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Main >> Previous Updates >> June 2004 >> June 03, 2004 >> Article ID 5034
 Dan Patrick chimes in on Pittsburgh for ESPN's 25th | Type: Internet Article |
| | Finder: Dan Patrick chimes in on Pittsburgh for ESPN's 25th birthday bash | Jun 03, 2004 | by Chuck Finder
Summary:
Dan Patrick of ESPN was asked the Christina/Britney question:
BP: Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears? Careful, it's a Pittsburgh-loaded question.
DP: Can I go celibate? Oh, oh, for listening? My ears would be celibate. If you forced me, I'd have to go Christina Aguilera. At least she can sing.
Read on for full article. |
His relationship with Pittsburgh goes back to his youth in Cincinnati, where he respected the Pirates who battled the Big Red Machine and the Steelers who thumped Paul Brown's Bengals through the 1970s. His relationship continued at the University of Dayton, where his Pittsburgh roomie introduced him to his father the South Hills bookie, who sadly passed away on a heavy-action NFL Sunday.
The past few months, he twice jetted into Pittsburgh to tape a Terry Bradshaw-Joe Greene interview and segues highlighting the former City of Champions, all for a two-hour "Then and Now" special at 7 p.m. Tuesday -- a quarter-century sports retrospective to kick off ESPN's 25th anniversary celebration.
The Big Picture takes this opportunity to turn a conversation yesterday with the ESPN anchor, radio host (alongside former Reds reliever Rob Dibble) and magazine contributor into his own ... Dan Patrick Outtakes.
BP: Do you realize, if you come to Pittsburgh once more this year, you'll have to pay Allegheny County taxes?
DP: I know. I've been there a few times. I want to go for a football game, but I don't think they have a Monday night game this year. I was hoping to do that and bring Dibble. Well, sneak him in, anyway.
BP: Your snapshot moment from your Bradshaw-Greene interview?
DP: Here's what I found interesting -- here's Mean Joe Greene, who wants to be simply Joe Greene. Every time he'd talk about his docile personality, Bradshaw would bring up something. ... "Remember the time you ripped a guy's helmet off? Remember that rookie who broke a plate over your head in training camp?" Bradshaw just wouldn't let him up for air. That was an odd couple. You probably wouldn't put those two together unless it was on a football team.
BP: "We Are Family" or "Pittsburgh Steelers Polka"?
DP: I have a hard time when it comes to a wedding and they play "We Are Family." Out of deference to Cincinnati, I choose not to dance.
BP: Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears? Careful, it's a Pittsburgh-loaded question.
DP: Can I go celibate? Oh, oh, for listening? My ears would be celibate. If you forced me, I'd have to go Christina Aguilera. At least she can sing.
BP: Does it say something about Pirates attendance that you were able to have full houses at Yankee Stadium and SBC Park as backdrops in the special, but empty spaces at PNC Park?
DP: Well, that's why I never bought into, "If you build it, they will come." If you build it and have a good product, they will come. I was really impressed with PNC Park; they got all the bells and whistles there. But as great as that ballpark is, you have to give people a reason to show up.
BP: To be fair, it was batting practice at PNC Park when you taped there, too. ... Hate to bring this up, but you realize that you had hair out of place in the special's San Francisco shots?
DP: (Sigh.) People will be fired over that. But every single place we went to was windy. Every single place. "Let's put him right by the water." Yeah, in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. I'm cringing. I'm watching it with my wife, and she says, "Your hair looks like hell." Thanks.
BP: How many takes did you need for Monongahela's Joe Montana to hit Dwight Clark in that 49ers-Cowboys re-enactment?
DP: I think it was five takes. They were so competitive, they wanted to do it right. Clark kept saying, "Throw it up higher, I can go get it." Montana said, "I don't know if I have the arm strength." Montana didn't even know what yard line they started on, the 6 or the 7.
BP: What kind of dress shoes was Joe wearing, anyway -- Manolos?
DP: They were expensive. I kept thinking, "Greatest quarterback of all time blows out knee re-enacting this play."
BP: Quite a list of interviewees on this show: George Will, Peter Jennings, Pittsburgh's own Sonny Vaccaro, Red Auerbach with the great quote, "This is some crap." ...
DP: The beauty of it was, ESPN didn't pat themselves on the back, "Look at what we did." There were some issues addressed. [Mark] Shapiro unleashed his best -- it's the "SportsCentury" people.
BP: But, come on, Arsenio Hall?
DP: I don't have jurisdiction over everybody who's being interviewed. That is a Clipper fan. A card-carrying member.
BP: Where were you when ESPN was born Sept. 7, 1979?
DP: I was in college, the University of Dayton. I remember my college roommates, we had a house off-campus -- the big decision was heat or cable. And we opted for cable. We would actually watch "SportsCenter" in the living room in our sleeping bags. I remember when it first came on, my friend said, "That's you. Sports 24 hours a day." So I knew that's where I wanted to go. And I probably couldn't get in nowadays, unless I won "Dream Job."
BP: Lastly, your favorite moment from the network's history.
DP: Favorite moment? (Long pause. A minute, almost). Probably, from a self-serving standpoint, when "SportsCenter" won the Sports Emmy [in 1991], you kind of realized we were onto something a little more than doing just highlights, and you had something of a fraternal audience out there. I think that kind of turned the page and let people know that "SportsCenter" was here to stay. And it turned the page on how we've covered sports.
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(Chuck Finder can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1724.) |
 Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | |
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