Grant and Danny
Steve Buckhantz Talks Importance of Football in DC
Grant and Danny on the fan welcome back out to the course of 1757 and Ashburn off wax pool by where the commander's train We told you there were some dignitaries and celebs roaming around today We just had mark ripping on the show make sure you podcast that at the fan DC calm And right now we are joined by one of the most iconic sports voices in this town's history The guy that made me a wizard's fan Steve Buck. Answer. Well, you'll be podcasting this as well. We will be yes podcasting We are producers setting up YouTube right now. Wow, I can see you I mean, this is not some rinky dink operation when you join the ground You guys don't play around let's go number six market buck my worst job You could yell further than the signal was you know, but this is better. It's been too long You look great. Thank you in the clubs today. How you been? I've been fine. I've been good a lot of fun playing with these guys, you know the name of the tournament is the heroes and legends and The guy these guys are heroes. You know, I mean what we do is, you know, knuckle headedness These guys are real heroes protecting the country and doing what they do and it's this guy right here killing it Killing it. Are you staying? Okay, great to see you man all these naval Academy guys and in fact he played football his name is Ford Higgins He played center for Navy. That was the center. That was a look like a senator going to me box 70 pounds Yeah, he lost and he showed me pictures of him when he played at Navy and he was a big Well, of course he was yeah And you know and then I did Navy for seven years on the radio So we were talking about Army Navy games and how special it is and all of that and it's just these guys are fabulous By the way that game's coming to it's so weird to say North West Stadium What would stadium is it Northwest? It's not commander's field anymore. It was until about three weeks ago They got some naming rights change it every week. Yeah, I'm gonna call it the X Danny calls it Nubsfield Nubsfield It's just that the stadium you don't want to be at but it's the exact that game is I've been there the pageant tree It sounds you know cliche to say but no it really is an emotional and credible thing. It's unbelievable. I try to go every year now It's great. It's it's hard to explain it to people and and he and I were talking about it whether you for me You know blessed to broadcast a game But but for him to play in it. I just said to him, you know What is that like where you're literally beating the hell out of each other for three hours? And then you go stand with these guys that you're gonna go to battle into battle with in two weeks or whatever and to be to do those games The hair on the back of your neck stands up I mean it is dramatic because you're representing you know our military both every side of it So it's really a fabulous game to do what do you make now as a guy that's been around and been so associated with DC sports for so long What are you gonna make of our current landscape? Just give me a big 30,000 foot view picture whether it's teams fans Engage with the whole nine yards where we at right now because I was having a tough time quantifying it is difficult to quantify it because we will always be a Transient sports town because of Washington DC. You got people from New York come in here. They come from all over We still have our hardcore fans obviously, but we will always We'll always be in a situation where we go to a nats game or a wizards game And it's unheard of now to go to a commander's game I say now in the last 15 years and have more fans from the other team there You know when you go to a nats game against the Phillies there are more Phillies fans there and it sickens me Wizards games whether it was the nicks the Lakers the Celtics or whatever team More of those fans and it nauseate me you know because I grew up here So it really made me and when I grew up here to DC stadium then RFK stadium That never happened. There were never stealer. No, there was never anybody else from the other team there No Steelers fans. No Cowboys fans all of that. So that's always going to be Unfortunately who we are even though we want a World Series. We want to Stanley Cup We've won through three Super Bowls and we want an NBA Championship It's always going to be that way having that said The football team just makes it so challenging for us because as much as we love the caps Who are perennial winners, you know the wizards we deal with you know the nats? Rebuilding as much as we love all those teams and and the mystics and everybody else This is a red skin town. This is a football town and we are waiting for this thing to turn around and Sadly It's been what 20 wins 91 was our last Super Bowl. Yeah 33 years I mean there are having 11 games since there are young people that really that don't know we we had a good Football team here. Well, I'm 36. My earliest memory of the football team is 1994. Okay? Now again, I got three kids in a mortgage. You know what I'm saying like that we just talked to Mark Rippen Yeah, I never see Mark Rippen play. I mean, I was a baby in a diaper Yeah, I don't remember it, but I've seen the highlights I mean I know all about Mark Rippen. Yeah, my mom and dad have told me all about all of it sure But I mean it's not like I'm 20 right. I'm almost 40. No well and and and I am essentially older than you and covered those teams and was blessed to cover what I call the glory years the Joe Gibbs years and And Ripp and all of those guys and so back then and again, it's hard to explain this to young people But back then not only did you expect to go to the playoffs you you know? The Super Bowl was a legitimate reality every year and it hasn't been that way since Like say for 30 some years and it's hard to explain that to people and What kills me about us and it's not just ours our city. It's every city in July and August when we get going, you know with training camp and OTAs and all that stuff You you glom on to whatever positive you have a couple of years ago We were supposed to have the best defensive line in football Well, that didn't happen and then last year, you know guys are picking seven and nine or whatever the you know We win four games This year we got a new quarterback who's a Heisman Trophy winner You got this guy and that guy and this guy and maybe we'll get Better as it's you know season goes along But that game the other day was not anything I mean, it's rebuilt. They're rebuilding. It's early. Yeah, but it was that was a tough walk Doors take us to summers away Or winter adventures And afternoon getaways Your dedicated fidelity advisor can help you open those doors by working with you on a comprehensive plan to help you reach your wealth's full potential because doors were meant to be opened Visit fidelity dot com slash wealth investment minimums apply fidelity brokerage services LLC member ny se s i p c Watch Steve buckets on great and danny. I want to sneak in kind of a nerd broadcaster thing here As someone who loves play-by-play and studies it wants to do more and more of it What where do you think we're headed in the industries? I've always said I think radio is fairly safe Although during covid some team stopped traveling their broadcasters, which I hated But the local element we're spoiled with some really good groups here including charlie and dave right here on the fan Absolutely every night for the nats, but the local rs ends and the tv's I grew up you and phil were More important for me than most of those wizards teams and the same thing currently still with joe bian locker Like where are we headed do you think and i don't mean in dc, but globally Like 15 20 years from now is it i'll record on an app? I mean is Our broadcast teams are are we keeping and paying guys that can be around for 30 years like how does that gonna work? Well, I I don't know if I can answer the question because I can't see 15 years into the future I don't know what technology is going to be like. I see how it's changed to a certain extent But for the for basically it's the same You have your hometown broadcasters and as you said we have some of the best Really in the country. I mean there's nobody better than joe bian locker charlie and dave on the radio are fantastic You know dave johnson doing the wizards games with glenn consor or you know i'm talking radio right now I see tv with joe bian locker and and the red skins of the commanders are Network guys, but the radio you know with You know everybody with bram and those guys is is also great We've we've got you've looked at some of the broadcasters that have come out of this area. Oh, yeah, james brown Tim brant tony roberts Uh, I mean I can go on. I know i've got fan pelt obviously who was my intern at channel five Gus jotson was my intern at channel five Um, we've got some great guys that have that have gone on to do what they do. I don't You're always going to have a tv broadcast. I think I mean maybe maybe it'll be different But I think you're going to have a tv broadcast and it's going to be on somebody's Network whether it's ted who bought nbc sports washington and it's now monumental sports Or it's massing or whatever there's going to be an outlet for it I would think on tv somehow and there's always going to be radio. So those guys are always going to be around I just don't know how the the visual medium might change But I think you're always going to have to watch it somehow and listen to it somehow. Don't you think? I think so for sure I mean, especially I just don't know how you'll get it like in other words There are now teams where the only way to to watch try to think of it was the nicks who did this first But basically it's like a lot of cart you could do a game like six bucks for that game a month for these games And it's more on an app, you know, rather than a true rsm I think a baseball where a lot of I can't remember which one of diamond. I think it was Valley. Yeah, they went under so mlb took over and basically streams the games and runs everything through their own Offices. Yeah, it's just it's a changing landscape and I can't help but wonder You know, what's it look like in 10 years? I think what's changed more in my lifetime has been local sports on tv Um, oh my gosh. Yeah, I mean it's nobody has local sports cameras. Well, we do. I mean we have guys You know four uses obviously, you know, but JP and Seven s Scott and he's good and and nine now has chick doing what he does going Sort of full circle and coming back to doing what he's doing But back in the day before there was really I mean there was the spn but back in the day I say my day with glen brenner and george michael and franca or zog and all the weekend guys You got your sports. You got your red skins coverage from us You didn't get it from espn or some app on your phone You got it from the local guys doing sports at channel four george michael used to get more time than anybody in the country To do sports on a monday after a red skin game And they measure the time in blocks from six to seven so six fifteen six thirty six forty five He would get the entire final block from six forty five to seven That's unheard of that's 15 minutes. They'd have a commercial in between there That's unheard of glen would get whatever he needed seven eight nine minutes on a monday It was outrageous. You didn't see that in any other market in this country and of course You don't see it now now guys are getting two minutes. Maybe two and a half whatever one i like I mean, but they're like channel five is going to come they don't have us like sports Right they have like news people read the four four to the same four use guys from from our you know Comcast sports net right to do stuff Well now our our guy jp, but is right free lancer who goes in and does exactly exactly it used to be there were departments And that's not a word. Oh, we had a great sports department at channel five And I had so many guys come through there as I mentioned vampel and and and and guss and chick Right and then all of our producers ernie bower and joe yeshroff and frank christifoli and larry devol And i'm you know go on and on and on and name these guys and then you know after I left you have You had bret haver for a year or two then day feldman came, you know guys that are legitimately great sports casters Now our buddies like heather mcdonnett does six people's job Right occur when the photographer is like at nine Hey george's thing listen back in those days, you know when he had the sports machine You can't do a show like that unless you have the full support luckily they're an nbc. Oh and oh they're known Owned an operated station. So if they're going to put on a half hour or an hour show whatever sports machine was You have to have full support of the network. You can't just half acidly do that show You got to have the full support. So it was him and walley brockner and you know scott before that and That was a great show because they produced it the right way So they had some we used to kid, you know george would have like six interns Watching satellites to give him the best video that he could have and I was lucky to have one intern to watch five games You know, but you got you got what you got and then glenn of course was the best I ever saw And in any market and i've been in 30 markets seen 30 markets traveling with the wizards Never seen anybody like glenn brener. He was somebody that I would urge our fans if you if you don't know who he is Or you haven't seen him or you don't know about him google him and he had this town You know By the past yeah, you know he he was something and when he passed away We all I mean everybody let every station led the newscast with it It was phenomenal and he was the literally the funniest guy and not trying to be funny He was just naturally funny and when we would go to carl out to cover the red skins They would be out there practicing and all the sports guys would stand on a tarmac and tell jokes But glenn would have you on the ground laughing. He was the funniest dude. I've ever seen on tv Legitimately him and gordon peterson were the absolute best And you'll never see that again in any market. He was the best buck. It was great reminiscing Good talking to you too guys Love listening to you guys. Appreciate you buddy. Mr. Barkley. Nice job. That's Steve buckhand Austin echler of the commanders joins us next on gnd