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Mike Golic Nearly Took Morning TV Gig

“I would have had to move. It wasn’t radio at all. It was a morning sports TV show. It just didn’t work out. “

Ricky Keeler

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From 2000-2020, Mike Golic was a part of plenty of sports fans’ morning routines when he was on ESPN2 or ESPN Radio. Golic has done plenty of things since he and ESPN parted ways in 2020, but he almost went back to doing morning sports TV somewhere else.

Golic was a guest on The Dave Pasch Podcast this week and while he wouldn’t reveal specifics about which network offered him a return to morning sports TV, he did say he does enjoy sleeping in now in the mornings.

“I almost got back into morning TV. That was an iffy thing if I wanted to get up that early again.

“I would have had to move. It wasn’t radio at all. It was a morning sports TV show. It just didn’t work out. It was all amicable and everything. The toughest part about it in talking to my wife, she was like geez, you would be able to get up at 4:15 again? I’m almost 60, it wouldn’t have been for 20 years this time around. I’ve kind of gotten used to sleeping in till 7:30, 8:00, so that early wake-up call would have been interesting.”

Meanwhile, Golic mentioned over the last year or so, he has tried plenty of different media ventures, such as calling NFL games for Westwood One, college football games for Learfield, doing a podcast on DraftKings — Golic & Smetty — and doing guest appearances on Meadowlark Media with Dan Le Batard and StuGotz. One idea that was pitched to him was having his own podcast company.

“Somebody approached me about starting my own podcast company and I thought man, do I really want to go down that road? If I was 10-15 years younger, maybe I would. I hemmed and hawed with that.”

Pasch and Golic were on the call for college football games in 2020 on ESPN. Pasch was doing the play-by-play from his house while Golic was at the studios in Bristol. During that time, Golic’s biggest fear was that Pasch’s Wi-Fi would go out, but he thought the duo did a great job of making the audience feel like they were at the game when they weren’t.

“My biggest takeaway was the fear that your Wi-Fi would go out, which I think it did one time for a short time and I would be left alone to do play-by-play and color. That was the biggest fear I had. You were in your house, I was at least at the studios in Bristol. I had tons of monitors, I had everything I needed outside of being there.

“You doing it from your house and all the negative possibilities that could happen when you are trying to run a national TV broadcast from your house. That was pretty wild. It was crazy that we worked the whole season together and the first time we saw each other was my last game at ESPN (Fiesta Bowl). It was still a lot of fun. Our job was to call it like we were there and I think we did a pretty good job of that.”

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Joe Buck Misses Calling Baseball But Says He’s Already Called it for “A Lifetime”

“People go, ‘Do you miss calling baseball?’ — I did it for 35 years, that is a lifetime in broadcasting…I feel like I put my time in.”

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Picture of Joe Buck
Credit: Richard Shotwell AP

Longtime sports broadcaster Joe Buck gave up calling baseball when he made the switch to ESPN and, while he says he misses the sport, he’s called 35 years’ worth of the sport. On the latest edition of Nothing Left Unsaid with Tim Green, Green asks his former broadcast partner about the lack of baseball in his life. While Buck says he misses parts of baseball, he doesn’t miss all of it.

“People go, ‘Do you miss calling baseball?’ — I did it for 35 years, that is a lifetime in broadcasting…I feel like I put my time in. I did 24 World Series — that’s a lot, 24 more than I ever expected to do on national television. What I do miss is calling the game for the home crowd. I do miss the local stuff, where you go into the booth, and you’re the Cardinal announcer, and when the Cardinals win, ‘Yay,’ and when the Cardinals lose, ‘Boo.’ When you do the network stuff, it’s like death by 1000 cuts. It’s, ‘you hate my team, screw you,’ and it gets in your head and it takes a little bit of the fun out of it…I don’t miss the stress that comes with all that, but I do miss calling baseball for [a local team]…You show up, you’re not just there for an organization, but for their fans, and you’re kind of rooting along with them. That’s fun. And so, I miss that, but as far as the national stuff, I don’t miss a lot of that.”

Buck reiterated points he made months ago on 810 WHB with Jason Anderson. “I miss doing local baseball. I miss putting on a headset and being the eyes and ears of Cardinal fans, Royal fans, Rangers fans, whatever,” Buck said back then. “That’s more fun than being Switzerland and getting all the junk that comes with it.”

He stopped calling baseball when he and longtime football partner Troy Aikman moved from FOX to ESPN to call Monday Night Football. While he said publicly that he would miss calling the World Series, he also said the 2022 World Series would have been his last anyway. Buck says he may one day feel compelled to call baseball again, though, saying, “I’ve never said that before, but I just feel like I’m 53, basically 54, [and] I think it’s too early to say nevers at this point in my life. I think at some point, I’ll get the itch again.”

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Former Red Sox Pitcher Jonathan Papelbon Joins Roster of ‘Foul Territory’ Hosts

“I am joining the Foul Territory podcast full-time, no more guest spots…I’m coming in and I can’t wait to pop a bottle on this year’s baseball season.

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The already-stacked roster on Foul Territory just got its closer. Jonathan Papelbon, formerly of the Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, and Philadelphia Phillies, announced today that he was joining fellow former All-Stars A.J. Pierzynski, Todd Frazier, Adam Jones, Lorenzo Cain, Brock Holt and Jason Kipnis on the show.

The podcast also features former MLB Network host Scott Braun and former 11-year MLB catcher Erik Kratz.

“I am joining the Foul Territory podcast full-time, no more guest spots,” Papelbon said in a video posted to his X account. “Whether it’s a big Ohtani gambling scandal or me giving you baseball gambling winners…I’m coming in, no bulls—-, real talk, and I can’t wait to pop a bottle on this year’s baseball season.”

Papelbon has been a contributor to the show in the past as a guest but will now join in an official capacity. He has also contributed to linear and digital content for NESN since 2021 and will reportedly head to the booth this year.

The former closer will join Alanna Rizzo on the Foul Territory network, who was brought on just a week ago to co-host the podcast’s live program, Fair Territory, with baseball insider Ken Rosenthal.

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Sage Steele Debuts Episode 1 of ‘The Sage Steele Show’ Through Bill Maher’s Club Random Studios

“The Sage Steele Show” is the first show on Bill Maher’s Club Random Studios podcast network and episode one features UFC CEO and President Dana White.

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Sage Steele
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Sage Steele is back in the sports media space with her own YouTube show, The Sage Steele Show. It comes courtesy of Bill Maher’s Club Random Studios and features UFC CEO and president Dana White in Episode 1.

Steele announced the move via her X account, saying that she was, “THRILLED to announce [her] new show! Genuine convos with fearless people who are unafraid to tell their stories & speak their truths in this crazy world!”

Steele left ESPN after 16 years and one First Amendment lawsuit, after claiming the company and her colleagues wanted to suppress her rights to free speech after making public comments about COVID-19 and former President Barack Obama. Steele says she lived in fear during her last few years at the company because of her beliefs and the potential clashes they would have with her colleagues. She made appearances on other programs in the time since her ESPN departure but now finally has a new home.

Steele’s show is the first on Bill Maher’s new Club Random Studios podcast network. She will join other hosts like Billy Corgan and Fred Durst with shows on the network. According to Variety, Club Random will also partner with Kevin Garnett on his KG Certified podcast and develop new shows in-house.

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