Greg Olsen, former NFL player and now a sports broadcaster, shared his perspective on the challenges of transitioning from football to television during a recent appearance on The Dan Patrick Show. Olsen noted that while understanding football came naturally to him, adapting to the demands of live television was a separate challenge.
“The football part I always felt pretty good about,” Olsen said. “You know, the football part, I felt like I always understood and I saw and I really enjoy talking the game and formulating different storylines to present to the viewer, and letting them kind of unravel in real time during the broadcast. The TV part is the part I think all of us have to learn, right? You have to learn how to go in and out of commercial breaks. You have to learn how to talk to the truck… I’m still learning some of the nuance, the terminology, where all the cameras are, and I’ve gotten a lot better now, going into my fifth year (…) It’s very interesting. The football part, I feel like that’s the easy part. Making that fit into a three-hour live broadcast, talk in segments, talk in soundbites, not talking over your play-by-play, commercial breaks, ad reads. Fortunately, I’ve had great partners. I’ve had Joe Davis, who is incredible. Kevin Burkhardt before that. They handle the TV and I tell them, ‘I’ll just do the football part.’ So, I’ve been lucky in that regard.”
Dan Patrick also spoke about coaching former players on adapting their expertise for television: “I understand the timing part of it, but so many guys that came through ESPN — these are legendary coaches and players — and I said,’You gotta understand TV,'(…) And even Rodney Harrison and Tony Dungy on Football Night in America,I said,’You guys are rookies.You know nothing about TV.Listen to me,and you’ll do fine.You know football,but that’s only part of the equation.’They look at you and go,’You just talk.’I go,’No.’If somebody in your ear goes,’Hey,you got 20 seconds.’Well,you don’t know what 20 seconds is.In real-time, playing a game,you do.Twenty seconds on TV,you’re like,’Uhh,I don’t know how long am I going?’‘You went 42 seconds.’ You’re like,’I did?'”
Olsen responded by agreeing with Patrick’s assessment: “You’re spot on,” Olsen told Patrick. “The voice in your ear is an adjustment. Early on in my career,the natural instinct when someone says something when you’re talking,you stop and you want to listen.Obviouly,you sound silly on live television if you do that(…) To your point about play-by-play guys there’s no such thing as a good color analyst without a good play-by-play guy.They’re the heroes of all of this.They’re professionals.They keep this train on tracks,running,and give you space and breathandthe leads then totalkaboutthethingsyouareinterestedin oryoufeelgoodaboutandyouwanttotakethebroadcast.Itismoreofadance.Itisarhythm.Everygamehasadifferentcadence.”
Olsen commented further: “So again,thepartoftheexperienceI’veenjoyedthemostistheunpredictabilityofit,”Olsen said,”whereyouhaveabasicideaofthematchup,youhaveabasicideaofflowofthegame,butthenonceit’skickedoff—nodifferentthanaplayer—nobodycansitthereandsay,’Iknowexactlyhowthisgame’sgoingtogo,andI’mgoingtotalkaboutX,Y,andZinthatorder.’Chancesarethatsgoingtobethrownupsidedown.Andthen,youhavetoadjustonthefly.”
Olsen is currently entering his fifth year as a broadcaster with Fox.
