Category Archives: College football

Q/A with Verne Lundquist: On appearing in Happy Gilmore; hearing it from angry SEC fans; and bad advice about investing in ESPN

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If you listened to the Alabama-Texas A&M game Saturday, you heard Verne Lundquist put on a clinic on how to call a big game. He nailed all the right notes, and I loved how he mocked the Aggies over not letting him or Gary Danielson do a pregame talk with Johnny Manziel.

Nice to see Lundquist going strong at 73.

Recently, I did a piece for USA Today on the anniversary of Verne Lundquist’s 50th year in broadcasting.

From the story:

Lundquist has been part of the familiar soundtrack for both sports (college football and basketball). His play-by-play features an easy and engaging style that adds a distinctive texture to the telecasts.

“My role model was Jim McKay,” Lundquist said. “He was the greatest storyteller we’ve ever had. I try to do the same thing.

“At the end of the day, I want to give you a reason to have a rooting interest in the game.”

However, there was much more to our 45-minute chat. In fact, everyone should have a 45-minute chat with Verne.

Here are the highlights from the Q/A with one of America’s favorite broadcasters..

On telling his father he wouldn’t be following in his footsteps as a minister. Instead, he got a job as a sports anchor in Austin, Tex.

Lundquist: When I told my dad, rather than being disappointed, he knew I would have access to the Texas games. He said, ‘Can you occasionally take me up to the press box?’

On how the business has changed:

The explosion in social media is incredible. I’ll never tweet and I don’t have the face for Facebook, but the Internet is marvelous as an information source. You have to be aware of the impact of all these websites.

When I was (the sports anchor) in Dallas, there was no sports department. It was just me. I used to go out with my 16 mm. camera and shoot the first two innings of the Texas Rangers game and then go to shoot the Chaparrals. And then something else. Then I’d come back and develop the film. I can tell you it took 45 minutes to develop 100 feet of film.

On advice to investors thinking of launching ESPN:

In 1979, the Cowboys were playing the Rams in the NFC title game, and Rozelle threw this big cocktail party. I was introduced to this senior executive from Getty Oil. He said, ‘We have a chance to invest in a new 24-hour sports station for $15 million. What do you think?’

I said, ‘Why would you want to throw your money down a hole like that?’ Shows you how much I knew.

On the younger generation associating him with appearing in Happy Gilmore:

It was a happy accident. It’s still a staple on cable TV. The film has helped keep me relevant to a generation, maybe even two. Usually, I get more questions about Happy Gilmore than I do about the game.

One time, I’m doing a North Carolina game with Billy Packer. I’m told Tyler Hansbrough wants me to address the team. I say, ‘No, you want Billy.’ They said, ‘No, they want you.’

So I go down there, and Hansbrough says, ‘We need you to say, ‘Who the hell is Happy Gilmore?’ So I go, ‘Who the hell is Happy Gilmore?’ The players go crazy. I said, ‘If you guys win the national championship, I expect to get credit for giving you a motivational speech.’ They won, but I never got any credit.

On his famous “Oh Wow!” call with Tiger Woods at the 2005 Masters, when his ball sat on the edge before dropping in the hole.

I actually had people ask, ‘Did you plan that?’ Yeah sure, if the ball sits on the cup for 1.8 seconds, I’m going to say, ‘Oh wow.’

On SEC fans accusing him of being biased during his call of games:

Wow. If I do an Alabama-Auburn game, I can count on hearing from Alabama fans who think I’m wearing orange and blue socks for Auburn and then from Auburn fans who think I’m rooting for Alabama. It says something about the passion of the fan base in the SEC.

Eli Gold is a great friend of mine. Alabama fans want the game done on TV like Eli would do it. They don’t understand Gary Danielson and I work for CBS. We only hope we have a great game. People, though, remain unconvinced that Gary and I are impartial. It used to bother me, but not anymore.

On how much longer he wants to work.

I don’t have a timetable for how long I want to work. Gary and I enjoy working together. We’re in our eighth year together, and we have a lot of fun.

I’ll keep working as long as my mouth works, and the airlines don’t conspire to drive me insane.

 

 

 

ESPN GameDay travels to North Dakota State: Behind-the-scenes video of road show

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Very cool decision for GameDay to make the trek to Fargo Saturday. It will provide fans another look of where the game exists beyond Notre Dame, Ohio State, etc…

Hopefully, Lee Corso won’t wind up in South Dakota.

The on-site scene clearly has elevated the show to another level. You could feel the energy of college football when Chris Fowler and the gang hit campus.

“It’s like being part of the Beatles,” said Gene Wojciechowski, who correctly noted, “I’m the back-up drummer.”

ESPN’s Front Row did behind-the-scenes look at the entire production.

From ESPN about Saturday’s show:

ESPN’s iconic college football pregame show College GameDay Built by The Home Depotwill travel off its usual course – visiting two-time defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State in Fargo, N.D., on Saturday, Sept. 21. The show will originate from Downtown Fargo, located near the Fargo Theatre on Broadway.

The three-hour show (9 a.m.–noon, ESPN) of features and analysis will arrive prior to the Delaware State at No. 1-ranked NDSU game (3:30 p.m., ESPN3).

Hosted by Chris Fowler, the GameDay crew consists of analysts Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and David Pollack with reporting by Samantha Ponder, Tom Rinaldi, Scott Van Pelt and Gene Wojciechowski.

College GameDay has visited three other FCS matchups in recent history: Hampton at Florida A&M on Nov. 15, 2008 – the shows first HBCU site; Grambling vs. Southern at the Bayou Classic on Nov. 26, 2005; and at Penn for the Harvard game on Nov. 16, 2002.

Omaha’s Shatel reacts to Pelini’s rant: “I’ve been cursed at by better coaches. Worse coaches, too.”

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Hard for me to believe anyone would curse at Tom Shatel from the Omaha World-Herald. My longtime pal is a great guy.

Obviously, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini doesn’t share the same opinion about the Omaha columnist. Shatel responded to Pelini’s 2011 rant that now has gone viral.

Shatel wrote:

I heard the audio. I read the comments. No apology is necessary. I’ve been cursed at by better coaches than Pelini. Worse coaches, too.

Over the years, I’ve found Bo good to work with one-on-one. Never dull. He’s yelled at me over the phone and 10 minutes later was baring his soul to me.

Shatel’s colleague, Lee Barfknecht, also weighed in.

Coaches and sportswriters have butted heads since the two professions met, and they will until the end of time. We don’t take it personally. Our skins are as thick as our heads.

But one fact must be addressed.

As the audio went public, some World-Herald readers expressed surprise that Pelini would swear so violently in his outburst. Sadly, it was no surprise to many media members in this state.

Multiple newspaper, radio and TV people have been on the receiving end of a Pelini cuss-bombing. My most recent one occurred when I got a call a couple of years ago while walking into Borsheims two days before Christmas. It was so loud and bitter, I had to step out.

Lee’s a great guy too. Pelini must be an angry man.

Columnist writes two columns on South Carolina football Sunday

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Perhaps making up for lost time, Ron Morris of The State churned out two columns on Steve Spurrier’s team.

Jim Romenesko provides the latest update:

On Sunday, Morris had two columns about Saturday’s Gamecocks game. One was about the game’s length and the other was the team’s defense (“progress was made”). I doubt Spurrier had a beef with either.

Romenesko also has a copy of a 2012 letter from State staffers in support of Morris.

 

The power of Johnny Manziel: CBS pulls highest college football rating in 23 years

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Say what you want about the kid, he sure is fun to watch.

And watch people did. CBS pulled in its largest overnight rating since Lou Holtz was trading wits with Dennis Erickson for Notre Dame-Miami.

From CBS:

*******

CBS Sports kicked off its 2013 SEC ON CBS college football schedule with No. 1-Alabama vs. No. 6-Texas A&M on Saturday, Sept. 14, earning an overnight household rating/share of 9.0/21, up 200% from last year’s 3.0/7 for its season opening broadcast (Alabama-Arkansas).

The 9.0/21 is the Network’s highest-rated afternoon regular-season college football game in 23 years (excluding the SEC Championship game) in the metered markets (10.1; Miami-Notre Dame; 10/20/1990).

The Alabama-Texas A&M game rating/share peaked at 10.2/22 from 7:00-7:15 PM, ET.

A good read: Keith Jackson still ‘ramblin’ at 84

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Chris Erskine of the Los Angeles Times caught up with Keith Jackson. Seven years after calling his last game, the legendary announcer still is spry and full of stories.

Erskine’s story provides a taste of what we’ve been missing all these years. He writes:

But I miss The Voice. As with Vin Scully, it became the signature soundtrack for a particular sport. And there are no apparent successors.

A few more observations from Jackson’s six decades in the booth:

—”The ’72 Trojans were the best football team I ever saw.”

—”Bo Schembechler was the best after-dinner speaker I ever heard. He’d even have the old boys in the back of the room snorting and jumping up and down.”

—Legendary innovator Amos Alonzo Stagg “studied the ministry but couldn’t deliver a sermon … he had heart palpitations. So he became a football coach.”

—”Knute Rockne’s wife wouldn’t come out West [with the Notre Dame team] till they arranged a lunch with Valentino.”

—”The very best place to take a nap is in the back of a cotton wagon.”

And there’s this:

Any other tips for today’s broadcasters?

“They talk too damn much,” he says. “You wear the audience out.”

And, even more importantly:

“You must tell the truth,” he says of both broadcasters and coaches. “You must be truthful to yourself and the values of the game that got you there.

 

Upon further review, paper says columnist can cover South Carolina

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Jim Romenesko has the update on the story he first reported:

Mark Lett, executive editor of McClatchy’s The State in Columbia SC, tells his staff that “no subject or individual is off limits for examination” by sports columnist Ron Morris and other columnists at the paper.  The editor says Morris was “asked …to focus first on coverage other than the USC football program.”

Romenesko posted the publisher’s letter to the staff. An excerpt:

As with any relationship, it sometimes helps to step back and allow conditions to cool. In recent months, we asked Ron to draw upon his considerable sports knowledge and experience to produce highly readable, relevant columns and enterprise features. The work has been outstanding and has given sports fans much to enjoy and to think about.

During this time, we asked Ron to focus first on coverage other than the USC football program. Moving forward, all topics — including USC football — are in play. As always, this is a newspaper committed to accuracy, fairness and holding accountable the news makers and institutions that serve our community and our state.

Question: Why was it necessary to “allow conditions to cool?”

 

Sports Illustrated defends Oklahoma State coverage: ‘Stands behind the work’

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When the dirt starts flying during one of these big investigations, it isn’t unusual for the news outlet to find itself on the firing line.

Such is the case with Sports Illustrated and its five-part series on Oklahoma State football.

Deadspin has done posts knocking down the SI package. Yesterday, ESPN’s Brett McMurphy also did a story that questioned the veracity of statements by one of the key players quoted by Sports Illustrated.

McMurphy writes:

Some aspects of the story of former Oklahoma State safety Fath’ Carter, who was quoted extensively in Sports Illustrated’s series about improprieties within the Cowboys’ football program, are inconsistent with information obtained by ESPN from a number of university documents.

Carter was one of the main sources quoted in SI’s five-part series that alleges players were paid by coaches and boosters and had an academic coordinator complete school work for them while at Oklahoma State.

Among the claims by Carter that are not supported by university documents were that he graduated from the school and attended classes in 2004 with running back Tatum Bell in which the professor gave them failing grades because their eligibility had expired.

Another discrepancy was from running back Dexter Pratt, who told SI that in his first semester, in 2009, every course he took was online. According to university records, Pratt took three online courses and two actual classes.

In response, Sports Illustrated issued the following statement.

“In its 10-month investigation of the Oklahoma State football program, Sports Illustrated spoke independently with more than sixty former players and eight former assistant coaches as well as members of the University’s administration. Interviews were recorded and subsequently reviewed by a team of editors and fact checkers. Sports Illustrated stands behind the work and the investigation.”

Yesterday, when the various stories came out, I heard from several people who said Jason Whitlock was right to question the credentials of Thayer Evans, who shared the double byline. However, as I wrote earlier, Whitlock was wrong to zero in on Evans, because these stories are much bigger than one person.

Pulitzer Prize winner George Dohrmann is the lead writer and executive editor Jon Wertheim is overseeing the project. Two of the best in the business with impeccable credentials.

Yet beyond them, Sports Illustrated, like any major magazine, goes through an extensive fact-checking process for all of its stories. Facts are examined many times, and I’m sure you could multiply it by three for this package.

Also, for a story of this nature, SI’s lawyers played a major role in vetting a package that includes major allegations. Lawyers are rigorous gate-keepers.

So no, this doesn’t validate Whitlock and other critics of SI here. I think the stories are strong.

Anyone who is shocked that a major college football program is skirting the rules should get a reality check.

 

 

 

 

Notre Dame-Purdue in primetime? UCLA-Nebraska better game, but ABC won’t pass on Irish

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In the no-surprise department, ABC selected Notre Dame-Purdue for its primetime 8 p.m. (ET) showcase game Saturday. It would be a bigger surprise if it didn’t.

With the Irish home games locked in with NBC, ABC/ESPN is going to make the most of its opportunities to exploit its rights to any Notre Dame road game on its menu. So of course, ABC asked them to turn on the lights in West Lafayette Saturday.

It doesn’t matter that the Boilermakers were pummeled by Cincinnati 42-7 in the opener, and then squeezed out a 20-14 victory over Indiana State last week. That’s Indiana State, not Indiana. The Boilermakers are playing Notre Dame. The Irish could be playing at Lou Holtz Middle School and Brent and Kirk would be on the call in primetime.

To be fair to ABC/ESPN, beyond Alabama-Texas A&M, which is on CBS, it is a weak Saturday for college football. It underscores how few good games there are in non-conference play. The big teams are bent on ripping off fans by scheduling easy wins. And they complain about preseason games in the NFL.

However, from a quality standpoint, No. 16 UCLA at No. 23 Nebraska is a much better game. It also features two well-known programs that have some national appeal.

Yet ABC is airing that game at noon ET.

It should be pointed out that the decisions on early-season primetime games were made in the spring. So it wasn’t a matter of ABC choosing ND-Purdue over UCLA-Nebraska in the last couple of weeks..

But safe to say, ABC would have gone the same way if they made the decision this week. It’s an easy choice for ABC/ESPN. The Irish pull in big ratings, as evidenced by last week’s Michigan-Notre Dame game.

So turn on the lights for Notre Dame. Again.