Brent Musburger Says He Once Bet On A Game He Called, But Never Again
In some not very startling news, it turns out Brent Musburger did in fact bet on a game he broadcasted.
The legendary sports announcer was known for many calls/moments during his decades in the announcer’s booth, including those not-so-subtle gambling references, which he’s turned into the perfect post-announcing gig on a Las Vegas gambling show.
With all those links to gambling, though, it begged the question — Did he ever bet on the games he worked?
“One time,” Musburger told The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein in a Q&A posted Wednesday. “A long time ago I was doing an NBA game. It was in Portland in the ’80s. Lakers-Trail Blazers and the director was legendary Tony Verna, who started instant replay in the (1963) Army-Navy game. I took the Lakers (plus) three points. The bet was dinner for the production team, which I suppose would have been 300 bucks.
“The Blazers were up by 4, well inside of one minute. Shot clock. The Lakers came across (half court) and a kid by the name of Kurt Rambis jacked up this outrageous shot, and I was all over him! So I paid off the bet, bought the dinner and said to myself: ‘You know, that was not good. That was just not good. You do not want the spread to influence how you are announcing a game.’ I always knew what the number was on every game I did. I told (former ABC executive) Dennis Swanson: I’m not going to bet on games I broadcast. I’ll bet on other games.”
So the betting on games he called stopped, but thankfully those memorable gambling references didn’t.
Thumbnail photo via Mark Zerof/USA TODAY Sports Images
