The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - South Beach Sessions - Ernie Johnson

Episode Date: June 2, 2023

We don't deserve Ernie Johnson... A legend, a national treasure, and the glue that has made "Inside the NBA" on TNT the best show on television for nearly three decades, Ernie Johnson is the best of the best because he's done it all with love. Dan explores the secrets behind the magic of what Ernie does, the humbling wisdom learned from his son, Michael, and the unspoken sensitivities surrounding Shaq, Charles, and Kenny. Ernie also reveals being haunted for years by a rare moment when his ego unleashed the worst in him. Listen & subscribe to "The Steam Room with EJ and Chuck" wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Welcome to another South Beach session. I am so happy to be joined by a legendary friend. He will poo poo the idea of legend. He will poo poo with with great humility. The job that he does on the longest running funny show Austin sports but for all of television one could make an argument that you have the space Poo pooo now. I'm gonna I'm gonna do this introduction correctly because I want people to understand

All those guys say you're the most important piece and you say that's ridiculous obviously that's a synonym there The stars you're just there to serve them. But you know how to be a host and being a host requires a decency, a kindness and an ego that you don't generally find in the television business, because you have to be someone who brings a ball up and just passes again and again and again does it quietly and you built a monster a monster I don't know if it's by accident I don't know how much inventory you're very I

imagine you're very meticulous there's just simply no way you can do the job as well as you do without caring deeply about the craft of broadcasting. But I don't think people understand how hard it is to be you and I need you to explain it to them without being humble because it's not as easy as you make it look to do 30 years of the greatest sports television show that there has ever been. What? Welcome, by the way. Thank you. What? Welcome by the way. I just don't want you to be humble guy here like what you do

is hard and you can you can talk about it gratefully. Yeah. Before God without poo-pooing how hard it is to do what you do because I know they make it look easy. It is not as easy as you make it look. There's a lot of work. And I love the work. And I love the prep. And look, this is I appreciate everything you've said about the show and about my role. And there's not a day that goes by that I am not as thankful as I could possibly be about sitting in that chair for that long since I was hired in 1989 by Turner Broadcasting and had to sit out a six-month no-compete clause because I had been working in local TV in Atlanta. So I just spun my wheels for six months, did a few stories, and then it was the next season,

90, 91 season, they said, hey, Craig Sager is gonna go on the road, he's gonna be a sideline reporter because Craig was in the chair. And so you're our NBA guy, and it was, I had no idea that I'd be sitting here in 2023 talking about this run in that role that was never in the cards. And what's kept me there is being prepared. And that's the whole key to the longevity. Often

without needing your colleagues to be as prepared because they're there for expertise and I know how much Charles hates those March Madness Weekends where they make and memorize all the names because you're doing the preparation in a lot of ways as is the unbelievable production team so that Kenny and Charles and Shaq can be maximum themselves. The reason that I admire it, one of the many reasons I admire it so much, is because of how rare it is to be able to keep those spinning plates together and working together when this is the vanity business. Ernie, like Shaq used to being a star. Charles is used to being the star of that show. Kenny is used to being a facilitator who understands your role better than most.

But they're, and the thing, you know why it's work? Because nobody tries to make themselves the show. Because they've never tried to make the show about themselves. And I'm in the fortunate position tried to make the show about themselves. And I'm in the fortunate position of getting us from point A to point B to point C with three guys who have been in every conceivable situation in a basketball game. And so nobody at home cares if what I think about what might be being said in a huddle with 1.7 seconds to go. They want to hear from the guys who have been there. And so it's up to me to try to bring out the best in these three guys. And knowing your role is vital. You know, if you try to stay straight outside your lane and be something you aren't, then it doesn't work. And the fact that we don't rehearse,

and the fact that we just letter rip, there you go. They have such reverence for your decency though. Those, I mean, I've heard Charles speak about you, doesn't speak about many the way that he speaks about you. Those guys would do almost anything for you and I would do the same for them. We all would. Well, that's pretty unusual in television, isn't it? Yeah. You know TV. Yes. But I think that's what comes with years of being together.

And you think about Kenny and I have been together longest, because I used to do the show by myself. And then for a while, just here's Cheryl Miller for a while. Here's Reggie Thias for a while. Here's Dick Fursace for a while. And then Kenny comes along and we have a pretty good thing going. And then Chuck, but we're the three of us for more than 20 years have been doing this together, which is unheard of in TV,

where the next TV executive always has a better idea. Oh no, these three guys will work. No, this two and to take him out and add him. And then Shaq for the last dozen years. So when you have that kind of time together and you have that kind of a bond, then you just, I'm not signed at it's sappy, here we love each other.

We really, truly. And I grew up with two older sisters and this is as close as all ever come to have in brothers. And that's what they are to me. Do you tell them all the time? Do they tell you? Yeah. Yeah.

And you know what? There was a moment too when When Kobe passed you know, we did a show out in LA Right there in the middle of the of the floor the you know the game had been had been canceled, but we were just gonna spend That time talking about Kobe And I remember shack on that night saying on the air that I don't say this enough to you guys, but I love you. And we do. And I think one thing that that that whole moment in time taught all of us was that you don't know. You don't know. You don't know how long you have.

And it behooves us to make sure that everything's cool between us. Everything's cool, not just between the four of us on the show, but between everybody in your life, that if the unthinkable happens, do you want to leave that with? Man, I wish I had said this. Man, I wish I had, I wish that silly feud I could have stepped up and defused it. I wish I would have said this.

And I think that was a, it was a pretty brutal reminder of that. How important is love to any sensitive thing that happens because people are talking for six hours on television a night and sparks are going to be caused and disagreements happen between siblings, friends and loved ones. There's not a bigger ingredient to why it is that it's successful than that, right? Without question. Yeah. And that, I mean, and that cuts right through the essence of what we do. And I mean, let's not get carried away with points in the paint and second chance points and fast break points and who's making this decision and why is this important? Keep it where it is. Sports is a great distraction from the real stuff because there's enough real stuff going

on that will drive you crazy. And so I think it's really important that while this is my job and being in that chair has been at the center of my professional life, let's not forget what really matters. And because we're so familiar with each other and because there are times where tempers, I wouldn't even call it tempers. It's just where opinions differ and defenses are raised We're talking sports, you know, but I found Shaq unusually sensitive not Charles he is but I found Shaq to be I don't know Kenny this way, but I feel like Charles isn't terribly sensitive. Almost anything rolls off of Charles.

You'd be surprised, how so. Because I think there are things that strike him, that strike a chord with him, that he feels very strongly about. You don't hear much about it, but I mean, he has causes like, like, HBCU is really important to him, the donations he makes there. How the average person in the world is getting by matters to him, and matters deeply to him, and he is hurt when he sees things happen. So yeah, there's a sensitive side to Chuck. There's a very sensitive side to Shaq.

I mean, there have been times where we have felt that with him and- The viewer too. Yeah, and he'll, and we may laugh on the air about it, but he may take it home with him. That's what I say when I, Charles, when I say he is insensitive, I meant sort of to criticism. I've seen Charles with whatever would be described as the little people. Charles is extraordinary about giving him himself, unlike anyone I've ever seen

in fame, making every person who comes into contact with him, make sure that they walk away from okay That was as long as I don't disrespect him He won't throw me through a play class window, but if if if I'm just human with him He will be just as human back to me in a way that's moving to me every time I see it. Yeah This is true and and with and with Shakyel Look we had a huge laugh one and people have seen the clip. They hey, it's supposed to go 1-2-3, not 1-2-1 back to 1, you know, and and because Charles had taken up all this air time on a sponsored element that we're weighing in on

And we all laughed and we kept laughing with Shaq because it because it just sounded so funny, but he was bothered by it and came in the next day and carried it with him. It was like it hadn't been forgotten. It was like in the middle of these play-off runs where it's not like that happened on a Thursday. Now we'll work again next Thursday. It was the next night. And he was still kind of in a shell. And so we realized, you know, that, yeah, he is sensitive to this. And I'll be honest, I had an episode with him last year when he was late for a show. And there had been traffic, you know, we're living in Atlanta,

and there's always a lot of traffic. but he showed up late for the show and He came up with an excuse on the air about it was this or this and and we went to commercial break and he said how'd you like that excuse and It would it had been kind of one of those days for me to you know, I said I didn't like it What are you talking about? I said I didn't like it. What are you talking about? I said, I didn't like it. I said, you need to be here. He said, what am I supposed to do about 18 Wheeler, turn it over and blah, blah, blah. I said, you need to be here.

I said, you're vital to this show. All right. Next day, dead silence and really the rest of that night. That's where it happened. The rest of those shows that night he was kind of just sitting in the chair, not volunteering much, waiting to be called on, which is not the way our show works. So I knew this was me. You know, I had kind of crossed that line with him. And look, he respects me. And I respect him.

I mean, I did story with him back at his house in San Antonio before he was in the NBA. And he always brings that up. Man, you came to my house. And he always says it's 1989, but it was like 91. Okay, so I was like 91, okay, so So I knew That he bothered him that I had gotten on him

But but he but he is not to and this is not to mother bleep shack But he's not to disrespect this thing that you care about that you guys have worked hard to build and again I people don't have any earthly idea how much work you do. Like you, you're not showing up late. And look, and it may have been very well a legitimate, hey, I let you, and he told me I left two and a half hours before I said, fine, I said, gotta be here. So the next day, I'm sitting on the set, it's like 15 minutes before we go on the air. Normally these guys come in and sit down at three

minutes of and the show open rolls and bang here we do the show. And he came out about 10 minutes early and came in very quietly and I... Here's a deal. The whole crew knew there was some tension because they had heard me say that in the commercial bring. So he walks in 10 minutes early the next night and he's quiet and he's about 10 steps away from the set and I got up and I went over to him and wrapped my arms around him and jumped up and down with him like, hey, hey, and he's finally laughed. And then the rest of the crew was like, yeah, like we're back. Everything's good. And I explained to him again then I said hey that was that's

out of love man and that's out of our need to always be there and it's just one of those things you learn about somebody after hanging out with them that long hello someone listen I need help I'm in Barcelona and the creatures are everywhere if you listen to the light you listen to what you listen to El día de hoy en mi vida, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de hoy, el día de en Netflix el 14 de julio. Te atreves a ver. because I'm in South Florida, we don't have any sports and cable television is a phenomenon in America. A crappy America's team. I don't like just the Atlanta Braves. They were all terrible. They were all of those teams were terrible.

I know, I know. But I'd loved as a kid, like look at Gary Matthews. He goes after a fly ball and his hat flies off because he's got a giant afro and I'm like learning about terrible Braves baseball because it's the only thing on television and I'm learning about broadcasting or the person who's teaching me

like who's got personality and flair, that's the house that you grew up in. Did you even have a choice on what it is that you were going to do? Oh sure. No, no, I don't mean a choice like, did you have the freedom? I mean, once you see what your dad going to do once. Oh, sure. No, no, I don't mean, I mean, I don't mean a choice like, did you have the freedom? I mean, once you see what your dad got to do for a living,

you are like, I'm gonna be something like that. No? It wasn't uppermost on my mind. Now, looking at his career, his playing career, that was the goal. Growing up with a dad who played Major League Baseball career that was the goal You know growing up with a dad who played major league baseball that was the goal all I thought about was baseball all growing up and so

when I get to the University of Georgia That's my goal. I want to play baseball and I walk on and Somehow I make the baseball team as a walk on freshman and That was one glorious season Dan of being a backup first baseman for the Georgia Bulldogs Didn't get to play much went two for 18 at the plate with one career RBI Which came at Knoxville, against the University of Tennessee. You remember all the details?

Game two of a double header. If we sweep the double header, we win the division. Okay, if we sweep the double header, we win the division. Jim Watley, the coach, in his last year there, he coached Georgia for about 600 years. This was his swan song. And so he puts me in in game two. there he coached Georgia for about 600 years. This was his swan song. And so he puts me in in game two.

And here goes the guy who's one for 17, who lines a single to left center field with a runner at second and knocks in the go ahead run. And I am standing on first base, picturing my name in the red and black student newspaper the next day. You know, I say Johnson Deliver's game winning hit, Johnson Deliver's division title until somebody on Tennessee had a grand slam in the bottom half of the next inning, and we lost. But we eventually would go on to win the division.

But that was, so that was the goal. That was the dream was to play baseball. So I walk on as a freshman and was told to walk off as a sophomore. My second year, I didn't make it out of fall practice. A new coach took over. Bang, I was gone. And the dream dies right there?

Or the major league baseball dream dies. Yeah, I mean, and you know what, in all honesty. I mean, I knew what my talents were. I kind of think, and I probably don't have what a big leaker is made of because any pitch over 83 miles an hour had me bamboozled and if you threw a wrinkle in it, hello, I don't know what mistake that kid from Tennessee made to lay one over the pipe, right down the pipe that I hit into left center field.

I was late on it. But I had a similar experience. And like mine was eighth grade though, it wasn't his college. It was just a kid who would go on to become a university of Miami pitcher. I'm sitting O2, I'm like he's gonna throw a breaking ball in the dirt or something and he's like no I'm gonna throw fastball right over the plate because you're clueless. You don't know anything. I'm like oh I was trying to

think you okay never mind. I need to put my bad down and not play this anymore. I need to write about it. I need to do something else. So there I am at Georgia and I get cut. My dad took it harder than I did. You know, he was really, he was hurt for me because he knew how much it meant to me. But I was more realistic than he was. And I was like, that don't worry about it. It's okay.

I don't think I was never gonna be at that level. And so then it was okay, what do you do? And I told myself, because I was an English major at the time. I said, I'm gonna be an English teacher and a high school baseball coach. That's what I want to do. Because I had my baseball coach in high school,

Jerry Queen was a teacher and a, who got to go to the baseball field every day. And I said, that would be a blast. So that's what I'm gonna do. And it was actually skip carry was was the guy, you know, working with my dad who was like, because my dad never was like, okay, now do this. Now sit here and my dad wanted me to do whatever was going to make my heart pump a little more and get my, you know, get me going. Skip it just kind of said,

you know, you got a pretty good voice. You know, you might enjoy this, you know, you might think about it. And so I did. I thought about, I wonder with this campus radio station at George's all about WU-O-G, and I went in there and they can't really turn you down. You know, I was like,

sure, okay, you're in sports and do this. No experience whatsoever. And they give me this assignment to do what's called hockey corner, because the Atlanta flames were, you know, on the ice in Atlanta, and people were learning the game. And it, Dan, it was probably the, probably the worst thing that's ever been broadcast on any kind of radio station, anywhere. And I still have a cassette recording of it. Do you really? Yeah. But you're saying it's

the, it's the worst, at least interesting broadcast in history of recorded sound voice and video. Yes. Yes. Yes. Without question. You were an incompetent. A fool.

You have it now. You don't listen to why do you still have this? The game has played on a rink. The puck is a rubberized disc. It was horrible and that was what it was. And there were like three parts of it. And the third part was worse than the first. The third part, doc, you're hearing,

what is hockey? What is hockey? Yes. W-U-O-G, hockey corner. And why did I still have it? Because I have a hard time throwing things away from the past because I never know where it's going to you know come up and I'm glad I held on to it because when they did the doc about

inside the NBA you know 30 years of inside the NBA I was able to give that to the producers and say here's do with this what you want. Look at what got fertilized here you had nothing to work with and this grew into. Now you won't't say this, right? You won't say that this is the best thing that's ever existed in studio sports television. I mean, the award say it. It's been pretty good. Yeah. And I won't put it over anything. I appreciate what we've been able to do. And I leave that up to the folks who are watching and it's gratifying to have people say that and to describe it that way. It's, hey, this is the best sports studio sports show of all time or whatever. That's great to hear.

But now are you, is the next show going to be just that good? Is somebody who's, if somebody reads that and says, well, this, inside the NBA, I've never seen it, but they say here, it's the greatest sports show of all time. I'm going to tune in tonight. It better be good. And it better not be a, oh, man, we just, you know, when we phoned this one in today, or this wasn't good, or I asked stupid questions, that's, it has to, you gotta get better. Carrying like that, though, I do believe is unusual. Adults get formed. They get on with the balance in their life and they don't necessarily hold themselves to that kind of

hungry standard once they've already arrived at the mountain top of where success resides. There are too many good shows out there. I mean, there are some, there are good shows and there don't stop me before I say this. Okay, you're gonna, you're gonna want to jump in and say, you know, a lot of guys could do what I do. And they do on a nightly basis. There are a bunch of guys out there who are great studio hosts. Oh, wait, this is where I disagree with you though. And I'm going to stop you. It's not even the mechanics of studio preparation. You were going to cut me off.

Well, because it's because you're a fundamentally decent person. And it's really important in that role. You don't understand. Shack could have screwed that all up with his sensitivities coming in. Anybody being too sensitive there who's not feeling cared about can disrupt the chemistry of that if they're not feeling Loved if they're not being taught how to be maximum prepared. No, man You're an unusual cat in this business like that's what you're saying is not true the mechanics of television maybe maybe Maybe because that's harder than you think yeah

Bob costus might be able to do the mechanics of television. But to make your teammates feel loved? Nah, not everyone can do that. Just loving them back. But not everyone can create that environment. That's just simply untrue. You're underestimating what your gift is, what you're Aras Ernie. It's super unusual in this business to have your likability factor. 30 years on television?

Nah, like maybe Pat SayJack or like Game Show host. No, honestly, but no. There has to be a fundamental and this part, I know is important to you. There has to be almost fundamental spiritual decency and depth residing deep in you that has lived some things and has learned the perspective of What's important and what is what is not sure? It's a The job is what I do. It's not who I am and It's been and the job has been very good to me and my family and and has paid the bills for a long long time

much more than I deserve. But it is my job. There was a time in my life where the job was right here. And now it's moved into its proper place, because I think sometimes we can, we get so driven and get so ambitious that it overtakes everything. And so, you know, it took me a while to learn that. And to realize that you can be good at your job without being consumed by it. Do you remember when and where and how you learned it? I remember a specific incident that kind of told me, what are you doing?

I was, this is back in local TV, WSP in Atlanta, and I'm the weekend sports anchor. And they've given me about six and a half minutes, okay, out of that half hour. And on a weekend, you got a lot of stuff going on, you got Georgia football, Georgia Tech football, you got, you know, there's more than enough to fill up six and a half minutes. And I sat down to do my to do my segment and the producer notified me that she had missed time the show. So you got three instead of six and a half. Okay, so I didn't really go off at that point, but I kind of crammed this stuff in and got off the air and in front of the production crew as she is apologizing to me. I was, I just, I got in her face. She's against the wall of the control room, and I walked away proud of it. And it bugged me for years.

And it bugged me because I had never apologized for it. And several years later, lo and behold, that producer had moved on from WSB, wasn't how it's CNN. And I reached out to her with an email first and then later face to face. And I said, I don't know if you remember me. She said, yo, I remember you. And I said, look, this is years late, but I'm sorry. And I said, you don't know how, how sorry I am. I can't,

can't even express it. And I'm just asking you to forgive me. And she said, I forgive you the minute you did it, because that's what my faith tells me to do. And I was like, rocked. And it was really that was kind of the defining moment that said, get over yourself, get over your job, get over your ego and realize where this fits into the big picture. And it's not at the mountaintop. There's a place for it, but that's no where it is. What happened between the obvious shame, what you were proud of it and then you came to be ashamed of it and regret it. How much space is in there because you're, I imagine, a preparation of holics. Someone tells you that you've gone from that you've prepared for six and a half minutes.

You're given three minutes. Someone has made you look bad, has interfered with your preparation. Exactly what I was thinking. Yeah. How dare you do that to me? But that's where you could have become infected by televisions of entities with a lack of self-awareness. That's where it could have happened. But I see I was already infected with it because that was my reaction.

I was already infected in it because you saw my reaction to it. Like how dare you? And that's just so... In part of the reason I hurt so bad, because it was everything my dad wasn't. Because I learned everything from him. Everything about how to be a professional, how to prepare, all the preparation. That's from watching my dad. That's from going to the ballpark and watching him six hours before first pitch, doing his

interviews, sitting down with a scorebook, doing his notes. I learned all that there. And so when I considered what I had done to this producer, I was like, my dad never would have done that. And I, you know, thankfully was able to rectify that and seek her forgiveness and how did I know she had forgiven me that moment had happened. Why does it hurt you still the way that it does? Because, because that's not me.

Maybe, you know, it's, it, it hurts to, I think maybe because people think, oh, Ernie's never said a bad thing to anybody. And it's like, yeah, I have. And I've been a total prick sometimes. And, and it takes a lot of, it takes being intentional about doing the right thing and being doing the right thing, being the right person. And so, and not getting carried away with adulation. Because once you start getting on that train,

where every good thing set about you, you're kind of like, oh, here I'm coming, I'm getting that puffed up just again. Oh, don't mess with my show because I might go off again. No, I can't do that. That's why you just have to take all of that with it. It's very nice.

I appreciate the fact that you like the show. Appreciate the fact you like me. And I'm not gonna get carried away with that. And I'm not going to get carried away with the folks who say, man, you're an idiot. I hate you on baseball. You're this, you know. And so I think I've had to learn over the years just to take all of that in and not put too much emphasis on it. Roughly what age were you when you arrived at the combination of things that would resemble both gratitude and balance so that you could take your job, not to, you know, treat it professionally and seriously, but not have it be a competitive thing where you had to be better than person

X or had to get some better job when I'm guessing you feel like you have the best job and show business the way that you carry yourself with gratitude. Yeah, I mean, and you know, you got into the, you mentioned the spiritual part of this equation and that was huge for me because, you know, I'm not going to turn this into sunrise sermonet, but I was, you know, I'm a good Catholic boy growing up, you know, I'm not gonna turn this into sunrise sermenet, but I was, you know, I'm a good Catholic boy growing up, you know, you're going to Mother Good Council school, you're going to St. Jude's in Atlanta, you're an altar boy and all this, and then when I went to Georgia, it was like, you know, Sunday mornings for sleeping off Saturday night, And so I didn't pay God an ounce of attention

for a long period of time there. And it was really, you know, in the course of how your life turns out, you know, you get married, you have kids and you adopt and you, then you feel like there's something there that you haven't really been recognizing. But you know what there is? There's something spiritual about this.

You know that was kind of an awakening for me in like 1997. You know, it went back to church for the first time in ages. You know, met a pastor who was kind of like me, had kids, had a wife about my wife's age and had just seemed to have a peace about him. What was the impetus for going back to church? It was to give the kids a little grounding. You know, it was like Eric and Maggie who are too old, you know, would come back from playing with their friends and they're like, how come we don't go to church on Sunday and it was

like, Sheryl and I said, you know, we need to give them some foundation here. So we found this non-denominational church. Oh, so it wasn't even about actually being religious. It was just sort of, let's get some structure and how to raise a family Yeah, let's yeah, let's give them some you know some so that they're not confused when one of the kids brings up Moses or Noah or somebody who we're talking about so let's give them a little foundation and Within two Sundays of going there. I was being pierced As I sat and listen to this, this pastor, Kevin Myers,

and he's talking about who's, you know, what's more important in your life, happiness or wholeness. Who's the provider in your family? I'm the provider and all about happiness. And he's like, well, you miss both of those. And the more I dove into that and explored it and opened up this Bible that I'd never opened up. When you say pierced as a verb, it's because it's changing your thinking or it's you're being stabbed. Like I'm being stabbed. Like he's talking directly to me and it's just piercing my heart. And I'm missing out on a lot of stuff.

And I'm missing out on it because I think I've put this. Because your values are really, I've put this job up here, I've elevated it to this. And the only church, the only altar I was worshiping at was Rudy Martzki. The media critic for the USA today. What a terrible God. You know what?

That's that was that was what was driving me at that point. I know what was driving me there. No, you deserve to be pierced for that was. Was man, I can't wait for the Monday mornings USA to day to see if I made Rudy's call in a good way. Your priorities wouldn't be wrong. If that's that's what was driving me. That's funny.

It was how do people think about the job I'm doing? And especially not just viewers, but Rudy. But also not thinking to yourself, what do people think about the job I'm doing in raising kids with a wife where my focus is? Maybe my kids and my wife, but it seems to be me and my career. No, yeah. And again, and even today, I mean, that's the question I get most. I talked to a lot of businessmen, a lot of a lot of companies, and always the first question is how do you balance this work, you know, this work and home thing? And it's, that never, it's not an easy answer.

It's not, all I can tell is you have to be intentional. You have to make, you have to look at what your schedule is telling you you should do and saying, but is there time in here where I can do this for my wife, where I can do this for my kids, where instead of what it used to be was, no, that's a work day. No, can't do it. No, is that for real?

Could you not work something in here? Because I've, and I tell those same folks, I say that kids have superpowers. They see and hear everything and they remember everything. They remember when you paid attention, they remembered when you weren't there, when you could have been there. And they're accepting, I know that, and I was too of my dad, and I know that,

you know, work took him on the road a lot and he missed a lot of stuff. I've read something just the other day, actually, that the only ones who will remember 20 years from now that you worked late are your kids. Like that sentence resonated with a whole lot of people because of the relationship that they have with work. You have you have six kids and you've been successfully married for 41 years. Correct? If we make it to August,

it'll be 41. Yeah. Many of them happy. And she and I she and I she and I she are landing. I always say that too. We always tell people but we also Well, I also tell folks they said look if you if you really want to to score points with your wife Next time you're in a social setting and somebody you know another couple is just well, how long have you guys been married? you You're playing the role of my wife right now and they say well how long have you been married you say? Not long enough

It's very good. It's not it's not bad. That's good for 36 holes You but you're I imagine you'd have to be a romantic would you give people secrets on what it is that What what is the key to loving someone for four decades. She says that I make her laugh. I just think I think the key is just pulling on the rope the same way and having the same goal. Look, I'm a sports gastronomy wife's world changer and I've told people that forever because she's the one who got us into adoption in the first place you know she's the one who has devoted her life at

various phases to helping the addicted the sex traffic and now the homeless. And she's always drawn to that. And I've always admired her for that looking outward and rather than inward. And how can I help? And so that's been, you know, look, I outkicked my coverage big time. Well, if all you're providing is laughter

and she's changing the world and she's my point exactly. You're fairly useless, comparatively. And the thing is, I make her laugh and most of that's unintentional. You know, so that's just, well, my wife, there's nothing that makes my wife happier and it delights me as well than when I'm a fool, which I often, often am. There is nothing that makes her laugh. Oh, it's a guarantee for me. I can do that just by saying, hey, I'll fix that because me trying to repair something around the house is always fodder for the next six months. Oh, but you

try at least. I can't, my father did not hand me down that one. My father taught me how to work. I was not, the thing my father did teach me is have friends who know how to fix things. He did, I did learn that from my dad. Oh Cheryl's dad is awesome. My father-in-law can fix anything and can build anything. I've returned a hammer to home depot because it didn't have instructions. I mean, I get it. I know, I get it. I know, I get it. You should, it's laughable. And I got that from my dad too, because my mom,

my late mother said, you're dad's the only man in America who's never been in a home depot. Yeah, well, but that's what he taught you, right? Like, I ended up teaching you. You don't know, I don't know how many of our patterns from our parents we pick up, but that one to me was largely blind for a long time. The idea that I'm slowly becoming my father in ways that are deeply uncomfortable to see in a mirror. Yeah, sometimes it's not really uncomfortable. You know, sometimes it's kind of cool. In the hallways the other day,

there's a guy who'd been a turner for a long time. We used to work on some of the bravest broadcast when my dad was still calling games. And I saw him the other day and I said, how are you doing, kid? And he just stopped and he said, man, you sounded just like your dad when you said that. He used to call me kid all the time.

And I was like, thank you, I like that. Thanks for the reminder. You sounds like the foundation is that you make her laugh, and you are odd and flabbergasted with respect for how large her love can be, because I don't know how you ended up on the adoption path, but that is a substantive undertaking to choose. I am going to love someone up here to create a home for someone so that they can have a safe environment and have a terrain that is successful or that is more helpful to happiness

than might otherwise be if not in a loving house. No, with a question. I mean, and that's, you know, when I wrote unscripted six years ago, and, you know, kind of a term that describe the show that we do, but also the way we've lived our lives. And, you know, when you get married and you have a boy and a girl, and you've got what everybody seems like, you guys have got it. You got it.

Beautiful wife, you got a great job, you got a boy and a girl, bang, you know, set sail. And then she, you know, Cheryl Ann sees 2021 night and sees all these Romanian orphans. And then comes to me and says, you know, what I think we need to do is we need to go to Romania and get one of these kids. And I'm like, no, really, what are you serious? Yeah, we really, yeah, this would be great. We need to investigate this. And we do.

And we investigate it. She goes over with a group. I stay home with Eric and Maggie She's more worried about them hanging with me with no vegetables in the house for two months Then I am about her being in Romania where back in 91 who knows what's going? And it's not like you had everybody's got a cell phone and And then you're hearing about how the rules are changing all the time and and And then you're hearing about how the rules are changing all the time. And that experience changed the trajectory of our whole family. That was for her to see this little boy who can't walk or talk.

He's three years old and just makes sounds and has been in a crib since he was found in a park. It doesn't know how to chew because all they've been feeding him is that out of a bottle and he's three years old. And, you know, she calls me, we talk and she's in Bucharest and she tells me all about this kid. This is Michael. This is Michael. And she's like, I met this kid today

and he's so much more than we can handle. And she kind of lists what's going on. And she said, but I just don't know if I can live the rest of my life, wonder what happened to him. So what do you do, Dan? So what do you say? I follow my wife to the end of the earth. Yeah, I said, bring them home.

And even then, when the words came out on my mouth, it was like, what did I just say? But I had heard something in that. I had heard something in what she said. It was like, this is what we got to do. So how does that work though, when it arrives on your doorstep, I don't know how impetuous she is or you are because she saw something on television.

We don't need to talk about this. We don't need to really understand the decision we're making. No follow your heart, follow, follow. Oh no, we, I mean, we went to a big meeting. So how does this whole process work? And what are we looking at? And so, you know, you have to go through this whole home study,

everything to see if you're a fit parent. You know, if you do adopt a child, you know, what kind of a household is he or she going to be getting into so we go through all that red tape and all that stuff and and then she goes and so we had, yeah, it wasn't like, wow, the 2020 just ended. That was really a touching story. I'm getting on a plane. It was, no, let's, let's look at this. But the instantaneous thing was when I heard that in her voice, it was like, okay, here we go. And can you explain to the audience what kind of undertaking, not, not, I'm not talking about paperwork here. I'm talking about the commitment to raise a child under these conditions. It was, one of his feet was totally turned in at the ankle, so he couldn't walk. And we knew when we got him home, he would have to go through a battery of tests from doctors

here in the States to see exactly what the situation is. Why, you know? And so like we would be awakened in the morning with, and walk into his room, and he's on all fours, and he's banging his head against the crib. It's all self-stimulation for the first three years of his life. Nobody is paying any attention to the kid. So that's one thing that we see right away. And then they run a bunch of tests and they fix his foot and he's able to walk.

And then he's walking with with funny gate and they say well we need to do another test and they cut open his leg and they do a muscle biopsy and they say it's a muscular dystrophy and then you you do research on MD and you talk to doctors and they and they say there's no cure for it. So we go from Ernie and Cheryl, Eric and Maggie, Ray Job, Boyne Girl. Here we go. You went on scripted and now you've got a kid with a fatal disease, who's three years old. And you just go from one day to the next. He's your son. And that's what

you do. And you say, we don't know how long we've got with him. A lot of kids don't make it out of their teens. But in the meantime we need to get him in speech therapy and physical therapy. And so maybe we can... He's three years old and can't talk. He's just making noise. He finally spoke when he was eight. We're in the van one day and all of a sudden out of the back seat comes Mike. Mike. He just said his name. And it's Blake.

We're making progress. There's a step. And he would never be able to communicate like this. He had, you know, but you spend enough time with him through the years, then you knew what he was, the points he was trying to get across. And he loved, he had autistic tendencies and loved cars, loved lawnmowers. If he met you, he asked what you drive.

And then he remembered that. I mean, I'd run into teachers of his at the mall, 10 years after they taught him. And I'd say, a Michael, who is this coming by? And she'd be waving, oh, Michael, and he'd say, Chevy Astrovan, light blue. And she said, yeah, that is what I drove when I taught you. It was an amazing, it was like this amazing icebreaker he had with people who were just

drawn to his spirit. And I got to watch that. I got to watch that every day. So I never wanted anybody to think, oh, poor Ernie and Cheryl, look at there. It was like, no, see, you don't get what we get. We get to watch this every day. We get to watch this, watch him develop. We get to watch him grow.

We get to watch him impact people because we're not all here to play by the same rules. And so he was a joy and a wonder to behold. And his impact on folks much greater than I'll ever have on anybody. What did he teach you? Unconditional love, love of the being content with whatever you have. You know, it's, Dan, I would, a big day for Michael would be go to a car dealership, go inside and get a few brochures and he couldn't read or write. But he could memorize all the cars and he would see him on the road and that's of this

and that's of Toyota and that's of this and and then if you Take it home and like laminate some of the pictures and put them in a binder for them It's like he like he hit the lottery It was it was an amazing thing. So it was be content Don't always it doesn't that next things doesn't have to be bigger and It doesn't always, the next thing doesn't have to be bigger and shinier and brighter. It can just be content with the simple things. And his spirit was just his favorite thing to say was love you too. I mean, our family slogan is, and what we put emojis on stuff, and it's always this.

It's always I love you in sign language, and that's the foundation. That's what our family's about, and he kind of paved the way. You exuded, I mean, I've always, you have always seemed, five dollars. You have always seemed maximum gratitude to me just in the way that you carry about, carry yourself and talk about some of these things. But you exude it as

well. It's unspoken. It's hard to explain to you. I don't know if you have this effect on people. There have not been many people in my career in the media who have this particular energy about them that is soft and kind and generous and grateful. And I don't know if you had it before, Michael, I don't know if you were the same kind of grateful when you had the perfect life as someone imagines it and then chose something harder. Yeah, it was, I think I tried to be that person, but when Michael came along, it was, he just brought us to a different place. He just brought us kind of into his world. And the best thing about it for me was,

it put us into a servant mentality every day. You woke up in the morning, especially as he got older. And he died at 33, which was much longer than anybody thought that he'd be around. But into his teens and 20s and 30s, and confined to a wheelchair, and the last 10 years of his life on a ventilator, you woke up in the morning knowing you had you my job today is to serve this guy and you had to do everything for and that's everything and Because I think we, I wish there were, I wish everybody wanted to serve. I wish everybody woke up in the morning saying, how can I help you today? Oh, but you've stumbled upon upon a great secret to happiness. I don't know if you stumbled

on it before Michael or not, but I mean, that the rewards of giving are so much larger than the rewards of taking. I mean, if you're doing it consciously, I don't, I think a lot of people get caught up on the path-ton happiness with superficialities that aren't quite that. Yeah. Well, this is from the guy whose week would be made, if Rudy Marzki said I had a funny line, to, man, Michael, what am I gonna do today with you? What are we gonna make?

How are we gonna make you more comfortable? How are we gonna shave you today? Is this a shave day? Is this, you know, that kind of stuff, and it was, yeah, it just, it reinforced where everything in my life and in all of our lives and our family, it kind of reinforced where everything should fall. You know, are you caring too much about this?

Yeah, I mean, and I listened to the audiobook, the subtle art of not giving a familiar response. Yes, no, there is. I've read the book and there is wisdom in there, although it's got barbed wire all around. Yeah, it does, but there are certain times when you read that, you know what, yeah, I could care. I should probably care less about that, you know, and I think what Michael did, and what all of our kids have done, is kind of put us into a position of

Here's what here's what's important to care about. Here's what's Forget it Well, when was the last time anything involved with your very successful popular show has resulted in Ernie being truly enraged and rage who truly enraged I have a feeling that you have something that you don't have anything. I can't imagine it. It is what I have. It's simply, it is something that I simply cannot imagine, although you gave us a story from a long time ago.

You don't carry yourself with someone with a temper. You know what made it, I don't know if I would call it enraged, but back when I was doing our baseball coverage and doing play-by-play on the playoffs, the Braves and Dodgers played one year, I can't remember the year. But there was this, you know, like our PR department said, hey, would you do an interview with this LA writer? Yeah, sure. His first question was, hey, your dad broadcasts Braves games forever and ever.

You try and can you tell me that you're going to go into the series with no bias? It's like, look, I'm a professional. I said, I call the games, I want the games to be competitive. I'm not rooting for anybody, so please. But so there were the sides that had developed and you see this on social media, you know, at this point. It's like, well, before the series even starts, you know, he's going to be pulling for the braves because of his dad. And, you know, the braves fans got their take. But as the series unfolds, you know, and the braves lose to the Dodgers and the opener.

And I'm on my feet and it's like your dad would be ashamed of you. And there was some rage there from me. Because that hurt. You know, I had braves fans, you know, the organization my dad had devoted his life to saying, you know, because they expect me to be waving pom-poms in the booth and go braves. And that's not me. I'm a national broadcaster and callin' this. So then when the braves come back and win the next game, then the Dodgers or Dodger fans

are like, oh man, so it's so obvious. So that stuff, I don't know if it would rage me, but it bothered me. Well, but your dad, I don't, you was your dad, your dad wasn't his father. Was your dad someone who felt the need? I don't remember him being feeling totally impartial. I felt like he was regionally a voice for a region

that celebrated a team, but I'm looking at that through a child's eyes. Yeah, I mean, dad knew who was the Ted Turner's name was on the check. So dad knew he was the Braves broadcaster, but he was very fair. I never got that vibe from him. Like I got that vibe from a lot of announcers you hear

these days on any sport who are pulling for their team. But you were getting mad because a random person had dared to say that they somehow know that your father would be ashamed of you when all you've done all your professional life is make sure that that name remains pristine because of the respect you have for your father. It hurt. It hurt. And one of those things that taught me was I just can't get carried away with this

I just can't you know I'm not gonna answer everybody who and there goes the great story There's not real rage there. It's just a mild a My hold it. Ah this jerk said something mean on the internet. Yeah, I'm gonna be an adult I don't throw your phone at somebody. I really don't get that mad about stuff. I don't know. Well, but it sounds like you carry yourself with a perspective.

Look, I mean, what you're talking about, Ernie, there is really hard. When you can make life distilled down to is today a day we're shaving. Is today the day I can be of service. When you make your life that small, everything becomes a silly thing. After everything worked related. And work becomes, you know, work became an escape during that time.

Work became like, okay, Cheryl, you got Michael now, you know, I had him in the morning, you got him now, we have a nurse overnight, I'm going to work and that was a place to kind of just do your thing. Have fun, talk hoop, you know, and laugh. Is that when you remember the show being the best kind of distraction for you or the work being a more positive distraction because you have a better relationship with balance and perspective.

Yeah, I think so, but I'm, and I'll tell you this and it all, it can't, it doesn't always work out that way that it's this great, you know, like this place to escape, because when Michael died, I took a week off. And I went back to work thinking, oh, yeah, this will be good to give this, have this night to do this. And all I did was wind up calling my wife during the night and saying, I wish I was home. I'm not ready to do this again. But then you're thinking, you know, your dad would probably, you know, be a bad, probably

it would work. And, but I was so not into it for four, for about a month, for about a month after I went back to work, I was so not into it for four, for about a month. For about a month after I went back to work, I was so not into it and I felt like I was cheating. Folks who were watching, felt like I was cheating the guys I work with because I wouldn't dialed in. And all that, because I don't want to be at work, just wishing I was not at work.

And that was hard. And so I think if I had had to do over again, I would have said, look, I need a little more time because all I'm, it's just like there's no guide that comes when you adopt a child with special needs. There's no guide that says, here's how you do this, just like there's no guide. And everybody knows this, when you lose somebody you love, there's no guide that says, here's how you deal with it. We all are going to deal with it differently. And so there were just too many reminders during the day that had me, they had my mind anywhere but it were.

What a difficult crossroads though to be sort of stuck emotionally between whatever, this is what my dad would have done and I should be home with my wife because that's the important place to be right now. Yeah, it was, I think part of it was, I was trying to prove to myself that maybe I'm tougher than I really am. Like, yeah, no, a week is fine.. You know a week away from work. It would be fine. I'll be great And I'm just I'm not that strong Well, we're solving the first two a minute, but work is also an excellent place to hide

usually from things less large than that Yeah, but it wasn't that wasn't it wasn't a good place for anything at that point. And I knew it. But, you know, the guys were great. And I'm sitting at home and they did this wonderful tribute to Michael on the on the pregame show. And I just felt so

loved by the place that I've loved for ages. And yeah, so I work in a special place. It's a special thing that you have. It's not just a special place. You are somebody who is contributed to making it that special. You've been an anchor in the middle of that place in spirit. And I'm gonna, I'm done here hitting you with the therapy stuff, but I do want the audience to know that you are a special human being

and the work that you do in this industry is unusual for a number of different reasons. And I'd put lower on the list, the craftsmanship of it, the environment that you have created, that is a celebration of sport and life where people can talk about serious things, feeling like they are in a family, loving environment, give yourself some more credit

for what that is. You can be grateful about it and that you had a part in making it the spiritual soul of sports that it is. I am grateful and I appreciate your words because that means a world to me. It truly does and it's like it's a wonderful life man. It's my favorite movie of all time. You know here's to my big brother George the richest man in town. That's way off the other day. Thank you. Thank you for your work, sir, and thank you for spending this time on this.

Always a pleasure, thanks, man.