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Brent Musburger

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Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939 in Portland, Oregon) is an American sportscaster for ABC.

Early career

Educated at Northwestern University's Medill School, Musburger began his career as a sportswriter for the now-defunct Chicago American newspaper. In his column in that paper, Musburger famously referred to Tommie Smith and John Carlos as "black-skinned storm troopers" for their protesting racial injustice in the United States by engaging in a Black Power salute on the medal stand during the 1968 Summer Olympics. Asked about his comments decades later, Musburger granted that his words, which likened Smith and Carlos to Nazis, were "a bit harsh", but stood by the core of his criticism of the pair's action:

Did [Smith and Carlos' action] improve anything? . . . Smith and Carlos aside, I object to using the Olympic awards stand to make a political statement.

-- quoted by the New York Times in 1999

Beginning in the late 1960s, Musburger worked in television, first for local stations in Chicago and Los Angeles and then, beginning in 1975, for CBS Sports.

CBS Sports

File:Brent1975.jpg
Brent with Oscar Robertson doing an NBA on CBS game from 1975.
File:Musburgernbacbs.jpg
Brent Musburger prior to Game 7 of the 1988 NBA Finals.

At CBS, Musburger rose to prominence as the host of the network's National Football League studio show, The NFL Today. Among the other events he covered, either as studio host or play-by-play announcer, were college football and basketball, the National Basketball Association (on CBS' NBA on CBS series), the U.S. Open (tennis) tournament, and The Masters golf tournament. He would even lend his talents to weekend afternoon fare such as The World's Strongest Man contests and the like. Musburger also called Major League Baseball games for CBS Radio.

It was Musburger's association with The NFL Today that made him famous. During his tenure, the CBS NFL pregame show was consistently the #1 rated pregame show. One of the signatures of the program was Musburger's show-opening teases to the various games CBS would cover, along with live images from the various stadiums. Musburger's accompanying intro to each visual, "You're looking live at..." became one of his catch phrases.

Musburger made headlines when he got into a fist-fight with The NFL Today's betting analyst Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder in a Manhattan bar in late 1980. However, the incident was quickly regarded as water under the bridge as the two cheerfully appeared on The NFL Today the following week wearing boxing gloves on camera.

By the late 1980s, Musburger was CBS' top sportscaster. He was now the main host to pretty much all the events that CBS Sports covered, the NBA Finals, the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, college football and others. He even hosted a New Year's Eve countdown for CBS.

CBS Power Shift

Early in 1990, there was a new regime who held the mantle of power at CBS. Internally, some of the upper echelon management started showing concern about Musburger gaining too much power at CBS, a claim however that Musburger had later stated stemmed from the other direction, that CBS was deluging him with too many assignments. Much of this came about when Musburger added CBS television's play-by-play duties of Major League Baseball to his resume.

Dismissal from CBS

During the early morning hours of April Fool's Day of 1990, Musburger was unexpectedly dismissed from CBS. His final assignment for CBS came the following evening, doing play-by-play for the 1990 NCAA men's basketball final, which was Duke versus UNLV. When the game was completed (which UNLV had won by 30 points), Brent, on camera, eloquently thanked the audience and the many people at CBS Sports, and the analysts that he had worked with through the years like Billy Packer, who was standing next to Brent as he parlayed his swan song. He finished by simply saying

Folks, I've had the best seat in the house. Thanks for sharing it, I'll see you down the road.

And with that, an era had ended at CBS Sports.

Musburger would soon be replaced by legendary St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck for the baseball play-calling duties.

See also: MLB on CBS § 1990-1993 version

ABC Sports and ESPN

Following his dismissal from CBS, Musburger considered several offers - including one to return to Chicago and work at superstation WGN (who broadcasted Chicago Cubs games). Musburger ultimately settled at ABC. With Al Michaels (at the time) firmly entrenched as ABC's top broadcaster, Musburger would not fill that role. He would focus on events such as college football and basketball.

Soon afterwards, ABC's association with ESPN would allow him to now have two venues in which to work from, and since Brent's hiring by ABC in 1990, and the merger with ESPN in the late 1990s, Brent has called events as diverse as Major League Baseball, NBA games (on television and he also called some NBA Finals series during the late 1990s to the early 2000s for ESPN Radio, where he also at the time hosted a brief 15 minute daily show called SportsBeat, which offered Brent's takes on current sports events around the globe), golf tournaments, the Indianapolis 500, Little League World Series, soccer games, college football (usually games involving teams from the Big Ten Conference.) and even some NFL games (including hosting halftime duties for Monday Night Football). Musburger has also covered the Tour De France for ABC.

Starting in 2006, Musburger has called ABC Sports' college football prime time series, along with analysts Bob Davie and Kirk Herbstreit. With the retirement of ABC icon Keith Jackson, Musburger will likely be the play-by-play voice of the Rose Bowl, as it is the only remaining BCS game on ABC after the rights to televise the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl, the other three BCS games, were taken over by Fox Sports.

After Al Michaels was hired by NBC in February 2006, Musburger could now be seen as the face of ABC Sports, although he does not have nearly as many assignments as he did when he was employed by CBS. However, his importance at ESPN on ABC is still in evidence, as most recently he was the main studio host during ABC's coverage of the 2006 World Cup. Also as a footnote, as of September 2006, the brand ABC Sports has become defunct and is now known under the umbrella title ESPN on ABC.

On September 18, 2006, University of Southern California Sports Information Director Tim Tessalone sent a formal letter to ESPN and a copy to the Pacific Ten Conference complaining that Musburger revealed privileged information in his broadcast of the September 16, 2006 NCAA football game in which the USC Trojans hosted the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Musburger disclosed that he learned from a pre-game conversation with Trojans quarterback John David Booty a signal Booty uses to pass to receivers. USC claims this information was for private background purposes only.

What he did was unconscionable. In my 28 years, I've never seen such an egregious breach of trust. Brent is not a rookie at this, and he should know better,

said Tessalone. Within hours ESPN and Musburger both released a separate statement that they regretted the confusion. Musburger also appeared on ESPN Radio's Dan Patrick Show a few days later to discuss the incident, in which he said that there was never an intention of putting team secrets on the air. The sports world and media and fans have been divided regarding the incident. [1]

Style

Musburger has a down-home manner of speaking, often addressing his viewers as "folks" or "partner." However, when the moment arises, Brent can come up with classically intense statements filled with hyperbole and superlatives and interjections coupled with his perfect enunciation and speaking voice at a moments notice, aurally delivered in a staccato no doubt he honed and crafted during his tenure as an anchorman in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.

In a Sports Illustrated profile done on Brent in January 1984 and written by William Taaffe, Brent had this to say about his craft and endeavour:

Not for one moment do I think I'm what's important. I'm the messenger. The games are what count. Without them there wouldn't be a Brent Musburger. If I started to pontificate they'd get tired of me in a hurry. I end up on that screen so much it'd drive them crazy if I started to do that. They'd start throwing empty beer cans at me.

CNN Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel selected him as the second-best college football announcer, behind Ron Franklin. Mandel said of Musburger,

His voice will always be associated with some of the sport's most memorable modern moments.

Calls and utterances

  • "You are looking LIVE! (name of the stadium, arena, etc)" (The opening to a broadcast accompanied by a view of the stadium or venue.)
  • "They're in a footrace!" (spoken during a football contest when someone is outrunning the defense in the endzone on their way to a touchdown.)
  • "Won't start till it's touched, they'll have to throw it up, Gar Heard turnaround shot in the air.....IT'S GOOD!!! It's tied again! I don't believe it! Garfield Heard at the buzzer, threw one in outside, we've got a third overtime here in the Boston Garden!!" (Brent reacting to the Phoenix Suns' Gar Heard's turnaround jumpshot at the buzzer to ensure a tie and force a third overtime in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 4, 1976, Boston Celtics versus Phoenix Suns.)
  • "(Dick) Van Arsdale with a quick shot, it's a one point game again, just what Rick (Barry) predicted. (Paul) Westphal to the corner, back to Van Arsdale, (Curtis) Perry in the air! Won't Go! (John) Havlicek! Perry again! Perry with a jump shot....PUT IT DOWN!!! Phoenix has gone ahead!!! We've got 5 seconds, I don't believe it! I don't believe what I just saw down here! 110 to 109! I've got 5 seconds, that was incredible!!! Where did Westphal COME from???!!! (Brent's spectacular, frenzious call to a spectacular end of the 2nd overtime, in which Paul Westphal of the Phoenix Suns made a key steal in which Curtis Perry hit a jump shot, which gave Phoenix the one point lead, in the closing seconds of the 2nd overtime of the 1976 NBA Finals Game 5, in which the Phoenix Suns took on the Boston Celtics)
  • "You are watching what greatness, is all about." (championing the superb performance of Larry Bird during Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, in which the Boston Celtics played the Atlanta Hawks.)
  • "Plummer, in trouble, steps away, cuts free, breaks loose, FIVE, TOUCHDOWN, SUN DEVILS!!! The Snake, does it again! This team won't die!! You can cut a snake's head off, but he continues to live!" (Brent acknowledges the incredible football prowess of Arizona State University's quarterback Jake Plummer during the 1997 Rose Bowl, who was (and still is) known as Jake "The Snake" Plummer.)
    See and hear this classic call*
  • "Could be up to the offensive line? No, Krenzel's going to throw for it. Got to get it off. They go for the ball game. TOUCHDOWN! TOUCHDOWN! MICHAEL JENKINS! ON 4TH & 1! WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT! CRAIG KRENZEL STRIKES... WITH A MINUTE AND A HALF LEFT! HOLY BUCKEYE!" (From the 2002 Ohio State-Purdue Game. On a 4th-and-1 play, Ohio State Quarterback Craig Krenzel throws a game winning 47 yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins with about a minute-and-a-half left in the game. This was a stunning play because conventional thinking would have had Krenzel attempt either a Rollout Play or a Quarterback Sneak with that much time left. Because of Brent's call, this play is nicknamed "Holy Buckeye" by many Ohio State Fans.)
    See and hear this classic call*
  • "15,000 young red-blooded American men just signed up to go to Florida State next semester." (reacting to a 2-second shot of three scantily clad female football fans during the 2005 FSU-Miami game.)

Trivia

  • Up until 1994, Musburger was referred to as "Burnt Hamburger" on The Jim Healy Show on Sports Radio 710 KMPC in Los Angeles.
  • He was an umpire for minor league baseball teams during the 1950s.
  • He is generally regarded as the creator of the term March Madness.
  • Worked alongside Connie Chung during his tenure doing local Los Angeles newscasts during the early 1970s.
  • Declared the entrance of the Clemson Tigers football team rubbing Howard's Rock and running down the hill into "Death Valley" (Memorial Stadium) as the "most exciting 25 seconds in college football."
  • His brother, Todd Musburger is considered one of the top sports agents in the business.

References

  • Sandomir, Richard "TV SPORTS; Now on Film: Raised Fists And the Yogi Love Letters", New York Times, 6 Aug. 1999
Preceded by The NFL Today host
1975-1989 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Play-by-Play announcer, NBA Finals
1975-1980 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Play-by-Play announcer, NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four
1985-1990 		Succeeded by
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