Jim Rome, one of radio’s original bad boys, is still grinding at 60 and said he’s looking forward to interviewing the grandchild of one of the athletes he covered over his career.
Rome was interviewed by Dan Le Batard, another sports radio legend, on Le Batard’s show South Beach Sessions and admitted that he’s matured over the years.
“I’m not that guy everybody hates,” Rome said. “We get older and we evolve.” At this point, something like provoking a fight with former Rams quarterback Jim Everett isn’t likely to happen. “Obviously I would not have canned Everett ‘Chris’ a fifth time, ” he said.
That a more grown-up version of Rome continues to be successful is a bit of a surprise to him. “I used to think when I was 30, the last thing this world needs is a 50-year-old smack talker. Nobody’s listening to that. And yet here I am 60 and talking a little bit of junk,” he said.
Rome and Le Batard reminisced over how Rome got into the young sports radio field. When he was a kid, Rome wanted to be a pro athlete. “I figured out in Little League that’s never going to happen,” he said. “ So how do you stay in sports?”
In high school, Rome recalled being a bit of a nerd, obsessed with sports. “I was not the cool kid for sure. Very small group of friends. Didn’t get the girl,” he said. But he always had a bit of a mouth and had a chip on his shoulder.
“I had something to prove and I was gonna get mine and I wanted to be proud of me, and like, yo, man, I mean things worked out pretty well. How you like me now,’ he said.
Rome said.got his start on a small radio station in Santa Barbara and he was looking for his big break. He dreamed of being on WFAN in New York. Then a San Diego station changed formats and went all sports. He got a job at the station and things happened quickly: a TV show on ESPN2 and a syndicated radio show on stations all over the country.
Though he was on air, Rome always treated his show like a business, because he grew up in a family that owned a small business. “At the dinner table every night I hear ‘take care of the business and the business will take care of you,” he said. “And I told the staff: take care of the show and the show will take care of you.”
At this point in his career, Rome says watched many athletes’ entire careers go by. Some of those athletes did care for his harsh takes. He recalled that Raider Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long was “one of those guys that heard me on the radio. He threatened to kick my ass.” At one point they met, and Long cracked that Rome was bigger than he’d thought. They bonded a bit while talking about their children.
Long told Rome that he “had a nine-year-old who could beat your ass right now.” Rome never figured out whether Long was talking about Chris or Kyle, both of whom played in the NFL. Either way, they would have,” Rome noted.
Rome said he wants to keep doing the show long enough to interview the grandkids of one of the athletes he’s known and interviewed. And then “when I’m done, I’ll be done.”
While admitting that he spent way more time with his nose to the grindstone than smelling the flowers, Rome didn’t have much regret about his career.
“I’ve lived a whole life, talking sports and interviewing athletes. They pay me to do this. It’s a joke, man. I hope they never find out, but I was going to make sure they never found out by paying that price and doing the work,” he said.
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