There’s Nothing Slick About Griese
It’s the biggest game of his son’s career, but Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese cannot help Brian Griese break down the opposition’s defense or work on his mechanics.
That’s because Brian is the quarterback at Michigan and Bob will be ABC’s analyst for the Wolverines’ game Saturday at Penn State.
“We talk football every week, but we don’t talk about who he plays this week or who he played last week,” Griese said. “If I gave Brian any information from my meeting with the Penn State coaches, my credibility wouldn’t be very good. That’s why we talk about generic things.”
ABC did not allow Griese to announce his son’s games in 1995, when Brian started Michigan’s final nine games of the season. Last season, Brian was relegated to pooch-punting duties before replacing Scott Dreisbach during the Ohio State game, with his father behind the microphone.
Griese labored through that game, trying to steer clear, as much as possible, from his son’s performance. Before this season ABC took the shackles off Griese, telling him to call the game like both a father and an analyst.
“I know it’s difficult to understand how a father can be in the booth announcing his son’s game, but I have no problem doing that,” Griese said. “I’d rather be here with my son than off at UCLA or Texas doing some other game.
“I work the game as a broadcaster. When I watch it the next day, I root for my son,” he said. “I’m sorry if anybody has a problem with that.”
When Brian was in high school, Griese was able to see about half of his games because he convinced the school to play on Thursday nights. But this is just the third time he will see Brian start at Michigan in person. In the previous two games, Griese has been slow to compliment or to overcriticize his son. He said that’s just his style.
“My job is to call the game as I see it,” he said. “If he makes a great play, I probably won’t give as much lavish analysis or praise as I would another quarterback. If he makes a bad play, I’ll sure point it out.
“But I don’t have the huge peaks and valleys that other announcers have,” Griese said. “Every touchdown is not the greatest pass and every interception is not the worst.”
Judgment day
With two of the biggest college football games of the season slated for Saturday, ESPN is sending its pregame show to two sites for the first time.
The regular crew, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso, will be at Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Florida State-North Carolina game. Steve Cyphers, Mike Adamle and Beano Cook will be at the Michigan-Penn State game.
“It will be difficult to coordinate between two production crews, but it will be fun,” said Steve Vecchione, “Gameday” coordinating producer. “If Beano says something controversial, we hope that Kirk or Lee can respond immediately.”
A draw or not a draw
Saturday’s Evander Holyfield-Michael Moorer fight is the latest test for Holyfield as both a boxer and a pay-per-view draw.
Holyfield has been in five of the top 10 pay-per-view fights, but those have come against the likes of Mike Tyson, George Foreman or Riddick Bowe, not a boxer as boring as Moorer.
Showtime does not expect the fight to crack the top level of fights, but executives anticipate a buy rate between 650,000 and 1 million homes, compared with 600,000 for Holyfield-Moorer I.