Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [307]
SANDY MONTAG:
I called Dick Ebersol. John had hosted Saturday Night Live when Dick was there, and they had known each other since then. I also called Sean McManus, who’s been a good friend of mine. I told them, “I really don’t want to put you in a three-man booth, but if it were a three-man booth at CBS with Nance and Simms, that one might work.” John loved Phil Simms. I basically felt I could have done a deal with either place, to be honest with you.
Dick Ebersol can be as charming as anyone in our business. You don’t want to say that John Madden fell in love, but the passion that Dick has for production and the passion that John has, it’s almost like two light bulbs went off and they’d invented something. So then I get a call from Al Michaels. During the season. That would be fall ’04. And he says, “You know what? I want to stay with John. I want to get out of my contract, and I think you’re the only person who can get me out of it because of your relationships.” I said, “Really? Okay.” So first I thought, “Well, I have to see if Dick wants Al Michaels. He may not.” I have a whole diary I kept during that time. My wife said, “Sandy, you’re having these calls every day, which are mind-boggling. Write everything down.” So Dick and I talked, and because we can trust each other, he says, “Are you serious?” And I said, “If I can get him out, and I don’t know how, but if I can get him out, would you take Al Michaels?” And he said, “Well, I have Collinsworth, but how can I not take Al Michaels?”
At some point in late spring, Mark came back and said, “Well, we’re not 100 percent sure with our decision. We may want to keep John.” At that point I said, “The ship sailed.”
But I still had a Fred Gaudelli problem because he was out of a job. Now during this time, Dick and I became very, very close. We had a lot in common, we spent a lot of time together, and I became a confidant of his in a lot of different areas. So at some point I said, “I want you to do me a favor, and after that, if you don’t like it, I’ll drop it. I want to go to Monday Night Football with you, and I want you to see Fred Gaudelli in action.” So Dick and I fly to a game in Baltimore in fall ’04. Very quietly I get us credentials. Not a lot of fanfare. Freddie knew we were coming. I said, “After the game starts, at some point, just so you know, I’m going to come into the truck with Dick. We’re going to stand in the back. Pay no attention.” So we do that—and Dick has been in more trucks than anyone in our business—and within ten minutes he turns to me and goes, “This is like watching the frickin’ ballet.” Meaning how they work together. If you ever see a sport production truck that’s in sync, it’s this truck. That just the way it is. So he says, “Tell Fred to meet us in the suite after.” We go back to the Harbor Court Hotel to Dick’s suite, and Dick tells Fred, “Congratulations. You’re the new producer of Sunday Night Football next season.”
FRED GAUDELLI:
Dick came to a Monday night game in December, and he sat in the truck and watched me produce for the first half. At half time, he said to me, “Hey, I’ll talk to you later.” Then my agent, Sandy, called me after the game and said I should go up to his room after the game. Dick offered me the job and I accepted it. Then he goes, “And let’s go downstairs and talk to your play-by-play man.” So we go downstairs to the bar, and the whole crew is there. I pretty much tell them I’m going to NBC, and then Dick cozies up to Al and proceeds to have, like, an hour conversation. So now John’s going, Drew’s going, I’m going, and now I think Al starts to really question what he’s going to do, because his entire team is moving over to NBC without him.
SANDY MONTAG:
Clearly Mark was making the