This Was SportsCenter: Craig Kilborn - Season 1, Ep. 6

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23:09Rich Eisen:There's a reason Gusto is ranked number one on G2's highest satisfaction products list for 2026 and trusted by over 500 ,000 small businesses. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash TWSC TWSC and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash TWSC. One more time, gusto.com slash TWSC. All right, let's talk about a couple of things here. So you said you were a handful. Did you, you were a handful to work with? No, I, no, you know, you know what you were there? Cause no, I was a handful from the standpoint. I really, I wanted to do late night and I really wrote a lot of jokes.

23:50I was really into comedy. Are you ready for some wild, wacky stuff? It's Coach Marty at the Chiefs press conference. Lots of questions about Joe Montana. Are there any answers? I've talked to other people, other producers, comedy producers and stand-ups and stuff, and in your 20s and 30s, you're really thinking comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy. Say what you will about Don King or Mike Tyson or professional boxing, but at least Saturday night's fight was on free TV. That's always nice. No matter how short the fight lasts, you really can't complain because, hey, it didn't cost anything. You're left to complain about the beer being warm, and that's your own fault because you probably need a new fridge.

24:25But as a co-worker, I was really low-key, and that's important to me. I was really low-key. I didn't say too much. And I remember a producer coming out of a meeting, and they had been talking about talent. And they said, hey, Craig, you don't say much. You don't ever complain. I go, nope, I don't. Of course, they didn't know that I would talk to Haber and say, I've got to get out of here. you know but but i want to do something but i didn't complain to management because there were other people that would obviously complain to management right i mean i in local tv i think we all did our own makeup yes yeah i did and then when i was at espn because we were on late i did my own makeup now later they they got a makeup artist right but they were it was too

25:10Rich Eisen:late for them so i always did my makeup at espn yeah i mean bronze god just bronze it up man i I mean, the makeup didn't, when I first got there in 96, I did my own makeup in Redding, California. Yeah. And I got to ESPN. I was kind of surprised that I was still asked to do my own makeup. Right. And they just were beginning to start giving makeup to the on-air talent just when I first arrived. Right. And I think that famous Olbermann Dan Patrick commercial, while they're doing their own makeup prior to the show, was born out of that's the way it used to be.

25:56Could have washed his hands.

25:59Rich Eisen:Washed his paws. Paws. That they did their own makeup in the mirror. Yeah. And it was born into their own sports center. commercial based on all like you have too much rouge or something like that you know you need a little too much more rouge um and i want to talk sports center commercials with you in a second but in terms of you know um your on-air stuff i just remember watching you when i first saw you when i was up in in um redding redding and i'm like okay this is a guy i went to salinas and then made it to SportsCenter. That shows me that I can make it from here. I didn't think I was going to actually do that, but, you know, from Reading.

26:42Yeah, in some ways it was easier for us to get to ESPN to get the weekend job at LA or San Francisco.

26:51Rich Eisen:Maybe so, you know, which is kind of wild when you think about it. You know, I honestly thought I would have to go from one market to another to another to finally get there, I kind of like won a lottery sort of like the way that you did. And to use your phrase, you said before, thank goodness for that. It changed my life. But I just remember, I'm like, this dude is putting William Shatner over his shoulder and trying to figure out how to move something from Shatner to the NBA or from Shatner to hockey, you know. Good things are happening in San Francisco. O. Weber won the Rookie of the Year. The Niners have acquired Ken Norton Jr.

27:26and local musician Boss Gags has just released his first album of the 90s. Of course, nothing can top Silk to Grace. There's a problem in the city. The Giants are struggling. Yeah, I did a lead-in once. I can't remember if it was Shakespeare or Barry White who said, too much of anything is not good for you, baby, but I can't get enough. And then I transitioned to, well, the Clippers can't get enough or Pooh Richardson or whatever I said, something silly. But I came in the next day, and we've talked about this before, Bob Lee said, I loved your lead in with Barry White. I mean, I just was like, he was so supportive, Bob Lee.

28:06Rich Eisen:That must have been like a moment for you. You thought, again, Bob Lee would say to you like. Come on, man. Right. I mean, I remember in Salinas, there was a phone call after the newscast and I had been sports. And they said, Craig, it's for you. I go, hey, can you just give me the score? What took you so long to give me the score? You were talking, you're doing all this silliness. I said, oh, I'm trying to be entertaining, brother. I got to go, you know. Yeah, right. Yeah. But anyways, so Bob Lee was very supportive. He was supportive of you then. All the guys were. Keith and Dan were extreme.

28:39We all looked up to Keith and Dan. No doubt. They were extremely nice to me. Everyone was nice. Who else? Robin Roberts, really classy lady, very nice to me. We'd have chats sometimes. I think it was on the, she worked on Sunday or something. I can't remember what day, but it was a day, and she was always nice. She was a big hooper. Yeah. I was a ball player. We would chat. She was great.

28:59Rich Eisen:Yeah. From the state of Alabama. Yeah. That's where she's from. Yeah. So, all right. So everyone was really supportive of you. Yeah. But you wanted to get out. Oh, yeah. You were vocal about that? No. I wasn't vocal about it. Never? No. All right. No. I just remember when the contract was up, they said, the agents that I had, I had switched. I was with a guy named Sandy Montag. I know him. and I I told he had John Madden for those of you wondering he was kind of a big-time agent still is and I said they wanted to resign me and they were going to offer me some NFL one of the NFL shows to be on the panel with or do something and I just I was ready to leave I wanted to do a sitcom I wanted to do anything the Daily Show happened we've talked about that in the past but he said well, they're offering you this, you know, they're offering me a nice raise.

29:56And I said, I'm, I'm, I'm leaving, man. And he said to me, Sandy said to me, well, if you don't want to do sports, you should talk to my friend, Jeff Jacobs, who's at CAA. So he, and you can call him if you want to do entertainment. So I called Jeff Jacobs and I, he said, oh, well, great. The next time you're out in LA, we should meet. Well, I'm taking the next week off. I went to ESPN. I said, I got to take a week off vacation i mean jeff jacobbs was like whenever you're out here i don't know i'm in a hurry here so i went out and met him and signed with caa and then it got we were kind of fortunate that it happened that the daily show the timing they were looking for a killborn type the the doug herzog at comedy central but uh sandy had said to me well you can't just leave them hanging so i i went to a number you said you have to counter their number right so i said well tell me a number that they won't match and he gave me a number and we just did that as a counter and then i left now is the end of it they did not match it no no and if they did i would not have i would have left anyways yeah but i was just doing what the agent told me to do i was trying to be nice

31:04Rich Eisen:so because i do remember when i got there and i met you for the first time um they were shooting the don't walk commercial yeah the sports center commercial they were it was sort of like the um you know, a mock mock-up of the We Are The World campaign where all the anchors were singing a song about not traveling. Right. See the book, page 35, section 14. The college guys don't do it. Let your pivot put there's nothing to it. Don't walk your throws after all. Don't walk. Come on refs, make the call. Don't walk big men, you know who you are. And you were just leaving? You were in that, and I think they took you out of it.

31:48Yeah, they were upset. See, there was an aspect to ESPN with the executives where, I mean, ESPN made a lot of money. It was a very big deal. It wasn't all about the talent. They reminded us too often, it's not about the talent. It's about the games and the sports. And if you're going to hire talented people, you've got to put up with this. And so, yeah, they were bent out of shape. they could have kept me in, but they didn't want to. And then Alan Brose and Hank Perlman, the guys did it. We're like, oh my God, we got to cut them out. This is a hassle, but that's life.

32:21Rich Eisen:Yeah, I do remember that you were there and then you were not there. Yeah, yeah. And I remember you were there and then not there in terms of being a coworker on top of all of that. And one of the things that I definitely heard though is just since we're here on the show talking about this, if you don't mind, that you were complaining about appearing on an ESPN2 halftime show. Oh, I'll tell you that story. I will tell you that story. Please go ahead. And I apologize. I respect you, Mr. Walsh, but we all have egos. Yeah. And basically, I went into, I was tired because I would stay up and watch myself instead of going to sleep.

33:01Right. But after about two and a half years or so, I said, I've never had a Bristol day. They didn't give me Bristol days. They gave the other guys Bristol days.

33:12Rich Eisen:Right. That's on the schedule where it would just say Bristol, where you weren't on the air. If somebody called in sick, you might be pressing the service. It was just another day off. You might do a voiceover. You might do something. But it was an easy day, a couple hours. They didn't keep you there. Correct. And I was exhausted. Now, I should point out that up until that point, the first two years, I didn't want a Bristol day. I loved writing jokes and being on camera and doing the thing. They've met the last two years in the playoffs, and if they both win in the first round this year, they'll meet again.

33:45Plus, they met Friday night. Sounds like they're meeting a lot. Maybe they like each other, but let's not go there. It's the Magic and the Pacers currently second and third in the East. Orlando leads the season series two games to one. Then I exhaled. I go, I need a break. I need a Bristol day. And they wouldn't necessarily give me a Bristol day. And then they did. I thought it was odd that they wouldn't necessarily like, what are you doing? You complain? No, I just said. And they and they put me on ESPN2. And I was not on camera. There was a college basketball game. And during the break, I would say Creighton is beating Drexel.

34:21I would give score.

34:22Rich Eisen:Right, you're an update. LaSalle is getting killed in a non-conference game to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. And as I'm doing this, different anchors, hi, Dan, would text me or whatever, not text me, they would send me a message. You could message me. On the NPS, the top line message. I remember that. And they were mocking me. They were mocking me. Dan was mocking you? Absolutely. Other people were mocking me. so i had fun the next next time i did a score and i go oh kill born on the deuce okay now that of course is mocking i guess espn too yes no one told me i got suspended for a week you got suspended for that yes when yes no pay suspended for a week and no explanation and i in my opinion they could have said they could have brought me in and said i said well these guys were razzing me so i just wanted to have a little fun and stick it to them or whatever i wanted to do right but they didn't there was no communication and i disagreed with that but i i don't care because i said i'm leaving anyway but uh yeah anyways that's so that was it because i was informed of there wasn't any complaining i was just like you make i'm just going to have some fun here because i i other guys had a do a bristol day and they just sat there yes and picked their nose and i don't i don't pick my nose i have a hand mirror as i told you and i look at myself blah blah blah blah anyways uh that's a fun story yeah no i i remember that yeah when i got there and people were like yeah craig is not happy here right and that he just got no i was about by the way i was told the game was duke north carolina which is not i mean that's a very highly rated game i don't know probably why they wanted you on oh i imagine it was on dan sending you top line messages keith other guys yeah there were a lot of i'm trying to think of who else maybe pedo i don't remember billy pedo i don't remember fairweather i'm sure i'm sure fairweather a great bostonian right producer yeah okay um they know you by the way yeah it wasn't my my dad was like why don't Tell them about your other suspension and local radio.

36:39So when I was at KBOZ, when I was at KBOZ in Bozeman, Montana, I was working the midnight to six shift one summer.

36:47Rich Eisen:Right. And they had this company called Drake Chenault, which had the rotation of songs. They paid for this service and they would every third song was every breath you take, you know. And it was it was mapped out. It was scientific what songs to play. And I was on the FM KBOZ. and the guy at the AM said, you don't have to play those. You can play another song. And I was tired and I wanted to long break, close my eyes. So I played a six-minute Barry White song. Jump on me, baby, whatever it was, your whole family. And the guy heard the air check and he said, why don't you take a couple weeks off, right?

37:26Rich Eisen:Yeah. Without pay as well. Yeah. No pay there. So there you go. very white six minute very white song so i'm now now comes the the point of the our conversation where i will retell the story that i have told you uh before and since then but i have not brought to this audience is that i did a sports center with you hello and welcome along with rich eyes and i'm carrie kibble and this of course the feel good the new jersey devils aren't feeling too good right about now and the red sox fans have that sinking feeling but first a man who had the The Marlins feeling mighty low, that being Hideo Nomo.

38:01Rich Eisen:When you were clearly, now that I'm hearing this, you had to have been... Checked out? Checked out. Good. Yeah. Well, I believe our work is done here for the moment. Lows 150 from Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Coming up next, I'm Rich Eisen. Greg Kilbo, we'll see you later. There's no question about it. So I'm doing a sports center with you and you say Spark. he was referred to me as sparky and other people right you know that uh who are young and new their spark let's go to dinner and i'm like sure this is great craig kilmwood's going to take me to dinner i hopped in your car and you took me to southington connecticut next door to bristol to the kenny rogers roll and roaster drive-through i i can afford that this is i don't know again if you recall this moment or or not it doesn't matter if you do but it would be it'd be wild so I am now in the car sitting shotgun you're driving through we're ordering up you know Kenny Rogers rolling roaster and you're like hey um Rich I got this job opportunity and you proceed to describe to me what I did not know at the time was the Daily Show right and you're like should I take the job right and I'll never forget sitting there as I'm going through the Kenny rogers rollin roaster with craig kilbourne i'm like thinking what the fuck like what do i say yeah in answer and i just basically because i also hearing that was excited for you yeah because what a dream yeah gig that you described to me there's this new channel comedy central it's the show it's gonna be like a fake news show so it'll be comedy and a lot of fun with guests and whatever i'm like that's a dream job my god what a dream job but then i was also disappointed that you'd be leaving yeah you know because i really wanted to do more sports thank you and it's the truth and i just remember sitting there and saying to you um i think you should take the job yeah and i just was wondering why so i get to ask you this years like why were you asking me like and i think i told you on your show but it's because i you're a broadcaster okay and i i liked it i like opinions of because for me it was it would be a dream to do that right a comedy show like that and i just wanted to see if you would say oh it could be risky or who knows or oh my god that's amazing i i didn't know i just like i liked feedback from a talented broadcaster to see what their perspective was on i appreciate you saying that yeah i mean at the time it just was a dream job yeah yeah an absolute dream job right so that you're talking about sports center well sports center yeah but but the other one daily show i don't know like there was again the word in this in in in the block on the block the bristol block is that you were done right like you'd pretty much done everything that you could do sports center wise and there was time for you to graduate to to comedy like you know it's interesting because uh the the late night stuff was more dysfunctional i didn't view espn as dysfunctional um and and i told a little story about Kilburn on the Deuce that was kind of a minor blip right um but the Daily Show which I haven't talked about and I will one day I loved it but it was easily the most dysfunctional place I've worked I knew it was produced the wrong way they wouldn't even put in the contract that I was the host they wanted to see how I did and the executive producer uh I got along with her because I'm a nice guy but I and I never told her that it was produced the wrong way because I there were why we had a show to launch why create waves when you want to leave i knew what her solution would be you said well you have to work closely with this other person is that liz winstead you're referring to no that's the executive producer is madeline smithberg okay but i knew it was produced the wrong way because after i left for cbs the problems remained and madeline got to work with her favorite late night host john stewart who she worked with at mtv and she was fired because she thought it was her show.

42:09So they didn't want a host-driven show. And it was very odd. And there were other things that were odd. But the point of that being ESPN was not that dysfunctional to me. You had to catch up to this machine, a sports center, and do your job and be efficient that way. But I didn't find it dysfunctional.

42:34Rich Eisen:yeah i mean i i i wound up you know i i thought i would be there forever yeah be honest with you yeah i thought i'd be there forever i didn't imagine seven years in you know getting you know into a contractual dispute with i i guess you told me that but i didn't know so you didn't want to leave necessarily they just it was a money thing or no it was a an assignments thing oh I didn't want to do 150 whatever the heck it was or sports centers anymore. Yeah. I didn't want to stay up till two in the morning anymore. And certainly because, you know, everything that was happening with ESPN at the time, with Disney, with everything that you see.

43:20Rich Eisen:Right. that Robin Roberts has gone on to Good Morning America and Chris Fowler is the voice of college football and Mike Tirico, you know, moved on into different parts of that world. And now you see what he's doing for NBC. And I saw those trend lines and some of them were already happening. And I do remember having a conversation with, you know, Mark Shapiro was in charge at the time and having a dinner with him. And, you know, the initial conversations was it went from 150 sports centers to 180 and i was like wanting to go in the other direction yeah and so it that's it it just went downhill from there yeah downhill it was it was physically taxing at espn the hours but also the shows yeah and i should say as i mentioned there's some dysfunction right at the daily show i had a blast hosting the daily show and the cbs job was easily my favorite I mean, it was so much fun.

44:18We tape at five and it's, it's, it's different. So like when you said, oh, they're going to do these assignments. Like I just wanted to focus pure on comedy talk show. So that's why I'm very grateful to the daily show. There's no, I've said this before. There's no way I could go from ESPN to CBS late night. I needed the daily show in there. And again, I've said it wasn't, I didn't like the format of the daily show necessarily. Yes. Because the interviews were four minutes. So I said I went an hour with Clint Eastwood. Well, normally those first guests are usually eight to ten minutes. We have a commercial break, come back, play five questions, and we have a second guest.

44:57Right. Those are at least, second guest is at least six minutes.

45:00Rich Eisen:Right. So I was an old, I was a Johnny Carson fan. Well, I mean, me too. I mean, you know, there's a picture of Johnny Carson in the studio, and same thing with Letterman. Did you have a meeting with Letterman, like, to talk about working for Worldwide Pants? because it was that slot that you, because he owned the time slot, correct? Like his production company owned the time slot for the Late Late Show. Yeah, so yeah, that was pretty special. It's kind of weird because I wanted to leave ESPN, then I wanted to leave The Daily Show. And there are other reasons, but I wanted to, it wasn't my show.

45:37And I say it was nobody's show, but the network president told me a few years ago, it was madeline's show i said no it wasn't she wasn't hosting the show it was just this weird misconception of what i consider the basics of late night they're host-driven shows right really simple unless you're lauren michaels where you have a rotating host anyway so um rob burnett was my contact he was a very funny guy he he had been the head writer and he was the executive producer of the letterman show and he was the guy that i dealt with and i had meetings with him And they said, Tom Snyder is going to retire.

46:13And we're looking at some people and you're one of them. And eventually one night, one day, Rob said, come over after your show. And I want you to meet Dave. So I met Dave at the Ed Sullivan Theater in one of the offices. And we chatted for a little while. And I was going to talk a little hoop with him, but I didn't sense he wanted to really talk hoop. So I quickly shifted it. And I said, um, Hey, what's the fastest you've ever driven in a car? I wanted to bring in the car.

46:50Rich Eisen:There you go. And because I had a story when I was in the late eighties, living in Venice, I had a friend in San Francisco who had a Porsche, uh, and nine 11. And we, we, we took it from LA up to San Francisco on the five. And she, she let me drive. And, um, I got it up to 145. Yeah. Yeah. You know? Oh, look at you. Not for very long. Right. But I did that. Did that break the ice with Dave? I don't think he had gone that fast. I think I won. But he, you know, and he talked about, I can't remember what he said, but it was a nice meeting with him. Right. I mean, and the other thing you have to realize is we, a lot of us, were absolutely obsessed with Letterman.

47:38Obsessed. He was a hero to a lot of us. When he did the Oscars, I got emotional. There he is, that's our guy. That's my guy, that's our guy. And I thought he was great on the Oscars. I remember Olbermann came back from New York. He was up, came back to Bristol, came in the office, and said, I just saw Letterman. We were like, what? Tell us the story. And he was doing a bit, he's on CBS now, he's doing a bit at 30 Rock, at NBC, and he was smoking a cigar in the lobby. They were waiting to shoot something. And Keith walked by and I guess Dave said, hi, Keith. And Keith had said, you're my hero for smoking.

48:19It was like, I can't, you know, that was, it was some joke about the cigar.

48:22Rich Eisen:Right. But it was cool that Dave said, hi, Keith, because SportsCenter was huge back then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I totally buy that. Yeah, yeah. I totally buy that because Dave Letterman is a god to me as well. And 100%. Yeah, I'm obsessed with him. Even local TV, somebody said they saw him at spring training once and Dave said something funny, rude, but it was like, yes, you know, he said bite me or something to some young kid. It was very funny. But Dave was a legend, you know. Yeah. So there was another thing. You've heard the story about Bill Murray, right? Okay. Go for it. So we're in the office and Steve Levy and Carl Ravitch think Chevy Chase is funnier than Bill Murray.

49:09Okay? And Keith and Dan and I are like, you don't know what you're talking about. Okay? Because Bill's the funniest man around. And I did say to them, I wanted to understand. I said, are you familiar with Nick Wings, the lounge singer? Nick Rails, the lounge singer?

49:25Rich Eisen:Right. They go, no, never heard of him. What? I think they only knew him from Caddyshack, which is not the smooth bill, right? Right. So we told them they were wrong. And, you know, Dan knew Bill. And Dan says, someone's on the phone for you, Craig. This is in the newsroom. And I had only been there like six months or so. And I got on the phone. They go, Craig, it's Bill Murray. First of all, I think you're very funny. Secondly, thanks for sticking up for me in that argument. what a flex for Dan Patrick yeah yeah yeah just get him on the horn yeah god bless I love that stuff so this is an argument that you're having you're doing the late night yeah yeah there are a lot of conversations in there there were you were you worked in another part or not did you you and Stu worked elsewhere well we just worked I mean I got there again in 96 the setup was probably different than it was in 93.

50:24Rich Eisen:I do remember when I first walked into the building in 1996, the newsroom was built like a, like a NASA, a control room where it was just row, row, row, row. And you would sit in your row and the TVs would be right there. And other guys would have their cubicles around. No one really had an office on the room management. And then they reconfigured the place. We worked in trailers. Did you, were you part, are you already gone by then no trailer yeah no they were we had we worked in a we worked in trailers in a parking lot while they were redoing the building oh okay okay that's the way it was and then then it then they recreated it in a different way and then um so and and there was a newsroom downstairs but then the third floor where everybody was kind of doing their work right so there really wasn't that much of a camaraderie where you're just going to be walking or standing around and having an argument over who is funnier between six anchors working three different shows.

51:20Rich Eisen:It was just kind of different by that point. Did you ever hear this? I bet you haven't heard this. So I could tell this a couple different ways, but when I was at Montana State, I wasn't getting as much run as I wanted to. I had some good games, but there was a friend of mine on the team, Mike Erickson, and during warm-ups, we would, you know, pass each other in layup line. Yeah. And we would name the colleges we wanted to transfer to. Yeah. before the game. And I would say, Pepperdine, you know, and he goes, San Diego State, you know. Anyways, so I longed, I longed for California for some reason.

52:00Go West, young man. I grew up in Minnesota. I wanted to go to California. I fell in love with San Francisco when my brother picked me up there spring break. He was a software engineer down in Silicon Valley. San Francisco remains my favorite city in America. It's going through some rough times, but it's a beautiful city so i'm at espn and i was talking i'm missing california i was talking to somebody who knew some had some information they said you know they almost left espn almost left bristol almost left connecticut i go really where'd they go san diego you're kidding me i would be a i would do anything i would be an intern there i would i just wanted to right and they said then connecticut gave them

52:40Rich Eisen:major tax breaks to stay probably still to this day yeah think about it yeah yeah that's why san diego rich that would have been a massive game changer whoa yeah just absolutely massive game changer because that's another thing that's the reason why i wanted to move to new york because there were going to be more shows in new york they were offering me a spot on that show called cold pizza yeah uh i was uninterested in taking that job and then when i said no to that that's when i got a cardboard box that's what i got my fill it up and gus ramsey and pete mcconville helped help me move out of my apartment you know two guys who are still pete's still there he does he he's part of he runs first take right there right now so my mind i just remembered another story please i just i wish i could think of the guy's name okay he was a he was he was a producer and um it wasn't was it amen was there a guy named amen amen mcannany was that him i think so i think that's his name i don't know if that's the right name okay he gave it was stress it was tension yeah in in the newsroom yeah digger phelps was an on-air talent yes and they were there was something happening and he said i guess he the guy the producer went to notre dame yeah that's okay you got it and he goes well you should have won more games like he said and digger said something like who are you know they went back and forth yeah and uh it was kind of fun it was fun i mean i bet i mean i again my favorite digger phelps story is i remember sitting with him on a sports center set you know he had those uh highlighters that matches ties yeah yeah and so um he had all these highlight he said a highlighter would match a tie but then he also had a bunch of highlighters on the desk yeah and so we're in a commercial break and he's just like got his cards with all the information on it and he'd highlight one thing with pink and then he'd grab another one highlight with green then he'll highlight another one with yellow and i'm like digger like what's the different color codes for he goes i don't know i'm just grabbing fucking pens

54:50i think amen was upset because he had gone to basketball camp digger phelps basketball camp and he was complaining i don't want to misquote him but he was complaining about he didn't like digger and digger didn't like him and it was stressful here's a funny one just to tie it all as we as we do our random thoughts here yeah my first letter yeah recruiting me because i was in a street and smith basketball i was a honorable mention all american or something at minnesota i was an all-state basketball player um so i got started getting letters from colleges right first letter i ever got as a junior i first letter i got was as a junior i got a bunch as a senior digger phelps notre dame no kidding yeah first letter i got yeah and nothing nothing nothing i was i was a junior and then when i was a senior i had the biggest names i had in my living room that visited me were norm stewart from missouri mike montgomery was at montana before he went to stanford and cal and then i had jim dutcher from the university of minnesota uh anyways yeah so um

55:48Rich Eisen:rich eisen here for gusto on my shows we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight the games the highlights and the moments that get replayed and debated but in any successful operation what happens behind the scenes matters just as much small businesses are no different payroll hiring onboarding benefits and all the details that keep things moving may not be the most visible part of the job but they still have to be handled right that's where gusto comes in gusto is online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses it's all-in-one remote friendly and incredibly easy to use so you can pay hire onboard and support your team from anywhere automatic payroll tax filing simple direct deposits health benefits commuter benefits workers comp 401k you name it gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget and it's all built to save you time with built-in automated tools for offer letters onboarding docks direct deposit and more plus you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price no hidden fees no surprises try gusto today at gusto.com slash twsc and get three months free when you run your first payroll that's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash twsc one more time gusto.com slash twsc mixing sports center and comedy you did it in your on-air uh repertoire in the few minutes we have left here you would be able to do it in the sports center commercials you already mentioned alan bros who is a part of the wyden kennedy group that yes also create some of these right um brilliant your favorite one that you did what's your favorite sports center commercial well I like the Glenn Jacobs one.

57:24Rich Eisen:My name's Glenn Jacobs, and I've been a PA here at SportsCenter for about three months, and it's been really great. You've embarrassed me on national TV. I mean, I work long hours, sure, but I get a lot of exercise. I mean, it's really cool one of those guys read something I've written on the air. Nice try, Sparky. Nice try. Maybe next time. That's, you know, two words for you, pizza delivery. That's right. Four months ago, I was writing a paper about my idol, Craig Kilbourne. Gary? Glenn? Okay. Here I am getting career advice from him. Two words for you. Pizza, delivery. It's incredible. But there was a weird one where I was talking to some girl on the phone.

58:02By the time you get to ESPN and do SportsCenter, I would say the idea of being a sportscaster and a celebrity, that's worn off. I mean, that's old. Did you see the show last night? It's national TV. People come here to work. It means if you're in New York, you can see it. If you're in Miami, you can see it. And I was whispering, I can get you tickets, I can give you a tour, you know. Your daddy needs tickets to the game? Done deal. You got it. You're not a star. I want you to come by the station, give you a tour. Is it all right if I call you Sunshine? Hank Perlman was encouraging. Hank Perlman too, yeah.

58:36He was encouraging me, still a friend to this day. Very talented, funny man. And happy birthday, Hank. He just turned 60. No shit. Yeah.

58:45Rich Eisen:You know, I just remember when those commercials, we would do them. they had these booklets okay like loose like a loose leaf booklet or something like that right and all the scripts would be in there and when they got to your script of what we were shooting they would go to the they would thumb through it right and i'm like how many commercials are you shooting that i'm not in you know right and it would be and they would hold it to their chest so you didn't see anybody else's scripts. And so if you were in more than one, you knew that you were in a good standing with management. You knew that you were in a good standing with the fans.

59:29Rich Eisen:Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're going to be more than one. Right. And I just remember how many of these am I going to be in. Right. You didn't know until they started airing. Right. And like, I could have been in that one. Right. I remember all of that. So Hank was a fan of mine, but we met, he was at Wieden and Kennedy. Yeah. This is before this is SportsCenter. He comes out, he calls me at ESPN and says, hey, I'm in town for some meetings. Let's go grab a bite. Right. And he goes, I want you to do the, I think you're really funny. I want you to do these promos for ESPN because they were writing promos.

1:00:02And I said, these are hockey promos and I'm the basketball guy, man. I'm not the hockey guy.

1:00:07Rich Eisen:Right. And he goes, I want you to do it. You're funny. I said, okay. So that's how you started getting into this SportsCenter commercials? Yeah, Hank was a fan. You've got the documentation I needed tonight. This is our lead story. I know Tyson is fighting where, and I know Tyson is fighting when, but I need to know who that next opponent's going to be. Guys, guys, what do you like better, hurt me or spank me? Spank me. Spank me. Perfect. Okay. This is extreme. If you can get it to me tonight. Yeah, now he's a friend. Now he's a friend. All right, so did you ad-lib the pizza delivery line? Did you ad-lib any of these?

1:00:46I don't know. I think we just talked about them. Okay. You know what? This is what I like about Hank. We would talk. He goes, here's a line. You know, we just pitch other lines. I don't remember if it was written or if we said it together or if I said it. I don't remember.

1:00:58Rich Eisen:Right. Yeah. He liked ad-libbing. He liked. But you can do it. When you do that. Right. You do it. Then you go to the side. You go, what about this? What if I said this? What if we said that? and he goes what about this i go that's funny you know that's that i'd imagine that's something you would collaborate genuinely enjoy or collaborate it's because it's again it was a total comedic timing yeah situation yeah you know and i talked about it in the episode with dan you know the the episode the commercial where they sent me down to the minors yes and i didn't want to do it yeah because I thought, why are they sending me down to the minors?

1:01:36Rich Eisen:Thank you, Courtney. All J.D. wrestlers must return their uniforms to coach. He was a real asset down there, his maturity, his experience. Ms. Dyson, could you buy some beer? Okay, when I go like this, that's your cue. No. Please? No. Come on. Do you even go to this school? Because you're not supposed to be on the show unless you go to this school. I had been on SportsCenter for a few years, damn it. Why am I still a freshman around? Like I thought I'd matriculate at a certain point. So let's see some James K. Polk spirit. Dan basically was just like, just suck it up. It's funny, right? Do you find it funny?

1:02:09Rich Eisen:Yeah. Then go with it. Just be funny. Self-deprecating. That's a way to do it. Which is my way of life. Oh, God. Did you ever meet Larry Bird? I did. And? Did he ever ask a restraining order? Did he appreciate it or what? Did I ever tell you when I met him? No. Okay, so another commercial director, Stacey Wall, was shooting a beer commercial out in Burbank at the Smokehouse. And the commercial was basically, Larry's not saying anything. He's with a guy talking, and there's two kids, two other young guys at another table see him. They go, that's Larry Bird, and they're talking and talking. And I don't even think it really aired.

1:02:53I never really saw it. But Stacey, the director, said, Craig, I want you to be the guy he talks to because you love Larry. I want him to have a good time. So we weren't miked, and I just asked him every question I ever wanted to ask him. The left hand against Portland. I saved my right hand for the Lakers. He had all the lines.

1:03:12Rich Eisen:Right, sure. The bent finger softball at Indiana State. You know, I just wanted to hold a beer after I broke it. And his friend said he shot better in college. He shot okay in the pros, but he couldn't miss before he broke his finger. I mean, I just asked Larry all these questions. Yes, I did meet him. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Fantastic. Do you want to do SportsCenter again? Would you do it? I'm always here to help people. You mean as a sit-in and do one? Yeah, like if we did one together. Yeah, I'll do that for you. Both the Pistons and Pacers are going to the playoffs, but it's unclear in what order.

1:03:42That would make Saturday's game significant. Actually, every game is significant because you're not only battling your opponent, whenever you hit the floor, you're battling yourself. You're always trying to be the best you can be. The game is sacred. All right, that's enough.

1:03:56Rich Eisen:Yeah. No. What's the answer? No, no, no. You could say you don't want to do it again. Like you have no desire to go back or sit there and do a highlight again or create a lead in. That's fine. You've been there and done that. Can I ask you a favor? Sure, yeah, sure. When I promote the thing I want to promote. So it'll come out in 2027. Okay. Let's do it then. Okay. When in 2027 are you talking about? I don't know yet. I don't know. Okay. yeah it's all fluid well because i mean they're building i'm assuming i don't know um you know the nfl network studios here in la oh that's right they're taking them over so i imagine they're going to put a sports center studio there and if not the one i did last year here in la was in downtown la that's what i'm asking that's what i want to know is the one downtown is that still active a good question i don't know things are fluid okay things are fluid craig that's a great location down there it is great i don't know if they're going to be moving anything to to here but i i don't know i when i just did it again it just brought back so many great memories right um and i do like doing it by myself because i like joking around like like the last um co-anchor i'll ever have is stewart you know it's also very personal to me um since he was the guy that i'm so sports center synonymous with whether it's a live ball poor pitching watered down talent or an improved weight program there have been plenty of mojos and booyows in the bigs 2632 home runs so many gadgets and whooping sticks being busted out that no less than six hitters are on pace for 50 homers almost makes you forget about defense but i i part of me wants to just do it old school one more time It's folks like you and Dan, who I think reluctantly says, you know.

1:05:46Rich Eisen:But he's been there and done that. Yeah, he's done a lot of them. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Yeah. But, you know, I don't know. Like, if it's something you want to do. Yeah, it would be fun. We'll be in communication. Yes, absolutely. I like that. Do I get the NBA highlight? No. Yeah, sure. I don't particularly care. When playing basketball, we don't encourage young players to talk noise or say things to your opponent like, you can't guard me, you're weak, don't waste my time, or the famous one-word taunt, face. No reason for that stuff. But when done properly, it sure is entertaining.

1:06:21Rich Eisen:But that's your, because again, that was another thing back in the day that you had that reputation for. You were just NBA. These could be the most entertaining NBA playoffs ever, and that's saying a lot because in the late 70s when Julius Irving and George McGinnis were both using just one hand for Philly, and the Iceman and the Whopper always had the Spurs in the playoffs. It didn't seem like it could get any better. This season, the Western Conference should change all that. It's anybody's ballgame. Big time. I love college hoops, but other than that. You know, Oberman told me once, he said, you only need to know one sport, and he was a baseball guy.

1:06:55He told you that? He said, you only need to know one sport, because sports is not that complicated. Now, you have to, we're talking about memorizing players and stats or whatever, but to understand the game, once you understand and play a sport, Howard Cosell and Keith Orman did not play sports, but they understood sports.

1:07:14Rich Eisen:Yes. And, yeah, it's not that difficult. And like I said, I did this once on your show. Yes. If you were asked to be the voice of the WNBA, you would dominate. You would immerse yourself in all the information, do your research, and dominate. Yes. Yeah. So you only knew one sport because Keith told you to do that. No, he knew I loved one sport, but I grew up watching tennis. I played hockey and watched hockey. I loved the NFL. I was just obsessed with the NBA. So I think I knew all these sports. I watched golf like crazy. I knew all those sports. I was just so passionate about the NBA. But I didn't think these other guys were experts in the NBA.

1:07:55With Clyde Drexler, when he came into the league, Some said he was the next Julius Irving because of his high-wire style. There's only one Dr. J, but there's only one glide. Julius couldn't win a championship until he teamed up with a dominant big man, Moses Malone, and that combo swept the Lakers. Clyde and Akeem are now reunited, and it feels so good.

1:08:13Rich Eisen:Did Keith ever tell you you were joking too much? No. He told me that. Yeah. Over and over again. Yeah. He would walk by me in the hallway and go, nope, not yet. And I'm like, what are we talking about? What do you mean? And after a while, I finally had the courage to ask him what he meant by that. He was basically telling me, you're not even close to doing the show that you can do. You need to cut your jokes by, like, go one segment without making a joke, one highlight without making a joke, then work your way up to a segment, then work your way up to half a show, then work your way up to an entire show, then do an entire week like that, and then you're halfway there.

1:08:46Rich Eisen:But he never told that to you. And then Rodney Rodgers, Jumanji! Yeah, Clippers win. I think Hot Rodgers said Jumanji. I'm manging. What's love got to pull with it goes for 18 sparkling points. I break a lot of rules.

1:09:02Rich Eisen:You're the best, Craig. Thanks, brother. That was fun. That's right here. Good stories. Oh, last one for you. When did you come up with the idea of introducing yourself for your late? Well, we had to save money. Seriously? Is that really what happened? Where you're like, I'll do it myself? I think something like that. Yeah. Yeah. But that was a blast. and a lot of people, a lot of the guests, they thought it was hilarious. They told me. Including Craig Kilburn. They're the friend of George Gordes, not anyone else. Yeah. Craig Kilburn. Including Clint Eastwood. You found that funny that you introduced yourself?

1:09:37Rich Eisen:What a story. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Craig Kilburn here on This Was SportsCenter. I hope you enjoyed the first season of This Was SportsCenter. We're going to continue doing this as long as you're up for hearing these stories. Thanks for coming on. Thanks, brother. That was fun. Craig Kilburn here on the program. Thank you.