It doesn’t matter whether it is sports, entertainment or broadcasting. It never is a good idea to follow a legend.
Cris Collinsworth knew the risk when he, Troy Aikman and Joe Buck were tabbed to replace the longtime Pat Summerall-John Madden show as Fox Sports’ lead crew for NFL telecasts.
“When you follow [Summerall and Madden], you’re putting your career on the line, to some extent,” Collinsworth said. “You’re going to be judged on arguably the best that ever has been in the business.”
The three have passed judgment, and then some. Their act will get the full exposure during the NFC championship game Sunday in Philadelphia.
Joe, Cris and Troy aren’t Pat and John, and that’s intentional. Fox decided the only way to make the transition work would be to use an entirely different formula.
So they combined the irreverence of Buck, the bluntness of Collinsworth and the straight talk of Aikman.
“Three men in the booth works only if we have different opinions,” Buck said. “We look at things differently.”
Buck pointed to a debate over whether San Francisco should go for it on fourth down during its playoff game with the New York Giants. Collinsworth said the 49ers should, but Aikman favored turning it over to the defense.
Collinsworth: “Their defense hasn’t stopped anybody all day.”
Aikman: “Well, if that’s the case, we might as well go home.”
This group doesn’t lack for opinions, especially Collinsworth, who rarely holds back.
“When we meet with players [before a game], we have to duck our heads,” Buck said. “Guys are looking for him.”
Buck acts as a wild card. After the controversial end of the 49ers-Giants game, Collinsworth did a major apology for not getting the rule right. So when Collinsworth gave a clarification on the call during Sunday’s telecast from Tampa Bay, Buck chided him.
“That’s just flat out knowing the rules, Collinsworth,” Buck said.
The combination works. Buck says the most flattering compliment they receive is when somebody says, “It sounds like a big game when you’re on.”
For the first time since 1983, Summerall and Madden won’t call the NFC title game. It is a remarkable piece of longevity.
Still, change is inevitable. Now it is the turn of Buck, Collinsworth and Aikman to see if they can establish a legacy.
“We’re three new people,” Buck said. “We’re not trying to do what they did. We only hope we can last half as long.”
Dispute: Iowa officials believe basketball coach Steve Alford was set up when he appeared Wednesday with WSCR AM-670 hosts Dan Bernstein and Terry Boers. According to Steve Roe, the Hawkeyes’ basketball sports information director, the station wanted to discuss that night’s game with Illinois when it made the request.
The interview, though, eventually focused on Pierre Pierce, who entered a written plea for assault causing injury to a female student.
Even after Alford said, “I’m not going to get into any of that,” Bernstein and Boers continued to press the issue with more questions.
“If they would have called and said they wanted to talk about the Pierce issue, my response would have been, `People are not commenting on the case,'” Roe said.
Bernstein insisted the questions weren’t premeditated. He said they pursued the topic only when Alford talked of “distractions” the team faced.
“He brought up distractions, and that’s the biggest one,” Bernstein said.
If Alford had said he couldn’t “legally discuss it,” Bernstein said he would have dropped it. Also, Bernstein said Iowa didn’t set any stipulation that Alford wouldn’t talk about the situation.
“But just because a coach tells me that he doesn’t want to talk about it doesn’t mean that I can’t continue to pursue it,” Bernstein said.
Alford will know better for next time, although there probably won’t be a next time on WSCR.
