If you’re a sports fan, then you already know that October is one of the best times of the year. Not only do you have playoff baseball, there’s NFL, college football, and the start of the NBA. A wonderfully chaotic time to be a sports fan. Nobody knows about how insane this time of year gets more than legendary announcer Joe Buck, who is about to embark on another October where he calls the MLB playoffs and the biggest NFL games of the week.
Over the years, Buck has called some of the biggest sporting events in recent history and has become a staple of the sports-watching experience in America. As he gets ready for another silly szn, we talked to Buck about the heights of his career, his favorite QBs to talk to, his Halls partnership, and much more.
Before we get too much into it, the 2004 ALCS was a big moment for me as a kid. Really made me want to do something in sports journalism. Just the way it was all covered. Do you still think about that series?
I think about it all the time. I mean, I think about it every October since then, because it was the impossible happening. I don’t care what they say, and I’m really good friends with Kevin Millar. The whole idea that, “Hey, it’s just one game at a time. And we’re not out of it till we’re out of it.” Game three of that ALCS. And it was just going to be a four game sweep. And now they say, “Oh, well, we knew we had a chance. All we needed...” They were within one tag of being swept out of that ALCS with Dave Roberts stealing second base. Billy Mueller getting a big hit. And it just proves that it’s the beauty of sports. It’s why sports is really hard to make movies about, because a lot of times you go, “Oh, well, that’s not going to happen. That’s not really possible.”
And then it does happen. And sometimes life is stranger than fiction. So for that team, and when you look back on it, they were absolutely loaded to come back and win that series. And then they could have been playing any team on the other side. They were so hot when rolling into that World Series and swept the Cardinals and broke that 86 year curse. Just to be able to sit there and have my voice on it is one of the big honors of my career. And you’re right. I mean, it’s easy to quit on things. I don’t care what it is when you’re working on it. It would have been easy to just kind of quit on it. But there were still storylines and there was still a chance and the Red Sox proved that until it’s over, it’s not over.
How often do you reflect on those types of moments in your career? Or do you at all?
I do, only because I have a daughter who is 25. In my first World Series, I was 27 and scared out of my mind. And in the Bronx, it was Yankees vs. Braves, it was so beyond anything I ever dreamt of doing. I grew up as my dad’s son in St. Louis and I always figured… I grew up in the broadcast booth. My dad was my best friend and my hero. And I always hoped and dreamed and thought that maybe one day I would have a chance to call games with him, which I did in 1991 when I was 22-years-old. But I never thought beyond that. And to be sitting there at Yankee Stadium on a nationally televised World Series, I mean, I had just seen my mid sixties year-old dad do that just… What? Six years prior to that.
And it just was not even on my radar. So to have a daughter that’s basically that age now and think about it then, I’m proud that I wasn’t overwhelmed by the moment. I’m proud that I look back on it and I listen to it sometimes and go… I could have been shaky and I wasn’t. And that’s how I look back on it. Had I been bad right out of the gate, I wouldn’t have done… It’s now 23 World Series, aiming for 24 this year. And it’s just been a run that has been funded by the deep pockets of FOX. Nothing that I’ve done. I just haven’t screwed it up.
How different are preperations for an MLB game compared to an NFL matchup?
Yeah, I think it’s because of the nature of the game. I think in baseball, you’ve got to be patient. Or at least the way I do it. And I could be dead wrong, but the way I’ve always tried to do it, let the game come and let the storylines evolve during the course of the nine innings. And with no play clock. No pitch clock. A guy could foul off five or six pitches in a row and you’re talking, you’re laying the storylines out during a baseball game for what’s to come late. Who’s in the bullpen? What are the matchups that could happen late in the ballgame? How are managers thinking about how they’re going to use that bullpen?
Football is moe like you have the storylines. I’m going into the Rams vs. Seahawks tonight, and there’s the storyline of Aaron Donald against Russell Wilson. You set that up right now. You talk about how the Seahawks struggled defensively. You talk about how the Seahawks have struggled on third down and you reflect back on last year. You’ve got to kind of attack it in football. And you’re right. I mean, I’ve been with Troy Aikman for 20 years. And we’ve got a great relationship. We’re good friends. I kind of know where he’s going to go. He knows where I’m going to go. And we try to play off that. It’s that way with John Smoltz, but we just haven’t been together as long as I have been with Troy.
Are you used to every fan thinking you hate their team?
Yes. I am. I’ve done it for so long. It’s just kind of a thing you see. I remember my dad talking about it. It’s more of a baseball thing.
Yeah, I’m from Cleveland, and I don’t think this, but during that World Series, the fans here surely thought you were rooting for the Cubs.
Well, you just have to think about it. And fans don’t really think about it this way. And to be honest with you, I’m a fan too, of the St. Louis Blues. And when I don’t hear my announcers, who have the same rooting interests that I do, and I’ve listened to them all year for 10 years or whatever it’s been, there’s a comfort level. And they’re rooting the same way you are. Well, now I show up, or my dad showed up or Scully showed up or whoever, and you have to get excited when the other side hits a home run and all year long when somebody hits a home run against your Cleveland team, which by the way, is where my dad’s family is from. And I have many relatives there, who probably all thought I was rooting against the Indians, too.
You have to get excited for the other side. And all year long, the Cleveland… Whether it’s Tom Hamilton or whoever, if the Indians go down to the game, they get sad. And I’ve done that for the Cardinals. And now here I am, when it matters the most, going, “Home run. Schwarber, home run,” whatever. And it hits fan’s ears like, “Well, this guy hates my team. I hate this guy.” So it’s just the way it is. You have to put up with it, if you’re going to do this job. And if you aren’t willing to put up with that, then you can’t do national broadcast because you’re not there for either team. You’re there to kind of make it exciting for both sides.
Curious what you thought of Brady’s return to New England and then also, who are some of your favorite QBs to talk to leading up to a big game?
You know what’s funny? Well, Aaron Rogers is probably the most open with us and the most honest, because we’ve done so many of his games. It’s like therapy for some of these guys. Because they want to complain and it’s not just Aaron. It’s all of them. We’ve gotten to know Tom better because we mainly cover the NFC, so we didn’t do a lot of Brady games. Now we’re doing more and more of them. And he’s really thoughtful with his responses, but most guys are. I mean, there are only a few people that I… Bill Belichick’s not going to share a lot. And that’s just the way he is. A guy like Tom Coughlin, who was really buttoned up, he’d gave you everything he had. And it’s just because there’s a trust factor that they will give you what their thoughts are.
And it really helps the broadcast when you talk to them. But I would say most quarterbacks are really fun to talk to. Rodgers is just the most entertaining because he’s got a really sarcastic sense of humor and he’s funny. But Brady’s been really good.
I thought it was a cool scene. It was a cool scene and it’s everything that’s great about Tom Brady, that he found a way to win. And it was kind of everything great about Bill Belichick, that with an undermanned team, had a shot with one doinked field goal to beat Tom Brady, with a rookie quarterback and scheming his defense to stop him. So, I thought it was awesome.
Let’s talk about this the HALLS partnership. I saw the cameo you did. You’re going to be doing cameos for what? 25 people? So that should be a good surprise for some fans.
Yeah, I like that kind of stuff. It’s kind of the personal touch that I was excited to hear about that HALLS came up with that… I’ve stayed off cameo to this point, so this is a limited engagement. This is like… I don’t know. Seeing Eddie Vedder in your basement. Although I’m not comparing myself to Eddie. I’m sitting here in Seattle. But I haven’t done a lot of cameo and I like just reaching out, getting to know people and sending a message. So I’m glad to do it. And I’m glad to work with a product that I actually really love and use. And this time of year, actually, I just did a bunch of recording. So I’m excited to get a Hall’s Mini in my mouth as soon as I hang up the Zoom call.
Yeah, you have to protect your voice this time of the year.
Yeah. Well, I’m headed to a game now. I’m in Seattle. I’m actually headed back to the hotel, do the old quick change, go to a game, then fly to Dallas, do a game Sunday. And then ALCS for me starts next week. All the travel days are football for me on Thursday. So it’s a hectic time. But it’s a fun time. I love working and I love doing what I do.
