Kevin Harlan Discusses What It's Like To Call The Super Bowl

WJFK-FM / 106.7 The Fan

Kevin Harlan from Westwood One Sports joins G&D to discuss what it's like to call a Super Bowl, and also provides a quick preview.

Transcript

00:00Certainly is and speaking of amazing the gentleman who's sitting down with us right now

00:04Just get ready Kevin Harlan to have your tires pumped for about nine minutes. Okay, I guess

00:12What is this house of wingmen

00:15Buffalo wings we got three that have been eaten three that have not a lot of sauce in one of the corners

00:20Can I dig in this or is this I'm not gonna I've had a bad stomach all week. I can't do that. Welcome back

00:30I love being out with you guys to man. Love it

00:33Well a couple of things first and foremost weren't you calling a basketball game like six hours? I was in Boston. Yeah, and

00:40Mavs go in there with no Luka

00:4380 didn't play

00:45They're missing three starters lively wasn't there Washington PJ washing his wife had a baby

00:50So he wasn't there and so it was one of those one of those

00:55Nights where they had to rely on their bench and they beat the Celtics

00:59Interestingly enough the Celtics have

01:02come off of three

01:04Consecutive road trips where they've gone like three and one or three and O and the first game back home they lose

01:10So I would never want to see a defending champions going through the motions because that's not fair, but I would say

01:17They need this season to speed up

01:19They can't they can't wait to get this all-star weekend

01:22Past and then they'll see the light at the end of the tunnel and they'll start making the run

01:27Kevin the reason I asked you about basketball last night is what a grueling grind it is

01:32I mean you're on the call for Westwood one of Super Bowl 59 on Sunday, but you love it so much

01:38I mean you've been so gracious with your time with me over the years of someone who wants to do play-by-play and it's funny because

01:43You know, one of the things you always talk about is your passion, but you're getting off the hardwood

01:46You're flying to the Super Bowl

01:48You're doing what you got to do drinking the coffee and the tea for the pipes

01:52I love it. How lucky am I if you'd have told my

01:5714 year old self that this would be my life and be able to do it for all the this is my 40th

02:03Just finish my 40th. This will be the conclusion my 40th consecutive year do an NFL play-by-play

02:10I would have said not in my wildest imagination

02:14Would I feel that blessed and that lucky so here I am talk with great people like you people I respect and

02:20Enjoy to listen to and now here we are talking at a Super Bowl in New Orleans. I mean I

02:27I've got to be the luckiest guy in the world, and I'm so appreciative

02:30There's not a day that goes by that. I don't think of my good fortune how lucky I've been and so with that comes

02:37responsibility of doing the best job and

02:39The older you get making sure you're evolving and continuing to get better and trying to improve and so that's constant

02:46Self-critiquing which is a painful process

02:49but it is one that I've used since I was a teenager and

02:53And I've kind of stuck with that and don't plan to deviate until I retire so Kevin obviously Sunday's a pretty darn big game

02:59What's your guess? What's your drop dead where you go? You know what I can't do any other game

03:03Obviously wouldn't do a game Saturday night in any other sport

03:06Would you do one Friday night like let's say that the Pelicans are really good, and it was a big game

03:11Would you do like a New Orleans game Friday into Sunday or like what's that? What's your drop there?

03:15We gotta go. I gotta make sure my fastballs live on Sunday

03:18well remember a couple years ago the game was in Indianapolis and

03:22CBS had me slated for a Notre Dame basketball game in South Bend and

03:27I drove in Friday night of Super Bowl weekend from Indy after being on radio all day Friday

03:33Drove to South Bend Friday night did the game. I think they played Marquette

03:37It was Marquette Notre Dame got back in the car drove back to Indy

03:42Was able to get to our production meeting and then did the game on Sunday, so that is what happened the one time

03:49You know quite frankly this game has probably less

03:55anecdotal and statistical stuff in front of me than

03:59Then any other game I do really in the regular season you're trying to tell the story

04:03and you're trying to connect all the different things that have gone on and where they are and where they could go and what might

04:08be around the corner in

04:11This game you guys have talked about every storyline

04:15Everybody that is here has talked about every storyline people know what those storylines are now

04:20I've got like five headlines in my head for each team

04:23But the only thing that matters from our perspective on Sunday is the call

04:27Because all the preparation this two-week pregame show has been going on non-stop

04:33so now people want the game and

04:36So as a play unfolds you may try to put in perspective with a little note or a little something right there

04:41but if I'm talking Kurt Warner's not I gotta like Kurt Warner talk and

04:46Diagnose the play figure out why a team is winning or losing what they've got to do to win or lose

04:52Or to get back in it or to hold the lead whatever the case may be

04:55So it's a pretty it's a pretty rigid structure how our broadcast goes TV

05:01There's a lot more sway. There's a lot. It's more brief. It's it's conversational

05:06There's spacing pockets of space in the broadcast where you don't say anything at all

05:12radio is just a different animal so

05:14It's all incumbent on me knowing these play my quick twitch ability to get that play out come up with the right words

05:20Right pacing right inflection and and that's really my challenge that it's not it's not trying to remember all the

05:27literally thousands of

05:30information points

05:31It's making sure that I am spot-on on that play call because it could be

05:37Any play at any time in the biggest game of the year and my call?

05:41Will be the most important thing that I'll do that afternoon the legend the icon

05:47Kevin Harlan is with us on Grant and Danny. I look forward to this every year

05:51We come we get to talk to all these Hall of Fame players and everybody

05:55I'm like, when is Kevin Harlan sitting down? You are too nice to me and you are too nice

06:00So we sit next to each other when I do a game at the stadium, right? Whatever. It's called now

06:04I'm not even sure Northwest State. Yeah, that's the but wouldn't very classy Stadium, by the way

06:08One of the best in football. Are you do you like it now?

06:17I've not had solid foods in Sunday night. You're trying to prove it

06:2370 million into it and it isn't the new owners are trying until

06:26Until the new one comes in to play right we're hoping for 20 30 back in the city

06:30Wouldn't that be wonderful at the same side of the old stadium that the idea is that they'd be back. Wouldn't that be?

06:36Phenomenal, you've got did you call when I was with Fox? I did. Yes

06:40I did

06:41We had the tiniest little booth and I remember when I was in there for Fox in the early 90s

06:46Going into that booth at the old stadium and I'm thinking wait a minute

06:51Summerall and Madden put themselves in this same TV booth

06:56To broadcast the Redskins and whoever they were the Cowboy Games those big games those important games those playoff games

07:04Summerall and Madden wedged themselves in this booth. I remember we had to duck down our

07:10View was it was like about a four foot span and

07:15Up and down and about five to eight feet wide and that was it and we were ducking and sitting down and

07:22Trying to watch punts go because sometimes I mean it was it was impossible

07:26What's the hardest thing baseball wise is, you know home run to a home run

07:30Whatever for you in a football booth because you're not you know, you guys are getting 50-yard line

07:34Ideally, you're not like not a radio or not. Not it and radio, you know, we're we sitting at you guys have a terrible

07:40Yeah, that is a bad back cause the worst in the NFL and we were in like the corner of the end

07:44Yes, so yes for you if you have a normal good view, what's the hardest thing?

07:48I think field goals good or no good it really difficult sometimes very hard

07:52I've been wrong occasionally and I have learned just just to really discipline myself to wait for the officials under the crossbar

08:01You're looking at arms, but they're so slow, but they're trying to make sure they got it, too

08:04Yeah, I don't think wait a minute dope if they're waiting in there right under the ball

08:09They're looking straight up and they can see what the direction it's going if they're waiting to make sure it's through

08:14You should wait till it's through. So so that that is what I've been doing and

08:19And that has served me

08:21Well a lot of times if we're watching on TV, you know get the end zone view and you can see it go through

08:27Sometimes you're fooled it looks like it's straight and it is

08:31But it falls short or sometimes it starts right and then viewers left like it's weird

08:36Kickers are the whole thing is just so obtuse to try to grasp how the

08:41Geometry involved in you know, these guys kick what is hard

08:45Also is if a play has happened below you on the near sideline

08:51And with all the players standing right there, you can't see flags. You can't see if he's out of bounds

08:55You can't see how the tackle was made like you're really lost

08:59So you're just you're just kind of calling it and he's tackled on the near sideline as you can see at the 25-yard line

09:05And and then and then just kind of pausing there to see if there's been a flag thrown

09:11I can't tell me times a guy's thrown a flag on the sideline

09:14We never see it happened the other night in Buffalo and get a Kansas City Buffalo game

09:19Supposedly a flag was on there. I thought well, it's got to be on the near sideline. We just can't see it

09:24But there was no flag, I guess and they know if they picked it up or they didn't throw one or we got bad information

09:31But anyway, the flag on the near sideline stuff a tackle on the near sideline stuff, but we work through it

09:37There's no I'm not complaining at all. I got a pin yellow cleats, too

09:40Yeah, Kelsey wears yellow shoes

09:43and he's out there flipping around and doing his dance for his girlfriend up in the press box and and and and

09:49Sometimes you don't know if it's a flag or shoes. All right, so before we let you go. Yeah great. Come on

09:54I'll apologize in advance. Okay, this guy. Here's a Kevin Marlin a Harlan mark

09:59Okay, Daris Tamron our producer. Okay first time getting to be here

10:03I just I can you do like a little like Daris is typing on his computer. So we'll give him Darius Darius not various

10:10It's do it. He's been talking about meeting you for months

10:13We share our Westwood one takes all the time. Yeah. Yeah, we get our scouting reports. So this is Darius

10:21Well, Darius may look like Kendrick Perkins, but I'm telling you right now. He's got more grit

10:26He's got more soul. This man is unstoppable

10:30Whether he's typing on his computer whether he's covering an event whether he's turning the dials for this great station

10:37106.7

10:38Daris is the man constantly answering the call and sending it home

10:46By the way, he's got a ringtone I mean there's you could just die now

10:51I'm done

10:53What is life, that's it and Danny I can see you on the computer here

10:58He's got it. I can see you in Washington. So I'm sorry. You're not here

11:03Yeah

11:06Congratulations, thank you. Congratulate your life will never be the same. No kidding

11:10Oh, we have two older ones and this one's we like to call a surprise Kevin. So

11:16Yeah, I got three yeah start that 529 baby get that

11:20Thing

11:22My friend, that's right. You're gonna well

11:24Yeah, I was gonna say you're gonna see stuff in that diaper

11:26You never thought a human should possibly see but you've seen it already. You're gonna see more of it. So congratulations and good luck

11:32Thank you. Gradually. I was sincerely congratulations. Thank you. There's nothing. There's nothing better than being a dad and

11:38There's nothing better than being a grandfather. I'm tell that's the that's the reward for being a parent

11:46How old my oldest is I don't have the many years to wait so

11:51Oh

11:53Kevin thank you to see you. Yeah good to be out with you so much Kevin Harlan, and I don't care who knows it

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