Joe Davis on Greg Olsen, Tom Brady, Joe Buck, Shohei Ohtani, and more

[Music] this is the awful announcing podcast here's your host Brandon [Music] contes all righty welcome to episode 64 of the a announcing podcast I'm your host Brandon contis and this week we are joined by Joe Davis NFL on FOX MLB on Fox the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the voice of the World Series Joe thanks so much for coming on the podcast today and especially this week the week that the NFL kicks off which I'm sure you're excited about but also I would imagine your calendar and travel schedule is about to get a little bit more packed this week yeah good to be on Brandon it's uh it's a crazy time of year bouncing back and forth for sure but it it beats working there's no doubt about that do you have any Thursday night baseball games on the schedule as well so like is is it so Thursday night baseball Dodgers games and then NFL as well yeah where it gets really crazy I guess it's starting with this trip to Atlanta this weekend so it'll go I'll have the you know the the Steelers Falcons game Sunday Monday and Tuesday Dodgers Cubs in La Wednesday we'll fly to New York Thursday Yankees Red Sox Head to Green Bay uh Colts Packers at Lambo fly to Atlanta Sunday night Dodgers Braves Monday fly to Miami after that game Dodgers Marlins three days in a row there fly to New Orleans Saints Eagles and then back home to remind my family what I look like for too yeah does I mean like like I like you said it's it it beats working I'm I'm sure you love the job and and you recognize how how hard it is to get this job but you do have a family so like does does that travel get done at times yeah I love the travel part of it I love the challenge of prepping multiple games at a time but you're right I think the one draw back to it is the the leaving part like the going is okay but the leaving home is it's the tough part of it thankfully I got an awesome wife who understands and she makes it happen she takes care of things when I'm gone and when I'm here you mentioned you have um Steelers Falcons this week so Kurt Cousins Russell Wilson when do you get to Atlanta for that one o'clock game on Sunday Friday night Zoom has changed stuff you know it used to be like before Zoom I would have to travel we'd have to be there Friday morning for inperson meetings and to get there Friday morning I have to leave Thursday night so that's been a complete game changer for a little more maneuverability there as far as the schedule goes yeah yeah and then this year now working with Greg Olsen I I know you've worked with Greg before but how does that Dynamic change now that he's your full-time broadcast partner yeah I'm really excited for we did like a month of games together two years ago to a three years ago when um Kevin would leave to host the World Series and and before I was doing the World Series I would come over and fill in for Kevin for the month of October and we hit it off and we're similar life stages I guess with young kids at home and similar priorities and interests and um you know I think how does it change when we're doing a game together every week I think it can only be for the better I think like even working with moose these last few years who I adore they got better each week and I think that's only natural the only way to build that chemistry is to actually go out and do it did you do any practice runs with with Greg over the summer like do you do you spend time together or do you just will show up on Sunday and and and let it rip yeah more that we we spent a little time together but no formal um stuff like I know Tom Brady and and Kevin burkard have talked about doing we haven't done any of that and I guess part of that is that we've had that you know the real life experience of doing a handful of games together yeah what makes Greg great like fans can be pretty picky when it comes to National broadcasters but it it seemed like the the last two years um everybody nearly fell in love with him as a broadcaster as an analyst I think the first thing is the energy and it's the same thing that you get when you meet him in person he's just got so much life to him so I think no matter what he says people are going to relate with that but then you listen to what he says and the content is excellent I think like you never want to be you never want to be too much into this or that you never want to be all stories you never want to be all stats it's it's like putting together a stew right like right amount of each ingredient and he's got that Knack where he yeah he studies the analytics and he can translate that stuff but he also knows to pull it back a little bit not turn it into math class I think that especially for somebody who's only been doing it for a few years still which is yeah hard to remember because he's so good so fast um he's got a great just six cents for how to balance all those different things what did you think of his ability to not only replace Troy Aman but to replace Aman while Tom Brady was was looming over that yeah impossible situation right there's no blueprint for it so the fact that he went out and performed the way he did not a surprise knowing him and then the way that he sandledge has been a help to him so that tells you a lot about him right there that Greg's gonna go out of his way to help the guy who's kind of coming and taking his spot um so yeah I I've just I've admired him having worked with him I admire him as a guy and now seeing the way he's handled it it's just enhanced that do you feel at all like you're in any sort of competition with uh with Tom and Kevin and like does does ranking the booths does that inherently create competition inside of a network I think you're lying if you say you don't you don't try to be the best crew there is I don't know that we look at it as or I'm just speaking for myself I don't look at it as like me against Kevin Kevin's one of my best friends or even our crew against their crew but yeah we talk about let's go be the best crew in the NFL right like I think that should be the the goal for every crew and uh anybody who tells you know like no we're all competitive people especially these guys that have made a life out of made made a living out of being competitor yeah we we try to be the best that we can be but that's not necessarily like hey let's go be better than the the one crew or whatever yeah have you gotten to hear any of uh Tom and Kevin's dry runs at all I have not no you got any you got any back channels there where You' gotten some no no uh no audio Le okay um have you have you spoken to Kevin about that dynamic yeah and got to meet Tom at um you know having covered him have met him got to spend some time with him at our football seminar this summer and everybody Raves about how first of all like how much he wants to be there I think if you don't have that it doesn't matter how good a communicator you are if you're not wanting to be there and wanting to put in the time you're probably not going to be very good at it so there's the want to and then sounds like he's gotten better and better each time and they've done quite a few of those so uh I think that they've stacked up enough reps doing games behind the scenes where they feel like they're in a good place going into this first game but I think everybody's excited to hear what it sounds like yeah absolutely um you mentioned the uh the zoom meetings before a game a lot has been made in the last couple weeks about the NFL restrictions being placed on Tom because of the uh his pending Raiders ownership and I I won't won't ask you about you know you don't have to comment on Tom's situation directly but just for your preparation as a play-by-play voice um how important are those meetings how important is getting to meet with players and coaches before the game yeah I think it's it's very important um I I think to get your crew kind of headed in the same direction what you're going to be focusing on because you can definitely get the S like these NFL teams are covered so well that you can get that sense if you don't hone in on certain things that you're sitting at a messy desk when you go do a game there's just so much stuff so it it proves to be I I think a good chance for your crew all to kind of sift through and prioritize through all that information find out what's important some meetings are going to be better than others some coaches don't give you anything some coaches give you too much and you got to figure out what you can use and what you can't but yeah they're definitely important um again some weeks more important than others but definitely an important part of the job is it the type of thing that like if if Greg couldn't attend those meetings that you or a producer would be able to fill them in on that stuff or is it uh you know just more important for for everyone to be in the room together I think you'd prefer to be in the room together I think that in a perfect world Zoom never happened and you're still there in person um that you know the I think the more intimate it can be the better uh but yeah there's ways to do it I mean there look I've I've missed conference calls before Greg's missed conference calls before there's stuff that pops up occasionally where you do have to have the crew fill you in and have somebody that's taking good notes and I think the important thing is to just if that's the case then you got to be able to kind of revisit the meeting and sit down and like I talked about making sure or the meetings getting everybody on the same page just kind of I would I would think that for those guys in any case where we've missed a meeting it just takes another level of uh sitting down and making sure that the person that missed the meeting is filled in on everything is it an option to to do those in person now and we still occasionally do um I just think that it's probably more often than not guys do them in zoom and I think the coaches probably prefer that too right it's not the highlight of their week to sit down and with us so whatever's convenient for them too um how clued in were you to all the moving Parts at Fox a couple years ago because like with especially with Fox letting Joe Buck out of his deal early did they did they check with you first like to make sure that that you were still planning to stick around and and wanting to move up in the ranks in in football and baseball as well they didn't check with me first um it was something where I was I didn't I was not sleeping great right the news comes out that Joe might be leaving and I'm thinking well if he somehow does I think I might be in line to be the guy for the World Series I don't know for sure though and then I was like every single day sitting there like a Madman just refreshing my phone and you know all the the news feeds and everything trying to see what the next update was uh but no they didn't they didn't fill me in you know as we got closer to figuring out exactly what was going on I got a better idea that I would probably get a chance to do the World Series if it did happen and then right towards the end of the whole thing um I was in Las Vegas doing the pack2 basketball tournament and Brad zagger one of our bosses called and said hey I'm going to come see you in Vegas tomorrow youve got some time for me and that's when I kind of knew that it for sure was going to happen but it was a nail bite in few weeks that's for sure were you surprised when when Joe left yeah yeah I don't think that I think anytime that somebody leaves a network like that in an air it's surprising because you know guys stay in those roles forever I think you just kind of assume Joe Buck and fox fox and Joe Buck that's always going to be the case so uh yeah was I still remember where I was when I got word that something had come out that there was a chance that he was going to leave that's a jarring thing because it's just you you kind of think things are going to stay the same as they've always been in situations like that and at that point like do you have your agent contact anybody at Fox or do you get get in touch with anyone or you just kind of sit back and and wait for them to come to you yeah we just sat back I think it was situation where like what is the agent going to say right you know if they were to call and say hey we heard this report Joe's going to leave want you to know Joe would love to replace him on the world obviously you know so I think like they they knew that I would want to be that guy um any case that needed to be made hopefully in a situation like that you've made the case with your work and in that case I'd been at Fox for I think seven or eight nine years at that point so um that's what has also made it hard though because he couldn't really do anything like you you wanted to of course pick the phone up and call be like please pick me please do but uh you just kind of had to wait for it to all shake out um you worked with uh with Troy on some NFL games correct uhhuh how was that how how is Troy off camera is he is he welcoming is he all business how is he to to you in the booth he was so great to me I only did one game with him um okay ironically I guess it was a Tom Brady game it was bucks and Saints right and he was so great to me I uh let's see it was it was in New Orleans and I I don't know just just the one game so I don't have a ton for you on that but just the the way that he made me feel comfortable and what was a big deal for me getting to do the AC crew game there before I had done much of any NFL at that point and was still trying to prove myself as worthy of a spot like that and uh he just he went out of his way to make sure that I felt comfortable I think is the best way that I could put it off the air is it hard to to do um just oneoff with somebody when you're so used to working with somebody for a season and especially from Troy's standpoint where he was so used to working with Joe for I me obviously he has people fill in on occasion but for the most part like you know Joe is the the only person that he's really used to working with and here is somebody new stepping in and um just trying to to pick your spots and and maybe it's even harder for an analyst than it is for a play byplay voice I don't know yeah that's a good question who that would be harder on I I think it's his as hard or as e it's not as easy as when you're working with somebody every week back to what we're talking about you know working with Greg every week I think it's only going to make it better just because every time you do it you learn a little more about every you know each other's Cadence and timing and Rhythm and everything so there's no real substitute for giving those reps but I think within reason you can make it as hard or as easy as you want to based on how you treat the guy who's coming in to fill that seat and again Troy treat treated me so great it was as easy as a situation like that can be how did you land at Fox um going especially was it two three years before you're working with the uh Montgomery Biscuits yeah like that's that's quite the quite the jump to then get be getting National work just a couple years later yeah it was uh I was in Montgomery 2010 to 12 and from there went to ESPNU so I did two season two years at ESPNU mostly lower level College stuff got some few bigger opportunities there but um 2014 there were the early days of FS1 so it was at a stage where they had a little more inventory and it was a it became a no-brainer for me where it was a chance to go be at that point the number two college football guy get a chance to do consistent Major League Baseball I'd only done a couple major league baseball games at that point kind of backwards where normally a guy would work with a team and then get the national gig I had done handful of ESPN Radio games uh Major League Baseball and that was it on TV for Major League Baseball Fox hes made to do it every week and then the Dodger job actually came a couple years after Fox gave me that chance right similarly going from the Montgomery Biscuits to being in line to replace Vince Scully like that's that's probably even the the more impressive jump at that point yeah man I still don't know how like I'm I'm being honest I I pinch myself all the time think thinking about like how in the world this happened so many right time right place things that happen and yeah you got to put the work in you got to not stink at it but I've had so many people help me I've had so many things fall my way that like it's not it's not lost on me how crazy this is that I got to do what I did following Vin and at the age that I did and now following Joe like yeah it's it's stupid yeah and I mean not to imply that you didn't put the work in because because you you did you definitely you've lived through the grind and I mean now you're still living through the grind just at a a much different stage um but like you you think of the time that Wayne Randazzo had to put in in the minor leagues and then hosting pre and postgame shows in Chicago and New York and and then before getting to the angels and like I would consider Wayne's rise rather quick as well yeah but just you know two or three years from the Montgomery Biscuits to replacing Vince Scully that's a that's a different level of Rise yeah it sure was man I like I think when the Dodgers first and by the way Wayne is one of my best friends I if you know Wayne and I were in yep and I think he's one of the best guys out there doing it I uh when the Dodgers first called I had done four major league baseball games total like I had done a couple on ESPN radio I had done I got into Fox at the end of what 14 and I did two FS1 baseball games before that college football season and the Dodgers first reached out like that fall so at the time it was like what like they even know who I am what what the hell is that like there's no way um so it's just it's another it's it's a great one of those examples of like just crazy luck and again like yeah I worked hard at it but I didn't work nearly as hard for as long as a lot of the guys that are just as good and a hell of a lot better than I am and there are guys that are so good and so deserving that still haven't gotten those chances that are grinding minded leagues 20 years later so yeah you got to be good at it but you have to have stuff time out in your favor and I continually just luck out like I I've been so lucky I joke with people but I seriously like I gota look both ways several times before I cross the street because I'm do to get drilled by a bus or something stuff has come my way so did the the Dodgers reached out to you before you reached out to them yeah yeah because it was not it was a really uh unconventional like job opening I guess to State the obvious with it being you know not knowing exactly when Vin was going to step away and then so there was never really an opening right um they when they reached out they it was like Hey we're Gathering starting to think about what life will be like after Vin is done and you know your name came up and I remember my agent said do you have a baseball reel and I was like no not not really I can put one together for you but um yeah so they reached out and then when I was in LA for some Fox meetings that winter I said you know what I'm going to swing by Dodger Stadium introduce myself to the people that are doing this process and just just kind of see what's going on um they Lon Rosen who who headed the whole job search said you're one of four people we're considering at this point I was like oh okay like I don't know how that happened but this is kind of real so I called my wife afterwards and I said hey like I'm still not going to get this but can you believe I one of four people they're considering well years before when we were in college I told her hey you're not going to believe this but I want to like 10 people the biscuits are considering for the Montgomery job and her response was oh my God we're moving to Alabama so she was right that time and when I told her I'm not nothing's going to come of this but the Dodgers are actually considering she said oh my gosh it's happening again like you're going to get this aren't you and it just worked out where the other few guys that they were talking to for one reason or another it didn't make sense and I think they wanted somebody who wasn't like it almost worked in my favor that I didn't have a ton of experience and I didn't like there wasn't an identity wrapped up in another team or even in a network really at that point I was doow enough level stuff where I could kind of still be their guy and uh as different from Vin as you could have just given the age difference and uh yeah they they took a chance on me and Lon Rosen is the guy that headed that whole thing do you do you know what it was they heard or when they they first heard you that made them start to consider you for that job did you ever ask that I've heard a few different stories as far as like who was the first one to turn on my tape or to point to my name I know that um there there's a producer that i' worked with on some ESP and streaming stuff like college baseball college World Series tournament regionals or super regionals that I had done just some some real entry level stuff with years before that a guy that he knew that worked at sports net LA and and you know Brad Zager might have had something to do with it too even before I was on Fox's radar or I was already at Fox so Brad knew about it through like it's all like everybody out here in La I get kind of a fishbowl of these Executives and I don't know who brought my name up first um but I just know that I I looked out that somebody did yeah really cool um do you know whether Vince Scully had a a say in in you being hired did you meet with him prior to to getting hired I didn't meet with him before um I don't know that he from what I understand they showed him my tape but he was at a point where I think it was always the case where he was kind of hands off when it came to stuff like that um he I think that he was so especially that last year or two I mean it there's always somebody that wanted his attention for something and I think that it was more just yeah this like sound if you think this is the guy sounds good to me and he was pretty removed at that point as you would expect the guy to be who's in his early 90s done 67 years of it and but I will say this the one of the first calls I got when it became official was from Vin to welcome me to the team and congratulate me and I got to know him a little bit that that first year where he was doing home games and I was doing Road games but not a ton of crossover just because of the schedule differences sure did you um did he did he ever give you a any pieces of advice or anything like that yeah we the big thing and it sounds obvious but it's be yourself and he said it's the same advice that red Barber gave him in 1950 when he took over next to Red in the Brooklyn Dodger booth and seems obvious like yeah okay be yourself of course but I think that the human nature is to try and mimic people who you who you like and especially in this situation maybe to try and be the guy who you're trying to follow right so his idea was just let yourself come through and I've reminded myself of that all the time and I think that that it's it's huge advice um and it it sounds simple but you at least I have to remind myself just given the what I mentioned about trying to emulate other guys and and the other thing is we talked about I wanted to know from him the biggest situations because you know the biggest calls that's what's going to separate the greatest ever to do it from the really good ones and I wanted to know what his process was because nobody's better than him in those moments and he the way he put it was think of it like if a house if your house is burning down and you're in there and you got to get everybody out safely if you're breathing heavy and you're hyperventilated and going crazy you're probably not getting everybody out of that house safely but if you calm and measured and taking a deep breath everybody's going to be just fine and he said think of the big moments that same way take a breath breathe your way through it and you're going to be just fine yeah that's a it's a unique way of putting it yeah for sure was it uh was it hard to win Dodgers fans over like obviously you're not Vince Scully they know they're aware of that from the start but also you're not from from Los Angeles and you didn't grow up a Dodgers fan either so like was that something that they uh ever held against you I couldn't tell you you know I can't speak for all of them what I'll say is Vin's advice was huge be yourself and so I tried to let myself be myself and then two huge things one is the team has won a ton since I've gotten here so I've delivered good news I think if I was delivering crappy news they would have run me out of town like it doesn't matter who the guy is you delivering bad news they not going to like you and then oral Hy is such a great partner and from my first day here put his arm around me literally figuratively like he just been such an incredible person in my life that has everything I have said since I got here whether it was right or wrong or stupid he still rubber stamps it with the way he replies and the way that he segs off of it so between the team- winning games and oral being such a good partner I think that you know in time they at least learn to accept me and that's that's as much as I ever could ask for being the guy following Vin did following Vin help prepare you for uh replacing Joe Buck at all probably yeah I can't say that I thought about it necessarily but I think just the same ideas apply where it's like be yourself and trust yourself and trust that over time people people can hopefully come to appreciate who you are and what you bring and um I think another situation where it's good to not get too caught up in who you're following and trying to be that person trying like you of course I learned from both those guys as much as I learned from anybody but without losing yourself in the process and to be able to go through that a couple times definitely didn't hurt did you feel more pressure replacing one than the other probably Vin um and I would I would tell Joe that you know I Joe Joe's become a great mentor to me and um he he would say yeah I'm sure he'd say I I kick you in the ass if you said that I was hard to replacement then so I think that you know Vin the greatest ever to do the job I think Joe's the greatest of Our Generation and uh yeah to to be able to follow those two guys and I like I have to use the word follow because the word replace and I know it's semantics but like you really don't replace guys like that VIN who's the greatest ever to do it 67 years on the job Joe quarter Century doing World Series you're not going to replace that uh but to be the guy to follow them I Tred to channel like a responsibility more than this pressure packed situation and um that made me feel that made me channel it like uh with this feeling of gratitude and like good fortune that I get to be the guy I get to be the guy to follow those guys as opposed to oh boy I'm replacing Joe or I'm replacing I think also the following the the local broadcaster is harder than the national and like National is the bigger stage but Bas especially fans have such a strong connection to their their local broadcasters and like while Joe Buck is great and he has a lot of fans but that connection with national broadcasters just isn't quite the same yeah you're so right and I can't tell you how many people I hear from that say you know I I listen to Vin from like you know in the in the womb I was listening to Vin and Vin was a part of so many people's lives and like through generations you know he was something that connected kids to their dads to their grandparents to their great-grandparents and you you're right so I think you nailed it something that I wasn't even necessarily thinking about when I first answered your question there that just the the way that you because it's every day too in baseball you in these people's houses every single day and people felt like they lost a family member when Vin retired and then when Vin passed so that that adds a whole another layer of emotion and Nuance to following somebody in that position I guess than you know to your point the national role where you are you're not attached to any one of the teams you're more attached to the event in the moment which I don't think is nearly as emotional as the team um you mentioned Joe Buck being a a mentor um was that more while he was at Fox as it has it continued since he's left and been at ESPN yeah it has continued it's um that's one of the coolest things that's happened in my career is I grew up wanting to be Joe basically right like watching the World Series watching the Super Bowl all the events all the biggest events that I remember from my childhood it's pretty much Joe that was calling those so I went from I want to do this job and I want to like I want to do those games that he's doing I want to do it just like him to going to Fox and one of the highlights in my first big football seminar was I got to meet him for the first time so I go from idolizing the guy to getting to meet him to him becoming a mentor in those next few years to now I consider him a friend and it's like I I I lean on him for all kinds of stuff it's more just like you know the the personal stuff and the stuff off of the year that he's become so that's another one of those see I'm I'm not kidding what I say like I pinch myself all the time there's so much crazy stuff that I've had I've had just kind of lock into and line up for me and that's that's one of the big ones is my relationship ship with Joe what's the best advice that he gave you or or something that stands out um man I think to trust myself um you know I think that like with vin it was it was be yourself with Joe it probably distills down more to trust yourself trust that you belong that you can do the job and um you know he's talked a lot Through The Years about criticism that he's dealt with and how he's managed it and I think that he's taken the stuff that he's learned the wisdom he's gained from going through that and passed it on to me and I think it comes with it comes with the chair right you're going to have people that don't like you and like I think of that like I put myself in in the position of the fans like why would you not like an announce or whatever but then I think about music some people are going to say for example Drake is awesome some people are going to say he's terrible and like it's because it's subjective and it's the same thing with announcers right it's it's not a personal thing right that that's not something Joe has told me that's an aside that I've just kind of thought to myself but that that idea of just not being too hard on yourself trusting that you know what you're doing continuing to do what's gotten you to this point and but man I like I could go on and on the stuff that Joe has passed on to me and that a lot of his to just stuff that I think of that's on my mind that I know I can go to him and he's somebody who's who's lived a lot of the questions that I have and um always has time for me Joe gave up the uh the Cardinal job I think it was about halfway through his his ten year at Fox um do you see yourself doing the Dodgers job long term like you've already you've been there a while but is being the voice of the Dodgers something you want to hold on to or is that the job might be the odd one out if the travel gets to be too much at some point I don't see it going anywhere um you know assuming that they'll continue to have me this is my ninth year which is is blown by um we love floss Angeles you know my my wife loves it here there have been situations where potential opportunities to go back to the Midwest where we're both from and anytime that comes up she immediately is like no we're not leaving here like the the weather is too nice out yeah it's it's too great here we we we this is kind of home now you know we have three kids who are in school here and um we we really feel at home here as far as the schedule goes they've been like the Dodgers and fox and my bosses there have been so great to me and it goes back to that Fishbowl thing I was talking about they all know each other so I've been so lucky that they've worked nicely and allowed me to coordinate the schedule so as the fox roll increased a little bit I was able to pull back the number of Dodger games I do you know if there if I couldn't do that then maybe it's a different story but I'm at a a point now where my Dodger schedule is the number is low enough where I do get some time at home where I I don't feel like I need to completely cut something out and I love doing it and I think it's it's something that I if you ask my wife she'd say you're gonna do that job forever so and I don't know if you go ask the bosses if they're going to say that but she would say that she thinks that that's something I'm never going to get up and give up and she's probably right how many Dodgers games was it 90 how many did you yeah I'm at 90 90 um you're you're ALS you're from Michigan correct the uh the Tigers broadcast it's in great hands now with Jason but were you ever approached about um the Tigers job because they've they've gone through a couple of Transformations over the years since you've been in La yeah nothing formal but um there have been conversations before that that have happen I think just naturally anytime you have somebody who's working in the industry you know in baseball specifically from an area like you you mentioned was the resistance when you took the Dodger job because you're not from La I think that's a great question because part of being able to identify with a person calling the games is probably where they came from so anytime that there have been opportunities that the Tigers thought they were going to have there have been conversations but that that never really have gotten anywhere um just again back to how happy we are here in La how much do you value getting to call the World Series just getting to to be the voice you know of uh America's pasttime in the biggest moments how much do you value that yeah it's had you asked me as a kid what do you want to be when you grow up and I would say I want to be a play-by-play announcer if you had asked me to pick a game one game you can call I would tell you game seven of the World Series I would have told you that as a 12E so when I say live in my dream like that's not hyperbole when I do those World Series games that is exactly what I grew up wanting to do so it's it is uh yeah it's hard to put into words like using a word special almost feels like under selling it it's it's surreal for me that I get to do it and U and I cherish every second of it and and will for for every one of them I get to do is getting to call a Super Bowl a goal it's not not to the point where like you said you know like I said with had you asked me what game I want to do I would have said game seven of the World Series but yeah I'd love to call Super Bowl I think that um I'm not necessarily like if you ask you want to call the Olympics I'm not trying to add stuff necessarily yeah stuff that I'm not doing you know because of the the family situation and not trying to add games but yeah of course it'd be cool to call the Super Bowl one day I will follow that very quickly by saying I hope Kevin burkart does a hundred of those and Kevin good because he's as good as anybody out there and deserves to do it for as long as he wants yeah yeah of course but obviously I mean you've you've lived through it with uh being surprised by Joe Buck leing so like once that happens it seems like anything is possible sure um how is getting to uh to cover sh Otani on a regular basis D it's something man like I actually was just texting with a buddy who is going to use my tickets this weekend and he usually goes to several games a year and hasn't been yet and I said you got to go watch show and like I'm not I'm not just blowing smoke here this is incredible it's every single day you know baseball people tend to get kind of like old man yell at the CL yell at the cloud lose perspective it's impossible to lose appreciation for this every single day I'm like watch watching what this guy does it's so cool it is so cool I can't believe he get to do for 10 years and like he's only half of what he's going to be next year right the stolen bases may go down because he's pitching but this is only half of the full version of Otani mind-blowing yeah you were you were there obviously for Otani vers trout in the the World Baseball Classic how did the the The Lure and the and the fame of Otani in the WBC how does that compare to that of Otani in Major League BAS H I think that it would have been had I had I done the games in Japan you know the qualifiers the leadup to the championship probably would have been a better comparison um or like a a a fair comparison to him being in LA and what he's done for Dodger fans and I will say that the WBC that environment a lot of it centered around Otani was spectac I went into the WBC thinking like oh you know like kind of a nuisance in the calendar here getting ready for opening day and now we gotta go to this event it was awesome and he had a huge part to do with that he just it's you walk in the Dodger Stadium a franchise that has as much history as any and you know you can run down a list of so many Hall of Famers and guys not in the Hall of Fame that everybody knows their name and you can make a good case to wear their Jersey into the Stadium you can walk into the Jersey now and see a or into the stadium now and see a wall of nothing but number 17 jerseys yeah just his impact not just what he does for nine innings that makes us drop our jaws and smile every single night but his impact on the organization one that to move the needle on you're going to have to be something special it's blown away I think even what I had anticipated and you pay guy $700 million I think you're hoping that the needle moves in more way down the field but h ly for me it's I could not have fathomed what kind of impact he was going to have on the field on the organization and then I I hope in the postseason and this is speaking as the fox guy more than the Dodger guy I hope that all of America gets a chance to see him have a long run so like how cool a story is that going to be when he gets to the postseason for the first time and again as the national guy I hope that he can make a run so people can see him play deep into October yeah for sure um I I mentioned that the Otani vers trout call which I I think will live forever do you have a favorite call that you've done whether baseball or football is there something that stands out there yeah actually I didn't like the uh Otani trout one actually I feel like I um I don't know I didn't love it I'd have to go back and listen to it and check my notes on it why I didn't like it but it's not my favorite um probably the Bryce Harper LCS winning home run yeah swing of his life yeah and I think that that's as much as anything it was just like I said what I've always wanted to do is this the big postseason baseball games and that was like the moment that's the moment that you dream of like I'm sure he grew up dreaming of being at the plate in that moment I grew up dreaming of being in the booth for that moment the the swing that you're going to see for as long as people in this generation live played back on highlights to be in the chair and have that happen um that's what makes that my favorite call not necessarily anything I did just what the whole moment meant to me yeah you know that I I thought I thought that call was was tremendous and I think for me per personally as a as a fan like I um you know my my Nostalgia might always miss Joe Buck just being that I grew up listening to him but like when I I heard that call I was like oh okay like Joe Joe Davis is the the voice of baseball and I hope it's something that he he holds on to that for a long time um since you mentioned that you didn't love the trout Otani call do you have a a a call whether it's that one or another one that you would like to have back I would like to do uh otani's 4040 Grand Slam again um it's another one where I don't know that I did anything wrong I didn't mess it up yeah I wish I would have said his name within the call uh just for that historical sound bite I think that it probably required his name um but I I went back and listened to it probably 15 20 times trying to figure out how I could have done it a little better I like to get a notepad out and write down and I've been doing this since I was in Montgomery write down what I said and I don't know if Workshop is the word but nitpick it and find where I could have gotten rid of words how I could have timed certain things better again I like I didn't do anything wrong I didn't call by the wrong name or say the wrong thing that happened but um I would like to be able to do that one again is there anyone you lean on that you send audio to and and ask them for feedback yeah um early in my career it was all the time I was I was probably a Nuance to people just asking for critiques all the time and um these days for baseball like Dan scholman has been a big help to me um sent him some tape Gary Cohen has listened for me I bug Wayne a lot yeah um Adam Amin is another guy who I've grown up with and he was in my wedding as well with Wayne and uh bug him for critiques and ideas and it's not as much like it used to be when we were in the miners it would be listen to this half inning and really break it down and give me all this stuff to work on and it's not as much that anymore as it is one of us will hear one thing or another that we point out and and it's like that one little tweak or that one little idea that can help you help you improve a little bit so and then I try to listen to myself too every couple weeks I'll go back it used to be in Mont gy i' listen every game before I had kids and had more time to do whatever I wanted yeah but these days I I'll go back and listen every couple weeks with a pad you know pad and a pen out and take down notes that I'll then physically take with me into the booth for you know the next couple weeks of games as reminders for things I want to work on when it comes to NFL I do in every game because you got a whole week between them so I I do the same thing where I'll take notes you know the Steelers Falcons game I'll I'll watch back and be hard on myself and take notes and I'll have those going into week two for Colts and Packers to hopefully improve a little bit do you ever get to listen to one of those games and I know you say you're hard on yourself but do you get to say oh wow that was a really good job uh yeah I mean there's stuff that there's stuff I listen yeah yeah no I'm not like uh I do yeah I do try to appreciate when I when I feel like I do something right and that's part of it too though is like you're never going to be perfect at this job yeah and no matter how you do it that's something I love about it like you can always get better at it I'm just kind of wired that way to always try and look for little ways to learn and improve and that's something that that's one of my favorite things about the job so yeah you celebrate the wins a little bit but uh try and find ways to improve on the stuff you don't like yeah no it's just it's fun funny cuz like the majority of the people who are listening to you every week they'll listen to it and they'll they'll think you do a good job so like you'd almost want yourself to be able to to feel that way sometimes too yeah no and I do I do I'm not I'm not a complete psycho um just as as we finish up here I do I want to compliment also your um your cooking videos I went down a bit of a rabbit hole like when I was doing some of the prep for this the uh the ribeye the pork shoulder baby back ribs rotisserie chicken like everything looked well seasoned and and nicely cooked so if if you ever find yourself um with more free time those those cooking videos were great all right thank you Brandon we just moved a few months ago and love our new place but we had an outdoor kitchen where we were and the new place doesn't have one so very soon we're going to be putting in the outdoor kitchen of my dreams and maybe I'll bring back bring back cooking videos sounds good Joe you are great thanks so much for coming on the podcast today I really appreciate it thank you for having me man it's good to talk to you that is Joe Davis I'm Brandon contest this is the awful announcing podcast please rate and subscribe to this podcast please also subscribe to Awful announcing YouTube page but regardless of how you consume awful announcing and the awful announcing podcast thanks for listening and be good thanks for listening to the awful announcing podcast for the latest news spanning the sports media landscape and more check out awfulannouncing.com and follow us at awul announcing [Music]