The camera is really the play-by-play person.
Whether it's a steroid conversation, or a player who gets into trouble, whatever it may be. Because of that, it makes you wonder what you can do if you had a little more space. That's the fun of the show for me - I have an hour worth of space.
Robert Kraft, a modern day Zoolander.
I have more fun now doing a game on a Saturday or Sunday than I've ever had. I love the fact that every year, it's gotten more and more fun.
I think most people associate me with my dad.
I got hired by the Cards when I was 21, and I could handle the job, but for the most part, I got hired because I was somebody's kid. When you start that way, you have a lot to prove.
I started in radio. I enjoy the mental gymnastics that go along with matching voice to picture and vice versa and trying to accent the action as opposed to provide all of the action through my words. And that's really what play-by-play is.
It's a different world for those of us who are doing this for a living. Certainly a lot different than my dad had to deal with when he was calling games on a national level for CBS. It's just a different world. I'm not saying it's better or worse, there's just a lot more access.
Even talking about serious issues - it's hard to fit in anything around calling a baseball game.
Judd Apatow, Conan O'Brien ... taking what you think is funny, and then adding another layer to it. That's kind of my sensibility. Those are the guys that make me laugh.
You have to be true to the game you're covering, whether its being lite at times - I certainly try to be that way - but it is limiting because you're fitting it in around what's going on in the game.
Part of me was always trying to prove that I belonged and prove that I deserved the job and prove that I could handle it. And that takes the fun out of it.
One of my best friends is Paul Rudd, and he's been in just about every one of Judd Apatow's movies.
I think sometimes, you have to pick your spots about when a game gets intense or when the game's outcome is pivoting in that moment.
You can make an editorial comment about the play while it's going on. You don't have to be bogged down by the details because the camera is showing the groundball to short.
There's a little bit more of a freedom when you're doing radio play-by-play as opposed to television. I prefer the television side of it.
I get questions from Richard Sandomir at the New York Times or Michael Hiestand at USA Today about issues .., 'well, there's a blog site that says you root too hard for the Red Sox. Or people don't like you because you're rooting against their team ...'I don't want to say it's bad. There are certainly things you learn from the internet. You certainly learn from people's opinions. I think you're going to get some of the negative a lot more than the positive, but I think you can learn from it.
I think he [Tony LaRussa] legitimately believes what he says. I don't agree with him. But I think he's being as honest as he can be.
I certainly don't feel like I have a monopoly on [opinions] because I have the job at FOX - any one of a thousand people could have the job. There are people out there that have just as educated an opinion on what I'm calling or describing as I do.
I've met Jon Glaser who has a show on Adult Swim call Delocated and he's the main writer we hired for the show. That's really my brand of humor, I would say.
I'm a proponent of a playoff so everybody can calm down.
I think Jeff [Van Gundy] is really, really good and fun to listen to. And I would be disappointed if - I know he offered to not be a part of the broadcast - he wasn't on the air. We'd all miss something. I think the [brother situation] adds the human element.
I'm probably always guilty for rooting for a long series. Not either side - I don't really care who wins the game, but it makes for more compelling TV the more games you go deeper into a series.
When I'm doing TV, it's more of a choreographed dance, in a way. So I've got to follow the pictures, or the pictures have to follow me.
