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Oh
My! By George Stahl NEW YORK (AQB)--If you think it's going to be weird to see and hear Dick Enberg on CBS, you aren't the only one. "I really thought I would work for NBC until my final day," the 61-year-old father of six said. "I thought that after 25 years, I was a lifetime employee with them." "As time went on, I just talked to my family and friends, and I said, 'What's really important to me is that I have some terrific years left in this career and I really want desperately to do the events that excite me most, that I have the greatest passion for, where I feel I have the most strength.' "It came back to the National Football League primarily and college basketball as well, and those were two events that NBC just didn't have on its calendar." But CBS does, and that's why Enberg made the switch, which was officially announced Wednesday after months of speculation. Under the four-year contract, the 11-time Emmy Award winner also will call the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and provide perspective during CBS' Masters and PGA Championship golf coverage. Enberg begins work Saturday, calling the Ohio State-St. John's game at 4 p.m. ET with former NBC colleague Billy Packer. CBS will reunite NBC's legendary threesome of Enberg, Packer and Al McGuire for the Connecticut-Michigan State game on Feb. 5. Enberg said Wednesday that the trio's success came from a very simple formula. "We honestly appreciated and liked each other, and no one wanted to be the star." After the Feb. 5 game, Enberg will work only with McGuire through the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament. Packer and Jim Nantz will remain CBS' top college basketball team. "Other than my own father, [McGuire's] the wisest man I've ever met. His sagacity goes beyond extremes," Enberg said about McGuire. "The events that precede [the telecast] and follow it with Coach McGuire, I should be paying CBS." Enberg said he's not worried about McGuire's retirement talk. "Twenty years ago, I heard the very same comment," Enberg joked. "I hope I can change his mind." For the NFL, CBS will team Enberg with Dan Dierdorf on its No. 2 team. CBS' No. 1 team is Greg Gumbel and Phil Simms. "I've already talked to Dan, and I liked the way he said, 'You know, Enberg, you don't know me well, but I'm a really confident guy and I think we're going to be a formidable team.'" Enberg added that he thought Dierdorf, a transplant this year from ABC's Monday Night Football, had his best year ever at CBS. Enberg, one of four sportscasters with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, said it doesn't bother him that he's not No. 1. "When you're young, you really worry about those things," he said. "If that was really a key issue - and maybe it would have been 20-25 years ago - I wouldn't have signed with CBS." On the NFL, Enberg replaces Verne Lundquist, who will become CBS' top college football announcer, supplanting Sean McDonough, whom the network let go to make room for Enberg. "Nothing is perfect in this world and, whenever you move the pieces around, someone is left disappointed," Enberg said, adding that everyone in the business - including him - has had to deal with those disappointments. "I wish Sean nothing but the best. I think he's a terrific talent, and he'll have no difficulty finding work." Besides, Enberg said, this might be a good thing for McDonough. "Sometimes changes, whether we like them or not, really turns on the engines. It's a chance to try new things and accept new challenges." And that's why he's making this change. "I'm going through a male millennium menopause. I'm ready for something different and the adrenaline has kicked in." Nonetheless, he's closing the book on a very successful period at NBC, where he called NFL games from 1977 until the network lost the rights to broadcast football in 1998. Overall, he did eight Super Bowls, nine Rose Bowls and six Orange Bowls. He tried to get out of his contract when NBC lost the NFL rights, but the network rejected the request. "I understand that," he said. "I'm going to miss my friends at NBC. I wish them nothing but the best," Enberg said, adding that he will miss broadcasting Wimbledon, which he did 19 times; the Olympics (four times); and U.S. Open golf (four times). "It would be foolish for me to hang on to that, though. Time has to move on." "You can't have the whole pie. ... But boy, the big slice I'm getting is the one I want. No doubt in my mind, I've made absolutely the right choice." Back
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