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Just in time for the holidays, Emmy Award–winning broadcaster Chris Myers has a new book out, ‘That Deserves a Wow’ which reflects on his illustrious career as one of the most trusted and renowned journalists in sports. From being on the field when the earthquake struck the 1989 World Series to being on the air throughout the aftermath of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing to his contentious interview with OJ Simpson, Myers digs deep into his time with both ESPN and FOX Sports as well as his life away from sports.
The book takes readers behind the scenes of conversations Myers has had with notorious athletes such as Muhammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Tom Brady, John Wooden, Bill Belichick, Charles Barkley, Barry Bonds, Serena Williams, Jack Nicklaus, Pete Sampras, and even his friend Bill Murray who wrote the forward.
I caught up with Myers before the Thanksgiving holiday and talked about the book, his career, and how his life has somewhat mirrored two very famous movies.
Dave Greene: What is the background on the book? Why did you decide to write it now or did someone approach you about doing it?
Chris Myers: I was approached a while ago. People would say, ‘hey, we’ve seen you cover a World Series, a Super Bowl, or call a game, or remember you from ESPN. But what about, were you there at the Earthquake World Series, or weren’t you there at that Olympic bombing at the Summer Games in Atlanta? Was that you on the broadcast with Dale Earnhardt, Daytona 500 when he crashes?’ And so, I kind of kept, during the pandemic when things were so slow, I just put some notes together.
But I really wasn’t ready to write a book. I didn’t have the time. I was still staying busy. And then someone approached me from HarperCollins and said they had heard about all of these stories, could I fit them into a book and make it a fun and interesting read. So, it includes some of the high points and the low points, and the tragedy, and the triumph, and all that. So, we shaped it together, and it’s reflecting over 20-plus years of FOX Sports, and a 10-year run at ESPN in their growth years, what I call ‘the golden years’, and then some local sports. So, it kind of covers a lot of that.
I didn’t want it to be a typical sportscaster book. It’s not really me. It’s about my eyes through these events and these people. I wanted people to get a sense of it from the inside out.
DG: I read where you told someone the book is kind of like Forrest Gump meets Almost Famous, tell me more about that?
CM: Yes, and in that sense, you put it in a sports model. So, the Almost Famous, the Cameron Crowe movie, he’s a young journalist for Rolling Stone and covering a rock and roll band. I was a teenager, my first interview was Muhammad Ali at 16, and then I got into radio. I was that young guy growing up in the business.
And then there’s the Forrest Gump. I did meet some presidents, but I was enthroned into these different situations that I thought were going to be fun sporting events, like a World Series, and then you have to cover an earthquake, and you’re not just there. You have to tell people about it and still do your job, and it becomes bigger or more important than sports.
There were a few other less famous moments. Hank Gathers, who was going to be a number one NBA pick for Loyola Marymount and the run and gun, he collapsed on the court, has the heart attack, and I’m reporting that from the hospital once they notify the family that he had passed away. And then there’s some happy moments. Ian Johnson at Boise State, a Fiesta Bowl, the major upset at the time of Oklahoma. I interviewed him, and he’s proposing live to his girlfriend, a cheerleader, and they’re happily married.
And then Tim Burke, an all-star pitcher, leaves the game in the middle of the all-star game to meet his wife in the jungle to adopt their first child and to be there for that story and tell it. So, there’s a lot of that, and some really interesting people that maybe aren’t as famous in terms of the world of sports, but that certainly are worth talking about.
DG: Was there a big break moment for you early in your career?
CM: …I’m not knocking those who had famous fathers in the business, but my dad wasn’t in broadcasting. He wasn’t a radio or TV announcer, and so you have to work your way in. And you always need a break somewhere to get on the radio at a young age. It was one thing to get an opportunity from radio then to get into television locally.
You know, those were important steps. I think probably maybe the big break that helped my reporting get on a national scale was at ESPN as the West Coast Reporter. Their first one, they were establishing bureaus, Jimmy Roberts in New York and myself out West, and to get that job, I did a story when I was in New Orleans, a local story, a couple of them.
One was about the LSU baseball team going to the College World Series, and the other one was about the Saints and their assistant coaches. They never played the game. They were a really good staff, but none of them had ever played in the NFL but were effective. They finally turned the Saints, who had never won, never been in the playoffs, never had a winning season, and they changed that.
So that story got me the big break to ESPN and I really enjoyed my time there, and then the opportunity at FOX Sports became more than the NFL and grew into an opportunity to join them. So lucky from that standpoint of a break to be with two of the great sports networks in growth periods, where you’re allowed to be creative and take some chances, and you get the opportunity and the support, you know, you need to find your way.
DG: Was there a particular story or two when you started writing the book where for whatever reason you were like, ‘wow, I can’t believe that happened’, or maybe learned more about it?
CM: I was touched by a lot of these things, and when I recalled them, I was like, ‘wow’, you know we use the word ‘wow’ a lot, as we just did in sports, and there’s a lot of wow moments, and there’s also sometimes shocking news or disappointing. Writing this was fun. It was like going back through the journey, and I’ve been asked to speak at some broadcast schools and sports journalism because of some of the things I think people can learn and identify with their own situation and find their path and hopefully inspire them as I was inspired in the business.
DG: Bill Murry wrote the forward for the book, how did the two of you become friends?
CM: I met him first at the ESPYs. I’ve known him more than 30 years, it was an early ESPY awards, and he had Dan Patrick and I come down to join him in a segment on the show. He was going to do some bit for those awards when they were just shaping that, and he said, ‘you guys write your own material, so I’m going to write with you and come up with [something to] play off of what you do, and we kind of hit it off. He’s a great sports fan. He comes from a big family like I do.
Obviously, he’s got a sense of humor, and I often considered being a comic or thought about it, but wasn’t cut out for that, but really love comedians and interviewers, and so we kind of connected. Then we went to a baseball game, and then I hung out with his brothers who were all very talented and creative and in different ways, of course, Caddyshack, and then we got to golf a little together. I golfed at his charity event.
He would come on the Up Close interview show, or if I was doing a radio show when I asked him, and so he’s been a longtime friend, and there’s some sensitive, touching moments from him as a friend in the book for me and my family, that aside from the funny Bill Murray and the talented actor and comedian that he is, and he’s the kind of guy, really, and this is a compliment to him that I think you’d want to hang out with, you know, even if he wasn’t famous, because he’s got not only a great personality, but incredible knowledge.
DG: As long as you have been doing this, do you still get butterflies before games? Do you still get as excited about it as you did before?
CM: Yeah, I do, and that’s why I’m still doing it. The fan part of me, and also the part of me that loves the people involved. You know, how do they handle failure? How do they overcome adversity? What made them so good for so long? Somebody like a Jerry Rice or even Tom Brady more recently. But yeah, I still get the rush when the light comes on or the mic opens up, because I love the unpredictability.
You can prepare, and you should for everything, but then when it happens, you’re not sure which way the game’s going to go or the interview’s going to go. And I think that’s kind of the excitement of it all. But the fan thing never leaves you. So no, that’s still there That doesn’t leave me.
You know, even a bad day covering sports is a good day, because you’re still doing something that’s fun. And there’s some travel issues, and there’s some people that are difficult in situations that are frustrating like any job, but it doesn’t feel like a job when you’re getting to do it as much and with the people that I’ve been able to do it with.
DG: Let’s end with this one – what would you like for people to get out of reading the book?
CM: Well, I want them to feel good. I want them to be inspired. These are all actual events. If you’re a sports fan, you’re going to love it. Even if you’re not a sports fan, I think you will appreciate some of the people, how they think, how they grew up, how I grew up. It covers my stories that involved me and my family that affected how I reacted to some challenging interviews, some unexpected situations, some very happy moments in sports. These are moments that you’ll remember where you were or your father or grandfather might tell you about it, what they read about it.
I didn’t want the book to be homework, it’s under 300 pages. There are some pictures. These are people you know, and you’ve heard of, or watched on SportsCenter or on FOX Sports and in big events and great athletes. When you start reading it, I think it’ll move you. It’s always something that when I read books, and I read them all about broadcasters coming up and news people and entertainment people, I want to be moved by it, but I want to know it’s the truth.
And this book has some of that. And yeah, curiosity is a good thing to have if you know what to do with it.
Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
