Hlas: Brent Musburger made friends, had fun at Iowa, ISU

Brent Musburger did the play-by-play on the telecast of the most-memorable game in Kinnick Stadium history, No. 1 Iowa's 12-10 win over No. 2 Michigan in 1985.

On the day before that game, Musburger appeared at the Linn County I-Club luncheon in Cedar Rapids at the old Roosevelt Hotel. The buffet line had to be cut off at 390 people, but another 100 were willing to go without food to hear the speakers.

'We met with Coach Hayden Fry this morning,' Musburger said, 'and I asked him how Iowa will do if it rains. Hayden said 'Just ask Texas.''

Ten months earlier, Fry's Hawkeyes smashed Texas on a rainy Anaheim night in the Freedom Bowl, 55-17.

Musburger would stay in Cedar Rapids on the nights before they worked games in Iowa City. In 1991, he mentioned a Cedar Rapids restaurant/bar called the Sip-N-Stir during a telecast of an Iowa game, insisting it had 'the best pizza we've ever had.'

A week later, bar owner George Haddy said 'Since that game we've had calls from all over the country … California, New York, Virginia … no kidding.'

Musburger remembered that nine years later when I bumped into him in Atlanta as he was in line to get his press credential for that year's Super Bowl.

'It was this little hole in the wall, but it was great,' he said. 'I gave them a pop on the air and the owner was so surprised. He said he knew Harry Caray liked to give plugs on the air, but he didn't know Brent Musburger did.'

Musburger went on to talk about his recollections of his times at Kinnick, saying 'The first thing that stands out in my mind is the number of good games we had with the Hawkeyes. They were very dramatic games.

'It always rained in Iowa City. It was dark and overcast, which made for good pictures, great television. It was hard-fought, Midwest-type football.

'Besides, television gravitates to wherever the contest is. Iowa always was competitive.'

Musburger became a semi-fixture in Ames this decade. He called six Iowa State Big Monday men's basketball games on ESPN over the last five years, including the Cyclones' 82-77 win over then-No. 1 Oklahoma last Jan. 18.

I cringe when I see 'Hilton Magic' in our headlines or hear it used by local sportscasters as if it's fresh. But when Musburger said it, well, it just felt right.

Thanks for the memories, Brent! January 25, 2017

Thanks for the memories, Brent! #legend pic.twitter.com/eTDMU0Gj81

— Cyclone Basketball (@CycloneMBB)

ESPN's Jay Bilas tweeted this Wednesday: 'Favorite Musburger memory: sitting in Ames, IA bar for NFL game (drinking milk) listening to Brent go back and forth with every bar patron.'

As one of the minority of high-profile sports announcers who often said what he thought without filtering himself, Musburger wasn't always in everyone's good graces.

During ESPN's Sugar Bowl telecast earlier this month, he said he hoped Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon, who had been suspended for a year because of a 2014 incident in which he punched a woman and broke her jaw, would make the most of his second chance and have a successful NFL career. He didn't initially talk about Mixon's victim.

His comments struck a lot of people as highly insensitive toward the victim. It wasn't a great moment. So maybe it was time for Musburger, 77, to stop working in front of a live microphone.

But the following, said by ESPN President John Skipper, also will hold true:

'Brent's catalog of big events is unmatched, and he has skillfully guided us through some of the most dramatic and memorable moments in sports with his authentic and distinctive style. He is one of the best storytellers to ever grace a sports booth.'

My main takeaway from 40 years of Musburger's broadcasting is that this sports stuff is supposed to be fun. Celebrate the great and the exciting, enjoy the characters and the show, have a lot of laughs along the way.

And what does it hurt to give a bar in Cedar Rapids a plug on national TV?