There is a saying in sports that you never want to be the guy who follows the guy. I’ve always thought that’s garbage. Although it might not be ideal to take the place of a legend on the way out, I don’t want to be the guy that’s never given a big opportunity. That would be much worse.
A host that has the opposite of a defeatist attitude while taking over for legendary broadcaster Brent Musburger, is VSiN’s Stormy Buonantony. She has embraced the challenge with a positive attitude as if to say, “No one said anything about the girl taking over for the guy.”
The Vegas Stats & Information Network covers sports betting from all angles. Stormy has taken the torch on My Guys In The Desert while showcasing her personality and knowledge. In addition to that role, she still continues to deliver college football and NHL sideline reports.
We chat about what the heck Metallica has to do with her two separate jobs and not being driven by goals. Stormy also talks about the growth of women in sports broadcasting and betting, and also provides a winning eight-team parlay for tonight’s action. (I might’ve embellished the last part.) Enjoy!
Brian Noe: Where are you from?
Stormy Buonantony: I am born and raised in Las Vegas.
BN: Oh wow, you’re local.
SB: Yes, I grew up here through high school and then I went to college at San Diego State. From there I kind of bopped around from different jobs. I moved to Colorado and then North Carolina and then I ended up back in Vegas. It’s really cool to be working back in the city where I’m from and be around my family and stuff. The majority of my family does live in Vegas or in San Diego. It’s really cool especially after being on the East Coast for a few years and having not seen them for a really long time to now seeing them all the time.
BN: Do you think that being a Vegas local gives you a bit of an edge when it comes to sports betting coverage?
SB: Not an edge to the coverage but I think a more natural understanding of it. I did grow up more so in the culture. My uncle, Eugene Buonantony, is an oddsmaker in town. My dad and my grandpa back in the day, just huge bettors, bet on absolutely everything. When I’m watching a football game as a five-year-old with my dad, the game is a blowout, but he’s rooting for another touchdown because he needs the points. [Laughs] It’s definitely a different growing-up experience than most.
BN: What’s it been like taking over for Brent Musburger on My Guys In The Desert?
SB: There are no words. It is surreal. And it’s so cool that he’s still so involved with the show because during football season he was on for the full hour every Wednesday with me. Any time I had a question about anything he was right there to answer it. He’s so nice. He’s so cool. He’s so wonderful at sharing stories even with the sideline work that I do, he would go out of his way to make sure he knew which game I was assigned so that he could watch a little bit of it and help give me tips in that area too. He’s such a legend obviously but so personable and down to earth. Every day that I get to do a show with Brent is the best day. It’s the best show. It’s incredible. I feel very, very honored that in any capacity my name can be referenced in the same frame as his. He’s incredible.
BN: What’s it like to try to keep the show somewhat similar to what it’s been while making it different now that you’re a part of it?
SB: We thought it was super important to make sure that we kept some of that old-school oddsmaker flavor on the show. I absolutely adore Vinny Magliulo, Jimmy Vaccaro, Chris Andrews, all those incredible legends and sports betting Hall of Famers. I’m getting their stories incorporated on a regular basis and making sure we’re always going behind the counter with some of these incredible guys, but also adding a little bit of flair and a little bit of my personality injected into it and some fun. I’m kind of a quirky human. [Laughs] We do little, fun bits. We just try to be as creative and fun-loving and entertaining as we can while also presenting important information that bettors need to know and following line movement and things like that, I guess with whatever Stormy is, thrown in the mix.
BN: With people like that who know this stuff inside and out, what’s something you’ve either learned from what they’ve told you, or by observing how they think and how they approach sports betting?
SB: So much more goes into it than I guess I initially realized. I didn’t even necessarily understand how many different options that you could have betting certain things. Talking to those guys and hearing the way they get to a number I think is really unique. Why their number might not add up to a lot of the other people that you’re talking to and their handicap and what led them to certain things I think is always intriguing to find out. Following line movement has been really, really interesting to me because just as a novice growing up I just think oh, the point spread is seven. Okay, cool. But I don’t think about it moving to 7.5 and what that means and the impact of that number as a kid. Or even somebody just when I was in college and thinking about this type of thing, I didn’t really know what steam meant.
Seeing these big players laying these huge, massive amounts of money that change the game is really incredible. How people get information and does the book know that information or not? I think it’s just more conversational and hearing their stories and hearing how they do things has been really eye-opening for me. I’m a broadcaster; I don’t think of myself as a betting expert. I bring betting experts on to the show.
I analyze a lot of numbers and I make my own bets and if you want to bet with me, let’s do it, we’re in this together. We’ll ride the highs and lows, but I like to bring people on the show who are dialed into their specific sports, who are dialed into the betting aspect behind the counter as handicappers and analysts, and making that information consumable for people that have been doing this and betting for a long time or in the industry. I’m not dumbing things down for them but also making it consumable and understandable for somebody who might be listening to us for the first time.
BN: What do you think about the growth of women in sports broadcasting and sports betting?
SB: It’s huge. I feel like so many stories that I had heard coming up in this business were just about how it’s really hard, there’s going to be a lot of preconceived notions about you being a woman in the locker room, being a woman in this space. You have to overcome a lot of hurdles. I have had some of those experiences I guess, but more often than not I’ve had so many men in my corner that were supportive and have made me feel so comfortable working in this industry.
I think and hope as more women continue to get invested in sports and in the sports betting side that they’re welcomed because I feel like every day I’m seeing somebody new getting involved or a new face on television that I hadn’t seen before that’s a woman. Not only in reporter roles but in analyst roles and in play-by-play roles.
When it comes to betting, I don’t know if it’s because of the explosion of legalization over the last handful of years, but from a content producing standpoint of women in sports betting that like to talk about it, there are so many female faces and voices, whereas it was such a long journey I feel like in the sports reporter realm to get to that point. Now with more states opening up with it, as soon as it pops up in a state, there are women that want to get involved. They want to be a part of this. I think that’s pretty telling for that section of the industry in itself.
BN: How do you have to switch your mindset when it comes to hosting a sports betting show compared to doing sideline reports?
SB: Being a reporter and host are two completely different skill sets because for being a sideline reporter, you do all of this work leading up to this one day, but you speak in 30-second increments so you have to make sure that you get your story out, it’s concise, it’s consumable, it makes sense to everybody and it’s good. On VSiN, I have this wonderful opportunity to sit there and speak my mind for an hour or longer depending on what show I’m on that day. Obviously my show is an hour, but when I fill in on other programs that are longer, you get to really dive into a lot more, which does mean more research and does mean more work, but it’s really fun to share your opinion.
Being a reporter and being a sports betting host are very different from the standpoint that I’m telling other people’s stories and trying to get in-the-now information there, and in my show, it is kind of about my opinion. For whatever reason people want my opinion and I’m not sure why. But I’m just very used to being the question asker and not being the one voicing that. At first it was a challenge for me to be able to do that because so much of being a reporter is to separate yourself from it. You’re not the story and you’re not part of it, but VSiN encourages that. They want you to dive into the numbers and share why you like something or why you don’t and what you know and what you don’t.
BN: It makes me think of the band Metallica. Back in the day they had these long, long songs. Then the black album came along and their songs were shortened quite a bit. They were asked which was harder to do. The drummer said it was harder to make the songs shorter and to be more concise. They could come up with ideas all day for longer songs, but to trim things down was difficult. Which do you think is more difficult for you; the quick sound bites, or all the prep and all the airtime you need to fill on the VSiN side?
SB: Yeah, that’s a really interesting question. I find them both equally difficult. It’s a challenge but they’re equally fun in their own ways. I’ve never really thought of it that way. It is different so one thing about the show that I’ve never had to deal with as a reporter that’s new for me, and anybody that works in radio or live TV for a long time has dealt with it plenty, but this is a very new thing for me when I had started with the show was if a guest drops out.
I don’t have a co-host or anything and on other shows I always have. That is a challenge for me. At the beginning, you plan out the show and you allow a certain amount of time for certain things. Then if you’re a minute into an interview and somebody drops out and they’re not able to reconnect again and you just have 11 more minutes to fill of just you talking, that was very hard for me at first just because I had never experienced it before.
My producer, Stephanie [Kamerschak], is incredible. That first time specifically she’s like I don’t know why you freaked out, you handled that really well, I’m really proud of you. I was like okay, thank you. Maybe we can plan extra segments each show or something so we can have something in the back pocket. That was harder for me because I had been so programmed to be a sideline reporter and to be more concise, so stretching was a challenge for me at first. But now I feel a lot more comfortable with it. I’ve done the job for a full calendar year now and I’m used to those things happening, but the first time I was like what’s happening? Why is this going on?
BN: What do you see happening in the near future for sports betting?
SB: I think growth first and foremost. It’s just going to continue to become more and more widely accepted. My Twitter feed is just constantly filled with it. When you watch NFL Network or any of these major TV programs, they have tickers on the bottom with spreads now, which is so different. I think that that’s just going to continue to elevate and elevate. Maybe it’s in broadcasting that they’re incorporating it more.
We’re seeing them already obviously, but in-game. I was watching the UFC fights and while maybe it wasn’t done great, the way that they presented some of the numbers and odds, but they’re not trained in that either. They just have a DraftKings logo and they’re like okay, we’re supposed to do this promo so we’ll do it. But I think that’s going to transform from it being a blurb and here are the odds because this is a requirement to wow, this number moved a lot. A lot of people are thinking that this underdog has a real chance here and talking about it like that and have it being a free-flowing conversation broadcast is going to happen sooner than later. Growth with more women involved, with more people of color involved as it expands. I’m really excited for the future of sports betting. I think it’s only brighter and it’s only going to get bigger.
BN: It’s funny because it makes me think of Al Michaels where he would have those read between-the-lines comments like well, that’s overwhelming. Do you see yourself on the sidelines, and it might not be your whole report, but at some point interjecting sports betting into what you’re saying?
SB: I actually have once. It was very fortunate the way that this panned out, but I was working the New Mexico Bowl this past bowl season and a couple of the players on the sideline kept on saying the number of the week. I think it was 11 maybe. But that was the point spread of the game. One of the kids even came up to me and was like did you hear that? I was like yeah, what was that about? He was like they were 11-point underdogs, that’s been their motivation. They knew they were being doubted. They were up at halftime. I just remember thinking that was so cool and I told my producer. I was like am I allowed to say this? He said go for it. It was really cool to see those worlds collide there for a moment.
BN: I wonder if that will ever become common. To me I just wonder where the line is, how far is it going to go before someone says that’s a little bit too much.
SB: Yeah, I’m not sure. Every other job that I have had prior to where I am at now, I’ve not been allowed to bet based on my contract. When I worked for the Mountain West Conference, you can’t even bet on any professional sport if it has an NCAA championship. You can’t bet on any college sports and you can’t bet on any professional sport that is associated with an NCAA program.
I worked for the Carolina Panthers in the NFL; you can’t bet on any NFL or football. I worked for the NHL; you can’t bet on anything hockey-related. It took a little while for my brain to flip that switch that no, you’re allowed to talk about this, it’s okay. Don’t freak out. [Laughs] It’s awesome now because I’ll go on a football game and our statistician will be over there like okay, Stormy, what’s the big game that we’re looking at this week? People are into it and it’s awesome and it’s cool and it’s normal. I’m sure it’ll take some adjusting for some of those big-wigs to welcome this transition. I don’t know where the line is. Fortunately, that’s above my pay grade and so I don’t have to worry about that right now. [Laughs]
BN: How often has it happened where you’re under contract, you can’t bet, and you’re like I would totally bet this line right now?
SB: All the time. It happened all the time. What was the worst was when I worked in collegiate athletics and working for a college conference you can’t even make an NCAA tournament bracket. Even if it’s not for money, you just can’t do it. So bizarre. When I worked in the NFL, my dad’s calling me every week, so what’s going on, Storm? I’m like, dad, I can’t tell you, but I do like that number. [Laughs] Stuff like that, it’s just so goofy. It’s really interesting. It’s a different world.
BN: What experiences would you like to have going forward in your career?
SB: I am the worst person to answer this question because I am just so on the fly and living life day by day. Whenever anybody asks me, where do you see yourself in five years, I’m like I have no idea because every time I think I know, I never end up there. And it’s been for the best. There have been so many jobs that I thought I really, really wanted and I didn’t get and I was so sad about it, but if I would’ve taken that job then I never would have gotten this other opportunity, which ended up being so much better for me. I’m very much just taking opportunities and taking life as it happens.
The fact that I’m with VSiN even feels super serendipitous. I was just back in town and someone basically saw me on a Golden Knights broadcast when I was working for the team in town and realized hey, that last name sounds really familiar and connected the dots with my uncle and was like wait, does she know sports betting? They just got to know me and asked if I liked or cared about sports betting and developed that relationship. I never ever, ever, ever would’ve thought that I would be working in this industry and now I can’t imagine not working in it. Yeah, just kind of seeing what happens.
BN: Do you ever think that goals could get in your way, meaning if you’re in the moment and you’re day by day, if you’re thinking I want to get to this job, could that almost throw you off in a way?
SB: I think sometimes because it doesn’t let you embrace what you’re doing currently enough. If you’re always seeking that next thing and that next opportunity, you’re probably not giving your all to your current job. That’s always been really important to me. People are paying me to do this job for a reason. I want to make sure they’re getting what they’re paying for. I want to make sure they’re getting all of my personality, all of my energy and that I’m not just always looking for what’s next. I think that’s really important and maybe that does get lost for some people.
I also think a lot of times at least for me early on in my career where I was thinking dang, why am I not quite here yet. I was looking at so many other people that were my age or younger doing certain things. Comparison is the thief of joy; I don’t know where that quote comes from but I very, very firmly believe in it. I’m more so focused on supporting and lifting other people up and celebrating everybody’s wins; it’s so much more important to me now than trying to get what’s next. I just think that’s really important.
Brian Noe is a columnist for BSM and an on-air host heard nationwide on FOX Sports Radio’s Countdown To Kickoff. Previous roles include stops in Portland, OR, Albany, NY and Fresno, CA. You can follow him on Twitter @TheNoeShow or email him at bnoe@premierenetworks.com.
