POWERS BOOTH
Van Gundy can follow in Madden’s footsteps as announcing legend
JEFF Van Gundy might just be the best TV game analyst in sports. The ABC/ESPN announcer really could become the NBA’s version of a John Madden — someone who is more known for TV work than for work on the sidelines. When Van Gundy calls the NBA Finals next week, it will be his 12th time as an analyst, the most ever in that role.
Madden never turned back after entering the booth, but Van Gundy still has the itch to coach. While Van Gundy, according to sources, has turned down coaching offers over the years, he has struck out a few times on other jobs he wanted. Sources said he feels he can be selective because he likes his TV job. Van Gundy declined comment. In the NBA offseason, Van Gundy coaches the United States men’s basketball team in the FIBA AmeriCup that continues late this summer.
Next week, Van Gundy, 56, will show once again why he is the engine of the NBA Finals booth. Play-by-player Mike Breen is always solid, but he is about as below-the-radar a big-time sportscaster as they come. Mark Jackson is clearly better playing off the freewheeling Van Gundy.
What separates Van Gundy is his willingness to say what he wants, when he wants. He is particularly entertaining when he goes off topic. The other day, Breen was promoting the new “Solo” movie, and Van Gundy said he has never seen “Star Wars.”
Van Gundy’s passion for the game comes across, and though he dissects the game like an old coach, he has the ability to explain it like a fan, breaking down concepts so they are easy to understand.
He could be like Madden — who, unlike Van Gundy, won a championship (Super Bowl XI with the Raiders) before going to the booth — and be a legendary TV analyst who never returned to the sideline. The question is: Is that what Van Gundy wants?
➤ Longtime NFL insider Peter King is publishing his final articles for Sports Illustrated after nearly three decades at the magazine. King is moving his Monday Morning Quarterback column to NBCSports.com, where he already was a part of their “Football Night in America” coverage on NFL Sundays.
King, 61, made the decision in large part to take better care of himself. He had one brother die at 55, while another brother and his father both died at 64. One brother had a heart issue, while the other suffered from complica-
tions related to his kidney. King’s father was a heavy smoker and had lung cancer.
In recent years, King had been not only writing and doing TV, but he was leading the operations of SI.com’s vertical, TheMMQB. The incessant demands of the Internet got to him.
“The way it was before we got very web heavy and daily conscious was the draft was over and you maybe worked on one or two stories before training camp, but you didn’t wake up every day and say, ‘You have to feed the monster,’ ” King said. “Now, you do. I’m just not crazy about May, June and July, trying to figure out how we are going to fill up our website for 10 weeks.”
For NBCSports.com, he will continue to write his epic Monday column and work on TV features, but he will slow the rest of his days down.
“I’m going to have the same impact on Monday, I hope,” King said. “I won’t be doing as much on the other days of the week.”
Clicker consulting: This is where we offer free advice to the sportscasting community, which we are sure the recipients all appreciate. For WFAN’s “Boomer and Gio” to be at its best, it needs Gregg Giannotti, and not Boomer Esiason, to lead the show more. Whatever you want to say about Craig Carton, he knew how to drive a show, which allowed Esiason to work off of him as a big name with real affection for multiple sports. Esiason sort of assumed the lead spot when Carton was exiled after his arrest and update guy Jerry Recco filled in.
Now, however, FAN should have Giannotti run the show because he is the more talented radio personality, knowing where to take the program. The ratings with Giannotti replacing Carton have not been great, which could be for a variety of reasons and not necessarily related to the show’s quality. But for the program to grow, Giannotti needs to be the starting quarterback.
Quick Clicks: While the deal for $1.5 billion by ESPN for UFC has been largely presented as new network president Jimmy Pitaro’s first major rights move, sources said Disney chairman of direct-to-consumer Kevin Mayer was just as responsible, if not more so, for the acquisition. … The direct-to-consumer video service, DAZN, made some news by hiring the man Pitaro replaced at ESPN, John Skipper, and by making an eight-year, $1 billion deal with Matchroom boxing. DAZN, which has made inroads in other countries, will launch in the U.S. late this summer. It wants to be the Netflix of sports in the U.S., which means it hopes to be a player for major properties over the next decade. To start, a source said it will be priced higher than the $4.99 per month ESPN+ charges. DAZN will likely be at somewhere between $10-$20 per month. At the least, with deep-pocketed owners, DAZN will help to keep major league sports owners richer by driving up rights costs.