August 21, 2025 • 39 mins
Today on Brewsers, we talk to Jon Gross. We talk about his journey in sports, college athletes, and so much more. Follow us on instagram and twitter at Brewserspod. Like, share, review, enjoy and cheers. #brewsers #brewserspod #Enjoylife #DrinkLocal #Cheers
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to Bruisers, a podcast about beer, coffee, booze and bruisers.
I'm your host, Roddy John, and today we talked to
John Gross. We talk about his journey in sports, college athletes,
and so much more. This is such a great conversation.
John is doing absolutely phenomenal things when it comes to
commentary work, and you don't want to hear from me,
you want to hear from him. So without further ado,
here is John Gross.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah. John, I just want to start by apologize for
missing our scheduled episode last week. We were supposed to
chat last week, but I decided to do something that
I never do, take a nap, And because I am
not well versed in napping, I therefore forgot to do
the thing that you're supposed to do when you nap,
(01:18):
which is set in alarm. Forgot to set an alarm.
Miss the show. But here I am. I apologize, but
I'm happy to chat with you today.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Well, John, thank you so much for being on the show.
First off, and completely understand again you didn't know you're
not a napper. You didn't know exactly, you didn't know
what the rules were exactly. You're like, all right, I'll
probably be awake in like twenty thirty minutes. No, how
long did you actually nap for?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It was a good two hours.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Wow, that's nice. I will say.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I woke up refreshed, so I felt good. And then
I checked my phone and I was like, oh my gosh,
I totally dropped.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
The ball on this immediate regret.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yes, exactly, exactly, So no naps today day. But if
I'm not moving forward, I will set an alarm. But again,
I'm happy to be here with you today.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, I want to apologize to you now because again
I was a little late for this interview because not
only was you know, getting from work to my house,
but then, of course, you know, my lovely dog decided
to poop on the floor and I had to clean
that up. So we're even I.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Think sounds good. Sounds good to me.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, for those listening kind of painting the word picture,
where are you at? What's going on around you?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I am currently in del Ray Beach, Florida. I work
down here for the summer. It is insanely hot and humid.
I try my best to stay inside between the hours
of ten am and five pm, okay, and then after
that I'll go out and do stuff, but during the day,
I try my best to stay inside. So I'm sitting
(02:52):
in my apartment right now where it's nice and comfortable
with some ac there.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
You go. Yeah, and then I imagine you also get
rained randomly at like for like twenty minutes, two up
to two hours.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
That's it. Yes, I would say every afternoon around this time, honestly,
we get twenty to thirty minutes of rain of just
torrential rain, and then out of nowhere, it stops.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah. I was down in Tampa for WrestleMania whenever it
was three years ago, maybe I don't know, but it
was the first WrestleMania that was ever rain delayed because
it just came through and then just wouldn't stop for
like an hour, and they're like, oh, we're good, and
then everyone go back in. Sorry, you gotta go back.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That's Florida for you. I have never seen weather like this.
It is so weird. And then sometimes it'll rain when
we'll have sunshowers all the time whatever, But it's it's rough.
It's rough being down here in the summer. But I
love being down here in this summer. I do work
down here, so it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, let's go all the way back in time. What
is your earliest memory of sports?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Earliest memory of sports is probably I was four years old.
I grew up in New Jersey and I was at
a New Jersey Nets rip New Jersey Nets sadly no,
I still love the Nets, but New Jersey Nets preseason game.
This was I think October of two thousand and one
(04:18):
and they were playing against the Phoenix Suns. I was
there with my dad, and I have a vivid memory
of sitting pretty high up and my uncle was on
the phone with my dad, and my uncle asked me
on the phone, Hey, John, how do you like the game?
And I just remember saying it's so loud? And that
was my first memory of sports.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
You are not wrong. It is also always very loud.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yes, yes, that is for sure, But that was my
first memory. I mean, I've been following sports since birth,
but that's the first actual memory that I have of sports.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So how many games did you end up going to after?
When did they become the Brooklyn Nets?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
They moved twenty twelve was first season in Brooklyn, So
from I guess up until twenty eleven, I would go
to New Jersey games all the time. I was about
twenty five minutes away from what was known as the
Izod Center and before that Continental Airlines Arena. We had
season tickets when the Nets made the finals, and back
(05:20):
to back years got to go to some of those
finals games, which was very special. Those were fun teams
to watch, and that really, you know, kickstarted my passion
for sports.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, when did you realize, well, did you? Did you
play sports when you were younger too?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I did. I played basketball. I played basketball through competitively
through my sophomore year of high school, and then I
played like in our high school rec league. After that,
didn't get much playing time on the JV team, so
I was like, you know, I just go play rec
basketball and score twenty five points a game. That'll be
more fun. So I did that, But I realized that
I wasn't going to play beyond high school, though I
(05:58):
knew I wanted to do something sports related, so I
figured the next best thing. I couldn't play it at
a high enough level, didn't want to coach it, might
as well talk about it.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That's true. Yeah, Well, I mean especially there's so many
sports and I love that. We are obviously now in
an era where they have far more reach and with
the Internet, you can obviously livestream so many different sports
that back when, you know, in the nineties, eighties, going
back even further than that, if you didn't end up
on like actual TV TV, good luck, like that was it.
(06:29):
But now you literally plus we have so many f
and channels now.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
It's absolutely which I'm grateful for. I of course I
want you to have so many of these opportunities, working
for different networks and different colleges, different sports. I think
I've done ten or twelve different sports over the years,
and that's all because of what you're talking about, the
fact that streaming has become so prevalent and has opened
the door for so many opportunities and so many more
(06:55):
games to be broadcast.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Right, Well, how did you initially realize Well, once you
realized that unfortunately your dreams of being in the NBA
and maybe winning a three point title or a slam
bunk contest was out the window, when did you realize,
you know what that commentating I can really get into that,
or was there something kind of in between that you
really were kind of maybe wanting to do but then
you're ended up on commentee.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Well, I always loved the concept of commentating games. I
vividly remember my first video game was NCAA Football two
thousand and six for PlayStation two. And besides loving the
nets and loving the NBA, my other lifelong passion is
college football. So that game was amazing. And I would
(07:39):
turn the sound off and I would do play by
play as a nine year old, so I always loved that.
And I would watch these games and listen to these announcers,
and I was enamored by them. I always loved how
funny and entertaining and how many tidbits of information they
shared with us. Love that part of watching games. When
I was in high school, as I said, I realized
(08:00):
that I couldn't play beyond high school. I vividly remember
being in my bed one night thinking to myself, you
know what, I should start up a sports talk radio
show with some friends. I texted my three my best friends, Brandon, Nick,
and Jordan, and I was like, guys, let's start this
(08:20):
online sports talk radio show, which nowadays we would just
call a podcast. So we did it. It was called
sports Aholics twenty four to seven. We would call on
our home phone lines, not even on cell phones. The
audio quality was atrocious, but we had a lot of fun.
We would have guests on. I think our most listened
(08:42):
to episode had seventy seven listens, which was really cool
for a bunch of fifteen sixteen year olds. I at
that moment, I was like, oh my gosh, this is
what I want to do for a career. That's when
I started to apply to colleges and made this that
this is what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I love that. What was it? So? Is that name
still taken? Do you guys have it?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I it still exists. You could look it up. I
think you could probably find some episodes. We haven't done
anything since I don't know twenty fifteen, twenty fourteen, but
I think some of the archives shows are out there.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
There you go. I imagine it might be a little too
busy to actually start a sports podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Now. Yeah, I do have one, but it's it's a
different show.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
It's I talk about the ever changing landscape of college athletics.
It's called pack Hub. So I do that once a
week or so. But yeah, I'm pretty swamped with play
by play, so I don't have time to do Sports Aholics. Sadly,
because we had a lot of fun with them.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Well, how do you keep up with what's going on
in the in the world of college back or football?
Do you kind of limit it or do you really
go all the way and really kind of talk about
every leagues with conferences conferences there.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So for my podcast, yeah, yeah, yeah. So so with that,
I cover every sport basically, I cover it more from
the business, the political, the legal side. In college athletics,
there are so many changes now with nil and the
transfer portal, potential, congressional legislation, lawsuits, this and that, TV money,
(10:19):
So we talk about all of that. We the tagline
for the show is college sports Beyond the Game, So
we don't talk about the games themselves. We talked about
the people and the stories in the news that impacts
college athletics.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Man, we can go down a rabbit hole. Yes about
so much of this stuff?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yes, hold on, how much?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
How deb were we? Okay, let's go into a little
rabbit hole. We got little bit of time. What do
you I'm so glad now that obviously players can actually
make money. It sucked that they couldn't even work at
their local fast food place or even you know, at
the common at the cafeteria at the college insanity. And
(11:01):
then of course these colleges themselves are making handover fist
truck money not only from the tuition and everything, but
then also from all the sports, like even the ones
that they don't pay that much attention to. But now
luckily we have all these athletes that deserve to make
this money. However, here's the other problem. We have a
(11:26):
it's a young person with a lot of money that
they haven't seen, which a lot of them is super
life changing. That's why they go and play because they
want that money. So we have to now have to
have people that help them when it comes to financial
like what to do with this massive amount of money
that you now have. That also, all of a sudden,
(11:47):
you have a thousand cousins you never knew that you
had because you have all this money. But I'm so
happy that they are actually getting paid. But something's fishy
is still going to be happening, I think, just because
when you put that much money and they're allowing them
quote unquote to have this much money, they still want
to have the power. Almost the universities I'm talking about.
(12:09):
It's so like thoughts, just there's no question I guess
it's like, where do you do? You think?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
No, I think what you illustrate is the push and
pull of athlete versus university. Who is on top, who
has the power in this situation. I think it's a difficult,
very difficult thing, and this is why it hasn't been resolved,
and I don't know if slash when it will be resolved.
I'm with you. It's great that the athletes are making
(12:37):
the money that they deserve, but there also has to
be stability in college athletics, and right now, with the
combination of NIL and the transfer portal, it becomes free
agency every single year, which is worse than the pros
because the pros, right you could sign a three year contract.
In college, it's not like that. So I think we
(12:59):
might be looking at potentially making athletes employees, potentially signing
multi year contracts. We'll see. There's a lot that is
potentially in the works, both in the governments and from
the NCAA side of things, so we'll see what happens.
But I'm with you. I'm glad the athletes can make
a lot of money. I just hope that they're getting
(13:20):
proper guidance and that goes for that goes for any
young person who makes a lot of money, get proper guidance,
learn about taxes, pay your taxes. That's important, that's important.
But no, it's fascinating just to watch this power struggle
between the universities and the athletes. And if there's one
other thing that I could add to this, it's that
(13:42):
the majority of colleges and college athletic departments lose money
on athletics. So we have that upper echelon of schools
like the Ohio States, the Penn States, the Florida's, the Alabamas,
they're making money off of athletics. But for most colleges
D one, D two, D three, all the above, they
(14:04):
are losing money on athletics. So we have to remember
that when we're now talking about revenue sharing paying athletes
directly from the school's budget, that these many of these
schools are already losing money. So this is resulting in
layoffs of employees and shrinking budgets and so on and
so forth. So it's not always as clear cut as hey,
(14:26):
all of these schools are making so much money, let's
let the athletes get some. A lot of these schools
are actually already losing money, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I did not know that a lot of these schools
were losing money when it comes to their athletic programs.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, most of them are. Most of them are losing money.
Most many take money from the regular student population. They
have some sort of activity fee or an athletics fee.
They put that towards athletics because they need the athletic
department to be subsidized.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Uh. Very interesting. Yeah, well so you have. Okay, So
now that you have been we will go back to
you and commentating. I'm gonna put the athletes to bed
for now because I feel like we could definitely go
down so many of these rabbit holes when there's so
much stuff to talk about about, you know, all of
what's happening in college, and then I didn't know too
much about what's happening with the government aspect of it,
(15:16):
other than our fine president loves to hold money from
people and be like, no, no, no, you have to
say yes to me.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Will be fine, yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
But you know now that I mean, you're about to
ramp up with college football is about to start, which
people love, and I can't wait to see the flags everywhere. Again,
it's amazing the camaraderie and also the divisiveness that happens
when it comes to college or just sports in general.
It's so funny to me.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, it is, it is. I love it. I think
it's what makes college sports in particular so great is
that you have that passion because people feel like they're
actually a part of something, having gone to a school
or having rooted for a school from day one.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah. Yeah, for a while, well, I mean not a while.
I still very interested in like capacities of like stadiums
and stuff like that, especially when you come to like
so I'm obviously a big wrestling person, and I love
seeing like giant numbers of you know, like when WrestleMania
was here in Arlington, it was the first time it
was like, well over one hundred thousand people, and I
was like, that's awesome, that's really cool. Yeah, the same
(16:17):
thing when aw went over to Wimbley Stadium, it was
over well they say it was one hundred thousand, but
I think accurate numbers. It was just under. But yeah,
we got to count the people that are working there.
People work in the parking lot of concessions, they're there too.
They're enjoying. Absolutely. Who doesn't want to be part of this?
But so I was looking and I was like, what
places actually hold like over one hundred thousand people, and
(16:39):
it's the football stadiums. And I didn't think about it
because of the bleachers, and I was like, oh, right,
that wouldn't work for wrestling fans. I don't think any
wrestling fans would have said on.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Bleachers, what about for a one off? Do you think
one time one off?
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
A one time thing at one of these big football stadiums.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, well, I mean it's funny you say that because
now TKO is also well WW was doing doing NILS
for a lot of these athletes as well, but then
now they are acquired by TKO. So I'm curious what
they're going to start doing when it comes to more nils.
And then obviously with UFC, they're trying to get so
many of these wrestlers over there, because if you've got
(17:16):
a good wrestling base and then you start learning everything
on top of that, you're going to do great in
the in the UFC or an MMA in general. And
obviously you know Gable Stevenson has done fantastic when it
comes to college wrestling, tried his hand at pro wrestling
for like two months or I don't know. It didn't work.
I think now he's going to try his parlay his
way into MMA. So that's another aspect of the whole
(17:36):
college nil that you know, I think a lot of
people don't talk about either.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Absolutely. I went to Penn State and wrestling there is is.
You know, it's football and wrestling, one and two women's
volleyball up there as well. But bow Nicol he yeah,
unbelievable college wrestler who is now? I mean, I don't
follow UFC that closely, but my understanding is that he's
done very well for himself in US is doing well.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
He's not he still I think his stand up needs
some more work. But yeah, obviously his wrestling is phenomenal,
so he's gonna do He's gonna do well. He's just
got to work on that stand up part of it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And I do think that if there was a place
where they could fill up a whole football stadium for
wrestling and State Iowa even WWE, if you bring if
you have some alums from those programs who were involved
in wwe'd bring them back there. I think they'd fill
those places up.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
See, I think the same thing. They're just bringing on
all the star power and people like you said from
that er and'll be like, yeah, there's no way name
is this. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
So let's go back to your commentating. What was the
first sport that you actually did commentate that you knew
nothing about, Like you had an idea of but you
you were like, ah, crap, I gotta research.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Let's see. Uh. I This was twenty twenty one or
twenty twenty two. I was doing work at Duke University
in North Carolina. The producer from Duke texted me on
(19:11):
a Saturday morning. This was in January. On a Saturday morning, Hey,
North Carolina UNC is looking for somebody to do play
by play for women's gymnastics this afternoon. Can you do it?
I said yes, I said, I'm minute. I I've watched
the Olympics, I've watched a couple of meets here and there.
(19:33):
I knew next to nothing about the sport beyond that.
That same weekend, the night before was I lived for
most of the year in Charlotte, North Carolina. There was
a snowstorm, a rare snowstorm in Charlotte, North Carolina. My
car got stuck about thirty minutes away from my apartment. Meanwhile,
(19:54):
UNC is about two and a half hours away from
my apartment, so I had to be there around two pm.
This was like ten am. So within the span of
about six hours, I had to drive thirty get someone
to drive me thirty minutes to get my car, learn
this sport, get to the arena for the meet, and
then broadcast this game. Luckily, I had a friend who
(20:17):
was able to drive me to get my car, and
then for the two and a half hour drive up
to UNC, I was on the phone with any broadcaster
I knew who knew anything about women's gymnastics I was
on the phone with. I was on the phone with
a sports information director down at Alabama. Jen Smith. Will
give her a shout out. She helped me out big
time with that. She talked me talking through the sport.
(20:39):
I get to the broadcast still not knowing a ton.
I knew just enough to get buying, and I knew
info and the individual gymnasts. I meet my analyst. She said, Hey,
nice to meet you, John. I'm a former gymnast here
at UNC, but I'm so nervous. This is my first
ever broadcast I've ever done, And I said to her,
(21:00):
you know what, this is going to work out well
because I have a lot of experience as a broadcaster,
but this is my first time doing women's gymnastics. And
you know what, it ended up being fine. It was
a good broadcast, and since then, I've fallen in love
with a sport. I love women's gymnastics. Now it's a
beautiful sport to watch in sane athletes. But yes, that
was that was quite the experience.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I love that because again, it's just one of those
things where you just got to make it work, like
you got to cram in as much as you can.
And then I love that you actually called somebody and
like we're trying to like you know, phone a friend
and be like, oh, please teach me everything you can.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Absolutely, that was my only hope. I knew that there
was no way that I could sit online and research
and take notes for a couple of hours and learn
what I needed to know. So I spoke to people
who have done it before, and they helped me out.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
You are so right about gymnastics just being so beautiful,
like the way they move their bodies and like especially
you know, they obviously are far more flexible in the
way they can move their bodies. But it's just like, wow,
how just hours and hours just get that grinded?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
It is insane. I've since done a bunch of gymnastics meets,
and especially when I work at Clemson, they have us
sitting on the floor level right next to the floor
the mat for the floor routine. To sit that close
and to see the power, the strength, the athleticism of
(22:25):
these gymnasts, I would recommend that everyone out there go
to a gymnastics meet at least once in their life.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, it's one.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Thing to watch on TV, but to see firsthand how
unbelievable these athletes are, you got to see it. You
got to see it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Also, why you do that? There is a video online
I'm sure you've seen it. It's men trying to do
the female routines and then females trying to do the men's.
It's so funny to watch because they're Nope.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It's funny. People maybe don't realize this, but for those
listeners out there, the apparati events whatever you want to
call them, for men's gymnastics and women's gymnastics are different.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, so they're.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Completely different skills you have to It's like a different sport.
So I did see that. That was very funny.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah, everyone go watch that video as well. Yes, now,
show days when you're calling these games, they can be
very long days. How do you what do you bring
with you like drink, snacks, notes? And then also where
do you find the bathroom tip?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I'll start with your latter question because I've had some
horror stories my friend. Bathroom time is. Oh, that is
the most important part of the day when it comes
to broadcasting. If you have to go to the bathroom
while you're on air, it's not going to end up
well for you. So I make sure to go as
close to the start of the broadcast as I possibly can.
(23:55):
I will if we're on air in ten minutes, I'm
running to the bathroom halftime. If I have any time
at halftime, if we can pre produce a segment to
give me a couple of minutes to run to the bathroom,
I'm doing it. So that is oh my gosh. I
can tell you some horror stories, but.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
But yes, definitely important to go to the bathroom before
you start the broadcast. In terms of what I bring
with me. Preparation is key for being on air. Any
broadcaster can tell you that I spend hours and hours
and hours preparing my boards, having every tidbit of information
that I possibly can have on an athlete, on a coach,
(24:41):
on teams. I speak to the head coaches of every
team that I broadcast. I read articles, I talk to
people around the program just to get any extra tidbit
of info that I might need to know. So I
have this big chart in front of me that's my
cheat cheat before every broadcast. And then in terms of
(25:01):
snacks and drinks, just water. I just drink a lot
of water. I sip water so I don't have to
go to the bathroom obviously, but that's big. And then
it's tough because my favorite snack is popcorn. And I
go to an arena and I smell the popcorn and
I want to buy it, but I just can't. So
sometimes I buy that and then I'll eat it after
the game.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I found out recently that Steph Curry actually grades every
arena he goes to their popcorn, and he said a
lot of them have actually gotten better because they found
out their grade was so low.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I love that. I absolutely love that I heard about
that back in the day, and I don't have a
grading system, although I'm thinking of starting it. I feel
like I should. You have to know all games all
over the place, I might as well do it. But
I did see that and actually shout out to the Nets.
If I recall correctly, Steph said that the Nets Arena
the Barclay Center has some of the best popcorn that
(25:59):
he's had in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yes, I think I remember him saying that as well.
Yeah you should. You should just call it a Steph
Curry popcorn review. But you're doing but that's today, It's
I'm doing it.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, right, John Gross does the Steph Curry popcorn review.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Who doesn't love that? That's that's true, right there.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I think we have an idea here, my friends.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I think this is a brain stormy. Yeah, that's a
think tank that Yeah, we're not Actually, are you a
popcorn guy? I do love popcorn? Yes, and yeah I
had some last night, no, two nights ago. I was
watching Tenors and I was like, well I got that
popcorn for this one. Ah, yeah, have to. And my
in my roommate is he is a huge popcorn guy,
so I knew I had the best in the house.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Oh good, good, you were ready.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah. When I was young, I used to actually melt
butter and then try to put it on there. It
doesn't work the same. This doesn't. It's very unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, I don't like the melted butter on the popcorn.
Like I don't want to go to a theater. I
don't put the melted butter on top. I just like
it the way they may get nice and salty. I
like it, you know what I like. People criticize me
for this. I like burnt food, like slightly burnt food.
So I like those burnt popcorn pieces. You ever get
that before burnt little charred? I had to really like
(27:11):
the flavor to it.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Right, Let you let that one last pop go a
little longer than it should have, and then yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
If I'm making microwave popcorn and it says two and
a half minutes, three minutes, that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
I almost don't even need the two thirty because I
hear once I hear like like random pops, I'm like,
all right, you gotta come out too late.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
The sporadic pops. That's the end of year and end
of the microwave for you.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, I'm like, all right, we're done now.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I like to let it get nice and well done.
I have cause some issues with doing that in apartments
and making it smell like smoke. So my girlfriend has
scolded me over the years at times for that, which
I can't blame her for because her apartment smells like
burnt popcorn for a few hours, but it's really good.
(28:01):
It tastes good.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Well you have you have to gift her a candle
or like an essential or like the plug in one.
I don't know what she uses, but I imagine there's
something that she uses, like here, how bought you this?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Also? So if I what I want you need to
do is the one that like plugs into the outlet.
So put that plug that in, turn it on, and
once I turn it on, start the microwave so that
it just masks everything.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
By the time it is heating up, you can your
popcorn is done and then yeah it smells better now.
Yeah absolutely, see again does the think tank. We're just
figuring things out.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Well as much as I mean, obviously you're doing some
physicality with your job where we you know, sitting for
that long and then with your voice. But there's also
a mental game to it as well, because you've got
to really get yourself in that zone of being on
air obviously, and then calling the live sport that's happening
in front of you, and then when you're done, you
got to be like, all right back to reality. What
(29:03):
are some things that you kind of do to kind
of help either bring yourself up for a broadcast and
then maybe bring yourself down or is there you know,
how do you kind of mentally take care of about it.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
That's a good question and one I've never thought of. Actually,
I guess in terms of mentally getting ready for a game, Obviously,
I do my preparation, I make my boards, I get
to the game an hour or two early, and I
sit there, look at my boards, talk to my analyst,
talk to the producer. I guess just that whole process
of discussing and game planning that gets me mentally locked
(29:37):
in and ready to go. And then when I'm done
with my game, I guess I wind down by Typically
my drives are about an hour or so, so I
have time to myself. I'll call a friend, or call
a family member, or listen to a good podcast hear
about what's going on in the world. That helps me
calm down. And then when I get home, I'll play
(29:59):
video games, although that doesn't help they calm down. I
typically get pretty agitated when I do that, so I
don't know if that helps me helps me wind down
at all, But that's that's typically what the The before
and after of my broadcast looks like.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Okay, yeah, I'm always curious because you know, I think
a lot of people don't think about that kind of stuff, like, no,
they're they're the ones doing. They're there, they're making the
soundtrack for the beautiful music that's happening.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, and it could be a little stressful at times.
The thought of it can be stressful because it's like,
oh my gosh, people are watching. What if I mess up?
What if this? What if that? But I will say
when I'm actually broadcasting, I I never feel nervous. Right
right before, I always feel nervous, But once once the
countdown ends and we're live, I'm locked in and I'm
(30:46):
just doing I think.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I've been hearing a lot about the flow state and
about how athletes or people that you know, when musicians
or anybody really when they get in that, like you're saying,
you're not just feeling it, You're just you're in it.
Like I think that's probably the best way to describe
that is you're you're in your flow state.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
I agree. I agree. And it's not something that I
consciously switch into. It's just once I put that headset on,
once the ball is tipped, once the game starts, whatever
it is, it's just something just clicks in my mind
and I am locked in on a level that I'm
not locked in for anything else in life, which is
(31:27):
which is pretty cool. I wish I could be that
locked in with everything in life.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Except when you're with your girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
She'll listen to this and she'll be like, yeah, I
wish you just listened to me more. You should be
locked in when we're having conversations, so you listen to
what I'm saying. But no, when I'm doing these games,
I'm just I'm just focused and engaged at a level
that I'm normally not at. But it's cool how subconsciously
that happens. When you care about something so much and
(31:55):
you're so passionate and engaged, it's just like your best
self comes out right.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Yeah, it's almost like autopilots somehow and everything. Yeah, it
takes over.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
It is, and then I'll think to myself after the broadcast, like, gosh,
like I did I what did I say things? Right?
Did I mess up? I'm not even conscious of how
I'm doing while I'm on air. It's weird.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Yeah, now I get that because yeah, you're, like you said,
you're in it, so I can't. You might be like, Okay,
I did mess that up.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
But I gotta keep going, like right exactly. I'll notice
if I mess something up that's like a big mess up,
I'll notice it and I'll correct it. But for the
most part, I just I just roll through it, and
then afterwards I'll watch back and review and give myself feedback.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah, like, don't do that again exactly. So I have
a second millar s. So I call it the five count,
which is five random questions.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Hm, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
What who's your first concert?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
First concert? First concert? And I'm not a big concert guy,
but my first one was Tom Chapin. Wow, who is
a I don't know, a children's artist and I saw
him I think near my house. But his brother is famous.
(33:09):
I'm blinking at his name right now. This is embarrassing.
I can, I can look this up. Yeah, see, I
will look this up. But Tom Chapin was let's see,
he's eighty years old now.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Grammy winning Harry Chapin.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Harry Chapin, yes, so so that that's that was his
brother Harry, who I think was a bit more famous. Oh,
Harry Chapin saying cats in the cradle.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yes, yes, okay, But.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Tom Chapin was my first concert that I went to.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Interesting number two. If you owned a liquor company, brewery, winery,
or coffee shop, which one would you own? And what
would the name be?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Hmmm, that is tough, you know. I I don't I
don't really drink. I drink occasionally some mixed beverages, but
I don't drink coffee or beer really. But I love
the smell of coffee, so I probably would go with
(34:11):
coffee a coffee house because I love the smell and
I love the vibe. It's just nice and laid back
and chill. And then in terms of a name, hmm, oh,
this is tough. I don't know. A coffee shop. Uh,
(34:35):
I don't know. I don't know. This is a tough one.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
I think it's right there. But it's also you probably
don't want to go there. It's gross coffee. Gross coffee, yes,
but you drop people in with the name. And also
every once in a while you do try like a
like a really gross concoction that people would want to
try people love. Yes, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
You know what that sounds like? You ever watch Nathan
for you?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
No, I've heard love it, but I've never seen it.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Okay, So so Nathan Fielder. He comes up with these
ridiculous ideas to get people to go to businesses, and
that's set he did want. Actually, that was like a
parody of Starbucks. That sounds like something you would do.
Gross's coffee. I love it. I love it. See if
I ever start one up, that'll be the name, and
I'll give you a cut of the proceeds. Don't worry.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
I just want free coffee anytime. Number three, Who is
the last person you fan boyd out on?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Last person I fan boyd out on? Hmmm, that's another
tough one, you know, I I would I'd want to
say an athlete, but I guess since working in sports,
I'm not as much of a boy as I used
(35:48):
to be, so maybe a comedian. I love Larry David.
I just I love Larry David. So maybe Larry David. I.
If I watch a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, I'm like this,
I is the greatest guy of all time. So I'll
go with l D. I'll go with LD.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Who are what inspires you?
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Great question? In terms of broadcasters, I'm inspired by Chris
Vowler I an Eagle. Those are my two favorite broadcasters.
And then just in general, my family inspires me. They
motivate me. They're so supportive of everything that I do.
My girlfriend is so incredible. Shout out Sarah. She's the best,
(36:32):
so supportive of everything that I do. So I'd say
family and girlfriend they inspire me as well to keep
pushing along and navigating this challenging industry.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
There you go, And finally, what would you tell your
seventeen year old self?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Enjoy the ride? Enjoy the ride. I had a lot
of fun in college. I went to Penn State, met
so many amazing people, had so many great experiences. So
I would tell my seventeen year old self to it
lize and every opportunity that you get and have fun
along the way.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Love that. Now, if people want to find out more
about you, follow you online, listen to you obviously, do
your broadcast, listen to your podcast? How can they do
all the things?
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Sure, you can visit my website John Gross Broadcast dot com,
j O N g R O S S Broadcast dot com.
I am on Twitter at j O N g R
O S S p XP and my podcast is called paccub.
It's on YouTube, p ac space h u B and
(37:34):
then also LinkedIn, which is where we connected as well
under John Gross.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yeah, I love it. Yeah, as as another John with
no H. You have to make sure to spell that
out otherwise.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
People, Yeah, which are you with Jonathan?
Speaker 1 (37:46):
I am a Jonathan? Are you same here? Yes? See exactly? Yeah,
and people, is there anybody?
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Has anybody ever spelled your name correctly without you having
to let them know no H?
Speaker 1 (37:56):
A couple of times really, and I get really excited.
I'm like, ah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
That was really refreshing that I don't think that's ever
happened to me. So you're really yeah, yeah, Well, if
people people who know me, people you will say j
O N. But I've even I've had a couple of
times on a broadcast where beforehand they're testing out the
graphics and they put John, I'm like, I'm sorry, guys,
don't need to be that guy. But it's j O N.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Get the H out of here.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Exactly, yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Thank you so much to John for being on the show.
Hey two, John's one place, no h involved, so that's
always a good thing. Now, I can't wait to see
where the future holds for not only John, but obviously
the world of college athletes as well. We're entering a
very interesting and potentially strange time, so I can't wait
to see what happens. But mainly I want to see
what happens with John. So while you're following him on
(38:58):
his journey, make sure to follow it us on our
our journey. On social media, it is bruisers Pod. That
is b R E W S c R S p
O D on the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter.
If you want to send us an email, it is
Bruiserspod at gmail dot com. If you want to follow
me directly, it is Roady John. That is our O
D I E j O N. Roady John is the
name on the Twitter and untapped. In case you want
(39:18):
to find out what I'm drinking, maybe we can have
a beer together if you want to follow me on
the threads or the Instagram. It is official Dye John,
so until next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink
local and cheers.
Welcome to Bruisers, a podcast about beer, coffee, booze and bruisers.
I'm your host, Roddy John, and today we talked to
John Gross. We talk about his journey in sports, college athletes,
and so much more. This is such a great conversation.
John is doing absolutely phenomenal things when it comes to
commentary work, and you don't want to hear from me,
you want to hear from him. So without further ado,
here is John Gross.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah. John, I just want to start by apologize for
missing our scheduled episode last week. We were supposed to
chat last week, but I decided to do something that
I never do, take a nap, And because I am
not well versed in napping, I therefore forgot to do
the thing that you're supposed to do when you nap,
(01:18):
which is set in alarm. Forgot to set an alarm.
Miss the show. But here I am. I apologize, but
I'm happy to chat with you today.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Well, John, thank you so much for being on the show.
First off, and completely understand again you didn't know you're
not a napper. You didn't know exactly, you didn't know
what the rules were exactly. You're like, all right, I'll
probably be awake in like twenty thirty minutes. No, how
long did you actually nap for?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It was a good two hours.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Wow, that's nice. I will say.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I woke up refreshed, so I felt good. And then
I checked my phone and I was like, oh my gosh,
I totally dropped.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
The ball on this immediate regret.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yes, exactly, exactly, So no naps today day. But if
I'm not moving forward, I will set an alarm. But again,
I'm happy to be here with you today.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, I want to apologize to you now because again
I was a little late for this interview because not
only was you know, getting from work to my house,
but then, of course, you know, my lovely dog decided
to poop on the floor and I had to clean
that up. So we're even I.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Think sounds good. Sounds good to me.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, for those listening kind of painting the word picture,
where are you at? What's going on around you?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
I am currently in del Ray Beach, Florida. I work
down here for the summer. It is insanely hot and humid.
I try my best to stay inside between the hours
of ten am and five pm, okay, and then after
that I'll go out and do stuff, but during the day,
I try my best to stay inside. So I'm sitting
(02:52):
in my apartment right now where it's nice and comfortable
with some ac there.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
You go. Yeah, and then I imagine you also get
rained randomly at like for like twenty minutes, two up
to two hours.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
That's it. Yes, I would say every afternoon around this time, honestly,
we get twenty to thirty minutes of rain of just
torrential rain, and then out of nowhere, it stops.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah. I was down in Tampa for WrestleMania whenever it
was three years ago, maybe I don't know, but it
was the first WrestleMania that was ever rain delayed because
it just came through and then just wouldn't stop for
like an hour, and they're like, oh, we're good, and
then everyone go back in. Sorry, you gotta go back.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
That's Florida for you. I have never seen weather like this.
It is so weird. And then sometimes it'll rain when
we'll have sunshowers all the time whatever, But it's it's rough.
It's rough being down here in the summer. But I
love being down here in this summer. I do work
down here, so it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, let's go all the way back in time. What
is your earliest memory of sports?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Earliest memory of sports is probably I was four years old.
I grew up in New Jersey and I was at
a New Jersey Nets rip New Jersey Nets sadly no,
I still love the Nets, but New Jersey Nets preseason game.
This was I think October of two thousand and one
(04:18):
and they were playing against the Phoenix Suns. I was
there with my dad, and I have a vivid memory
of sitting pretty high up and my uncle was on
the phone with my dad, and my uncle asked me
on the phone, Hey, John, how do you like the game?
And I just remember saying it's so loud? And that
was my first memory of sports.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
You are not wrong. It is also always very loud.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yes, yes, that is for sure, But that was my
first memory. I mean, I've been following sports since birth,
but that's the first actual memory that I have of sports.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So how many games did you end up going to after?
When did they become the Brooklyn Nets?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
They moved twenty twelve was first season in Brooklyn, So
from I guess up until twenty eleven, I would go
to New Jersey games all the time. I was about
twenty five minutes away from what was known as the
Izod Center and before that Continental Airlines Arena. We had
season tickets when the Nets made the finals, and back
(05:20):
to back years got to go to some of those
finals games, which was very special. Those were fun teams
to watch, and that really, you know, kickstarted my passion
for sports.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, when did you realize, well, did you? Did you
play sports when you were younger too?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I did. I played basketball. I played basketball through competitively
through my sophomore year of high school, and then I
played like in our high school rec league. After that,
didn't get much playing time on the JV team, so
I was like, you know, I just go play rec
basketball and score twenty five points a game. That'll be
more fun. So I did that, But I realized that
I wasn't going to play beyond high school, though I
(05:58):
knew I wanted to do something sports related, so I
figured the next best thing. I couldn't play it at
a high enough level, didn't want to coach it, might
as well talk about it.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
That's true. Yeah, Well, I mean especially there's so many
sports and I love that. We are obviously now in
an era where they have far more reach and with
the Internet, you can obviously livestream so many different sports
that back when, you know, in the nineties, eighties, going
back even further than that, if you didn't end up
on like actual TV TV, good luck, like that was it.
(06:29):
But now you literally plus we have so many f
and channels now.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
It's absolutely which I'm grateful for. I of course I
want you to have so many of these opportunities, working
for different networks and different colleges, different sports. I think
I've done ten or twelve different sports over the years,
and that's all because of what you're talking about, the
fact that streaming has become so prevalent and has opened
the door for so many opportunities and so many more
(06:55):
games to be broadcast.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Right, Well, how did you initially realize Well, once you
realized that unfortunately your dreams of being in the NBA
and maybe winning a three point title or a slam
bunk contest was out the window, when did you realize,
you know what that commentating I can really get into that,
or was there something kind of in between that you
really were kind of maybe wanting to do but then
you're ended up on commentee.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Well, I always loved the concept of commentating games. I
vividly remember my first video game was NCAA Football two
thousand and six for PlayStation two. And besides loving the
nets and loving the NBA, my other lifelong passion is
college football. So that game was amazing. And I would
(07:39):
turn the sound off and I would do play by
play as a nine year old, so I always loved that.
And I would watch these games and listen to these announcers,
and I was enamored by them. I always loved how
funny and entertaining and how many tidbits of information they
shared with us. Love that part of watching games. When
I was in high school, as I said, I realized
(08:00):
that I couldn't play beyond high school. I vividly remember
being in my bed one night thinking to myself, you
know what, I should start up a sports talk radio
show with some friends. I texted my three my best friends, Brandon, Nick,
and Jordan, and I was like, guys, let's start this
(08:20):
online sports talk radio show, which nowadays we would just
call a podcast. So we did it. It was called
sports Aholics twenty four to seven. We would call on
our home phone lines, not even on cell phones. The
audio quality was atrocious, but we had a lot of fun.
We would have guests on. I think our most listened
(08:42):
to episode had seventy seven listens, which was really cool
for a bunch of fifteen sixteen year olds. I at
that moment, I was like, oh my gosh, this is
what I want to do for a career. That's when
I started to apply to colleges and made this that
this is what I want to do.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I love that. What was it? So? Is that name
still taken? Do you guys have it?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
I it still exists. You could look it up. I
think you could probably find some episodes. We haven't done
anything since I don't know twenty fifteen, twenty fourteen, but
I think some of the archives shows are out there.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
There you go. I imagine it might be a little too
busy to actually start a sports podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Now. Yeah, I do have one, but it's it's a
different show.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Now.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
It's I talk about the ever changing landscape of college athletics.
It's called pack Hub. So I do that once a
week or so. But yeah, I'm pretty swamped with play
by play, so I don't have time to do Sports Aholics. Sadly,
because we had a lot of fun with them.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Well, how do you keep up with what's going on
in the in the world of college back or football?
Do you kind of limit it or do you really
go all the way and really kind of talk about
every leagues with conferences conferences there.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So for my podcast, yeah, yeah, yeah. So so with that,
I cover every sport basically, I cover it more from
the business, the political, the legal side. In college athletics,
there are so many changes now with nil and the
transfer portal, potential, congressional legislation, lawsuits, this and that, TV money,
(10:19):
So we talk about all of that. We the tagline
for the show is college sports Beyond the Game, So
we don't talk about the games themselves. We talked about
the people and the stories in the news that impacts
college athletics.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Man, we can go down a rabbit hole. Yes about
so much of this stuff?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yes, hold on, how much?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
How deb were we? Okay, let's go into a little
rabbit hole. We got little bit of time. What do
you I'm so glad now that obviously players can actually
make money. It sucked that they couldn't even work at
their local fast food place or even you know, at
the common at the cafeteria at the college insanity. And
(11:01):
then of course these colleges themselves are making handover fist
truck money not only from the tuition and everything, but
then also from all the sports, like even the ones
that they don't pay that much attention to. But now
luckily we have all these athletes that deserve to make
this money. However, here's the other problem. We have a
(11:26):
it's a young person with a lot of money that
they haven't seen, which a lot of them is super
life changing. That's why they go and play because they
want that money. So we have to now have to
have people that help them when it comes to financial
like what to do with this massive amount of money
that you now have. That also, all of a sudden,
(11:47):
you have a thousand cousins you never knew that you
had because you have all this money. But I'm so
happy that they are actually getting paid. But something's fishy
is still going to be happening, I think, just because
when you put that much money and they're allowing them
quote unquote to have this much money, they still want
to have the power. Almost the universities I'm talking about.
(12:09):
It's so like thoughts, just there's no question I guess
it's like, where do you do? You think?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
No, I think what you illustrate is the push and
pull of athlete versus university. Who is on top, who
has the power in this situation. I think it's a difficult,
very difficult thing, and this is why it hasn't been resolved,
and I don't know if slash when it will be resolved.
I'm with you. It's great that the athletes are making
(12:37):
the money that they deserve, but there also has to
be stability in college athletics, and right now, with the
combination of NIL and the transfer portal, it becomes free
agency every single year, which is worse than the pros
because the pros, right you could sign a three year contract.
In college, it's not like that. So I think we
(12:59):
might be looking at potentially making athletes employees, potentially signing
multi year contracts. We'll see. There's a lot that is
potentially in the works, both in the governments and from
the NCAA side of things, so we'll see what happens.
But I'm with you. I'm glad the athletes can make
a lot of money. I just hope that they're getting
(13:20):
proper guidance and that goes for that goes for any
young person who makes a lot of money, get proper guidance,
learn about taxes, pay your taxes. That's important, that's important.
But no, it's fascinating just to watch this power struggle
between the universities and the athletes. And if there's one
other thing that I could add to this, it's that
(13:42):
the majority of colleges and college athletic departments lose money
on athletics. So we have that upper echelon of schools
like the Ohio States, the Penn States, the Florida's, the Alabamas,
they're making money off of athletics. But for most colleges
D one, D two, D three, all the above, they
(14:04):
are losing money on athletics. So we have to remember
that when we're now talking about revenue sharing paying athletes
directly from the school's budget, that these many of these
schools are already losing money. So this is resulting in
layoffs of employees and shrinking budgets and so on and
so forth. So it's not always as clear cut as hey,
(14:26):
all of these schools are making so much money, let's
let the athletes get some. A lot of these schools
are actually already losing money, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I did not know that a lot of these schools
were losing money when it comes to their athletic programs.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, most of them are. Most of them are losing money.
Most many take money from the regular student population. They
have some sort of activity fee or an athletics fee.
They put that towards athletics because they need the athletic
department to be subsidized.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Uh. Very interesting. Yeah, well so you have. Okay, So
now that you have been we will go back to
you and commentating. I'm gonna put the athletes to bed
for now because I feel like we could definitely go
down so many of these rabbit holes when there's so
much stuff to talk about about, you know, all of
what's happening in college, and then I didn't know too
much about what's happening with the government aspect of it,
(15:16):
other than our fine president loves to hold money from
people and be like, no, no, no, you have to
say yes to me.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Will be fine, yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
But you know now that I mean, you're about to
ramp up with college football is about to start, which
people love, and I can't wait to see the flags everywhere. Again,
it's amazing the camaraderie and also the divisiveness that happens
when it comes to college or just sports in general.
It's so funny to me.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, it is, it is. I love it. I think
it's what makes college sports in particular so great is
that you have that passion because people feel like they're
actually a part of something, having gone to a school
or having rooted for a school from day one.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah. Yeah, for a while, well, I mean not a while.
I still very interested in like capacities of like stadiums
and stuff like that, especially when you come to like
so I'm obviously a big wrestling person, and I love
seeing like giant numbers of you know, like when WrestleMania
was here in Arlington, it was the first time it
was like, well over one hundred thousand people, and I
was like, that's awesome, that's really cool. Yeah, the same
(16:17):
thing when aw went over to Wimbley Stadium, it was
over well they say it was one hundred thousand, but
I think accurate numbers. It was just under. But yeah,
we got to count the people that are working there.
People work in the parking lot of concessions, they're there too.
They're enjoying. Absolutely. Who doesn't want to be part of this?
But so I was looking and I was like, what
places actually hold like over one hundred thousand people, and
(16:39):
it's the football stadiums. And I didn't think about it
because of the bleachers, and I was like, oh, right,
that wouldn't work for wrestling fans. I don't think any
wrestling fans would have said on.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Bleachers, what about for a one off? Do you think
one time one off?
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Right?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
A one time thing at one of these big football stadiums.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah, well, I mean it's funny you say that because
now TKO is also well WW was doing doing NILS
for a lot of these athletes as well, but then
now they are acquired by TKO. So I'm curious what
they're going to start doing when it comes to more nils.
And then obviously with UFC, they're trying to get so
many of these wrestlers over there, because if you've got
(17:16):
a good wrestling base and then you start learning everything
on top of that, you're going to do great in
the in the UFC or an MMA in general. And
obviously you know Gable Stevenson has done fantastic when it
comes to college wrestling, tried his hand at pro wrestling
for like two months or I don't know. It didn't work.
I think now he's going to try his parlay his
way into MMA. So that's another aspect of the whole
(17:36):
college nil that you know, I think a lot of
people don't talk about either.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Absolutely. I went to Penn State and wrestling there is is.
You know, it's football and wrestling, one and two women's
volleyball up there as well. But bow Nicol he yeah,
unbelievable college wrestler who is now? I mean, I don't
follow UFC that closely, but my understanding is that he's
done very well for himself in US is doing well.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
He's not he still I think his stand up needs
some more work. But yeah, obviously his wrestling is phenomenal,
so he's gonna do He's gonna do well. He's just
got to work on that stand up part of it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And I do think that if there was a place
where they could fill up a whole football stadium for
wrestling and State Iowa even WWE, if you bring if
you have some alums from those programs who were involved
in wwe'd bring them back there. I think they'd fill
those places up.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
See, I think the same thing. They're just bringing on
all the star power and people like you said from
that er and'll be like, yeah, there's no way name
is this. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
So let's go back to your commentating. What was the
first sport that you actually did commentate that you knew
nothing about, Like you had an idea of but you
you were like, ah, crap, I gotta research.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Let's see. Uh. I This was twenty twenty one or
twenty twenty two. I was doing work at Duke University
in North Carolina. The producer from Duke texted me on
(19:11):
a Saturday morning. This was in January. On a Saturday morning, Hey,
North Carolina UNC is looking for somebody to do play
by play for women's gymnastics this afternoon. Can you do it?
I said yes, I said, I'm minute. I I've watched
the Olympics, I've watched a couple of meets here and there.
(19:33):
I knew next to nothing about the sport beyond that.
That same weekend, the night before was I lived for
most of the year in Charlotte, North Carolina. There was
a snowstorm, a rare snowstorm in Charlotte, North Carolina. My
car got stuck about thirty minutes away from my apartment. Meanwhile,
(19:54):
UNC is about two and a half hours away from
my apartment, so I had to be there around two pm.
This was like ten am. So within the span of
about six hours, I had to drive thirty get someone
to drive me thirty minutes to get my car, learn
this sport, get to the arena for the meet, and
then broadcast this game. Luckily, I had a friend who
(20:17):
was able to drive me to get my car, and
then for the two and a half hour drive up
to UNC, I was on the phone with any broadcaster
I knew who knew anything about women's gymnastics I was
on the phone with. I was on the phone with
a sports information director down at Alabama. Jen Smith. Will
give her a shout out. She helped me out big
time with that. She talked me talking through the sport.
(20:39):
I get to the broadcast still not knowing a ton.
I knew just enough to get buying, and I knew
info and the individual gymnasts. I meet my analyst. She said, Hey,
nice to meet you, John. I'm a former gymnast here
at UNC, but I'm so nervous. This is my first
ever broadcast I've ever done, And I said to her,
(21:00):
you know what, this is going to work out well
because I have a lot of experience as a broadcaster,
but this is my first time doing women's gymnastics. And
you know what, it ended up being fine. It was
a good broadcast, and since then, I've fallen in love
with a sport. I love women's gymnastics. Now it's a
beautiful sport to watch in sane athletes. But yes, that
was that was quite the experience.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I love that because again, it's just one of those
things where you just got to make it work, like
you got to cram in as much as you can.
And then I love that you actually called somebody and
like we're trying to like you know, phone a friend
and be like, oh, please teach me everything you can.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Absolutely, that was my only hope. I knew that there
was no way that I could sit online and research
and take notes for a couple of hours and learn
what I needed to know. So I spoke to people
who have done it before, and they helped me out.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
You are so right about gymnastics just being so beautiful,
like the way they move their bodies and like especially
you know, they obviously are far more flexible in the
way they can move their bodies. But it's just like, wow,
how just hours and hours just get that grinded?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
It is insane. I've since done a bunch of gymnastics meets,
and especially when I work at Clemson, they have us
sitting on the floor level right next to the floor
the mat for the floor routine. To sit that close
and to see the power, the strength, the athleticism of
(22:25):
these gymnasts, I would recommend that everyone out there go
to a gymnastics meet at least once in their life.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, it's one.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Thing to watch on TV, but to see firsthand how
unbelievable these athletes are, you got to see it. You
got to see it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Also, why you do that? There is a video online
I'm sure you've seen it. It's men trying to do
the female routines and then females trying to do the men's.
It's so funny to watch because they're Nope.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It's funny. People maybe don't realize this, but for those
listeners out there, the apparati events whatever you want to
call them, for men's gymnastics and women's gymnastics are different.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, so they're.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Completely different skills you have to It's like a different sport.
So I did see that. That was very funny.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah, everyone go watch that video as well. Yes, now,
show days when you're calling these games, they can be
very long days. How do you what do you bring
with you like drink, snacks, notes? And then also where
do you find the bathroom tip?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
I'll start with your latter question because I've had some
horror stories my friend. Bathroom time is. Oh, that is
the most important part of the day when it comes
to broadcasting. If you have to go to the bathroom
while you're on air, it's not going to end up
well for you. So I make sure to go as
close to the start of the broadcast as I possibly can.
(23:55):
I will if we're on air in ten minutes, I'm
running to the bathroom halftime. If I have any time
at halftime, if we can pre produce a segment to
give me a couple of minutes to run to the bathroom,
I'm doing it. So that is oh my gosh. I
can tell you some horror stories, but.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
But yes, definitely important to go to the bathroom before
you start the broadcast. In terms of what I bring
with me. Preparation is key for being on air. Any
broadcaster can tell you that I spend hours and hours
and hours preparing my boards, having every tidbit of information
that I possibly can have on an athlete, on a coach,
(24:41):
on teams. I speak to the head coaches of every
team that I broadcast. I read articles, I talk to
people around the program just to get any extra tidbit
of info that I might need to know. So I
have this big chart in front of me that's my
cheat cheat before every broadcast. And then in terms of
(25:01):
snacks and drinks, just water. I just drink a lot
of water. I sip water so I don't have to
go to the bathroom obviously, but that's big. And then
it's tough because my favorite snack is popcorn. And I
go to an arena and I smell the popcorn and
I want to buy it, but I just can't. So
sometimes I buy that and then I'll eat it after
the game.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
I found out recently that Steph Curry actually grades every
arena he goes to their popcorn, and he said a
lot of them have actually gotten better because they found
out their grade was so low.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
I love that. I absolutely love that I heard about
that back in the day, and I don't have a
grading system, although I'm thinking of starting it. I feel
like I should. You have to know all games all
over the place, I might as well do it. But
I did see that and actually shout out to the Nets.
If I recall correctly, Steph said that the Nets Arena
the Barclay Center has some of the best popcorn that
(25:59):
he's had in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yes, I think I remember him saying that as well.
Yeah you should. You should just call it a Steph
Curry popcorn review. But you're doing but that's today, It's
I'm doing it.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, right, John Gross does the Steph Curry popcorn review.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Who doesn't love that? That's that's true, right there.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I think we have an idea here, my friends.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
I think this is a brain stormy. Yeah, that's a
think tank that Yeah, we're not Actually, are you a
popcorn guy? I do love popcorn? Yes, and yeah I
had some last night, no, two nights ago. I was
watching Tenors and I was like, well I got that
popcorn for this one. Ah, yeah, have to. And my
in my roommate is he is a huge popcorn guy,
so I knew I had the best in the house.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Oh good, good, you were ready.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah. When I was young, I used to actually melt
butter and then try to put it on there. It
doesn't work the same. This doesn't. It's very unfortunate.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, I don't like the melted butter on the popcorn.
Like I don't want to go to a theater. I
don't put the melted butter on top. I just like
it the way they may get nice and salty. I
like it, you know what I like. People criticize me
for this. I like burnt food, like slightly burnt food.
So I like those burnt popcorn pieces. You ever get
that before burnt little charred? I had to really like
(27:11):
the flavor to it.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Right, Let you let that one last pop go a
little longer than it should have, and then yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
If I'm making microwave popcorn and it says two and
a half minutes, three minutes, that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
I almost don't even need the two thirty because I
hear once I hear like like random pops, I'm like,
all right, you gotta come out too late.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
The sporadic pops. That's the end of year and end
of the microwave for you.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, I'm like, all right, we're done now.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
I like to let it get nice and well done.
I have cause some issues with doing that in apartments
and making it smell like smoke. So my girlfriend has
scolded me over the years at times for that, which
I can't blame her for because her apartment smells like
burnt popcorn for a few hours, but it's really good.
(28:01):
It tastes good.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Well you have you have to gift her a candle
or like an essential or like the plug in one.
I don't know what she uses, but I imagine there's
something that she uses, like here, how bought you this?
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Also? So if I what I want you need to
do is the one that like plugs into the outlet.
So put that plug that in, turn it on, and
once I turn it on, start the microwave so that
it just masks everything.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
By the time it is heating up, you can your
popcorn is done and then yeah it smells better now.
Yeah absolutely, see again does the think tank. We're just
figuring things out.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Well as much as I mean, obviously you're doing some
physicality with your job where we you know, sitting for
that long and then with your voice. But there's also
a mental game to it as well, because you've got
to really get yourself in that zone of being on
air obviously, and then calling the live sport that's happening
in front of you, and then when you're done, you
got to be like, all right back to reality. What
(29:03):
are some things that you kind of do to kind
of help either bring yourself up for a broadcast and
then maybe bring yourself down or is there you know,
how do you kind of mentally take care of about it.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
That's a good question and one I've never thought of. Actually,
I guess in terms of mentally getting ready for a game, Obviously,
I do my preparation, I make my boards, I get
to the game an hour or two early, and I
sit there, look at my boards, talk to my analyst,
talk to the producer. I guess just that whole process
of discussing and game planning that gets me mentally locked
(29:37):
in and ready to go. And then when I'm done
with my game, I guess I wind down by Typically
my drives are about an hour or so, so I
have time to myself. I'll call a friend, or call
a family member, or listen to a good podcast hear
about what's going on in the world. That helps me
calm down. And then when I get home, I'll play
(29:59):
video games, although that doesn't help they calm down. I
typically get pretty agitated when I do that, so I
don't know if that helps me helps me wind down
at all, But that's that's typically what the The before
and after of my broadcast looks like.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Okay, yeah, I'm always curious because you know, I think
a lot of people don't think about that kind of stuff, like, no,
they're they're the ones doing. They're there, they're making the
soundtrack for the beautiful music that's happening.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, and it could be a little stressful at times.
The thought of it can be stressful because it's like,
oh my gosh, people are watching. What if I mess up?
What if this? What if that? But I will say
when I'm actually broadcasting, I I never feel nervous. Right
right before, I always feel nervous, But once once the
countdown ends and we're live, I'm locked in and I'm
(30:46):
just doing I think.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
I've been hearing a lot about the flow state and
about how athletes or people that you know, when musicians
or anybody really when they get in that, like you're saying,
you're not just feeling it, You're just you're in it.
Like I think that's probably the best way to describe
that is you're you're in your flow state.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
I agree. I agree. And it's not something that I
consciously switch into. It's just once I put that headset on,
once the ball is tipped, once the game starts, whatever
it is, it's just something just clicks in my mind
and I am locked in on a level that I'm
not locked in for anything else in life, which is
(31:27):
which is pretty cool. I wish I could be that
locked in with everything in life.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Except when you're with your girlfriend.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
She'll listen to this and she'll be like, yeah, I
wish you just listened to me more. You should be
locked in when we're having conversations, so you listen to
what I'm saying. But no, when I'm doing these games,
I'm just I'm just focused and engaged at a level
that I'm normally not at. But it's cool how subconsciously
that happens. When you care about something so much and
(31:55):
you're so passionate and engaged, it's just like your best
self comes out right.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Yeah, it's almost like autopilots somehow and everything. Yeah, it
takes over.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
It is, and then I'll think to myself after the broadcast, like, gosh,
like I did I what did I say things? Right?
Did I mess up? I'm not even conscious of how
I'm doing while I'm on air. It's weird.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Yeah, now I get that because yeah, you're, like you said,
you're in it, so I can't. You might be like, Okay,
I did mess that up.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
But I gotta keep going, like right exactly. I'll notice
if I mess something up that's like a big mess up,
I'll notice it and I'll correct it. But for the
most part, I just I just roll through it, and
then afterwards I'll watch back and review and give myself feedback.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
Yeah, like, don't do that again exactly. So I have
a second millar s. So I call it the five count,
which is five random questions.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Hm, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
What who's your first concert?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
First concert? First concert? And I'm not a big concert guy,
but my first one was Tom Chapin. Wow, who is
a I don't know, a children's artist and I saw
him I think near my house. But his brother is famous.
(33:09):
I'm blinking at his name right now. This is embarrassing.
I can, I can look this up. Yeah, see, I
will look this up. But Tom Chapin was let's see,
he's eighty years old now.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Grammy winning Harry Chapin.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Harry Chapin, yes, so so that that's that was his
brother Harry, who I think was a bit more famous. Oh,
Harry Chapin saying cats in the cradle.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Yes, yes, okay, But.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Tom Chapin was my first concert that I went to.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Interesting number two. If you owned a liquor company, brewery, winery,
or coffee shop, which one would you own? And what
would the name be?
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Hmmm, that is tough, you know. I I don't I
don't really drink. I drink occasionally some mixed beverages, but
I don't drink coffee or beer really. But I love
the smell of coffee, so I probably would go with
(34:11):
coffee a coffee house because I love the smell and
I love the vibe. It's just nice and laid back
and chill. And then in terms of a name, hmm, oh,
this is tough. I don't know. A coffee shop. Uh,
(34:35):
I don't know. I don't know. This is a tough one.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
I think it's right there. But it's also you probably
don't want to go there. It's gross coffee. Gross coffee, yes,
but you drop people in with the name. And also
every once in a while you do try like a
like a really gross concoction that people would want to
try people love. Yes, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
You know what that sounds like? You ever watch Nathan
for you?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
No, I've heard love it, but I've never seen it.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Okay, So so Nathan Fielder. He comes up with these
ridiculous ideas to get people to go to businesses, and
that's set he did want. Actually, that was like a
parody of Starbucks. That sounds like something you would do.
Gross's coffee. I love it. I love it. See if
I ever start one up, that'll be the name, and
I'll give you a cut of the proceeds. Don't worry.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
I just want free coffee anytime. Number three, Who is
the last person you fan boyd out on?
Speaker 2 (35:27):
Last person I fan boyd out on? Hmmm, that's another
tough one, you know, I I would I'd want to
say an athlete, but I guess since working in sports,
I'm not as much of a boy as I used
(35:48):
to be, so maybe a comedian. I love Larry David.
I just I love Larry David. So maybe Larry David. I.
If I watch a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode, I'm like this,
I is the greatest guy of all time. So I'll
go with l D. I'll go with LD.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Who are what inspires you?
Speaker 2 (36:08):
Great question? In terms of broadcasters, I'm inspired by Chris
Vowler I an Eagle. Those are my two favorite broadcasters.
And then just in general, my family inspires me. They
motivate me. They're so supportive of everything that I do.
My girlfriend is so incredible. Shout out Sarah. She's the best,
(36:32):
so supportive of everything that I do. So I'd say
family and girlfriend they inspire me as well to keep
pushing along and navigating this challenging industry.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
There you go, And finally, what would you tell your
seventeen year old self?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
Enjoy the ride? Enjoy the ride. I had a lot
of fun in college. I went to Penn State, met
so many amazing people, had so many great experiences. So
I would tell my seventeen year old self to it
lize and every opportunity that you get and have fun
along the way.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Love that. Now, if people want to find out more
about you, follow you online, listen to you obviously, do
your broadcast, listen to your podcast? How can they do
all the things?
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Sure, you can visit my website John Gross Broadcast dot com,
j O N g R O S S Broadcast dot com.
I am on Twitter at j O N g R
O S S p XP and my podcast is called paccub.
It's on YouTube, p ac space h u B and
(37:34):
then also LinkedIn, which is where we connected as well
under John Gross.
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yeah, I love it. Yeah, as as another John with
no H. You have to make sure to spell that
out otherwise.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
People, Yeah, which are you with Jonathan?
Speaker 1 (37:46):
I am a Jonathan? Are you same here? Yes? See exactly? Yeah,
and people, is there anybody?
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Has anybody ever spelled your name correctly without you having
to let them know no H?
Speaker 1 (37:56):
A couple of times really, and I get really excited.
I'm like, ah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
That was really refreshing that I don't think that's ever
happened to me. So you're really yeah, yeah, Well, if
people people who know me, people you will say j
O N. But I've even I've had a couple of
times on a broadcast where beforehand they're testing out the
graphics and they put John, I'm like, I'm sorry, guys,
don't need to be that guy. But it's j O N.
Speaker 1 (38:20):
Get the H out of here.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Exactly, yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Thank you so much to John for being on the show.
Hey two, John's one place, no h involved, so that's
always a good thing. Now, I can't wait to see
where the future holds for not only John, but obviously
the world of college athletes as well. We're entering a
very interesting and potentially strange time, so I can't wait
to see what happens. But mainly I want to see
what happens with John. So while you're following him on
(38:58):
his journey, make sure to follow it us on our
our journey. On social media, it is bruisers Pod. That
is b R E W S c R S p
O D on the Instagram, the threads, and the Twitter.
If you want to send us an email, it is
Bruiserspod at gmail dot com. If you want to follow
me directly, it is Roady John. That is our O
D I E j O N. Roady John is the
name on the Twitter and untapped. In case you want
(39:18):
to find out what I'm drinking, maybe we can have
a beer together if you want to follow me on
the threads or the Instagram. It is official Dye John,
so until next time, make sure to enjoy life, drink
local and cheers.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.