Watchdog

On shaking off the rust to return to narrating football highlights:

"It was like, 'OK, what is that I would say about this?' or 'What was that line?' One time I actually looked back at the book Dan [Patrick] and I did, which had, fortunately, a time capsule thing for my own benefit. It had a list of the catchphrases and I said, 'OK, this is out of date, this is out of date, OK, we can use that one, that’s still funny, that could be useful.' So those things came back slowly. The last time I did NFL highlights would have been 2000, for Fox. So a couple of generations of guys had come and gone. And so it’s more than anything else just getting used to the players again. You read what you need to read and you listen to what the other guys are saying and you just ask questions like, 'How is this pronounced?' Even what look like simple names. 'It’s not Roll-ie is it? It’s Rolle. OK, thank you.' You ask. The support team is fantastic so there’s no question of getting hung out to dry or anything, so it’s just like falling off a bicycle. You can always do it."

On NBC's motive for hiring him: "I was not, contrary to what a lot of people thought, brought on here for some political reason. I was not brought on so they could find something else for me to do on one of my two days off. I didn’t demand to do this, but there was a certain thought I could add something, obviously what I was going to add was largely what I did on SportsCenter with NFL highlights."

On the SportsCenter formula: "Why come in with a different style? Another reason still in play was that part of the gag, the unseen part of the gag, was I was always trying to break Dan Patrick up and he was always trying to break me up. To some degree I try to do that with Bob [Costas]. What can I get away with that can make Bob giggle or try to top me, which I think has been very invigorating for him and I think has raised the entire level of the presentation. Whether they're good games or bad games they’re going to be useful and entertaining, which was the goal 10 years ago and is the goal now."

On keeping up with the league: "The last time I did the highlights we really didn’t have the Internet as a source of information. You can check a thousand Web sites for a minute each or whatever and you’ll have enough information during the week. And make sure you’re in a fantasy league so you have some vested interest in doing your homework. I’m absolutely serious about that. You have to know. Priest Holmes retired, Christ, what am I going to do now?"

On people who have a personal hatred for those with opposing political views: "There are plenty of liberals who say critical or asinine things, horrible, stupid, unthinking, almost inhuman things about conservatives. You do not threaten violence against people and do not go to their homes, I don’t care who they are."

On how sports can bring being with opposing political views together: "This is where rarely does that political, constant, endless war we’ve gotten ourselves into come in and it’s a nice place to sort of check your politics at the door and just enjoy the sports. I hope the fans would feel that way, too. Yeah, there’s no question [producer Michael Weisman] is going to get letters about me because of what I’m perceived as being. I started writing an occasional piece on baseball cards on Sports Collectors Digest. I am, with no apologies, an expert on this subject, 19th century stuff, the history of cards. I consult for Topps. And the editor of Sports Collectors Digest said he got a note: 'How could you let that liberal in the paper?' They're baseball cards, that’s how come! If the Devil wrote a good article about baseball cards, what’s the difference? There’s no hidden message in it!"