This was SportsCenter is presented by Gusto. When's the last time payroll was the easy part of your week? With Gusto, it can be. Gusto is the all-in-one platform designed to take the hassle out of managing your team, from payroll and compliance to hiring, onboarding, and more. With Gusto, you can get back two full days each month with all the time you've saved.
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. It's been a fun first season of This Was Sports Center, and we welcome you to the season finale, the stirring conclusion of our first season of strolling down memory lane. Yours truly, Rich Eisen, sitting down with some old friends of mine from back in the Sports Center day.
Hopefully, you've enjoyed the first five episodes of this season. And it concludes with my good buddy from back in the day, Craig Kilbourne, who's here on This Was Sports Center. What's up, Lord Kilby? How are you? Thank you, sir.
Good to see you again. ESPN, we overlapped there. We did for about, I think. Three months? Yeah, something like that?
Something like that. I think this is what you left in the summer of 96, correct? That sounds right. Yeah, pretty much. I don't remember the years, but yeah.
But you were there. Very nice guy. What about Jorge? What about George Mirazon? What about George?
I think he should be also in that boating. Absolutely. I think he should be the most improved player. And also, for the mere fact that the ligament that he hurt in his knee was probably about the size of my hand. I don't want to influence you.
You can have your own choice. Please. And I wouldn't be influenced by your desire for Jorge to win that award either. Obviously, the kids are a little white, aren't they? Up next, it's up close with Chris Myers.
We'll see you later. We ran into each other in the hallway a few times. I will never forget the first time I met you. I will tell you the story. Because I just re I just went back to Bristol and I was right there.
In that stairwell, that from the third floor where we did our show work, down to the second floor where we would snake our way to the studio across the catwalk. And I remember I was... You were coming down the steps. I was going up because you were doing the late 2 a.m. sports center.
Exactly. And I had just finished, for some reason, an earlier sports center. And I just ran into you. And you said you're the new guy, aren't you? And I'm like, yeah.
And then you're like, okay. I see what you're doing. That's what you said to me. And I'm like, how do I respond to that? And then you said, as you passed by me, you're doing a lot of stuff that I do.
Yeah. That was my first exchange with you. I'm sure you don't remember it. I don't remember. But it sounds like something obnoxious, I would say.
Yeah. Yeah. But you're there are a lot of clever guys there. You're very clever. You had a good start, right?
I thought so. Yeah. You know, I did, but they took me. We have a somewhat similar path. if you will where Uh, I spent a smaller time in my small market in Northern California.
I was in mine at three years. How many were you? I was at one and I got like two years in almost like one and a half years. Oh, yeah. And you were in Salinas, right?
Salinas, Monterey, Santa Cruz, the 110 market. What number was your market? I was like 20 something.
Okay. I was in Redding. In your face. I was in the Redding Chico market.
Okay. Was where I is how I got my start. Yeah. So, how did you get to, how did you get to Sports Center? How did you get to ESPN Sports Center?
Yes, sir. That's the one.
Well, I thought I was going to be on the deuce because they were starting ESPN2 and I had a very funny resume tape. Yes. And uh I sent it to an agent. You know, I didn't even remember this story until about a year ago.
Okay. So there was a news anchor, she's still a dear friend of mine, Dina Ruiz.
Okay. And she was at KSBW, I was at KCBA, different stations, but we both lived in Carmel because most of the people lived in Monterey.
So we lived in Carmel, we were friends, and there was an agent that was after her because she was talented. And quickly, she ended up marrying Clint Eastwood. That was the big thing. Yes. There's a whole story behind that.
That's a hell of a yada, yada, yada. Yeah, I'm sorry.
So basically, Dina introduced me. There was an agent she knew in New York, and that's the agent that I sent the tape to, who sent it to Al Jaffe at ESPN. Yes. Back to Dina for one second. Sure.
Dina. Um Called me at ESPN and says, I'm dating Clint Eastwood. And then a few months later, she called me and said, I'm marrying Clint Eastwood. And then I did a daily show, and she called me and says, Clinton and I are in town. Do you want to have dinner?
We went. down in Nobu and I had dinner with Clint a couple times. Were you you were not did were you invited to their wedding? Were you there? No, I was not invited to the wedding.
But not and not that I wanted to, but she was she's a very supportive person. But the agent she introduced me to, I can't remember what they were called in New York, they also had Chris Berman. And they sent it to the. Oh, I know that it's Lou Oppenheim and he wound up being an agent of mine as well. Yeah, they sent the tape to ESPN to Al Jaffe.
And I and I thought they'd want me for the deuce. And I did a sports center. Tests show. And I thought it was poor because I couldn't figure out the computer system and how to, they wanted me to write my own copy, which I enjoyed doing, but I couldn't figure out the over-the-shoulders and the graphics and all the stuff. And Tim Kiley, very nice guy, very fun guy.
He was trying to help me, and I did it. But for some reason, Al Jaffe, they liked me and they hired me. Huh, yeah. Tim Kiley, if I'm not mistaken, does Inside the NBA and all that stuff, right? Yeah, right.
Yeah. Okay, so a few things. I went over. I'm sorry, I hate it. No, no, no, no.
This is police. Yeah. Craig, you do. Unpacking. You do.
You do, you, man.
So, first things first, what is it like having dinner with Clint Eastwood? I'm going to tell my best story. It's a Clint Eastwood story. I've told it many times.
Okay, great.
So When I was at ESPN, I got the daily show job and I moved to New York, and it was different. Then ESPN. war an assistant, I had a wardrobe person, and the producer says, We're going to, you get a haircut for free. Go to my friend. We'll pay for it.
Go to my friend in Midtown.
So I go to Midtown. The guy hair hair hairstylist is a gay man who we're very nice, we're chatting. And I invariably bring up Carmel, California. And I say I used to live there and he goes, Oh, Clennis would the mayor there. You know, he has a twelve inch cock.
Okay, that's where I have to work blue, bleep that out. Everything else is safe from here on out. I apologize. Everything else is safe. Yeah.
I called Dina later, I said, I told her the story. She goes, that's funny, that's not true. Three months later, Dina calls and says, we're in town, come have dinner with Clint and I.
So this was the first dinner I had with Clint. We go down to Nobu. I'm sitting there, Clint's across from me, Dina's across. Allison, the first time I met her, and then his William Morris agent's here. The last thing I'm going to do with Clint Eastwood is chat too much.
Okay. Yeah. Halfway through the dinner, I said, My father and I love the movie Where Eagles Dare that you did with Richard Burton. Did he drink a lot? And Clint says, Yeah, I matched him with beer, but he chased it with scotch.
I couldn't keep up. Then I did Paint Your Wagon with Lee Marvin, and I thought all actors were luscious.
So, my question. Gets him talking. Dina goes, I told him about the hairdresser. I said, Don't we have any secrets? Clint goes, He was an inch off.
True story.
Okay. Ah That is the greatest. Hey. Killer, that is unbelievable. Thank you.
Thank you. Now, can you use that? Yes, of course. I don't know what to tell you. It's the greatest story that we're totally using it.
We're going to embellish it. Maybe we'll give him the inch because he's Clint Eastwood. Oh, you made my day to use the phrase. There you go. Fantastic.
All right.
So, um, so you made a tape. And you sent it To The agent. Yeah, who sent it forward to Al Jaffe? To Al Jaffe. Yeah.
Because I sent my tape to a headhunter from Redding, California. I put my tape together and I got a call in my small apartment in Reading, California from the headhunter. At Don Fitzpatrick and Associates. I've heard of them. Uh-huh.
And it was a guy named Adam Freifeld. Boom. I thought also found your tape too. Oh, is that not? I don't know the names.
I forget things.
Okay. I mean, Dina told me a year ago she was the one that introduced me, and I was like, I forgot that. Good enough.
So I send a tape to a headhunter, and I get a call back saying you need to send your best written material. that you you have to make another tape and send it And they sent it to their client Had no idea it was ESPN. I get a phone call at work from an agent at William Morris saying, send me your tape because. I hear you're one of the hottest up-and-coming sportscasters in America. And I'm like, if you say so, like I'm in market two, whatever the hell I am.
And I'm not feeling that. I'm about to hop in my. Station-issued car to go cover an event, you know, on this three-quarter-inch camera. Are you shooting your own stuff in Salinas too? I didn't shoot, I edited my own stuff.
Okay, yeah. You edited Tim Hardaway highlights with the run TMC. I was doing the same thing up in Reading, California. Yeah. Like I was with the Golden State Warriors.
Right, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Don Nelson. That's right. The same thing.
You know, getting it off the feed and editing it and going on the air and doing my highlights. And I remember calling my brother up, like, you'll never guess. I just got this call from an agent saying I'm hot and I've been coming, whatever. He's like, no kidding.
So then I hang up the phone and then the phone rings again. And it was Al Jaffe calling me at my desk at work. And I thought, like, my brother called a buddy of mine saying, prank him. Right. And because he knew I was sending all these unsolicited resumes to Adam.
Wow. And that's how I got the audition.
So I was flown out to audition. You did audition. You auditioned, right? Yes. Yes.
Yes. And you, I didn't think it went well. Why? Because I. Was harried.
I was rushed because I couldn't figure out the computer system. The ENPS system. Yeah, whatever it was, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
But I got the gig. Thank God.
So you get the gig. Yes, sir. And then what's the first show you did? 1993. I think it was a Saturday night college football show.
It wasn't Sports Center? No, it was Sports Center.
Okay. Yeah. And hello and welcome, everybody. I'm Carl Ravich, and we here have caught another one as we welcome Craig Kilbourne to the ESPN family. Welcome.
Okay, I'm sorry. I just was thinking, I worked with Carl Ravich. We'll pay a visit to the diamonds in mere moments, but first, I like to start with college football. Carl, what do you think? I think that's a winning idea.
Were you Craig Kilbourne right out of the box? No, I was afraid to do. I'm still, I think, I make fun of the way I look because I'm a little angelic or pretty boy. We can't control the way we look. And I said, I'm blonde.
I go, I should be, I should look more like Clive Owen. I'm sarcastic. I shouldn't look like this. And I said, just be straight on camera and then have some fun with the highlights, but don't go crazy. You know, on camera and be zany or whatever.
Peter Graves used to face mission impossibles every week, and no matter the obstacle, always came out on top. But that's Pete, he's a special breed. Saturday at other Graves, Marvin Graves faced what seemed to be a very possible mission, leading fifth-ranked Syracuse to a victory against Texas. I think I started off a little. I tried to start off slowly, and I just wanted to do joke, joke, jokes.
I'm going to give you a choice of names: Arizona's Desert Swarm Defense or the Cactus Curtain. Take your choice. Whatever you call them, they're good. That's the way I was when I got out of the box. Yeah, yeah.
Who am I and what am I doing here? I'm Rich Eisen. I'm making my national TV debut. I have a lot of fun at parties. I work, I think, with the great Late Tom Mies, I think.
No kidding. I think so. And hello, everyone. Welcome once again to Sports Center with Craig Kilbourne. I'm Tom Mies.
Craig, one of the greatest careers in Major League Baseball will come to a close in just about a week. And in college football, the best game of the day was marred by an all-out brawl as Colorado and Miami battled literally. Yeah, that is the word. They battled tooth and nail and then some. Tom Mies, I mean, that is, he's Mr.
Sports Center from back in the day. Were you nervous? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah. Did you know George Bird is the only player to win batting titles in three different decades, 76, 80, and 90? I did not know that.
Well, coming up next on Sports Center, it's Moto World. I'm Tom B. Dave Kilborn, so long.
So then when did you finally feel like you hit your stride? Oh, you know, I don't remember. I just know I hit a rhythm at some point. If you search your closet for your favorite old sweatshirt or t-shirt, you can bet it's cotton. And if it's quality, it's 100% cotton.
Yeah, there's something special about cotton. For the Longhorns and Aggies, they were thinking about the soft, fuzzy stuff as they entered Thursday night's game. The winner goes to, you guessed it, the cotton bowl. And Carl Ravich, my dad, was so complimentary of Carl Ravich. Yes.
Because he was a great teammate. Yes. And he put up with my shenanigans. You know, the la the last time, Carl, if I can continue. The last time Michael played organized ball was Little League.
He always said his dream was to be a major league baseball player. I was going to say, if you look at Michael challenges, I mean, he loves him. And imagine Michael out in left field with his vertical jump. How many home runs is he going to take away? 23?
Quite a few. And he was very funny himself. And we just had a lot of fun. Welcome to our neighborhood. No Cardigan sweaters, but we did change our shoes on the way in.
We fed the fish. And if you look, the light is green. Along with Craig Kilbourne, I'm Carl Ravage. Can you say Carl and Fred are tight? Scott Ackerson was the producer.
Right. And he encouraged a lot of that stuff. The light is green for Dennis Rodman. He's a go-after a one-game suspension. Madonna and Dennis Rodman, the boy toy and the bad boy, have both set records for consecutive bad hair days, and they're both getting way too much attention.
Let's stay focused. Let's keep our eye on the goal, young players, neighbors. Right. And he went on to Fox and do a lot of stuff with Fox Sports. But.
Can I say one more thing I forgot? A memory came back to me. Good. Barry Sachs took me to Carmines in New York. Thank you, Barry.
Very nice. Late, great. He just passed away. I didn't know that. Yes, he did.
Apologize. Yeah. Yeah. I remember he was a longtime sports center producer. Yes.
But he took you to Carmines in New York. What do you mean? When you were. I was at ESPN and I started out and he wanted to show me New York.
So we went down to New York. A group of us went to New York to Carmines. Yeah, I forgot the Barry Sachs Carmines treatment. People liked me. I never got that.
Barry told me this, just a quick story for, you know, because we go down into the minutiae on this program back in the day with Sports Center. He's a longtime Sports Center producer, just passed away. And I just remember the first, he had this thick New York accent. And I remember one of my first Sports Centers, I was with him. He starts talking about how all sports are fixed.
Oh, my Lord. And I'm like, what are you talking about? Oh, God. Like, you know, like, yeah. And he bait because he was a gambler.
Oh. And he was just like, it's all fixed, Rich. The whole thing is fixed. How do you think the nuggets versus the wool ring? Plus, you know, the over-under is 186 and a half, and it comes in at 186.
Yeah. Yeah. It's all fixed, is what he would say. I'm like, Barry, you're a sports center producer. Like, what are you doing here if it's all fixed?
Like, it kind of like stunned me. It's just, you know. We used to, uh, Ackerson, Scott Act, Axe, he, um. We used to bet It was like 1 a.m. Yeah.
And uh bean, a bean on a dollar, yeah. And I was, I think it was Mark McGuire. I think he wasn't on the Clippers. I think they were playing the Clippers, but I thought he was on the Mavs then. Probably so.
Yeah, I don't think, I can't remember if he played on the Clips at the end, but he was just. He was forcing shots. And the ball comes down and he goes bean, he takes another shot. you know any He took like a 30 footer and I lost. I was like, what was that?
I mean, but it was just, we bent on the silliest thing. Those are the fun moments. I mean, because it must have been like, what, two in the morning or something? Oh, yeah, definitely. Because you did the 2.30 a.m.
Yeah. It's a scary image. Could we see grandmama in some expensive clothes? A Bill Blast designer dress? Handbag by Gucci, fragrance by Chanel.
It's all a possibility and a welcome one for the Slam Dunking Senior. But who's paying for it? Larry Johnson. Tuesday, All-Star Forward, Larry Johnson signed a multi-year contract extension with the Charlotte Hornets worth a reported $84 million for 12 years. Before it became a 2 a.m., that was an hour long and then re-aired all throughout the morning.
It was so great that it re-aired. And one of the most pathetic things in life. Is if I did some jokes I liked, I wanted to see the delivery. Harding also said in the interview she'd like to tell Kerrigan she's sorry and give her a hug. ESPN will cover the hug.
If it happened, I would not go to sleep until I saw it at 6 a.m. or 6:30. Yeah, that's unhealthy. You would not go to sleep? Yeah.
It's like, you know, it was so good. Yeah, I gotta watch this. It's one of the first things a youngster learns to do in America: how to catch and throw a baseball before they even pick up a bat. It's playing catch in the backyard with pops or with your mom's boyfriend. You didn't have a VCR?
No, no. Dude. Not even close to a VCR. I wasn't no. Um, but uh, those were those were wild times, but it was, I'll, I didn't tell you this before, though.
This was interesting.
Okay. So, the three, I had four jobs in television. The Carmel Monterey, and then the ESPN, then the Daily Show, and the CBS Late Light Show. Right. Three of them were startups.
One of them wasn't. ESPN wasn't a startup. In local TV, KCBA was a Latino station owned by Barry Ackerley, who owned the Seattle Supersonics, switched it to English, wanted a newscast.
So we had to start from scratch starting a newscast. Really? Daily Show, starting from scratch, had to do a show. CBS, they had the Tom Snyder show. I had to start from scratch pre-production.
So that was all pre-production on three different shows. ESPN was a well-oiled machine. I better try to keep up with this. As Thanksgiving comes and goes, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially in Dallas. A winter storm hit Irving, Texas Thursday morning, and a combination of ice and snow hit the field at Texas Stadium.
The cowboy combo of Troy and Abbott also hit the field, but on the other side stood the NFL's winningest coach, Don Schuler, who thought he had seen it all until the bizarre ending of this game. And so it was very professional there, in my opinion. And the producers were great. Play clock winding down for the win. It's blocked.
Yeah. Jerry Jones celebrates. But on the loose ball, Leon lett. Bootshit. No doubt.
I mean, they were great in terms of bringing me along for sure. Right. You know, when I was there.
So, but Ravich, you and Ravi did more shows together than any other. Yeah, I worked with Brett Haber later, but Ravi was my guy for a long time. And hello and welcome, everybody. KRCK. This is Sports Center.
Two of the better teams, two of the biggest, baddest basketball players in the land. They were banging heads against one another. Scuffing sneakers, talking noise. I think you get the idea. Because he was a great straight man.
Oh, he was great, but he was very funny. He was one of my favorites. Anytime Shaq is involved, that's a market matchup. Besides, the big guy likes his name and likes. The Magic hosting the Hawks.
Atlanta scored 141 points Monday night. Oh, that's Monday night, Carl. Today's a new day. I'll bet the Hawks don't score 141 points versus the Magic. In fact, I think they'll only score around 87 points.
Say hi to them for me. I could reach out, but I'm busy. But I like Ravi a lot. In case you haven't. Figured it out.
Wednesday was Oscar Nomination Day, thus the whole marquee theme, the movie thing. All right, Carl, did you know the only two sports movies to win an Academy Award for Best Picture? 81 Chariots of Fire, 76 Rocky, the Burning Question. Where's Robbie Benson one-on-one? Never won, even though Anetto Tool was in that movie.
I'm Craig Kilwin. We'll see you later. Big fan of that movie. I'm Carl Ravich. Thanks for watching, everyone.
Sola. And my dad thought he was great, too, because he. My dad thought I was a handful, even though my dad was very, very funny. He knew that I was a handful. He knew you were a handful.
Yeah. Okay, and then you and Haber were the feel-good edition. Yes. Hello, and welcome to the show, Craig and Bretton. This is, of course, the Feel good of this year.
Who came up with that? That was Craggers. That was Craiger's. You just one day came to work and said, let's call it the Feel Good? Just ahead on our Feel Good, the NBA may indeed have learned a lesson from baseball.
We have good news on the Hoops labor front. Yeah, I mean, I was always trying to come up with stuff and encouraging people to, you know. Gus Ramsey was great. I had them all written down, but Gus, he came up with some good stuff. Right.
Yeah. He still does. He'll still reach out whenever you appear on my daily show. Yeah. He'll come, he'll give me some money.
And I'm coming back on your daily show for a big announcement in July. There you go. You know, in a few weeks, somebody could be on there. Yeah. All right.
Look at you. Yeah. Promoting. and advancing. Exactly.
I like that. This was SportsCenter is presented by Gusto. Looking back at the Sports Center days, one thing that stands out is how much had to happen before anything ever made it on the air. People remember the highlights, the anchors, the catchphrases, but every show also depended on the work happening behind the scenes. And for small business owners, that work often means payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, the things that still need to get done, even if they're not the reason you started the business in the first place.
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And trusted by over 500,000 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. All right, let's talk about a couple of things here.
So you said you were a handful. Did you were a handful to work with? No, I worked with you. No, you know what? No, I was a handful from the standpoint.
I really wanted to do late night and I really wrote a lot of jokes. I was really into comedy. Are you ready for some wild wacky stuff? It's Coach Marty at the Chiefs press conference. Lots of questions about Joe Montana.
Are there any answers? I've talked to other people, other producers and comedy producers and stand-ups and stuff. And in your 20s and 30s, you're really thinking comedy, comedy, comedy, comedy. Say what you will about Don King or Mike Tyson or professional boxing, but at least Saturday night's fight was on free TV. That's always nice.
No matter how short the fight lasts, you really can't complain because, hey, it didn't cost anything. You're left to complain about the beer being warm, and that's your own fault because you probably need a new fridge. But as a. As a co-worker, I was really low-key, and that's important to me. I was really low-key, I didn't say too much.
And I remember a producer. coming out of a meeting and they had been talking about talent. and they said Hey Craig You don't say much, you don't ever complain I go, N nope, I don't. Of course, they didn't know that I would talk to Haber and say, I got to get out of here, you know, but I want to do something. But I didn't complain to management because there were other people that would obviously complain to management.
Right. I mean, I, in local TV, I think we all did our own makeup. Yes. Yeah. I did.
And then when I was at ESPN, because we were on late. I did my own makeup.
Now, later they got a makeup artist, but it was too late for them.
So, I always did my makeup at ESPN. Yeah, I mean, bronze God, just bronze it up. I mean, the makeup didn't. When I first got there in 96, I did my own makeup in Redding, California. Yeah.
And I got to ESPN. I was kind of surprised that I was still asked to do my own makeup. Right. And they just were beginning to start giving makeup to the on-air talent just when I first arrived. And I think that famous Olbermann Dan Patrick commercial, while they're doing their own makeup prior to.
prior to the show was born out of that's the way it used to be. Yep. Shit, yeah. Could have washed his hands. washed his paws.
That they did their own makeup in the mirror. Yeah. And it was born into their own sports center commercial based on all that. You have too much rouge or something like that, or you need a little too much more rouge. And I want to talk sports center commercials with you in a second.
But in terms of, you know, your on-air stuff. But I I just remember watching you when I first saw you when I was up in In um Reading. Reading. And I'm like, okay, this is a guy who went to Salinas and then made it to Sports Center. That shows me that I can make it from here.
I didn't think I was going to actually do that. But from Reading. Yeah, in some ways, it was easier. For us to get the ESPN to get the weekend job at LA or San Francisco? Maybe so, you know, which is kind of wild when you think about it.
Yeah. You know, I honestly thought I would have to go from one market to another to another to finally get there. But I kind of like won a lottery, sort of like the way that you did. And to use your phrase, you said before, thank goodness for that. It changed my life.
But I just remember, I'm like, this dude is putting William Shatner over his shoulder and trying to figure out how to move something from Shatner. to the NBA or from Shatner to hockey. Good things are happening in San Francisco. O. Weber won the rookie of the year.
The Niners have acquired Ken Norton Jr. and local musician Boss Gags has just released his first album of the 90s. Of course, nothing can top Silk de Grace. But there's a problem in the city. The Giants are struggling.
Yeah, I did a lead-in once. I can't remember if it was Shakespeare or Barry White who said, too much of anything is not good for you, baby, but I can't get enough. And then I would transition to, well, the Clippers can't get enough of Pooh Richardson or whatever I said, something silly. But I came in the next day, and we've talked about this before. Bob Lee.
Said, I loved your lead-in with Barry White. I mean, I just was like, he was so supportive, Bob Lee. That must have been like a moment for you if you thought, again. Bob Lee would say to you, like, come on, man. Right.
I mean, I remember. In in Salinas There was a phone call after the newscast, and I had been sports. And they said, Craig, it's for you. I go, Hey, can you just give me the score? What took you so long to give me the score?
You were talking, you were doing all this silliness. I said, Well, I'm trying to be entertaining, brother. I got to go, you know? Yeah, right. Yeah.
But anyways, so Bob Lee was very supportive. He was supportive of you, though, no. All the guys were. Keith and Dan were extremely, we all looked up to Keith and Dan. No doubt.
They were extremely nice to me. Everyone was nice. Who else? Robin Roberts, really classy lady, very nice to me. We'd have chats sometimes.
I think it was on the, she worked on Sunday or something. I can't remember what day, but it was a day and she was always nice. She was a big sleeper. Yeah. I was a ball player.
We would chat. She was great. Yeah. From the state of Alabama. Yeah.
That's where she's from. Yeah. So, all right.
So everyone was really supportive of you. Yeah. But you wanted to get out. Oh, yeah. You were vocal about that?
No, I wasn't vocal better. No. All right.
No. I just remember. when when the contract was up They said uh I I The agents that I had, I had switched, I was with a guy named Sandy Montag. I know him. And I I told he had John Madden for those of you wondering.
He was kind of a Big time agent still is. And I said they wanted to re-sign me, and they were going to offer me some NFL, one of the NFL shows to be on the panel with or do something. And I just, I was ready to leave. I wanted to do a sitcom, I wanted to do anything. The daily show happened.
We've talked about that in the past. But he said, well, they're offering you this, you know, they're going to offer me a nice raise. And I said, I'm leaving, man. And he said to me, Sandy said to me, Well, if you don't want to do sports, you should talk to my uh friend Jeff Jacobs, who's at CAA.
So he he and you can call him. If you want to do entertainment, so I called Jeff Jacobs and he said, Oh, well, great. The next time you're out in LA, we should meet.
Well I'm taking the next week off. I went to ES Penn and said, I got to take a week off vacation. I mean, Jeff Jacobs was like, Whenever you're out here, no, I'm in a hurry here.
So I went out and met him and signed with CAA, and then it got, we were kind of fortunate that it happened. that the daily show, the timing, they were looking for a Kilbourne type, the Doug Herzog at Comedy Central. But Sandy had said to me, Well, you you can't just leave them hanging.
So I went to a number. You said you have to counter their number.
So I said, well, tell me a number that they won't match. And he gave me a number, and we just did that as a counter, and then I left. And that was the end of it. They did not match it. No, no.
And if they did, I would not have, I would have left anyways. Yeah. But I was just doing what the agent told me to do. I was trying to be nice.
So, because I do remember when I got there and I met you for the first time. They were shooting the Don't Walk commercial, the Sports Center commercial, where it was sort of like the, you know, a mock. mock-up of the We Are the World campaign where all the anchors were singing a song about not traveling, don't walk. The college guys don't do it Lightser pivot foot, there's nothing to it And you were just leaving, you were in that, and I think they took you out of it. Yeah, they were upset.
See, there was an aspect to ESPN with the executives where. I mean, it was a ESPN made a lot of money. It was a very big deal. It wasn't all about the talent. They reminded us too often: it's not about the talent, it's about the games and the sports.
And if you're going to hire talented people, you got to put up with this.
So, yeah, they were bent out of shape. They could have kept me in, but they didn't want to. And then Alan Brose and Hank Perlman, the guys did it, were like, Yeah, oh my God, we got to cut them out. This is a hassle. But that's life, you know?
Yeah, that's, I do remember that you were there and then you were not there. Yeah, yeah. And I remember you were there and then not there in terms of being a coworker on top of all of that. And one of the things that I definitely heard, though, is just since we're here on the show. Talking about this, if you don't mind, that you were complaining about appearing on an ESPN2.
Oh, I'll tell you that story. I will tell you that story. Please go ahead. And I apologize. I respect you, Mr.
Walsh, but we all have egos. Yeah. And basically, I went into, I was tired because I would stay up and watch myself instead of go to sleep. Right. But after about two and a half years or so, I said, I've never had a Bristol day.
They didn't give me Bristol days. They gave the other guys Bristol days. Right, that's on the schedule where it would just say Bristol, where you weren't on the air. If somebody called in sick, you might be pressed to the service. It was just another thing.
You might do a voiceover. You might do something, but it was an easy day, a couple hours. They didn't tell us you're there. Yeah. And I was exhausted.
Now I should. point out that up until that point, the first two years, I didn't want a Bristol Day. I loved Writing jokes and being on camera and doing that. They've met the last two years of the playoffs, and if they both win in the first round this year, they'll meet again. Plus, they met Friday night.
Sounds like they're meeting a lot. Maybe they like each other, but let's not go there. It's the magic of the Pacers, currently second and third in the East. Orlando leads the season series two games to one. Then I exhale, I go.
I need a break. I need a Bristol date. And they wouldn't necessarily give me a Bristol Day, and then they did. Which I thought was odd that they wouldn't necessarily. Like, what are you doing?
Are you complaining? No, I just said. And they and they um Put me on ESPN 2. And I was not on camera. There was a college basketball game, and during the break, I would say, Creighton is beating Drexel.
I would give scores. Right, you're an update. LaSalle. Is getting killed in a non-conference game to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. And as I'm doing this, different anchors Hi, Dan, would text me or whatever, not text me, they would send me a message.
You could message me. On the NPS, the top line message, I remember that. And they were mocking me. They were mocking me. Anne was mocking you?
Absolutely. Other people were mocking me.
So I had fun the next time I did a score, and I go, oh, Kilbourne on the deuce. Is it there?
Now that, of course, is mocking, I guess, ESPN too. Yes. No one told me that. I got suspended for a week. You got suspended for that.
Yes. Yes. No pay, suspended for a week. and no explanation. And I in my opinion, they could have said they could have brought me in and said I said, Well, these guys were razzing me, so I just wanted to have a little fun and stick it to them or whatever I wanted to do.
But they didn't there was no communication. And I disagreed with that, but I I don't care because I said I'm leaving anyway. But um Yeah, anyways, that's a story.
So that was it because I was informed of there wasn't any complaining. I was just like, you're making fun, I'm just going to have some fun here because other guys had a Bristol Day and they just sat there and picked their nose. And then I don't pick my nose. I have a hand mirror, as I told you, and I look at myself, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anyways.
That's a fun little story. Yeah, no, I remember that. When I got there and people were like, Yeah, Craig is not happy here. And that he just got this fall off about. By the way, I was told the game was Duke, North Carolina, which is not.
I mean, that's a very highly rated game. I don't remember. That's probably why they wanted you on. Oh, I imagine. It was on Instagram.
Dan sending you top-line messages. Keith. Yeah, other guys. Yeah. There were a lot of.
I'm trying to think of who else. Maybe Peto. I don't remember. Billy Peto. I don't remember.
Fairweather, I'm sure. I'm sure. Billy Fairweather, a great Bostonian producer. Yeah. Okay.
You know what I mean? By the way. It wasn't my dad, I was like, why don't you tell them about your other suspension, a local radio?
So when I was at KBOZ, When I was at KBOZ in Bozeman, Montana, I was working the midnight to six shift one summer. Right. And they had this company called Drake Chenault. Which had the rotation of songs. They paid for this service, and they would, every third song was every breath you take, you know.
And it was mapped out, it was scientific what songs to play. And I was on the FM, KBOZ. And the guy at the AM said, You don't have to play those. You can play another song. And I was tired and so and I wanted a long break, close my eyes.
So I played a six-minute Barry White song. Jump on me, baby, whatever it was, your whole family. And. The guy heard the air check. And he said, why don't you take a couple of weeks off, Craig?
Yeah. Without pay as well. Yeah. No pay there.
So there you go. Very white. Six-minute, very white sauce.
So now comes the point of our conversation where I will retell the story that I have told you before and since then, but I have not brought to this audience is that. I did a sports center with you. Hello and welcome. Along with Rich Eisen, I'm Craig Gibbon. This, of course, the Feel Good.
The New Jersey Devils aren't feeling too good right about now, and the Red Sox fans had that sinking feeling. But first, a man who had the Marlins feeling mighty low. That being. When you are clearly, now that I'm hearing this, You had to have been checked out.
Okay. Yeah. Well, I believe our work is done here for the moment. Lowe's 150 from Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Coming up next, I'm Rich Eisen.
Greg Kilball, we'll see you later. There's no question about it.
So I'm doing a sports center with you and you say spark. He was referred to as me as Sparky and other people that, you know. that uh who are young and new there sparked let's go to dinner. And I'm like, sure, this is great. Craig Kilmone's going to take me to dinner.
I hopped in your car, and you took me to Southington, Connecticut, next door to Bristol. To the Kenny Rogers Roland Roaster drive-through. Yeah. I can afford that. This is, I don't know, again, if you recall this moment or not, it doesn't matter if you do, but it would be, it'd be wild.
So I am now. In the car sitting shotgun. You're driving through. We're ordering up Kenny Rogers Rolling Roaster. And you're like, hey, um, rich.
I got this job opportunity. And you proceed to describe to me. What I did not know at the time was the Daily Show. And you're like, should I take the job? Right.
And I'll never forget sitting there as I'm going through the Kenny Rogers roll and roaster with Craig Kilbourne. I'm like thinking, what the fuck? Like What do I say in answer? And I just base, because I also. Hearing that Was excited for you.
Yeah. Because, what a dream gig that you described to me. There's this new channel, Comedy Central. It's this show, it's gonna be like a fake news show.
So there'll be comedy and a lot of fun with guests and whatever. I'm like, that's a dream job. My God, what a dream job. But then I was also disappointed that you'd be leaving. Yeah.
You know, because I really wanted to do more sports. Thank you. And it's the truth. And I just remember sitting there and saying to you, Um I think you should take the job. Yeah.
And I just was wondering why are you So I get to ask you this year. It's like, why were you asking me? And I think I told you on your show, but it's because you're a broadcaster.
Okay. And I like opinions of, because for me, it would be a dream to do that comedy show like that. And I just wanted to see if you would say, ah, it could be risky or who knows or, oh my God, that's amazing. I didn't know. I just like, I liked feedback from a talented broadcaster to see what their perspective was on that.
I appreciate you saying that. I mean, at the time, it just was a dream job. Yeah. Yeah. An absolute dream job.
Right. And so that you're talking about Sports Center.
Well, Sports Center, yeah. But the other one, Daily Show. I don't know. Like there was, again, the word in this, in, in, in the block, on the block, the Bristol block, is that you were done. Right.
Like you'd, you'd pretty much done everything that you could do sports center-wise, and there was time for you to graduate to comedy. You know, and it's interesting because. Uh The the late night stuff was more dysfunctional. I didn't view ESPN as dysfunctional. Um And I told the little story about Kilbourne on the deuce.
That was kind of a minor blip. Right. Um The Daily Show, which I haven't talked about and I will one day, I loved it. But it was easily the most dysfunctional place I've worked. I knew it was produced the wrong way.
They wouldn't even put in the contract that I was the host, they wanted to see how I did. And the executive producer Uh I got along with her because I'm a nice guy, but I, and I never told her that it was produced the wrong way because I, there were, why we had a show to launch. Why create ways when you want to leave? I knew what her solution would be. You said, well, you have to work closely with this other person.
Is that Liz Winstead you're referring to? No, that's the executive producer, Madeline Smithbrook.
Okay. But I knew it was produced the wrong way because after I left for CBS, the problems remained. And Madeline got to work with her favorite. late night host Jon Stewart, who she worked with at MTV. And she was fired because she thought it was her show.
So they didn't want a host-driven show. That and it was very odd. And there were other things that were odd, but. The point of that being ESPN was not that dysfunctional to me. You had to.
catch up to the you know, this machine of sports center and do your job. and be efficient that way. But it wasn't I didn't find it dysfunctional. Yeah, I mean, I wound up, you know. I thought it would be there forever.
Yeah. Be honest with you. I thought I'd be there forever. I didn't imagine seven years in, you know, getting, you know, into a contractual dispute with I I I guess you told me that, but I didn't know.
So you you didn't want to leave necessarily. They just it was a money thing or no? No, it was a an assignments thing. Oh. I didn't want to do Um, 150, whatever the heck it was, or sports centers, anyway.
Yeah. I didn't want to stay up till two in the morning anymore. And certainly, because everything that was happening with the SPN at the time. With Disney, with everything that you see, that Robin Roberts has gone on to Good Morning America, and Chris Fowler's the voice of college football, and Mike Tarico moved on into different parts of that world. And now you see what he's doing for NBC.
And I saw those trend lines, and some of them were already happening. And I do remember having a conversation with Mark Shapiro, who was in charge at the time, and having a dinner with him. And with the initial. conversations was it went from 150 sports centers to 180. And I was like, want to go in the other direction.
Yeah. And so it just went downhill from there. Yeah. Downhill. It was.
It was physically taxing. At ESPN The hours, but also the shows. Yeah. And I should say, as I mentioned, there's some dysfunction at the daily show. I had a blast hosting the daily show.
And the CBS job was easily my favorite. I mean, it was so much fun. We tape at five, and it's different. Like when you said, oh, they're going to do these assignments, I was like, I just wanted to focus pure on comedy and the talk show.
So that's why. Very grateful to the daily show. There's no, I've said this before. There's no way I could go from ESPN to CBS late night. I needed the daily show in there.
And Again, I've said it wasn't, I didn't like the format of the daily show necessarily because the interviews were four minutes.
So I said I went an hour with Glenn Eastwood.
Well, normally those first guests Usually eight to ten minutes. We have a commercial break, come back, play five questions, then we have a second guest. Right. Those are at least second guess is at least six minutes. Right.
So I I was an old I was a Johnny Carson fan.
Well, I mean, me too. I mean, you know, there's a picture of Johnny Carson in the studio. And same thing with Letterman. Did you have a meeting with Letterman, like to talk about working for Worldwide Pants? Because that's, it was that slot that you owned the time slot, correct?
Yeah. Like his production company owned the time slot for the Late Late show. Yeah. So. Yeah, that was pretty special.
It's kind of weird because I I wanted to leave ESPN, then I wanted to leave the daily show. And there are other reasons, but I wanted to it wasn't my show. And I say it was nobody's show. But one, the network president told me a few years ago, it was Madeline's show. I said, no, it wasn't.
She wasn't hosting the show. It was just this weird misconception of what I consider the basics of late night. They're host-driven shows. It's really simple. Unless you're Lauren Michaels, where you have a rotating host.
Anyway, so Rob Burnett was my contact. He was a very funny guy. He had been the head writer, and he was the executive producer of the Letterman Show. And he was the guy that I dealt with. And I had meetings with him.
And they said, Tom Snyder is going to retire, and we're looking at some people, and you're one of them. And uh eventually One night, one day, Rob said, Come over after your show. And I want you to meet Dave.
So I I met Dave. at the Ed Sullivan Theater in one of the offices. And we chatted for a little while. And I was going to talk a little hoop with him, but I didn't sense he wanted to really talk hoop, so I quickly shifted it. Yeah.
And I said, um Hey, what's the fastest you've ever driven in a car? I wanted to bring in the car thing. There you go. And because I had a story when I was in the late eighties living in Venice, I had a friend in San Francisco who had a Porsche. uh at nine eleven and we we we took it from LA up to San Francisco on the five and she she let me drive and um I got it up to 145.
Yeah. You know? Oh, look at you. Not for very long. Right.
But I did that. Did that break the ice with Dave? I don't think he had gone that fast. I think I won. But he, you know, and he talked about it, I can't remember what he said, but it was a nice meeting with him.
Right. I mean, and the other thing you have to realize is. We, a lot of us, were absolutely obsessed with Letterman. obsessed He was a hero to a lot of us. When he did the Oscars, I got emotional.
There he is. That's our guy. That's my guy. That's our guy. And I thought he was great on the Oscars.
I remember Oberman. came back from New York. He was up, came back to Bristol, came in the office. and said I just saw a letterman. We were like, what?
Tell us the story. And they go, he was doing a bit. He's on CBS now, he's doing a bit. At 30 Rock at NBC, and he was smoking a cigar in the lobby. They were waiting to shoot something.
And Keith walked by. And I guess Dave said, hi, Keith. And Keith had said, You're my hero for smoking. It was like, I can't, you know, that was, it was some joke about the cigar. But it was cool that Dave said, Hi, Keith, because Sports Center was huge back then.
I totally buy that. Yeah, yeah. I totally buy that because Dave Letterman is. A God to me as well. 100%.
Yeah, I'm obsessed with him. Even local TV, somebody said they saw him at spring training once and. Dave said something funny, rude, but it was like, yes, you know, I've quite said bite me or something to some young kid. It was very funny. But Dave was a legend, you know?
Yeah. So there was another thing. Did you've heard the story about Bill Murray, right? With with okay. Go for it.
So we're in the we're in the office. And Steve Levy and Carl Ravich think Chevy Chase is funnier than Bill Murray.
Okay? And Keith and Dan and I are like, you don't know what you're talking about.
Okay? Because Bill's the funniest man around. And I did say to them, I wanted to understand, I said, are you familiar with Nick Wings, the lounge singer? Nick Rails, the lounge singer? Right.
They go, no, never heard of him. I think they only knew him from Caddyshack, which is not the. Smooth bill, right? Right. So we told him they were wrong, and Dan knew Bill.
Dan says, Someone's on the phone for you, Craig. This is in the newsroom. And I had only been there like six months or so. And I got on the phone, they go, Craig, it's Bill Murray, first of all. I think you're very funny.
Secondly, Thanks for sticking up for me in that argument. Yeah. What a flex for Dan Patrick. Yeah, yeah. Just get him on the horn.
Yeah. God. Yeah. I love that stuff.
So, this is an argument that you're having. You're doing the late night. Yeah, yeah. There are a lot of conversations in there. You worked in another part or not?
Did you, you and Stu worked elsewhere? No, we just worked. I mean, I got there again in 96. The setup was probably different than it was in 93. I do remember when I first walked into the building in 1996.
The newsroom was built like a NASA. A control room where it was just row, row, row, row. And you would sit in your row and the TVs would be right there. And other guys would have their cubicles around. No one really had an office on the room management.
And then they reconfigured the place. We worked in trailers. Did you, were you part, are you already gone by then? No trailers. Yeah.
No, they were, we had, we worked in a, we worked in trailers in a parking lot while they were redoing the building. Oh, okay.
Okay. That's the way it was. And then it, then they recreated it in a different way. And then, um, so, and, and there was a newsroom downstairs, but then the third floor where everybody was kind of doing their work. All right.
So there really wasn't that much of a camaraderie where you're just going to be walking or standing around and having an argument over who is funnier between six anchors working three different shows. It was just kind of different by that point. Did you ever hear this? I bet you you haven't heard this.
So. I could tell this a couple different ways, but When I was at Montana State, I wasn't getting as much run as I wanted to. I had some good games, but there was a friend of mine on the team, Mike Erickson, and during warm-ups. We would, you know, pass each other in the layup line. Yeah.
And we would. name colleges we wanted to transfer to. Mm. This is before the game. And I would say, Pepperdine, you know, and he'd go, San Diego State, you know.
Anyways, So I longed for California for some reason. Go west, young man. I grew up in Minnesota. I wanted to go. California.
I fell in love with San Francisco when my brother picked me up there spring break. He was a software engineer down in the Silicon Valley. San Francisco remains my favorite city in America. It's going through some rough times, but it's a beautiful city. I'm at ESPN and I was talking.
I'm missing California. I was talking to somebody who knew some, had some information. They said, you know, they almost left, ESPN almost left Bristol, almost left Connecticut. I go, really? Where'd they go?
San Diego. You're kidding me. I would do anything. I would be an intern there. I just wanted to.
And they said then Connecticut gave them major tax breaks to stay. Probably still to this day. Yeah. Think about it. Yeah.
Yeah. That's why it's San Diego to Rich. That would have been a massive game changer. Whoa, yeah. Just absolutely massive game changer.
Because that's another thing that reason why I wanted to move to New York, because there were going to be more shows in New York. They were offering me a spot on that show called Cold Pizza. Yeah. I was uninterested in taking that job. And then when I said no to that, that's when I got a cardboard box.
That's where I got my fill it up. Gus Ramsey and Pete McConville helped help me move out of my apartment. You know, two guys who are still, Pete's still there. He does, he's part of it, he runs first take there right now.
So my mind, I just remembered another story. Please, I just, I wish I could think of the guy's name.
Okay. He was a, he was, he was, he was a producer. And um It wasn't, was it Eamon? Was there a guy named Eamon? Yeah, Eamon McEnany.
Was that him? I think so. I think that's his name. I don't know if that's the right name.
Okay. He gave, it was stress, it was tension in the newsroom. Yeah. Digger Phelps was an on-air talent. Yes.
And there was something happening. And he said, I guess he who the guy, the producer, went to Notre Dame. Notre Dame. Yeah, that's Saman.
Okay. Uh-huh. You got it right. And he goes, Well, you should have won more games. Like he said this.
And Digger said something like, Who are you? They went back and forth. And uh It was kind of fun. It was probably fun. I mean, I bet.
I mean, again, my favorite Digger Phelps story is: I remember sitting with him on a Sports Center set. He had those highlighters that match his ties. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so he had all these highlighters. A highlighter would match a tie, but then he also had a bunch of highlighters on the desk.
And So we're in a commercial break and he's just like. got his cards with all the information on it. And he'd highlight one thing with pink, and then he'd grab another one and highlight with green. Then I'd highlight another one with yellow. Like, what's the different color codes for?
And he goes, I don't know, I'm just grabbing fucking pens. Yeah. I'm like, okay. I think Eamon was upset because he had gone to basketball camp, Digger Phelps basketball camp, and he was complaining. I don't want to misquote him, but he was complaining about he didn't like Digger and Digger didn't like him.
And it was stressful. Here's a funny one, just to tie it all, as we do our random thoughts here. My first letter recruiting me, because I was in a Street and Smith basketball, I was an honorable mention, all-American or something at Minnesota. I was an all-state basketball player.
So, I got started getting letters from colleges. First letter I ever got as a junior. First letter I got was as a junior. I got a bunch as a senior. Digger Phelps, Notre Dame.
No kidding. Yeah, first letter I got. Yeah. And Nothing. Not that I was I was a junior and then when I was a senior I had the biggest names I had in my living room that visited me were Norm Stewart from Missouri, Mike Montgomery was at Montana before he went to Stanford and Cal.
And then I had Jim Dutcher from the University of Minnesota. Uh anyways, yeah.
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Mixing Sports Center and comedy, you did it in your on-air repertoire in the few minutes we have left here. You would be able to do it in the Sports Center commercials. You already mentioned Alan Brose, who is a part of the Wyden Kennedy group that would also create some of these, right? Brilliant. Yeah.
That you you did. What's your favorite Sports Center commercial?
Well, I like the Glenn Jacobs one. Uh my name's Glenn Jacobs and I've been a PA here at Sports Center for about three months and it's been really great. You've embarrassed me on national TV. I mean I work long hours, sure, but I get a lot of exercise. I mean it's really cool when one of those guys reads something I've written on the air.
Nice try, Sparky. Nice try. Maybe next time. That's, you know, uh, two words for you, pizza delivery. Four months ago, I was writing a paper about my idol, Craig Kilbury.
Gary? Uh, Glenn?
Okay. Here I am getting career advice from him. Two words for you: pizza delivery. It's incredible. But there was a.
There was a weird one where I was talking to some girl on the phone. By the time you get to ESPN and do Sports Center. I would say the idea of being a sportscaster and a celebrity That's worn out, man. That's old. Did you see the show last night?
It's national TV. People come here to work. Means if you're in New York you can see it. If you're in Miami you can see it. And I was whispering, and I can get you tickets, I can give you a tour, you know.
Your daddy needs tickets to the game? Done deal. You got it. You're not a star. I want you to come by the station.
Give you a tour. Is it all right if I call you Sunshine? Hank Perlman was encouraging. He was encouraging me. He's still a friend to this day.
Very talented, funny man. And happy birthday, Hank. He just turned 60. No shit. Yeah.
You know, I just remember when those commercials, we would do them. They had these Booklets.
Okay, like loose like a loose leaf booklet or something like that, right? and all the scripts would be in there. And when they got to your script of what we were shooting, they would go to the they would thumb through it. And I'm like, how many commercials are you shooting that I'm not in? You know?
And it would be, and they would hold it. To their chest. Yeah. So you didn't see anybody else's scripts. And so If you were in more than one, you knew that you were in a good standing with management.
You knew that you were in a good standing with. You know, the fans. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's going to be more than one. Right.
You know, and I just remember how many of these am I going to be in? Right. You didn't know until they started airing. Right. You know, and like, I could have been in that one.
Right. You know, I remember all of that.
So Hank was a fan of mine, but we met. He was at Wyden and Kennedy. This is before this is Sports Center. He comes out, he calls me at At ESPN, it says, Hey, I'm in town for some meetings. Let's go grab a bite.
And he goes, I want you to do the, I think you're really funny. I want you to do these promos for ESPN because he was they were writing promos. And I said, These are hockey promos, and I'm the basketball guy, man. I'm not the hockey guy. And he goes, I want you to do it.
You're funny. I said, Okay.
So that's how you started getting into this sports center commercials? Yeah, Hank was a fan. You've got the documentation. I need it tonight. It is 6:30 dinner.
I know Tyson is fighting where, and I know Tyson is fighting when, but I need to know who that next opponent is going to be. And we're looking at the series. Guys, guys. What do you like better, hurt me or spank me? Spank me.
Spank me. Perfect. But listen, this is extremely fly. If you can get it to me, then he's a friend.
Now he's a friend. All right.
So, did you ad-lib the pizza delivery line? Did you ad-lib any of these? I think we just talked about them. You know what? This is what I like about Hank.
We would talk, he goes, Here's a line. You got another, you know, we just pitch other lines. I don't remember if it was written or if I we said it together or if I said it. I don't remember. Right.
Yeah. He liked ad-libbing. He liked it. But you can do it when you do that, right? You, you do it, and then you go to the side and you go, what about this?
What if I said this? What if we said that? And he goes, what about this? I go, that's funny. You know, that's that.
I'd imagine that's something you genuinely enjoy. Because it's again, it was a total comedic timing. Yeah. situation. Yeah.
You know, and I talked about it in the the episode with Dan. You know, the episode, the commercial where they sent me down to the miners. Yes. And I didn't want to do it because I thought. Why are they sending me down to the miners?
Thank you, Courtney. All JB wrestlers must return their uniforms to coach. He was a real asset down there. His maturity, his experience. Ms.
Jison, could you buy some beer?
Okay, when I go like this, that's your cue. No. Please? No. Come on.
No. Do you even go to the school? Because you're not supposed to be on the show unless you go to the school. I had been on Sports Center for a few years, Danny. Like, why am I.
You know, like still a freshman around. Like, I thought I'd matriculate at a certain point.
So. Let's see some James K. Polk spirit. Dan basically was just like, just suck it up. It's funny, right?
Do you find it funny? Yeah. And then. Go with it. Just be funny.
Self-deprecating. That's a way to do it. My way of life is separate. Oh, God. Did you ever meet Larry Bird?
I did. And Did he ever ask for a restraining order? Did he appreciate it or what? Did I ever tell you when I met him? No.
Okay, so. Another commercial director, Stacey Wall, was shooting a beer commercial out in Burbank at the Smokehouse. And the commercial was basically Larry's not saying anything. He's with a guy talking, and there's two kids, two other young guys at another table see him. They go, That's Larry Bird, and they're talking and talking.
And I don't even think it really aired spray. I never really saw it, but Stacy, the director, said, Craig, I want you to be the guy he talks to because you love Larry. I want him to have a good time.
So we weren't. Mike's And I just asked him every question I ever wanted to ask him. The left hand against Portland. I saved my right hand for the Lakers. He had all the lines.
Right, sure. The bent finger softball at Indiana State. You know, I just wanted to hold a beer after I broke it. And his friend said he shot better in college. He shot okay in the pros, but he couldn't miss before he broke his finger.
I mean, I just asked Larry all these questions.
So yes, I did meet him. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Fantastic. Do you want to do Sports Center again?
Would you do it? I'm always here to help people. You mean as a sit-in and do one? Yeah, like if we did one together. Yeah, I'll do that for you.
Both the Pistons and Pacers are going to the playoffs, but it's unclear in what order that would make Saturday's game significant. Actually, every game is significant because you're not only battling your opponent, whenever you hit the floor, you're battling yourself. You're always trying to be the best you can be. The game is sacred. All right, that's enough.
Yeah, no, what's the answer? No, no, no. You could say you don't want to do it again. Like, you have no desire to go back or sit there and do a highlight again or create a lead-in. You're like, that's fine.
Like, you've been done that. Can I ask you a favor? Sure, yeah, sure. Um, when I promote the thing I want to promote, like when it so it'll come out in 2027.
Okay, let's do it then.
Okay, let's promote it. When in 2027 are you talking about? I don't know yet. I don't know. Okay.
Yeah. I have to, it's all fluid.
Well, because I mean, they're building, I'm assuming, I don't know. You know, the NFL network studios here in LA. Oh, that's right. They're taking them over.
So I imagine they're going to put a sports center studio there. And if not, the one I did last year here in LA was in downtown LA.
Well, that's what I'm asking. That's what I want to know: is the one downtown, is that still active? A good question. I don't know. Things are fluid.
Okay. Things are fluid, Craig. That's a great location down there. It is great. I don't know if they're going to be moving anything to here, but I don't know.
When I just did it again, it just brought back so many great memories. Right. Um and I do like doing it by myself because I like joking around like Like the last co-anchor I'll ever have is Stuart. You know, it's also very personal to me. Since he was the guy that I'm so Sports Center synonymous with.
Whether it's a live ball, poor pitching, watered down talent, or an improved weight program, there have been plenty of mojos and booyows in the bigs. 2,632 home runs.
So many got it's and whooping sticks being busted out that no less than six hitters are on pace for 50 homers almost makes you forget about. Defense. Do it old school one more time with folks like you, and you know, and Dan, who I think reluctantly says. You know, um, but he's been there and done that. Yeah, he's done a lot of you know what I mean, you know what I mean?
Yeah, but um. You know, I don't know. Like, if there's something you want to do, yeah, it would be fun. Let's l will be in communication. Um, do I get the NBA highlight?
No, yeah, sure. I don't, I don't particularly care. When playing basketball, we don't encourage young players to talk noise or say things to your opponent like, you can't guard me, you're weak, don't waste my time, or the famous one-word taunt. face. No reason for that stuff.
But when done properly, it sure is entertaining. But that's your. Because again, like. That was another thing that back in the day that you had that reputation for. You were just NBA.
These could be the most entertaining NBA playoffs ever. And that's saying a lot because in the late 70s, when Julius Irving and George McGinnis were both using just one hand for Philly and the Iceman on the Whopper always had the Spurs in the playoffs, it didn't seem like it could get any better. But this season, the Western Conference should change all that. It's anybody's ball game. Big time.
Hello, college hoops. But other than that. You know, Oberman told me once, he said, you only need to know one sport. And he was a baseball guy. And because then he said you only need to know one sport because When you what Sports is not that complicated.
Now, you have to, if you were talking about memorizing players and stats or whatever, but to understand the game, once you understand or played a sport, Howard Kosell and Keith Orman did not play sports, but they understood sports. Yes. And Yeah, it's not that difficult. And like I said, I did this once on your show. Yes.
If you were asked to be the voice of the WNBA, you would dominate. You would immerse yourself in all the information, do your research, and dominate. Yes. So, you only knew one sport because Keith told you to do that? No, he knew I loved one sport, but I knew I grew up watching tennis.
I played hockey and watched hockey. I loved the NFL. I was just obsessed with the NBA. Yes. So I think I knew all these sports.
I watched golf like crazy. I knew all those sports. I was just so passionate about the NBA. But I didn't think these other guys were experts in the NBA. With Clyde Derexler, when he came into the league, some said he was the next Julius Irving because of his high wire style.
There's only one Dr. J, but there's only one Glyde. Julius couldn't win a championship until he teamed up with a dominant big man, Moses Ballone, and that combo swept the Lakers. Clyde and Nakeem are now reunited, and it feels so good. Did Keith ever tell you you were joking too much?
No. He told me that. Yeah. Over and over again. Yeah.
He would walk by me in the hallway and go, Nope, not yet. And I'm like, what are we talking about? What do you mean? After a while, I finally had the courage to ask him what he meant by that. He was basically telling me.
You're not even close to doing the show that you can do. You need to cut. your jokes by like go one segment without making a joke, one highlight without making a joke. Then work your way up to a segment, then work your way up to half a show, then work your up to an entire show, then do an entire week like that, and then you're halfway there. But he never told that to you.
And then Rodney Rock, Jumanji. Yeah, Clippers win. I think Hot Rod just said you're manji. What's love got to pull with it goes for 18 sparkling points? I break a lot of rules.
Okay. You're the best, Craig. Thanks. Thanks, brother. That was fun.
That's right here. Good stories. Oh, last one for you. Uh who when did you come up with the idea of introducing yourself? For your late.
Well, we had to save money. Seriously? Is that really what happened? Where you're like, I'll do it myself? I think something like that, yeah.
Yeah. Uh but that was a blast and a lot of people A lot of the guests, they thought it was hilarious. They told me Gret Kilbert, the federal George George Sally Wood Hills. Yeah. Craig Kilburn.
Including Clint Eastwood. You found that funny that you introduced yourself? What a story. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Craig Kilbourne here on This Was Sports Center. I hope you enjoyed the first season of This Was Sports Center. We're going to continue doing this as long as you're up for hearing these stories. Thanks for coming on. Thanks, brother.
That was fun. Craig Kilbourne here on the program.
