September five, Clemson will play
Georgia Tech. Clemson obviously a huge favorite of that game.
It's going to be played in Atlanta. But probably the
(19:26):
game that the college football fans should circle on that
Labor Day weekend is on Sunday September four down in
New Orleans, Florida State and l s U. And I
think that's just gonna be a monster. Great guy to
both those teams so many times over the years, great
fan bases and the seminars might be a little bit
(19:46):
better than people think they are. They've been in a
rebuilding situation near the last few years and you played
l A two and A quite the big story there
was Coach Telly leading Notre Dame to become the go
down at baton move and I wish you nothing but
the best. I actually first met him when he coached
at UH Cincinnati and we became good friends, and I
(20:08):
he's fascinating story because he's a son of politicians out
of Massachusetts and he is a little bit like a politician.
I've teased him about it through the years and that
will help him. You know, he tried a little bit
too hard with the Southern accent when he was introduced
down there at ls He'll get'll get beyond that, and
he will find that there's an unbelievable talent base down Louisiana.
(20:31):
Nick Saban once told me that when he came to
the coach at l s U, he closed the border.
That was the first thing he did recruit get the
best of the athletes of LHU and Brian Kelly does that.
The Tigers will be back before you can, before you
think they're gonna be I think they're really good. Well,
Brett's beaking a college football here. I gotta get your reaction.
(20:52):
You're a Big ten guy. You covered all the big
college football games for years, and now the news in
recent weeks here that U c l A and USC
are going to join the Big Ten. They're heading to
the Big Ten. And it's your reaction to that. The
Big Ten is gonna go from Los Angeles to New
Jersey now with Rutgers on the east coast, in Maryland
(21:13):
on the east coast, and then back all the way
across the country to l A. Is this a good
fit or is this a disaster in the making. You know,
I have to tell you, I'm not usually shocked by anything.
I've been around too long and too old. But I
was definitely definitely surprised when USC and U c l
(21:33):
A I made that announcement. But then again, when you
think about what happened with the FCC taking Oklahoma and
Texas away from the Big twelve, the Big tents that
we better expand our tv UH footprint, and that's exactly
what they did. They go coast to coast. So we're
gonna wind up with the with the super conferences we'll
(21:57):
see if the pack what remains of the Pack twelve,
guess we can say Packed ten again and the Big
twelve they might get together. And of course do not
forget on the East coast there still sitting over there.
So so we shall see. We shall see what happens.
As for the kids that USC and U c l A.
They better get ready for for some long airplane trips,
(22:19):
if you know what I mean, because you pointed out
that they extend back to the University of New Jersey
taking on Rutgers. And then there's there's pen stake. But
it allows the Big Ten to sell not only an
early game on a Saturday, but a mid afternoon game
and then they can go to an evening game because
they would have USC and U c l A and place.
(22:41):
Now I think there's still another ship that could fall.
Wait and see, I'm kind of curious about what Notre
Dame is finally going to decide if if Notre Dame
were to join the Big Ten. And my old friend
Jim Delaney tried for a long time. He thought he
had the Irish coming in, but they decided not to
join the Big tam But should that decide now, I
(23:03):
would think that the Big Ten would then bring Stanford
in and also another team from the West coast. And
that's another bible for Notre Dame. But we'll see, we'll
see what's a head down the road. It's it's always
interesting obviously money talks with the television contracts and and
you can't you can't blame the conferences are trying to
do well for their individual schools and uh and those
(23:27):
of us who like to watch college football on TV,
we win because we're gonna have nothing but great games
on every weekend. Yeah, what a different world. Okay, you
have n I L deals now, name image, likeness for
the players, You've got the TV money is through the roof,
and so it's a whole new world. And when you
were doing all the college football games, traveling around and
(23:47):
all that, was what was your favorite stop on the
college football tour? Did you have one in particularly you love? Yeah,
this is kind of interesting because there's so many on
the college football triple One that I said it was
a sleeper is no longer a sleeper. It has been discovered.
And that was Clemson. Um, Clemson was you know, a
nice southern team and uh, more of a regional school.
(24:13):
They weren't known nationally, but a great place to go.
They always spell down the prior to the game. That
was my that was my sleeper. Stop. Now there's all
the other ones. I mean, my goodness, we mentioned l
s U. Let me tell you something that and rouge
on a Saturday night. Don't getting better? And uh I
missed an over dame when NBC got the contract and
(24:34):
the way they went. But there's so many to go. Uh,
my friend, I've got time for one more question. My
wife has staying on it right now. All right, Well,
I don't want to. I don't want to take away
from that. And I appreciate your time very much here, Brent,
but we'll we'll get you out on this one. Brent.
Here the catch phrases right here. You're so many There
was a Brent Mussburger drinking game a few years ago.
(24:55):
How did those originate? You're looking live and all the others?
You pick that in origin? It's a looking live. Bob
Fisherman was the original director of the NFL today. His
father gambled on football, and so when you gamble on football,
you obviously know other gambles. It's it's it's a social
(25:19):
activity other people realize social gambling on sports really is.
So Bob's father had a friend who lost the game
and he blamed it on the fact that he didn't
know the weather. He said to Mr Fishman, is there
a way? Is there a way that I can show
me the pictures so I know what the weather is
(25:41):
on a Sunday at the NFL. So Bob jokingly mentioned
that the meeting was producer Mike Purl, myself were the
three of us. We laughed and um we sat. I thought, well, listen,
what about a live shot of a stadium? So we
did it. I said, well, here's what will do pop,
I said, let me just say you are looking live. Okay,
(26:04):
let's try it. So we tried it on one stadium
that first week, and then the next week box up front.
What if I gave you three stadiums in succession where
we're going? And I said, you mean you can meet
Soldier Field in Chicago and you Cowboys Stadium down in
Texas and the Rams were still in the College sum
(26:26):
alongst Yeah, I said, I can do that. I said, okay,
I said, I'll use you are looking live on all
of them. But you gotta you gotta do one thing
for me, Bob, And he said, what's that print? I said,
don't roll. And the tape it's gotta be alive if
I'm gonna say it all laugh. And that's how it
came to be my friend. You are lucky live. Okay,
(26:47):
here we go all think you'll take care. Okay, Thank
you a lot,
Kaboom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a
week was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants
of the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse. The Clearinghouse of Hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
(00:23):
Ben Maller starts right now in the air everywhere, and
we thank you for joining us. It's a brand spanking
new edition of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor and
Danny G. Radio. I know that's a surprise. You probably figured,
(00:44):
since I was away from my watch post on radio,
that I would not be here. But no, no, the
podcast must continue no matter what. So abraca dabber, here
we are and a special with Asian. I had teased
this on the radio show earlier in the week before
(01:04):
I took my brief hiatus. Will explain more about that
on the Saturday podcast. But anyway, listen, this is somebody
I wanted to have on. I mentioned his name on
a previous podcast a while back when I was a
kid growing up watching this gentleman on TV, and now
as an adult here I am a middle aged human being.
(01:26):
I hope I'm middle aged. Who knows. You never know
how old you going to live? Watching football on TV.
When I would see this guy call a game up
until the last couple of years and I would hear
his voice, I immediately went nostalgia, and I would flash
back to when I was a little kid, fat Benny,
(01:46):
and I wanted to be a sportscaster, and I wanted
to talk about sports on radio and television and all that,
and I would watch these games, and so I flashed
back to that. The great Brent Musburger, a Hall of
Fame broadcaster, the man that helped create the modern phrase
(02:06):
or the modern pregame show, I should say, the the
NFL today. He's also he coined the phrase march madness,
and you are looking wive as well. So so known
for that and so many other things, and over the years,
I don't need to tell you the man's resume. The
resume speaks for itself. But Brent Musburger, he was the
voice of college football for a number of years. Uh
(02:29):
he was involved in the n c A men's basketball tournament.
I mentioned the phrase march madness, which he popularized in
his day, and he's called the Final four of course,
with for that the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl, the
World Series, US Open, Tennis, the Masters, pretty much everything
(02:49):
other than hockey. He was raised in Billings, Montana, Brett Musburger,
and he just recently stepped down after doing play by
a for the Las Vegas Raiders. He still very much
active in sports media. He helped found and he's the
(03:10):
managing editor of the Vegas Stats and Information that work
at gambling outfit based in Vegas, and he will still
be part of that, very much a part of that.
Visten and so see Brent Musburger on that through the
football season. But we had a chance to catch up
the Brent from his humble abode in Montana, and what
(03:33):
an honor it is to speak to the great Brent Musburger. Brent,
welcome to the podcast. I thank you. I know you're
very busy. Thank you spent some time with this. So
this past NFL offseason we mentioned it. You were the
play by play voice of the Raiders from until this
past year. You decided to put the mic down again.
(03:55):
This your second retirement. You retired from Network TV a
few year is back and so now you're stepping away
from the Raiders. So the question here, Brent is why
was the time right? My eyes are now eighty three
years old. Those radio puss boxes they keep putting them
higher and higher. My binoculars keep getting stronger and stronger.
(04:16):
You know what I mean. I needed more time, more
time to spend on my VS. I in owned by
Draft Kings. Got to take part in all the contests
in Las Vegas. Enjoy them. I'm up here in uh,
Montana with the family right now. So things are good,
and I hope the Raiders do well. They got a
tough first five games in that schedule. At opening game
(04:38):
against the Chargers, Chargers favored by three and a half
of Los Angeles. And I'm sure the Chargers will remember
what happened to them on the last game a year ago,
knocking the Chargers out of the playoffs with Daniel Carlson's
six field goals and win a game in the last
few minutes, and so I'm sure the Chargers haven't forgotten
(04:59):
Justin Herberts, one of the best young quarterbacks in the
in the FFL. They'll be ready. Khalil Mack now a
Charger and Uh the Raiders played him when he was
at Chicago Bear once and he was full of fire.
He came right after Derek car caused us a whole
lot of double in that game. That was the only
time they've had to face khaliluding him to the Chicago
(05:21):
Bears when John first came in. So I gonna be
a very very interesting season a f C West obviously
the toughest NFL well, absolutely, And as far as the
play by play stuff, you guys of the press boxes
all the way up now near the roof in these stays,
where are you gonna miss most? I know you retired
a few years ago from TV. You've got obviously the
radio network, which you talked about in Vegas and whatnot.
(05:41):
But as far as just the the meat and potatoes
of play by play, what are you What are you
gonna miss most about calling the games on Sundays? I
would probably the excitement, Uh, probably the reaction from the
fans when good things. I mean, there's a big difference.
I spent a lot of time during college football play
by play, and people always ask me to college in
(06:03):
the NFL, I'd say it's the reaction of the fans.
The fans are entirely different. In the college game, it's
a celebration every Saturday. You've got the bands at halftime,
you've got all the cheerleaders down on the field. With
the NFL, it's you know how you're doing? Are you
getting in the end zone? That's when the fans go
crazy because they want their team to win. But it's
(06:24):
an entirely different scene around the stadiums in the NFL
and in college almost almost the reaction of the fans
at both levels, To tell you the truth, that will
be the one thing. I'm a Segon ticket over the Raiders,
so I'll be there for all the home games and
talking to the fans. And the nice thing is I
can break a cold one before the opening kick off.
(06:45):
I don't have to wait until after it's all over,
like when I was when I was broadcasting. You know
what I mean. I hear you on that and your
your last partner in the booth with the Raiders. Lincoln Kennedy. Lincoln.
Actually I worked with Lincoln at Fox Sports Radio. Great
guy and so massive human being, Lincoln Kennedy. People don't
realize how how huge, tall, and just husky a person
(07:07):
Lincoln is. He's a He's a great guy. I'm sure
he had fun doing these games with Lincoln over the
last a few years. Yeah, you know, Lincoln is just
as you pointed out, just a wonderful, wonderful I actually
haven't around his rackets along. I actually covered him doing
play by play when he was playing for the Washington
Huskies and Don James. So that's why I first met
(07:29):
Lincoln Kennedy of an absolute pleasure working alongside him for
four seasons with with the Raiders and Lincoln Lincoln is
just a wonderful, wonderful person. Could be around. Away from
the game, he would I I would fall in while
we go into the stadium, and I make sure I
get Lincoln about old five steps in front of me,
(07:49):
and I just falling behind him, you know, like a
good running back, and he just cleared away from me.
You know what I mean? I hear you. I hear
you on that. Uh now, can you share the secret?
But you mentioned your age. You haven't not lost your
fastball though, and you've been doing broadcasting for so long.
Are you gonna continue, as you said when you've got
the gambling network in Vegas? How do how do you
get to that point? Well? I think you have to
(08:11):
be a fan of the game and the people. Uh.
I watch a lot of baseball because I grew up
a baseball fan. But in the old days, baseball was
more a sports of characters, and now it's a sport
of statistics. And to tell you the truth, I think
the baseball is making a mistake. Um. For example, I
(08:33):
was watching here a judge. It is Pully fourth home,
Wrong Life night against Seattle on television, and nobody don't
care about the exit velocity. I'm interested and and why
Judges off to such a great start. What kind of
a percity is? What it feels like chasing Roger Marris's record.
So I've always been a people guy, but I always
(08:53):
get excited about people doing good things. Listen, truth of matters.
I would love to have played any game, be at baseball, football, basketball,
but I was never that could have an athlete, And
so I realized at a very young age that I
wanted to be around and I like the people. I'm
a people guys, So I still get excited even though
I'm not doing the Raider games. I'll be there as
a season ticket older pulling form. I think I think
(09:16):
the key is to stay enthused about the product and
um at the bottom. I'm I'm a fan of the games. Uh.
I love watching great context, great athletes, no matter what
the sport. Is that a matter to me? I mean,
I certainly grew up a soccer fan, but I can
sit there and watch a good Premier League team or
(09:39):
Champions League game, uh, real with I've got friends in
Las Vegas who had bets on Real Madrid against the Liverpool.
It was kind of interesting watching the game. So it
doesn't matter. I'm you know, it's the best form of
entertainment for me is sports. It's a grand escape from
the problems that have One great writer wrote, you know,
(10:01):
life's a bitch and then you die, and none of
the great escapes that you have during that journey is
to follow sports. And that's what I've done. Does maybe
it was people on broadcasting game or not. I'm interested
in the outcome. Yeah, And it does seem over the years,
you've called every major sporting event just about it. I
don't think have you done hockey over the years, Brent,
(10:21):
I don't. I don't remember you doing question. That's the
only one. It's funny to bring that up. People ask
me that, and I said, you know, hockey is the
only one. Now, I did cover it as a columnist
in Chicago before I came in broadcaster. I covered the
black Hawks. Actually, Bobby holl was a dear friend. That
was It was a great team with Bobby holland stand Makita.
(10:41):
But that was the old six team natural Hockey League.
And I tell people that at the level that they
operated at, that was the greatest league I was ever around.
And uh, they deluded with expansion, but understandably so. And
there were enough great players coming up and my life
and I go to watch the Golden Knights and I
(11:02):
love to watch it. But to go back to your question,
and I say, the only advantage I had not calling hockeys.
I didn't have to run out to pronounce all those names.
So we all laugh about that type of thing. But yeah,
hockey is Hockey is the one that I never did
play by play for. You're right, Brent Musburger is there.
I don't you don't have favorite kids or whatever, but
(11:22):
it's a play by play guy. I college football. You're
the voice of that for some long big NBA games,
of course associated with the NFL. What's is there a
favorite though you mentioned you love baseball. You still watch
baseball watching Aaron Judge the other night hit a home run.
Is there a favorite particular sport that you enjoyed covering
more than any other. No, I will tell you I
grew up. I grew up a baseball fan and not
(11:43):
around television. People don't understandable. I grew up in the
fifties up in Montana. It was radio that we followed
baseball on the game of the week back in the day.
And then of course I make a school with the
prep school Minnesota in the Northwestern So television came in
and the marriage between the football and televisions were elevated.
(12:05):
Football past baseball. Baseball remains a game that you need
to go see in person. Uh. You can still watch
it on TV, as I do, but occasionally, a couple
of weeks ago, I went to a minor league game. Uh.
And you go with friends and there's a lot of
time to converse. Uh. It's it's more of a social
(12:27):
event than football because there's a lot of more dead time.
But football and television are made for each other because
of the rhythm of the game, and you can get
the replays in what's happening in football through the years
is people realize that it's a better watch on television
at home in the stadium. So the franchises and the
colleges realized, we've got to do something, and they put
(12:50):
in these gigantic, gigantic scoreboards up in the end zone
so that they can show them the fan in the
stadium the replays like the folks are seeing at home.
It was the marriage. It was the marriage between television
and football that elevated football ahead of baseball as a
national pastime. Basketball. It's kind of interesting because it works
(13:13):
on it works on both levels, uh, being at a
basketball game because it's far more intimate. Your crowds are
down around twelve fifteen thousands opposed to sixty seventy five
at a football game forty five for baseball game. But
you can watch a big time basketball game like Mark
Madness and you can enjoy it as much on television.
(13:37):
It doesn't last that long. The one thing about basketball
is it's a lot more compact baseball. Baseball has a
time problem right now. Uh goodness. When I I used
to cover the Cups, I guess I covered everybody in Chicago.
But Bob Gibson would come to town with the Cardinals,
and invariably he would hook up against Fergus and Jenkins.
(13:57):
And I tell people this all the time that our
games lasted five less than two hours. These guys will
be done with the with the game. I mean, they
get the ball back and they just started it. And
also the hitters, the hitters today if you watch them
on television, but they step back out of the box
and uh, they were the batting gloves and they have
(14:20):
to reset the tape on them for whatever reasonable. Back
in the day that I'm talking about, only a handful
even walk atting gloves and they didn't step out of
the box. They just cap to and played, maybe with
the bad gap, ready for the next pitch. But now
the speed of a game of baseball is a problem.
They're gonna deal with it. I think they're gonna bring
in a pitch clock, uh and see what they do
(14:41):
about speeding it up, because they baseball has has a
problem with the younger generation and they and they have
to address it. Uh, and they have to get to it,
and they will. It's still it's still a wonderful game
and a wonderful way to spend a summer afternoon or
or a summer evening, whatever the case might be. Yeah,
well you you're okay with the change we saw. We've
(15:02):
seen in the last couple of years, a ghost runner.
When COVID started, they added the ghost runner in baseball.
They're they're getting rid of that, They're getting rid of
the shift that's coming. Next year, they're gonna have robot umpires.
How do you how do you feel about robot umpires brand? Well,
since I uh, I spent a year on party in
my leagues, I'd set against it, uh because I think
(15:25):
if you go back to people like Earl Weaver and
uh some of the great antics that he would pull
off against that, that's part of the human part of
the game. So I'm against it. I think players strike out,
spring into bad pitches, and occasionally the umpire will call
him out on a bad pastion. The human equation is good.
(15:48):
I don't I don't mind instant replay so much. They
seem to be moving that along. I'm dead set against
the ghost runner uh in the tenth and I think
that's hockey. And I think if and I understand why
they want they don't want to abuse pitchings that I
got all that, but I wish that they would say, uh,
(16:10):
we can have a tenth inning and eleventh inning with
no runners put on base automatically, and then maybe the
twelfth and something like that would adjust it. The shift
is rather interesting to me because I think when they
do away with it, and all the gossip indications that
they're gonna do it, they're gonna have two in fielders
on either side of sector base. They are going to
(16:31):
have more base runners, especially left handed hitters. They're gonna
hit those ground balls between the first and second basement
in the right field. I see at least at least
one a game because they said that that spare in
fielder against left handers deep into right field, short right,
and he throws them out time after time. So but
whether or not that's gonna help with the speed of
(16:52):
the game, obviously, they've got to get to a pitch clock,
and uh, they need to hurry up some of the
mound meetings. Even even to they tried. But I wish
him well and trying to do it even a little
bit more. So let's see, let's see how it works out.
Absolutely back to you, though, Brent, You've done it all
(17:12):
in your career, mostly recently over the last few decades
play by play, But you were one of the great
studio hosts, and we'll get to that in a minute.
But what is the harder, harder skill to have for you?
Was it doing the studio show or doing the play
by play? What what came more naturally to you? Well
back of the day with the studio obviously the local
(17:34):
news on the ten and the six, and then the
NFL today with with Phyllis and Irvan and Jimmy the Greek. Yeah,
actually probably requires more time to get ready for a
studio show play by play. You let the action come
to you and the game will decide you know where
(17:56):
you're going to go. But they were both both very
satisfying differ in their own way. I knew early on
at the studio guy that eventually I was going to
move to UH. I played the studio belonged to two
younger people, UH taking over in there and that's good.
And one led to another, so it was, it was.
(18:18):
It was a great transition and then UH perfect way
for me to to get out and then came back
into the studio of course with the Vegas status of
information networking Las Vegas, and that's where I'll be again,
especially on the Fridays the football season leading up, because
we've got the college football and then we've gone NFL
(18:39):
coming up of a week one. My goodness, we've got
college football coming on Saturday, August. My Northwestern wildcatsle be
in double in Ireland to play the Nebraska corn Huskers,
opening up with a big ten game. And uh, I
noticed that the Huskers are an eleven point favorite, So
I'm not my Wildcats can can come on and get
(19:03):
inside that. But I was just before you called, actually,
I was looking at the schedule in the and then
college will keep going on that Thursday, September one, as
well as the second, and they'll go right up through
the Labor Day. On Monday, September five, Clemson will play
Georgia Tech. Clemson obviously a huge favorite of that game.
It's going to be played in Atlanta. But probably the
(19:26):
game that the college football fans should circle on that
Labor Day weekend is on Sunday September four down in
New Orleans, Florida State and l s U. And I
think that's just gonna be a monster. Great guy to
both those teams so many times over the years, great
fan bases and the seminars might be a little bit
(19:46):
better than people think they are. They've been in a
rebuilding situation near the last few years and you played
l A two and A quite the big story there
was Coach Telly leading Notre Dame to become the go
down at baton move and I wish you nothing but
the best. I actually first met him when he coached
at UH Cincinnati and we became good friends, and I
(20:08):
he's fascinating story because he's a son of politicians out
of Massachusetts and he is a little bit like a politician.
I've teased him about it through the years and that
will help him. You know, he tried a little bit
too hard with the Southern accent when he was introduced
down there at ls He'll get'll get beyond that, and
he will find that there's an unbelievable talent base down Louisiana.
(20:31):
Nick Saban once told me that when he came to
the coach at l s U, he closed the border.
That was the first thing he did recruit get the
best of the athletes of LHU and Brian Kelly does that.
The Tigers will be back before you can, before you
think they're gonna be I think they're really good. Well,
Brett's beaking a college football here. I gotta get your reaction.
(20:52):
You're a Big ten guy. You covered all the big
college football games for years, and now the news in
recent weeks here that U c l A and USC
are going to join the Big Ten. They're heading to
the Big Ten. And it's your reaction to that. The
Big Ten is gonna go from Los Angeles to New
Jersey now with Rutgers on the east coast, in Maryland
(21:13):
on the east coast, and then back all the way
across the country to l A. Is this a good
fit or is this a disaster in the making. You know,
I have to tell you, I'm not usually shocked by anything.
I've been around too long and too old. But I
was definitely definitely surprised when USC and U c l
(21:33):
A I made that announcement. But then again, when you
think about what happened with the FCC taking Oklahoma and
Texas away from the Big twelve, the Big tents that
we better expand our tv UH footprint, and that's exactly
what they did. They go coast to coast. So we're
gonna wind up with the with the super conferences we'll
(21:57):
see if the pack what remains of the Pack twelve,
guess we can say Packed ten again and the Big
twelve they might get together. And of course do not
forget on the East coast there still sitting over there.
So so we shall see. We shall see what happens.
As for the kids that USC and U c l A.
They better get ready for for some long airplane trips,
(22:19):
if you know what I mean, because you pointed out
that they extend back to the University of New Jersey
taking on Rutgers. And then there's there's pen stake. But
it allows the Big Ten to sell not only an
early game on a Saturday, but a mid afternoon game
and then they can go to an evening game because
they would have USC and U c l A and place.
(22:41):
Now I think there's still another ship that could fall.
Wait and see, I'm kind of curious about what Notre
Dame is finally going to decide if if Notre Dame
were to join the Big Ten. And my old friend
Jim Delaney tried for a long time. He thought he
had the Irish coming in, but they decided not to
join the Big tam But should that decide now, I
(23:03):
would think that the Big Ten would then bring Stanford
in and also another team from the West coast. And
that's another bible for Notre Dame. But we'll see, we'll
see what's a head down the road. It's it's always
interesting obviously money talks with the television contracts and and
you can't you can't blame the conferences are trying to
do well for their individual schools and uh and those
(23:27):
of us who like to watch college football on TV,
we win because we're gonna have nothing but great games
on every weekend. Yeah, what a different world. Okay, you
have n I L deals now, name image, likeness for
the players, You've got the TV money is through the roof,
and so it's a whole new world. And when you
were doing all the college football games, traveling around and
(23:47):
all that, was what was your favorite stop on the
college football tour? Did you have one in particularly you love? Yeah,
this is kind of interesting because there's so many on
the college football triple One that I said it was
a sleeper is no longer a sleeper. It has been discovered.
And that was Clemson. Um, Clemson was you know, a
nice southern team and uh, more of a regional school.
(24:13):
They weren't known nationally, but a great place to go.
They always spell down the prior to the game. That
was my that was my sleeper. Stop. Now there's all
the other ones. I mean, my goodness, we mentioned l
s U. Let me tell you something that and rouge
on a Saturday night. Don't getting better? And uh I
missed an over dame when NBC got the contract and
(24:34):
the way they went. But there's so many to go. Uh,
my friend, I've got time for one more question. My
wife has staying on it right now. All right, Well,
I don't want to. I don't want to take away
from that. And I appreciate your time very much here, Brent,
but we'll we'll get you out on this one. Brent.
Here the catch phrases right here. You're so many There
was a Brent Mussburger drinking game a few years ago.
(24:55):
How did those originate? You're looking live and all the others?
You pick that in origin? It's a looking live. Bob
Fisherman was the original director of the NFL today. His
father gambled on football, and so when you gamble on football,
you obviously know other gambles. It's it's it's a social
(25:19):
activity other people realize social gambling on sports really is.
So Bob's father had a friend who lost the game
and he blamed it on the fact that he didn't
know the weather. He said to Mr Fishman, is there
a way? Is there a way that I can show
me the pictures so I know what the weather is
(25:41):
on a Sunday at the NFL. So Bob jokingly mentioned
that the meeting was producer Mike Purl, myself were the
three of us. We laughed and um we sat. I thought, well, listen,
what about a live shot of a stadium? So we
did it. I said, well, here's what will do pop,
I said, let me just say you are looking live. Okay,
(26:04):
let's try it. So we tried it on one stadium
that first week, and then the next week box up front.
What if I gave you three stadiums in succession where
we're going? And I said, you mean you can meet
Soldier Field in Chicago and you Cowboys Stadium down in
Texas and the Rams were still in the College sum
(26:26):
alongst Yeah, I said, I can do that. I said, okay,
I said, I'll use you are looking live on all
of them. But you gotta you gotta do one thing
for me, Bob, And he said, what's that print? I said,
don't roll. And the tape it's gotta be alive if
I'm gonna say it all laugh. And that's how it
came to be my friend. You are lucky live. Okay,
(26:47):
here we go all think you'll take care. Okay, Thank
you a lot,
Host
Ben Maller
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