Greg Gumbel explains why sports radio is ‘the most ridiculous thing on the planet’
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By any objective measure, Greg Gumbel has had a remarkable career as a sportscaster.
The 76-year-old is probably best known for his NFL work with CBS, but he has pretty much done it all since starting his career, most notably with ESPN in 1979.
Appearing recently on George Ofman’s podcast “Tell Me A Story I Don’t Know,” Gumbel might have surprised some listeners when he detailed one of his deep disdains when it comes to sports, that being sports talk radio.
“People who listen to sports talk radio strike me as being anxious to be told what to think,” Gumbel explained at around the 29-minute mark. “I certainly don’t need someone yelling at me, but I don’t need anyone trying to tell me what I should think about this pitcher for the California Angels whom I can watch for myself and make my own judgments.
“But there apparently is a huge audience for sports talk radio,” Gumbel continued. “Now, if you’re just tuning in to hear people argue and scream and shout, that’s fine. Good luck to you. Good luck in your early grave. Because I think it’s the most ridiculous thing on the planet. I have not heard, in my lifetime, more than an hour’s worth of sports talk radio and most of it that I heard is basically the lead-in or the lead-out from an interview that I might have done on occasion.”
Gumbel will back at it with CBS on Sunday as the 2022 NFL season begins in earnest.
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
