Hartford Courant

NBC’S Tirico ready to begin another busy stretch

- By Joe Reedy

Mike Tirico is recharged and ready to go again more than two months after completing one of the busiest schedules in recent memory for a sports television host. Tirico will host

his fifth Kentucky Derby on Saturday, which begins a stretch that includes the Triple Crown, Indianapol­is 500, the U.S. Open and the British Open. Tirico will then begin preparing for the upcoming NFL season as he takes over as the play-by-play voice for “Sunday Night Football.”

More than two months after completing one of the busiest schedules in recent memory for a sports television host, Mike Tirico is recharged and ready to go again.

Tirico will host his fifth Kentucky Derby on Saturday, which begins a stretch that includes the Triple Crown, Indianapol­is 500, the U.S. Open and the British Open. Tirico will then begin preparing for the upcoming NFL season as he takes over as the playby-play voice for “Sunday Night Football.”

“People say you need to rest for the football season. You do that all the time,” Tirico said. “To do the Derby, Preakness, Indy and then go to Brookline and St. Andrew’s, that’s not work. It’s still fun. So I am rested, ready to go and looking forward to a great spring and summer.”

Tirico acknowledg­es his battery needed recharging after the Beijing Winter Games. Hosting an Olympics

is one of the toughest tasks out there, but Tirico’s was more complicate­d because he also hosted the Super Bowl from Los Angeles and had a stretch where he logged 12,500 air miles in less than a week.

He anchored primetime coverage from Beijing the first five days before flying back to the U.S. He did three

days in Los Angeles and anchored the final week from NBC Sports headquarte­rs in Stamford, Connecticu­t.

That doesn’t even include Tirico hosting the Tokyo Summer Games, calling Notre Dame football and hosting “Football Night in America.”

 ?? AP FILE ?? NBC’S Mike Tirico will host his fifth Kentucky Derby from Churchill Downs on Saturday.
AP FILE NBC’S Mike Tirico will host his fifth Kentucky Derby from Churchill Downs on Saturday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States