Latest / Johnny's World / Episode 22-Tim Brando

Transcript

Episode 22-Tim Brando · Johnny's World

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Coming to you live from the Johnny Packer Eyewear Studio in fabulous dark fake is Mr.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tiffany.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome our go host of best I Doc Mr.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Mr.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Tiffany.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Johnny.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: All right, Johnny.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: How are you doing today, PW?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing great.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Feeling the uh feeling the heat though.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's a hot one out there today, so I'm glad we're inside.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: It is the sun's out.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: We got a little rain showers earlier, but now the sun's back out over here on our way.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, um, well, this episode is uh is brought to you by Johnnypacker.com and Johnny Packer Iwear.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_02: And talking about that, Brandon, give us a little update on what we got with the glasses.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: I hear uh you sold some Omaha pairs, what you told me earlier.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me about that.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had somebody come in today.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: They saw our post about the website and they said they want to check out the Omaha's and tried them on.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Said, we'll take them.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So people are liking those.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's funny.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I had somebody email me, they said, Are these women's glasses?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, No, they're not really women's.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it just takes a certain personality to pull them off.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So they're kind of like that old Ray-Ban, like Clubmaster look to them.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: So um you you've got to you've got to have a certain style to pull them off, but they look really good.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a gold and a silver one.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I've only got two of those left, so they're moving pretty quick.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: But um, otherwise, just uh dropped in some new styles this past week, had the new Albany folks reach out to us from New Albany Chamber of Commerce.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: They wanted some new Albany pairs, so we got them some of those, those are in there and changed up the Oxfords a little bit.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: They kind of look like John Lennon glasses.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh if you like that round John Lennon look, you might want some of those for for the oldest folks out there.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then we've just got some swag in there.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: We've got t-shirts, got tumblers, um, all kinds of cool stuff with uh with Johnny and Bo on the shirt there.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think it looks it looks pretty pretty much just like them.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of a cool, cool little shirt.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that's really what's going on.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Not uh not much else.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're we've got a couple uh more designs coming out.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: We'll probably throw on some shirts here and should look good.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: But uh but otherwise just head out to johnnypacker.com and get you some sunglasses.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I looked at the uh at the shirts and that picture of me and Bo looks just like us.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: That was uh that was actually, I remember that was taken at a St.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Patty's Day parade in Jackson a few years back and when Bo was in the bead band with me, so uh we were passing out beads.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: So it's really cool.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, stuff looks really cool.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: And and uh go get you some glasses at Johnnypacker.com and hopefully we'll spread more awareness about 65 Roses in my fight, and it'll be a win-win deal.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: So thanks so much, Bradley, for giving an update on that.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we're about to write a check, so we'll we'll update y'all on the check, too.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: So absolutely, it's gonna be awesome.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we have a great show lined up for us today.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: We've got a really good guy that everyone knows and loves, and he's a great Louisianan, and he's been around the world of sports and from from everywhere, from ESPN to now he's with Fox, and he's covered just about every game you can possibly think of, and just a great guy all around.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we've been trying to get him on forever, so it's a pleasure to get him on.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: So excited about this.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Timmy B, Tim Brando.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the show.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, John, and uh Brandon.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Good to be with both of you guys today.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: It um, you know, I it's amazing.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um when you say you have been around a while and you mentioned a couple of places where it started, where I am now.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I think NBC is the only network that I haven't worked for.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been around long enough that I've literally gotten W-2s from uh everybody except you know the Olympic network.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I and I don't plan on that happening.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I'll I would have just missed uh uh the uh the NBC thing.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, I almost did the Olympics in Calgary in '88.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: I was working at ESPN, they asked me to do it.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: ESPN wouldn't allow me to do it.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: Otherwise, I would have added that to my resume.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: So um missed it by that much, I guess, from working for all of them at some point in time.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: But um appreciate the kind introduction.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we we appreciate you having you on.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: I um I remember meeting you.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we met at the uh evening with the Mannings event in Jackson, Mississippi.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: I worked and I was a patient at Blair Batson for the first eight months of my life, and then after college, I worked there to help promote and raise money and be a spokesperson for it.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: And and you came to be the EMC, the MC for that uh event with the Mannings.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: And some of the Mannings are, I mean, I just can't say enough good things about them all around.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Me being a state fan, I love them.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, you don't hear me state fans saying that, but I I do because they they're a class act all around and what Eli did for that hospital, it's just it just blows my mind.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Just amazing.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: So tell us about your relationship with the Mannings and how you got on board with that.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I covered Archie as a Cub reporter uh uh in 1980 and 81, uh when I was 24, 25 years old.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_03: And um like a lot of people, I grew up watching Archie play uh as a kid in middle school, junior high, we called it then, and high school.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um Archie was breaking hearts in Louisiana by beating LSU, uh, a team that LSU had that actually beat Alabama when Bear Bryant was there, but couldn't beat Ole Miss when Archie was there.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that happened in 69.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_03: I was 13 years old when that happened in 1970.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, he broke his arm that year and he came back.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I think uh LSU had a little revenge in mind, and they hung, I think, 60 on him or something like that.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: Beat him pretty good, but you couldn't help but uh really be so impressed with um, you know, the strength of Archie Manning.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: They playing with a broken arm.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was a huge cast, it's out here like this, stiff.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: If you see the old videos, it would blow you away.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: I don't, you know, uh no quarterback of his ilk that was destined to be a number one or number two pick in the first round of a draft would ever play with that kind of monstrosity on his on his uh left arm, but he did.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, he just was one of those guys, I think that no matter what state you were from, if you were from the South, you viewed him as a folk hero, you know, and uh he was so humble.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and you thought, my God, could this guy be real?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_03: And um as I got older and followed my dream and my path to become a sportscaster.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I just so happened to be in New Orleans in 1981 when they drafted George Rogers first, and Bum Phillips had just come in.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, my training camps that I covered uh with New Orleans were in '80, '81, and '82.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, I just got to know him pretty well.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_03: All the reporters back in those days were great given a lot of access.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, training camp was at Vero Beach and we were in Dodger Town.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: We hung out together.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: They allowed us to go through the training table uh when they were in two-a days, and uh, you know, the media kind of went over here, but you got to know the players really, really well.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the relationships were far different back then than they are today.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: Nowhere, uh, I mean, there's just a completely different world back then.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: So you did develop relationships with those guys.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_03: And when Snake Stabler came in in '82, when Bum uh wanted to bring him over from Houston, uh, and he had always loved Stabler when he was in Oakland.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think everybody knew Archie was in trouble because Bum wanted to turn it into an I formation team that was going to run the ball primarily and uh not and get away from the pass.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Archie was slinging the ball all over the place in 78, 79.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: He was the NFC MVP on a team that didn't go 500, uh, but had an unbelievable offense with you know Wesley Walker and Henry Childs and uh Tony Galberth was in the backfield with Chuck Muncie.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: They were a hell of an offense, but they just didn't have a defense at that time.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: But Archie was just a genuine gentleman about it.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: I I remember him talking up Ken Stabler, you know what a what a great quarterback Kenny Stabler was.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, Snake was equally charming talking about Arch, but you knew that the end was near.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: But Manning was um he's one of those guys, a rare situation, uh John, when when you're in the business that I'm in and you you come into it and start getting opportunities and jobs that put you around uh young adults that you've been looking up to, you know, that you put on a pedestal.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: And you you wonder, were my innermost thoughts about that guy on target, you know, or did I build him up too much in my own mind?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: You know, is this guy worthy of the adulation, you know, that I'm paying him and others do?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Archie is one of those guys.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think there's probably about four or five guys in my entire life that I sort of uh thought were bigger than life, that were just iconic while they were still maybe in their early 30s or late 20s.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Roger Staubach was one of those guys, the Dallas Cowboys.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: I think Archie Manning was uh very similar to Roger in that regard.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um never complained, you know.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, no matter how bad the beating was, he took or his team had, he he took every question, no matter how dumb or how silly you know the question might be.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: He was the last to leave the locker room.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I was doing a radio talk show in New Orleans at that time on WGSO radio, and I needed the sound, so I would stay in there probably longer than anybody.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: There was one other reporter, one other writer that I think probably had as many questions as I did.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: And uh when we got done, John literally he would go and take a shower.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: I would walk past Olivia with uh Cooper, who was a toddler, and Peyton, who was a baby.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: And she kind of looked at me like, oh, okay, well, I know y'all are done now because you're the guy that won't shut up.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: Keeps asking questions.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, and that sort of followed me a little bit with him.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: And as I got older and had a chance to make it as a broadcaster, uh, the Saints reached out, asked me to do their preseason games right around 2002 or 3, I think it was.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Hazlitt was still the coach.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I was excited to work with Archie.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Archie and uh Ron Jaworski and I did the preseason games, so then we really became buds.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: And um during that time, I I was talking to our friends at CBS and uh Tony Petiti was our executive producer at the time, and he said, Tim, I'm I want to add a third wheel uh with you and Spencer, just bring somebody else in there.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it could be a coach that's got a week off, it might be uh a writer that you think a lot of.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I told him, I said, Well, you need to get Archie Manning.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that guy's on the Mount Rushmore of SEC players.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, I'm working with him on Saints games, he keeps up with the SEC, you know, Eli's about to come into the league, and uh, I'm sure if you just paid his way to come to New York, I don't think money's gonna be an issue.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: He'd love to come and talk, and um they got him to do it, and he and Tony Barnhart kind of traded off, you know, coming in to work with Spencer and me during those years, and uh our relationship grew even stronger.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: My daughter, my oldest daughter Tiffany, went to LSU, but my youngest, uh Tara, was thinking about all different um options that were available to her.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: And Archie put on a full court press to get her to go to Ole Miss.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_03: And um the day that we visited the campus uh at Ole Miss, um we got a call on our cell phone, on her cell phone, not mine, her cell phone.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: Tara got a call from Dr.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: Robert Kayat, who at the time was the president of Ole Miss, welcoming her to the campus.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, it was over at that point.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: Dr.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: Kayat called to say, Welcome to our campus.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: We hope you enjoy yourself.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and and he also got us a uh uh a condo to stay in, which was right by the campus.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: A friend of his had a condo there that was free that he rented out.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: Archie said, We got you set up, you can walk everywhere you need to go.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: And then as soon as we got there, Dr.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: Kayat was on the phone with with Tara.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was it was as if the red carpet came out, you know, and that's where she had to go.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_03: And she loved it there.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh School of Broadcast Journalism there is a very good one.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh her rec letter to Delta Gamma for for her sorority was written by Olivia.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: Now, I don't think many people, you know, how many people you know that would would get a rec letter from Olivia Manning excited about that, you know.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: So she's Ole Miss forever.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: No if, ands, or buts.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: And uh Archie took great pride, I think, in knowing that he had convinced, you know, uh a guy who started his career calling LSU games and whose older daughter, whose oldest daughter went to LSU, that he had gotten, you know, one away and gotten them to Ole Miss, you know, the rival.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: So it it's always been fun through the years.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: And um his boys, all of them are dear friends.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_03: Um, think the world of all of them, play golf with them all the time.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and you know, I get random texts from Archie all the time.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'll never forget once, um, John, you'll love this story.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: I'm at Mickey Manes doing my Friday radio show, and my daughter Tara was probably 14 or 15 at the time.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I get a text from Archie saying, Um, hey man, where are you?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm at Mix.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, Well, I'm I don't get to town until such and such.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: He says, Well, I'm here uh getting ready to watch Peyton uh do some rehearsals for SNL.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: Wish you were here, I'd buy you a drink.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: And my daughter Tara was with me.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, Look, and she looked at, she said, Dad, that is so cool.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: He's just people don't I mean, Archie is like uh, you know, he protects his his his brand, you know, and and the name, the manning name, uh, as well as any celebrity could, you know, athletic sports celebrity could, but he's just a regular guy in so many ways.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, I think it may have been three years ago he sent me as just as a granddad.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: He he sent me his first videos of uh little arch, you know, high jumping, showing how high he could jump.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: Not throwing a football, but just how high he could jump.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, he's just a proud granddad.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: He's a as as great a father as as as he he was, he's an even better granddad.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: And um his influence on me has been, I think, just as it would be for his kids, uh, just be a better person, be a better father, you know, be uh a better husband, you know, all those things.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: He's he's just the best.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: You'll not meet a better human being than old Red.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Man, that's a pretty cool story there.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I was getting worried though, you know, most of our fans are state fans, so we were we were getting a little bit too old miss there.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: We got to be careful, we've got to bring it back.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bring him back.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: You got me on a roll.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: If you need to edit, I know you can edit.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, if you need to edit some of that out, I hear you.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um, you were you called some pretty famous uh Mississippi State games.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one in particular that John and I were at remember pretty fondly that 2004 um Mississippi State Alabama game in Alabama.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us uh tell us from your perspective what that game was like.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you knew going in it was going to be a great game.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: You knew that uh the rivalry was cemented.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: Stansbury and Gottfried had uh developed a healthy rivalry in the recruiting ranks.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Mark's team at one point early that season, I think had been ranked number one.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it was a team that would eventually go as far as any Alabama team at that time had ever gone in the NCAA tournament, getting to the Elite Eight before losing to uh Yukon.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um but Mississippi State was loaded, had a lot of great talent, veteran talent.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, the Roberts kid was really special.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_03: They had a lot of really talented guys.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I've always thought Stansbury was just like Richard Williams was, I thought they were really underrated uh bench coaches, both of them.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um and and and Stansbury, um you know, he he always coached with a chip on his shoulder, and uh, but a couple of veteran moves were the difference in that game.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to remember the kid's name.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure you guys can Timmy Bowers.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, when Bowers stepped in, and you know, I uh Twitter was not around back then.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but when they replay the game, I always uh hear from people, they usually replay it on SEC network, uh, you know, sporadically uh during the calendar year.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I love Bowers as a player.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm one of those guys, I don't root for teams, I don't, I never have, never will.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: But there are certain players that I do become fond of and and think a lot of, and I'll champion those players a lot of times.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: I know uh Michael White, you know, now the coach at Florida, when he played uh for Barnes at Ole Miss, I loved Michael White.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: I just thought, man, he's a gamer, he's tough, he milks everything out of out of his talent.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Bowers was another one of those guys that did that.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: Little things, you know, the little things that are in the box score.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: That little move that he made, that was a calculated move, uh, forced the referee to make a mistake, and it was a big mistake to take the ball away from the shooter after the shooters already got the ball on the line.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's just uh uh an unethical, it's it's it's not written, but it is deemed unethical by any official to take the ball away from the shooter for any given reason.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you could call it a lame violation if you want, but you just don't do that.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it happened.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: I thought it was a very subtle and strong move.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_03: Joe Dean, who was working with me, Joe G Joe Dean Jr.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: as a coach and as someone that knows a hell of a lot about officiating, he picked up on it too.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sure if Twitter had been around back then, state fans would have been climbing me like you know what.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um but the facts are uh that was a difference maker in that game.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_03: No question about it.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_03: And uh the thing that I remember most about it, about the game was that state had probably as many fans in that in the in the Coliseum as Alabama did.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_03: It almost sounded like a home game, regular season championship for Mississippi State.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and that's tough to do in Alabama because I've been critical a lot of times about uh Alabama being too football-oriented, and certainly LSU's always been that way too.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but they generally show up in great numbers for their basketball program in in all those years.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: And um Columbia Coliseum was uh that day it was a 50-50 crowd.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the I don't know how many state fans were there along with you, but your five or six thousand were louder than you know their whatever they had left, nine, ten, whatever it was.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_03: It was just unbelievable.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and a great game, you know, one that I'll never forget.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we I've I've never actually been back to Coleman's Coliseum because I I tell people all the time, whenever state's playing, they're like, You going over the end?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'll never go back.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: That game, you can't be the top.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: You can't beat what me and Brandon had this guy sitting in front of us, Alabama fan taunting us the whole game.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: Do you remember how bad we were just getting smoked?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_02: And he was just giving as hell the whole game, and then it went to overtime, he disappeared.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Didn't see him the rest of the game.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was uh it was a game I always remember.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: But uh talking about state basketball again.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us a little bit about the uh SEC tournament game that you did with the tornado yet.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh yeah, the miracle three.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that was an 08 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: They did a documentary called the Miracle Three.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, when the uh when the shot went in, the iron was kind, and so was the backboard, you know, that that day.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: And uh And uh the thing that you remember most about that was Mississippi State wanted to foul and they never could get the foul call.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the shot got off, but Stansbury didn't want the shot to get off.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: And uh but it's probably a good thing because uh if you recall walking out of there after the delay and the rest of the game, the overtime was completed.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and they we waited about another hour, 45 minutes to an hour, before they decided to call off the Georgia-Kentucky game.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: And when we walked out, I mean, it looked like a war had taken place outside the Georgia Dome, you know, that whole area around Peachtree and between the dome and uh CNN Center.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it looked like the demilitarized zone.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: And we were staying over at the Hyatt, uh, no, excuse me, over at the uh Marriott Crown Center, which was just a few few blocks away, and nothing had happened.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, they had power, there was no debris, there was, I mean, uh, it was an F2 that just destroyed about a three to four block re area there that we the Georgia Dome was in.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, just a few blocks away where we were staying, nothing had happened.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, when I looked back, I I was in North Carolina, I stopped in to do uh our Football Saturdays summer series that we used to do that aired uh usually about this time of year through the month of August, uh, that Raycom did.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: And while I was there, uh Rory Carf, who was the producer and director for the uh for the film, contacted me and said, Hey, I'm here in North Carolina, I'd love to interview you.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I had no idea that the the documentary was going to be as good as it was, it really was good.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's one of those where if you if you're an SEC fan uh and you happen across that and there's really nothing else on, you're likely to sit there and watch it just to kind of remind yourself, oh my god, you know, that happened and we were there, or we could have been there.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_03: And what if we had left?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: What if the game had ended, you know, and the shot not gone in?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, the weather gods were you know looking out for a lot of people because you would know better than I.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh how many state fans would have waited for another 45 minutes to an hour to watch Georgia play Kentucky?
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: They could have been on the streets, you know, when the thing hit.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: So um there are times when uh when you're doing live sports, when the game can become secondary, you know, and that night the game became secondary.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: It was the environment that we were in, the atmosphere, and what was going on outside the dome that was affecting what was going on inside the dome.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_03: A little bit like what happened to me uh in 2020 at Madison Square Garden when our our our game was called at halftime for COVID, you know.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: Only thing I could compare, you know, the the tornado game in the 2008 uh miracle three that sent the Alabama State game into overtime would be um uh the game we did at Madison Square Garden with no fans, and then at halftime being told it's over.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_03: And and sports stopped for you know almost a complete year, but for a long, long time, sports came to a halt.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um pretty bizarre, you know, and one that I'll always remember.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, well, Tim, uh one one thing I want to touch base on, you know, me and Brandon being Mississippi State grads, we're talking about state, you know, that one thing that we've been missing, one thing we've been missing is that Cub did national championship in any sports.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: We got it, we got it.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Finally, finally.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, I gotta tell you, I was never more happy for your school and for your community and for all of the people in Stark Vegas that I came across and I've gotten to know and meet.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the years that I did the SEC, and I get it occasionally, you probably see it on social media.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: Hey Brando, we miss you.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: You know, even those that were probably very critical of me for years will say, Hey man, we miss you in the SEC.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's good to be missed.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's really it makes me feel good when I hear that.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, those early days of college baseball on ESPN, that was right when I was breaking in.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the calendar was very good to me.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: I showed up at ESPN in 1985.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: That's when Sunday night baseball was hit, was a big hit.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_03: And uh much of speaking of documentaries, you know, Thunder and Lightning, I'm all over Thunder and Lightning.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: You are.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I was the first to ever say Thunder and Lightning on national television.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_03: The uh Mississippi State LSU game, uh, we were doing it old Duty Noble without a press box location.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: We were doing it from behind the backstop.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_03: If you watch the the documentary, you can see that we're really behind home plate.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh when um I'm gonna tell you the the the former punter at LSU at that time, Kyle Parker, was pitching for for them when um Palmero took him deep.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_03: And uh to watch Will Clark and Palmero and Thickpin and Brantley and the rest of those guys, uh, there were a lot of other good players on that team, obviously.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_03: Morgan was a really, really top-notch.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: And there's no question that they very easily could have, maybe should have, beaten Texas and not been in the position they were in to get knocked out by Miami in that elimination game at the College World Series.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: But I was there when they, you know, made their mark, and we were telling people for the first time about the left field lounge.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: Fred Godelli, who produces Sunday night football for NBC, was a associate director for us at ESPN back then.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: And he and I went into the left field lounge, the old left field lounge, to record uh stuff for the open of the of our game.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: And uh that's where I met the bus driver, Everett Kinner, for the first time, you know, and one of those one of those pickup trucks that actually had to be brought into left field because it no longer ran.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, they just parked those trucks there, you know, instead of going to the body shop or trying to get the motor fixed, hell no.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: We we're just paying whatever our I think it was maybe$75 or something like that.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_03: We're paying our$75, we're gonna park that baby there, and we'll bring the barbecue pits over.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, when the season ends, we'll put a tarp over the top of it, get ready for next year.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: It was classic.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and uh, you know, I I gained probably 10 pounds uh before the broadcast ever began.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_03: I was so well fed.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, if ever uh fans could uh coerce broadcasters into being pro their team, it would be from the left field lounge before a game because the uh the brisket was off the charts.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was so good and um you know just very memorable.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_03: It just so happened that year in 85.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I was also hired by ESPN to do the College World Series, the first of nine uh that I did between 1985 and 94, and I was the dugout reporter.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, I really got to know the players.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't in the booth that particular year.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Sam Rosen and uh John Sanders, a broadcaster out of Pittsburgh, were and um so I got to know Pokey, uh, everybody on the staff.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_03: I got to know Rafi really well, got to know Rafi's wife.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I knew Will already because he was a Jesuit kid, you know, from New Orleans.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: So uh the relationships were strong, you know, with the people I was covering, and um it was just a great period, you know.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: I that was what college baseball was was the foundation of, a very foundation of.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: And all those years when Polk had great teams, and I was doing those college world series games, they lost a lot of heartbreakers.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, a lot of heartbreakers, and they were so due.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I saw the shot of Ron at the game.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I thought about Everett, you know, the bus driver.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_03: I thought about Rafi and um his wife and his kid, everything he's gone through, you know, since uh his unceremonious exit from Major League Baseball.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: I thought about Will, you know, Will the Thrill, what what um what he must be thinking.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: But so many people uh for such a long period of time uh in in Starkville deserved you know a national championship.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: And and I'm gonna just say this baseball is your best bet to get a national championship year in and year out.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um women's basketball, probably next in terms of getting a national championship, uh because of your location, because of the geography, uh for a lot of different reasons.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: To do it in football or men's basketball is going to be really hard to do.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_03: You know, Richard Williams getting that team to the Final Four was off the charts in '96.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's hard.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_03: But uh a sport like baseball and and women's basketball, though I think most of America was surprised that you had never won a national title in anything.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um but but but the the idea that you could win multiple titles in a given sport, your best bet is always going to be, I think, college baseball.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: So I was really happy for state, all the people that I've gotten to know through the years because I know how hard they worked and how they longed for that opportunity to say we're the best at something.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_03: And um and Mississippi State deserved to be able to say we're the best in baseball.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's that's right.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um well, we got I got one more for you, then we'll probably let you get out of here.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um when you're in Starkville, besides Leftfield Lounge, is there anywhere that that you want to stop to to grab a box?
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_03: You guys will have to help me.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh the barbecue joy, it's so good.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Lil Dewey's.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, little Dewey's.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: I could get lost there for you know, if Brando's late and he's he's in Starkville, it's probably because I'm at Little Dewey's.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_03: That place is the sauce there is so good.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and I'm not usually a sauce guy when it comes to barbecue.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_03: I'm really not.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I really want just cook it right, and I don't need to add anything, but boy, the sauce there is tremendous.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_03: I remember somebody taking me over to Memphis uh when I was doing some old Metro conference games, and you know how they feel about their barbecue in Memphis.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_03: And these were you know the usual spots, and I was like, no, sorry, ambiance might be better, but it's not as good as Stark Vegas.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's that's the other spot, I think, for sure.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_03: And um Larry Templeton, I mean I'm I I meant to mention his name too, uh, with baseball.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_03: You tell you what a great guy Larry Templeton uh is.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh when I was in the middle of uh leaving CBS and um not sure where I was gonna wind up, um I don't think anyone from the Southeastern Conferenced out to me more than Larry Templeton about, you know, are you gonna come to the SEC network?
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I nearly did.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_03: As it turned out, Fox swooped in and I wound up going there, which it's worked out beautifully.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_03: I've never been happier than I am at Fox, but uh I think Larry was sort of camped out at Mike's lives doorstep, you know, pumping me up that we needed to have Brando.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: He's such a great guy.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: Whenever I got booked for a game in in Starkville when I was doing the old Jefferson pilot games, uh, I would come in two days early, bring my golf clubs, so uh we could we could go over and play at Old Waverly.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: And he was just the most gracious host all the time.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: I had known Larry from his days before he was AD, he was in sports information, and um he worked so hard for that school, and I still believe um no one loves Mississippi State more than Larry Templeton, and uh he was another one that I thought about, and uh we were treated like uh when Dave Rowe and I would come in to do those games on Jefferson Pilot in the mid-90s.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: Man, you would have thought that uh Keith Jackson and Frank Royals would come into town, you know.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: They treated us that good, you know, they they treated us that good, and I'll never forget that.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um there's a lot to that, you know.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: Towns in the south and the SEC, you know, TV shouldn't be a big deal anymore.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody's on, every game's televised.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_03: But in the Southeastern Conference, the guys that are calling the games that come into the city, they still, you know, the fans there think, oh yeah, we're on we're on TV this week.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: We're the they're bringing in so-and-so.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: And uh you don't get that everywhere.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I've been around now to the Big Ten and the Pac-12 and the Big 12.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm not saying they don't uh welcome us, they really do.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, the uh full treatment, the full treatment that a school can give the announcers when they come to town, no one does it like the SEC.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_03: And within the SEC, the schools in the really smaller towns, you know, like Oxford, like Starkville, uh, like Fayetteville, um, they roll out the red carpet in ways that uh people could never imagine, you know.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, that part of it I do miss.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Tim, I I have, I guess, one last question.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: Now tell us what uh are you gonna be doing uh did you tell me, Arlene that you're gonna you're working on a book project, or you have something in the in the works?
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: I am uh I've sort of put together the outline now, and a friend of mine who's a marvelous writer has just written a book about uh the NFL today and the impact that the NFL today with Brent Musberger, Irv Cross, um, Phyllis George, and uh Jimmy the Greek, you know, how it changed the culture of sports television, you know, in the 70s, which is is absolutely true.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Rich Podolski is his name.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_03: Rich is uh is a magnificent writer.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_03: He's written books about um, and you'll dig this about uh people in entertainment like Neil Sadaka uh and uh Don Kirschhner of Don Kirschhner's Rock Concert, uh, who was a great uh um record business guy that helped really put uh bands on network television late night on ABC way back in the day.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: He's written books about them.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he's gonna help me with my book, and uh I'm thrilled to have him because I want the book to be as though I were talking to you.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_03: People are accustomed to hearing me tell stories, and um that's how people I think remember me whenever they see me when I'm not calling a game.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, Brando, he's a storyteller.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: I saw him speak at such and such.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_03: He's gonna help me put it in that kind of uh vernacular so people will feel at home.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: But uh it's it's a little bit of a what not to do book, a little bit of a what-to-do book, and a few memoirs to go with it, storytelling about different stops and the most you know, the impactful people that crossed through my life to help me get from Shreeport, Louisiana, after calling my first game in Monroe at age 14 on September 10th of 1971, when I was just 14 years old, to the networks.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, the the path I took, the journey's the the best part, I always like to say.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: So a little bit on the journey, and and then while you're on the journey, how you keep the journey going to sustain success, uh, how you you can possibly be your own worst enemy at times.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_03: So don't get caught in the blame game, just look in the mirror, make sure that the person staring back at you is someone you can still like, you know, that kind of thing.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: And um we're gonna call it on Brando because all my friends have said, are you never, are you ever not all?
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and uh facts of the matter are no, most of the time I'm I'm pretty much all.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_03: So that's what we're gonna call.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be a good one.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm looking forward to that.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Have to let us know when it comes out.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you you know fans will remember uh a lot of the people that um not just fellow broadcasters, but as I said, you know, people the relationships that you build uh with the people you cover and the fans of the people you cover.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_03: You know, yeah, I've just mentioned a few of them right there in Starkville, you know.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like to me, uh Everett Kennard is one of the most memorable personalities that's a fan of a team that actually works for the team that I can ever remember.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um it'll be a dark day in Starkville when Everett Kennert is gone.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I mean, I hope he lives to be 150.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but but that's what happens in our business.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it's a ball, it's always been about relationships and building relationships.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: And that's how you get information.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_03: You know, people say, guys, you sound like you really you really care.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: And and the truth is, I I really do care.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because you make a lot of friends in and around uh all these college towns where you're you're covering teams.
• 40:39
  unknown: Yeah.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, all right, Tim, we'll let you get out of here.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for spending your time with us today.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I know the fans are gonna love this one.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: So wishing you the best on the new book.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be on the lookout for it.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: You got it.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_03: I just have one request, okay?
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we need more cowbell, okay?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: We need more cow.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, fellas.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_03: Great being right.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to the Johnny's World Podcast.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: Please help us spread the message about CF and support our cause by going to Johnnypacker.com.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_01: You can also reach us at Johnny PackerIwear at email.com.