Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Kevin Harlan talks balancing Super Bowl prep with NBA duties

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris were joined by Westwood One play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan to preview the Patriots-Seahawks matchup in Super Bowl 60 and to explain how he balances his NFL and NBA duties.

The score! Happy New Year, everyone along with former NFL MVP, Rich Gannon, Kevin Harlan. Somebody has run out on the field. Some goofball in a hat and a red shirt. Now he takes off the shirt. He's running down the middle by the 50. He's at the 30. He's bare-chested and banging his chest.

Now he runs the opposite way. He runs with the 50. He runs at the 40. The guy is drunk. I just pulled through the Taco Bell drive-thru, and I've got a couple of big, nasty, supreme burritos right here waiting to beat. and I know that they're going to go down a little bit more difficulty now because Marshall is not going to be in that scenario.

And then you just kind of wonder where the wind's going to blow. With Rahimi Harrison Grody. Let's bring it, Layland. Let's bring it home. Maybe let's ramrod our way right into it. On 1043, the score. Hell yeah. That gets me fired up.

To do what? I'm not quite sure. Run between the tackles? Let's go. Kevin Harlan is the man to announce it. You know, I think nobody does. a better job of play-by-play, not of just football, but life. And so he joins us on our Circus Sports Illinois hotline.

Download the circus sports app today. Kevin Harlan, the voice on Westwood one that you will hear calling Super Bowl 60 this Sunday right here on 104-3, the score. Super Sunday coverage begins at one, continues throughout the day. Then it is Seahawks and Patriots kickoff at 5.30 right here on the score and the Odyssey app. And he's calling Sons of Warriors tonight on Prime. video. The man doesn't sleep. Is he here? Do we lose Kevin? Oh, no. Oh, I fell asleep. I just that that was the problem, Leila. I heard that embarrassing stuff about Taco Bell and all that

other stuff you were playing. And I go, oh, my God, what have I done to my career? And I kind of snooze there. I caught 10 winks, but I'm back with you and ready to, ready to rock, ready to go. What are you talking about? That was awesome when you were in the Taco Bell drive-through with us. Who hasn't been in the Taco Bell drive-through? Highly relatable content, Kevin. Well, I appreciate that. They were great, by the way. Those two, they went down smooth and easy.

And I'm sitting here in Phoenix and downtown Phoenix. And if I could get myself to a Taco Bell, I'd do it. But I'm doing a lot of shows like this today. Before we do the Sons and Golden State Warriors tonight with no Devin-Booker, no Steph Curry. I'm going to go, why am I even here? I should be up in San Francisco getting ready for this big game on Sunday. But here I sit, but I'll be moving tomorrow and getting up there and seeing people we know in the business on Radio Row, but so glad I have a chance to visit with you guys here today. And Kevin, you stay busy. You go from one to the next.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, this is Super Bowl 16 in a row that you're calling? Yeah, 17th overall. Moose Johnston and I, at the very first HD telecast of a Super Bowl in 2001. There were probably a million TV sets in the country they guessed that had the capability of getting an HD signal. I had never been broadcast in HD before, and Darrell Johnston and I broadcast that game for CBS, HD, and then I've been lucky enough to do the past 15 Super Bowl

for Westwood one, and this will be my 16th in a row. So I'm always so, I feel so fortunate, so blessed to be in that seat and can't wait to get up there and do number 16. And I think this could be about as interesting a game as we've actually had here in a while.

Well, and you're the consummate pro, you know, I can't imagine what it's like calling so many Super Bowls knowing that it's not just the sports nerds like us who want to talk to you say about the game where you might not see Steph Curry tonight. We're still interested. But you know, also the Sunday games you do every week for Westwood won, but then what the

conversations are like with people when it comes to the Super Bowl, because that's the audience that doesn't typically watch football, but they're watching the game every year. Yeah, you know, it is. And I think my record was 42 different outlets a couple years ago, and then they gracefully cut back my appearances on that because I'm there for about three hours. But when you're going from one entity to the next, some TV stuff, some international stuff, a lot of radio affiliates like your great station, you know, they're asking a lot of different kind of questions. And it's weird because I go in thinking, well, they're probably going to ask a lot about the New England defense.

Or they're going to ask about, you know, Donald and his well-traveled resume and here on his 15 has a chance to make history, you know, just a lot of things like that. And they'll ask, like, well, how do you keep your voice ready? Or do you get any sleep the night before? Do you go out and get dinner beforehand and our family and friends here with you? And, like, just stuff that I guess I wouldn't, you know, anticipate they're going to ask, but they do. And it's kind of fun.

And I kind of keep you on your toes. But at the end of the day, it does. You're so right. Layla and Marshall, they bring in, you know, the more casual fan is now involved. I guess you've got to have a feel. for that to a degree. You know, what makes sense to then? You can't assume anything. And because the game is so enormous in its reach and appeal, you know, people are going to ask, you know, different things as the week goes on. And certainly for people that are going to call the game,

there are only two, you know, broadcast in this country. And ours will actually go overseas to the BBC and other places. And it's fun to know that those calls of yours, you know, will be, you know, kind of etched in people's memories or could be if there's a big play. But at the other end of the spectrum, or people that are just mildly interested and want to know other things about, well, who's calling it and why are you calling it? What do you think is interesting outside the game itself? And so it does. It kind of keeps on your toes. And it's fun to bring in other people that are interested now in the NFL in this big game.

Kevin, I'm curious because I'm going to ask one of those questions that you just described. you've got a basketball game tonight on NBA trade deadline day, not knowing who actually might be available, might not be available, and you'll find that out as you get closer to the game. How do you focus tonight on this when you know you've got the biggest game of the year, bar none, coming up just a couple of days away? Well, you know you compartmentalize. One of the problems today, though, is between our things with the coaches here

and a couple of things I've had to do with people in San Francisco and getting ready for our game tonight, three different times I've tried to go to the bathroom, and I can't now because I've got to come back to my desk and do stuff that I wasn't planning to do. So when I hang up with you, I'm making a be-line to that bathroom and going to enjoy myself for about,

I don't know how long it's going to take, and then I'll get back to work. But everything else has kind of been put on hold. You can't really get any lunch. You've got to kind of stay by. I've got the ESPN show here with Malika. and their group because these trades are coming fast and furious. And the deadline, the countdown is on.

And then our game tonight now, we've had a couple trades involving both these teams, the sons and warriors, yet trying to keep up with the different thing. You know, I'm in Worry. The versatile defensive back of Seattle was shown limping after practice yesterday. The right shoulder of Drake May has become an issue. And so there's just so much going on that if you do pause for anything, whether to eat or do otherwise, you're behind. And on a day like this, you can't get behind.

So it's thrilling, and I'm glad to be in this chair and have this responsibility. But you do kind of put everything else on hold because you're kind of the slave of these different things that are ongoing. And not a lot of commas and no periods, nothing is ending. It's just kind of this continuous train that you've got to make sure you're on because you don't want to fall behind. Kevin, I'm so glad you brought up the fact that we all have to time our bathroom breaks in this business, because we do. It's something that we have to deal with, too. I know you guys do the same thing. You've got that little sliver of time to take care of your business, and then after that, you've got to go another hour, right?

And same thing, another hour after that. So I get it. In the business, you cannot just leave for a minute and just, you know, hit a pause button. You've got to keep it on play. these are two teams talking about the football now two teams that the country is familiar with because it's a rematch of sorts you know coaches have moved on players have moved on but it's the seahawks and it's the patriots and we all remember how the last time these two teams played in the super bowl how that game ended what are you most excited about when looking back into the football at this specific matchup well everything about it to me is intriguing Darnold and the many stops he's had to make to become the quarterback he is now.

May, who's had the great acceleration with his football acumen, the way he has mastered so much with Josh McDaniels, his offensive coordinator now in his 10th Super Bowl, kind of pulling the strings and pushing the buttons, leading him along this journey. Mike Drable in his first year back at a place that he played in, four Super Bowls for Belichick in New England. Mike McDonald, the coach of Seattle in his second year, won 10 games last year,

won 14 games this year. He's a defensive play caller. We've never had a defensive play caller win a Super Bowl. Smith and Jigba, who's probably the most electric player in the league right now as a receiver for the Seahawks. We could go on and on and get deeper into the weeds with every sentence. But there's a lot here to grasp. I do think it's going to be a defensive game,

and I think we're not going to see long, extended drives. It feels to me like the defense for both teams have some answers, and that could make it kind of a disjointed feel in terms of rhythm. But I do think defense, at the end of the day, we'll have a pretty good size fingerprint on the outcome. But it also seems to me that we could have, you know, maybe a special teams play. We've never had a punt return touchdown in the Super Bowl.

We've had 59 of them with a lot of plays and never a punt return touchdown. And we've got two pretty good returners in this game, one that joined one team halfway through the year in a mid-season trade. And the other one has been in New England for a while. and has done damage, both as a starting defensive back and his return guy. So there could be a lot of different twists and turns here that we're not really expecting. They could definitely take hold of a game with maybe not a lot of great name recognition and two unexpected teams.

The odds for each, I think we're 60 to 1 coming into the season, and here they are in the biggest game. So there's a lot here to kind of wrap your arms around and embrace, because I think there's going to be captivating stories, but we could have one of those players jump into the limelight, into the spotlight that we're not expecting that can make a real difference in the game. We're talking to Kevin Harlan.

He is the voice calling Westwood One's broadcast of Super Bowl 60, which you can hear right here on Sunday on 104-3, the score. And Kevin, we brought this up in our pre-show meeting. We were talking about a lot of the interviews Mike Grable has done and enjoying what he's brought to this Super Bowl week, bleeding up. And then we realized he might be the biggest star out of either team, given his pedigree and his background, of course, having played with the Patriots and what a big name he became. Who do you think is the biggest star? Is it even a player? Is it a coach?

Could be the coaches and Brable's a good one, Leila. You bring up him. He's played in it. He's won in it. He's played for what will be as soon a Hall of Fame coach in Belichick. And he has has had a previous stop as a head coach and was successful. And then with the change and the feel of ownership in Tennessee, there were some mannerisms that he had supposedly that were not as appealing. And they wanted to go a different direction. Bad mistake, Tennessee is screwed up because this guy is everything you want in a head coach. He's played.

He's got the instant respect to the players. However, I would say this. in the year between he left Tennessee he was let go and when he accepted the job at New England he spent some time with the Cleveland Browns and was a very nondescript position with the team but was a consultant helped to practice

game planning just him being around they were better because of it in Cleveland I also think that he had a chance to step back personally as is good for all of us and gain perspective and take you know note on what he did right as a head coach, what maybe he was lacking in, got a ton of feedback, I think, from people, and may have kind of, you know, redone the puzzle a little bit and what his picture looks like.

And one thing that has stood out to me that a lot of people have talked about that I think has resonated clearly with the team, brought them together much more. And they spent a lot of money, by the way. We know that. In New England, they spent a ton of money in free agency. paid off is that his communication skills with that team have been

exemplary to the point where I think a lot of other coaches are taking note. These players they will crawl for leadership. They will, because they want so much of it. They want to be coached and they

want to be let the vast majority of them want to. And some of these coaches had different styles. Belichick had a different style. And I think what Vrabel has done, he's pulled the best things that he encountered while playing under Belichick and kind of now turn the chapter to kind of a new way of doing business with holding on to old school ideals. And he's kind of mesh those together so perfectly. The intersection has brought this kind of season.

And McDonald is still so young up in Seattle that he is still very relevant with what, you know, it means to be a young coach and relying on some pretty good assistance around him, but a real crafty general manager who pulled off the deal to get Darnold, who brought in some of these draft choices in the course of the rebuilding between Pete Carroll and McDonald when he arrived last year and done a great job and been swept up in the culture of the Seahawks, which really never escaped with the torch being handed from Carroll to McDonald's. So different styles, different cultures, different stages of development, but two of very successful guys who have resonated with their team.

And by the way, never discredit the health issue and how that is playing into this. the intersection to make this game of having fortunate play, great quarterback play, you know, avoiding catastrophic injury to important players, that intersection, that is a moving target. And to be in the crosshairs of it and hit it like both these two teams have done is part of the explanation why they're here going to play in Super Bowl 60 in a couple days. Well, he loved the description, and we appreciate the pulling back of the curtain, always, Kevin. Thank you for letting

us in on your day. And if you need to, you can always Uber eats that Taco Bell if you need to. I know you got, you're on a tight schedule. Oh, listen. The first thing I do is, what is the nearest Taco Bell, Jimmy John's, Baskin Robbins, what's within walking distance? And we're in downtown Phoenix, and there really isn't a whole bunch here,

but there's a couple things here. And, oh, I'm on it. I'm on it. Because I want to save the per diem money and go under the radar and get something cheap so I can bring something home and show that I've got something for my stick. That is a true approach there. I'm kind of kidding. But anyway, you need quick and easy, and those all seem to be quick and easy. Kevin Harlan.

Which, by the way, were my nicknames in high school. So that has paid off in a great way. Hey, quickly, how has the move to the FM side gone? Well, you sound awesome, so we're very happy about that. I think a lot of listeners are doing experiments. They're seeing which sounds better to them. So outside of the city, FM probably not the bat. You know, still 670.

But inside the city, we hear people can listen to us next to our building now. So that's pretty big. Well, you get the best of both worlds. You get the big reach of 670, and you get the clarity for your prime market, which is right there in the Chicagoland area. So that's great. By the way, we were there for that Rams game. As you know, a couple weeks ago, the city has never looked better.

Man, we were there right after the pandemic, and I was afraid of like this. I hope they can, and they really have, and the foot traffic, and the city was lit up. Restaurants were great. Went to my favorite Italian. Man, it was wonderful. So we loved being there, and I can't wait to get back there again in the fall. Are you willing to tell us what your favorite Italians? spot is? Oh, I absolutely. I go there every single time. It's the one restaurant. That and

Gibbys, Gipsons. Those are my two hits every time I go to Chicago. I love, I've gone to Gibson since Jordan and Rodman and Pippin were there. We'd go there after those games. Each would have a table in Gipsons. I loved it. That place has still stayed vibrant and great. I love Gipsons. And then Valaria just kind of fell upon a couple years ago, not up to 10 years ago, and always make it a point to go there. It's one of the best. That in Piero's in Las Vegas are my two favorite Italian restaurants in the country. But they never disappoint.

And so they're always on the schedule when I make it there. Love it. Love the endorsement. As usual, Kevin, it's always a blast to talk to you. Thank you for coming on. Thanks, guys. Have a great weekend and enjoy Super Sunday. Thanks so much, Kevin.

Which you can hear Kevin Carlin call right here on 104-3, the score, Super Bowl 60. Coverage begins at 1. And yes, he is calling Sons and Warriors tonight for Prime Video. Coming up next on Rahimi Harris and Grotie, we have found maybe not the biggest star, but the most interesting man at the Super Bowl. Next.