On today's podcast we look ahead to All-Star Weekend with NBA on TNT and NBATV analyst Brent Barry. In his lengthy career in the Association, Brent was a two-time champion with the San Antonio Spurs and a former NBA Slam Dunk champ. We chat with Brent about his family ties in broadcasting, the prep for All-Star weekend, and who the best shooter is in the NBA. Topics include... - Following in his dad (Rick) and brother's (Jon) footsteps into broadcasting. - His experience in the dunk contest and ...
Feb 11, 2015•18 min
For the latest edition of the AA Podcast we're pleased to be joined by the play by play voice of the Boston Celtics, Sean Grande. In addition to being the Celtics radio voice for more than a decade, Sean has experience working in a number of different capacities across the sports world including college football, the Frozen Four, and the Boston Red Sox. He also happens to be one of the biggest wrestling fans in sports along with friends Michelle Beadle and Bill Simmons. So of course you know we'...
Jan 22, 2015•1 hr 1 min
It's a special episode of the AA Podcast as we have a tripleheader of guests with a Columbus flavor. Our trio of guests join us to talk about Ohio State's victory over Oregon in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game from their varying perspectives covering the Buckeyes. First, Matt Barnes of NBC 4 in Columbus gives us his perspective on the trip to Dallas, following the team this season, and the win over the Ducks. Second, Dave Biddle from Bucknuts.com examines some of the nati...
Jan 15, 2015•1 hr 10 min
Continuing our annual tradition at AA, we welcome Sports Illustrated media scribe Richard Deitsch for your special 2014 Year in Review podcast. We chat about the biggest sports and media stories of the year (including Darren Rovell blocking him on Twitter, naturally). Topics include... - How the media handled the massive NFL stories this year of Michael Sam's coming out and the domestic violence crisis. - ESPN's year in journalism for good (Don Van Natta/OTL) and bad (ESPN & Media Reports) -...
Dec 23, 2014•1 hr 9 min
In today's episode we welcome ESPN's Sarah Spain. Sarah is a contributor to espnW, ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago, and appears on a number of television platforms. We talk about her increasing national exposure at ESPN, Chicago sports and a number of other topics including... - Her start in the industry in Chicago. - What has changed for her since becoming a national personality at ESPN. - Increased platforms for women in sports media (and how ESPN has led the way) and where there are still areas fo...
Nov 26, 2014•37 min
In this week's podcast we talk with one of the busiest announcers in sports - ESPN's Dave Pasch. We catch up with Dave in Houston in the middle of a four game stretch this week spanning the NBA, NFL, college football, and college basketball. We chat about the Arizona Cardinals being the best team in football and of course, his long, strange, trip with Bill Walton. Topics include... -What it's like to work 6 games in 8 days and the differences in calling each sport. -How he can loosen up and be a...
Nov 20, 2014•32 min
With the NASCAR season nearing the checkered flag, we welcome ESPN's lead play-by-play voice for the sport, Allen Bestwick, to the podcast. With the new Chase format and the Texas pit road brawl, the sport is at a fever pitch at the moment. Allen joins us to chat about... -His future at ESPN and moving on from NASCAR as the sport goes to Fox/NBC next year. -Being able to call the Indy 500, Wimbledon and the British Open and what led to his decision to stay at ESPN versus staying with NASCAR. -Wh...
Nov 08, 2014•30 min
Cleveland is the epicenter of the sports world tonight. To talk about LeBron's return to the Cavs and the opening of the NBA season we're joined by Dustin Fox of 92.3 FM The Fan. As a national champion with the 2002 Ohio State Buckeyes, we also chat about this year's OSU team and the first year of the college football playoff. Topics include... -How LeBron's SI letter was the defining factor in winning people in Cleveland back. -The enthusiasm of the city when James announced his return and toni...
Oct 30, 2014•35 min
Hello, friends. For the centennial edition of the AA Podcast we welcome the one and only Jim Nantz of CBS Sports. As the longtime play by play man for the NFL on CBS, The Masters, and the Final Four, nobody in sports broadcasting has a better list of assignments. This year Nantz has added Thursday Night Football to his busy schedule to mark his 30th year at the network. In this wide-reaching podcast, Jim talks to AA about... - The new Thursday Night Football schedule and how he copes with non-co...
Oct 14, 2014•1 hr 23 min
Our last episode in double figures welcomes one of our favorite and most frequent guests back to the show - New York Times #1 bestselling author James Andrew Miller. As the co-author of Those Guys Have All The Fun, Jim has remained an authority on all things inside and outside Bristol, Connecticut. With so much happening around ESPN in recent weeks, we talked with Jim about the following... - The severity of the Bill Simmons suspension and the "civil war" within Bristol. - Simmons' roller coaste...
Oct 09, 2014•34 min
With the dawn of the 2014 MLB Postseason, we're joined by one of the best playoff pitchers of the last generation - John Smoltz. After an illustrious career with the Atlanta Braves, Smoltz moved to the broadcast booth and has been a consistent presence covering the sport. In today's podcast, we talk about John's TV career, his duel with Jack Morris, and which pitcher is most important this postseason. Topics include... - Starting in television right away after his playing days and the difference...
Sep 30, 2014•24 min
On a special edition of the AA Podcast we break the news of ESPN's newest additions to the basketball version of College GameDay - former Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg and former Duke star Jay Williams. The ACC pair will join Rece Davis and Jay Bilas on the 2014-15 version of ESPN's flagship college sports show. On the podcast, Seth and Jay take us through their ESPN careers and getting the call to join GameDay and the different paths they took. Also, there's plenty of lively banter between...
Sep 30, 2014•49 min
For the second time, we've collected our editorial staff for a roundtable discussion on the eventful month that's been in the NFL. We're joined by Steve Lepore, Ken Fang, and Joe Lucia to wade through arguably the worst month of off-field news in NFL history, the league's response (or lack thereof), and how the media has covered it all. In addition, we tackle some other sports media topics of the day. Our conversation covers... -Major takeaways from the NFL scandals. -Where is Roger Goodell? -Ho...
Sep 19, 2014•1 hr 3 min
Today's podcast features a lenghty, in-depth interview with Josh Elliott of NBC Sports. Elliott recently moved to the peacock after a succesful run at Good Morning America saw that show vault over Today to become the number one morning show in the land. Now Elliott serves as a features reporter across a variety of NBC sports and news platforms. We spent a lot of time talking about the Ray Rice story and the credibility crisis facing the NFL as well as his time in morning show television and his ...
Sep 12, 2014•1 hr 16 min
The AA Podcast is back! After a summer hiatus we're back for a new fall season of the Awful Announcing Podcast. And what better guest to invite on the program than one of the most respected journalists and hosts in the history of sports media - ESPN's Bob Ley. The OTL host has been there since the beginning and we were fortunate enough to spend an hour chatting with him talking about a number of topics including... - Saying goodbye to ESPN's World Cup coverage. - Making the case that Germany 7, ...
Sep 04, 2014•1 hr 1 min
This weekend represents the biggest day in motorsports across the world and the marquis event is the Indy 500. On today's podcast we're joined by the host of the race for ABC, SportsCenter anchor Lindsay Czarniak. This will be Lindsay's first assignment since having her first child in March. On today's show we talk about the race, her time away, and working on the 6 PM SportsCenter. Topics include... - Coming back to broadcasting this weekend for the Indy 500. - Her personal reaction to the back...
May 21, 2014•31 min
For this week's podcast, we have a special treat. ESPN coordinating producer Amy Rosenfeld granted us some time for an interview in the midst of preparations for the 2014 World Cup. Amy has played a major role in ESPN's critically acclaimed coverage of international soccer and the 2010 World Cup in particular. She's been one of the driving forces in transforming ESPN's coverage of the sport from a foreign novelty to the revered, mature product it is today. In this podcast, listeners are granted ...
May 15, 2014•47 min
On today's show we're joined by one of the best basketball players of the last generation, former All-Star and current NBA on TNT analyst Chris Webber. C-Web has seen his broadcast career take off since joining Turner and he's currently working alongside Ian Eagle calling the Pacers-Wizards Eastern Conference semifinal. In this podcast, we chat with Chris about his broadcast career, his desire to get into coaching, and how the playoffs have shaken out so far. Topics include... -How being close t...
May 07, 2014•28 min
On today's podcast we talk about the Donald Sterling controversy with Bomani Jones of ESPN. Bomani's work has drawn plenty of attention this week due to a column he wrote in 2006 documenting Donald Sterling's racism and asking why it wasn't news. Although Bomani has been credited with showing "foresight" the truth is he was one of the few calling attention to the real issue at hand that was ignored for years. In this podcast, we cut straight to the heart of the matter to talk about sports, race,...
Apr 30, 2014•38 min
On today's podcast we shift our attention to the NHL postseason and chat with NBC sports host Liam McHugh. Liam is the lead studio anchor for NBC's coverage of the NHL as well as Notre Dame football, the Tour de France, and other sports. In many ways, he is one of the faces of the young NBCSN. Today we talk with Liam about the Stanley Cup and his career at NBC. Topics include... -His journey to NBCSN including looking back at his time with Versus and The Daily Line and what that experience meant...
Apr 28, 2014•28 min
On today's podcast we welcome the co-host of Fox Sports 1's newest show, America's Pregame, Molly McGrath. Molly has been with FS1 since the network launch in mid-August. After serving mainly at the newsdesk providing updates, she then got the call to co-host Fox's new daily show alongside Mike HIll (who she incredibly used to print scripts for as a production assistant at ESPN). Molly also chats with AA about... -Her sportscasting journey including how she created a sports reporting role as a B...
Apr 25, 2014•30 min
It’s been one of the most exciting EPL seasons on record and NBC has earned rave reviews for their first year coverage of the league. The biggest game of the season takes place this Sunday at 8:30 AM Eastern when Liverpool hosts Manchester City in what some are calling a winner take all title clash. To talk about it all we’re pleased to welcome to this week’s AA Podcast one of NBC’s Premier League analysts, a man who knows the league very well from his nearly 500 apperances in English football, ...
Apr 10, 2014•28 min
It’s WrestleMania week and we’re pleased to welcome WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross to the podcast. Good ol’ JR has seen his popularity increase in the sports world as his most famous calls have become a favorite soundtrack to some of the most exciting plays in sports. These days JR writes for Fox Sports and has just launched one of the top rated podcasts on the internet. We talked with JR for a wide-ranging, in-depth podcast about the wrestling business and its evolution, his writing at Fox...
Mar 31, 2014•54 min
ONIONS!!!!! We're pleased to be joined by one of the most beloved announcers in all of sports on today's podcast, Bill Raftery. He's been a part of NCAA Tournament coverage for CBS for many years and continues to be one of the highlights of the television production. His classic calls, humor, exuberance, and enthusiasm are a trademark of one of the finest careers in broadcasting. Today Raf joins us to talk a little bit about that career and this year's tourney... -Working Big East games with Gus...
Mar 26, 2014•23 min
In the middle of March Madness we welcome one of the play by play men who called Thursday's action on one of the best days in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Brian Anderson of Turner & CBS may be more known more as a baseball announcer from his work for TBS baseball and the Milwaukee Brewers, but this is his third year working the NCAA Tournament. He chats with AA today about the exciting games from Orlando yesterday. Topics include... -How much sleep he got after Louisville-Manhattan en...
Mar 21, 2014•33 min
In today's episode we're joined by one of the broadcasters that will be covering March Madness for CBS and Turner - Allie LaForce. In addition to being a sideline reporter for the NCAA Tournament, Allie is also the co-host of CBS Sports Network's late night program Lead Off with Doug Gottlieb. The 25 year old from Ohio has had a quick rise through the industry in the last year and she chats with us about that ride and her assignment this weekend in Buffalo. Topics include... -How a beauty pagean...
Mar 19, 2014•21 min
In today's podcast we welcome Seth Davis from CBS and Sports Illustrated to talk about the NCAA Tournament and his new biography on John Wooden. Seth is a veteran sportswriter who has also served for over a decade as a television analyst in college basketball and brings that unique perspective to viewers. In today's podcast, we discuss... -Why he was motivated to writing a book about John Wooden and presenting the coach in a three-dimensional way. -The mythologizing of college coaches. -Whether ...
Mar 14, 2014•25 min
In today's podcast we're joined by one of the best new television analysts working in sports today - ESPN's Seth Greenberg. After a lengthy coaching career, Greenberg moved to Bristol from Virginia Tech after the 2012 season and he's quickly cemented himself as one of the sport's most enthusiastic and insightful voices. Today we talk about a number of topics touching on Seth's TV career and the current season including... -How working in television is refreshing compared to the daily grind of co...
Mar 06, 2014•47 min
Coming out of the Sochi Winter Olympics we welcome back NHL on NBC lead analyst Eddie Olczyk to the program to talk all things hockey. Eddie will be a part of the first network television broadcast of an NHL game since 1974 when the Penguins play the Blackhawks in Soldier Field on Saturday night. With such a momentous occasion upon us, what better time to get caught up with Edzo. On today's podcast we discuss... -His recent comments about aspiring for a return to coaching, his desire to teach, a...
Feb 28, 2014•28 min
In this week's edition of the Awful Announcing Podcast, we're trying something new. For the first time, we have multiple guests and they are all from our awesome staff. Ken Fang, Steve Lepore, and Joe Lucia all hop aboard a roundtable broadcast breaking down NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi and the highlights and lowlights of these games for the network. We also share some of our favorite moments from the Olympics so far and why everything can be explained by a classic Simps...
Feb 21, 2014•50 min
