Quick Facts
Biography
Brent Woody Musburger (/ˈmʌsbɜːrɡər/; born May 26, 1939) is a former American sportscaster for the ESPN and ABC television networks. Formerly with CBS Sports and one of the original members of their program The NFL Today, Musburger has also covered the NBA, MLB, NCAA football and basketball, and NASCAR. Musburger has also served as a studio host for games, a play-by-play man, and halftime host. He has also performed postgame wrap-up segments and covered championship trophy presentations. He is a member of the Montana Broadcaster's Association Hall of Fame.
Early life and career
Musburger was born in Portland, Oregon, and raised in Billings, Montana, the son of Beryl Ruth (Woody) and Cec Musburger. He was an umpire for minor league baseball during the 1950s. He was also a boyhood friend of former Major League pitcher Dave McNally. His brother, Todd Musburger, is a prominent sports agent.
Musburger's youth included some brushes with trouble: when he was 12, he and his brother stole a car belonging to their mother's cleaning lady and took it for a joy ride. His parents sent him to the Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Faribault, Minnesota. Educated at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, he was kicked out for a year for owning and operating a car without a license.
Musburger began his career as a sportswriter for the now-defunct Chicago's American newspaper, where he worked with legendary sportswriter Warren Brown. In 1968, Musburger penned a column regarding Tommie Smith and John Carlos's protest of racial injustice in the United States with a Black Power salute on the medal stand during the 1968 Summer Olympics. In it he stated "Smith and Carlos looked like a couple of black-skinned storm troopers" who were "ignoble," "juvenile," and "unimaginative." In a 1999 article in The New York Times, Musburger stated that comparing the two to the Nazis was "harsh", but he stood by his criticism of the pair's action:
Did [Smith and Carlos' action] improve anything?... Smith and Carlos aside, I object to using the Olympic awards stand to make a political statement.
According to Carlos, Musburger never apologized:
We are talking about someone who compared us to Nazis. Think about that. Here we are standing up to apartheid and to a man in Avery Brundage who delivered the Olympics to Hitler’s Germany. And here’s Musburger calling us Nazis. That got around. It followed us. It hurt us. It hurt my wife, my kids. I’ve never been able to confront him about why he did this. Every time I’ve been at a function or an event with Brent Musburger and I walk towards him, he heads the other way.
In 1968, Musburger began a 22-year association with CBS, first as a sports anchor for WBBM radio and later for WBBM-TV. In the mid-1970s, Musburger moved to Los Angeles and anchored news and sports for KNXT (now KCBS-TV); there he worked alongside Connie Chung as a co-anchor on KNXT's evening newscasts from 1978 until 1980, when he joined CBS Sports full-time.
CBS Sports (1973–1990)
Beginning in late 1973, Musburger was doing play-by-play for CBS Sports. He started out doing regular season National Football League games (future The NFL Today co-host Irv Cross was also doing NFL games at that time as well). Musburger was paired with Tommy Mason or Bart Starr, who provided the color commentary. A year later, Wayne Walker would be paired with Musburger in the booth.
By 1975 at CBS, Musburger went from doing NFL play-by-play (and other items, mostly on CBS' Sports Saturday/Sunday programs) to rising to prominence as the host of the network's National Football League studio show, The NFL Today. Suddenly, Musburger began to cover many assignments for CBS Sports. Among the other events he covered, either as studio host or play-by-play announcer, were college football and basketball, the National Basketball Association, horse racing, the U.S. Open (tennis) tournament, and The Masters golf tournament. He would even lend his talents to weekend afternoon fare such as The World's Strongest Man contests and the like. Musburger also called Major League Baseball games for CBS Radio.
The NFL Today
But it was Musburger's association with The NFL Today that made him famous. During his tenure, CBS' NFL pregame show was consistently the #1 rated pregame show. One of the signatures of the program was Musburger's show-opening teases to the various games CBS would cover, along with live images from the various stadiums. Musburger's accompanying intro to each visual, "You are looking live at..." became one of his catch phrases. In promoting the network, his voice often tailed off on the last letter of "CBS" ("C.B. eeezz"), creating another catch phrase.
Musburger made headlines when he got into a fist-fight with The NFL Today's betting analyst Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder in a Manhattan bar on October 27, 1980. However, the fist-fight incident was quickly regarded as water under the bridge as the two cheerfully appeared on The NFL Today the following week wearing boxing gloves on camera.
CBS departure
By the late 1980s, Musburger was CBS's top sportscaster. He was the main host and play-by-play announcer for the NBA Finals, college basketball, college football, the Belmont Stakes, and the College World Series. He also hosted a New Year's Eve countdown for CBS. Musburger is regarded as the first broadcaster to apply the term March Madness to the annual NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament.
Early in 1990, CBS underwent a significant management change. During the early morning hours of April 1, 1990, Musburger was fired from CBS. His final assignment for CBS came the following evening, doing play-by-play for the 1990 NCAA men's basketball final, which was Duke versus UNLV. When the game was completed, Musburger thanked the audience and CBS Sports, and the analysts that he had worked with through the years like Billy Packer, who was standing next to him.
At the time of his firing, Musburger had been set to handle play-by-play duties for CBS's television coverage of Major League Baseball later that month; he was replaced by Jack Buck in that capacity. His position at The NFL Today was filled by Greg Gumbel. His position as the lead play-by-play announcer for college basketball was filled by Jim Nantz.
ABC Sports and ESPN (1990–2017)
Following his dismissal from CBS, Musburger considered several offers – including one to return to Chicago and work at WGN-TV. Musburger settled at ABC. With Al Michaels entrenched as ABC's top broadcaster, Musburger focused on college football and basketball. After his hiring, ABC's merger with ESPN under the Disney umbrella allowed him to work on ESPN as well (increasingly since 2006), including Major League Baseball, NBA games, ESPN Radio, golf tournaments, horse racing, the Indianapolis 500, Little League World Series, soccer games, college football, and even some NFL games (including hosting halftime duties for Monday Night Football and Wild Card round games). Musburger was also the main studio host during ABC's coverage of the 1998 World Cup and the 2006 World Cup, was briefly the studio host for ESPN and ABC's NASCAR coverage and has hosted Tour de France coverage for ABC. Musburger announced his last game in Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY on January 31, 2017.
College football
Musburger's college football duties for ESPN and ABC have included calling seven BCS National Championship games (2000, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014).
Beginning in 2006, Musburger called ABC Sports' college football prime time series, along with analysts Bob Davie and Kirk Herbstreit. Musburger called the 2007 Rose Bowl, taking over for the retired Keith Jackson. He also called games on ESPN during his time at ABC.
On September 17, 2005, after broadcasting the Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Pittsburgh Panthers game, Musburger was cited for having an open container in a motor vehicle.
During the 2013 BCS National Championship Game between Alabama and Notre Dame, a camera turned to Katherine Webb, who was in the stands cheering for her boyfriend, Alabama quarterback, A.J. McCarron. Musburger, impressed with Webb's beauty, remarked, "I'm telling you, you quarterbacks get all the good-looking women. What a beautiful woman. Wow!" and continued commenting in a similar fashion. The next day, ESPN apologized for his comments, saying they "went too far". The controversy died down quickly afterwards, largely due to Webb stating that she was not bothered at all by Musburger's comments.
On March 12, 2014, ESPN named Musburger and Jesse Palmer as the lead game commentators for college football coverage on the SEC Network, ending his involvement with Saturday Night Football. Also, this meant Musburger would not be participating in calling the College Football Playoff championship.
Ever since, Musburger has infrequently called select football games on ESPN and ABC, including the 2014 Iron Bowl and 2016 Magnolia Bowl, the 2014, 2015, and 2016 Las Vegas Bowls, the 2016 contest between Clemson and Auburn and the 2014 Orange Bowl, 2016 Rose Bowl, and 2017 Sugar Bowl.
During the 2017 Sugar Bowl, Musburger drew criticism for complimentary statements about a player who had been involved in an assault with a woman; the criticism included numerous members of the sports media. During the second half of the same broadcast, he angrily defended his position and derided people on social media who criticized him. On January 25, 2017, Musburger announced that he would retire and would call his final game on January 31, 2017. ESPN and Musburger stated that it was not because of the comments during the Sugar Bowl, but had been mentioned in the weeks before the broadcast.
Musburger stated he plans to help his family get a sports handicapping business started in Las Vegas, have a sports gambling show on Sirius XM Radio, and enjoy personal travel. The new venture, Vegas Sports Information Network (VSiN) will be the first multichannel network dedicated to sports gambling information and will broadcast from a custom-built studio at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa. While the network will not officially launch until February 27, Musburger will host a special early premiere episode of his new show on February 5 before Super Bowl LI.
Style
Musburger has a down-to-earth manner of speaking, often addressing his viewers as "folks." In a Sports Illustrated profile done on Musburger in January 1984, he stressed his hesitance to "pontificate" during his broadcasts. CNN Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel selected him as the second-best college football announcer, behind Ron Franklin. Mandel said of Musburger, "His voice will always be associated with some of the sport's most memorable, modern moments."
Musburger has a reputation for pointing out attractive women in the crowds of the games he calls; among those who later rose to fame in part because of Musburger's attention are Susan “Busty Heart” Sykes, Jenn Sterger, and Katherine Webb.
Other media
Musburger was a reporter in Rocky II and had his role immortalized in a 1979 action figure. He also made cameo appearances in The Main Event and The Waterboy. In Cars 2 and Planes, he played Brent Mustangburger, a fictionalized version of himself. He appeared as himself in the episode "Lying Around" on the ABC sitcom Happy Endings.
Career timeline
- 1973–1975: NFL on CBS play-by-play
- 1975–1980; 1983–1989: NBA on CBS play-by-play (lead play-by-play 1975–1980)
- 1975–1989: The NFL Today studio host
- 1976–1989: US Open (tennis) play-by-play
- 1981–1984: College Basketball on CBS studio host
- 1983–1988: The Masters Studio Host
- 1984–1989: NCAA Football on CBS play-by-play (lead play-by-play, 1984–1988)
- 1984: World Series commentator for CBS Radio Network
- 1985–1990: College Basketball on CBS lead play-by-play
- 1994–1996: Monday Night Football studio host
- 1990–2009: College Basketball on ABC play-by-play
- 1990–2014: College Football on ABC play-by-play
- 1990–2017: College Basketball on ESPN play-by-play
- 1991–1992, 1997–1998, 2000–2011: Little League World Series Play-by-Play
- 1993, 1997, 2003, 2007–2014, 2016: Rose Bowl play-by-play
- 1994–1995: Baseball Night in America #2 play-by-play for ABC
- 1996–2004: NBA Finals play-by-play for ESPN Radio
- 1998, 2006: World Cup studio host
- 2000, 2004, 2010–2014: BCS National Championship Game play-by-play (television)
- 2002–2006: NBA on ESPN and NBA on ABC play-by-play
- 2005–2012: Indianapolis 500 studio host
- 2006–2013: Saturday Night Football play-by-play
- 2007: NASCAR on ABC studio host
- 2007–2009: BCS National Championship Game play-by-play (ESPN Radio)
- 2014–2017: SEC Network lead play-by-play
- Bowl Championship Series – Musburger, Brent
- ^ Reiss, Craig (June 1, 1990). "Brent bounces back". Entertainment Weekly.
- "I want my Musburger TV". CNN. June 25, 2004. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
- Deseret News | Move over, football, hoops: NASCAR is back on ESPN