This Was SportsCenter: Dan Patrick - Season 1, Ep. 1

25:56Rich Eisen:where you and Keith are in the bathroom making yourselves up yeah was born out of real life like you could have somebody in the stall behind you well you know it's 10 42 and you're putting makeup on and somebody's dropping you're checking underneath see whose shoes they are it's like oh my god are those Howie Schwab shoes oh Howie yeah rest in peace Howie uh we'd put on our own makeup Well, I'd borrow my wife's makeup. So here's SportsCenter making probably$100 million or something crazy. And they said budgetary reasons we couldn't get makeup. I don't know what I'm – I might have looked like a Picasso painting.

26:37I'm just putting stuff on. I don't know what it – if – I didn't know blush or rouge, the difference, a foundation, powder, all this stuff. I'm like, is this the big time? Like, you know, have I made it the big time? But we would put on our makeup and we would have a conversation. That's the only time we really talked. So when people say how much of what you say with each other is scripted, none of it was ever. Because Keith wrote and then I wrote, and then we would never read each other's scripts. Coming up on SportsCenter, we'll have highlights and reaction to game four of the 1996 World Series.

27:16But first, I'm not their coach. You're not their coach. So who is their coach? The viewer must be the coach.

27:22Rich Eisen:Oh, no, no, no. It's sort of like a reverse of the lottery. The New Orleans Saints are 2-6. Monday, their head coach of 10 seasons tenure quit. I wanted to react to him like the audience would and vice versa, the audience to me as well, and him to me. Right. And that was the fun of it. It's live TV, which is awesome. The 2-6 Saints now have neither a chance nor a head coach. They'll try again tomorrow to get somebody to take the job, as Jim Mora would say, diddly poo. Dan? Thank you, Keith. But I had a great partner who I knew if something happened, made a mistake. Like one night I forgot my microphone.

28:04Show starts and I go, hey, welcome to the big show. We start with Jose back in the town where that little home run bounced off his head. That was two years ago when he was playing with the Rangers. And then Keith takes off his microphone and puts it on me. And then I start talking and, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Fans booed Canseco's two performances and even pounded on the truck he was in when he left the park last night. And then all of a sudden, Keith goes. So I take the microphone off and I give it to him. Can we give you the mic?

28:39Rich Eisen:Thanks.

28:42Rich Eisen:In the National, the prime matchup was the Braves and Greg Maddox against the Reds and C.J. Natkowski. Like, just crazy, fun, stupid stuff. You can keep yours. I have my own now. Thank you. Management kind of fought us along the way, which I just never understood. And, you know, when you have a boss, Mark Shapiro. Oh, yeah. Big-time guy. I'm negotiating a new contract and he tells my agent I'm over the hill and I'll never get another job. And so I panic and I go, well, then I better sign this or wait a minute. Why does he, if I'm over the hill and nobody will hire me, then why are you going to give me a five-year contract?

29:28But I signed the contract. Another boss, Steve Bornstein at lunch said to me at one point, He would always say this. I don't know if he ever, he probably didn't say it to you because I finally told him to not say it anymore. He would say, you're just fucking talent. That was always his.

29:45Rich Eisen:No, he never said that to me. And he's hired me twice. Well, he said that to me at lunch. Right. At McCormick's. And I just remember, I said, and he said it to me one more time. And I said, Steve, do you think I could do your job? And he's like, what? I said, do you think I could do your job? And he goes, yeah. Do you think you could do my job? He goes, no. I said, don't call me talent, just fucking talent again. And he never did. I've never heard that from him once. And I respected him. I thought he was one of the brilliant people at ESPN. Sure. And Shapiro was a really sharp guy. It's just, I think they were programmed to kind of browbeat us a little bit.

30:35Rich Eisen:For sure. And well, I mean, Mark Shapiro was in charge when I got my cardboard box, you know, and you can draw a connected line from one to the other there. But what you said about Keith, too, just from my perspective, I don't know if I've ever told you this story, but I'm, again, just two, three months into SportsCenter. You're out for some reason. I don't know. You might have been on the NBA finals or something like that. and so i did a show with keith and it was a rare thing that he wasn't in the ideas meeting because every sports center has an ideas meeting hours before where you're sitting around with the line producer and the coordinating producer and the assistant producers and you're going over ideas for that night and so bill fairweather um billy fairweather who you have to say his name with a boston accent full name to billy fairweather just one of the best to ever do it a great dude great guy uh he's producing that night keith is not there he's at a doctor's appointment or something he's showing up later and there is um enough room in the rundown for what was called a home cooked piece which you know where a producer would write a piece or you would write the piece and collaborate.

31:51Rich Eisen:It would be like a two, three-minute feature that night on something in sports that was going on. So, yeah, this is probably at the NBA finals because it was about Game 7 goalie performances in the Stanley Cup final. And we're going around the table trying to come up with great Game 7 performances. And we mentioned one and another, you know, Patrick Waw this, Martin Brodeur that, and then we run out of steam. and I'll never forget Fairweather goes, we'll just, we'll wait for KO. And I'm like, okay. And so I'm sitting in the newsroom, it was that old newsroom that was set up like a NASA control room, which one row after another, after another.

32:32Rich Eisen:And I'm sitting in the middle of those rows in walks Keith in like a Letterman baseball, softball jacket with a pipe in his mouth and a bunch of like what looked like encyclopedias LePedia is underneath his arm, walking into the newsroom. And Fairweather stops him. Hey, KO, we have this idea. Tells him what the idea is. And he says, you got any ideas for it? And he's like, something along the lines of 1937 Stanley Cup final. Rangers are in it. Game five. Goalie takes a puck off the face because they're not wearing it. Coach comes in. Yes. Patrick. You've heard this story. Yeah, like Craig Patrick comes off the end.

33:15Rich Eisen:He's just like, coach comes in, shut out in game five, shut out in game six, shut out in game seven. I'll write the piece and the lead in. I've got a picture of him at my desk for the on-camera over-the-shoulder lead in. And I remember watching that going, holy shit. I know. Do I have a long-ass way to go to get to that spot? Well, nobody gets there. Holy shit. Nobody gets there. But I will say there's a common theme. Like, Berman is really smart. Chris is really smart. Yeah. Bob Lee, very smart. Right. You know, there's a correlation, though. I mean, you've got to be able to be quick, be able to write.

33:54What kind of sports memory do you have on the fly? Can you be creative? Can you have fun? Like, there were things you would just check the box on a lot of these things. And I just remember that Chris came off as Fred Flintstone doing highlights, but he was so much more than that because there was so much more thought behind that and i had great appreciation for those who could write because when we told people that we have to write our show like that was the first thing yeah they'd be like you write the show like yeah yeah takes hours hours to do it just when the media thought it had a firm grasp on the stereotypical college athlete along comes peyton manning to alter the mold he was tempted by the fruits of turning pro but refused to bite.

34:40The Tennessee All-American quarterback told a packed press conference in Knoxville, Tennessee Wednesday he was still BMOC. Big Manning on campus. You know, there's a science to it. Mine was always 15 to 18 seconds on camera. After that, people, you know, aren't interested, you know, they're not as interested or they may, you know, be bored that, okay, get to the point. I'm going to see the highlight, you know, so it's formulaic in a lot of what we were trying to do there. But it was all embryonic stages because it was new. Nobody was doing this stuff. And I think that was the fun part is they allowed you to make mistakes.

35:17You had the freedom to have some fun. I'm like, there was a Hans device on at all times. It felt like, what do you mean? You can't get too crazy here. Like once again, Chris was able to do what he wanted to.

35:29Rich Eisen:Right. Uh, they didn't want us, they want us to be strapped in. Um, I think, and that's what made it even more important of it's almost like Eddie Haskell and leave it to Beaver sure where he presented himself as hello Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver is Wallace at home that was the way we were at 5 30 at night meeting management and then we get on the 11 o 'clock mean what then we would be the real Eddie Haskell right there you'd be an ass you guys would do subversive things and you it had that feel of like you were you'll show the teacher a thing or two from the back of the class And it was obvious watching it.

36:09Rich Eisen:And it was great now suddenly being a colleague and seeing that right up front. And, you know, where Keith would, interesting that you say you were telling Keith about how the number of jokes that you make in a four-minute broadcast needs to make care. He would give me that advice about the way I was doing the show, pull back on it, you know, less is more, what have you. You were giving me a little bit of that advice as well. But the one thing that you gave to me that you know, so I'm going to repeat it here anyway, is when I got there again, I was 26. I came from a small market. I had no idea with what I was doing was resonating or appreciated or anything at all.

36:53Rich Eisen:And you hazed the shit out of me. Greetings. Welcome to SportsCenter alongside my son, Rich. I'm Dan. Thanks, Dad. When you did that, though, I took that as a compliment. because I figured if I took it any other way, I would be rolled up in a fetal position wondering how I'm going to get through work. But you would haze the absolute shit out of me. You just actually, before we even shot this, gave me the same line that you did because I was looking at all these tapes. There would be this plastic bin of tapes that the 11 o 'clock sports center was using and many of those were repurposed for the overnight that I was doing.

37:31Rich Eisen:And it would come up in this plastic bin and I was just a voracious watcher of this to make sure that I was going to nail this thing. I wasn't going to be caught unaware and there would be some tapes that I would not know about, I would not see until it was live. So I'm watching it and all of a sudden I feel this presence to my left, this shadowy presence to my left. I look up and it's you looking down at me and you could say the line that you said if you wish. I know what you said. Dan, you said so. You're nervous. and I was, but I knew that because you're nervous. I, I rough up people that I'd like, like, I, I want you to laugh.

38:17I want you to, I want engagement because sometimes you get caught up and I tried to be perfect when I went to sports center and I, I like everything, everything, even the timing of, if I said, you know, Maddox with the three one, I wanted to wait right before. And then bonds would have contact on the highlight and I'd say gone. So I wanted the timing to be that perfect. And I was, I wasn't having fun. It's like trying to throw a perfect game every game instead of settling for a three hitter. But I was like, I got to make this great. And, and I was in my own head. Cause I thought, I got to live up to Berman and Bob Lee, Tom Meese, Oberman, and Charlie.

39:11There's kind of imposter syndrome a little bit where I hadn't done anything. And here I am doing something. And I just remember I would finish 11 o 'clock SportsCenter, come up, it'd be 12.04. I'd take the big tape, put it in the machine, and I would watch the entire show again. You're watching your show back. Right away.

39:34Rich Eisen:I had no idea you were doing that. I did that for a couple of years. But you were able to fit in hazing me for a couple of minutes before you got down to that business. When Keith was on camera, then I could go make fun of you. I'm glad you did that. But Keith walks by one night, and he goes, you got the fucking job. And then he kept walking. because he realized that I'm still auditioning for this job, even though I'd been there for years. I wasn't confident enough to go, I'm pretty good at this. And I never looked back from there because it kind of unlocked the, he's right. I mean, I have the job, even though management at times made you feel like you could lose the job or you were in trouble.

40:23I mean, Keith just blew through the stop sign, but I didn't have that weaponry. I wasn't able to do that until he said that to me, like, you got the fucking job. Stop doing this. And I always, you know, I never lose sight of that. Even now when I do a show, don't be perfect. Yeah. Just do your job. Yeah, yeah. And then you hope with that comes some kind of level of good.

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41:31Rich Eisen:Just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast. Plus, don't pay a cent until you run your first payroll and get direct access to certified HR experts to help support you through any tough HR situation. There's a reason Gusto is ranked number one on G2's highest satisfaction products list for 2026 and trusted by over 400 ,000 small businesses. 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. Greatness. And the irony that then Keith leaves and now, and now everybody's auditioning to be sitting next to you, which was a massive, massive to do within the sports center ranks in 19 was 97.

42:29Rich Eisen:Was that 97, 98? when KO left right around then. That was a bad time. To my tag team partner, nothing will ever be the same again. Thank you for everything. Thank you for teaching me how to do this and shut up. It was a bad time because Keith was gone? I wasn't going to get another partner like that, ever. And I knew it. I would not. Very fortunate to work with the most talented person in this business. He's now a newsman now. And I have one final word for him. Gone. And it doesn't mean I wasn't open to it. It's just, I, you get lucky. Right. And it was just, we were fortunate. It worked. I was disappointed he was going to our competitor and he paired with Kevin Frazier.

43:16Rich Eisen:Okay. And then all of a sudden it's like, I'm coming after you, man. Like now I've got to compete against you, not with you when we're teammates. now. So it was just a weird time. And then I'm like, I don't want to be the guy in charge of replacing Keith. I don't, I didn't want to be like, well, I'm going to pick you or Linda Cohn or Kenny. Like, I just didn't want, I didn't want that pressure because I'm putting somebody in a chair who is going to try to replace, I think the best person who's ever done SportsCenter. And I just didn't want that pressure putting somebody in there and then them realizing how much pressure goes with that.

44:05Not that people weren't capable of doing it.

44:07Rich Eisen:Right. It was just whoever I put in there. And I went on a camping trip with my son. He was in Boy Scouts, I think at the time, Cub Scouts. And I didn't have phone service. And I said to management, you guys make the decision. Who do you want to see when you're watching? Who do you think would pair well with me? Because, you know, I'm thinking of you or Linda Cohn sitting there next to me. And then I realize, I forget who in management said they were picking Kenny Mayne. Welcome to SportsCenter. Alongside Kenny Mayne, I'm Dan Patrick. Which I wouldn't have picked only because I thought Kenny was really funny.

44:50But the 11 o 'clock, you might have to deal with a eulogy. You know, you might have to write something on somebody dying. You know, there's serious stories there. We will have word about whether Bobby Knight needs a sideline sweater this week. Mad cow disease verdict was last week. Mad player today. No longer mad. Reason to smile for Latrell Sprewell. And Kenny was so funny. And I thought he was probably misplaced on SportsCenter that there should have been a separate outlet for him. Like I would have just made him a Charles Kuralt roving the United States, finding interesting stories. Bill Geist or something like that.

45:26Right. But I've, you know, so they gave me Kenny and I realized Kenny, they would never give him a serious story. He'd get highlights and then you go, uh, yeah, you got to do the eulogy on, I'd go, okay. So then there was part of me that was like, is that this team is not going to work this way? Because it felt like I was doing more serious stories and Kenny was doing the highlights and having fun. but I liked him. I just, I didn't think, you know, not every pairing works when, when we would do sports centers together, like Stuart and I didn't get along and we weren't a good team. There was real competition there with Stuart and I.

46:12Rich Eisen:Well, let me tell you this, because I wanted the chair. There's no question about it. I did. And, um, I didn't make any, um secret of it and Stuart was pissed at me yeah I remember he was not happy with me to want the chair next to you and it wasn't anything against Stuart I love the guy we did get along famously and and it turned out to be an incredible partnership with him and I love and I miss him and it was one of the most incredible things I've ever done but I also didn't want to stay up till four in the morning I didn't want to fix shows till the sun rose I didn't like waking up at 11 o 'clock every morning and being tired you know in my late 20s I just didn't I didn't like the lifestyle very much um and I also wanted to work with you and I relished the idea of taking keith's chair and trying to do the impossible all of it and stewart was really angry with me he's just like why are you why do you want that why what's we're a team we're the future what are you doing um and um and they chose kenny and i was crestfallen and stewart would always whenever he saw I was in a bad mood or something was going on he'd always his default was to buck you up you know and just to say come on let's go let's go get him he never even did that with me saying hey you know sorry you didn't get what you wanted like he was he didn't want to talk about well but once again he was extremely competitive very with me with you yeah yeah how did that manifest itself like I don't know I think he thought that I was the top dog and he wanted to take down the top dog but i like what he was doing how he was doing it when he was doing like i had great respect for that of course i it was more like we played basketball together oh well now there you go now i'm sure he wanted to he was okay so all the sports center out there yeah they're gonna go play at the canton y i think i'm like they're like will you come out and play and i go no because there's going to be some jerk who's going to deem me up full court slap the floor and and i go no no no it's you know butcher grass and jason jackson yeah right no we're just gonna we just run up and down so i get there stewart's got nike gear nike gear air jordan here goggles here headband sweatband he's ready to go yeah this sounds like it picks me up this tracks you pick you up full court yeah and he is playing like it's game seven oh yeah he thinks he's jordan and i'm like and i i say to jason jackson who i is one of my dear friends and he he does the miami heat games jay jack i said i said god damn it you told me that we were just going to be casual he goes i didn't know booyah was going to pick you up full court and i go so it got to the point where I'm so angry and I'm dribbling right side, left-handed, and he's down in his stance.

49:39And I said, where do you want me to fucking score on him?

49:46And to his credit, he didn't say anything because I was busting his ass. I mean, he, he wanted to guard me. And I was like, so like it's those kind of things that you know you bring that to the chair at some point i guess competition yeah but you know i tell people like it was chris myers mike chiareco chris fowler berman me keith you know when stewart was in there you're in there tom meese is in there tim brando like there were a lot of big egos in there later in his life i did connect with him and had good conversations with him. Tried to talk to him right after the ESPYs when he gave his speech.

50:31And he said he was too weak to do it. And he did say, and don't forget I undercut you when we played basketball. Game on the line. I go in for a layup. He actually thinks he's going to block my shot. Clips my legs. Land on my back. I'm out. Like, I am dazed. I'm out on my feet or out on my butt. I go sit down. And they're like, all right, we're going to call it. And I said, fuck no. Give me the ball. And I went out there. And Stewart's guarding me. And I took a shot, made the shot. I got in my Jeep Cherokee. And I was so out of it. I drove over the median there. There's a circular driveway. I drove over on the grass, drove myself to the hospital.

51:26Damn. At a chip vertebrae. No way. Came in and did sports center. You did? Yes. I was like, there is no way I'm not coming in. Damn. I'm no, yes. Stuart never said a word.

51:39Rich Eisen:I did not know any of this. I am learning. We were competitive. He was competitive. I wasn't trying to be competitive with him. He was one of the most competitive people. All of this tracks, although I just didn't know that the two of you were doing that. I stood up for him. And not that he would have cared. Because management, some in management made fun of him behind his back. Well, there's no doubt about it. I mean, and that was part. You saw that in the 30 for 30 that recently there were some notes that actually made it on the air. Well, you know, that day of his memorial at the mothership.

52:16Rich Eisen:Yeah. and john skipper and i john skipper was running espn and he knew like we had had a falling out and john said you need to be at this memorial at least you got that call i didn't yeah i and and honestly that's that's part of the cauterization of you know of wounds that uh you know back with espn that this show is actually helping this is like therapy for me a little bit you know um being going down these memories and you know 98 99 percent of them are so positive it was such a life-changing experience for me it was changed my life you know I won the lottery by getting a ticket to be a colleague of yours and everybody else that you mentioned everybody else that you mentioned and um getting to learn and getting to grow and getting to be and there there there's nothing like what we were able to do at that time at this show nothing like it that i miss when i went back for the anniversary and keith and i did a small sports center i was jealous by the way when you did that not to interject here i was jealous that you got to do that because again i was outcast at that point in time because management had not yet changed um and you mean with the the anniversary correct i watched you do it from sitting at home in los angeles and i was you weren't invited to nope nope wasn't invited to do anything for all those years wow you know they didn't invite Keith until which is which is kind of crazy I don't that one I don't understand because the guy was leaving me out I screw it I don't care Norby Williamson loves Keith and you know and I don't know but I was being kept out and it was terrible and it was something that really always upset me and one of the lowest points in that whole thing was watching you and Keith do your show.

54:07It was 22 years ago when we did our last show together. And at the time you said, you know what, how about we take a break and we'll see other anchors. What happened?

54:16Rich Eisen:Bottom line is I just know a couple months later, you know, I knew I would never get a chance to do that with Stuart again because he was gone. And I would have killed to have done another sports center with Stuart to this day, you know what that would be like, you know, so you got a chance to to do it because why because you're never going to be as good as what people think you were told that you were but it doesn't matter in in all honesty you know because it does no it doesn't because you're you're no the older i get the better i was i mean that's just that's that's how i view it rich i really i've i i think what we did when we did it how we did it was interesting and groundbreaking and shaped the business in some ways.

55:04But we did it. And then I didn't want to, like, they reached out to Keith and I to do the 6 o 'clock SportsCenter years ago. To do it again, like, for good?

55:15Rich Eisen:Like, for real? Yeah. That I understand not doing that for a daily gig, though. Yeah. That I understand not doing that. I love what I do now. And I just didn't want to go backwards. And even now, when somebody said, hey, Rich Eisen's going to ESPN, are you going to ESPN? I go, no. They didn't call with anything. There's no reason to go back there. But I'm on good terms with people. That was the problem was there shouldn't have been acrimony when I left. Because when I left, it was people, they leaked it that I got fired. And I thought, why are you doing this? I gave you 18 years. I sacrificed family, birthdays, holiday, all of that, because I wanted to do SportsCenter.

56:02And they made it difficult. And I don't know why they did for years. And I finally just said, can we stop this? Like, I'm nobody. I left. I'm nobody. You're ESPN. And they empowered me because I still mattered. I was on the radar. And look, I've counseled or given guidance to four people at ESPN and told them not to leave. And this is over the course of, you know, I've been gone longer, 20 years than I did 18 years working there. And people would say, hey, I want what you got. I said, you're not going to get it. Right. Like I'm in a small town and we're very lucky and there's 12 people at work on this show.

56:49Stay there. those four letters are extremely powerful because you're going to get your ass handed to you if you leave there and you think everybody's going to fall all over you think again that's a fact

57:00Rich Eisen:you're you're 100 right about that the plat there's no greater platform than the four letters as you pointed out there's nothing like it uh when it's removed it's jarring it i was so on When I left, similar experience as you. I had three days left in my contract sitting at home in New York where I was getting ready to be married. Ten days later, three days left on my contract. Got a call from USA Today saying that ESPN had let them know my contract was not renewed. And that was it. and that's how I found out. My agent called right around the same time to say, we just got a fax to say we're done.

57:49Rich Eisen:I'm like, what do you mean we're done? There's three days left to go. And I got married 10 days later. There was an empty table of ESPN executives there. Thankfully, you were there and Stuart was there, Linda Cohn, Tirico, Fowler. Susie Colber. Susie Colber was there. And Peter Gammons was there because Susie goes back. ESPN, the man on the$20 bill. And so it was jarring that I was no longer there. And you're right. It just leaves you a little bit wondering about what's next and what's – so I don't blame you for telling people stay put. Yeah, but I was going home to my attic to do a radio show.

58:33You were going to NFL Network, which is backed by the NFL. Right. I'm in my attic with three other guys and doing a national radio show with animals running around us and barking and cats on desk there. My wife's getting kids out the door for breakfast. I left because I needed to go home to be with my family. I'd been second shift for 15 years. And I asked management, I said, can I do my radio show at home on Friday? One Friday a month, they said it was precedent setting. And that led me to, I have to go home because I've been selfish all these years. My wife said, they're going to be out of the house if you sign that contract.

59:31when I went up to sign the contract for a five-year deal. And I remember going up to Norby Williamson's office, and he said, you know, what are you going to do, take it or leave it? And I said, I'm going to leave it. He must have been stunned. Well, he didn't hear me because he said, Danielle, his secretary, he said, I'll get Danielle to draw up. He goes, what? I said, I'm going to leave it. And that morning, my wife said, you know, you've got to think about your kids. You got to think about your daughters. And I kept thinking, I'm a sports center anchor. I'm a big deal. Like I'm, you know, we're good.

1:00:08You're doing a great job, hon, raising the kids. And I was just such a myopic view and such a selfish view that she's the one that had the perspective. And I just remember it was in my head all the way up, 55-minute drive. And I just remember going, I'm going to leave it. and then i remember going outside and i started crying because i'm like i don't know what i just did yeah yeah and then i came home and i remember when i pulled in the driveway and my wife sent my youngest daughter out and molly was probably four or five and Molly comes out and she goes, Hey, I should tell you the truth all the time.

1:00:56And I, now I think this is, my wife has set her up. This is, I'm quitting ESPN. I'm coming home. My youngest is out there. She's going to say something really sweet. She goes, I should always tell you the truth, right? I said, you should always tell me the truth, hon. Okay. Even if it hurts. And I go, So even if it hurts, she goes, you got a booger in your nose, dad. And then she walked away. And I went, what happened here? Where's the Hallmark card here? I walk in, my kids are at the table and they're silent. My wife is silent. And I walk in, I sit down and they go, is this a good thing, dad?

1:01:41I said, it's a great thing. And they started banging the table. And then I was like, okay, I'm home. Six weeks later, nobody's in the house. Remember, I'm coming home to be with my family. There's not a fucking soul in the house except for the dog. I'm on the front porch with my dog, Lou. And I go, I just made the biggest mistake of my life. And my wife says, give it time. Please give it time. If you need to go back. I said, they're not taking me back on. She said, give it time. And I think it made and I'm, you know, the guys have on my show now were with me then. And because of that, it made it made the show stronger.

1:02:27It we had nothing. We were in the attic. We combined two bedrooms to make a radio studio. and I was like, I'm in a fight for my life, but I'm doing it for the right reasons. Because leaving ESPN, nobody left ESPN. It's like when you leave Alcatraz, they just tell everybody you got eaten by sharks. If you leave ESPN, yeah, never hear from him again. and I but I wanted the competition I I here's me taking on ESPN as if they gave a damn but in my mind they did and it it's best move I ever had but it was for the right reasons well since you're

1:03:11Rich Eisen:sharing personally I'm just going to go here since this is again I know you don't like to hear this sort of stuff but it's the truth um snap cut to this very day it's your 70th birthday okay we're sitting in this palace, this palace in Connecticut that you built. I mean, we're sitting on this football field next to a basketball court with a pickleball net on it next to your studio that leads into another studio that you're building for your podcast. There's a dozen employees here and everybody on, in our business right now is broadcasting a podcast, right? Netflix just got all these podcasts together and Spotify and all everybody's doing basically, you know, Stern was doing it when you started, you know, with, he put his radio show on E, then you started it.

1:04:06Rich Eisen:I followed, you know, I, I literally was hired to do a show after yours, which you were so gracious about telling direct TV, cool, build, build off of mine. Um, so you, you stuck the landing your son jack who i met when he was this high is now six four was here with your granddaughter yeah your walk your dog comes to work with you mission accomplished i mean you did it like you did it the decision you made where on the day where the booger out of your nose you know you did it so congrats on that thank you you're welcome see you don't like talking about it like that but it's the truth like we're here it's it's literally happened and it's really fucking cool Dan but I hate thinking like I'm so competitive what are you competitive about I'm trying to find things to be competitive about you know um it I don't know I I can't there's I can't turn that off I've never been able to so when my wife goes how about you have a victory lap occasionally I go, okay, but I got to make it quick because I got to have another.

1:05:17Well, you just did. I just gave you your victory lap and you just changed the subject. I appreciate it. But I think having good people is what I didn't realize. Having people you can trust. I've known Pauly for over 20 years, Fritzie over 20 years. You kind of set a blueprint or a tablet or a PowerPoint of this is how you do the show. the people come in and then you give them opportunities. And I think that's, that's the, that's the fun part is, you know, I started a broadcasting school.

1:05:52Rich Eisen:Yeah. With Gus Ramsey was your, I think he's just retiring now, if I'm not mistaken, he ran it for you. And, you know, and you're changing, it's the best thing I ever did in my life. Career wise, you're changing lives. You're truly changing somebody's life. When you give them your degrees in sportscasting. We get you jobs. We've placed over 300 students. It's amazing. So you've changed their lives. That's what's fun is you can use your influence. I've called news directors can be in a market 192. I don't care if I can get a student in there and makes a difference. That's what's great. Because all I needed was one break.

1:06:31Now everybody needs that one break. And when you get that break, that's the difference between will you do this the rest of your life or will you be a one and done? And I try to be that one break because I was desperate for one break. Desperate. And, you know, it didn't happen locally. I nearly quit the business because I couldn't get a job in Dayton, Ohio. I go visit an ex-girlfriend in Atlanta at CNN. She said, you should bring a tape down there. They're hiring at CNN. I go, I didn't get a job in Dayton, Ohio. I'm not getting a job at CNN. I walk in. I say, hey, can I talk to the head of CNN Sports?

1:07:13I don't even know who the guy is. Well, it turns out it's Bill McPhail. Hey, can I give this tape to him? Can he look at this tape? And the secretary is going, Ben, it's five minutes and 13 seconds. He watches three minutes, pops it out. He says, when can you start?

1:07:34and here we are today if i don't if i don't go to cnn i don't go to new york i don't meet my wife i don't go to espn i don't get to meet you and say are you nervous right that is correct

1:07:49Rich Eisen:let's end with just a little bit of fun here your favorite sports center commercial you did

1:07:56you did probably what 30 40 50 i don't know how many where were you were either featured or you were the the the voice at the top where you were introducing it well let me tell you how it started because okay the espn would promote nfl all these other shows they got campaigns sure and i said to john walsh my boss i said why don't we promote sports center he goes we don't need to i said well, do you need to promote Countdown? And he said, yeah, you know, there's a lot of competition out there. And I said, well, can't we just do an ad campaign? You know? And he said, all right, I'll have you work on it.

1:08:37And I go, okay. So he gets the people at Wieden and Kennedy, brilliant people.

1:08:42Rich Eisen:No idea about this either. And then, but we couldn't get any athletes to come to Bristol, Connecticut. Yeah. Because they wanted to know how much they're getting paid. And we said, well, we're not paying you. We'll give you like a donation to a charity. Can't get anybody to show up. Widening Kennedy has all these scripts. Can't get anybody. So I call Grant Hill. I said, Grant, do me a favor. Can you come to Bristol, Connecticut? Okay, how much does it pay? I said,$2 ,500. He goes, Dan, I don't think I can do that. I said, it's an ad campaign for SportsCenter. You'll have your own commercial. If he doesn't come and do that, because that's the one where he's playing the piano in the lobby.

1:09:30Yeah. Hey, Dan. What's wrong? Hey, Grant. Bad show. Hair looked bad. Teleprompter went down. Made some mistakes on some highlights. Where I have a bad SportsCenter and he's out there. He's like, Dan, what's wrong? I have a bad SportsCenter, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, I got something to share with you.

1:09:55I go, thanks, Grant. Thank you. And you dropped some money in the jar. Yeah, I put a dollar in the jar. Thanks. Thanks, Grant. I appreciate that. No problem, man. And then I call Jason Kidd, and I said, hey, we have this idea. You fly in your highlights in a helicopter, and we go out, Keith and I go out and get the highlights and bring it back to SportsCenter. How much does it pay? I said, no. $2 ,500. He goes, all right.

1:10:29Here's the highlight.

1:10:30Rich Eisen:You better watch, I got the third quarter. Are you sure you can't stay? I got to get back. I have an early practice. And those were the first two guys. And without them, I don't know how successful the ad campaign was going to be, or it was going to take a lot longer.

1:10:48But I still think the one where Keith and I are just putting our makeup on and we're talking about tough guys in hockey. I don't know why Lindros is going to drop the gloves. Neely and Stevens, they don't fight anymore. They're respected around the league. And besides, I mean, penalty minutes doesn't equate to toughness in my book. I mean, when I think tough, Doug Gilmore's tough. Mark Messier's tough. So the juxtaposition of two men putting on makeup, talking about how these, you know, like Niedermeyer, we're throwing out all these tough hockey guys. You need some more rouge. Here? Mm-hmm. Thanks.

1:11:28While we're putting on rouge and blush and so that one I thought was just sneaky, sneaky great. That would be tops. You know, your foundation has looked great lately.

1:11:39Rich Eisen:Thanks. uh lance armstrong was great that was was that y2k or no that was not but he was he was the generator the generator and i'm up on my at my computer and it'll be like the lights and i'll be like so you see me go down steps go down steps go down steps and i open it up and there's lance tallying off on his bike and he goes hey lance what's the story hey hey dan sorry i thought everybody left for the night i get you an energy bar how about some water no and i'm okay you good close the door and then you hear him start to cycle again and then the lights come back on fantastic once again sneaky sneaky great which is my kind of humor and i love what they did at why didn't kennedy my my memory serves that was in new york though i shot that in new york because i remember hearing because you did that around the espies because they were in for the espies and they came up with some ideas to capitalize on being in New York and the ESPYs.

1:12:37Rich Eisen:And I remember saying, shit, they're shooting more SportsCenter commercials. I didn't hear about it because we all wanted to be in them. We all wanted to be in them. And we all viewed how many we are in. Well, that's what we would be sitting there. Like, if I'm not in them, then they perhaps don't like me as much in management. Or how many was Stewart in? How many was Killborn in, obviously? how many was Linda Conan? She's always wondering how many she was in. We were always talking about it. Then we find out Dan just did a few more. We're like, shit, I know Dan's been around a while, but I'm pretty good in them too.

1:13:13Rich Eisen:Like that's the conversations we would all have. And I was talking about Stuart being competitive just to put a bow on everything here. The Lou Duva commercial that I was in, which is my favorite, called Corner Man. We're clear. Oh, the prompt is going too fast. I can't keep up. It's not the teleprompter. It's you. Now stop the. My throat. I can hardly talk. Give him some tea. Give him some tea. That was when I had hair. So we had only two takes because the second take was after me blow drying my hair so we could do a second take, which is the only time a commercial has ever been done with me for that.

1:13:51Rich Eisen:But Stuart was pissed because he had no speaking role in it. He was just window dressing, just sitting next to me because it was just a SportsCenter commercial where he was. Well, Stuart did more commercials than anybody. He loved them. But the one that I hear the most when people say something to me is the one I almost didn't do, and you had to convince me to do it, which is me being sent down to the minors, to James K. Colk High School. It can happen to the best of us. This time it happened to Rich. Keep in touch. He ended up getting sent down. And now, first four. Thank you, Courtney. Because that was a few years in to me doing the show.

1:14:32Rich Eisen:And I'm like, why am I being the one chosen to be sent down to the minors? And I remember what you told me. You're like, get over it. You're like, it's funny. You want to be in something that people are going to watch, not read into it and go, boy, he's not any good. They sent him down. Yeah. And that was the point I was trying to convey to you, laugh with them. Yeah. Like you're caught up in what's this mean for my career? How are they going to view me? Yes. Am I going to be taken seriously? I got sent down to the minors. I'm going to be the guy who got sent down to the minors. I said, Rich, just have fun with it.

1:15:10It's okay. Yeah. Because we did stupid things there. And you just kind of laugh.

1:15:17Rich Eisen:And then I see the commercial when we finally – I take your advice, right? And I did ad-lib a couple of things, you know, including the exchange I had with the kids of the line that I get the most. I literally got this in a convenience store just a few months ago. Somebody comes up and says, can you buy me some beer? Ms. Dyson, could you buy some beer? And I'm like, that's from the commercial. I'm like, yeah, that's my commercial. and and you know i watched you and you know i was going to school i love that commercial and then i watch but i watch it back i'm finally like is it as funny as dan says it's going to be and you fronted it you were the one who started it i'm like shit i didn't even know that so you're you were in it yeah like i had no idea that you were the person that's this well yeah set it up you just couldn't keep up i know but the ideas they would have they would say hey mark mcguire is on campus.

1:16:13He's going to give you his home run ball that breaks the all-time record or Roger Maris's record. And so they set it up where McGuire is like, hey, I want you to have this. And I go, that's the home run ball. He goes, I know. And I go, I'll cherish this forever. The next scene is me pulling up in a Ferrari and I've sold the baseball. And then I just, you get the unlocking it as I walk into sports center. I love that one. But they, they did a wonderful job and just tapping you on the shoulder of, you know, what was going to, yeah, I had to watch the whole, the entire picture. Cause there's always something, there's a mascot moving or the subtlety was beautiful.

1:16:59And, uh, and because of that, I mean, it changed sports, you know, that really changed sports center. And then all these athletes wanted to be, get their own commercial. And that started because I went to John's office and I said, we should promote sport because everybody used to go to the specialty shows. Everybody would leave. They might come back and do sports center and then Berman would leave to do football. Chris Fowler would do, you know, Scholastic Sports America, or then he would do college football. Tirico was doing, like everybody was leaving. I was the one staying, um, for a while.

1:17:34And I thought, I want them to promote the show that I'm doing, SportsCenter. And I'm appreciative that John Walsh didn't mail it in. He went out and got Wieden and Kennedy.

1:17:46Rich Eisen:And they were brilliant. I mean, because it kind of took you behind the scenes and it melded the two things about SportsCenter, which was it was a massive pop culture spot for athletes to want to be part. like it was aspirational for athletes to want in on what sports center was cooking but it was also in a small office with cubicles and people typing at desks or uh walking into um um you know a lobby after having a bad show to do your job that day that was always the thing and be like you still you're gonna do a commercial or two but you still have to go and do sports center right because that was paramount that you still had to do it wasn't there one with the perfect game that david wells didn't show up right the david wells was supposed to be in the commercial about pitching uh sports center was going to have the perfect sports center right yeah and david wells was supposed to be in it or he didn't make it or something like that i don't remember that i just remember that i was having a perfect sports center nobody wanted to say anything to me and then i screw up at the very in with like a double yeah something and that of course is the sort of thing that can't ever happen in a playoff race what did he just say that's a double negative you blew it and then everybody was like shocked so funny yeah thanks for doing this dan i really appreciate it like i said you know do it again next year yeah but i'm hoping to have a season two you know be great it's chris berman's gonna be next okay and then um mike greenberg um linda cone chris fowler and then cragers craig kilborn lord kilby will finish up season one happy birthday thank you rich and thank you for being here for the first this was sports center is often running every week uh for season one for the next six weeks right here on disney plus and the rest of the espn platforms.

1:19:48And I just want to say thank you to ESPN management for all the great years. Dan Patrick, everybody.