Leaving them just 2 yards shy of the first down,
and, Bob Palmero, what do you do
if you're the Florida State Seminoles in this situation?
Well, Bobby Bowden -
He's gonna go f or it.
He's gonna kick the field goal.
No, he's gonna go f or the first down.
Well, they got to scor e twice to win.
Why not just get the thr ee right now?
He's got the wind at his back.
He doesn't have the leg.
He's got the wind at his back.
I don't car e if he's got the wind at his back and a song in his heart.
He doesn't have the leg.
You'r e a crazy man f rom St. Louis.
You have no business being in sports.
- Jer emy. - Yes, sir?
Florida State, f ourth and 2 on the Purdue 39 and down by 9.
What's Bowden gonna do, kick or play?
I r eally don't know.
- I'm asking what you think. - lt'd just be a guess.
- I want you to guess. - I don't like to guess.
Guess anyway.
- Come on, come on. - Why?
Because this is f un. The job should be f un.
I'm having f un.
- You should have mor e. - I'm having a lot of f un.
- Jer emy! - I'm having tons of f un!
Guess!
All right, fine.
He's gonna split thr ee wide r eceivers
and put a tight end in the backfield with the tailback in motion.
A play-action f ake will f reeze the strong safety,
and Kittis will find his primary receiver over the middle.
It's a play called Red Rocket right, slant 42, "Z" out.
He'll get the first down, probably a lot mor e.
What, ar e you insane?
Wait, wait, wait, wait, they'r e not kicking.
Kittis lines up under center with three wide receivers split
and the tight end in the backfield.
Tailback in motion, the play-action f ake,
and Kittis has Renf ro over the middle for the first down and more!
First and 10, Florida State on the 16!
Incredible!
That's a play Coach Bowden's got called
Red Rocket right, slant 42, "Z" out.
You take a lot of the f un out of this, Jer emy.
Newport's gonna put up a challenge,
New Zealand and Australia each have new keels,
and Japan's looking f or an American tactician,
maybe even a whole new after guard.
Now, inter estingly, ltaly has developed a new 140%Genoa,
but the IRC says it may not meet specs
because of a bolt in the back step.
Honest to God, I have no idea what sport you'r e talking about.
Dan's talking about the rough-and-tumble,
livin'-the-razor's-edge, run-till-you-drop,
never-say-die world of off shor e yacht racing.
Time for the America's Cup?
We'r e only a year and a half away.
I don't want to get scooped,
but we can probably postpone our coverage
f or, I guess, like, a year and a half, can't we?
Greatest sport in the world, Dana, greatest sport. Great for kids.
All you need is $40 million and a dream.
On the NHL -
"I must go down to the sea again,
"to the lonely sea and the sky,
to the flung spume and the blown spray and the -"
I don't know - thing in my eye.
Thank you.
That was a poem by Mr. Henry David Thor eau.
It's Wordsworth.
Or Wordsworth.
- Uh, it might be Whitman. - Might be Byron.
- It's not Byron. - I think it is Whitman.
- Okay. - It is not Whitman.
- I think it is. - It's not Walt Whitman.
Well, I'm saying I think it's Slim Whitman.
Fellas, we have 10 NHL games, 8 NBA,
two of them on the West Coast,
so let's stay in business on 30 through 50.
Edmonton's at Calgary, and we'll pick it up on the 2:00 A.M.
- Can I say something? - Sure.
Ther e's a chance it might be Dylan Thomas.
You have to imagine, Danny, how much I don't give a damn about blown spume.
It's flung spume and blown spray,
but, actually, I like your way better.
Elliott, Kim, I'm gonna need some people
to triple up on games tonight.
- I can do it. - You're not gonna be available.
- Why not? - We'r e gonna talk to you about it later.
Meet us in Isaac's office right after lunch.
- Is Jer emy getting the call? - He's getting the call.
- I'm getting the call? - You'r e getting the call.
- I don't know what that means. - It means you'r e getting the call.
- Really? - Yeah.
I still don't know what that means.
Isaac's office after lunch. Meantime -
I'm sorry, I'm just -
Is getting the call, you know, good?
Better than a poke in the eye.
- Really? - Yes.
How much better?
We'll talk about it after lunch.
Natalie's got a memo f rom downstairs
about next Thursday night.
Just a note f rom the P.R. office that the r eception's black tie.
The cars will pick you up after the show
and wait f or you at the Four Seasons.
Is "next Thursday" this Thursday or next Thursday?
- This Thursday. - Dana said next Thursday.
This coming Thursday. Today is Monday.
Thr ee days f rom now, it'll be Thursday.
We knew what today was, we just didn't know what Thursday was.
- It's Thursday. - Got it.
Look, can I ask again? Is it absolutely necessary that we participate in this?
- Yes. - Yes, I can ask again -
You have to go.
Luther Sachs expects us to get off the air at midnight,
change our clothes, hop in a car, and go to his cotillion?
Reception.
These ar e pr etty ornate invitations f or a r eception.
What ar e you wearing?
- The black Richard Tyler. - You'r e fine.
"October the 8th, 1998, A.D."
A.D. They'r e worried I might accidentally show up
2,000 years bef or e the birth of Christ.
A half-hour - you have a drink, you have a thing,
they take your pictur e, you'r e out of ther e.
- This Thursday? - Yes.
What shoes ar e you wearing?
Whatever shoes ar e on my f eet.
- I was talking to Dana. - What the hell -
Manolo Blahniks.
- Black silk sling-backs? - Yeah.
Good.
Thank you, Coco Chanel.
Bumpers in and out of commercial 6,
we'r e holding on the Pete Sampras announcement,
and Mike Maravich may or may not be named
Athletic Dir ector at TCU.
- Thank you. That's all. - Back her e at 3:00.
All right.
This doesn't originate at the network level.
- This is an FCC r egulation. - Huh.
Ex cuse me.
Hey, Jer emy.
I wasn't sur e. When you said, "after lunch,"
is that after I eat lunch or after you eat lunch?
- What time do you eat lunch? - Anytime you want.
Let's do this now.
You worked f or Mark Sabath over at USA Today.
Yes.
He's a f riend of mine.
He used to mention that.
We think you'r e doing r eal well her e, Jer emy,
and we'd like you to get some segment-producing experience.
Natalie, I'm in Isaac's office.
Would you bring me the material f or Jer emy?
Um, thoroughbr ed racing, golf chat, beach volleyball.
It's not a pr estige assignment.
It just lets us take a look at what you can do.
We're sending you out this week to put together
two seven-minute segments f or the CSC "Outdoorsman."
The hunting show?
Camping, fishing, hiking.
And hunting - I mean, ther e's hunting
along with the camping, the fishing, and the hiking.
- Yes. - Is that a problem?
The hunting?
Yes.
No, sir.
- Good. - No problem.
- Good. - It's just -
I don't know anything about hunting. I've never hunted.
I've got a deli on the corner, and they deliver 24 hours, so...
Natalie.
This is some briefing material we put together f or you.
You should take it home and study it the r est of the day.
Tomorrow morning, you'll take a van
with your cr ew up to the Adirondacks,
wher e you'll meet Bob Shoemaker, the prof essional guide,
and Ed Bruckner f rom the Cincinnati Reds, the guest celebrity.
Wednesday, you'r e gonna go after New England blue mallard.
Thursday, you'r e going after deer.
Deer get very big in the Adirondacks, so please be car ef ul.
Friday, you come home and cut your segments together.
All that inf ormation is in her e,
plus all your contacts at the show.
Any questions?
Am I being punished 'cause I guessed right
on that play in the Florida State game?
- Jer emy... - Mr. Jaffee, it was a guess.
You asked me to guess, so I guessed.
- What's he talking about? - A lucky guess.
- That's right. - Ooh, I'm late for a lunch.
Jer emy, you'r e gonna do fine. I'll see you at the end of the week.
- We've got a camera meeting in the studio. - Ah.
I'll see you Friday. Knock our socks off.
- He talked to Mark Sabath. - Isaac?
Yeah, he talked to Mark Sabath. He's my old boss.
Isaac and Mark Sabath go way back.
Yeah, I know.
- Listen, I brought you some snacks f or the ride up. - Really?
It's nothing - candy and stuff I got f rom the machine.
Twinkies.
Thanks a lot.
Don't be so nervous, Jer emy.
Enjoy it. You'r e getting the call.
I still don't know what that means!
- What ar e you doing? - Reading the paper.
- Why ar en't you changed? - Into what?
Your tux edo.
Today is Thursday.
Yes.
Today is next Thursday.
It's this Thursday. This is next Thursday.
- I'll go change. - Wait.
- Ther e ar e two cars downstairs. - Good.
- I want you to ride with Isaac. - Fine.
I want you to ride with Isaac so that Casey rides with Dana.
- That's fine. - I want Casey to ride with Dana.
I get it.
Do you?
I ride with Isaac, and Casey and Dana f all in love.
Right.
Wow, is that a stupid plan.
Go change.
- Ow. - Well, hold still!
You'r e stabbing me in the chest.
I'm stabbing you in the chest because you'r e squirming.
I'm r eally pr etty sur e it's the other way around.
- Casey? - Yeah?
- I've been thinking a lot about soccer lately. - And?
Pr etty much through with that.
Yeah?
You know, to save my lif e, I couldn't name five teams that play in the MLS.
I know ther e's Lux embourg.
The MLS is an American soccer league.
- Lux embourg doesn't play in this league? - No.
So I don't even know Lux embourg.
Ow again.
You know, this is what you get f or being a grown man who can't dr ess himself.
I used to have a wif e f or that.
Tell you what else - I'm starting to get a little cheesed
at people telling me the r eason I don't like soccer
is that I don't understand it.
I think I do understand it. I think I understand it just fine.
I just happen to think it's a mind-numbing bor e
and that any r easonable person
would rather be playing it than watching it.
Well, I know it doesn't match the pulse-pounding ex citement
of a good sailboat race.
Wait till you see Dana. She looks amazing.
All right, nobody move.
Name five teams that play in the MLS,
and Casey says it's an American soccer league,
so you can't choose Lux embourg. Go.
- Columbus Cr ew. - Miami Fusion. - New England Revolution.
- Tampa Bay Mutiny. - D.C. United.
- Chicago Fir e. - Colorado Rapids.
- Dallas Burn. - Kansas City Wizards.
Los Angeles Galaxy.
And the New York/New Jersey Metrostars.
You all just made that up, didn't you?
- You got smoked. - Yeah.
The cars ar e waiting downstairs,
right, Dan, the cars?
Yeah, yeah.
- Say, about these cars. - What about them?
- Ther e ar e two of them. - Ther e ar e f our of us.
I was just thinking I could ride with Isaac, if you like.
- Why? - So you could ride with Dana.
- Why would I want to ride with Dana? - Why wouldn't you want to ride with Dana?
- Ther e's no r eason I wouldn't want to ride with Dana. - You see?
I'm just asking why in particular you asked me
specifically if I wanted to ride with Dana.
- You don't want to ride with Dana? - No, I'm - I'm happy to ride with Dana.
but I'm also happy to ride with you or with Isaac.
- Good. - What's more important is why did you ask me?
- Why did I ask you what? - If I wanted to ride with Dana.
I got to tell you, at this point,
the length of this conversation is way out of proportion to my inter est in it.
- Well, all right, then let's just leave it at that. - Fine.
Ex cept to say this - You know, I just finished
an hour-long broadcast at the end of a 14-hour day,
and I'm not in the mood to go to a party,
not in the mood to have my pictur e taken,
and I'm not in the mood to notice Dana's dr ess
or notice Dana's hair or notice Dana's shoes.
Dana's not my date, she's my producer, and the workday's over.
I'm not in the mood to notice anything tonight.
I f orgot my purse.
On your f eet, partner. Let's go.
Oh, Danny, wher e's Isaac?
Control room.
Isaac...
Bob Shoemaker's calling f rom the Adirondacks.
Something happened with Jer emy.
Isaac Jaff ee. What's going on?
Studio "A," this is master control. You're up on router 21.
Thank you.
Five minutes to air. Natalie, find out why Dan isn't in the studio.
Chicago says their sound level's low.
Uh, let me hear them. Talk to me, Chicago.
They are talking to you, Dana.
- They'r e talking to me now? - Yes.
I can't hear them.
- Switch them to 4. - We'r e on 4.
- I can't hear Chicago. - We'll fix it.
You have four minutes.
Why ar en't you in the studio?
- I'm trying to avoid Casey. - Why?
He's making me crazy.
He's been making me crazy all day.
It doesn't work f or me.
I'm mor e comf ortable when I'm making him crazy.
Why is he making you crazy?
Well, it seems he met a girl last night.
Who?
- Who do you think? - Dana?
- Yes. - It was the dr ess!
'Cause you made me play musical cars.
It was the dr ess and the cars.
In combination with a number of things, not the least of which
is that she was spending time with another guy at the party.
Now we'r e in business.
Boy, I'd love to be out of the loop
on the next piece of drama that's gonna happen around her e.
Dan, we need you in the studio, please.
But I don't think that's gonna happen.
We've got Chicago.
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. Let me hear the studio.
- Which studio? - Our studio!
- Not hearing them now? - I'm not hearing them now.
That's a problem.
Yes, that's a problem.
If I can't hear the show, I can't produce the show.
They taught me that in producing school.
You got 90 seconds.
- 4-3 def ense. - Thank you.
Hey... let me ask you a quick question.
- You know, right now might not be the best time. - This is important.
- What's the question? - How many people can you think of named Gordon?
- How many people can I think of named Gordon? - Yeah.
- Two. - That's how many I got. Which were your two?
Gordon Lightf oot and Gordon Liddy.
Those ar e my two. Those ar e the exact same two that I got.
Can you think of any mor e?
We're live in 60 seconds. Roll VTR.
- Can somebody help me, please? - They can't hear you in there.
- Can you think of any more? - No.
- Neither can I. - Good.
And it's my f eeling that if those ar e the only two you got
and those ar e the only two I got,
those should be the only two ther e ar e.
- Granting the pr emise. - And you should.
- You should grant the pr emise, Danny. - I do.
30 seconds.
'Cause we'r e two pr etty well-educated people, and we both thought about it,
and we both came up with only two Gordons.
- I'm granting the damn premise. - You should.
- Casey, you'r e driving me - - My point is, here we are.
We'r e going along in lif e, and everything's fine.
As f ar as we know, ther e ar e only two Gordons out ther e,
when all of a sudden, a third one comes along.
- The guy talking to Dana at the thing last night. - The guy talking to Dana.
The guy out ther e talking to Dana - Gordon.
- We've got sound. - Oh, thank God.
- That was all I had to say. - Thank mercif ul God.
In 3... 2... 1.
Good evening. From New York City,
I'm Casey McCall alongside Dan Rydell.
Those stories, plus grab your galoshes.
We'r e gonna take you out to the Iditarod.
Why? 'Cause we just can't believe it ourselves.
Also, grab your notebooks.
We'r e gonna take you inside the 4-3 def ense
on this week's edition of "Inside the 4-3 Def ense."
All that coming up after this.
You'r e watching "Sports Night" on CSC, so stick around.
- And we'r e out. Back in 60. - Dave, Chris, Will,
what ar e you guys doing tomorrow morning at 10:00?
- Got a basketball game at the "Y." - Yeah, it's a 3-on-3 with the guys f rom -
- Dave, Chris, Will, what ar e you guys doing tomorrow morning at 10:00? - Fixing the sound system?
Ther e you go.
Camera, your wrap is 12:06.
Let's not get into golden time.
One mor e question.
Can I get a Teamster to hit Casey in the head with something heavy?
Look, how did you know the guy's name was Gordon?
We wer e introduced.
- At the r eception? - Yes.
- By Dana? - Yes.
- Inter esting. - Not r eally.
- You think they wer e on a date? - Yes.
I totally disagr ee.
She introduced you to him. Big deal.
It's not like she walked up to you and said,
"Dan, this is my date, Gordon."
I want to know exactly what she said
when she introduced you to him.
She said, "Dan, this is my date, Gordon."
All right, we'r e cranking this whole thing up a notch.
You're back!
- Yes. - Yay!
- Really? - Good. Cut together pr etty well.
We saw the rough cut a f ew hours ago.
- We thought it looked gr eat. - Really.
- Thank you. - When you get a final cut,
we'll send it to your par ents in a nice package.
It's your first on-scr een cr edit. They'll flip.
They'll like it.
- Welcome back. - Hey! - Hey, how'd it go?
Oh, r eal good.
Jeremy, can we see you in my office for a moment?
- Yeah, sur e. What's up? - My office.
I was wondering why you wer e lying just now.
- What do you mean? - Jer emy, did you think we wer en't gonna find out?
What the hell happened out ther e?
- It was nothing. - It was not nothing.
I got sick. I thr ew up.
They took you to the hospital. You passed out.
- I told them - - Bob Shoemaker said you were sweating and hyperventilating.
It was hot outside.
Not in the Adirondacks in October.
- Look - - Tell us about your hunting trip.
The first day, you wer e going after New England blue mallard.
Yeah.
Bob and Eddie wer e using the I.R. 50 Recon by Bushcomber.
It's got a 16-inch microgroove barr el
with .30-30 mags, side-scope mount,
wir e-cutter sheath, quick-r elease bolt,
mag catches, and a 3-pound trigger,
so I figur ed we must be going after
a pr etty dangerous duck.
You can wiseass all you want.
You'r e gonna tell me what happened.
We shot a deer...
...in the woods near Lake Mattatuck on the second day.
Ther e was a special vest
they had me wear so that they could distinguish me
f rom things they wanted to shoot,
and I was pr etty gratef ul f or that.
Almost the whole day had gone by,
and we hadn't gotten anything.
Eddie was getting f rustrated,
and Bob Shoemaker was getting embarrassed.
My camera guy needed to r eload,
so I told everybody to take a 10-minute br eak.
Ther e was a str eam nearby, and I walked over
with this car e package Natalie made me, sat down.
When I looked up, I saw thr ee of them -
small, bigger, biggest -
recognizable to any species on the f ace of the planet
as a child, a mother, and a f ather.
Now, the trick in shooting deer
is you got to get them out in the open,
and it's tough with deer
'cause these ar e clever, cagey animals
with an intuitive sense of danger.
You know what you have to do to get a deer out in the open?
You hold out a Twinkie.
That animal clopped up to me like we wer e at a party.
She seemed to be pr etty inter ested in the Twinkie,
so I gave it to her.
Looking back, she'd have been better off
if I'd given her the damn vest.
And Bob kind of screamed at me and whispered, "Move away!"
The camera had been reloaded, and it looked like the day
wasn't gonna be a washout after all.
So I backed away...
a couple of steps at a time...
and I closed my eyes when I heard the shot.
Look, I know these ar e animals,
and they don't play bridge and go to the prom,
but you can't tell me that the little one didn't know who his mother was.
That's got to mean something.
And later at the hospital,
Bob Shoemaker was telling me about the nobility and tradition of hunting
and how it r elated to the Native American Indians,
and I nodded, and I said that was inter esting,
while I was thinking about what a load of crap it was.
Hunting was part of Indian cultur e.
It was f ood and it was clothes and it was shelter.
They sang and danced and off er ed prayers to the gods
f or a successf ul hunt so that they could survive
just one mor e unimaginably brutal winter.
The things they had to kill
held the highest place of r espect f or them,
and to kill f or f un was a sin.
And they knew the gods
wouldn't be so generous next time.
What we did wasn't f ood, and it wasn't shelter,
and it sur e wasn't sports!
It was just mean.
Jer emy...
...why didn't you tell us how you f elt about hunting
when we gave you this?
- Because you told me you spoke to Mark Sabath at USA Today. - Yeah, but -
In f act, I know you must've spoken to him bef or e you ever hir ed me.
Well, of course I did.
I also spoke to Dave Heller at the Free Press
and Tom Monahan at the Sacramento Bee.
And they all said pr etty much the same thing?
Yes, they all said that Jer emy Goodwin was a bright guy
with a world-class understanding of popular sports,
but that he didn't quite fit in,
and ther e was little chance that he'd advance in their organization.
All due r espect, Mr. Jaff ee,
but I have $80,000 in college loans to pay back.
My instincts told me to shut the hell up and do what I was told.
Your instincts wer e wrong.
Not fitting in is how qualified people lose jobs.
Yeah, but a lot of the time,
it's how they end up working her e.
Now, you had an obligation to tell us how you f elt,
partly because I don't like getting a phone call
saying I put one of my people in the hospital...
...but mostly because if you f eel that strongly about something,
you have a r esponsibility to try and change my mind!
Did you think I would fire you
simply because you made a convincing argument?
It's taken me a lot of years, but I've come around to this -
if you'r e dumb, surround yourself with smart people,
and if you'r e smart, surround yourself
with smart people who disagr ee with you.
I'm an awf ully smart man, and Mark Sabath is an idiot!
He had you, and he blew it.
You'r e gonna do gr eat her e...
but you got to trust us.
You fit in on your own time.
When you come to work f or me,
you show up to play.
I'm going home.
You don't know us very well,
so if it's hard trusting us at the beginning...
maybe it'll help to know that...
...we trust you.
Good night.
- 'Let me inside you' - Good night. I'll see you Monday.
Good night.
'into your room'
'I've heard it's lined'
'with the things you don't show'
'Lay me beside you'
'down on the floor'
'I'll be your lover'
'From the womb to the tomb'
'I dress as your daughter when the moon becomes round'
Hi, dad? It's me.
- 'You be my mother' - No, nothing's wrong.
- 'when everything's gone' - I just wanted to tell you
that something nice happened at work today.
I got the call.
'She will always carry on'
'Something is...'