[ARETE] You are Looking Live

[Duncan Jamieson]

Please find attached and below Dick Crepeau's review of Rich Podolsky's *You
are Looking Live* about CBS , "The NFL Today" and the evolution of sports
broadcasting.
Thanks
Duncan

Podolsky, Rich. *You Are Looking Live: How The NFL Today Revolutionized
Sports Broadcasting*. Lyons Press, 2021. 226pp. $29.95.



*You Are Looking Live* is, in part, an insider’s look at “The NFL Today,”
the first of what is now thought of as the pregame show for National
Football League games. As such, it developed the model for the Sunday
morning football shows leading into the networks’ NFL broadcasts.

Rich Podolsky is an award-winning writer with an impressive resume in and
out of sports. He wrote for “The NFL Today;” covered the Miami Dolphins for
the *Palm Beach Post; *wrote for the *Philadelphia Daily News*, ESPN, TV
Guide and was a staff writer for CBS Sports. His interest in the music of
the ‘60s and ‘70s led him to write *Don Kirshner: The Man with the Golden
Ear* and *Neil Sedaka: Rock ‘n’ Roll Survivor*.

*You are Looking Live* starts with a brief look at the early stages of
television coverage of the NFL in the ‘50s and ‘60s. In the next several
chapters, Podolsky writes about those who he considers the most significant
contributors and innovators at CBS Sports and “The NFL Today.” A chapter is
devoted to each of these and Podolsky lays out their career trajectories
along with their role in the development of “The NFL Today.”

He begins with Brent Musburger, then goes to Phyllis George and Bob
Wussler. Michel Pearl and Bob Fishman are treated together, followed by
Jimmy the Greek and then Irv Cross. Once the introductions are made
Podolsky moves to a more or less chronological development of his main
subject, the National Football League and the corresponding growth of CBS
Sports and sports television. Other important figures in the story are NFL
Commissioner Pete Rozelle and Van Gordon Sauter, president of CBS Sports.

This lively book is full of good stories, entertaining gossip and even some
valuable information on the development of sports television from the
inside. It is also a tale of big egos, petty jealousies and unpleasant
human behavior.

It is doubtful that what Podolsky terms “a revolution” was all that
revolutionary. It is more an evolution of the broadcasting of NFL football.
If this was a revolution, then it fell victim to the forces of
counter-revolution which tamed and dulled the lively early years of “The
NFL Today.”

Podolsky considers Brent Musburger a genius and the most talented host of
“The NFL Today” to ever anchor the program, However, Musburger comes off as
an altogether unpleasant and petty human being. His ego knew no bounds, and
despite his talent, he still found it necessary to steal ideas and lines
from his on-air compatriots ensuring there was no question about who the
star was. Still Brent held the show together and made it work under the
considerable stress of live television and he worked on a blank slate.

For many, the hiring of Phyllis George was incomprehensible other than to
have a pretty face on the set of the program. On the contrary, what
Podolsky reveals is a very talented person who had a great understanding of
people and how to get the most out of those she interviewed. She knew and
understood football, was a very quick learner of the technical aspects of
the show and was a very nice human being. Needless to say, she broke new
ground in television sports. Her personal life was a bit chaotic and let to
her departure from the show, only to return four years later. In the last
thirty-five years of her life, she suffered with a rare form of leukemia,
which she hid from her friends.

As the first co-anchor of a live network sports show, Irv Cross was
regarded as Mr. Reliable. He was the first African American to occupy such
a significant on-air position at CBS. He had a great range of football
knowledge and kept himself on top of all the important developments and
personalities in the NFL. He was the steady voice of sanity and had a
calming effect on his colleagues.

The other on camera talent, who came to “The NFL Today” a year later than
the other three, was Demetrios Synodinos, Jimmy the Greek. Jimmy, too, was
a volatile personality and a loose cannon on and off air. As one of the
best known professional gamblers in the United States, the addition of the
Greek was a major departure for the NFL. Pete Rozelle liked to project the
fiction that there was no gambling associated with professional football
and did not like the addition of the Greek to “The NFL Today.” The increase
of ratings that came with the Greek helped to lessen Rozelle’s discomfort.

The Greek and Musburger were often at odds, as egos clashed. The Greek felt
Musburger sabotaged him, which was probably the case, and, at one point
Jimmy punched Brent during a heated argument. Nonetheless, the two did
manage to work fairly well together on camera.

Both men would ultimately be fired. The firing of Jimmy the Greek was a
highly public event resulting from an interview he gave at a restaurant in
D.C. He was asked by a reporter about the issue of Civil Rights and sports.
In his answer, Jimmy wandered off to explain how and why Black athletes
were bigger and stronger than white athletes, and, as he did so, he got
into some dubious genetic theories and shaky history.

Podolsky devotes a chapter to the interview, the public comment that
followed and the subsequent firing. He offers a lot of quotes on the
subject, and serves up an analysis of the affair that is sympathetic to the
Greek. Much of this is quite interesting but it also exposes the lack of
understanding of the issues involved in the Greeks comments, as well as,
American History.

One other person who spent a short time on the program is Jayne Kennedy, an
African American, who was hired following Phyllis George’s first departure.
Her career path and hiring for “The NFL Today” reveals the perils of being
a woman in the Sports universe and being an African American breaking
barriers in television.

The last chapters deal with the transition to the second generation of the
star sportscasters at CBS. These included Greg Gumbel, Lesley Visser, Pat
O’Brien and Terry Bradshaw at “The NFL Today” and Jim Nance, who Podolsky
identifies as the Future of CBS.

This is an entertaining book for anyone who grew up watching the NFL on
CBS. It is a lively narrative of the growth of CBS Sports, a part of the
development of sports on television. For those who wonder about the phrase
“You are looking live” that became Brent Musburger’s signature, Podolsky
explains both its origin and its appropriateness.

However, this volume lacks historical depth and could have been
strengthened considerably by drawing on the work of Michael Oriard, Michael
MacCambridge, Craig Coenen and David Harris. Also there is a vast amount of
research and writing on the growth of television and media that could add
depth to *You Are Looking Live.  *



Richard C. Crepeau, Professor Emeritus of History, University of Central
Florida.



Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past

Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.
Professor of History
Book Review Editor
*AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature*
Ashland University
Ashland, OH  44805
USA
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