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A Conversation With Joe Buck

Fox

Cowboys fans have come to know Joe Buck well. As the lead announcer for Fox’s football broadcasts, he’s called the action for much of this so-far magical season. He’s in town for the Thanksgiving Day game, and he sat down with KERA’s Stephen Becker:

The KERA Interview

Joe Buck on …

The Cowboys unexpected success ...

... I did not see that coming. I don’t know that anybody – including Jerry Jones – saw this coming. It’s been fun to watch these two young kids (Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott) with the Dallas Cowboys just invigorate an entire fan base. And really, they help make up not just the hottest team -- but I think the best team -- in the NFL.

On having to work every Thanksgiving …

… I like it. I like working on Thanksgiving. And I think it provides a service to the United States of America, where people don’t have to actually talk to their relatives on this day. They can just watch football.

On not scripting calls like his famous call this year of the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series …

… I think if you go to bed the night before or wake up the morning of and you go, “Well, here’s how I’m gonna call it,” then you’re trying to force whatever the action is into your predetermined call. In the case of that Game 7, there we were in the 10th inning and I had been on the air for four and a half hours. If I can’t trust myself to react right in that moment, something’s wrong.

On whether or not he’s been able to quiet thoughts that he’s made it to where he is by being the son of legendary St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck …

… I wish I could sit here across from you and say, “Yes, I’m over it.” But I think when that’s how you start and you hear that over and over again, any insecurity that you possess, I think that gets fed. Even to this day, people that rip me on Twitter will say, “It’s a good thing you had a famous father. You stink.” And that little voice in your head goes, “Well, maybe you’re not that good? Maybe you shouldn’t be here? Maybe it was just because your dad was a great broadcaster?” It doesn’t really logically make any sense whatsoever that 14 years after he passed away as we sit here now – or the fact that he never worked at Fox – that I’m doing these games. But I just think it’s human nature. That that’s how I got in, and I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.

Joe Buck's new book is called "Lucky Bastard: My Life, My Dad, and the Things I'm Not Allowed to Say on TV."

Stephen Becker is executive producer of the "Think with Krys Boyd," which airs on more than 200 stations across the country. Prior to joining the Think team in 2013, as part of the Art&Seek team, Stephen produced radio and digital stories and hosted "The Big Screen" — a weekly radio segment about North Texas film — with Chris Vognar.