CBS' Play by Play Announcer Ian Eagle Joins the Show!

hey guys welcome back to another edition of The Cool Sports Network I am your host Chase Coburn and today I am joined by a very special guest an NFL and college basketball announcer for CBS an NBA announcer on TNT and on the Yes Network and one of the greatest play-by-play voices of all time Ian Eagle Ian welcome to the show Chase thank you so much for having me for the audio version of the show maybe this this isn't going to land but for the video portion I love your look let me just get that out in the open right now I think you're nailing it I don't know why I feel so closely attached to it I just feel some kind of gravitational push towards your look so great to be with you thank you so much for that compliment thank you so much for joining us today we're going to have so much fun talking all about different sports with you about the announcing industry all of that but I think why don't we start off for some who aren't as familiar with your career I mean when was the moment you realized you wanted to be a play-by-play announcer and what has been your career path since then to get to the point where you are at now Chase I was about eight years old when I realized that I I was consumed by the idea of getting into sporting events for free and then talking about sports for a living that they could actually pay you I I I couldn't even fathom that concept and I told both of my parents that this was what I was interested in and both said well then that's what you'll do so so they were very encouraging they empowered me to believe that I could one day do this I didn't do anything about it unlike you I didn't have the resources we're talking about the 1970s and other than you doing fake play byplay in my room with baseball cards or uh doing fictitious games in my head when I was showering because there were really good Acoustics in the shower other than that I wasn't doing a whole lot about it but I always had a belief that I could do it and because of that I think that blind confidence carried me for a bit got to college went to Syracuse and uh threw myself into it and there were a lot of young people there that had a similar interest and had an aptitude for it so all of a sudden you're in a competitive environment and you can get a sense of where you might stack up against your peers and with each year that went by I I felt good about my standing I felt good about my Improvement polishing my skills working on my craft and I didn't really have a plan B I I didn't have a a secondary philosophy of what I was going to do in life if this didn't work out which probably isn't the best piece of advice to give someone but for me it just made me even more laser focused on making sure that I could do this for a living and and find any Avenue in which I could try to make a go of it and you found many Avenues youve worked with so many different companies and we'll break down a lot of the different roles that you have had in the industry but you mentioned you went to Syracuse New House is considered one of the top broadcasting schools what did you learn there that helped you become the broadcaster you are today well first and foremost I learned how to work with other people and I think that is sometimes a forgotten part about this equation broadcasting can be such an individual Endeavor because it's in your head and it goes from your head to your mouth and then from your mouth to the microphone and then from the microphone to all over the world potentially but you still have to be a really good teammate you still have to be collaborative in how you approach the job because there's someone else sitting next to you when you're doing play-by-play there's an analyst there's a producer in your ear there's a director choosing pictures there's an associate producer that is involved with getting you to commercial there's a broadcast associate that's putting graphics on the screen there's an audio person that is in control of the headsets there's a technical director that's actually hitting the buttons that puts the pictures onto your television screen and on and on and on and on so I think at Syracuse I did learn that aspect of it it wasn't all about put a headset on and go to work it was understanding the whole process of television radio and all the elements that go into it and I think that served me well as I progressed through the industry I started in radio I started as a producer in radio even though I wanted to be on the air I had a couple of opportunities to be on the air but I had a chance to go back to my hometown New York City to work at WF on radio took the chance as a producer and did that for 15 months exclusively before I ever got any snake of an onair possibility and opportunity and that required patience and that also required being a team player and not assuming that a b and c would happen just because I wanted it to happen working at it doing the necessary work behind the scenes to have people at the radio station believe in me and trust me and then the other part paying attention and observing and by osmosis I I always looked at that job as as I think about it now it was almost like graduate school in many ways just being in that Newsroom being in that studio being in the control room watching the update anchors how they prepared watching the talk show hosts how they went from the start of the show middle of the show end of the show how they worked with callers how they interviewed guest all of this Chase was percolating in my brain back then and I learned so much from that experience and I think Syracuse just gave me a really good base to go off of when I went on to the next chapter of my life I felt prepared and I felt ready but I also felt open to what was out there and not just assuming that I knew everything I knew that I still was going to be a student of this and I still am after all these years I still view myself as a student of the industry in many ways right there is always room to improve and you mentioned really the team aspect of all of it and when someone like me or another kid is trying to get into this industry not a lot of people realized that but you mentioned you know when you were growing up there weren't as many outlets like what I'm doing right now to do this I think that's such an advantage for you know kids my age now that we're we have the technology and the ability to have a team and run a broadcast and I think that will help us so much but focusing more on your role on this team and you're the play-by-play announcer you're the guy that everyone millions of people around the country around the world are hearing and your voice is so distinct when I listen to you you can always tell that it's I ego and you just really developed that I guess you could say announcer's voice how do you how do you develop that announcer's voice it's a great question and I think sometimes goes unnoticed in the process some of it is genes that that's in you and then other is having a trained ear and recognizing a different stages of your life making adjustments based on what's needed in the moment so here's the example that that I would give to you and you're certainly at an age where you can appreciate it and actually put it into action and just judging off our our first few minutes on the podcast I I sense that you're already there that you've already taken this approach even without knowing it it might be completely subconscious how you speak off the air doesn't have to completely mirror how you speak on the air but it does have to be the essence of you I always wanted to be conversational uh that was really important to me I didn't want to be robotic I didn't want to be like a machine I wanted to be able to transition from everyday life to broadcast life and back to everyday life without making wholesale changes so does that mean that I go to the dry cleaner and I scream at the top my lungs when they hand me my clothes no no I recognize that there are different points I'm not I'm not going to crank it up to 10 like I'm calling a pick six in the NFL but here's where it gets a little bit inside baseball I try to make sure that in my everyday life I'm still speaking in a manner that avoids crutches pomering of words using the word like or you know filler words and I made a very conscious effort of that back in my college days if I'm having a normal interaction with another human being I'm gonna make sure that it's smooth at least on my end and I'm going to do everything in my power to maintain that mentality so that when I get on the air it's not a big jump to some other 100 180 degree approach corre off the air one way on the air another way I wanted the lines to blur and that's how I've I've really looked at it truly and this is going back to the 80s I wanted to be well read I wanted to be interested in my subject matter which I am and I wanted to be interesting as a person and that meant having interests Beyond Sports whether it was movies t TV music books history whatever whatever it was it had to go beyond just learning about the Chiefs and the Bengals it had to be more so that's just some of the advice I would give you in terms of developing your voice uh there are methods in which you can get the most out of your voice where there are different tones and there are different places you can go and I've figured it out along the way of how to best use my voice how to best cut through on a broadcast and make sure that you can hear me and make sure that I'm clear and that I'm concise and that what you said which means the world to me that everyone knows when they turn on the TV oh I know that voice I'm comfortable I'm cool with this and it's really interesting the last point I'll make when I was getting out of college and I was trying to figure out in my head and I was what I thought an excellent College broadcaster for someone in school learning the ropes but how do you transition now to being a professional broadcaster and I thought to myself initially I just want to sound like everybody else I just want to sound like someone when they turn on the radio no one questions it they hear it and they don't even think about it that sounds right and then somewhere along the way probably about a year and change into my broadcast career at WFA in New York it hit me that I don't want to sound like everybody else I want to sound like me how do I get to the place where I sound like me and that's when I started to develop my own style my own way of doing it and that's been now I'm can't believe I'm about to say the number because uh it it's pretty wild to to think of it but 1991 was my first year on the air at WFAN radio and we're talking about 33 years of approaching it in that way and it doesn't stop you are always looking to change and improve and alter and make better and polish that never stops you're never a finished product in this field you're 100% right there and I found I guess you could say your comparison but also your parallels to okay like the pluses and minuses of having using your own voice but then also being different when you're just having a conversation compared to announcing I find that obviously very important and I think you pretty obviously you can always improve but you've honestly done a good job at mastering it you can look at how many of the roles you've had and even just talking with you you could tell that you mentioned not using those filler words even just having a conversation like this and you could tell that you have obviously worked on that and you have obviously improved on that area and we're going to talk about football a lot today but I do want to mention you are on the number two NFL broadcast team on CBS explain all the preparation that goes into calling an NFL game on a week-by-week basis yeah I've got to a place Chase where I know what I need to do to get to Sunday at one o'clock but it doesn't mean that I can cut corners and decide no this week I'm I'm not going to do that I'm GNA do it a different way I'm pretty consistent in how I do it I still make my personal boards charts where you have every player listed I lay them out in in order of where they set up on the field offensive line at the top quarterbacks underneath running backs to the sides wide receivers on the outside tight ends just off the line flip it defense uh defensive line the front at the bottom and then linebackers and then defensive backs you know uh special teamers and kickers punters what have you off to the side right and I still do that by hand I I just can't I can't get to that place of doing it on the computer I can do it I understand technology well enough I could build a board that way and and do it but there's still something for me in writing it out and using colorcoded pens there's something about that process that gets it into my head and I don't know maybe there will come a day you could ask my son Noah who does play byplay the same question and he'll give you a completely different answer that he he likes the idea of typing it out and that's what gives him comfort in his preparation process I still like drawing it and placing them and now mentally I can visualize where they are on my board when something happens on the field I don't have to search I know where to go with that I also keep a a piece of regular white loose leaf paper double-sided I mean most paper D double-sided so this is a double-sided piece of paper and on one side I'll have the home team on the other side I'll have the road team and I'll keep running notes from Monday right through Friday and then I'll take those notes and I'll put them in a more digestible form and in some kind of order that I see fit of what I might use during a broadcast and what may come up on the air I'd say probably year five or six at CBS I realized that I was trying to force in way too many notes I was trying to show the audience how much I worked how much I prepared how much I knew and I was trying to flex a little bit and now you know I'm 27 years into this 28 doing NFL play-by-play 27 at CBS I figured out how to balance it and I also now recognize if I don't get it in it's okay the audience doesn't know any better I have to work more in the moment and realize that not everything has to make air just the things that are actually important to what you're talking about and have a real potential connection with the audience so I've been a lot better in regards to that uh being economical being efficient and then once you get on site now that's where you're really doing a lot of the dirty work because you're meeting with the home team head coach quarterback offensive player defensive player then meeting with the road team same setup and you're getting another layer of information that can really help separate your broadcast because you have access and I've I've tried to make those worthwhile if there's something good that comes out of the meeting let's find a way to get it on the air U this is how can illuminate the audience and it's not necessarily something that's been in the newspaper all week this is something that's fresh and different right and personal in some way so you're trying to find whatever's going to resonate with your audience and maybe separate you from someone else doing this because you've got a nice nugget of information that shoehorns in quite well when something pops up on the field you're right there and you mentioned obviously the question was about preparation how you prepare and you know I've talked to many other play-by-play announcers who say they view they use 10 to 15% of what they prepare for each game because you're right you don't need to get it all in but it's never good to under prepare either you want to make sure you have all the information needed for a certain situation now you mentioned that you haven't really gone with the more modern style of typing out your formats and you still use you know pencil colorcoded PS paper all that but how have you had to evolve as a broadcaster as the games you've announced have evolved over time terrific question the the one thing I would add to the previous because your numbers are spoton 10 to 15% if the game is not very good it's lopsided guess what the number goes up if the game is outstanding the number may go down the game is the meat the game is the meal everything else is ancillary everything else is completely tangential so as long as you're focusing on the game then that's your North Star in many ways uh as for how I've changed and adjusted Through The Years here's what struck me the most when I started the NFL on CBS was 1998 internet was around but pretty limiting at that point the most information that you gathered came from the team itself and that required PR staffs that would send you a media guide and then Game notes and from there you would dig for information and try to use that on the air if again it pertained to what you were talking about right we didn't have a lot of researchers I wasn't getting a packet from someone at CBS or someone at TN or someone at Tennis Channel or Westwood or any of these other places YES Network everything was all on you and I was comfortable with that I would make sure I read all the Articles and certainly once you got into the interview part of the week you would try to get more information but what I realized is that all of this was for us for media playby playay and producer director and the public had no access to it as the years have gone by the positive is there's more information than ever before right more than ever but the other side of it fans have access to the information for the most part other than the one-on-one interviews that that we're doing late in the week all the things that I'm seeing during the week if you're a true true blue fan of a particular team there's a chance that you have seen all the same stuff so to me now you have to be really selective in what you're doing you're serving many audiences when you do the game on Sunday there is the fanatical viewer that knows everything about their team they there you go there is the Casual fan that's checking in there's the fantasy football player that just wants to know what their player is doing right there's the Gambler that does not care about your biographical story on a player they just want to see the replay if his feet were inbounds and then just a random person that stumbled upon the game as they were changing channels and you have to serve all of that so what I've done in in my preparation is try to really narrow down the things that I find interesting that I think an audience member might find interesting the key is to be educational when necessary be informative and be entertaining and sometimes the order is going to be based on the game that you have or the circumstances that you're working under so the biggest change for me has just been the amount of information and how quickly that information is shared because of social media now there are times it's crazy but there are times where I might see something pop up on a feed during the game that we don't even know yet but it's out there and you've got to vet it and make sure you can't just randomly say it you have to vet it make sure it's correct and accurate and then report it when you've had it confirmed by the source that needs to confirm it whether it be a PR person or uh some kind of official with the teams that you're working you mentioned so much information that is out there and US fans it's allowed even young broadcasters to take advantage of all these new opportunities like what we were talking about earlier part of that is the information and the statistics that are out there there are some statistics though that only announcers and companies are able to have access to and those are you know the next Jed stats and all those different Advanced analytics how much have you tried to incorporate stats into your broadcast and how much have you use them to understand the game and also make the audience understand the game better I feel like we are now at a place where it has become a bigger part of what we do sometimes for the better oftentimes for the better and then sometimes it can be esoteric and it can be a little bit of a reach or it's something that's difficult to explain in a very short period of time before they snap the ball so I again try to be smart in how I use those stats I try to be selective and I'll have them on my board and I know they're there if I need them if an example pops up on the field I'm ready to go that's being organized and having the ability to compartmentalize in the moment and then the other part is and this is a very simple concept and I constantly remind myself of this during the game I have milliseconds before I have to make a statement on television would I find this interesting is the question that I ask myself that's it as simply put and that's not just for stats it's for a biographical note it's a back and forth between me and my analyst would I find this interesting and if the answer is no either I'm moving on from what we're doing or I'm not even entering that part of the pool right but I'm constantly asking myself that that that to me is is really the essence of what we do TV radio uh do you have the presence of mind to answer that question in real time and then make the adjustment based on what your answer would be we've been talking about all the things that you do as an announcer and you mentioned how long you have been doing this as an announcer and that has included some incredible games and I just want you to touch on some of the more memorable and I guess you could say electrifying games and atmospheres you've been a part of throughout your career boy we could we could do another two hours because it's been a lot of games chaye I I've been traveling around doing this job for a long time and I I remember when I started thinking to myself this is a great way to spend your time as someone that loves sports and loves the announcing part of it and has a true appreciation for it I had no idea how the travel would be in my life how it would affect relationships and family and all the things that day-to-day life presents to you but I knew this I knew that if I enjoyed what I did that that would emanate in some way to the people around me so for my wife for my children they could see that I liked what I was doing which meant that I brought a positive disposition to everyday life I enjoyed it and with that Joy came the balance of home life uh which which was really important to me as well so as I look back now and and try to to imagine how many games I've done I don't even know the number anymore we're we're well past that but I do know that I've been really fortunate to be in a number of situations where I knew it was going to be historic in some way and some of those calls were on events that were on major networks some were on local networks and then some were International broadcasts that I I just happen to get the call to do Michael Jordan's last shot as a member of the Chicago Bulls over Brian Russell of the Utah Jazz I did that game on the world feed and I walked out of the Arena that night in Salt Lake City because there were rumors that Jordan may be done with Chicago and I thought to myself if that's it I'll never forget where I was what I was doing what was going on in my life all of those things and there have just been a bunch of those moments I had a similar experience doing the world feed for the final four Duke against Butler and Gordon Hayward had a shot at the buzzer half court shot if it goes in to me it is the greatest ending in NCA Final Four history it probably goes down as the greatest upset even bigger than uh the Villanova upset and NC State over Houston upset I think this one would have been true David versus Goliath it bangs off the the rim and Duke holds on for the win in Indianapolis and again just happen to be there with a headset on doing it for the world feed so I've had a bunch of those and then for the last couple years I've done the Super Bowl on the world feed so last year Patrick Mahomes leading that drive winning the game in overtime and the reaction in Las Vegas the fact that that swifties were watching this this meant a lot as well Chase it was a celebration it was a party I did the Super Bowl the year before that just working the final four this year and taking a moment to myself as we're about to tip off the national championship game and just taking it all in the thousands upon thousands that were there in Glendale Arizona and the fact that I'm sitting next to gr Hill and Bill rry two really close friends Tracy Wolfson working on the crew as well and literally just catching myself if if the younger version of me knew that this would one day happen reminding myself that it's been a crazy journey and and one that that's still going but there are a lot of games there are a lot of moments there are a lot of great athletes I've been very fortunate to hit this at a time where uh the memories will never fade away you just mentioned how you did the final four for CBS for March Madness uh this past year and I had an amazing time watching you it was incredible to see that and you had the privilege of covering yukon's historic run to the championship game they win 12 consecutive tournament games by double digits they go uh back to back now as they chase a three repeat do you think that it's a reasonable expectation for Huskies fans to think that they can accomplish that and then they can three repeat in this era of college basketball they shouldn't think anything else because until they're knocked off the Mountaintop they are still favorites there might be teams that have more Talent on paper there might be teams that go on a run during the regular season but Yukon has shown that they know how to win they know how to win on the biggest stage they have a head coach that knows how to do it and of course because there's so much turnover in college basketball now it's impossible to say that one team is destined for the title because we don't know we just don't know until we see the mix of players right back when you had consistency in rosters and underclassmen that became upper classmen and they gained experience it was a little easier to speculate and forecast how this might go now it it's nearly impossible but right Yukon has gotten to the place where they deserve the benefit of the doubt they are a blue blood uh they are Championship University and they have found the secret sauce they found the winning formula now it's a matter of recruiting certain players getting the right grad transfers and then meshing it all together if you're a Yukon fan you should feel great that your head coach is still in toe and that he knows what he's looking for his staff is still there they know how to do this they have absolutely put themselves in the conversation of potential Dynasty it would be remarkable really if they do 3p and all the organization has done or the um yeah all they have done has been incredible and how dominant that they have been and you mentioned how there's so much turnaround now in college basketball a lot of people hate the transfer portal but to me I think it's actually added some more par and there's no longer these dominant teams that can continue to stay dominant and that's why it is so hard to win back toback or to three repeat in this era of college basketball or just College athletics in general yeah the two things that have struck me in regards to that one not only do you have to be a good recruiter that's always been the case you have to be a really good talent evaluator and you say to yourself well what's the difference well recruiting you might just go for whoever the the highest ranked recruit is you go he must be good the difference now because of the transfer portal you have to be able to determine whether or not that player fits what you do you have tape you've seen some live action and now you've got to truly visualize whether or not that player can blend in and be the type of player that you need the second part because of nil I do think there are teams that will have more money than everybody else and they can spend more on Talent it doesn't guarantee you success of course it gives you a better chance but it doesn't guarantee you anything and really good coaches that run really sound programs with a really good system are still going to be considered at the top of their profession but there are going to be outliers that you just alluded to that just hit it right the right transfer Dalton connect could have gone anywhere Tennessee got him he spent one year there he had a magnificent season did they go on the run that they thought they almost did they they were terrific in the elite eight that game easily could have gone their way and now maybe we are talking about Tennessee as a national champion or a national runner up right but you got to be able to hit on guys and not just a single like you got to hit triples in the transfer portal where someone just has such a huge impact and one player can have a huge impact on a program these days they really can now we're talking about Yukon speaking of three pets we're going to transfer over to the NFL obviously the season is just around the corner we were talking about it before the podcast and it seems that Patrick Mahomes the swifties and the Kansas City Chiefs have completely taken over the NFL they've won back-to-back Super Bowls they've made six straight AFC championships it's become one of the more dominant runs I mean right there you know they're starting to get to the point where they're knocking on the door of the New England Patriots era we just saw with Tom Brady but more focusing in on Mahomes what makes him so special when you're announcing his games and how does he compare to some of the other stars you've announced previously I think with Patrick there is something magical that he can bring to the field that every time he's under Center taking a snap he can do something unique to him and I don't know how many players you can say that about at the quarterback position look there are running backs and wide receivers that have crazy speed or spin moves or uh they can go beast mode or Derk Henry with a stiff arm so you have to be cognizant of that as a play-by-play announcer that if Tyreek Hill gets into the open field there's a chance he's GNA outrun everybody you know that going in and even mentally as a play-by-play announcer you have to be prepared with momes you can't prepare for something that you've never seen before so all you can do as an announcer is react appropriately in the moment don't look down at your notes Don't Take Your Eye Off the ball so to speak and pay particular interest in the details of what he does because he might do something spectacular on a random second quarter Drive in week five that might be the play of the year and you have to know that going in right so as a play-by-play announcer what I've been most impressed with he's remained very humble in production meetings I did his first start as a full-time starter so his second year in the league League when they made the decision Alex Smith gone we're in La uh Dan FZ and I were doing the broadcast and Mahomes went crazy in that game and he just if you remember you could look it up his first month was off the charts it was insane insane and we had him twice that month and I was blown away by how he carried himself in the production meeting and now all these years later all these MVP and championships later he's the same he carries himself the same way there's a certain work ethic there that you never know you don't know you can draft a player you can love his talent you can love his ability you can love his personality you still don't know if he has that next level will to be the best this guy just wants to be the best and I think also what makes Kansas City really special it's this marriage of quarterback and coach and we've seen it before where there's just the this the special quality of creativity from the coach and the right quarterback to work with that offensive mind so Bill Walsh and Joe Montana had something really special in San Francisco and I think we're seeing it on the same level with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes that's not taking anything away from The Brady bich pairing but it was different bill was a defensive guy not to say he didn't have a say in offense he did but they weren't living with one another in the same manner right that the other examples that I just gave you know what we saw Shawn pton Drew Brees what they did over time it was the one Super Bowl but prolific numbers sometimes you just get the perfect combination and this just happens to be an example of that the Chiefs look incredible but which other teams are do you think can uh make the Chiefs be a little feared this season which other teams do you think can contend for a Super Bowl title I am bullish on Detroit I bought in I just love the makeup of the team and I think they're they're going to be even better this year in any ways based on solidifying certain spots paying the guys that they had to pay and Dan Campbell very much leaning into his core beliefs and the team now becoming an extension of him letting it all hang out so to speak and feeling confident and conviction in who they are and not surprising anybody but having a different role the X on your back and teams gunning after you I just I like the identity of the group I I think they're a legitimate Super Bowl Contender I know for some Lions fans that's that's hard to to imagine that people are talking about that team in that light but I think it's time for for them to to take Center Stage to me they they are the other team that I would keep an eye on to to maybe win a championship and if they did it would be a party for a decade in that City what are your thoughts around Baltimore this year they seem to be the main competitor for Kansas City in the AFC however they did lose to them at home in the AFC Championship you add Derrick Henry just many storylines surrounding them with Lamar and everything that goes on to Baltimore what are your thoughts on them and what they can achieve yeah I would tell you from a play-by-play perspective Lamar is the other quarterback that you do not look down at your notes or look away from what's happening on the field could just have what in the moment you think is a minor juke move to fake out a linebacker or a safety and then you see it on replay and realize oh no no no no no no no this is superum what he just did so you've really got to be on your p's and q's as a play-by-play announcer with Lamar my first game working with Charles Davis was during the co year and the first quarter we had Cleveland B Baltimore season opener no fans in the stands so that was weird in and of itself and then Charles and I were not in a position to spend a lot of time together because we were dealing with covid rules where you had to test and in addition you had to stay away from your co-workers because if someone got covid then there was a chance it would spread throughout your crew so they also put plexiglass between us and we have to stand 10t apart so you have all these challenges we have our first game Baltimore I don't think it was their first drive but it was their second drive and I remember vividly that Charles would look in my Direction when he was making a point I had never worked with Charles so I'm trying to give him eye contact in the moment to make him feel like hey I'm I'm listening I'm taking it all in I'm nodding and I turned my head and the Ravens are moving down the field Lamar Jackson has now pitched the ball to Mark Ingram and I catch it right at the back end and make the call and I think to myself no one realizes that I just saved the play byplay nobody realizes it until I saw the replay and realize I missed a spin move against the grain that I did not react to in the moment because I was locked in with Charles and there was no crowd that can often work as a company for the play-by-play announcer I didn't realize it even until then how much I leaned on a crowd reacting I would have gotten a reaction from the crowd after that and it would have at least changed the inflection of my voice on the call so we go to break and I say to Charles I go hey dude I'm sorry I'm not going to be able to give you eye contact because I'm missing some stuff on the field and he said oh I I wasn't expecting eye contact so that was all is me creating a thought process that Charles was expecting me to to stare back at him you can't take your eyes off the guy Lamar Jackson is special I believe they continue to try to put the right pieces around him defensively they should still be highly competitive again yes they are still the biggest threat in the AFC to one seat Kansas City can they get over the hump and do it we asked the same question of Buffalo previously Cincinnati did the one year they're trying to get back to that place that's probably the core four teams that you would discuss in the AFC and then there's a little bit of a drop off Miami would be in that next tier of teams that you would consider and by the way there's going to be a surprise team as well there's going to be somebody that we do not think is set to have a great season and they just come out of nowhere and and shock some people you know are the Jets for real I think their roster is actually better this year than it was a year ago when they were getting all of the headlines as a team that could win the Super Bowl because of Hard Knocks because of Aaron Rodgers there was a real Buzz about the Jets and this year they're a little bit more under the radar because I think there's a lot of fans that are taking the wait and see approach before they fully commit to the Jets being a true key Contender here in 2024 I Eagle this has been absolutely amazing and I got to tell you when you talked about Lamar and you know he always got you always got to keep his eyes on him I spoke to the Ravens uh radio play-by-play announcer Jerry sanduski Jer yeah he and he's an awesome guy and one of the things he said here on the podcast is how Lamar's ball skills make him so difficult to announce because you no you have no idea where the ball is and it just makes him such a dynamic and an incredible player to announce but it also makes his job more challenging but as I was saying I Eagle this has been amazing and I am an aspiring announcer whether it be play-by-play sideline an analyst in broadcasting sports broadcasting in some capacity if you had to give one piece of advice though to an aspiring play-by-play announcer like me or others listening to this right now what would it be and why Chase I would tell you that you have everything at your fingertips to be immersed in this and engage in the process on a daily basis if you want to be a play-by-play announcer you can go online you can call up almost any clip in NFL history NBA history Major League Baseball history NHL history if you're a lacrosse guy lacrosse history it's all there YouTube and other sites that have so many of these videos or Radio Calls it's all available so you can throw yourself into that world and listen with a critical ear what you like what you don't like how you would handle that situation you want to be a talk show host great turn on the radio listen to a podcast it's all there it's there every single day for you to go to school and learn more you want to be a studio host hello it's all there ESPN all day CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports HQ there are anchors all day doing highlights leading to Pieces tagging pieces but it does require uh a certain level of awareness and willingness to really listen and watch with a critical eye and ear that's not to say that you shouldn't be a fan and shouldn't enjoy sports I'm still a fan at heart I am but I did make a very concerted effort at some point to view broadcasts in a different way and take mental notes sometimes take physical notes but at least take mental notes of H if I face that situation I have a sense of what I might do or how I might handle it or muscle memory building consistency and that's all available so I know everyone talks about internships and what school should I go to all of it is really important it is but most of it still comes from within as long as the college has a good college radio station a place for you to do it or a College Newspaper you're going to be fine but you still have to have the spark and the interest and that comes from truly immersing yourself in it and learning as much as you can about what this is all about and uh that fortunately in this day and age is something that you can do on your own Ian Eagle thank you so much for that and thank you so much for joining us today on this episode of The Cool Sports Network we really do appreciate it Chase Mutual admiration Society you're terrific and I hope we get to do it again sometime that would be awesome and the best of luck I know your first few games for what you're doing on CBS have been announced so be sure to tune on or to tune in for the CBS NFL on CBS action to hear Ian also in the Yes Network the NBA on TNT there's a lot of places where you can view on be sure to be sure to check it out again Ian Eagle thank you so much for joining us we appreciate it you got it all right audience we'll wrap this up here alongside one of the greatest play-by-play voices in history Ian Eagle I am your host Chase Cobert and we will see you next time right here from the Cool Sports Network take care