"Mike Tirico"

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Speaker 3 So, guys, welcome. It's time for another

Speaker 3 session of Smartless Pulled Open.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 3 And who would like to begin?

Speaker 2 Anybody want to begin?

Speaker 3 Willie's in hysterics over a joke that Sean just told that America, you cannot hear. Because if you did, you'd never like Sean Hayes again.

Speaker 2 Welcome to Smartless.

Speaker 2 Smart,

Speaker 2 noise.

Speaker 2 Smart,

Speaker 2 less

Speaker 2 smart,

Speaker 2 less

Speaker 2 JB, you look, JB looks like a guy with the glasses and the hat and the beard and the hair. He looks like he's just spending the weekend.
He's parked the van up in Bend, Oregon, right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 He's up in Bend. He's going to do some windsurfing on the river at the gorge.

Speaker 3 It's disgusting. I see.
He's up at the gorge.

Speaker 3 These are

Speaker 3 These are frames.

Speaker 2 They look good. I like them.
Listener,

Speaker 3 these are frames that you would see on Plastic Man if you're as old as I am.

Speaker 3 They're kind of like tragically hip now that my wife made me get. I just keep them at the house, but I wore them today, and they're transition lenses, so they get that little sneaky kind of half tint.

Speaker 3 And so the problem is like I'm keeping them at home so no one sees them, but I've been on Zooms all day. And so Will's just reminding me that I've looked like a freaking douchebag all day.

Speaker 2 No, you don't. I said you look kind of crunchy.
I didn't say you look like a douchebag. I said you look like you're up in Oregon.
Got this hipster.

Speaker 2 The glasses look like you could have a neck tattoo. Yeah, bro.
Yeah, right?

Speaker 2 You could be

Speaker 2 that you live in Highland Park.

Speaker 2 Wait, let me ask you this.

Speaker 1 What's a part that you would never

Speaker 1 never get asked to play or would want to play?

Speaker 2 Oh,

Speaker 2 probably this, this guy.

Speaker 2 Oh, for real?

Speaker 3 Well, yeah, I mean, the part I'm playing, I mean, that's why I grew up this dumbass beard and long hair is because I'm playing a guy that is,

Speaker 3 you know, he's got a drug history and he makes a lot of bad decisions. They usually get cast as like some smart middle-aged white dick, you know?

Speaker 2 Yeah. Anyway, well, we'll let the audience do the math on that one.

Speaker 1 I was going to do the math for you, but

Speaker 2 you guys.

Speaker 2 So, what's going on?

Speaker 3 Have Have you guys had the dumb, dumb, busy day like me? I mean, today is just like a game.

Speaker 1 No, I had a super slow day today.

Speaker 2 I did. I had a bunch of.
I went to the eye doctor.

Speaker 1 Oh, check this out. Look at this.
I went to the eye doctor today.

Speaker 3 Just my last one.

Speaker 3 Which one was sick?

Speaker 2 Can you see? Oh, yeah. It's still a little.
One's dilated? Yeah.

Speaker 2 Two are dilated.

Speaker 3 Just as fine. So did Scotty have to drive you today?

Speaker 2 Or did you take drills?

Speaker 1 I was like, I'm fine, I'm fine. And I pulled out into traffic.
I was like, oh, I don't think I'm fine.

Speaker 2 Jamie, I thought about you when I got dressed for this because I've been doing a bunch of stuff and I worked out. I did two different kinds of workouts today, but I'm in

Speaker 2 transition. I'm transitioning between different parts of my day.
And I thought, you know, who's going to love my look? And I'm going to have to give you the full.

Speaker 3 Because you're going to hit it.

Speaker 3 You've already got on the baggy

Speaker 3 neck.

Speaker 2 He's got the crocs on.

Speaker 3 He's got white crocs on, guys, with the heel strap.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 2 And then camo shorts.

Speaker 2 And then golf socks.

Speaker 3 So you've got an indoor outfit on today, like me? Or have you been outside?

Speaker 2 I remember when I was. Will anybody see that today? I went outside.
I went home.

Speaker 2 Nobody saw this. Nobody saw this.
But I remember one of my favorites was seeing you.

Speaker 2 You and I were hanging with Krasinski. This is minimum 15 years ago.
And he was wearing some stupid little socks with his vans. And then you just look over and you go, laundry day.

Speaker 3 No, I don't think I said that because that's the line we've always heard. I think I just said,

Speaker 2 confident? Yeah.

Speaker 2 oh that's oh that was the one that was the other one you said no confident huh

Speaker 2 you went confident no you didn't say confident you just went confident

Speaker 2 which is just so

Speaker 3 good it's so good um but wait how did uh sorry sorry guest we're gonna get right to you because you're even busier than all three of us combined.

Speaker 3 How did the white crocs find their way into your closet anyway?

Speaker 2 Well, you know what? Thanks for the plug. My friends at dicks.com sent me

Speaker 2 a bus. Yeah, a

Speaker 2 bunch of stuff.

Speaker 2 Bless their hearts. Yeah, they sent me.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that seems fired.

Speaker 3 Did you not get compensated for the commercial?

Speaker 2 I did. You're looking at them.
They're called Crocs.

Speaker 2 God, those are expensive Crocs.

Speaker 2 They sent me Crocs for the kids and me. So we all got them.
And I've never really worn Crocs. And I'm going to be honest.
They're pretty great. They're really comfortable.

Speaker 2 They're super comfortable.

Speaker 1 Really quick, I have a Croc story.

Speaker 1 So I was doing promises, promises, and afterwards, I met, thank you, thank you, thank you. And afterwards, I went out and did the meet and greet that you have to do sometimes if you want to say hi.

Speaker 1 And there's a very buttoned up family, and the little boy, he's like nine years old, he had like a suit on with the crocs, and the girl had a little dress on.

Speaker 1 And after the show, you're like fired up, you're doing bits, you're doing bits, you're trying to be funny, you're trying to still entertain them.

Speaker 1 And so, the little girl, she's like, Can you sign my program? I was like, Sure, what's your name? She's like, Sue, I go, What a Sue Nami of a performance or some stupid joke.

Speaker 1 And then I looked at him, and he took off his croc and he said,

Speaker 1 wait, he took off his crock and he said, can you sign this? I go, yeah, wait, shit.

Speaker 3 Yeah, he said, how about you sign this for your croc of shit performance?

Speaker 2 Is that what he said?

Speaker 1 No.

Speaker 2 Didn't you tell me one time in a really low moment of your life you wore crocs to a meet and beat?

Speaker 1 Wait, what's a meet and beat?

Speaker 2 Oh, Sean. Oh, boy.

Speaker 3 Listeners, can you just call Sean real quick?

Speaker 2 Oh, a meet and beat. Okay, I did the math.

Speaker 3 Okay, guys, do you like football?

Speaker 2 Hey, I do.

Speaker 3 Willie, Sean, do you like football?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I sure me.

Speaker 3 Do you like golf?

Speaker 3 Do you like, do you like horse racing? Do you like car racing? Do you like basketball? Yeah. Do you like the Olympics? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Our guest today is the guy that's been holding your hand for about 35 years through some of the most exciting life television and personal excellence ever.

Speaker 3 He is as casual and comforting as he is knowledgeable and anxiety inducing. He's your favorite house guest, but he's got no idea where you live, guys.

Speaker 3 He knows all the things about sports, but is not an athlete. He is as familiar as a family member, but you don't know a thing about him until now.

Speaker 3 Will, Sean, listeners, please welcome the star of the highest-rated television show, 13 years running, and the host of the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, the one and only Mr. Mike Tarica.

Speaker 2 I know

Speaker 2 it's a big reveal. There I am.

Speaker 3 I mean, is that an intro?

Speaker 2 God, I was trying to write that down. I want to repeat that.
That's awesome. man.

Speaker 1 How about Jason's busy day?

Speaker 2 He wrote that intro. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Welcome, Mike. It's

Speaker 2 very good to have you here. I am a listener, and it's an honor to be on, although I'm nervous as hell.

Speaker 3 Please. You don't have time to listen to dumbass podcast losers.

Speaker 2 Maybe you didn't catch the part where I'm wearing crux, Mike.

Speaker 3 Now, when do you squeak in the time to listen to anything? Like on planes, I'll bet.

Speaker 2 Yeah, on planes, on a walk.

Speaker 2 I'm like a 1.75 podcast listener i need to get them over quick you know so i try to squeeze them in so you might go like a horse racing or auto racing around the events and then like i need a a little bit of a change so so actually one day one of our pr guys said uh you know you look at the top 10 podcasts in america and i saw this one i said well this is the only one that really appeals to me and so i'm i'm not an every week guy but i'm here every once in a while Well, listen, there's a little something for everybody on this dumb show.

Speaker 3 You, however, are right up my alley, mister.

Speaker 3 So

Speaker 3 let's just get into it, Mike. Let's start from the beginning.

Speaker 3 Let's start from the very beginning. So

Speaker 3 your dad's driving your mom to the hospital, right?

Speaker 2 She's in.

Speaker 3 All right. So

Speaker 3 let's let's let's

Speaker 3 well, where did it, where did it, were you an athlete? Are you an athlete? I worked that into the intro there because it kind of rolled nice, but I'll bet you're a bit of an athlete, right?

Speaker 2 No, no. No.

Speaker 2 You were right. so in my family we have two kids my wife played basketball at syracuse so uh we have you at syracuse that's where you guys met yeah that's where

Speaker 2 we met uh so we have a dogs there are five of us in the house i'm the fifth athlete in the house because

Speaker 2 you know i i play golf it's not pretty i i love it i i feel like i'm this close i'm the king of the range i've won more titles on the range than maybe any golfer alive and i feel really good in the short game area and then for some stupid reason it doesn't translate so i gotta

Speaker 2 How bad a golfer are you? Let me guess. I'm a 15.
I was gonna put you at a 10. Yeah, I was.
COVID, I was 10.2. Yeah.
And I was feeling pretty good about life. And I said, Here we go.
We're going.

Speaker 2 We're going to get to single digits. Life's going to be good.
And that hasn't happened. So, wait, you got your index down to a 10, too? I did during COVID.

Speaker 2 I was playing every day, and I kind of knew what I was doing. Socially distant.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 3 That's what got me back into golf.

Speaker 2 That's when we started playing again, was during, we hadn't played for years, JB and I. Yeah, we started playing.
And

Speaker 2 then it just, and then JB went absolutely mental. Because I have addiction issues.
The way he does. And it was crazy.
And then his wife is really mad at golf and blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2 And I said, you know, the fix to it is don't go mental, right? Just do it like don't do it every day. But he couldn't, he couldn't hear me because he was watching swing videos.
I'm obsessive.

Speaker 3 But now, now that I'm working, I don't, I'm, I put them down for nine months. I won't even touch my clubs.

Speaker 2 So when you go back, will you be good?

Speaker 3 I will be terrible and I will stay out of the money games because I'll still be stuck with my old index.

Speaker 2 But here's what's so weird. So, so this is it's funny that JB.
So, I said to JB

Speaker 2 Sunday, we all saw each other for dinner. He'd been in New York for a couple months, and I said, Why don't you, no, yes, Senator? I said, Why don't you come to the range

Speaker 2 with me just because you're here this week? Just come to come to the range over at where we play. Can't even be around.
He's like, No, I can't. I can't do it until October.

Speaker 3 Trigger, trigger situation.

Speaker 2 Well, it's just about moderation, my friend.

Speaker 3 Yeah,

Speaker 3 I'm not good at five. I need every 10 or a zero.

Speaker 2 That's my problem. Wouldn't you find it as a release? Just get away for a little bit.
Stop your mind. That's what I thought.

Speaker 3 Yeah, it's true, but then that means I've got to be kind of indifferent as to how I'm playing and I got to care, you know? I mean,

Speaker 3 you know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 3 You don't call. Let me see the way I'm going to bring it right back to you.

Speaker 3 You don't phone in your work there.

Speaker 3 You make it seem very casual, but it takes a tremendous amount of preparation, I would imagine, especially just in switching sports, but then having to know all the specific players and the relevance of that game per the rivalries between those teams and where it sits in the season and all of that stuff is just like,

Speaker 3 talk to us about your preparation, about your team. I'm sure you've got people that you're reliant on that are incredible.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 You're right. You nailed it.
I'm paranoid that one day I'm going to wake up and we'll have Katie Ledecki riding one of the horses in the Kentucky Derby. You know, exactly.

Speaker 2 circuits have crossed. No, no, no, stop.
Right.

Speaker 2 We have unbelievable research teams. Yeah.
The story of the Olympics on TV in America,

Speaker 2 it has the research department for the Olympics has been kind of the training ground for a lot of executives in TV

Speaker 2 over like 30, 40 years. So

Speaker 2 a bunch of the people who were Olympic researchers in the 70s and 80s and 90s now run sports divisions at at CBS and at NBC. So really

Speaker 2 they're super smart people and they give you more than you can read and you just got to figure out how to shorten the stack and how to keep it organized, right?

Speaker 2 Because I'm not going to learn the rules for the 30 sports and all the names of the 10,000 athletes for the Summer Olympics, but that's my job.

Speaker 2 Somebody's helping me out.

Speaker 3 Well, who deserves the accolades for that? Was it Rune Arledge back in the day?

Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah.
Duo, going back to when ABC had the Olympics and remember wide world of sports when it started? Jim McKay. Yes, it was the ski jumper falling off the side of the mill.
The best.

Speaker 2 I mean, not for him, but the best for us. The guy's name is Venko Bogatai.
That was his name.

Speaker 3 I sat at the top of that speed, at that ski jump

Speaker 3 in Austria once. Yeah.
And, you know, there's a big graveyard at the bottom of it.

Speaker 2 It's like, that's all you can see from the top of that ski jump is just this massive graveyard.

Speaker 1 Anyway, go ahead.

Speaker 2 Explains why he took the exit ramp to the left of the spot. He got distracted.
Yeah. Yeah, but it was the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, but it was up close and personal.

Speaker 2 That was their tagline for the profiles.

Speaker 2 And one of the great executives in the history of television, not just sports television, Dick Ebersoll, because he was involved with Lorne Michaels with Saturday Night Live and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 Dick really brought, he was working with Rune at ABC as a researcher in the 70s, and he brought that sensibility and that storytelling to NBC way before I got there when NBC got the Olympics.

Speaker 2 And that has kind of defined our division

Speaker 2 since Dick was there and all the people who learned from him who are now in charge.

Speaker 2 Tell a story. Make me care about the people.

Speaker 3 It's my favorite part of the Olympics because these are people that are not making money in sports yet. They have to be an amateur to be

Speaker 2 changed a little bit. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yes, yeah. It's some sports.

Speaker 3 But for the most part, it is, you are tuning in to see these very sort of the people that you live live next door to that are having these two minutes, this opportunity for personal excellence that they have been training for for 10, 15 years.

Speaker 3 And are they going to be overwhelmed by the moment, by the media, by the by the stress? Or are they going to soar to new heights because they're charged up?

Speaker 2 And I just met them.

Speaker 3 And I just met them with this five-minute piece that started way back then. And I think was Runaroj's idea, right? Like get to know the athlete.

Speaker 3 And then as soon as you're done with that story, you cut right to them on the starting line. And it's just like, oh my God.

Speaker 2 Because now you're now you're invested. Yeah.
Yeah. And you guys are storytellers in your own way.
So you get it. Here's the difference now.
You don't have five minutes.

Speaker 2 People aren't going to sit around for your story in five minutes. So

Speaker 2 our adjustment has become make it bite-size, make you care about somebody. Yeah.
And then show me their event. Or even the night before, hey, here is this athlete's story.

Speaker 2 And tomorrow night, they go for gold. Right.
Yeah. You started.
Well, you had Sean at bite-size, by the way.

Speaker 1 I'm in.

Speaker 3 I just started, you started even at the opening ceremonies, you guys start it by sort of just like dropping little breadcrumbs on certain things. No, it's really cool.

Speaker 2 But so, Mike, let's go back a little bit because obviously you're at the top of the game. As Jason pointed out, you know, Sunday Night Football is the number one show on TV, right? Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 And it's, you've been doing this at the top.

Speaker 2 What is that moment? You're Mike Torico at Syracuse.

Speaker 2 How do you become sports commentator,

Speaker 2 play-by-play, sports host of the biggest?

Speaker 2 What is that thing? Are you like,

Speaker 2 are you calling games when you're in your bedroom when you're 11? Little bit.

Speaker 3 You just drove down the street to Bristol and just like circled the building a couple of times, right?

Speaker 2 Throwing headshots out the window. Let me in.
No, no, seriously, when I was a little kid, you asked my mom, this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a sportscaster for being

Speaker 2 a little kid. I'm really, I am 55 years later living my dream still every day.
That's so day and I just love working where was that queens queens new york so

Speaker 2 when I grew up I was listening to Marv Albert broadcast

Speaker 2 and the Rangers and work at NBC and Marv garbage time

Speaker 2 extensive garbage time

Speaker 2 Marv did everything right he did boxing football the local news the Rangers the Knicks and so I always thought you know what do everything just figure out a way to become proficient at every sport that you can be invited to do.

Speaker 2 And Jim McKay, who somebody mentioned before, Jim McKay was the same thing. And those two guys were the models for me to, hey, go figure it out.
Went to college at Syracuse, interned at a TV station.

Speaker 2 They went through three weekend sportscasters in seven weeks. The GM said, I'm going to hire somebody young and cheap.
I was interning there. I was young and I was cheap.
And

Speaker 2 I got a tryout. I got a tryout on the air for six weeks, got hired after four weeks, spent four years there and then got to ESPN in 91, was there for 25 years, and now

Speaker 2 eight years at NBC, starting my 90s.

Speaker 2 So hang on, sorry, I just, could you gloss over ESPN? So you go to ESPN, and that's where a lot of us got to know you first on a national level, obviously.

Speaker 3 And they saw you on the local station there in Syracuse, I'm assuming?

Speaker 2 There was somebody who actually is still a friend, and we work in a different capacity now,

Speaker 2 who saw me doing local TV and was an executive at ESPN. And they told me, send a tape in a year.
I sent a tape in 10 months, got hired a few months later, and did Sports Center.

Speaker 2 And I was there like in the salad days. Yeah.
Sports Center. I was with Chris Myers, who works at Fox Now.

Speaker 2 The weekends were Carl Ravich and Linda Cohn, who are still there at ESPN all these years later.

Speaker 2 And the main group was Dan Patrick and Keith Oberman and Bob Lee and Charlie Steiner, Robin Roberts, Gary Miller.

Speaker 2 We just had like this group that is still for the most part all on TV doing national sports almost 25, 30 years later. I love that.
That was like the, you guys were like the Beatles of sportscasters.

Speaker 2 That was like the first, like that generation, you guys were, you set, because nobody was doing it, nobody had done it the way you guys were doing it before, and you set that tone.

Speaker 2 And everybody after that was trying to replicate that, really. Yeah.

Speaker 2 And we will be right back.

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Speaker 3 I love the station, but I never knew what ESPN stood for, and I've figured it out a few times, and I've still forgotten it.

Speaker 2 What does ESPN stand for? It did stand for the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.

Speaker 2 Because you know the story at the start in September of 1979, a little bit before that, they went up on a satellite and had a satellite. And

Speaker 2 the original idea was they're going to broadcast Connecticut sports around the state. And they're like, wait a minute, this can be seen everywhere.
So let's expand out the idea.

Speaker 2 And when I was mentioning all the names, I did mention the godfather of it all, Chris Bourbon, who, you know, Chris, Chris with the nicknames and the shtick and the whole deal, the back, back, back.

Speaker 2 Chris made it cool.

Speaker 2 And a lot of people tried to emulate Chris or be like Chris, but I think the ones who succeeded, like Rich Eisen, Craig Kilbourne, Stuart Scott, guys who came on after the main group I talked about, they found their own shtick, right?

Speaker 2 And there was room for somebody.

Speaker 2 like me who's a serious call the sports you know have a little fun with it but it's not about me cracking one-liners all the way to the guys who, you know, truly came out of comedy, like Rich Eisen and Kilbourne.

Speaker 2 Rich was a stand-up comedian before he came to Sydney.

Speaker 3 Damn Patrick, too.

Speaker 2 Damn Patrick, right? What was your favorite Chris Berman nickname? Because I know mine that I have. Bert B.
Home Bly Levin.

Speaker 2 That's so good. Mine was Eric Sleeping with Bienemi.

Speaker 2 That's exactly. So here's a stupid story.
So we, so Syracuse is big for sportscasters, and a lot of kids who want to be sportscasters go there. And 30 some years later, it's almost 40 years later now.

Speaker 2 God,

Speaker 2 it's still the case. So we had just a bunch of nerds, and that was our fraternity.
We were all want to be sportscasters, and a bunch of us turned out to be.

Speaker 2 So we would keep a legal pad by our TV and write down every Chris Berman nickname when it was there. It was like a community list.
And we sent it to ESPN.

Speaker 2 We were pissed because ESPN never sent a thank you note back, whatever. You know, months later, ESPN put out a list of all the Chris Berman nicknames.

Speaker 2 So we take credit for that, at least in our own hearts. Oh,

Speaker 2 they're listening right now, and they are filled with shame.

Speaker 3 They hired you and they still don't.

Speaker 2 A meeting was just convened in one of the conference rooms. Everybody in.

Speaker 2 Mike, I have a question.

Speaker 1 Have you ever,

Speaker 1 when you are calling a game and you do it all the time, week after week after week after week, what do you do when you're just like, yeah, I'm really not in the fucking mood to do this thing?

Speaker 1 Like, how do you, you must have like days when you're like, how am I going to get it up for you?

Speaker 3 What's your pill of choice, Mike?

Speaker 2 Sean wants you to take this.

Speaker 3 He wants to make some news here.

Speaker 2 You know what? One,

Speaker 2 well, it's a couple of things. Fortunately, you're at games almost all the time.
Yeah. And it's 50,000, 60,000 people.
So

Speaker 2 you guys have performed in front of audiences. There are nights everybody doesn't have it.
Something's going on. Family, you're sick.
You've traveled for 15 weeks. Nobody cares, right?

Speaker 2 You're always trying to make sure that you reach a standard that you've established over the year.

Speaker 1 So you just tap into that and like a little bit of that, but also the crowd.

Speaker 2 Those people are spending money.

Speaker 1 And the millions of people watching, too. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Exactly. But even like,

Speaker 2 where do you look for just the raw energy for you if your energy is a little bit low? Yeah. Look at these people.

Speaker 2 Guys,

Speaker 2 they tailgated. They parked.
They've been there for eight hours and now they're screaming at the top of their lungs. They've painted their faces.
They're wearing their jersey.

Speaker 2 That gets you going. How does it not? So when it's a bad day or it's not the best day, that usually picks me up.
You know, Mike, you're saying they're painting their faces.

Speaker 2 It always seemed to me like a really funny tableau would be like one of those guys, one of those like crazy Raiders fans, you know, he's got the silver and he's got the horns and he's wearing the shoulder pads with the spikes and stuff and just like half a mile from the stadium exchanging insurance information

Speaker 2 with somebody else.

Speaker 2 And just like, and with bifocals on, bifocals on and going, honey, it's not the, can you pass me the other one? Yeah. It's not the right.
I mean, I can't read this.

Speaker 1 I was also thinking about, Mike, you know, like when you were saying that, you know,

Speaker 1 we've all performed and stuff.

Speaker 1 I used to watch football. I have three older brothers.
They all played football. I was surrounded by sports, you growing up, and I played sports too.
But then I kind of, you know my story. So then

Speaker 2 no, we don't. Let's hear it.
That's weird.

Speaker 1 And then I didn't like sports.

Speaker 1 But now I'm really into football, and these guys know, and I do watch it every year.

Speaker 1 And I really, really am into the stories, like you guys are talking about, and outlining all the people, the players, and then you get to know them, and then you get to root for them, or whatever your team is, whatever.

Speaker 2 So I get it.

Speaker 1 But what I really honed in on in the last couple of years was the performance of the players. And I never really noticed it before.

Speaker 1 So being an actor, I noticed that like, wait a minute, these guys are really kind of playing it up for the cameras because there's this, like you said, a stadium of tens of thousands of people.

Speaker 1 There's millions of people watching. If nobody was there and nobody's watching, they probably wouldn't get as angry or push as hard or kind of yell back as hard.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 They kind of heighten their performance a little bit. Don't you agree? I do.

Speaker 2 And I'm going to say that, you know, this Amber psychological analysis of this, I think it's the generation that's grown up in front of cameras. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Like they know where the camera is, how to play to it. They know, I score a touchdown.
This is my marketing moment. You know, you got guys who have their

Speaker 2 TD celebrations all rehearsed. They know.
It's on me right now and point to the name on the back of their jersey. Yes, I get it.
Yeah, Terrell Owens started it with the Sharpie in his shoes.

Speaker 2 Yes, right. Exactly.

Speaker 3 But even the broadcasts have specific cameras set up and screens set up in the end zone for them all to gather and do their, basically their selfie.

Speaker 2 So that was a COVID thing. That was a COVID thing because there were no fans.

Speaker 2 So there was like a fan cam. So you could watch the game like on a Zoom and you sit there and you're watching the game and hey, in the third quarter, your face will be in the end zone.

Speaker 2 And then they're going, yay, into their computers.

Speaker 2 And the guys were seeing them because they were just trying to find a way to create some atmosphere.

Speaker 2 Right, but the drama seems to always just be a little bit more than

Speaker 2 like

Speaker 3 performance. You talk about soccer, right? Well, I mean, the flopping is just like it keeps me away from watching it a lot.

Speaker 2 No, yeah, but it does.

Speaker 2 Look, it is bad, and certain leagues are worse than others. La Liga is the worst, and I would also say league one in France.
But La Liga is full of floppers, and it's not just the Spanish guys, too.

Speaker 3 You guys,

Speaker 2 no, it's true. Some of these guys,

Speaker 2 I watched that Champions League final

Speaker 2 the other day, the Barissa Dortmund Real, and

Speaker 2 there was a Vinny Jr. who's a tremendous football player.
He didn't even get touched, and he looked like he was shot

Speaker 2 that a sniper had taken several times. My two favorites, my two favorites are the triple barrel roll.
When the guy goes down, he rolls and he rolls and he rolls. He gains speed.

Speaker 2 Yes. And then when they bring out

Speaker 2 these million, million pound players in terms of their financial remuneration, and they're kind of carrying them on this rickety little thing with two wood sticks and a piece of canvas.

Speaker 2 They carry them over to the sideline, and all of a sudden they realize their team has the ball. They're right back in the game.

Speaker 2 Well, the other one, Mike, I like is the guy, he gets sort of tapped in his thigh, and he grabs his face. And you're like, wait a second, why are you grabbing your face?

Speaker 2 But I will say, you know, so thank you for bringing up football, soccer, if you will,

Speaker 2 because that is one of those sports that for me,

Speaker 2 I was able to get into it. I'm really a new super fan to it in the last 10 years.

Speaker 2 But because of the stories, because I was, I watched it with people who knew and they filled me and they'd say, this guy came from here. This manager came from here.
Here's what the backstory is.

Speaker 2 And what's it going to do?

Speaker 1 I mean, Will always used to say that to me. Yeah.
Like, I was like, how can you watch that? You're like, watch this. He's like, Sean, watch the story.

Speaker 3 And that's what like the Formula One show on Netflix. That got a bunch of folks into Formula One.

Speaker 2 Yeah, so I started watching

Speaker 2 like Sunderland Till I Die. I was already into at that point, but Sunderland Till I Die, all those other things.

Speaker 1 It's like reality shows. It's like any time of reality competition show, you get to know the people and then you get it.
It's the human human story.

Speaker 2 You can relate to it. At that point, you can relate to it on a human level.
So

Speaker 2 the thing with soccer, football, soccer, whatever. Sure.
We're in America, soccer. The thing with that is

Speaker 2 it starts, it's rooted in tribalism. It's those small towns like a Sunderland, which you mentioned in England,

Speaker 2 the city. Like you end up going to the grounds and a lot of kids walk there and it becomes part of you.

Speaker 2 Now it's kind of grown from a very tribal and local thing to regional, national, and global, which has just allowed the expansion of all this to happen.

Speaker 2 But at its roots, especially if you go over to soccer in England,

Speaker 2 it's our neighborhood. It's our team.
They're our guys. And we can be mad at them, but you can't.
And I love that about the sports.

Speaker 2 Mike, you know, so a couple of weeks ago,

Speaker 2 I went over to go to see Jürgen Klopp's second-last home game. Jürgen Trump.
And I'm a huge fan of his, and I've had the... Is that a Chris Bourbon nickname? Yeah, Jürgen Trouble.

Speaker 3 Sean just does it on the first name.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 2 I had the great fortune of being able to to spend a little bit of time with him in the past year yeah and and so I got to go over to Anfield and you walk into that stadium and you listen first of all and I went to Chelsea as well I my friend joked that I went to watch Tottenham lose twice in a week but I so I went to Stanford Bridge but I went to Anfield and I was sitting up there and I was sitting in front of Sir Kenny Douglas and the stand opposite us is the Sir Kenneth Douglas stand yeah okay and he was a former player manager legend and a Liverpool legend and a really tremendous guy he's sitting right behind me with his wife and they start playing at Anfield, You Never Walk Alone, which is their anthem.

Speaker 2 And the whole stadium is singing. You know, 60,000 people sing You Never Walk Alone.

Speaker 2 And I turn around and his wife, who must have heard it 50,000 times in her life because her husband was a player manager. And I look back and she's dabbing her eyes.
It's so cool.

Speaker 2 And I thought, like, and it was so incredible. It was so moving.
So, so moving. There's something about the way that you're right, that they celebrate that.

Speaker 2 There's something, Will, there's something about sports.

Speaker 2 Like, most of us never meet the athletes who we wear their jerseys you know the the the old the old uh hockey line you know go to a hockey game especially where i live in michigan and you got a bunch of people walking around with other guys last names on their on their back on their back right

Speaker 2 but it's the one place not only is it acceptable it's encouraged and it shows that you're a real fan right so it brings people together that don't know each other well that's it that's that's the last thing we have right i think so too my stump speech about sports and the value of sports is let's go to new orleans for a saints game and let me take one section of the superdome and i'm going to get black and white i'm going to get male and female i'm going to get straight and gay i'm going to get different religions i'm going to get everybody in that section And they're all wearing some black and gold for the Saints.

Speaker 2 And that doesn't happen at the opera. It doesn't happen at the movies.
That's why I still think sports has this place, whereas everything's become so fractured.

Speaker 2 People still love their sports like nothing else. Mike, has anybody ever said this to you? Because this is my own personal experience: is that no matter what's going on in my life,

Speaker 2 we all have ups and downs, as you said, we have moments in the family, whatever.

Speaker 2 And the one thing that I can do to kind of self-regulate is I come home and if I can turn on sports, I kind of go, everything's okay. Yeah, you do.
Right? Do you do that?

Speaker 2 It settles me.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 2 both of you check out when sports are on.

Speaker 3 And I love nothing more than primetime sports. When you put on a game that's on at night,

Speaker 1 it's like watching this old house on PBS on a Sunday afternoon.

Speaker 2 Oh, Sean.

Speaker 3 We're having a good conversation here.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 2 I'm an HGTV guy, Sean, if you want to know the truth.

Speaker 2 Sean, you turn me off.

Speaker 2 You know, I like this old house to have a good time.

Speaker 1 Wait, Mike, where are you from?

Speaker 2 I'm from Queens, from New York.

Speaker 2 Grew up as a New Yorker,

Speaker 2 lived in the Northeast most of my life.

Speaker 3 Does that make you a Met fan?

Speaker 2 I wasn't. A Mets and a Jets fan.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah, of course. What did we say was? You had to be agnostic as you went into your profession?

Speaker 2 Well, the Mets thing was I just wanted to see them win the World Series once in my life, and they did, and I kind of outgrew it. It's like an allergy.
You know, they say, hopefully,

Speaker 2 I outgrew it. So I've saved myself generations of pain after that.
And then the rest of it, really, you do become agnostic. People say, well, how can you watch a game and not root?

Speaker 2 There's one team in sports that I root for, and that's Syracuse. That's my alma mater.
Right.

Speaker 1 My godkid goes there.

Speaker 2 Oh, really? Oh, yeah, no way.

Speaker 2 The orange men, right?

Speaker 2 What? With the orange. We used to be the orange men and women.

Speaker 3 Now we're just the orange. Now just the orange.
All right.

Speaker 2 It could be a color, a fruit, or a spirit. You take your pick.
My godson lives in America.

Speaker 2 Continental. And then continental and the contiguous.

Speaker 3 You strike me as a fella that would have great chemistry with anyone because you're such a kind guy.

Speaker 3 But I'll bet Chris Collinsworth doesn't make it difficult. He seems like just about the best guy in the world.
I've talked to him a couple of times, but

Speaker 3 not longer than when I'm talking with you.

Speaker 3 But still, he seems just incredible. Is he as nice a guy as he seems to work with?

Speaker 2 A thousand percent.

Speaker 2 I'll give you just a quick quick anecdote. Like, you know, you do this, so you kind of know people, but you're not around them.

Speaker 2 Then I started working at NBC, and I get to be around Chris a little bit more, and I get to know him. And Chris and Al Michaels were a terrific team doing Sunday night football for a long time.

Speaker 3 Al is a buddy of Will and I's. We love Al Daddy.

Speaker 2 Yeah, he's great on the Mount Rushmore. One of the best, if not the best in every, every sport

Speaker 2 to ever do it, right? Yep. So I get to start working with Chris and, you know, Chris made it so easy for me.
It's like, hey, do the game you do.

Speaker 2 We can do things a little bit different. It's fine.
And

Speaker 2 he's that way professionally, but he's also that way personally.

Speaker 2 Chris, his wife, Holly, their kids they've become friends of of me my wife our kids and um that helps because when you're on the air on sunday night you're just sitting with a friend watching a game yeah and i think that makes it easy on sunday night at nine o'clock you're not listening to two people trying to compete we were trying to be our parts in the symphony Yeah, no, you guys, you guys nail it because that's exactly the feeling that I get when I sit down to watch the game with you guys is that it just feels like you're right there in the cozy, you know, on the couch right there with us.

Speaker 2 But, you know, the reason it happens like that is... It's because Jason's on a gummy? Yeah.

Speaker 2 Oh, no, no, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 Everything just far so smooth. It feels like I'm right there.
It feels like I can hear you in my head.

Speaker 1 Wait, Mike, where do you mostly work out?

Speaker 1 Where do you live now and then where do you come from?

Speaker 2 Where does he work out mostly? Come on.

Speaker 2 Where do you work from mostly?

Speaker 2 I work most of the week in my house. I live in Michigan.
And then we travel to the games. Usually for Sunday night football, we'll travel on Friday.

Speaker 2 For the Olympics, we'll get there a week before the opening season.

Speaker 1 And you're not sick of traveling back and forth?

Speaker 2 Like you like where you live?

Speaker 2 It's a lot. It's a lot, but I've come to love America.
I love the fact that

Speaker 2 I can be dropped in like 40 cities in America, and I don't need a map. I know where the restaurants are.
I know where

Speaker 2 you can go for a walk. That is cool.

Speaker 2 That is cool. It is really cool.

Speaker 2 I really do feel like I've seen and know our country because, you know, you spend three days in Minneapolis, you spend three days in Chicago, three days in New England. That's cool.
I love it.

Speaker 2 I really do.

Speaker 3 Now,

Speaker 3 was there an obstacle? Everybody's got a nice obstacle at the very start that they kind of decide they're either going to push through or they're going to hit fuck it and try something else.

Speaker 3 Was there something that

Speaker 2 almost derailed the great Mike Tarico? I always wanted to call games, what I'm doing now, right? And my bosses told me, no, you know, you're a studio guy. We need you in the studio.

Speaker 2 So I volunteered to do games on my day off on Saturday

Speaker 2 and work a sixth day during the basketball season to get a chance in 94 to start doing games. And that's what I always wanted to do.
And I'm like, I'm going to prove to you guys that I'm good enough.

Speaker 2 And it took a couple of years. And then in the end of 96, one of our bosses went to ABC and then he said, hey, you told me that you wanted to start doing some other stuff.

Speaker 2 Would you like to do some golf? Did two events in 96. And then in 97, I got to do golf at ABC.
And the best thing about starting golf in 1997, that was Tigers' first four years playing golf. Wow.

Speaker 2 So I got right in when the Tiger era started and golf just freaking took off. Oh my God.

Speaker 2 We'll be right back.

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Speaker 2 Can I just say something about the Tiger Eric so that we can, because there's been, you know, there's a lot of stuff.

Speaker 2 We had the privilege, and people say, oh, you like Tiger Woods? I'm like, we had the privilege of watching one of the all-time great athletic careers that's ever graced this planet.

Speaker 2 And we got to watch it in prime time, as you say, JB, in prime time. It was all recorded.
We got to see every shot.

Speaker 2 And I thought, what a privilege we had to watch this guy play at the top of his game.

Speaker 3 And Mike Collin, the British Open.

Speaker 2 And Mike, you called it.

Speaker 2 I had a bunch of them.

Speaker 2 I think I've done like 60, 65 or 66 majors, and Tiger's played most of them. Wow.
And it's just so a

Speaker 2 covered a call, I should say. And like the energy around Tiger is different from any other athlete, even Jordan.
Now, Jordan was, Michael was in a team sport, right? Yeah. And there was still...

Speaker 2 this incredible energy and juice around Michael when he was there.

Speaker 2 But when Tiger was 100 yards away, you could just feel it. You could just see the pack of people following him.
Watching people try to go hole by hole, shot by shot to see Tiger was hysterical.

Speaker 2 People tripping over each other and trying to run ahead.

Speaker 2 It was a phenomenon that lasted for a full couple of decades. It was one of the most fascinating things we've ever seen.

Speaker 2 You know, Sean, you have to, it's hard to appreciate it if you're not a fan of, like, you don't follow golf or whatever, but to

Speaker 2 understand, to appreciate his winning percentage on that sport compared to other people when he was at his prime, it was like nothing anybody had ever seen. It blew everything out.

Speaker 1 I don't understand the eye, brain, body coordination to get it right so many times.

Speaker 3 Yeah, I mean, he's just incredibly gifted. But what has been almost totally forgotten is how rare it was for a black athlete to be doing this in what was traditionally a white world.

Speaker 2 It was just,

Speaker 3 it was, I mean, there was Calvin Pete, for sure.

Speaker 3 There was

Speaker 2 Charlie Sifford, Lee Kelder. Yeah, those

Speaker 2 black golfers that were on the stage.

Speaker 3 In hundreds of years, like one of the oldest sports ever, games ever. There were just a handful that you could look to.

Speaker 2 But then to come and dominate the way he did.

Speaker 3 And just dominate.

Speaker 3 Exactly. It was like

Speaker 2 Michael Jordan. And the thing about his dominance that was so cool to me was when he got the lead, he always closed.
He always,

Speaker 2 all but twice, he always closed the deal going into the the final round. And guys spit up the lead every other week, usually on tour, if not more than that.
And every week.

Speaker 2 So he had the impact that Jack Nicholas had, because if his name was on the leaderboard, people would watch. I was just at an event with Tom Watson a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 2 And he said, you know, when you saw Nicholas's name on the board, you're like, uh-oh. Uh-oh.
And when you're thinking about somebody else, you're defeated. You're

Speaker 2 defeated.

Speaker 3 And the ratings, too.

Speaker 3 If those guys make the cut, I'm sure your weekend ratings, it's a huge difference.

Speaker 2 So a lot of people talk about Caitlin Clark and what she's done with women's basketball and the ratings or the likes of which we've never seen before.

Speaker 2 She's had an impact on that sport like Michael did in the NBA and Tiger did, just in terms of this.

Speaker 2 They blew the roof and the ceiling off of where the ratings were. And that'll be the mark that's going to be so hard to get for years to come because it was just the first time people have seen it.

Speaker 2 They wanted to be there and watch it, and there was something captivating about them. And they took it to a height that I don't think you'll see in those sports again.

Speaker 3 Yeah, but meanwhile, which I'm sure that they'd all be very proud of, they have exposed a ton of people that wouldn't otherwise have been exposed to the game.

Speaker 3 And once they're gone, those people are now already into the game and they're going to watch the next athletes that come through.

Speaker 3 So they're broadening the appeal

Speaker 3 of the sport.

Speaker 2 I mean, what Jordan did for basketball globally, right, with him and David Stern working hand in hand, you know, is just astounding legacy doesn't happen when you try to make it happen right legacy happens when what you do naturally just brings people from all corners because there's something unique and captivating about you and that's what that's what happened with Jordan and that that's what happened with tiger and there you mentioned just tiger being black and in a sport that had been so dominated by white players and country clubs and membership and all that stuff, which I think Tiger's presence helped change over time to the point where we don't even think about that anymore like right it's like a forgotten fact when i don't know that he was still existing no but i mean it was it was it's it's become it's become um

Speaker 3 i don't know how to put this but it was it that it was such an anomaly yeah back then yeah and now there are so many incredible um this

Speaker 2 expansion to the sport now yeah i i thought tiger was going to change the sport that way and you'd see a lot more minorities playing and becoming the best players.

Speaker 2 What he did instead, his athletic legacy in the sport beyond his records, he made golf cool. And now guys who are 6'1, 6'2, 6'3 started playing golf.

Speaker 2 And you look at the major change, you look at guys like Brooks Kepka, Tony Finow, et cetera. You get like some big guys who are now playing golf who would not have played the sport back before Tiger.

Speaker 2 It wasn't cool to be one of these big athletes who could be a tight end or a shooting forward in basketball. And that, I think, is Tigers' long-term impact on the sport itself.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 Yeah, that's a great point.

Speaker 2 That's a great point. Well, it definitely attracted a big guy like me, you know.
Yeah, look at you.

Speaker 3 Otherwise, Will would have never gone there.

Speaker 2 Well, my nickname is Big Boy. Yeah, go ahead.
Sean.

Speaker 1 This is a standard Sean question for Mike Trico.

Speaker 1 What's like,

Speaker 1 you know, the worst or most memorable or most embarrassing moment happened to you live that you called or you said something that you like, not regret, but like that, or that just was

Speaker 2 wrapped everybody up and you're like why did i just say that sean you got some wood there i'm gonna knock on it man i i i have gone i have gotten through 36 years of doing this without really having a major all-time

Speaker 2 screw up

Speaker 2 here come the olympics

Speaker 2 all teed up and i'm gonna blame sean

Speaker 2 it's all on sean

Speaker 2 if it happened there was one there was one time i was doing a tv show a sports cast in serious i have a nut allergy and i was about to get i was about to get get sick, and I got away from the camera before that happened.

Speaker 2 So, nothing's happened in front of a camera. You just blew it out.
You blew it out.

Speaker 2 If you want the details, Sean, thank you.

Speaker 3 Now,

Speaker 3 are you as excited for the Olympics as I am? I'll bet you are much more because you know much more about it than I do.

Speaker 3 But just the little that I've read about it, it sounds like Paris is going to do something with this that we've never seen before. Like,

Speaker 3 I think the whole, what, the opening ceremony takes place on the Seine, right on the river yep

Speaker 3 the the events are taking place at all of the incredible monuments there like volleyballs underneath the Eiffel Tower and like and surfing is in Tahiti you know because it's a French you know on the French Polynesia man yes

Speaker 2 they're gonna do the surfing in in Tahiti in Tahiti yes because it's a French

Speaker 2 no I get that but I understand that I have I have a full but I'm surprised why wouldn't they just do it like down in Biritz well because it's not her sea, man. That's right.

Speaker 2 That's exactly right.

Speaker 3 This is why you're not running things, Will.

Speaker 2 No, but I might go to Paris.

Speaker 2 We beg, oh man, you should. We begged our bosses, can we just host the whole Olympics from Tahiti?

Speaker 2 Something going on there, right?

Speaker 2 Who cares what the background is?

Speaker 3 But I mean, it's got to be, you guys are just probably trying to figure out

Speaker 3 how do we cover all the things we want to cover, right?

Speaker 2 It's going to be, look, Paris is one of two things. Either you've been there and you can't wait to go back, or you've never been there and you want to go.

Speaker 2 And the Olympics needs this in the biggest way.

Speaker 2 If you think back, the last three Olympics have been in Asia. We had the 2018 winter games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Speaker 2 Then COVID denied Tokyo 2020. So that was held in 2021.
COVID, no fans.

Speaker 2 And then Beijing held the winter games in the winter of 2022, February. Again, no fans.
So we've had two Olympic games with no fans. What do you mean?

Speaker 1 What do you mean, no fans?

Speaker 2 COVID.

Speaker 1 Oh, because people didn't, I see you got it, guys.

Speaker 2 Because of COVID, there were no fans. And like you guys were mentioning this, somebody mentioned it before.

Speaker 2 You work your whole life to make the Olympics. It's four years of training for a minute, two minutes, whatever it ends up being for some of the athletes.
You want your family there.

Speaker 2 And none of the families could go to Tokyo or to Beijing to the last summer and winter games. So that is one of the things that I am more excited about than the next year.

Speaker 1 So is this, yeah, is this the first time it's going to be back in full force with just everything and

Speaker 1 the way it's televised and the fans and everything?

Speaker 2 Correct.

Speaker 2 This will be the first time that fans are in the stands at the Olympics since February of 2018. So six years in about five months or six months, right?

Speaker 2 I like the way you put that, Mike. I think you're right.
The Olympics need this. They need Paris to work.
They need it to be good. They need to be successful.
It will be. I think it will be.

Speaker 2 It probably will. But where are the next Winter Olympics? Well, the next Winter Olympics are in Milan and Cortina, Italy, in 2026.

Speaker 3 And then L.A. is a big summer.

Speaker 2 And that's why,

Speaker 2 to what Will was just saying, that's why I think this is a big games for the Olympic movement.

Speaker 2 And it's in a great place in Paris because, as you mentioned, the backgrounds, Paris is just such an aspirational city. But L.A.
2028, we haven't had...

Speaker 2 a summer Olympics here since Atlanta back in the late 90s. And we haven't had the Olympics in the U.S.
since Salt Lake in 2002. So if you're 30, right?

Speaker 2 So 26 years between Olympics and the U.S., if you're 30, you don't ever remember the Olympics being contested in America.

Speaker 2 So now at 30, you're under the 2010s.

Speaker 1 Well, you're speaking my language. Yeah, I don't remember that.

Speaker 3 You look terrible, though, Sean, for 25.

Speaker 2 Sean told me once he went to Paris, he went to L'Amy Louis, you know, for dinner, and he had an Olympic movement after that. He said, oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 Because he had the steak and the chicken. All the rain came out.
All the rains came out.

Speaker 2 It was the duck.

Speaker 2 It was the duck it was the it was the fries they cook in goose fat which by the way let me louis nobody does it better it's a very american but it's still great it's still great well all right you convinced me mike i'm gonna come to paris this summer don't give him your number mike don't give me your number let's take a look i'm gonna come and uh i'm and i'll share duties with you at the desk here we go you can now host go ahead do you well you know you know you know you know who's with me who's that snoop no way no way really

Speaker 2 oh oh no no snoop is it's not just like snoop's gonna to show up for once. Snoop is part of our coverage, and

Speaker 2 he is all in on this, man. I love Snoop.
He is such a great dude. He just performed

Speaker 2 at Jimmy Buffett's

Speaker 2 memorial, you know, that concert we did.

Speaker 2 He's such an unbelievably great guy.

Speaker 3 But where did that come from, Mike? Was that your idea?

Speaker 2 No, no, I wish it was. So we'll go back a few years ago to

Speaker 2 the last summer games.

Speaker 2 And we're trying to, you know, we have Peacock as part of the NBC family. It's our streaming service.
So we're trying to figure out what shows can we do Olympic related on Peacock.

Speaker 2 So Kevin Hart and Snoop did Olympic highlights, their version of Olympic highlights. They did like a couple of nights during the games.

Speaker 2 And Snoop, it's a great YouTube clip of Snoop and the equestrian as it's like a crip walk, right?

Speaker 2 So, you know, that's where the relationship started. Then the conversations continued.
And he's going to be part of it. So here's the deal.
Like the Olympics are going to happen live.

Speaker 2 We used to hold events and just say, hey, we'll show tea at night, right? Yeah. That doesn't happen anymore.
Everybody's got a phone. They can find out what happens.

Speaker 2 So everything's going to be live during the day. It's a six-hour time difference.
Yes. Thank God.

Speaker 2 It's going to be great.

Speaker 2 So at night, at night, you're going to be shown everything that happens.

Speaker 2 So we're going to try to do a little bit of the storytelling, a little bit of the behind the scenes, give you a little bit of flavor of Paris. And who better to snoop around Paris than Snoop?

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 2 we're in.

Speaker 2 Let's go.

Speaker 3 Very, very good.

Speaker 2 That's really cool.

Speaker 1 Is the family going to go with you?

Speaker 2 My family's going to come. They've been denied the last two Olympics, which is kind of a bummer.
It's the fourth time that I'm the primetime host, and they haven't been able to come to any of them.

Speaker 2 So they're going to come over for a week or so and get to it.

Speaker 2 I won't see them, but they'll have a great time. And they'll have a great time because they won't see me, actually.

Speaker 1 Are your kids loving what you do? Like, are they interested?

Speaker 1 What's your favorite thing to do as a family?

Speaker 2 It's a great question. Be together at our lake house in Michigan now because we're away so much with my travel.
We have kids who've graduated college, just finished wrapping up their college career.

Speaker 2 That's nice.

Speaker 3 You're not old enough for college grads.

Speaker 2 Yeah, we're old people now. So

Speaker 2 just, you know, when, and a lot of people who are listening who have older kids, like when your kids become your friends, too,

Speaker 2 it's so cool. So, so that, that is like, I can't wait to do that.
And I'm excited they're going to get a chance to do some of this.

Speaker 2 They come to some of the football games from time to time and, you you know, you get a chance to be around it. And

Speaker 2 they love sports. They both played sports in high school and were big sports fans.
We're in a sports house. It's always the topic of conversation.
A game's always on.

Speaker 2 So they're all in on it and they love it.

Speaker 3 How did you get to Michigan?

Speaker 2 It's where my wife is from. Okay, gotcha.
Yeah, she was an all-state softball and basketball player in Michigan. And we moved back near her family back in the late 90s and been here for a long time.

Speaker 2 It's funny because she asked me a few years ago, do you consider yourself a northeasterner being born in the northeast in school i'm like no i'm a midwest guy i i love love living especially doing what i do yeah i love not living on either coast you know it's good to be part of the flyover world yeah and just represent us every once in a while you know yeah yeah i get that i get that that makes sense i bet it's a nice i bet it's a nice way of living it is now and when you do the olympics you end up doing a lot of interviews too as well as calling calling events um do you have a do you have a preference or do you like them both equally so in the olympics i don't don't call events.

Speaker 2 I'm hosting. So I just do the daytime and then the primetime hosting.
And

Speaker 2 I love when athletes win medals and they come to sit on the couch with their medals on. Right.
Yeah. Because you just get, like, that's the moment they dream of, right?

Speaker 2 And not necessarily sitting with me, but just being there and being interviewed.

Speaker 3 You've got the little fireplace going.

Speaker 2 Yeah, the winter fireplace, the summer. This year would be the Eiffel Tower in the background.
And they just got this heavy metal around their neck and they're just sitting there. And I've loved that.

Speaker 2 every time i see an olympic athlete and get a chance to talk to them or interview them i always end it with like hey i hope hope i get to interview you with a metal around your neck right no matter what color metal it is and it's just so because that's like one of the terms that translates everywhere you can be in a village in africa you can be in australia you can be anywhere olympian translates yeah and the the coolest part of that opening ceremony which you mentioned before is going to go down the river sine with boat parade of the athletes can be very different hopefully it'll be so cool spectacular like for most it's going to be insane no

Speaker 2 come on you guys this is insane it is it's going to be insane it's a little teaser bite it's going to be insane for most of the athletes that's their olympic moment right because they don't get on the podium and sing their anthem only about 350 or a little bit less than that win gold medals so their moment is being in the opening ceremony with all the best athletes in the world who made it there.

Speaker 2 I just, I get a little melancholy and a little sappy about it, but it's so dang cool.

Speaker 3 If you could have anybody on that couch, it doesn't need to be an Olympic couch, but talking to any athlete

Speaker 3 alive or dead that you haven't interviewed, do you ever think about one that you'd love to sit across from and ask some questions to?

Speaker 2 That I haven't interviewed? Yeah.

Speaker 3 Or maybe or maybe one you'd like to interview again that you forgot to ask certain questions to.

Speaker 2 No, that's a really good question.

Speaker 2 I'd like to talk to Babe Ruth. yeah.
I'd like to talk to Babe Ruth because, like, you know, here 100 years ago, you had no idea people would still be talking about you.

Speaker 2 There'd be a candy bar named after that.

Speaker 3 Or that no one else would be a pitcher and a hitter until Shohei Otani.

Speaker 2 Otani. Right? Exactly.

Speaker 2 What do you think of Otani, babe? And,

Speaker 2 you know, with AI, we'd like to be. He's a hell of a kid.

Speaker 2 Hey, Mike, I'm here for you.

Speaker 2 Ask me another one. I've had 12 bottles of beer and I'm ready to play.
Put me in.

Speaker 2 Did Ty Cobb actually spike you, babe, when he slid into? Yes, he did. Well,

Speaker 2 I ate two steaks and took a nap and let's go. I ate 16 bottles of beer.
Let's hit a ball.

Speaker 2 But think about it. It's 100 years later.
You say, Babe Ruth, everybody knows.

Speaker 2 And that's the era before any of sports in its popularity level existed.

Speaker 3 Yeah, talk about a community game

Speaker 3 in those days. It really was.
It was a team for your little area around there.

Speaker 2 Can I ask you guys a France question?

Speaker 2 Has anybody been to Normandy?

Speaker 3 No. I have not.
I would like to.

Speaker 3 And William. I really will.

Speaker 2 I would love to. He's a real student of history.
I am. Massive.

Speaker 2 I would say, you know, if, and we've gone a couple of times,

Speaker 2 I would say if you had to ask, ask me, what's the place you've been as an American that has impacted you? It's going to Normandy.

Speaker 2 And here we are, you know, 80 years of D-Day, that anniversary in June. And,

Speaker 2 man, when you sit there and see and read and hear the stories, and when you sit there and look at that cemetery with the white churches and the hill, it's one of the most powerful things that I've ever done.

Speaker 2 And every time I think of France, and we went to do a little pre-Olympic story a few months ago, we went down to Normandy just to go back. It was the third time I had a chance to be there.

Speaker 2 And it is the most powerful thing. Anybody who's listened, if you ever are blessed enough to be in France, you have the chance to go.
As an American, you need to go.

Speaker 3 Just the geography, geography, that bluff, what they were up against, just the, you know, just the physical.

Speaker 2 Yeah, well, they all had all those, some of those beaches were, and some of those stories that were never, that haven't been told widely, too.

Speaker 2 There are some of those stories that haven't been, but it's an incredible. I agree with you.
I've never been to Normandy. I can't believe it.
It's strange. Yeah,

Speaker 2 because I do, I have read so much.

Speaker 3 Work that into your trip on your way to go see Mike.

Speaker 2 Anyway, coming up to see us. I'm coming in to see Mike.
Well, I got to go to Portugal, so I'm going to go ahead and get it.

Speaker 2 Let's see if you can work it in.

Speaker 3 Thank you for an hour of your professional.

Speaker 2 Yeah, this is a universal.

Speaker 2 This was an honor, guys. Thank you.
Keep making us laugh. Will you please? Thanks, man.
Cheers.

Speaker 3 Well, you keep delivering these stories. All right.
Thank you, buddy.

Speaker 3 We'll see you on the TV soon.

Speaker 2 For sure. Thanks, guys.
Bye, pal.

Speaker 3 Thank you. See you, Mike.
Bye.

Speaker 3 Well, I mean, that guy, you know. Nice.
He's a good talker.

Speaker 1 He's a good conversationalist.

Speaker 3 Well, he's a professional on-air fellow.

Speaker 2 Yeah, he's on-air on television.

Speaker 3 But I tell you what, you know, people say, well, what kind of superhero power would you like?

Speaker 2 Well, I'd like to fly.

Speaker 3 What kind of job would you like? If I could pick one job, I think I'd take his job.

Speaker 2 You love that. Well, it's just he touches.
I thought you said about late-night TV.

Speaker 3 Well, but don't.

Speaker 2 I thought you said that about doing a multi-cam sick.

Speaker 3 I guess I want a bunch of jobs.

Speaker 2 But he just wants to enjoy what you got.

Speaker 3 You're right. That's a good note.

Speaker 2 Sorry. No, sorry.
Tell me about it.

Speaker 3 You get to go to like every single great event in the best seat possible. And then you get to talk to the people who won right afterwards.

Speaker 2 Yeah. That is pretty cool.

Speaker 3 It's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 I like my job in that I get to sit and listen to have him describe it to me. Right.

Speaker 2 So my job is to do it. It's a luxury.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 You know, get him to like walk me through it. And

Speaker 1 there is something like cozy about

Speaker 1 what you're saying, Jason.

Speaker 3 I think, or Will, I can't remember.

Speaker 3 And he does, and he does, you know, for any of you out there that are still listening to this episode that are not sports fans, which I hope there are still many, hopefully you agree that, like, this, this guy, the reason you kind of like him is because you might watch a sporting event that you don't really like or know how the sport's played, but he's kind of explaining it to you.

Speaker 3 And he kind of,

Speaker 3 it's a familiar, cozy kind of voice and presence that I guess is talented.

Speaker 1 I was going with that.

Speaker 2 Yeah, that's right. That's what you were about to say.

Speaker 3 But I said it longer and more boringly.

Speaker 2 And interrupted him. But, you know,

Speaker 2 he covers covers all the sports, right? Like he covers. Here it comes.

Speaker 2 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Oh, no, he's the he's the animal.

Speaker 2 That's what he does.

Speaker 3 You can always sniff it out because whoever's going to do it tees themselves up.

Speaker 2 Yeah. No.
They just

Speaker 3 go, oh, yeah. But you said, well, he calls all the sports

Speaker 2 during the year. But like he's going to be the host of the Olympics, but he's not going to be doing any play by play.
Play

Speaker 2 very good. Land that steel bird.
I wrote down play by play.

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