The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - People We Miss Hearing From - Kevin Harlan

Episode Date: March 25, 2020

Play By Play Broadcaster, Kevin Harlan, joins Matt to discuss the strange times we are living in with no sporting events, and when we could see sports return

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Tech's Couch to 200-200. Is the Matt Thomas show. I miss this music so much. We as America miss this music. And on many weekends over the last couple of decades, you heard this voice with this music on CBS, the NBA on TNT, and it made me cry, a shed a tear today,

that I was supposed to be in Milwaukee tonight for the Rockets and the Milwaukee But. Bucks, James Hardin versus Janice. Their war of words will be just a war of words at this point because there's no live action. People we miss hearing from has been a segment we've done for the last couple of weeks. And this next guest of ours is a guy we've really missed because, first of all, he's a great human being. Second, he is one of the premier broadcasters in America from CBS, TNT, and Westwood One Radio.

It's Kevin Harlan here on the Matt Thomas show. Kevin, I say this, I really do miss your voice. How are things, my friend? Well, Matt, it's so nice you'd ask me to join you, and it's great, really great hearing your voice, and I think we're all as sports fans kind of going through some withdrawal. We know the bigger picture, the most important picture is taking a hold of us, and that is the way it should be. But nonetheless, all of us, whether we're missing sports or missing going to school or going to work

and just being with the people that we are side by side with on an everyday basis out in the world, We're all missing something. But like you, I love the business, love the broadcasting. And when you were talking about where you would be tonight doing the Rockets at Milwaukee, that would have been a premier game in the NBA with maybe a far-reaching look into the playoffs. So listen, it's nice to be with you. And like I said before, when I hear your voice, I think of sports, think of the NBA, think of the Rockets. It's nice to visit.

I've been following your career ever since the days of you doing the Chiefs games and the Wolves, and then obviously you're run with CBS and Turner. This has to be, per usual, your busiest time of the year, because you're bouncing between the NBA and the tournament. When was the last time you were home for five consecutive days in March? It had to be probably, as a young man, going to college, I would think, right? It probably was, Matt. You're right.

I can't think of it because I've been with Turner for 24 years. years. I've been with CBS for 22 years during the tournament every time. Before that, I did University of Missouri. And, yeah, no, so these March months and days and weeks over the years

have been very filled, like all of us, we're all busy doing basketball. And, you know, it's, when you see that, I think a lot of us in broadcasting that have to do this year after year after year, and when the NBA begins its fall. And then it goes into winter. So you think of cold and those trips to Boston

and to Washington into New York and wherever you may go on the East Coast. And then when spring hits, you automatically, okay, playoffs are close. The tournament is going on. The first pitch in Major League Baseball is around the corner. And so I've really become accustomed to the change of seasons, you know, kind of reflecting where we are in the sports calendars. So what I do see buds on the trees. And we live in, we live in Kansas City, which has a feel for each of the seasons, maybe a little different than Houston, certainly. But I think of, you know, I think of, all right, the NBA playoffs are about ready to start

and temperatures warming up and we're consistently in the 50s and the 60s here in the Midwest and grasses getting green and everything else. So, yeah, it's strange to be here and not really have anything to do except clean out closets and get your office organized and files organized and things like that. How often do you hear from your executives at both CBS and T&T about what they're hearing? Because obviously, Kevin, let's be honest, and Commissioner Sober has said this. I think the NFL feels it right now that we are so thirsty for sports that even if they're not in front of live audiences and say arenas that to get games back on television and on radio

and whether it be local or regional broadcast, we as a society are missing sports. and finding something else to watch. We need sports right now. Yeah, we do. I do think, you know, if they ever go down that route, and I only say this because of my involvement with the NBA 2K video game series for the league, is that when I am sitting there doing a watching a video of a play or a sequence of plays or a game that I'm commentating with Doris Burke or Chris Weber

or whoever is the analyst in that particular game, they will oftentimes pump in crowd noise into my headset. So I was thinking when this initially came out that the league may play games without fans and the tournament may play games without fans in the stands, they could easily pump crowd noise into these arenas. They could pump crowd noise into the broadcaster's headsets. so that you would think there'd be, you know, I never look into the crowd.

I'm always looking at the players and the benches and the action on the floor. I rarely look into the crowd. So if you could find a way to televise games just showing the action, for the players, it may be weird, but for the broadcasters, I think it would be pretty close to being the same. And I would tell you this, too, and I don't know how you are on the road, but when I am doing games, like I never hear the sound effects that the arena that will put into the game, you know, I never listen to that. But when I go back and watch the game and critique myself, I go, oh, my God, stop with the drum.

Stop with the loud music during these possessions. Like, stop it. Like, it's so distracting. Well, it's funny that you bring that up because the only time I ever do is, because I like to hear other PA announcers and what they do during games. Sure. I do respectfully tease Mason, the Detroit Pistons announcer. I said, Mason, you talk more than I do when I'm calling a game on a radio broadcast.

And he laughs about it, and we have a good time with it. But yeah, there are some arenas that, you know, like when I was growing up, you didn't hear a pin drop at Boston Celtics games at the Garden when you were watching in a television except for Larry Bird passing a ball with Robert Parrish because they let the game dictate it. Kevin, let's be honest. are in 2020 with today's fans and the culture, you've got to have music, you've got to have drums, you've got to have fireworks and technotronics. Look at the scoreboards that we're seeing

around the NBA. The old school just watched the game bid is long gone, unfortunately. It is. And you mentioned, you know, I did the college tournament for all these years. And see, there's none of that in the college game. The college game has that the band may play, but when play begins, the bands will stop. And there is. none of that in the college arena. So I would tell you, and I appreciate, you know, organizations have got to make the game more than just a game because fans expect it. They want the T-shirts. They want the dancers. They want the loud music. They want all the different things that are going on. The drums, the sound effects. I get that. And I don't go to games

for that. I go for the game. And I understand all those things. But it is. a nice change of pace doing the college tournament, doing the regular season games for CBS, where there's none of that. It's just the game. And you rely on the screaming kids that are there, the students that are there, the alumni that have so much invested in these universities and the bands. And then the chance from the cheerleaders, you know, there's something kind of nice to step back into a time perhaps gone by when we just,

had those noises and not all the fireworks and all the things that I know that has made the NBA, the popular game that has meant, it's just old school me talking more than anything else. A couple more minutes here with Kevin Harlan and CBS and TNT. And look, it'd be unfair for me to ask what your favorite event is because all of them I think would be amazing. I would say this, you have to miss Marchman. It's a little bit of special this time of year because not necessarily because let's say Kevin, you and Reggie were doing a game between Duke and. Michigan, but maybe that three versus 14 were 14 wins. I mean, as a play-by-a-play guy, when I was doing University Utah games many years ago, when we were upsetting some folks,

there's nothing better than having the Cinderella slip around for a little bit. And to call those types of games have to be something that I would think every year when you get your slate of games, when CBS sends you to a particular region, you're like, which one of these teams are going to provide that major shocker for the rest of America to watch? Oh, Matt, you're so right. And now, with the college game having far, far, far more parity than ever before, we can see threes beaten four teams and two beaten, you know, losing to a 15 seed. And then we would love to get those 7, 10, 8, 9 matchups because you knew that those teams analytically and statistically were very even, and you could expect that the high emotion

and everybody's so focused that you would get a great game. really with an 8, 9, 10, 7 matchup, would you not get a good game? And then you just hope that a 314 or, you know, 512 would be one of those games, which would really, you know, kind of mark that region where you were, that site where you were. Yeah, you love that. I love the tournament. I never considered it like too much work.

It was shocking how fast doing four games and one day would go. And so I love that. And the college game moves pretty quickly. But listen, when I'd leave the college tournament and go to the NBA, it was stunning the difference in skill level. It was stunning the difference in speed, quickness. Fluidity. Yes.

Unbelievable difference. Unbelievable difference. Well, you've always told me in the past, you took the months of July and a little bit of August off to completely decompress your busy schedule. Selfishly, Kevin, I hope that we are all extraordinarily busy in the month of July, which means we're playing NBA basketball. Oh, yeah. Don't you think, Matt, we're going to, I know they're going to, I don't know how they're going to put together.

We may have a five games first. We may have a five game second round, five game series. But I do think it's smart minds are putting us together. We'll get back out there. It'll happen. It may not have the momentum it had, but quickly when you watch a Hardin or a Westbrook or Janus, you're going to fall back in stride with where the season left off. and we'll see a thrilling playoffs

and conclusion of the season. Any opinion about moving the calendar back permanently to December to say August? Are you in different? I'm all for it. I'm all for it. I do a 60, 68 games season. Then you'd have no load management.

You'd have more games, more time for practicing, more fine-tuning for these players, better health, better games, better focus. We wouldn't, you know, there's games now on nationally, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, say, like, there's so many games. But let's make it special. That's why football is thriving in this country.

We've got one game a week, whether it's pro or college. Let's separate these games a little bit. Let's figure out for a way for the owners. If we're going to miss 14 games from 82 to 68, let's figure out a way for them to make up that money. They will. The networks will pay for it. They'll be better games, higher ratings.

They'll pay, the people will pay more because the games will mean more. Regular season will mean more. We won't be exhausted by watching 82 games like the players are. Load manager will be gone. Better health, better focus, more practice time. And let's begin on Christmas Day. And who says you've got to finish in the first week in June? Let's extend it in the July. You compete with nothing but golf and baseball. There's room there for the NBA. It can be played. It can be done. I would love to see that. The gospel from the one in the greats, Kevin Harle from CBS and T&T. Hey, enjoy your time off. I hope it's very short-lived because we've got to get back in it and tell your T&T people. We've saw Marvin Chris like every time the last two months of the regular season. We need to see more of Kevin and Reggie doing these TNT Rockets games down the road, my friend.

Aren't you? I want to see more Matt Thomas. There you go. I love seeing you on the road, and I know we've got many dates ahead of us down the road. So enjoy this time. Catch your breath because I know you'll be working hard here in the coming months. And we miss coming down to Houston, but hopefully we'll be down in an episode. part of the world here sooner than later. Bless you, my friend. Thank you very much for spending some time with us this afternoon. Take care, Matt. All right. We'll see you. you.

All right. Thank you, friend. Thank you. Kevin Harlan, the great Kevin Harlan joining us here on Sports Talk 790. He says it. Let's play 68 games. The NBA owners are like, what? Take away seven home games?

No chance. 116 on the Matt Thomas show, Sports Talk 790. If you want to comment on anything that Kevin Harlan had to say, and it's just great hearing his voice, again, I cannot tell you. first of all, one of my favorite broadcasters, but even a better human being, one of the true nice people I've ever met in sports broadcasting, and I know that if you had a chance of meeting yourself, you'd feel the exact same way.