Some TV viewers may have done a double-take this month while watching Fox Sports' telecast of Dolphins vs. Bears. That was not Erin Andrews, Pam Oliver, Peter Schrager, Kristina Pink or one of Fox's other NFL reporters on the sidelines. Instead, it was Doug Gottlieb, the national basketball analyst and talk radio host for Fox.
So why was the former college basketball star at Oklahoma State working the sidelines of an NFL game? And why would his bosses ask the host of "The Doug Gottlieb Show" on Fox Sports Radio to range outside his basketball comfort zone and cover pro football?
The answer? It's part of a recent trend of sports TV networks allowing single-sport experts to work other sports such as football, basketball and horse racing.
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Gottlieb, the NCAA's 11th-ranked all-time leader in assists, had never been on an NFL sideline before — much less worked a pro football telecast. But sports is sports. He took the same approach as working an NBA or college basketball game.
He tweeted it was an "amazing" experience — and that witnessing the athleticism and fury of NFL players at field level was "unfreaking real."
Gottlieb's not alone.
Through Week 8 of the 2018 NFL season, Fox has invited FS1 TV hosts such as Joy Taylor of "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," Karyn Bryant of "UFC Tonight" and Megan Olivi of "UFC Ultimate Insider" to work the sidelines of NFL games. Ditto for golf play-by-play announcer Shane Bacon. Some have done a great job. Some have stunk. But it's been an interesting experiment.
"We have a number of talented people here," Fox Sports spokesman Avis Roper told Sporting News. "This is our chance to give them an opportuty to see how they like doing this on this stage."
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Similarly, ESPN allowed NFL Insider Adam Schefter to moonlight as an NBA sideline reporter last season. Unbeknownst to most football fans, Schefter has become an NBA junkie in his spare time. As a perk to signing a new five-year contact, ESPN allowed him to take on some NBA sideline reporting assignments when his NFL workload is light.
“I love what I do but you are always curious to try different things,” Schefter told Sports Illustrated. “I know people think of me as this robot who doesn’t do anything outside of NFL news, injury reports, contact extensions, and hirings and firings. I love all that stuff but everyone likes to do things a little different or outside the box.”
Meanwhile, Eddie Olczyk of NBC Sports parlayed his role as an NHL broadcaster into another gig as a horse racing analyst/handicapper for the Peacock network's Triple Crown coverage. By all accounts, Olczyk has excelled at covering what he calls "pucks and ponies."
Like noted Saratoga habitue Bill Parcells, Olczyk know of what he speaks when it comes to the horses. The dedicated reader of "The Daily Racing Form" once won $500,000 on a bet. He's correctly called long-shot winners, exactas and even trifectas on NBC, making viewers and his NBC bosses sit up and take notice.
"Look, my job is to put money into people’s pockets. More times than not, I’ve been able to help people out, whether they’re betting dollars or hundreds of dollars. That’s my job," Olczyk said. "There is that great satisfaction of sitting on top of that mountain after a big race — and you just gave out the trifecta in the Kentucky Derby. Or you gave out an exacta in the Breeders Cup. There’s great fullfillment. I’ve done my job."
There are a lot of reasons why sports TV networks are allowing, even inviting, talents such as Gottlieb, Schefter and Olczyk to branch out into other sports.
First, it saves them money.
The TV networks won't elaborate on it, but they don't have to hire as many sideline reporters when they have other folks — already on the payroll — raring to go. Especially when a network's resources are spread thin, such as Fox in October when it has to cover both the NFL and MLB.
Second, having a nationally known TV personality on an outside sport tends to cross-promote both TV properties. As we know, TV networks live for cross-promotion, constantly using their own airwaves to tout their shows.
Third, as Schefter noted to SI, it can be a reward for a job well done. Think of it as a tasty little cookie, offered by management to keep their people fresh.
It also enables on-air talent to avoid typecasting come contract time, when they want to tout their all-knowing sports knowledge to outside bidders.
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Some on-air talents have an easier transition than others.
Gottlieb, for example, has hosted his own national sports radio shows for more than 15 years. He discusses the NFL, college football and MLB every day, both on radio and on TV shows such as FS1's "Speak for Yourself" with Jason Whitlock and Marcellus Wiley.
So working an NFL game isn't much of a stretch for him.
But some Dolphins and Bears, as well as coaches, were still reportedly wide-eyed when a guy known more for hoops than football strode on to the field before Miami's 31-28 win over Chicago Oct. 14.
Bears quarterback coach Dave Ragone, who played college football at Louisville, supposedly told Gottlieb he'd give him the scoop on Bears starter Mitch Trubisky if Gottlieb could tell him whether Cardinals basketball would get the death penalty over recruiting misdeeds.
Fox was proactive about getting its talent on the sidelines. Olczyk, on the other hand, made his own luck at NBC.
As a teenager growing up in Chicago, the amateur hockey player attended his first horse race at the old Arlington Park. The sight of the majestic 1,200-pound thoroughbred racers hurtling around the track hooked him for life.
His love of the ponies actually helped Olczyk land his first TV gig. After his Rangers won the 1994 Stanley Cup, a victorious Olczyk toted the Cup to Belmont Park in New York, where he snapped a photo with that year's Kentucky Derby winner, Go for Gin.
Knowing his passion for the ponies, the local Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey asked him to offer race analysis/handicapping during the NHL work stoppage of 1995. That started his TV career. More than 20 years later, he now calls hockey games for both NBC and the local Blackhawks affiliate in Chicago.
A couple of years after he was hired by NBC in 2006, Olczyk mentioned to NBC uber-producer Sam Flood that he'd love to contribute to the network's horse racing coverage.
"I won't let you down," Olczyk promised Flood.
Thanks Eddie, said Flood, we'll take it under advisement. But NBC already had the world's premier horse-racing TV team. Nothing happened.
But Olczyk was persistent. Once a year, he would bring it up with his bosses. They continued to consider it.
Suddenly, a few years ago, Flood gave Olczyk his chance. And like Gottlieb, he hit it out of the park.
Olczyk has predicted the Kentucky Derby trifecta (or the race's top three finishers), twice in the past four years, according to the Chicago Tribune.
He's now known in some quarters as much for his handicapping as hockey. Not bad for one of the best American-born hockey players ever.
Olczyyk, a colon cancer survivor, said covering his two loves on TV helps keep him energized.
"I don't think there’s any doubt that going back and forth between 'pucks and ponies,' as I like to say, gives me an adrenalin push. There's that excitement," he said. "You get off the Ferris wheel — and get on another ride."