This Was SportsCenter: Mike Greenberg - Season 1, Ep. 3

23:12Rich Eisen:Grew up loving Marv. Exactly. I mean, I rip him off every day. I'm sure you do inadvertently or purposefully with stylists and stylistically and, you know, cadence wise. But at any rate, I would do his imitation and I would do the entire highlight like that in Redding. I did that on my first sports center. Really? Yes. That's cool. That's that's that's that is it's gutsy, a gutsy call on your. Well, especially because once I did the highlight and the entire panel, okay, in Marv's voice, it was Larry Beal on camera next. And so he was just like, okay. You know, like he didn't know what to do with that.

23:54Rich Eisen:He didn't know what to do with that. Yeah. You know, and I did, so I was beginning to learn. Like, if I did this sort of stuff, there's something as overkill as well as putting my partner in a position. Right. Like I was learning. What did he say? He's so sweet. He didn't say a word to me. Just go on. Nothing. He said nothing. He just went, oh, okay, like on camera, okay. I never did. So I do, I will sometimes lapse into Cosell, sometimes inadvertently, but not on the air. But I didn't, I do know that. What I remember you saying on the air was, got it. Like that was your, like everyone had catchphrases.

24:29Yeah, that was it. And I remember thinking, I don't have any catchphrases. I don't know. I came from radio. I was a radio guy. They put me on TV. I didn't do any of that. So I was trying to figure out catchphrases. So that was what I remember was yours, was got it. That was your big, that was big.

24:43Rich Eisen:Someone hit a home run. Right. Three balls, two strikes, and he got it. And that was based off of, we share an alma mater. You went to Northwestern undergraduate, Medill School of Journalism. I did the Medill School of Journalism graduate school. and um i went there because um i was um i just needed a a push to figure out how do i put a tape together how do i do this how do i go for it my hit my dream of being a sportscaster and i knew a bunch of guys from michigan who went through the medill school of journalism and um so at any rate the final quarter was in washington dc were you did they have that for the undergrads there no so so the the i i as you say i only went to undergrad no i know what you're talking about right it's all completely evolved now but i know right so back in that day the final quarter was taking us our the students the graduate students sending us to washington dc and a bunch of local television affiliates who couldn't afford to have washington correspondence they used us as their water correspondence.

25:57Rich Eisen:And so I used that as an opportunity to work for all the affiliates as a sports anchor. So there was a Wyoming station that loved horses, so I covered the Preakness, yada, yada, yada. So long story short is I stayed with a bunch of my friends from college and fraternity brothers from college who lived in the DC area and I crashed there for the quarter. And one of the guys who worked at ESPN for years named Dave Satlin, what's up money. And he was dead asleep on the couch when Wayne Gretzky was going for the all time I think goal scored record. He's dead asleep on the couch. Gretzky shoots, he scores.

26:38Rich Eisen:And in front of the entire group of friends just wakes up and he looks at the screen and goes, you got it and goes back to sleep. And the rest of it - That's where that came from. Used it over and over and over. You got the garbage? I got it. You're going to cook tonight? I got it. And I made a pledge to everybody that I'm here to try and get to SportsCenter. If I ever get to SportsCenter, I'm going to use that as my home run call. Oh, I love that story. And so that's the genesis of that. And it just came naturally just because I was following through in a pledge to my buddies who let me crash to help get me to where I wanted to go.

27:16Rich Eisen:That's a great story. Rich Eisen here for Gusto. Right now, everyone's trying to run leaner, tighter budgets, smaller teams, higher expectations. The last thing you have time to waste on is manual payroll or chasing down an HR form. Gusto is how small business owners get time back when every hour counts. 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.

27:55Rich Eisen: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 docs, 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. Yeah, that's a true story. It's important also to note, the other thing I thought that I wanted to say is that for anyone, I hope that there are people outside of your kids and my kids who are listening to this conversation who aren't old enough to remember what SportsCenter was.

28:43My other story that I wanted to tell is this. The drunkest I've ever been in my life. Great way to start a story, number one. Took place in a place with which you are very familiar. Yes. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Okay. My best friend from growing up went to Michigan, undergrad. And I was there visiting him and we went out and I was hurting. I was downstairs. I had been sick. I was just all of the terrible things that happen when you're drunk much, much, much too much. And I they lived in a house that had a basement and I was downstairs in the basement trying not to die. And I come upstairs and I hear da na na na na.

29:20And I said, hmm, I wonder if the Knicks won. And then I almost start like I literally looking at these guys almost started to cry because that was the moment in which I realized I'm not going to die. I'm going to live because I care if the Knicks won. And the point of telling that story is that in those days, that's how you found out if the Knicks won. And the Knicks are winners. The Knicks win just barely, and they hit just two field goals in the final six and a half minutes. Imagine how crazy it would be right now if I said to you, who won the, what game was last night? The Monday Night Football game.

29:55If on Tuesday morning you woke up and said, I wonder who won, the Eagles or the Chargers? I think I'll put on the television and wait until ESPN tells me and shows me a highlight of that game. If you're just joining us, welcome to SportsCenter. Oh, it could be an historic Friday evening. We're just a few minutes away from Tony Gwynn's first at bat tonight. We will bring that to you live. That's the world we lived in in the late 80s and the early 90s. SportsCenter was where you found these things out. When history happens, it happens live on ESPN. spn tony gwynn is the 22nd player to reach 3 000 hits in his career and the first national leaguer to do it since lou brock 20 years ago does it as you saw live with the first inning base hit off of dan smith a rookie right-hander whom he had never seen before that's such an intrinsic part of why it was so important because it was endlessly entertaining but the information was something that you weren't getting practically anywhere else i think that's part of excellent

30:48Rich Eisen:that you bring that up because it is also part and parcel of um of why i eventually got a cardboard box handed to me um in 2003 because sports center evolved into a show that i really wasn't terribly happy hosting anymore and that's also part and parcel of what this this podcast is going to be about is you know my experience is there and why i left it and obviously my relationships with people along the way and and seeing if there's any commonality in that um experience but it it changed it changed from a show about what happened and a show in which an anchor would deliver the news with a wink and a nod and a pop culture reference infotainment in sort of a way but eventually at the end of the day it was about informing um but management viewed it as no a show that's no longer about informing or entertaining it's about explaining to somebody why something happened which led to a lot of arguing on the air um certainly when crossfire was a big show um in the early aughts and i think management wanted to turn espn into that so i wound up doing fewer and fewer highlights and i wound up sitting in between you know um for instance i guess sean salisbury and john clayton and and and being the referee of an argument what was that called four downs four downs with those they had a bit their stick it had a name it was it whatever it was with the two of them um it it was something that i just didn't like doing um or i didn't want to keep doing certainly when i mean we're sitting here again on the set of the show you host and have hosted well not in this actual studio but since 2018 yeah okay and so that's just a perfect example in this this studio right next door to the first take studio down the hall from the good Good Morning America studio and The View and yada, yada, yada.

32:39Rich Eisen:I was beginning to see, all right, Disney's owning ESPN. I want to do more stuff. I want to use the SportsCenter platform to have me broadcast other things and expand my, you know, my portfolio and whatever other analogy you want to use, spread my wings. And I just didn't want to do it anymore. And management was basically saying, you know, at the time, we want you to do only that. And I just wasn't into it. I'm like, I stood my ground, didn't think it would eventually lead for me to have a cardboard box, but management figured, listen, if you were seeing results, it wasn't yet in the palm of your hand, but it was going in that direction.

33:21Rich Eisen:Now in this day and age, you could talk about any massive three point buzzer beater on this show, in this studio, you could talk about a one handed grab. but at SportsCenter, it was maybe the first time back when we did it, the first time you saw it. Now, in the palm of your hand, you're getting an alert. Right. What just happened. Right. You know, my 14-year-old is showing it to me first on a vert on the ESPN app. Right. We're like, that's where it's evolved to, and it was just beginning to do that, and SportsCenter had changed. It just absolutely changed while we were doing it. And it was inevitable.

33:55So that's the one thing. Like people will look people. This is probably a universal truth that as we age, we become nostalgic for the way things used to be. And so I share the feeling of people will say sometimes I see it on social media. I see people write it. I hear people say it. Why can't SportsCenter be like why can't ESPN be like it was when Rich Eisen and Stuart Scott were doing it when Keith and Dan were doing it? And I understand that feeling because I have a nostalgic attachment to that as well. as I was peripherally attached to it when it was happening. But you couldn't do it now for the reasons you just described.

34:36We have gone through like seven industrial revolutions. The industrial revolution took a century, right? We've gone through that like seven times in our industry. So as much as people think, oh, I wish that ESPN would be exactly what it was when I would watch Keith and Dan, the truth is you wouldn't watch that because you would not turn that on to see, I was living in Chicago and I was a fan of New York sports teams. That's how I would find out at night if the New York sports teams had won or lost their games. That's not how you would find it out anymore. Right. So it had to evolve and become something other than what it is.

35:09I, I think, was more comfortable in the format that you're talking about because I came from sports talk. I came from radio. And when I was in Chicago, I worked at the all-sports radio station. Right. I covered teams, but I ultimately was hosting talk shows. And so I was always, that was always a very comfortable milieu for me, is to have people, whether it's debating or analyzing or whatever the case may be, it was always more than just delivering what was happening. We have the big deal today, second day in a row, we have a major trade, Phoenix and Boston. Tell me why this deal makes sense from both teams' perspective.

35:42That's why, and I pay you the ultimate compliment, but guys like you, Stuart, Dan, Keith, the very best of the best, SportsCenter in those days was like being in a box. Like you're not going outside that box. You have a very limited, to stand out, to do something in that, I would never have made it. I was a solid, as could be. I will get you from point A to point B, SportsCenter anchor, no problem. Barry Bond says he'll make a commitment if he sees a commitment. Last month, there were rumblings that Bond wanted to be traded. Now he says he'll leave his heart in San Francisco, provided he sees the franchise taking steps toward a World Series.

36:21But I wasn't going to do anything that you remembered. I need a thousand words to make a point where, in your case, nine might suffice. And that's the beauty of it, and that's what SportsCenter was. Well, as they say, irony can be pretty ironic sometimes. John Elway and Dan Reeves don't like each other because Dan tried to trade John, and John got Dan fired. Mike Shanahan, meanwhile, was hired and fired by one and has coached the other to two Super Bowls. Coming up, we'll tell you why in this Super Bowl, three really is a crowd. You had to be able to do it all within this little tiny box that was SportsCenter.

36:53And so to do that and to be memorable, to be able to say, booyah, or they're not going to get him, or he could go all the way, or got it, or whatever it was, that's just not a skill that I had. And that's what made SportsCenter so great. I, too, miss the way that it was, and that's why when you came back and did it in September, everyone, including me, when we heard the music and we saw it all, and obviously the Stuart piece of it is a whole other emotional part, but just to reach out, and that's why this podcast is such a great idea. But the truth is, for people who say, I wish it was like that again, I understand why you feel that way, but it just can't be.

37:39Like, the world that we live in just doesn't, your kids wouldn't watch that and my kids wouldn't watch that because it's just not the world they live in.

37:46Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, we're all, it's all about immediacy now, of course. Yeah. I mean, you're not going to record something at 2 in the morning where it is fresh and play it back eight straight times throughout the next morning. You're going to have a show called Get Up. You'll have a show called First Take. You'll have various other sports centers to be done to bring you something live because news is always breaking. That's why ESPN News was created back in the day. I mean, you can see the evolution of where it started and where it was going and where it is today. I totally understand that. I do. I don't know.

38:19Rich Eisen:I will always go to my professional grave thinking that there is always going to be room for an old school highlight show. Hi again. Thanks for hanging out with SportsCenter. Back in his house with Rich Eisen. I am Stuart Scott. The big cat figured if you can't beat him, join him. Speaking of getting beat, Martina is mortal. But first, Stuart, why are we leading with the Mavericks and Warriors? Longevity, my good man. Pure longevity. There always will be somebody who wants to sit down and see a three-minute breakdown, a version of, not a breakdown, but a three-minute highlight of the Thursday night game the next morning.

38:58Rich Eisen:I will always say that. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. But people will still always want to do that if it's done in a, if it's cut and produced and delivered and executed in a certain way. Well, we actually do do that. So, like, for example, on Tuesday morning, and you and I are recording this conversation on a Wednesday, but on Tuesday morning, we did a three-minute and 47-second highlight to start our show of the Eagles and Chargers. And how fun is that for you to do that, right? I mean, like, that's amazing. And we storytell over the highlights. And actually, if I can slip in as an aside. Go for it.

39:29About our friend, Stuart, who is, of course, your everlasting, your forever partner. Yes. And, you know, and our friend and everything else that he was. The one thing that gets, I think, sometimes overlooked about him because he had all the catchphrases and because his personality was so authentic and genuine and because it really did change the trajectory of sports conversation in America in a lot of meaningful ways was how solid he was in delivering highlights the way we were taught to do it. Yes. So we were always taught when we were starting out, don't tell people things they can already see.

40:04Like, don't say, and he hits it to left field. You know, it's a home run to left field. They can see it's a home run to left field. Tell me it's the third home run he's hit in the last four games. Tell me something I don't already know. And Stewart was great at that. Chuck Knobloch came in hitting.220. His last 15 games was straight off the hinges this game.

40:25Rich Eisen:He would, whenever he got a shot sheet during a commercial break or while I was doing mine, knowing he's about to do this one next, he would be furiously scribbling notes. Stats. Stats. Exactly. Or, you know, a Shakespeare line or, you know, or a hip-hop line. That's what makes it great. So the hip-hop lines is great. Everyone remembers that. Sure. But what he was also doing and what you would do and what all of us who do highlights well do is tell you things beyond what you can see. The NBA record holder for most threes in a season, Dennis Scott, checks back into the game. Scott from, like, Arkansas cannot get a witness from the congregation.

41:01Rich Eisen:His ninth three of the night, one off the team record. He had 33 points. If I show you a highlight of, you know, a play on a third nine and the quarterback makes a play and I say, and look what a great pass this is, well, you can already see what a great pass this is. I'm not really adding anything. But if I tell you it was his 14th straight completion or they were nine of ten on third down in this game and that was the difference, that's what separates, that's what makes a highlight great. You're actually telling the story. A highlight is meant to be the telling of the story of the game. And the pictures are there to do their part, and then we as anchors are there to do ours, to actually tell the story and fill in all the rest of it.

41:42And you guys who did that at its apex were the best at it, and that's what made it great.

41:47Rich Eisen:A guy who I did SportsCenter with for just a brief time because he was in the part of his career where he was surfing back in from doing other things, which again was what I was telling management back in 2003, three you let other people do things i want to do other things yeah and still have a foot in sports center similar what you were doing with with your radio show yeah at any rate um the person who really opened my mind about how doing a highlight could also be an extra part of storytelling but also saying what had happened earlier in a game or what happened earlier for a team in the season and now here's a moment where there's overcoming something or it's the same thing that's happening again to sort of weave in a season-long storyline or you know uh we didn't see the highlight from that first quarter but in the third quarter we're seeing that highlight and you could verbally describe what had happened in the first quarter and use this moment and use the 10 seconds in between you know uh beginning of play and action of the ball either going through the hoop or in the hands of somebody was to rico and i did about three shows with to rico and i saw just how natural, you know, he was in just talking.

42:57Rich Eisen:Thanks and welcome to Canton. It's the 37th Hall of Fame weekend, and we stress weekend because it's not just the induction ceremony on Saturday and the game, which this year is on Monday night. It's the whole weekend. You know, not announcing, just talking. And I just put a light bulb over my head about, oh, so that's how you could take your highlight game up another level that I didn't even think existed. He is insanely talented. Yes, that is true. And a great guy. Now the Ohio State-Michigan game. On his radio show in Columbus yesterday, John Cooper said, even if we do get this, must win to become bowl eligible, the Buckeyes may not accept a bowl invitation, Kurt.

43:35I have a great Tirico story, which is only, it's more about me than it is about him. So we were doing Mike and Mike from Cleveland. Those were all my stories. So I totally, I totally. Back to my favorite topic, me. So we were doing Mike and Mike, the Cavaliers, during the second LeBron time in Cleveland, made the finals four straight years. So Mike and I practically lived in Cleveland. You know, we would go there for the finals to do Mike and Mike. Golik is from Cleveland. Right. So we would go there all the time. So we're supposed to be doing Mike and Mike from the baseball arena. We were presented by Progressive Insurance in their baseball, not arena, the baseball stadium was Progressive Field.

44:17so we would always do the show from progressive field when we're there and there was all kinds of weather in new york and for whatever reason mike got there and i didn't my i just never made it that night so i'm rebooked onto the first flight the following morning and i'm going to land in cleveland and get raced to the stadium i'm going to get there as early as i can to rico was doing the finals game that night so this is a wednesday i'm making this up we're going to do the show in the morning and then that wednesday night he's doing the game on radio He volunteers. Someone asked him, can you come and sit with Golik at 6 a.m.

44:50in the baseball stadium and just do the show until Greeny gets there? Probably be an hour and a half or so. Because Tirico is a mensch and because he can do anything in his sleep, he does it. He does it. He does it.

45:01Rich Eisen:It is Mike and Mike, but it's not Mike and Mike, right? But it is Mike and Mike. Yes, yes. It's a Mike and Mike from long ago. That's right. Is it not? Mike Tirico in for Greeny. will explain Greeny may actually be at the show this morning, depending on his travel. So I land. He's doing the show with Mike. I land. They have a car waiting for me. I'm in the car. I'm listening to the show on the radio. We're driving to get there. I'm listening. I'm listening. And I turned to the driver, and I said, step on it. This guy's better than me. Can I ask one important question? Yes. Where is Greeny? You guys are telling me this is a big-budget show.

45:37Rich Eisen:You're bound for New York. You're going to take over all of Times Square. Blah, blah, blah. Where is the man? He tweeted that he landed like about an hour ago. You're getting Wally pipped by Mike Tirico. We cannot leave Mike Tirico. His name is also Mike. They could make this Mike and Mike without me in the blink of an eye, and it would get better instantly. Mike Greenberg entering progressive field in time for his show. Two hours, 21 minutes late, yet Mike's set for the show in advance of game six of the finals. Mike dressed very well. He seems to be wearing some sort of a designer look that I've seen him wear about 30 times before.

46:15Rich Eisen:Yeah. Yeah. I've seen him look better. Yes. He looks a little weathered, a little tired. A little haggard. That's how good I did. I looked at the guy. I was like, drive faster. This guy is way better at this than I am. It's interesting to watch. Here's Greenberg standing there. Yeah. It's like the president watching a cabinet meeting going on without him. Without him, yeah. All he can do is watch. He's like waiting to watch it. He has no vote. He has no proxy power. He has nothing. And, you know, he's that good, and he's still that good. I'm thrilled to be here, and thank you again to Mike Tirico for sitting in so ably this morning.

46:46He's so much better than I could ever hope to be. I hope you remain in touch with him. Of course. He and I talk a lot. His daughter went to Northwestern.

46:52Rich Eisen:Well, Susie was the sideline reporter on his crew for many years on ABC Sports. So, yeah, I mean, Tirico is a guy that I'll always be in touch with significantly. He's next-level talent. So I grew up, you and I are pretty close. I think I'm a little older than you. I was born in 67. Yeah, I'm 69. Okay, so I'm two. So we're the same vintage. So I grew up, first and foremost, idolizing Cosell. I mean, Cosell beyond anything. You and me both. Beyond anything. And Marv, we share the same. Nothing will ever, no one will ever have the magnitude of Howard Cosell. Correct. Ever. But then, like, the generation of broadcasters that I, so the person that I really admired was Costas.

47:32And to this day, or maybe not now, but when I was, when my kids were little, whenever he would pop up on TV, they'd say, there, Dad, there's your idol, because I would always say he was my idol. Tirico is the guy who I think is most like him. Like, just his extraordinary mastery of the information, because that's what you're talking about. To do that highlight, to be able to fall back on something that happened in October and fall back on something that had happened in the first quarter and seamlessly weave them into why this three that he had to beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter is particularly important.

48:06You just have to have a total mastery of the information. You have to know everything and be able to instantly recall it and then relay it that concisely. That's a skill. That's a God-given gift that I can't even fathom. Tariqo, I think Costas to me was always the best I'd ever seen at that. And I think he's the next in that line, in that sort of line of descendancy. he's the next guy who does that for NBC.

48:34Rich Eisen:Yeah. I mean, he was, he was the perfect person to follow. To bridge that right with him. Rich Eisen here for gusto. Look, the economy is a lot right now. And if you're a small business owner, you probably feel it. You can't control interest rates or tariffs, but you can control how efficiently your business operates. Automating payroll and HR with gusto is one of the fastest ways to cut friction and focus on what actually moves the needle. Gusto is online payroll and benefits 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.

49:11Rich Eisen:It's quick and simple to switch to Gusto. Just transfer your existing data to get up and run 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, entrusted 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. So in the few minutes that I have left here, I mean, I just love that story you told about Berman.

49:55Rich Eisen:him saying welcome home yeah you thought okay this can be my home and it still is like here it is 2025 I mean you know not to turn this into a Roy Firestone moment here but honestly do you sit back and go like shit this is now wait a minute because I know I've been gone 23 years and I've come back you were there for all 23 of those years you're 30 years and counting right now which is when you know when you went when you were there like you thought of a 30-year guy hey, you thought that's Berman, that's Bob Lee. Now it's you. It feels different. So it's 29 years, actually. On August 25th, I went back and looked up the day.

50:33Okay. And I posted something about this on Instagram. On August 25th was my 29-year anniversary at ESPN, and I'm 58. So on that day, I had literally been at ESPN half of my life. I've spent half my life working for ESPN. And here's what I can say about it. I've had 10 great days for every bad one that I've had. And joining us now with a look ahead to the game is Dick Vitale and Dickie V. I tell you what, Duke better not be looking ahead to this weekend because this is not an easy night for them. I've been given opportunities well beyond anything I could ever have imagined. Dickie V, we're watching you tonight.

51:12Thanks very much. Thanks a lot, Mike. And we are Radio Baby. I'll be here Monday morning with you and Gullick. And Boomer is a perfect example because, you know, What was Chris Berman so legendary for? He started with SportsCenter, but then he went on to doing all the other things. But the things that you remember him most for was coverage of the NFL, for the draft and all that stuff. And I host the draft now, as you do. But I sit in that chair, and I sit in the chair that he sat in on Sunday mornings, now doing Sunday NFL countdown. But I'll never be Chris Berman. No one is ever going to be Chris Berman.

51:47I'm so you can't build the place once it's already been built yes so the people that we have spent this this um conversation talking about first and foremost Bob and Chris Berman and so many people who worked behind the scenes in an executive offices and all that kind of stuff who deserve so much credit the 79ers we would call them the people who were here when it started and others like they built something that people like me had the chance to walk into and then find my own place within it to my endless um to my endless uh delight but but to my benefit is the word i was looking for um it was already there those guys built it i didn't build anything i was just i came along at

52:32Rich Eisen:the right time i mean in the right place you did also i've just uh you you i mean you're in the Hall of Fame, Radio Hall of Fame. I guess Mike and I, yeah. What do you mean you guess? I'm doing reads for progressive insurance on ESPN Radio every day. I'm sure you were the you were just talking about how you were presented by it. I'm sure you were the first to bring them in the building. I'm sure. That's probably right. Mike and Mike is probably the closest thing that I would have done. Hi everybody, I'm Mike Greenberg. This is Mike Golick and together we are Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN Radio and on ESPN 2.

53:05But even Mike and Mike would not have existed had it not been for the letters ESPN. Do you know what I mean? Of course. The letters, and I'm so glad you're doing, one of the reasons that I'm glad you're doing this podcast, and one of the things I'm very glad to have the opportunity to say is that to some of us, I can't speak for anyone but me, the letters ESPN mean something. Like, that's special. It was aspirational at one time in my life. I doubt it. It's meaningful. It's something I feel like I am a caretaker of. Like, I feel it is my responsibility. I texted Van Pelt when Van Pelt first got the Monday NFL job.

53:44And I wasn't doing Sundays yet, but I texted him and I said, you know, I sent him a congratulatory note. And he said something back to me sort of similar to what you're talking about. Hard to believe, but like, we're the old guys now. Like, we're the old guard now. The way I viewed, and I don't think you ever see yourself that way. You know, I think when I look in the mirror, I recognize that I'm not the 29-year-old guy that I was when I started. Peyton Manning remains the Heisman favorite. He'll be joined in New York by Ryan Leaf, Charles Woodson, and Randy Moss, who played on national TV for the first time Friday night.

54:18Shirtlessly shaving with Chris Burman. Shaving shirtlessly. But there is something inside of you that still feels that way. Sure. So I don't know if what I'm saying makes any sense, except to say that ESPN is something way, way bigger than me. And I recognize that. It means a lot more to people than I could ever mean. I'm thrilled and proud to be now, I guess, in 29 years, a part of it. Like they say, you can't tell the story of the NFL without this player or that. But I guess you can't tell the story of ESPN without my place in it. but there are certainly plenty of other people whose places are more significant than mine.

54:57I mean, half my life I'm at this place, and someday I'm going to die, and the first four letters in any obituary anybody writes are going to be the letters ESPN, and I'm very cognizant of that, and it means something to me. So, you know, for me to see someone like you come back and to be a part of it, like that's special because, like, you know what it means. You know what it meant back in those days. It's not anyone's fault that they don't know now. They didn't grow up with it the way we did. But we were around at a time when we were literally working out of trailers, looking at our watches to say, okay, yeah, the woman making the wraps gets there at 1130, and I can get over there right now and get a turkey wrap, because there's not going to be any food again after 1215.

55:43Like, that's what ESPN was. Right. And -

55:46Rich Eisen:Let me finish this Hideki Arabu lead-in before I get that wrapped. That's right. That's exactly right. And those were actual tapes. You bang that out. I mean, they would actually physically hand you a tape, a VHS tape, and you'd pop it into a thing. And you'd watch it, and you would write notes down. Dude, that was my, again, I could tell stories all day, and I've kept you here long enough, but that was the Dan Patrick moment for me, man, is I would be sitting there. They would bring the tapes up from the control room. In a big box. Right, in a box or a plastic bin. Yeah, that's what I meant. Right, the plastic bin.

56:19Rich Eisen:you know, where you could grab the handles here. And they'd place it down. And you probably have the same memory as I do. And you know where it was in that newsroom when they created the ESPN News set. Yeah, in the front left of the room. Which is why we were all in those trailers for that time because they redid the newsroom with an ESPN News set where you could see the newsroom behind you. And so I'm sitting there where they set up the TV and then you pop the machine, the tapes in the machine, and they would bring up the 11 o 'clock SportsCenter tapes right away. and eyes just consumed them because I wanted to be ready.

56:52Rich Eisen:Yep. And I just remember sitting there at one point and there's this presence to my left, this shadowy figure. And I look up and it's Dan Patrick and he looks down at me and goes, so you're nervous. I don't even know how to respond to that. You know, I just sat there. I'm like, okay, he's hazing me, but I'll take that as a compliment that he's hazing me right now. I still get that way with him. He asked me to come on his show not long ago. I was a guest on his show. and I still get nervous. I still feel like I'm talking, like I've shown up at someone's house, I'm showing up at a man's house to ask if I can take his daughter to the prom.

57:29Like that's the feeling. I walk in there kind of bashfully and I'm like, hi Dan, how are you? I still can't believe you know my name. I still have that feeling and he doesn't act that way at all. I don't mean to say he behaves that way. I still feel that way. I still feel that way about Boomer. He'll send me a text. He texts now. he's evolved as well that's new um and he'll send me a text every now and again you know he watches the sunday show or whatever it is and he likes it and i still i'm like i want to frame this and put it on my wall because the approval of people like that still matters to me more than probably

58:04Rich Eisen:anything hell yeah the first time i sat at the draft set on nfl network in radio city music hall and i looked to my left and there he was with mel kuiper yeah and the rest of the crew i thought to myself holy shit yeah like what am i doing here and i also thought of the old i'll date myself here since this show is all about dating about the old uh bugs bunny cartoon with ralph the dog and wiley coyote they would go to work they'd punch in and they'd wave at each other and they'd become enemies right and so because we were competing back in the day for eyeballs for the draft and i'm like i cannot believe i'm looking over there and there's there's boomer and he's waving he's waving back at me and um i i revere the man you know revere him one time he he inducted ralph wilson into the hall of fame back when they would have presenters speaking it was the last year actually so they that was the one time i hosted the hall of fame um ceremonies because they couldn't have chris present and emcee it so i emceed the hall of fame for one year and the night before i saw burman and he pulls me over he goes so you're doing it tomorrow huh and i'm like yeah and he goes don't be too good oh really that's not what i thought you were gonna say we all know what the other things that he says which is don't fuck it don't fuck it up that's right excuse the language no that's all right that's an old bornstein thing that's a steve bornstein thing he would say that to me all the time bornstein would say that i think that's probably where he got it okay because to me i attribute that as a boomerism well i mean the two of them I'm not sure what you're doing.

59:38Rich Eisen:One and the same, pretty much. But, yeah, Steve would always say that to me before a big NFL network thing. Hey, you know, don't fuck it up. Yeah. You know, he would say that all the time. So Berman would say that also. Absolutely. I mean, when it was announced that I was the host of the draft, he sends me immediately. He sends me. You're going to love this story. Okay. He sends me a text. Or, no, someone tells me, you know, Boomer wants to talk to you. So I call him. Yeah. And he could not have been more gracious and wonderful and all of that. On brand. And he says to me, two things. Two things.

1:00:11One, no matter what anyone else says, you need two weeks to prepare. I don't care what they say. You need two weeks. I didn't want to say Boomer. I've been studying players since January. I start the day after the college season ends. You need at least two weeks. No matter what anybody tells you. You need two weeks. So that was funny. And then he goes, and then the other thing, most important of anything, no matter what else. Don't fuck it up. Don't fuck it up. And I said, okay, that's it. I have my marching orders. That's the best, right? For five years, I've tried very hard not to fuck it up.

1:00:40Rich Eisen:Welcome home. I love it. Thanks for doing this, brother. Oh, I am so thrilled that you are doing this. Thanks, bud. Thank you on behalf of all of us who remember it fondly for giving us a reason to think about it. You got it. So let's throw it all out there then. Get up every day. What else are we doing now? 8 a.m. Eastern. Is that it? Is this what we're doing? I do. I do get up. I do Sunday NFL countdown during the football season, my Sunday mornings, and I host the first draft podcast with Mel Kuyper and Field Yates, which is just cheating. That's just homework. Field did a mock draft this week, so I know the 10 players who are going to go here.

1:01:17You know from doing a radio show every day,

1:01:19Rich Eisen:people are like, how do you prepare for the draft? I'm like, I talk about it. I host the Combine, too. Right. You know what I mean? For you, it's the Combine. Yeah. You know all those players in February. When I do the combine, I am legitimately calling the draft out of order. That's right. We just don't know the order yet. Exactly right. Like 98 % of the draft is at the combine. Right. So I just don't know the order. That's basically it. Because I do the first two nights. So I do the first three rounds, which with the compensatories usually. Come on, man. That's something. I'm going to bring this up here.

1:01:52Well, so Reese does the Sunday. It's Reese's. Do you tap out? You only have one person. If you don't do all seven rounds. Reese was there before me. We have two separate broadcasts. We have the ESPN one and the ABC one. Okay. And then they combine it on the Saturday, and Reese absolutely should do it. He spends all year with the college guys. Yes. So what I'm trying to say is for me, I'm going to do about 100 players. Yes. And I usually do – I will study about 150 every year. First and foremost, know how to pronounce their name. Oh, God, yes. And then I will have – I will try and have at least one interesting little fact about each one.

1:02:26My favorite one from this past year, I forget which player it was, but I said my favorite fact on him is that he was born on February 29th, so he has only celebrated five birthdays. I thought that was a great little note, and then I hand it over to Mel. But as I always say, if at any point you hear the announcement, and with the 97th pick in the draft, the New England Patriots select Fred Thompson, and all you hear is me say, Mel, that means I didn't do him.

1:02:52Rich Eisen:Dude. That means it's a player I didn't know. The bottom line is, yeah, I always go back to pop culture with everything. My favorite movie is The Sting. Oh, the best. When Robert Redford died, I went back and re-watched that movie. The best. That is one of the five best movies ever made. It's perfect. It's perfect. But I always looked at Mike Mayock when I did it with him, and now Daniel Jeremiah, the way that you probably view Mel Kuyper, is the moment in The Sting where Paul Newman is getting set up, getting ready for the first day of The Sting itself. Right. and he sees the mafioso who he's hired to protect Robert Redford's character walk in the room and you see in his face like oh something's got to be wrong like is he not coming and you see the look on his face of dread and then Robert Redford walks in and he's relieved that's the way I view Mayock and Jeremiah when they walk onto a draft set like oh tell me they're coming because without them that's no good we could host as much as we want we could prepare for by the way two weeks that's a that is so funny no matter what anyone tells you you need you need at least two weeks but that sounds like a guy who walks in and as he's hosting a show he sits in the chair literally anywhere from 60 to two seconds before the air right which is what his brand is as well and again i hope it is clear that we are saying this with the ultimate admiration love and respect because he could do it He can do it.

1:04:16He can pull it off. And he'll just sit there and be great because he's just great because Chris Berman is endlessly entertaining. I need information. I'm not going to if I don't have something to tell you, I'm really serving no purpose.

1:04:32Rich Eisen:At any rate, thanks again. Thanks for doing this. Thank you. You got it. Mike Greenberg, our guest this week. Thanks for taking in this edition of This Was Sports Center.

1:04:45Thank you.