USA TODAY International Edition
CBS’ Gumbel at his best in booth
Greg Gumbel has shared the booth with Dan Dierdorf, Phil Simms and, most recently, Trent Green as the veteran broadcaster begins his 25th season calling NFL games for CBS.
But it was his first broadcast partner at the network, the late Hall of Fame quarterback Kenny Stabler, who Gumbel said was his most challenging — at least outside the booth.
“He was the one who taught me how to drink,” Gumbel, who was partnered with Stabler during the 1988 season, told USA TODAY Sports. “It was at the moment my liver got on an elevator going down. He would show up the next morning fresh as a daisy as I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower at the hotel. He was truly an interesting guy.”
Gumbel’s career has included three Emmys, calling two Super Bowls for CBS along with studio hosting duties for The NFL Today on CBS, March Madness and the Winter Olympics. His reach, however, goes beyond sports, evidenced by the Fox prime- time animated series Family Guy, which featured depictions of Greg and his brother, Bryant.
“Bryant and I talked about it before it aired,” Greg Gumbel said. “We had heard they were going to do something and were like, ‘ Uh oh.’ We had no idea how we were going to be treated because they can be brutal. When we finally saw the episode, we realized they treated us nicely.”
It was easy for Bryant to recall one of the more unusual assignments, which came when he worked for ESPN in the 1980s. ABC had just bought the network and the new people in charge acquired the broadcast rights to the 1984 Summer Games.
“For some stupid reason they decided to rebroadcast the L. A. Olympics and wanted ESPN people to do voiceovers,” Gumbel said. “I think ( 1980 Team USA hockey captain) Mike Eruzione and I called a field hockey game. The producers kept telling us, ‘ This is great. Wait until you see it. It’s going to make you cry.’ I didn’t bleeping cry the first time I watched it. There’s nothing worse than calling something where you already know the outcome.”
This is Gumbel’s second stint at CBS, the first interrupted by Fox acquiring the rights to the NFL in 1993. Gumbel was the studio host for CBS at the time.
“I was kind of thinking, ‘ Who was the dummy who let the NFL franchise get away,” Gumbel said. “I remember Terry Bradshaw, who was in the studio for The
NFL Today, running around saying, ‘ We’ve been fired.’ ”
Gumbel said he told Bradshaw that they weren’t fired, although Bradshaw soon caught on with Fox. Although he was given the choice to stay, Gumbel left for NBC before he returned to CBS in 1998 when the network started to broadcast the NFL again.
Gumbel still does studio work for March Madness, a TV package shared by CBS and Turner Sports. But the broadcast booth — where Gumbel will call Sunday’s Cleveland Browns- Philadelphia Eagles game — is where he said he feels the most valuable as a broadcaster.
“There’s a misconception that when you’re in the studio you can watch all the games, but that’s not the case,” Gumbel said. “You have halftime shows and all the updates to do. I like to be able to zero in on one thing.”