The Press Box - Verne Lundquist on Calling Huge SEC Games, Memories of Kick Six, Johnny Football, and More

Episode Date: November 3, 2022

In preparation for Saturday’s prime-time game between undefeated Georgia and Tennessee, Bryan chats with former CBS sports commentator Verne Lundquist. Lundquist discusses what he misses most about calling sports, talks through his time working alongside Terry Bradshaw covering NFL games, and how he made it to the no. 1 spot at CBS with Gary Danielson. All the while, they revisit some of the top moments calling prime-time SEC games with players such as Johnny Manziel, Tim Tebow, Jacob Hester, and more! Host: Bryan Curtis Guest: Verne Lundquist Associate Producer: Erika Cervantes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Issa Kwanga. And I'm Ryan Hunt. And we co-host Stadio, a football podcast, on The Ring of Podcast Network. If you like soccer or football, make sure you search for Stadio, a football podcast on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, media consumers. Welcome to the press box. Brian Curtis of the Ringer here, along with producer Erica Servantes. We got a huge college football game coming on Saturday.

Undefeated number one, Georgia versus undefeated number two. Tennessee. I don't know about you, but the thought of a big-time SEC game makes me think of a certain announcerly voice. It makes me think of phrases like, oh my gracious. It makes me think of a belly laugh that could be heard from Gainesville to Baton Rouge. It makes me think of Verne Lundquist, who called SEC games for CBS from 2000 to 2016. I want to talk to Vern. I want to talk to Vern about two crazy things that happened during that period. One is that the SEC became the best conference in college football and that 3.30 Eastern Time game became something like a national game of the week. Vern was the announcer who got to call moments like Kick Six and the prayer at Jordan Hare

and Terrence Cody's block field goals against Tennessee. He got to call the heroics of Tim Tebow, Johnny Football, Jacob Hester, Nick Sabin, even less Miles. I asked Vern to relive all those moments. But the SEC didn't just produce BCS champions. It changed Vern's career. Until age 60, Vern was a prototypical number two announcer on the NFL in college sports, sort of like Ian Eagle was until he got the final four last week. Vern was a guy, but not the guy. Then Vern went to the SEC, called several dozen matchups that could be called games of the year

and or century, and by his 70s had attained a level of stardom, he had not. never known before. Uncle Vern, as he's been nicknamed, is 82 now. We sat in his condo that he shares with his wife, Nancy, and talked about what it was like to finally become number one. Here's Vern Lundquist. All right, Vern, before the Tennessee Alabama game last month, your old partner, Gary Danielson said on CBS that you had texted him before the game.

What did you text him? Well, I had a sense that it was going to be a really challenging game for both schools. And I just sent him a note and said, these are the weekends when I really, really miss sitting by your side. And I do. We got one coming up now. It's going to be Georgia, Tennessee. And I miss it again.

You know, when they're playing Bowling Green, it doesn't get to juice. is flowing in quite like it did but the SEC is in my view hands down the most significant toughest conference in the country to win so and in all the assignments I had throughout my career which still continues for one week a year the the one I treasured the most really of all the things I was lucky enough to do was the assignment to the SEC. I really, really treasured those moments. So I just told Gary, hey pal, I'll be watching. What is it you miss? Is it broadcasting the game? Is it being the face that presents a huge game like that to America? Brian, I think so. I think it's knowing

that you're in the middle of it all, the fact that you do have the best seat in the house, And that it matters what you say and how you say it. It matters only in the sense that here, let me divert the top, not divert, but take a side step. I've always believed this. I believe that the responsibility of a play-by-play guy is to give the reason or reason, the listener or the viewer, a compelling reason, to be invested in the game.

And you do that by anecdotal information, stories, both good and bad, about the competitors, the universities, the coaches, and give them a reason to be alert enough to want to care, whether it's positive or negative, and stay with you. I mean, yes, the names and numbers are vitally important, down and distance, vitally important, but anecdotal information.

And this is where the play-but-play guy has a responsibility, much larger in this context than the analyst does. And this is because, too, it's college football. And the people watching are not going to know these guys. No, like they do NFL players. Not in the least. I mean, I find myself every Saturday afternoon watching our telecasts or ESPN or, or NBC on Sunday night.

I watch myself, and I pay attention to the lineups, but I don't get anything out of them. Because, you know, if you get a guy dedicated to your school, he stays four years, now with the possibility of transferring, you need a roadmap to find out where everybody's going. But, but, and people are not. familiar with these guys, unless you are an alumnus or a loyal follower of a specific team. And so that's the responsibility you have. And that's, I don't miss the memorization. I darn sure

don't miss the travel. Holy cow. You've got to be masochistic to go through airline travel these days. And, but it's the involvement and the knowledge that you do have, and I so much buy into all the pomp and circumstance. I love the bands. I love the pom-poms. I love pretending for three and a half hours every Saturday afternoon that every student athlete is also a student. That is a challenge at times. but the NCAA and all of its wisdom insists that they are student athletes. Okay.

Let's talk about your career before the SEC. Sure. You're at CBS in the late 80s calling the NFL with Terry Bradshaw on the number two team. Right. Now, a lot of people know Terry as a pregame guy on CBS and then on Fox. What was Terry like to call games with? Imagine, just as you would imagine him. to be. I got to call from CBS after my two years of doing college ball, and they said, Terry's retiring

from the Steelers, and we are going to move you into the NFL as his partner. And to give you an idea of how my life is changing, the press conference was held in New York City at the old 21 club on 52nd Street. Sure. And I mean, it was a big deal because Terry was a big deal. And we started that year and the next, 84 and 85, as the number seven broadcast team in the hierarchy. Pat Summerall and John Madden were number one, deservedly. But we were together for two years, 84, 85.

inexplicably they split us up they never explained it they just said we're going to change your assignments that's when i worked with pat hayden in 86 87 my partner was dick vermil both wonderful guys and then in 88 they called again without any background and said we're going to reunite you and terry again and magically we had improved dramatically in those two years because all of a sudden Terry and I were number two to John and Pat. And then the quality of life was greatly enhanced. We got a lot of really good games. We got our first playoff game, which was huge.

That was Philadelphia, Chicago, and it became known as the Fog Bowl. Amazing experience. Now, 88 and 89, we worked together, and there. Terry said to me one day, CBS had asked the two of us to go to the NFL owners meeting and make a presentation. So we were in the car having flown in. I can't even remember where it was now. But Terry said, Bubba, I think I'm going to ask to go to the studio because he was so frustrated with the awareness that as long as John Madden was working number one, he had no chance to be number one.

And one reason he won four Super Bowls is that he is very competitive. And so I understood, I truly did. You mentioned being a number two guy, two of your partners, Pat Hayden, who you mentioned, and Billy Cunningham, in the 80s gave you the nickname Otis, like Otis the elevator company. Boy, you have done your research. What did they mean by calling you?

Well, they, that was funny. because I had worked with Billy. He's a wonderful guy. And I'd worked with Pat, who was an equally wonderful guy. And we were together at the Masters, as a matter of fact, and having lunch, Pat, Billy, myself, and I don't know how this conversation, but Billy had moved up to the number one NBA job, and Pat had moved up to the number one college football job. and so they were discussing their elevation, their promotion,

and Billy's the one who said, you know, we're going to nickname you Otis, because both of us were able to get on your elevator and ride to the top. So that's a fond memory for me when Billy said that. And the gist being they got number one jobs, rode you right to the top. Oh, yeah.

And you were the number two got. A perennial. I was a perennial Avis. I mean, honest and gosh, and it used to gnaw me to death. I mean, why? But again, it's an executive decision. And the difference in our business, and I think it's to probably an equally,

equal extent, it's the same in your craft. You can't go to your boss and say, hey, look, how many cars I sold last month? It's a subjective judgment. And there's never any explanation. How did Terry Bradshaw and I drastically improve in two years? And we didn't see each other. But somehow we were really good.

And so, yeah, that was the oldest nickname. So 1999, you're calling NFL games again for CBS, again on the number two team with Dan Dierdorf. Yep. CBS starts to talk to Dick Enberg, or you get word that they are talking to Dick Enberg. And the supposition here is that he's going to come to CBS and take your job on the NFL, on the number two team.

And you are going to go to call SEC games for CBS on Saturday afternoon. And I fought it. I didn't want to do it. The rumors became so persistent that I called Sean McManus. And we chatted it and I totally. him my concerns. And I said, now, if you sign Dick, it wouldn't affect me, would it? And he said, well, first of all, I can't imagine. He did what executives did so well. He maneuvered sideways. And he said, he's such a high-ticket item. I don't think we would sign him. In that context,

he expounded a little bit. And then he said, now, in the unlikely event, that we were to hire Dick Enberg. How would you feel about moving to the Southeast Conference? And I said the appropriate things and said goodbye. We were in the kitchen in our home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. And I looked at Nancy and I said, honey, pack your bags for Tuscaloosa. And my first game ever in the SEC was Florida, Tennessee. I'd never been to Neeland State even Knoxville.

It was a thrilling experience, 107,000. And Jesse Palmer, who's now in the pre-and-post game shows, hit a pass with 10 seconds to go on the game. Jabbar Gaffney did or did not make the catch. But the side judge or the back judge rather ruled a touchdown. And we got off the air, and I looked at Todd Blackledge, my partner. And I took a deep breath, and I said, are they? all this way? And he looked at me and grinned and he said, enough of them.

What struck you about SEC games that were different than your average college football game? I grew up in Austin, so I was familiar with Texas and Oklahoma. I did Michigan, Ohio State once or twice. I've done UCLA and USC once or twice. There is nothing, nothing to equal the passion surrounding Alabama and Auburn. I've never seen anything to equal that. Never. Just a completely different level of buy-in and connection and noise in the stadium itself.

Oh, yeah. There's a legend, of course. There always seem to be legends associated with the SEC. But legendarily, you're announced at birth to declare. I share a fun anecdote about that. When Nancy and I, the first 11 years I did the SEC, we did that dreaded commute. But then Sean, my boss asked me at Augusta one year,

he said, would your life be any easier if we provided a corporate apartment for you in Atlanta? Whoa, would it ever? So for the last six years, we moved to. Atlanta and they it was you know it was not nothing lavish but it was functional and it gave us access so we decided that anything that was under a four-hour drive we would make the drive and avoid the hassle of going through security and all that sort of thing so we had a game in tuscaloosite about a four-hour drive from from downtown Atlanta so we did the game and now we're in the drive nancy and I are in the drive coming back to Atlanta. And we stopped for lunch at a Crackerville restaurant, which is five-star dining in the south. And so, and we collect coffee mugs. I had a cup of coffee here in our Austin condo this morning out of a South Carolina coffee mug. And so we didn't have one for whatever reason from either Alabama or Auburn. So we stopped.

this cracker barrel and we put coffee mugs on the counter to check out and the young lady picked them up and looked at him and looked at us and she said are these Christmas gifts or are y'all a split family that sums that sums it up a couple more big calls i want to ask you about October 6th 2007 the number nine florida gators and their quarterback tim tibo went to baton rouge to play number one LSU who went on to win the national championship. That is the game where Les Miles went for it on fourth down five times and got it all and converted it all five times. Now fourth and one.

Les Miles has gambled all game. Is he going to do it again? How about this? As my friend, Bill Raftery would say, onions. What do you remember about that game? Jacob Hester. He was the fullback and I believe he. carried it on all five efforts.

I just, I was in awe. I love Les Miles. I used to love doing games with him. And so we really enjoyed when we got to go to LSU. But I just remember the audacity. There's another euphemism for that, too, that Les Miles put on display that night. To trust his team, to block that well,

and for Jacob Esther, to run that hard and to convert those things. And they won the game. I think 2824, my brother and his sons, I was able to get them tickets to the game. So they've only seen one SEC game, and that was their memory. And what, I mean, again, it's that we're talking about this, the passion. and there's nothing like a night game at Baton Rouge. Conversely, they hate it when we move a game to 3.30 Easter because it cuts into their drinking time. I got to know James Carville quite well, and he's a well-known LSU, and he told me what.

Gary and I were on his, he does a radio pregame show in LSU, and lives in Batesw. And we were guests in his show, and he complained to us on this statewide radio show. Y'all don't understand the culture down here. And I said, I believe we do. But when you're there at night and the public address announcer is a guy named Dan Boer, B-O-E-R, and he announces, it's sunset in death, death, Valley and the roar starts, it's just thrilling to be immersed in that kind of environment. And that's, again, Brian, you don't get that if you're doing Oregon State, UCLA.

You just don't. Tim Tebow is one of the handful of guys from that era of SEC football who was almost bigger than the game itself. Yep. How did you find Tebow in pregame meetings? I love the guy. I just loved it because he expresses his belief. And he lives by that word.

I just thought the world, I got a quick, I got two quick anecdotes about Tim and remind me about a guy I met over the weekend. But I first met Tim in Tuscaloosa. He was introduced to me. He was on a recruiting visit to Alabama. But he grew up in the Jacksonville area and ultimately decided to go to Florida. So we were chatting with you one day And Gary, who can be a little acerbic,

Gary looked at Tim and he said, What's your favorite pass down? What he'd like to do other than football? And Tim said, deadly serious. I love to preach in prisons. I love to try and convert prisoners. And Gary looked at him skeptically and said, Did you ever convert anybody?

And he said, no, not yet, but I'm not going to quit trying. And he's devoted to that. He's the son of a Baptist preacher. His wife, I'm sorry, not his wife. His sister was, well, he was active at LSU. She was serving a mission in Bangladesh. So he's such a good man. And he lives by what he preaches.

And anyway, so now there's an NCAA rule that you must be an active student, even if you've graduated, you have to take one upper division course while you're playing football. And this happened to Matt Linerd at USC. So Matt stays on for one three-hour course, and Tim was taking one, and we were jockeying back and forth with him. And I told him that Matt Linerd had a similar experience and had had to do that at Southern Cal. And I said, what's your three-hour course? He said, what Matt Liner did? And I said, his was introduction to ballroom dancing. And Tim said, mine's not that tough.

Now. That's a good answer. Oh, it was great. Just great. But he had that kind of charming personality. Last, well, the Saturday prior to us doing this, I was at Georgia, Florida game. And so we're down in the press dining area. And a fellow comes up and introduces himself to me as Tate Casey.

And I said, it's great to meet you. He said, I played at Florida. And I said, what position do you play? He said, I was a tight end. And he said, I think you might remember a pretty good play I was involved in. And I said, help me what? They said, the famous jump pass. When Tebow from a yard out approached the line and then jumped,

and he double pumped while he's in the air and lofted this moonball. And it was Tate Casey who caught that tumbling backwards and got these both feet down and for a touchdown. Against LSU, as a matter of fact. but I was able to connect the dots and put Tate Casey. So it reminded me another facet of Tim Tebow's career. Fast forward two years. October 4, 2009, Alabama, they're on their way, their first national championship under Nick Sabin,

is playing Tennessee. Tennessee lines up to kick the winning field goal, and Bama defensive tackle Terrence Cody blocks it. His second blocked field goal of the day. Four seconds to go. Lincoln for the lead. What do you remember about that game? I remember Terrence Cody.

They called him Mount Cody. He was a junior college transfer. And he had played two years at Gulfport, Mississippi Junior College. And he was huge. He was like 6-6-5-66, 322. pounds and somehow they could not block him. And I remember the call. It's Cody.

Cody wasn't something. I remember until I tried to say it. Cody again, something like that, pretty emphatically. And I mean, the same guy blocks, two field goes in one game. That's rare. But Cody was rare. So yes, I have real good, real fond memories of that experience. Here's something I've always loved about your big calls.

Every announcer wants to be accurate about the facts. But when I hear you deliver one of those calls, you are also accurate about the emotional quality of the moment. You are harnessing the way people at home or people in the stands feel about a crazy play or a big play. Yeah. Is that something you set out to do when you call a play like that? I don't set out to do it, but I'll divert from football. to golf for the moment. Tiger Woods made this miraculous chip shot in 2005 and on the 16th hole to disgust it. And he had to hit it 90 feet with perfect backspin. It hopped twice

and then turned right and proceeded to tumble down toward the hole. And it sat on the lip of the cup for 1.8 seconds. And when it dropped in, my reaction was, in your life, have you ever seen anything like that? And I was a fan at that moment. And I was reacting like most fans I think who were watching were feeling. I've never seen anything like that in my life. But it certainly wasn't thought out. We work in a reactive environment. And you can't pre-plan. although some guys do and then they chisle and hammer and force it in. I know several.

To hell with you, you don't think it fits. I'll make it fit. No, you don't. Anyway, I said that because because it's, I thought people sitting at home were feeling exactly that. Man, oh man, Martha, I've never seen anything like that. And that was my reaction.

So, now back to football. share experience because the greatest football game I've ever seen or ever been a part of, that's better to say, was the Iron Bowl in 2013. No, returned by Chris Davis. Davis goes left. Davis gets a block. Because I've seen it replayed so many times. I said, there are no flags. And then I thought to myself, dear God, don't let there be any flags. And you couldn't hear it, but I was breathing a sigh of relief. Like, this is 2013. Yeah. You make that call. And I watched us the other day, you laid out for a minute and seven seconds after that. And is that my design? Is that just what felt natural in

the moment? I think it's like the tiger call. I probably would not have done that if I weren't really experienced in the craft of broadcasting. I think if the tiger call had happened when I was 30 years old, I'd have jumped all over. And I would have done the same thing on the Iron Bowl. But I think I have the discipline having had similar experiences, not that emotional. But I've had experiences in big moments before. And I would have done a play-by-play. You know, he's at the 50, the 40s.

Instead of let Steve Milton, a brilliant director, do his work. Because in that period of silence, and Gary didn't say a word either. And Steve just created a visual symphony. You know, it was perfect. And again, I've seen it so many times. It gets replayed. And Steve just did.

What a story he told by the use of his cameras. And Gary and I didn't want to intrude on his work. So we just shut up. And thank God we did. And then when it was appropriate, I said, well, that might be worth another look. Very deadpan. Oh, yeah. All this time you're calling SEC games.

Something starts to happen. Urban Meyer and Florida win the national championship after the 2006 season. That starts this run of seven straight SEC teams winning the national title. How could you feel that changing the CBS game of the week? Well, I think we were witnesses to history. And the expert, nature of the product that these teams were producing and putting on the field every Saturday afternoon.

I said at the outset, toward the beginning of our conversation, CBS made a commitment to take what essentially was a regional sport and presented nationally. Now, we were helped in no small measure by the FBS rankings because suddenly, what teams in the southeast were doing was relevant to the future fortunes of teams in Oregon or California. And vice versa, what somebody in the Big Ten was doing, how well they were doing, was going to affect what was going on in the SEC. And the SEC prevailed. And I know people have a passion in the Big Ten and in the Pac-12. and they think, well, wait a minute.

But now having, and I'm spoiled by this because I've seen so many of these SEC games. I do believe the product, not top to bottom, but top to midway is unequal to by any of the conference in the country. And they've proven this, in part by that run of consecutive national titles. And I think people are weary of, oh, my God, it's Georgia and Alabama again. Well, and that's why I think a lot of people in the country are pulling for Tennessee. I really do. And that's, you know, that's heresy in Athens or Tuscaloosive.

Holy cow. I'll get ridden out of town on a rail if I say that. Well, I'm saying it nationally. So what the heck? So here's an assignment calling SEC football you initially regarded as a demotion. What did calling those games change about your career? Oh, my gosh. Gave it prominence to which I despired. You can't do what I've done all these years without a. a certain degree of narcissistic self-aggrandizement. I think all of us who do this do not shy from the spotlight, and we like the regard, the esteem.

That's a reality. And suddenly, I mean, I told one of my two hosts for the last weekend at Georgia, Florida, Lauren Smith, he's a brilliant, brilliant historian and writer, lives in athletes and ran track for Georgia back in the 50s. But we went down on the sideline for the last three minutes of the game. And, you know, because of my association with the SEC, there were people in the stands who were yelling and saying, welcome back and we miss you and all that sort of thing. Well, I'd be lying through my teeth if I told you that didn't mean anything to me. Of course it did.

And I relished that. We talked about feeling like a number two announcer at CBS. When you start doing the SEC games, it goes along, the conference gets so big. Did you feel like a number one guy? Well, I did, Brian, yes. and at long last because I'd always aspired to be the lead announcer. And I never had been.

I was always, I mentioned a while ago, I was Avis to Hertz. And I was number two to Summerall in basketball. I was number two to Brent Westberger for a while. Now I forged lasting friendships with my partners in that number two position. but I'll give you another Otis Elevator thing, Bill Raftery. Bill might be the closest friend I've had among the dozens of partners across all these 20 different sports that I've done. And Bill got promoted and deservedly so. And, you know, he's worked now the final four with Jim and Grant Hill.

but I was always 1A for the long, and that was the way it was explained to me by Sean McManus. Okay, we're not going to make you number one, but how about you consider yourself one A? Well, I might as, you know, I could have been budget or national. Alamo. Yeah, it's exactly, enterprise. So what did it feel like to be number one?

Well, it just, it, my self-image improved. I know that. For real, the way you looked at yourself. Absolutely. Because I felt successful. And I look back,

people have asked over the years, well, you never called a Super Bowl. Is that a huge hole in your resume? No, it's not. No. It just wasn't meant to be. But I don't regret not having called a Super Bowl.

I've had enough satisfying experiences. in this career that goes so far back that, but it was validation by the company and by the viewing audience that I had meaning, I guess, that that's way too serious a phrase to use in this context. But yeah, yeah. During this period, the writer Spencer Hall gave you the nickname Uncle Vern? What did it mean to be Uncle Vern? Well, I know Spencer Hall, and he and I chatted about this.

He said that I was like an old shoe. And my presence in a living room allowed other people to plot around in slippers. But I liked the nickname, and I get called that when I'm at people at sporting events now and if people recognize me, I get that Uncle Vern thing a lot.

CBS, the marketing department headed by Jen Salmattel, they took taking to calling me Uncle Vern in press releases. You know, Uncle Vern's still around. But no, it's a very comforting thing because unless you're mean and vile, I think everybody has a favorite uncle.

And some people probably don't, but most people do. And to have me held in that context, I like that a lot. Did you aspire to be warm and comforting on the air? I don't think so. I think it's a product of my environment growing up. It's not something that is manufactured. there's an amazing quality about television, I think. And this gets a little woo-woo, and I don't mean to do that.

But there's something going on between the viewer and the person on the other side of the camera. And I think this so-called wall is broken down in imperceptible ways. But the essence of the person who's looking into the camera, camera is conveyed to the person who's viewing. And I think the camera has, I'll bet you that if you're watching a television set and you're, let's make it sports. And you see someone on the air and you think he's an arrogant jerk, 90% of the time he's going to be an arrogant jerk.

And I've had that happen with me. If I, you know, what I finally meet, and it's a very small industry, and most of us know each other. Now it's a new generation of guys that are doing it, but the guys in their 60s and 70s, I mean, I know almost every one of them, and they all know me, guys who are alongside me. And I think if you think somebody's going to be nice, they will be. Conversely, if you think he's a jackass. He's going to be a jackass. It's, I don't know how it happens, but it does. It's interesting you say that because when I talk to people who aren't in the industry,

like my mom watching football on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, the way she looks at the television is like, I like him or I don't like him. and it's what you're talking about. It's that feel, that whatever feeling is conveyed through the screen. And it might be somebody who's a terrific broadcast. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

I'm thinking of one guy in particular right now and no names. I can't wait until we turn these marks out. Okay. That'll be a private conversation. Yeah. And if somebody's arrogant, you can sense it, I think. And if they're not, if they're accessible. And I think those of us who choose to be public people have an obligation to be accessible to people.

That's what you aspired to, and that comes with the territory. Here's another key part of the Uncle Vern persona, the deep voice. My dad, my dad, two things, the quality of my voice and the belly laugh. their products of my father. My dad was a, he passed away 22 years ago, but he lived 85 and he, he, uh, he had only three churches. He was a Lutheran minister.

And he was in Everett, Washington, Austin. And then, uh, they moved to Omaha when I was 16 years old. And that's where he died and is buried by mom as well. Uh, but he had, I thought he was the voice. of God in Sunday. There's an authoritarianism that is conveyed by a guy who's preaching to you from four or five feet above you.

That's probably by design because it is the voice of God. But he had a laugh that I inherited, and he had a speaking voice that I was lucky enough to hear it. And he had no accent. Thank heaven. So there's dad and the voice of God. Uh-huh. The belly laugh.

Yeah. And then a few thousand cigarettes over the years. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. And I quit drinking two and a half years ago. But there were copious amounts of Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker that were down my desophagus.

So I quit drinking and I quit smoking. I quit smoking 30 years ago, 30 years ago. And what I still have from that 30 years of smoking is this chronic bronchitis. The doctors said, oh, it'll all heal. The doctors lied. A couple more big calls for you, Vern. Sure. November 5th, 2011, we had one of those many games that are dubbed the game of the century.

Number one, LSU, at number two, Alabama. What is it like to call a game that is preceded by that much hype? because I had done it so many times, there was no concern about being ready or, that's a 9-6 game, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And many people thought it was an awful game.

I thought it was one of the most savagely contested defensive battles I'd ever seen. But going into it, it was just hype heaven. And heaven knows CBS. would oil that can as much as they could. I'll guarantee you this, and I don't know, but I promise you. Now, the National Football Foundation came out this week. Well, college football did too, but I know that CBS marketing is paying attention to what the national football.

They said, Georgia's number one, Tennessee is number two. I'll guarantee you there come on the air on Saturday and say, Welcome to top ranked Georgia and second rank Tennessee. Now, the college football playoff committee disagreed, right? They've got Tennessee number one and Georgia three, but the hype machine will be in motion before this game. Anyway, because I had been, hey, I did the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in 94,

estimated audience of the Wednesday night battle between Tanya and Nancy was 126 million people. And when Scott Hamilton and I heard about that the next day, Scott said, thank God I didn't have an awareness of that. I wouldn't have been able to open my mouth. So the fact that we're getting 13 or 14 million, and I'm sure that's what that audience was. after a while, I mean, I was scared to death the first time I opened my mouth as a play-by-play guy. Scared witless. But if you've done it a lot, that fear factor is leveled. There's always a little, I hope I'm up to this.

But that's a good thing. You know, it keeps you alert. and fortunately most of the time I have been. I've had some notorious bad ones. I remember doing a whole game where it was in Detroit Lions and number 86 I kept perceiving him as number 88. So I called the wrong name about four times. Well, who did I hear about that?

But for the most part, if the job has been done as it should be, all the preparation is complete by the time the game starts. That LSU-Bama game was interesting because there was so much hype for the regular season game, that it comes around that they're going to meet again in the national championship. And that's when I could feel the nation saying, the SEC might be great. It might be the greatest thing since sliced bread. But man, this is a lot of SEC in our lives. Yes. And you could really feel a backlash in earnest.

Oh, I think so. And it's like I do believe there's a weariness now with the constant dominance of the SEC. I sense that. Hey, we live in Colorado. We know what the absence of excellence is all about. holy cow but but uh yeah and i and i'm i'm never i'm so grateful for my association with the cc i'm never going to feel uh negative about anything they do uh but i i get a i understand those feelings around the country there's a there's a weariness that has set in

Yet again, are they really? Yeah, they are. November 10th, 2012, which is 10 years ago next week, Johnny Mansell goes to Alabama and beats number one Alabama on his way to winning the Heisman trophy. Snap from Patrick Lewis, four-man Alabama Rush. Got him. No, they didn't. Oh, my gracious. How about that? What was Johnny football like in a pregame meeting?

Cocky. Remember that before one of the games at that A&M we had, by contractual, by contractual agreement, players are to be made available to us on Friday or pregame, all that. I mean, I watch these poor coaches on pregame interviews. They just hate them. And I understand why they'd, anyway.

Johnny came in wearing a beanie, you know, and he was a little cocky. Johnny came from a well-to-do family, and it hasn't gone very well for him. But, boy, was he exciting? Holy cow. And that Alabama game, when we didn't get a chance to talk to him before the Alabama game. I do know that both of us, Gary and I, were completely bollocksed by the, when he, we thought he had, you know, thumbled. And he just held the ball, he had the ball and found the guy in the back of the end zone. And then he hit that unbelievable long distance pass.

He was gifted. But I just got to sense of cockiness about him. and he you know we're both well well in the advance of years of him he was in 20s then 10 years ago yeah oh that's right yeah yeah gosh and and I just thought he was he was very diffident just almost dismissive one of those plays in that game one of his first touchdown passes you said oh my gracious after it that's a very Vern Lundquist Where does that phrase come from? I have no idea.

I've heard you say it dozens of times. And somebody the other night said, please give us a how do you do? I don't know where that came from. I don't know. It's just me. And it's just my way of expressing things, I guess. It's not pre-planned. It's just a gut reaction to what's going on in front of you.

Another perk of doing SEC games, you told me about one time. Your wife Nancy would sit in the booth during the game. Yeah. Was she watching the game or what was she doing? Yeah, well, the crew always took care of NASPA before they took care of anybody else. As they should. Yes, and the crew loved her. And Nancy actually worked with me for five years as my spotter.

And that is a job of great responsibility because it's hard to explain this if you can't see what I'm saying. But during, let's say play, the television is football is a perfect sport for TV because you have play, replay, it's rectangular, fits the screen perfectly. So while I'm talking to Gary and he's doing replays and I'm looking at him, there's substitutions. is going on over here, two or three in two platoon football. So when I look back, Nancy or the other spotters that I've had would look at me and she'd nudged me and then on a spotting chart, which I prepared, she would point to who's in. And we had visual signals. Who's in, who's out, whether there are three tight ends or two running backs and such as that.

So I've got an idea on the spotting chart, the actual guys on the field. and it's vitally important to what we do, even more so than the statistician, I think. During this period, you're calling SEC games YouTube appears on the internet, social media becomes part of people's lives, and all of a sudden your calls aren't just going to vanish into the ether or appear on some highlight tape. They're going to be preserved and replayed and perhaps studied.

Did that sit in your mind at all when you were calling it? Oh, no, no, never. I never, no, I'm never doing something with a sense that, gosh, I hope they've got this on videotape. I've never, because as I mentioned earlier, what most of us do is reactionary. And you just, you never, you never use an expression in the context of wanting it to be remembered. It's just your reaction to what has happened in front of you. And that's, I think you just, you've got to be true to yourself. And I think the best guys who do this, and there are several who are excellent, excellent,

and enjoyable listens. They're themselves. And we go back to this mystical thing that happens. If you perceive them to be good people, they're going to be. And conversely, the opposite is true. Last moment for you. You talked about kick six. It is easy to forget that two weeks before kick six in that very same stadium,

Jordan Hare Stadium, it was Auburn versus Georgia. Georgia had this crazy comeback in the fourth quarter. Auburn trailed 3837 with less than a minute left. It's fourth and 18. Nick Marshall lets this pass go. It gets tipped right into the hands of wide receiver, with Ricardo Lewis, who scores a 73-yard touchdown. And I think those two defensive backs probably still wake up at three in the morning

and think to themselves, all I had to do was knock the blessed ball down. But they wanted the glory, not a glory, but they were thinking about the interception. I don't think they were thinking about themselves, but his natural instinct to go for the ball. And if they do not attempt to intercept, he never sees the ball. And he made a remarkable play, Ricardo Lewis did, to reach back behind him because he was going full gallop. And that was another famous Gary moment when we were leaving the air. Gary said on camera as a rap. We might not have been on camera, but he said, he said, remember this moment because you will

never, ever, ever see a college football game end like this. This is the greatest finish. I've ever seen college football thing. Two weeks later. Two weeks later we get Chris Davis. I remember watching the Ricardo Lewis pass at home. And in moments like that when something crazy happens, I almost feel like I'm not processing what's happening. The time is getting jumbled up.

And it's hard for me to focus in that moment. Did you ever feel that in the broadcast booth? I don't think so. Now, have I ever had my mind wander? Yeah, it's frightening. Because all of a sudden you think, they're getting ready to snap the ball. What were you thinking about that? But no, not really, but my attention spans not as great as it used to be.

And fortunately, the one event I still do at CBS is golf. And I can concentrate on two golfers and the final pairing of the day. It's tough to screw that up. Did you feel your work at CBS would be judged both by the network and by the viewers at home? on the big moments and how you handled them, or would it be that four and a half hours of first down runs and second down runs and all that preceded them? I think for the most part it's the big moments.

And I've been blessed. You hope, through all the preparation and anticipation of a game, you hope that something compelling and memorable will happen. We all do. And then the hope is that you're verbally equipped to punctuate that moment and in some way enhance the viewer's appreciation of what he just saw. And fortunately, I've had more good moments in that context than bad ones. 2016 was your last season calling the SEC? Yeah.

When did you know it was time to go? It was a collaborative decision. Sean and I discussed it. I was 76. And he and I had a very good conversation, very good conversation about when it might be time to step away. And he kind of nudged me in that direction, which is his job as the CEO. Yova Sports Division, the CBS, and that is to replenish the water, you know, put a new fish in the barrel. And so we agreed at the beginning of the year. And that year, you know, we're sitting in our

Austin condo. And I'm looking at a framed jersey over here in the wall from Peyton Manning. and all this stuff, all this memorabilia occurred in 2016. And farther down the hall and the entry hall here, there's a framed jersey from UCLA because they were playing at A&M. And I treasure these mementos because they're meaningful to me. But it all came about because it was announced in September that this would be my final. season. Sean and I had a recent talk about my work at Augusta. I'm good to go for next year. That'll be number 39.

And he and I have agreed, this is not announced, and I don't mean to jump the gun here, but in all likelihood, number 40 will be my last, just because it will be time. and so I think that's the plan and I'm very comfortable but going back to Sean he's a great senior manager and he's a brilliant man I now I'm gilding the little league here a little bit his father by the way those who don't know Sean McManus's dad was Jim McKay the best storyteller I've ever heard sports television bar none Anyway, Sean said, maybe it's time. And it was time. And I miss being a part of what's happening.

I was antsy. I sat in the press box with my buddy, Lauren Smith, and I could see the television monitor. And I went down to see Brad Nestler and Gary Danielson, two hours for the game. We chatted. I'd had lunch with the crew, and then I went back to our seat in the press box. Now, Gary and Brad were sitting at the 50.

I was an enclosed seat, an enclosed press box at the go line. Wait a minute. Don't you know who I think I am? And I could have stayed with them, but I didn't want to do that. Brad Nestler deserves his own space. He doesn't need me hanging around the background. Being a backseat announcer. Oh, yeah, yeah, whispering to him, you should say this.

No, not no. I would never do that. So I was with Lauren and we were downed. And of course, it's an enclosed press box, which is another thing I miss about the ambient noise that comes in and helps underline. So anyway, I can see the replay, but there's a minute, a second and a half going up and coming down and there's a delay. And I'd catch myself looking at the replay and unaware that the play had happened down here. And it was really disconcerning. So much better, not much better to sit in the stands. Much better to sit in the broadcast booth. Announcers don't like to talk about

getting older because they're always afraid their network bosses are listening. You got it. You got it. But now that you've had a little distance, what got harder about calling games as you got old? The memory, the memorization. When we are at home in Steamboat Springs, I'd complete the spotting board on Monday afternoon. Sunday was a day of travel and a day off. So I'd read newspapers on the plane going back, planes going back home. And then Monday began the day of preparation. And we have a steamboat's a beautiful, beautiful little town, resort town.

And we have a river that runs through it as the phrase goes. And we have a court trail. It's riding, jogging, walking path that goes right along the river. And I'd get my spotting chart beginning Monday afternoon after it was finished. And I would memorize the three deeps, the depth chart. And you must do this because you don't have time. say, for example, the second team defensive tackle catches a fumble in the air, and he's rumbling. Chris Berman would say rumbling, bumble, whatever he says.

But you don't have time to go, oh, who is that? You've got to know. And so you memorize. And I would walk up and down talking out loud to myself. And laughingly, people who knew me would call me the mumbling walker of Yampa Valley. But that's how I visualized the players. And I'd read the spotting chart, and I'd try to memorize this depth chart. And I don't have a photographic memory, but I have a pretty good one.

Used to. Used to. And I could memorize inside of an hour, hour and a half. Now, no way, no way. So that was a huge challenge. And I don't miss doing that. So you're going to do 16 at the Masters next year, next spring, which will be number 39. And then hopefully one more of the following spring, which will be number 40.

And then you feel okay calling it a day after that? Let's see. We have essentially agreed. uh, Sean and I have that, that that'll be it. Uh, and I, you know what? In all candor, I'm going to be 84. It's time to, as they would say, move on with your life. Uh, so I, I don't anticipate going beyond that. I really don't. Fern Lindquist, thanks for coming on the press box. Brian, I enjoy your work. I really, really do. So my pleasure.

It's time for the second weekly edition of David Shoemaker guesses, the strained pond headline. Yeah. Monday's headline about carrotop, a kinder gentler carrot top, was the taming of the dew. Taming of the dew. Today's headline comes from, well, my own travels David through bookworld. I was at Vromans bookstore in Pasadena the other day. Mm-hmm. I saw a new

biography of Don Rickles. New biography of Don Rickles. Wow. That's cool. We're looking for the title here. And just like Monday's headline, I want you to think Shakespeare. Shakespeare.

What was the new Don Rickles' bio's strained pun title? Oh my God. I am not. I am not the person to ask about Don Rickles references. Where did Don Rickles? I mean, I know he's a comic.

I know what he looks like. I know he was a little bit of grump. Yes. Insult comic. I think you could apply that term here. An insult comic. Okay. What if I spot you, the merchant of Venice?

That's what we're playing off here. So Don Rickles was the merchant of. Of malice. The merchant of... Not funny enough, my friend. The merchant of... insult comedy making fun of the audience

no close it seems a little it seems a little dire for Don Rickles don't you like menace The merchant of Why can't I think of this

This is I'm so off A wicked tongue It's emanating from his wicked tongue The merchant of His fangs are sitting The merchant of venom I was trying to go for a rhyme That wasn't going to work

He is David Chewaker I'm Brian Curtis. Proaction Magic by Erica Servantes. Back Monday, more lukewarm takes about the media, and then back Tuesday night with more lukewarm takes about the midterm. See you then, David. See you later, Brian.