The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - The Best of SBS: Ernie Johnson

Episode Date: May 29, 2025

As "Inside the NBA" on TNT comes to an end, we look back at Ernie Johnson's incredible South Beach Sessions with Dan Le Batard, originally recorded on May 22, 2023. 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. Watch the last shows of "Inside the NBA" on TNT's Eastern Conference Finals coverage and listen & subscribe to "The Steam Room with EJ and Chuck" wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to DraftKings Network. Welcome to another South Beach Session. I am so happy to be joined by a legendary friend. He will pooh-pooh the idea of legend. He will pooh-pooh with great humility the job that he does on the longest running funny show not just in sports but for all of television. One could make an argument that you have the space. Pooh, pooh. No, 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 asinine. They're 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 the 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, Dad. I just don't want you to be a humble guy here. Like, what you do is hard, and you can talk about it gratefully before God without poo-pooing how hard it is to do what you do, because I know the prep and look this I appreciate everything you 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 going to go on the road, he's going to 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 him 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's 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 Mm-hmm, 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 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 the 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 in these three guys. And and knowing your role is vital. You know if you try to stay stray 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 let her 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 have. And I would do the same for them we all would. 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. When you think about, Kenny and I have been together the 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 Theis for a while, Here's Dick Versace for a while

And then Kenny comes along and 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 signing it zappy here. We love each other. We really are, truly. And you know, and I'm not signing it, Zappie here, we love each other. We really, truly. And I grew up with two older sisters

and this is as close as I'll ever come to having brothers. And that's what they are to me. Do you tell them? Oh, all the time. Do they tell you? Yeah, yeah. And you know what? There was a moment too when Kobe passed.

You know, we did a show out in LA. Right there in the middle of the floor, you know, the game had been canceled, but we were just gonna spend that time talking about Kobe. And I remember Shaq on that night saying on the air that, I don't say this enough to you guys but I love you and we 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 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 mm-hmm without question yeah and 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 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 and Because we're so familiar with it 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. Oh, 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 know You don't hear much about it But I mean his he has causes like like HBCUs are 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 but he may take it home with him. That's what I say when I Charles when I say he isn't sensitive I meant sort of to criticism. I've seen Charles with whatever would be described as the little people. Charles is extraordinary about giving of 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 plate-glass window, but if as I don't disrespect him, he won't throw me through a plate glass window,

but 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 with Shaquille, look, we had a huge laugh one, and people have seen the clip. They, hey, it's supposed to go one to two to three, not one to two and back to one, 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 because it just sounded so funny. But he was he was bothered by it and came in the next day and it carried carried it with him it was like hadn't been forgotten and it was like in the middle of these playoff runs where it's not like that happened on a Thursday now we'll work again next Thursday it was the next night and and he was still kind of in a shell and And so we realized, you know, that, yeah, he is, he is sensitive to, to this and I'll, and I'll be honest, I,

I had an episode with him last year, um, 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, uh, 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, too You know 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 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 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 I had kind of crossed that line with him and he look he respects me And and I respect him. I mean I just story with him back at his house in San Antonio before he was in the NBA and 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 So I knew That he it bothered him that I had gotten on him but he but he is not to and this is not to mother bleep shack but he is not to disrespect this thing that you care about that you guys have worked hard to build and again

people don't have any earthly idea how much work you do like you you're not showing up late and and look and it may have been very well a legitimate hey I let and he told me I left two and a half hours before and 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 ten 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 ten minutes early the next night and he's quiet and he's about ten 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 Jack hey and he's and finally he laughed and then the rest of the crew was like yeah like we're back everything's 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. You might not know this okay but your father is basically the person or one of the people who helped introduce me to sports his voice 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 but but I 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 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 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, 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. So, it wasn't uppermost on my mind. Now looking at his career, his playing 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 2 for 18 at the plate with one career RBI, which came at Knoxville against the University of Tennessee in game two of a doubleheader. If we sweep the doubleheader, we win the division, okay? If we sweep the doubleheader, we win the division. Jim division Jim Watley the coach in his last year there. He coached at Georgia for about 600 years this was his swan song and so I'm he puts me in and 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 delivers game-winning hit, Johnson delivers division title, until until somebody on Tennessee hit a grand slam in the bottom half in 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. And the dream dies right there? 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 you know I kind of think and I probably don't have what's

you know what a big leaguer 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 looking I'm sitting oh too I'm like he's gonna throw a breaking ball in the dirt or something he's like no I'm gonna throw a fastball right over

the plate because you're clueless you don't know anything and I'm like oh I was trying to think okay never mind I need to put my bat down and not play this anymore I'm not 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, Dad, don't worry about it. You know, it's okay. I don't think think I was never gonna be at that level and so then it was okay what do you do and I 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 Queen, was a teacher who got to go to the baseball field every day. And I said, that would be a blast. So that's what I'm going to do. And it was actually Skip Carey 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. 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 you know, you might enjoy this

you know, you might think about it and So I did I I thought about I wonder what this campus radio station at Georgia is all about WUOG and I I went in there and they can't really turn you down. You know, it 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. You're saying it's the it's the worst and least interesting broadcast in the 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 it. Why do you still have have this the game is played on a rink?

97 The puck is a rubberized disc It was horrible and that was what it was and there were like three three parts of it and and the third part was a worse than the first Yes W uo g hockey corner and 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 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 look at what got fertilized here You had nothing to work with and this this grew into now you won't say this right? You won't say that. This is the best thing that's ever existed in studios sports television. I mean the awards say it It's been pretty good. Yeah, and I know I won't I won't put it over anything I'm just I appreciate what we've been able to do and and the real you know 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 is it hey this is the best sports studio sports show of all time or whatever that's great to hear but now are are you, is the next show going to be just that good? 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, oh man, we just phoned this one in today or this wasn't good or I

asked stupid questions. That's, it has to, you gotta get better. Caring 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 mountaintop of where success resides. There are too many good shows out there. I mean there are some, there are good shows and there are, don't stop me before I say this. Okay, 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 were great studio hosts Oh wait, this is where I disagree with you though, and and I'm gonna stop you It's not even the mechanics of studio preparation. You were gonna 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 Shaq 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 pro- 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 Costas might be able to do the mechanics of television, but to make your teammates feel loved? Nah, not everyone can do that. Just lovin' them back.

But not everyone can create that environment. That's just simply untrue. You're underestimating what your gift is, what your R is earning. it's super unusual in this business to have your likeability factor. 30 years on television? Nah, like maybe Pat Sajak 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 not. Sure. It's, 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 has paid the bills for a long, long time. Much more than I deserve. But it is, it's my job. There was a time in my life where the job was right here and now it's 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 And so 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 was back in local TV WSB in

Atlanta and I'm the weekend sports anchor and they give me about six and a half minutes okay out of that half hour and and on a weekend you got a lot of stuff going on you got Georgia football George 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. I said 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 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 am just letting letting her have it and it was it was absolutely it was it was off the charts vile and I walked away proud of it and it bugged me for years and it bugged me for years. It bugged me because I'd never apologize for it.

And several years later low 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. And she said, yeah, I remember you. And I said, look, this is years late, but I'm sorry. And I said, you don't know how sorry I am. I can't even express it. And I'm just

asking you to forgive me. And she said, I forgave 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 and 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 not 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 preparationaholic. Someone tells you 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. It's exactly what I was thinking. How dare you do that to me? But that's where you could have become infected by television's vanities 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 that was you saw my reaction to her like how dare you and that's just so, and part of the reason it 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 the scorebook, doing his notes. I learned all that there.

And so when I consider 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'd 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 hurts to I Think maybe because people think oh Ernie's never said a bad thing to anybody in his life. Yeah, I have and I've been a total prick sometimes. And it takes a lot of... it

takes being intentional about doing the right thing and being... yeah, 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's said about you, you're kinda like, oh, here I'm coming, I'm getting that puffed up chest again, 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, hey, it's very nice, I appreciate the fact that you like the show, appreciate the fact you like me, and I'm not going to 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.

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but I was, you know, I'm a good Catholic boy growing up, you know, going to Mother Good Council School, you know, you're going to St. Jude's in Atlanta. You're, you know, 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. 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 there's something there that you haven't really been recognizing. You know what, there's something spiritual about this. That was kind of an awakening for me in like 1997.

You know, I 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 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. It was like Eric and Maggie, who are two oldest, 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, Cheryl 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 give them some, you know, so that they're not confused when one of the kids brings up Moses or Noah or somebody, who are you 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 listened to this pastor, Kevin Myers. And he's talking about who's,'s talking about 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 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 saying 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 wrong. Yeah. 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 Martzke. The media critic for... For the USA Today. What a terrible God. You know what? That was what was driving me at that point. I know. What was driving me there was... No, you deserved to be pierced for that. Yeah.

As man, I can't wait for the Monday morning USA Today to see if I made Rudy's call in a good way. Your priorities would be wrong if that... That's what was driving me. That's funny. It was, what 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. Oh 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 and always the first question is how do you balance this work? You know this work and and home thing and it's

That never it's it's it's not an easy answer. It's not All I can tell them is 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 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, and I was too of my dad.

I know that work took him on the road a lot and he missed a lot of stuff. I 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. That sentence resonated with a whole lot of people because of the relationship that they have with work. You have six kids and you've been successfully married for 41 years, correct? If we make it to August, it'll be 41. Many of them happy.

And she and I share a land and I always say that too. We always tell people. But we also, well, I also tell folks, they said, look, if you really want to score points with your wife, next time you're in a social setting and somebody, you know, another couple's with you, well, how long have you guys been married? 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. That's very good. It's not bad. That's good for 36 holes. I imagine you'd have

to be a romantic. Would you give people secrets on what it is that, what is the key to loving someone for four decades? She says that I make her laugh. And I just think, I think the key is just, you know, pulling on the rope the same way and having the same goal. And look, I'm a sportscaster, my wife's a 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 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 trafficked and now the homeless and She's always drawn to that and it's and 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 out-kick 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 and and the thing is i make her laugh and most of that's unintentional you know so that's just well my wife my there's nothing that makes my wife happier and it delights me as well than when i'm a fool which i which i often often am there is nothing that makes her laugh oh it's a it's a guarantee for me i can do that just by saying hey i'll fix. 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. Yes. 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'm clueless.

It's laughable. And I got that from my dad too because my mom, my late mother said, said, your 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 he 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, The idea that I'm slowly becoming my father in ways that are deeply uncomfortable to see in a mirror. Yeah, it's, sometimes it's not really uncomfortable. You know, sometimes it's kinda cool,

like in the hallways the other day, there's a guy who'd been a Turner for a long time, who used to, you know, work on some of the Braves broadcast when my dad was still calling games. And I saw him the other day and I said, how 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 and have a terrain that is successful or that is that is more helpful to happiness than might otherwise be if not in a loving house. No without question I mean and that's you know what I I wrote Unscripted six years ago. And, you know, kind of a term that described 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 a 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 Anne sees 20-20 one 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 no really what do you are you serious yeah we really yeah this would be great we need to investigate this and we do we investigated 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 than I am about her being in Romania where back in 91 who knows what's going on. That'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 that experience changed the trajectory of our whole family you know 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. Doesn't know how to chew, because all they've been feeding him is out of a bottle, and he's three years old. And you know, it's, 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 wondering 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 of 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've 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 like 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 and so you know you have to go through this whole? home study everything to to see if you're a Fit parent, you know if this 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 like, okay, here we go. And can you explain to the audience what kind of undertaking? I'm not talking about paperwork here. I'm talking about the commitment to raise a child under these conditions. Yeah, it was... One of his feet was totally turned in at the ankle so he couldn't walk. And we knew when he got, when we got him home, he would have to go through a battery of tests from doctors here in the States to see 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 a funny gait and they say, well we need to do another test and they cut open his leg and they do a muscle bisy. And they say he's got muscular dystrophy. And then you do research on MD. And you talk to doctors.

And they say there's no cure for it. So we go from Ernie and Cheryl, Eric and Maggie, great job. Boy and girl, here we go. You went unscripted 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 backseat comes Mike Mike he just said his name. And it's like, we're making progress. There's a step. And he would never be able to communicate like this. He had his own, 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 was he had autistic tendencies and loved cars loved lawnmowers If he met you he asked what you drive And then he remember that I mean I'd run into teachers of his at the mall Ten years after they taught him and I'd say oh Michael who is this coming by and she? And she should be waving. Oh Michael, and I'd say, Michael who is this coming by and she and she'd be waving, oh Michael and he'd say Chevy Astro van light blue and she said yeah that is what I drove when I taught you. It was 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 what they're, 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 then I would a big day for Michael would be go to a car dealership go inside and get a few brochures and And he couldn't read or write, but he could memorize all the cars. And he would see them on the road and that's this, and that's a Toyota, and that's this. And then if you'd take it home and like laminate some of the pictures and put them in a binder for him.

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 shinier and brighter. It can just be content with the simple things. And 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 our family slogan is and what we we put emojis on stuff it's always this it's always I love you in sign language and it's and that's the whole that's the foundation that's the whole, that's the foundation. That's what our family's about.

And he kind of paved the way. your door. A well marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over deliver. You exuded. I mean, I've always, I've, you've 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 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, 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, my job today is to serve this guy. And you had to do everything for to serve, that's good. Because I think we, I wish, 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 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, right? I don't, I think a lot of people get caught up on the path to unhappiness with superficialities that aren't quite that. Yeah, well, this is from the guy whose week would be made if Rudy Martzke 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 listen to the audiobook, the subtle art of not giving a,

you familiar with this? Yes, no, there is, I've read the book and there is wisdom in there, although it's got barbed wire all around it. Yeah, it does, but there are certain times when you read that, you know what, yeah, that 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 result resulted in Ernie being truly enraged and raid to truly enraged Have a feeling that you have something. No, I don't have anything. I can't imagine it is what I have It's simply it's 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 with a temper, you know what 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, like our PR department said, hey, would you do an interview with this LA writer? Yeah, sure. Whose first question was, hey, your dad broadcast raves games forever and ever.

You try, 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 was there these 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 gonna be pulling for the Braves because of his dad and and you know, the Braves fans Got their take but as the series unfolds you know and the Braves lose to the Dodgers in 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 that's not me I'm a national broadcaster I'm calling this so then when Braves come back and win the next game then the Dodgers or Dodger fans are like oh man it's so obvious you're so that stuff I don't know if I it raged me but it bothered me. Well but your dad I don't you was your daddy your dad wasn't as bothered with it 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 eye. Dad wanted the, you know, Dad knew who was the Ted Turner's name was on the check so Dad knew he was the Braves broadcaster and but but he was very fair you know I never got got that vibe from him like I got I got that vibe from a lot of announcers you hear these days on any sport who were pulling for like 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 and one of those things that taught me was, I just can't get carried away with this. I just can't. I'm not going to answer everybody who fires. There goes the great story. There's not real rage there.

It's just a mild, a mild, ah, this jerk said something mean on the internet. I'm going to be an adult about it. It's very disappointing, Ernie. I know, but I try. I don't. Why don't you 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. Everything work-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, well, yeah, this will be good to give this, you know, 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 I don't want to but then you're thinking you know your dad would Probably your dad would probably be at work you know 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 and I felt like I was cheating folks who were watching felt like I was cheating the guys I work with because I wasn't dialed in and all I could say 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 it to do over again I would have said look I need a little more time because all I'm It's just 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 going to deal with it differently and and so there were just too many reminders during the day that that had me had my mind anywhere but at work. 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, yeah.

It was, and 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, I 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 told I'll be the first to admit it but work is also an extra excellent place to hide Usually from things less large than that. Yeah, but it wasn't a good place for anything at that point and I knew it.

But you know, the guys were great. The way, and I'm sitting at home and they did this great, this wonderful tribute to Michael on the, on the pre-game show. And I just, 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 has contributed to making it that special.

You've been an anchor in the middle of that place in spirit. And I'm done here hitting you with the syrupy 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 understand 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 the world to me. It truly does. It's like, it's a wonderful life, man. It's my favorite movie of all time. Here's to my big brother George, the richest man in town.

That's the way I feel every day. Thank you. Thank you for your work, sir, and thank you for spending this time with us. Always a pleasure. Thanks, man.