During an appearance on The Michael Kay Show Monday, ESPN Monday Night Football announcer Joe Buck admitted his first assignment in his new role was a relief.
Asked whether a new role at this stage in his career had energized him or if it was a similar role with a new company, Buck was honest that it was a move that reignited a spark.
“It did,” Buck said. “I think it’s probably a good question for my therapist why it did. I think it was the music, I think it was the theme song, and trying to start something again and almost feeling like I had to prove something to myself again. I was thinking of my dad. My dad was around and alive when he I was hired at FOX and he was there when I finished my first World Series in the Bronx. That’s who I called when my first huge assignment was over. And now it was something new.
“I was emotional after that game and I didn’t know I would be,” he continued. “My wife does pregame on Monday Night Football, does the interviews on Monday Night Countdown. We went to dinner in Seattle after that game and I was an emotional wreck. I think I had put so much pressure on myself that once the game was over — and I could finally exhale — it felt like it was normal.
“The reaction was good. I felt like I could tell — there are very few wins in broadcasting — but that night felt like a win. And I’m smart enough to know it had nothing to do with me but as far as my career and my own mind, it was a really big relief in my world.”
Buck, who has previously said he felt the same pressure of taking on Monday Night Football that he did when he replaced Pat Summerall, was also asked when being a football announcer surpassed the prestige of being a baseball announcer. He couldn’t put a hard date on it, but was in agreement that the pendulum had definitely swung in the NFL’s favor.
“Whether you’re in St. Louis, or Pittsburgh, or Houston if they’re not in it — if your team’s not in it, I don’t know if you’re living and dying with the World Series like we all did when we were growing up. When did that happen? I don’t know. When you combine that with what goes on with fantasy football, I just think it’s a balance that went heavily in favor of the NFL and I think a lot of it has to do with TV and fantasy sports.”
