العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
EspañolBRENT MUSBURGER
'Brent Woody Musburger' (born May 26, 1939 in Portland, Oregon) is an American sportscaster for the ABC and ESPN television networks.
Educated at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, 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 he stood by the core of his criticism of the pair's action:
::— Musburger, as 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.
Beginning in late 1973, Musburger was doing play-by-play for CBS Sports. He started out doing regular season National Football League games (future ''The NFL Today'' co-host Irv Cross was also doing NFL games at that time as well). Musburger was paired with Tommy Mason or Bart Starr, who provided the color commentary. A year later, Wayne Walker would be paired with Musburger in the booth.
By 1975, at CBS, Musburger went from doing the NFL play-by-play (and other items, mostly on CBS' ''Sports Saturday/Sunday'' programs) to rise to prominence as the host of the network's National Football League studio show, ''The NFL Today''. Suddenly, Musburger began to cover many assignments for CBS Sports. 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.
But 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.
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.
During the early morning hours of April Fool's Day of 1990, Musburger was 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, Brent, on camera, 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 saying
Musburger would soon be replaced by Jack Buck for the baseball play-calling duties.
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 from January 1993 to December 2003 hosted a 10-minute and later five-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 (back in January 2006), Musburger called (with Davie and Herbstreit providing the color) the 2007 Rose Bowl (Jackson had been doing the play-by-play for the Rose Bowl for many years prior on ABC).
After Al Michaels was hired by NBC in February 2006, Musburger could now be seen as the face of ABC Sports/ESPN on ABC, 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 recently he was the main studio host during ABC's coverage of the 2006 World Cup, and was also named the studio host for ESPN and ABC's NASCAR coverage, which he will repeat in 2007.
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. 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]
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 a television news 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:
CNN Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel selected him as the second-best college football announcer, behind Ron Franklin. Mandel said of Musburger,
★ Musburger lent his voice (as himself, but affixed to the leg of the character Scuzzlebutt) to one episode of the television show ''South Park'' (ep. 207, "City on the Edge of Forever").
★ Musburger has appeared in several feature films as himself, including ''Rocky II'', ''The Main Event'', ''The Waterboy'', and ''Mickey''.
★ In the comedy series Friends he is mentioned in the episode The One where Nana Dies Twice,
★ An action figure of Musburger was released on November 2006, as part of the ''Rocky II'' series of figures.
★ Musburger called the 1984 World Series for CBS Radio, with Jack Buck as his commentating partner. Six years later, Buck would replace Musburger as the top play-by-play man for CBS' baseball telecasts.
★ Musburger recorded his voice doing the play-by-play for the Konami video game ''ESPN NBA Tonight'', which was released in 2000 (ESPN analyst Stuart Scott did the color).
★ Musburger was an umpire for minor league baseball teams during the 1950s.
★ Musburger was a boyhood friend of former Major League pitcher Dave McNally.
★ Musburger is generally regarded as the first broadcaster to apply the term ''March Madness'' to the annual NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament.
★ Musburger worked alongside Connie Chung during his tenure doing local Los Angeles newscasts during the early 1970s.
★ Musburger was cited by Lincoln, Nebraska police in September 2005 for consuming alcohol in public and having an open container in his car after leaving a Nebraska Cornhuskers-Pittsburgh Panthers football game. He later paid a small fine.
★ Musburger's brother, Todd Musburger, is considered one of the top sports agents in the business.
★ Some of the phrases and words Musburger often uses are included in ''The Brent Musburger Drinking Game''.[2]
1. msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story
2. The Brent Musburger Drinking Game
★ Sandomir, Richard "TV SPORTS; Now on Film: Raised Fists And the Yogi Love Letters", ''New York Times'', 6 Aug. 1999
| Contents |
| Early career |
| CBS Sports |
| CBS power shift |
| Dismissal from CBS |
| ABC Sports and ESPN |
| 2006 |
| Style |
| Calls and utterances |
| Trivia |
| References |
Early career
Educated at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, 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 he stood by the core of his criticism of the pair's action:
::— Musburger, as 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.
CBS Sports
Brent prior to Game 7 of the 1988 NBA Finals.
Beginning in late 1973, Musburger was doing play-by-play for CBS Sports. He started out doing regular season National Football League games (future ''The NFL Today'' co-host Irv Cross was also doing NFL games at that time as well). Musburger was paired with Tommy Mason or Bart Starr, who provided the color commentary. A year later, Wayne Walker would be paired with Musburger in the booth.
By 1975, at CBS, Musburger went from doing the NFL play-by-play (and other items, mostly on CBS' ''Sports Saturday/Sunday'' programs) to rise to prominence as the host of the network's National Football League studio show, ''The NFL Today''. Suddenly, Musburger began to cover many assignments for CBS Sports. 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.
But 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 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, Brent, on camera, 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 saying
Musburger would soon be replaced by Jack Buck for the baseball play-calling duties.
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 from January 1993 to December 2003 hosted a 10-minute and later five-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.
2006
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 (back in January 2006), Musburger called (with Davie and Herbstreit providing the color) the 2007 Rose Bowl (Jackson had been doing the play-by-play for the Rose Bowl for many years prior on ABC).
After Al Michaels was hired by NBC in February 2006, Musburger could now be seen as the face of ABC Sports/ESPN on ABC, 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 recently he was the main studio host during ABC's coverage of the 2006 World Cup, and was also named the studio host for ESPN and ABC's NASCAR coverage, which he will repeat in 2007.
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. 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 a television news 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:
CNN Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel selected him as the second-best college football announcer, behind Ron Franklin. Mandel said of Musburger,
Calls and utterances
Trivia
★ Musburger lent his voice (as himself, but affixed to the leg of the character Scuzzlebutt) to one episode of the television show ''South Park'' (ep. 207, "City on the Edge of Forever").
★ Musburger has appeared in several feature films as himself, including ''Rocky II'', ''The Main Event'', ''The Waterboy'', and ''Mickey''.
★ In the comedy series Friends he is mentioned in the episode The One where Nana Dies Twice,
★ An action figure of Musburger was released on November 2006, as part of the ''Rocky II'' series of figures.
★ Musburger called the 1984 World Series for CBS Radio, with Jack Buck as his commentating partner. Six years later, Buck would replace Musburger as the top play-by-play man for CBS' baseball telecasts.
★ Musburger recorded his voice doing the play-by-play for the Konami video game ''ESPN NBA Tonight'', which was released in 2000 (ESPN analyst Stuart Scott did the color).
★ Musburger was an umpire for minor league baseball teams during the 1950s.
★ Musburger was a boyhood friend of former Major League pitcher Dave McNally.
★ Musburger is generally regarded as the first broadcaster to apply the term ''March Madness'' to the annual NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament.
★ Musburger worked alongside Connie Chung during his tenure doing local Los Angeles newscasts during the early 1970s.
★ Musburger was cited by Lincoln, Nebraska police in September 2005 for consuming alcohol in public and having an open container in his car after leaving a Nebraska Cornhuskers-Pittsburgh Panthers football game. He later paid a small fine.
★ Musburger's brother, Todd Musburger, is considered one of the top sports agents in the business.
★ Some of the phrases and words Musburger often uses are included in ''The Brent Musburger Drinking Game''.[2]
References
1. msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story
2. The Brent Musburger Drinking Game
★ Sandomir, Richard "TV SPORTS; Now on Film: Raised Fists And the Yogi Love Letters", ''New York Times'', 6 Aug. 1999
This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.
psst.. try this: add to faves
