Turning Backtime: The Road Not Taken

Above is the most famous sports broadcast team in history. Eighteen years ago, I worked one game as their stat guy in the booth at Skydome in Toronto for a preseason game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills.

Long before Backtime's Executive Editor was a "full-time decision maker," the gig represented the first real career choice I ever had to make.

1995

I had grown up as an unparalleled sports fan, and a full-time gig at ESPN had been beyond my wildest dreams until I got it. Then I was introduced to overnight clip sessions, office politics, and The X-Games.

Don't get me wrong, I was doing well at 26 years old as an associate producer on a pet project like the inaugural X-Games. But the days were long and miserable. Newport, Rhode Island in June was a great place to be, but I got to enjoy none of it.

One miserable night (they all were) I returned to my hotel around Midnight, and the phone rang in my room - it was before most people had cell phones - so it wasn't all that unusual. What was unusual was who was on the other end, NFL on Fox producer Bob Stenner. He was calling from his summer home in Hawaii, so it wasn't even night where he was.

They had to fill their lead statistician position and he got my name from Pat Haden, whom I had worked with on radio, and had put me in the mix for a similar gig on TNT the year before. As it turned out I wasn't needed because Major League Baseball went on strike in 1994 and there were a flood of established guys available.

So that's how Stenner got my name. How he got my number at some rinky-dink hotel in Rhode Island is a mystery. I didn't ask, the butterflies in my stomach were fluttering.

Stenner offered me the opportunity to work with Pat & John. I would audition on a preseason game in Tornoto on August 12th, and if I met their approval I would stay on and do the season. Of course I said yes, but in the next 6 weeks I went back and forth on whether this was the right move.

It was a classic "short-term, long-term" dilemma. The NFL gig would give me a measure of status and a great note on my resume' (I was only 26), but it would derail my career goals in production. And from everything I had heard about John Madden, he wasn't about to stand for someone who was using their show as a stepping stone.

I decided to do the game. So I went to Toronto and I attended the production meeting, where I was introduced to Pat Summerall and John Madden. It might be the only production meeting in my career I didn't say a word in. Madden was abrasive (to put it kindly) with the underlings in the room and I wasn't looking to be roadkill on Day 1.

Several hours later, I was in the booth when the announcers arrived. Madden never made eye contact with me. Summerall, on the other hand, was a gentleman. We had one pre-game conversation as I stood side-by-side with him looking out to the field. I don't remember what we talked about - I was probably just thinking how cool it was that I was talking to Pat Summerall.

When the game began, the Bills sacked Troy Aikman on the second play from scrimmage. I held up a card I had ready - the Bills had 5 sacks in the first half of their last preseason game. I thought Pat & John would be so impressed with my preparation and timing. Instead, SWAT! Madden backhanded the index card right out of my hand. So that was my first on-air moment with those guys. It didn't look good. Though ask anyone who's worked with John Madden, and that outburst wasn't anything extraordinary.

As the game went on, things were better but pretty mundane. Madden referenced a few of my notes. Summerall gave me several very subtle nods of acknowledgment, just as elegant and understated as you would imagine.

But ultimately it was a 9-7 Bills win in a preseason game. Jim Kelly took 9 snaps. Aikman and Emmitt Smith only played a quarter. There was no chance for me shine.

Even at a young age, I was able to step back after the fact and weight the pros and cons. Ultimately there was only one positive about the gig: I would be on the signature NFL broadcast every week.

There were too many minuses. ESPN was at war with Fox after they had come on the scene just a year earlier and poached some big-time people. I wasn't big-time, but I would be joining the enemy. And being a stat guy would be a step backwards if I really wanted to be a producer. And John Madden was a dick who might take the joy out of my job, or simply pull the plug on me at a moment's notice.

I got back home on Monday and called Stenner. Even though my audition went fairly well, my mind had been made up. I quit even before I could get fired, though I was honored to be considered in the first place.

My phone rang the next day, it was a producer from NBC offering me the rest of the season as an associate producer on baseball. I worked the National League Pennant race and ultimately the 1995 NLCS. The Braves swept the Reds and headed onto their only World Series title.

As for me, I left ESPN but continue in a freelance role to this day. I produced my first game in December 1996. But my career and my life could have turned out very differently if I'd followed the stars in my eyes.

Summerall: Legend Of The Fall

George Allen "Pat" Summerall died today at 82. He played 10 years in the NFL as a part-time End (back then they didn't differentiate between offense and defense) and an accomplished "straight-on" Placekicker.

In fact, he got the nickname "Pat" at an early age, due to his reputation as a kicker. He was automatic on Point After Touchdowns (back then that wasn't taken for granted) and the name PAT stuck.

But if he never played a down in the NFL, his legacy will be the NFL. He was the lead play-by-play on CBS, and then on Fox. When I was a child I knew enough that the game Summerall was doing with Tom Brookshier was the game of the week. Later CBS elevated John Madden to partner with Summerall, and the rest is history.

But Summerall's broadcast legend extended beyond 40+ years in the NFL booth. He was the voice of the US Open Tennis Championship (back then that was huge) for years with Tony Trabert, and countless Masters alongside Ken Venturi.

His minimalist style is something revered by broadcast hosts to this day, though not practiced very often. Many play-by-play men (and let's not forget their producers) have to justify their own existence by showing the audience (and their bosses) how much they know. Summerall just let the game breathe, getting out of the way of the game, and clearing room for Madden, who was the star of the show. He could come out of a break and just say "Giants Stadium" and the scene would be set.

I worked in the booth with Summerall and Madden once on a preseason game in Toronto of all places, in 1995. How did that come about? Well, funny you should ask. I hadn't even thought of that event in years until I learned of Mr. Summerall's death.

More on my one-and-done experience with the "A" crew, tomorrow on Backtime.

O, My the Landscape has Changed in 100 Days

No, not that. I'm talking about the world of SPORTS.






The Eagle fans were reeling from another NFC Championship loss. Donovan McNabb lost a great shootout to Kurt Warner. And the Arizona Cardinals were headed for their first ever Super Bowl.

A-Rod, to our knowledge, was clean. And his skin likely didn't have an orange tint to it. But he had the same number of At Bats as he does now.

SEC Basketball Coaches Dennis Felton, Billy Gillispie, and Mark Gottfried all were employed.

TO was still a Cowboy. Charles Barkley was on sabbatical. John Madden was preparing to do his last game. Harry Kalas was alive.

I woke up in Lawrence, Kansas. And BACKTIME didn't exist.

Madden's Split Ends Well

For years, I've been telling anyone who would listen that Cris Collinsworth is football's best analyst on any level. This is a huge upgrade for the Peacock and for NFL fans around the globe.

Nothing against John Madden the broadcaster, he had a lot to do with the definition of the color analyst position. When he called the Super Bowl that involved Cris Collinsworth with the Cincinnati Bengals, Madden was the standard. But that was in 1982.

My professional opinion of Madden is skewed by a preseason game I worked with him in 1995. I saw a man treat a number of people on the crew (including myself) as sub-human. There are plenty of network production types who have greater horror stories than the stat guy (me) who got his first note dismissively swatted back at him.

As a viewer, in recent years, I can't recall anything memorable that Madden said. He became a caricature of himself, with the power of his name being far greater than any substantive points he made. His constant telestrations over moving video during the last Super Bowl made me cringe. He's 73. It was time.

Collinsworth combines everything you want in your analyst. He's got a feel for the big picture, and describes things simply, but will give you skinny on the Xs & Os when needed. He'll engage in pointed criticism, a place where a number of ex-players won't go. And he doesn't do it just for effect. He's funny. And he's worldly. He can give you 20 neat seconds on the US Open tennis final or the MLB postseason during an NFL game and you won't feel that he's all over the place.

As a radio host, a studio host, and a studio analyst, he knows the ins and outs of a broadcast infrastructure. When to punch points, when to follow up, and when to shut up.

Collinsworth jumped from the top show at FOX when NBC got back into the football business, even though Madden was in place. His patience and team play has paid off.

With apologies to my good friends Ed Cunningham, Andre Ware, and David Norrie, this guy is the best. Sunday Night Football will now, once again, bump HBO from my Sunday priority viewing.