Chuck Cooperstein, announcer, Dallas Mavericks

Barney McCoy Author

09/27/2020 Added

68 Plays

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[00:00:01.810]Being recorded.
[00:00:03.160]Hello Chuck Cooperstein.
[00:00:05.951](laughs)
[00:00:09.270]Can you hear me okay?
[00:00:11.930]I think you're on mute.
[00:00:15.650]I can't believe Chuck Cooperstein we can't...
[00:00:18.366]There he is.
[00:00:19.199]There we go.
[00:00:20.032]Hi, how you doing?
[00:00:20.865]Thanks for dropping by.
[00:00:22.550]Thanks for having me.
[00:00:24.800]It's great and we were just talking about you.
[00:00:26.520]I'm kinda letting people into the room.
[00:00:28.090]We have our beginning and advanced
[00:00:31.390]sports writing classes here.
[00:00:34.918]And professor Jenn Sheppard
[00:00:36.070]from the advanced classes on the call as well today,
[00:00:38.310]so Chuck, first things first.
[00:00:42.250]what was the bubble like?
[00:00:44.810]Well I wasn't in the bubble.
[00:00:46.388](both laughing)
[00:00:47.221]Tell us about that setup.
[00:00:48.880]I thought that was most unusual.
[00:00:50.810]Yeah, we did everything remotely.
[00:00:53.350]No local broadcasters were in the bubble.
[00:00:56.130]There was local writers I mean
[00:00:57.930]there were writers who went down,
[00:01:00.090]from the Mavericks standpoint,
[00:01:01.340]Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News went down,
[00:01:04.040]but organizations had to pay $550 a day,
[00:01:08.640]for their guys to be there.
[00:01:10.360]And so obviously, that's a fairly significant expense
[00:01:14.870]in a time when media entities
[00:01:17.580]are struggling the way they are.
[00:01:19.970]But from a broadcast standpoint
[00:01:23.380]it was decided pretty well early on,
[00:01:26.350]if for no other reason then the NBA teams
[00:01:28.930]were only allowed to have 37 people
[00:01:31.870]on their travel rosters.
[00:01:34.550]And when you consider the expansion of coaching staffs,
[00:01:39.610]training staff,
[00:01:41.130]strength and conditioning staffs,
[00:01:43.570]security, media, and all that,
[00:01:46.030]those numbers add up real fast to get to 37.
[00:01:49.270]So we were pretty well considered non-essential.
[00:01:51.701](both laughing)
[00:01:53.580]And so we stayed at home.
[00:01:55.330]We worked out of the Mavericks locker room
[00:01:57.110]at the American Airlines Center.
[00:01:58.740]A lot of other teams in the league
[00:02:00.100]had their guys actually work,
[00:02:03.430]actually on the floor of their arenas.
[00:02:06.610]They had it set up.
[00:02:07.443]Everybody did it a bit differently but I loved our setup.
[00:02:10.540]We had actually done it a few years ago
[00:02:13.250]when the Mavericks went to China to play
[00:02:15.000]and I didn't go on the trip.
[00:02:17.150]And so, we had two large tables,
[00:02:22.220]which is great,
[00:02:23.713]I had all the space I needed.
[00:02:25.330]I had a 70 inch monitor to watch the game from,
[00:02:28.430]and then I had a couple of other monitors
[00:02:30.120]that gave me cutaway shots
[00:02:33.080]that the regular camera was not picking up.
[00:02:37.730]It worked well.
[00:02:39.560]It was not, it's certainly not ideal.
[00:02:41.800]It's not the same as being there,
[00:02:44.430]calling a game that you're a slave to the camera
[00:02:47.940]and not to your eye.
[00:02:49.010]There are things that I'm looking for
[00:02:50.343]that the cameras aren't always providing me,
[00:02:53.870]and even with the different cutaway shots,
[00:02:55.330]they weren't providing that.
[00:02:57.260]So, you definitely miss that
[00:02:59.130]but more importantly,
[00:03:00.220]you just miss being around the team.
[00:03:02.370]And you miss being around the coaches and the players,
[00:03:05.270]not that we have a tremendous access to the players,
[00:03:10.120]but you certainly get a far greater sense
[00:03:13.270]for who's doing what?
[00:03:15.740]Who's feeling what?
[00:03:17.930]Who showed up at practice?
[00:03:19.160]Who didn't?
[00:03:20.460]Who in certain situations,
[00:03:22.960]'cause I've always been allowed to go
[00:03:25.250]to shoot around practices the morning of the game.
[00:03:28.630]What they're trying to do and just get a sense for that.
[00:03:32.230]Not obviously breaking any competences
[00:03:34.160]that the team is putting out there.
[00:03:38.261]You just miss all of that.
[00:03:39.870]And you know look,
[00:03:40.750]we had an incredible moment in our series
[00:03:42.850]when Luka Doncic hit the game winning shot in game four,
[00:03:47.855]and it would have been really
[00:03:49.080]not under normal circumstances when you're in the building,
[00:03:52.890]that would have been a home game for us,
[00:03:54.820]and there would have been 20,000 people
[00:03:56.480]going absolutely insane.
[00:03:59.410]In this case, there was me,
[00:04:02.190]my color man and an engineer in a room.
[00:04:06.060]And it was really I think the one time that you could tell,
[00:04:10.340]that we were not actually at the game.
[00:04:14.870]The NBA did a fantastic job of giving us effects
[00:04:18.720]and giving a sound to make it easier for us quite frankly.
[00:04:24.210]But when Doncic hits the shot that he hit,
[00:04:28.470]you're really punching that,
[00:04:30.360]and if you go back and you listen to it,
[00:04:33.430]you can tell that there's sound bouncing off walls.
[00:04:38.190]And there's just no other way to get around that.
[00:04:41.200]It didn't take away from the excitement
[00:04:42.750]of the moment for me,
[00:04:44.030]but I think it took away maybe for some,
[00:04:47.870]just how much bigger it would have been,
[00:04:50.450]to just hear 20,000 people going nuts,
[00:04:54.440]or see 20,000 people going nuts
[00:04:56.620]as opposed to how that all went down.
[00:04:59.970]But the concept of the (indistinct)
[00:05:09.376]It was executed well to a point.
[00:05:12.670]Our head coach is notorious
[00:05:15.539]for not respecting media's time.
[00:05:19.770]The media will respect his time,
[00:05:21.430]but he won't necessarily respect our time.
[00:05:24.780]If the practice was supposed to be over at two
[00:05:27.600]and we were told to be on the Zoom at two o'clock.
[00:05:31.860]And by the way, I love Rick Carlisle,
[00:05:33.650]and he's been fantastic to me,
[00:05:35.400]but this is one thing that just drives me
[00:05:37.090]absolutely crazy about him.
[00:05:38.500]And for him, it's all a matter of control,
[00:05:40.690]it's just simply hidden and even more so,
[00:05:43.810]being able to control the moment
[00:05:45.110]because he knows that if we're in a live situation
[00:05:49.480]where there are people around,
[00:05:51.920]he might force us to wait,
[00:05:54.070]but in the end
[00:05:56.032]there will still be a lot more time for us
[00:05:59.460]than there would have been otherwise.
[00:06:01.370]So again, practice supposed to end around two,
[00:06:03.930]they tell us, get on the Zoom at two o'clock.
[00:06:06.760]It might be 30 minutes before Rick would come on,
[00:06:11.550]and then he talked for a little bit,
[00:06:14.868]and they'd always plan
[00:06:16.610]to make two players available every day,
[00:06:19.220]and rotate the guys
[00:06:20.890]so you weren't hearing from Doncic or Porzingis every day,
[00:06:24.520]but it's not like those guys were paraded
[00:06:27.920]right to the step and repeat
[00:06:29.770]immediately after Rick was done.
[00:06:32.200]There would be three or four minutes
[00:06:35.543]or three or four minutes again,
[00:06:36.570]by the time you got to the last guy
[00:06:38.630]and he's coming on and there's three minutes left
[00:06:42.180]before they got to get out of that building,
[00:06:44.930]to make way for the next group of people to come in,
[00:06:49.876]to adhere to the NBA protocol
[00:06:51.690]and your work was you know,
[00:06:54.950]it was done at that point.
[00:06:56.140]There was really nothing that you could do.
[00:06:58.140]So like I said,
[00:07:00.040]I think the NBA did as well as they could
[00:07:03.820]to try to make that work.
[00:07:06.500]But again, if you have a really good team
[00:07:10.410]that's playing later in the playoffs,
[00:07:14.600]there are times in those situations when frankly,
[00:07:17.510]there were people asking questions that are just absurd,
[00:07:21.674]and they have no relevance to what's happening.
[00:07:24.520]They're the most basic things that you could have seen
[00:07:29.857]and written about on your own,
[00:07:31.350]without necessarily needing a response.
[00:07:34.964]And that just took away from the time
[00:07:37.090]that others had to possibly ask questions
[00:07:40.520]that might've been more relevant.
[00:07:42.010]You just said something that's relevant here
[00:07:43.740]for people that are interested in getting into sports media,
[00:07:47.000]it's preparation and knowledge
[00:07:48.620]and not asking stupid questions because they do take time.
[00:07:53.491]And in terms of your preparation for interviews
[00:07:56.540]with coaches and players,
[00:07:59.350]what's that process like for you to Chuck?
[00:08:02.090]Well, you know in the case of Rick,
[00:08:06.890]I talk to him before every game,
[00:08:10.046]and Rick Carlisle is...
[00:08:12.160]First of all he's a fabulous coach,
[00:08:15.107]he is incredibly intelligent.
[00:08:18.200]He's got a Psychology Degree from Virginia and he uses it.
[00:08:22.460]He uses it well on everyone.
[00:08:26.000]But I think, we've been together long enough now 12 years,
[00:08:30.610]that he knows that I'm going to,
[00:08:35.120]I will try to ask him the best questions
[00:08:37.470]that I can possibly ask.
[00:08:40.010]I don't always succeed in that.
[00:08:42.700]When you do over a hundred of these five minute interviews,
[00:08:46.110]they are not all gonna be award winning by any stretch.
[00:08:49.950]But, you know I like to think that pay attention
[00:08:54.680]to what's going on in games,
[00:08:56.300]even the games that I'm doing,
[00:08:58.580]things that I'm reading.
[00:09:01.700]Just to be able to elicit something different out of him,
[00:09:05.800]because the one thing I know in dealing with him,
[00:09:08.890]is if I ask a really good question
[00:09:13.000]I'm gonna get a fantastic answer.
[00:09:15.290]And so I don't necessarily go in
[00:09:17.810]and I don't think you can ever go in
[00:09:19.360]with a script of saying,
[00:09:21.465]I'm gonna ask this, this and this.
[00:09:24.720]And granted again, I'm on a time restraint,
[00:09:27.030]I only have five or six minutes,
[00:09:30.310]although I will say in the last pregame that we did,
[00:09:36.040]prior to game six, that was on the heels of the boycott.
[00:09:41.660]And so, Rick's been in the game since 1984
[00:09:45.210]as a player, assistant coach, and head coach.
[00:09:49.240]And I asked him, my first question to him
[00:09:52.103]I said, "look, you've been in this game for 36 years,
[00:09:55.100]so is this the most extraordinary week
[00:09:59.350]that you've been involved with?"
[00:10:01.780]And he had to stop and think about it.
[00:10:05.408]He said, That's a hell of a question,
[00:10:06.660]I hadn't really thought of it like that."
[00:10:08.630]And then he just started going and going and going and going
[00:10:12.910]and it wound up like it was an eight and a half,
[00:10:16.480]wanna be the eight and a half minute interview,
[00:10:17.990]which normally again we're going five, maybe six.
[00:10:21.010]And I told our people, my pregame host or whatever,
[00:10:24.410]I said "look, normally I would cut this down on,
[00:10:27.430]this is too good,
[00:10:28.430]I mean you gonna let him go and play this thing out.
[00:10:33.180]So, like I said,
[00:10:34.980]I'm trying to ask the best questions that I can
[00:10:37.970]and obviously, you're gonna have a story idea.
[00:10:41.740]And just from that, just make sure
[00:10:44.810]that the question that you ask is,
[00:10:50.063]you have to not go in with a perceived notion
[00:10:55.010]of what the story is,
[00:10:56.620]because that can lead to a leading question
[00:10:59.940]to try to re affirm your point of view,
[00:11:06.160]your reason for doing the story.
[00:11:10.797]You really need to be as open minded as you can about that.
[00:11:15.367]Let me take a second here Chuck,
[00:11:17.990]and I just wanna let all the students
[00:11:19.380]who are listening know,
[00:11:22.200]go onto the chat room here and leave a question for Chuck.
[00:11:25.810]If you wanna personally ask that question
[00:11:27.810]just let me know when you post with your question.
[00:11:30.930]I'll call you,
[00:11:31.912]and then you can personally ask Chuck the question but...
[00:11:35.684]And Barney, just to say too like,
[00:11:37.130]I don't necessarily wanna drone on,
[00:11:39.302](laughs)
[00:11:40.650]I don't know that
[00:11:42.532]that's necessarily the best way of doing this.
[00:11:44.660]People wanna... Oh yeah.
[00:11:46.318]We'll have people (indistinct)
[00:11:49.159]Okay.
[00:11:51.590]In fact Nick Singer just put one up here.
[00:11:54.320]How exciting is it to be able
[00:11:55.710]to see a player like Luka play in person of this season?
[00:11:57.813]This ws a big breakout year.
[00:12:01.850]Listen, every night for the last 15 years,
[00:12:07.432]I've been a play-by-play guy in the NBA.
[00:12:09.320]I'm watching the best players in the world
[00:12:12.460]do their thing every single night.
[00:12:15.380]I was fortunate enough to come in
[00:12:18.450]probably at the height of Dirk Nowitzki greatness,
[00:12:21.190]and was able to chronicle the last 14 years of his career.
[00:12:26.230]And then that then is transferred now to Doncic,
[00:12:30.230]who is remarkable.
[00:12:32.322]It's just so much fun knowing when you go to the arena,
[00:12:37.470]that there is the possibility
[00:12:39.330]of seeing something that you've never seen before.
[00:12:44.890]The Mavericks PR staff has had to work overtime
[00:12:49.270]because every game, there's some Mark that he sets
[00:12:53.270]that hadn't happened or that had happened,
[00:12:56.950]it goes back to Oscar Robertson,
[00:12:58.640]or it goes back to early Lebron,
[00:13:01.650]or it even go back to Wilt.
[00:13:04.600]I mean goodness, we're talking in the late sixties
[00:13:06.790]or something like that.
[00:13:08.749]So, I keep my own notes on things like that.
[00:13:11.610]So, the prospect of knowing or believing
[00:13:16.810]that something that I've never seen before is possible
[00:13:20.720]makes it all the more fun.
[00:13:23.909]Our team was bad with Luka last year.
[00:13:27.310]It was really bad the prior two years without him,
[00:13:30.830]and yet going to the arena every night
[00:13:33.310]is just so incredibly fun,
[00:13:36.180]because again of what I know I'm watching
[00:13:39.412]and know what i am a part of.
[00:13:40.830]Part of history, sports history,
[00:13:42.480]certainly from the franchise, right?
[00:13:43.890]Yes, very much so.
[00:13:46.055](indistinct)
[00:13:49.450]I'll answer some more questions here in a sec.
[00:13:51.790]but just to go back to the last point,
[00:13:55.140]just like when you're doing your interviews,
[00:13:57.900]you have a story idea.
[00:14:00.620]Just make sure you frame your questions
[00:14:05.171]in such a way that you make sure
[00:14:08.010]that you get an honest response.
[00:14:10.450]Not necessarily you may have an idea
[00:14:14.990]of what this ought to be,
[00:14:17.070]but you have to also be open to the idea
[00:14:21.506]that the question may take you
[00:14:24.310]in an entirely different direction.
[00:14:27.190]And so I would be really aware of that.
[00:14:31.589]And I will say that's one thing that I've really learned
[00:14:34.839]in the years that I've interviewed Rick Carlisle.
[00:14:39.370]There is that challenge to always make sure
[00:14:41.880]that you're asking a question in such a way,
[00:14:45.430]that elicits the best response that you could possibly get.
[00:14:51.077]Kylee Sodomka had a question for you.
[00:14:53.207]Kylee, do you wanna ask that question,
[00:14:54.790]or would you like me to ask him?
[00:14:58.180]I can ask him.
[00:15:00.220]Go ahead.
[00:15:01.210]All right.
[00:15:02.948]If you chose not to broadcast basketball
[00:15:05.250]and you had the chance to do another sport,
[00:15:06.870]which one would you choose and why?
[00:15:09.910]Well, I've done football
[00:15:11.580]I've done a lot of football and I love football.
[00:15:14.490]Football is incredibly challenging to me.
[00:15:18.090]Basketball to me is easy.
[00:15:19.640]Basketball, even though we're not on the floor anymore,
[00:15:22.610]you're basically responsible for about 20 people a game.
[00:15:28.050]And the more you do it, the easier the preparation is.
[00:15:33.050]Football, you're far away from the field.
[00:15:37.250]There is so many moving parts while the game is going on.
[00:15:40.760]The games a lot longer than a basketball game is.
[00:15:44.460]I've always said that I could do four basketball games
[00:15:48.040]and never feel as wiped out
[00:15:49.260]as I feel after doing a football game.
[00:15:52.000]So, I love the challenge of football.
[00:15:55.930]I love the game, but I really love the challenge of it.
[00:15:58.880]It's just I think to do it well,
[00:16:02.270]is really quite an achievement.
[00:16:04.370]And the guys who do, do it well,
[00:16:07.230]are people that I admire extraordinarily.
[00:16:10.440]You are doing Westwood One football play by play?
[00:16:13.950]I'm not right now.
[00:16:16.000]I've been sort of the last couple of years
[00:16:18.860]been squeezed out of picture,
[00:16:20.550]just because of the fact
[00:16:23.050]that the NBA season has moved up so much,
[00:16:26.840]that it's their feeling that they want to try to have,
[00:16:33.784]as continuity in their crews,
[00:16:37.450]and there are people that they actually have under contract,
[00:16:40.860]that they're responsible for,
[00:16:42.530]and they gotta give them certain number of events.
[00:16:45.279]So, from that standpoint right now,
[00:16:46.660]I'm on the outside looking in.
[00:16:47.910]So there are no trips to Lincoln in my future
[00:16:50.040]as much as I would like to come to Lincoln again,
[00:16:51.910]'cause I've had a heck of a time when I've been there.
[00:16:54.210]Alex Kopf had a question.
[00:16:55.880]Alex, do you wanna ask the question?
[00:16:57.800]Yeah I did.
[00:16:59.716]So, being in Dallas right now
[00:17:00.960]even though the Mavericks are eliminated,
[00:17:02.520]is there any buzz going on with the Stars
[00:17:04.610]making the NHL finals?
[00:17:06.700]Very much so.
[00:17:08.230]You know, it'll never be what the Cowboys are,
[00:17:11.370]or even the Mavericks being eliminated,
[00:17:15.020]but the Stars have always had their hardcore of support,
[00:17:20.010]their attendance is really good.
[00:17:23.890]It's kind of expanded out
[00:17:25.290]because everybody wants to be associated with a winner,
[00:17:28.470]and the team is winning right now.
[00:17:30.060]And they've been incredibly fun.
[00:17:33.523]They've been just an incredible story
[00:17:34.840]quite frankly to even get to this point.
[00:17:38.860]So, I think that there'll be plenty of people
[00:17:41.700]watching tonight in game four
[00:17:43.230]'cause I think this pretty well if they don't win tonight,
[00:17:46.950]I think the series probably ends tomorrow night.
[00:17:49.850]And I think there are decided underdogs tonight anyway,
[00:17:52.310]but that hasn't kept people
[00:17:55.150]from not just watching on television,
[00:17:58.010]but also going to the arena of the Mavericks,
[00:18:02.204]the Stars of the American Airlines Center,
[00:18:03.700]have opened up the building
[00:18:05.050]to where about 3000 people are in the building
[00:18:09.440]as part of a watch party, socially distance.
[00:18:12.320]And they've...
[00:18:15.660]My son actually went the other night and said,
[00:18:18.250]it was kind of weird with the social distancing
[00:18:21.267]but hey, people were into it,
[00:18:23.460]they were having fun.
[00:18:26.044]And anything that we can do in my opinion
[00:18:28.150]to get back to some degree of normalcy is a good thing.
[00:18:31.460]So, people were excited and I dare say
[00:18:36.070]they're real hard that they can even the series
[00:18:39.996]and at least force in game six on Monday.
[00:18:41.970]Chuck, I've heard you talk and even on social media
[00:18:45.100]about the impact of a lot of national social justice issues
[00:18:49.630]and their integration into professional sports
[00:18:51.360]have had this year, not just on the game of basketball,
[00:18:54.490]but just the sports empire itself.
[00:18:57.520]What are your thoughts about that?
[00:19:00.070]Well, as one who describes games.
[00:19:08.610]It's a really good question.
[00:19:10.240]There's not an easy answer.
[00:19:13.030]I think there are segments that are involved here,
[00:19:15.350]for me as a reporter.
[00:19:18.900]And I look at myself as a reporter first
[00:19:21.713]when I'm doing games.
[00:19:22.950]I am telling you what is happening.
[00:19:24.820]I am reporting to you,
[00:19:26.650]the ball has gone here,
[00:19:27.860]the ball is gone here, balls in the basket,
[00:19:30.340]Somebody's second personal foul,
[00:19:31.870]13 foul,
[00:19:33.170]What the score when the time of the game ends.
[00:19:37.540]I can give you some context as to the game,
[00:19:46.410]but I don't believe in the storytelling concept.
[00:19:52.432]Oh, LeBron feels this way about Brianna Taylor.
[00:19:56.780]I think that has no place
[00:19:58.650]in the broadcast of the game at all.
[00:20:00.900]Maybe in a post game interview it does,
[00:20:03.570]but within the framework of the 48 minutes
[00:20:07.070]that I'd be operating in, there is no place in that.
[00:20:11.440]My acknowledgement of it could come
[00:20:14.760]because the floor has Black Lives Matter
[00:20:17.660]written across the top.
[00:20:19.720]And I could say something
[00:20:20.830]like Doncic swings the ball across the line,
[00:20:22.700]he holds up at the B in Black Lives Matter.
[00:20:25.710]Okay.
[00:20:26.543]So I can acknowledge what the NBA is doing
[00:20:30.249]but never losing sight of really what I'm there to do,
[00:20:34.570]and that is to report the game.
[00:20:39.240]Part of that is even on their uniforms,
[00:20:41.220]the messaging on the backs of their jersey-
[00:20:45.318]I could mention that once and I think I mentioned,
[00:20:50.090]at least in the case of the Mavericks,
[00:20:54.163]they use the same term.
[00:20:56.770]Now there were those like Luka and Maxi Kleber,
[00:21:03.727]and Porzingis who did it in their native languages
[00:21:07.360]but it was all the same thing.
[00:21:08.910]Now there are other teams that didn't do it that way,
[00:21:11.350]and there are some like LeBron and Anthony Davis
[00:21:14.590]who have nothing on the backs of their uniforms.
[00:21:19.400]But it would not be I don't believe my place to say
[00:21:24.350]well, LeBron is speaking out on all this stuff,
[00:21:28.060]but he's got nothing on the back of his jersey.
[00:21:31.310]My job in my opinion in that situation,
[00:21:34.490]is to not be, is to not write a column.
[00:21:39.096]In that case I'm not a columnist,
[00:21:43.910]am a reporter.
[00:21:45.490]And there was a difference.
[00:21:47.550]And I do believe that in many cases,
[00:21:51.290]not just in the audio realm or the television realm,
[00:21:57.130]but even in the written realm,
[00:22:00.330]there's the difference between in newspapers,
[00:22:04.840]there's the difference between the columnist,
[00:22:06.970]whose's being paid to write an opinion
[00:22:09.740]that you may or may not agree with
[00:22:12.140]and the reporter on the scene,
[00:22:16.000]whose job is to report the facts
[00:22:19.200]and not insert himself into the story or in certain language
[00:22:25.020]that would slant the piece one way or the other.
[00:22:29.570]Hey Chuck, say that again would you please (Laughing)
[00:22:33.870]Reporters responsibilities.
[00:22:37.310]Reporters...
[00:22:40.450]I should say that.
[00:22:46.129]The columnist job is to write an opinion
[00:22:48.380]with which you may agree or not agree with.
[00:22:51.580]The reporter's job is to report the facts as they are
[00:22:56.310]and not insert himself or herself or their leanings,
[00:23:03.840]one way or another into the writing of a particular story.
[00:23:08.860]I wanna segue now for a second here.
[00:23:10.490]Michael Ernest, you wanna ask the question
[00:23:12.390]or you want me to ask it for you?
[00:23:18.830]I'll ask him.
[00:23:19.663]What was the biggest difficulty
[00:23:20.870]you had to overcome in your career?
[00:23:25.620]Biggest difficulty.
[00:23:33.950]I mean look, I've been fired.
[00:23:36.890]And frankly I don't think in our business
[00:23:38.780]you've lived until you've been fired,
[00:23:41.660]because there is at that point
[00:23:43.110]there was someone telling you on some level
[00:23:46.070]that you're not good enough,
[00:23:48.870]and that's always been the battle for me,
[00:23:52.700]is to try to prove myself.
[00:23:55.940]And obviously I've been in a pretty good position here
[00:23:58.530]the last 15 years with the Mavericks,
[00:24:00.760]but I've had a lot of other experiences prior to that,
[00:24:03.270]but I've always felt like every night,
[00:24:06.530]Joe DiMaggio famously said,
[00:24:08.057]"Why you play the way you play every night?"
[00:24:10.650]You guys know who DiMaggio is right,
[00:24:12.120]former Yankee from back in the day.
[00:24:13.980]Am I going to old school on y'all.
[00:24:17.030]But the answer always was because somebody
[00:24:20.670]may never see me play.
[00:24:23.533]And that's why he did what he did,
[00:24:24.970]and frankly that's kind of the attitude
[00:24:26.940]that I take that look, you know,
[00:24:29.730]I don't know who's out there listening to me.
[00:24:32.558]I mean, I'm a local radio guy.
[00:24:34.412]I've been a local radio guy for a long time,
[00:24:37.085]but I know too many stories of guys who've just done games,
[00:24:41.892]and some network executives is listening to them
[00:24:45.200]and thinking, "Wow, that guy's really pretty good,
[00:24:48.060]maybe we ought to call him."
[00:24:49.670]And unfortunately that's never happened to me
[00:24:51.870]but I know it's happened to other people.
[00:24:54.180]So, there's always that trying to prove yourself.
[00:25:00.510]I would say that the two times that I've been let go,
[00:25:04.700]were probably the the hardest things that had to overcome.
[00:25:10.335]You know, you can tell
[00:25:11.168]probably with my last name I'm Jewish.
[00:25:12.620]My father thought that as I was getting into the business
[00:25:16.510]I should change my name,
[00:25:19.081]and I was not gonna do that because I said look,
[00:25:21.560]either people are gonna like me
[00:25:23.380]or they're not gonna like me.
[00:25:24.410]They're gonna respect me for the job that I do,
[00:25:26.700]where they think I'm not good enough.
[00:25:28.746]And if it has something to do with my name
[00:25:31.583]then so be it but I'm gonna be who I am.
[00:25:36.040]Philip Pickard has a question for you.
[00:25:37.736]Philip, do you wanna ask it?
[00:25:40.114]Yeah, I can ask it.
[00:25:41.130]What is the most important game to you
[00:25:43.270]that you've ever called.
[00:25:46.120]Game six of the 2011 finals,
[00:25:50.030]'cause that's history.
[00:25:51.840]Well, and again, every time that I'm working
[00:25:56.500]I feel like I'm recording history in one way, shape or form.
[00:26:00.870]There are moments that are more significant.
[00:26:04.320]I did in 1997,
[00:26:08.656]I did the January of 1998,
[00:26:10.830]I did the Orange Bowl that Nebraska beat Tennessee,
[00:26:14.000]to gain their share of the National Championship.
[00:26:17.640]That was a pretty big moment for me.
[00:26:20.960]I've done a lot of NCAA tournament games,
[00:26:25.105]and there were several monstrous moments
[00:26:26.580]that have come as a result of that.
[00:26:30.100]But anytime you are describing a championship moment,
[00:26:35.040]one that is going to be archived forever,
[00:26:40.500]that's pretty big
[00:26:41.380]and you do wanna make sure that you get right.
[00:26:44.040]And I like to believe that I did get it right.
[00:26:47.440]Francis Forte, you've got a question.
[00:26:50.930]Yes I do.
[00:26:52.430]This is of the question for broadcasters getting started.
[00:26:55.440]What do you think is the most important thing to know,
[00:26:57.760]and what's the most important thing to learn
[00:26:59.600]in that starting time period?
[00:27:04.200]The most important thing too...
[00:27:08.710]Okay, that's really good.
[00:27:09.610]Nobody's ever asked me that question.
[00:27:11.400]So now I have to think about this a little bit.
[00:27:13.850]The most important thing to know
[00:27:19.570]is that it is a relationship business.
[00:27:25.180]And that the more people you meet,
[00:27:29.640]and who you can ultimately when the time is right
[00:27:33.360]to get your work in front of,
[00:27:36.440]I think the better your chances are of succeeding.
[00:27:41.790]It's really, really important to be able to do that.
[00:27:46.490]The most important thing to learn is the fact that
[00:27:51.440]if you've never heard your own voice on tape,
[00:27:54.360]you sound nothing like you think you sound.
[00:27:57.130]And I will say even today, I hate the way I sound,
[00:28:00.900]and I love the way so many others sound.
[00:28:03.932]But you got to get over that,
[00:28:07.530]and to that extent,
[00:28:10.390]the more reps that you can get
[00:28:13.040]and whether that's just sitting in,
[00:28:18.460]sitting in the basketball arena, no pinnacle,
[00:28:20.980]we're going to the baseball game,
[00:28:22.510]whatever it's sitting in the stands
[00:28:23.830]and just doing your game into an iPad or some other device
[00:28:28.340]and being able to listen back,
[00:28:31.350]that's really, really helpful.
[00:28:32.740]I mean, 'cause you're going to be your harshest critic,
[00:28:35.910]but also, you should send your stuff out to other people.
[00:28:42.060]Listen, you got some,
[00:28:43.400]there are some amazing people in Nebraska.
[00:28:45.480]And Greg Sharp is a very good friend of mine.
[00:28:48.648]I know Kevin Kugler in Omaha.
[00:28:50.900]I mean, you should, the people that...
[00:28:54.740]you should send them stuff and have them critique you.
[00:28:58.232]And believe it or not most people that I know
[00:29:01.950]who receive reels and audio from students or whatever,
[00:29:09.310]they are more than willing to take the time to listen to it,
[00:29:12.930]and to give them an honest critique,
[00:29:15.350]because really it's the only way
[00:29:16.710]that you're gonna get better.
[00:29:18.140]It's the only way that you're going to know.
[00:29:20.480]But I would say those are the things to know
[00:29:23.497]and the things to learn.
[00:29:25.430]As a followup to that question,
[00:29:26.670]Brent Bartels has a question as well.
[00:29:28.860]Go ahead Brent.
[00:29:30.720]Hi Chuck, thanks for talking with us.
[00:29:33.320]My question it's kind of two questions.
[00:29:35.690]How do you control your voice as a broadcaster
[00:29:39.250]by not letting it get too big in big moments or too loud.
[00:29:43.090]And then how would you express personality
[00:29:45.410]through that voice?
[00:29:48.670]Well, I don't know how many of you have heard me.
[00:29:53.110]I'm pretty passionate, I'm pretty emotional.
[00:29:56.200]I'm a ratatat kind of guy.
[00:29:58.440]I mean, you'll try to get every pass,
[00:30:01.680]every screen,
[00:30:03.710]every movement away from the ball as much as I can.
[00:30:09.060]On the big moment,
[00:30:11.350]there is sometimes where my voice is cracked
[00:30:13.430]but you know what, Sean McDonough's voice is cracked too,
[00:30:16.360]and he's pretty damn terrific.
[00:30:17.980]So I don't necessarily worry about that.
[00:30:20.930]People you should be worried about your own passion
[00:30:24.650]and your own intensity,
[00:30:26.100]and however that manifests itself.
[00:30:29.788]You know you mentioned,
[00:30:33.390]big moment at the basketball game
[00:30:37.030]long time ago for the big 12 Network on TV.
[00:30:42.820]It was a Texas Tech Oklahoma game.
[00:30:45.460]And the first play of the game off the tip,
[00:30:49.820]guy throws like a 50 foot pass right to the rim,
[00:30:53.840]and the guy stuffs it and I go nuts.
[00:30:57.306]I go "Whoa, Whoa, way to begin this game."
[00:31:01.260]And my producer is in my head says,
[00:31:03.137]"Whoa, settle down big boy,
[00:31:05.090]we got 39 and a half minutes to go."
[00:31:07.783]And my attitude is well you know what,
[00:31:09.470]there may not be a better play that I see the entire game.
[00:31:14.130]So why wouldn't I try to thrill to the moment
[00:31:17.470]whenever that moment comes
[00:31:18.760]cause you don't know when that moment is gonna come.
[00:31:20.677]And you just can't take that for granted.
[00:31:23.840]I wanna give another Bubba realm here for a second.
[00:31:26.250]Bryce has a question for you.
[00:31:27.870]Bryce, go ahead.
[00:31:31.740]Hi Chuck.
[00:31:32.630]Kind of a different question here for you.
[00:31:34.440]So I'm beginning to write a story
[00:31:36.130]on the newly formed NASCAR race team
[00:31:38.130]owned by Michael Jordan.
[00:31:39.780]And in a sport that is predominantly white,
[00:31:41.980]What kind of impact do you think Jordan's ownership
[00:31:44.220]could have on the sport in terms of growing the popularity
[00:31:47.130]and diversity of NASCAR?
[00:31:49.530]I'm not so sure if you're super knowledgeable on NASCAR,
[00:31:52.630]but I'm interested to hear-
[00:31:55.442]I would not call myself super knowledgeable
[00:31:57.820]on NASCAR by any stretch.
[00:32:02.119]He can own, I think Jordan can own a race team
[00:32:06.178]but I've never understood the dynamic
[00:32:11.339]of the race team if you will,
[00:32:15.000]because ultimately it comes down to the driver.
[00:32:19.660]What are we paying attention to?
[00:32:21.140]We're paying attention to who wins and who loses.
[00:32:24.989]Michael Jordan is his,
[00:32:27.710]he owns the Charlotte Hornets right now,
[00:32:29.810]but we're not talking of Michael Jordan as the owner,
[00:32:32.210]if the Hornets are good,
[00:32:33.570]we're ultimately gonna be talking about whether or not,
[00:32:37.830]PJ Washington or Devonte Graham, Malik Monk
[00:32:41.590]are doing the things that they need to do
[00:32:43.640]in order to win games.
[00:32:44.920]And yes, there will be others
[00:32:47.120]who write about Jordan the owner
[00:32:50.350]and what happens if they get good.
[00:32:52.210]And I guess maybe that's what you'd be looking at,
[00:32:55.870]but I don't know that it necessarily grows the sport per se
[00:33:01.670]because he's not actually doing it.
[00:33:05.170]I mean again-
[00:33:06.710]You are also talking about race car driver
[00:33:10.430]Bubba Wallace right?
[00:33:13.410]Jordan- Bubba Wallace...
[00:33:15.340]The attention would be on Bubba Wallace
[00:33:17.850]and then am sure by extension,
[00:33:21.890]you're gonna get to Jordan.
[00:33:23.440]But I think as I recall,
[00:33:24.670]Denny Hamlin is also a part of this team.
[00:33:27.840]Last time I checked he's white,
[00:33:29.920]and he's won three Daytona five hundreds,
[00:33:32.260]and he actually has cachet in the sport.
[00:33:35.920]So I'm not sure what the ultimate impact would be
[00:33:41.780]other than the fact that if Jordan
[00:33:44.140]is truly committed to this,
[00:33:46.460]and willing to spend the money that's required
[00:33:48.930]which seems to be the case, not just in NASCAR
[00:33:52.050]but in all of auto racing.
[00:33:53.570]It seems like the teams that are the best funded
[00:33:55.840]are the ones that do the best.
[00:33:58.520]Well, then that becomes an extension of the conversation.
[00:34:05.390]Jack you had a question,
[00:34:06.980]Go ahead.
[00:34:12.385]Or I'll ask him.
[00:34:13.218]What is your favorite arena
[00:34:14.560]other than American Airlines Center
[00:34:17.210]in which you have called a game.
[00:34:20.450]Okay.
[00:34:23.570]Well, American Airlines Center is not my favorite arena.
[00:34:28.300]It's a really good arena, but it's not my favorite arena.
[00:34:32.620]I love Madison Square Garden in New York
[00:34:35.760]because even though it's the worst place to work okay.
[00:34:39.370]Without question it is the worst place to work,
[00:34:43.580]but there is still no feeling like walking in that building.
[00:34:48.930]And if the Knicks ever get good, it would be even better.
[00:34:53.020]There's just a certain buzz when you walk in there.
[00:34:55.740]And this last year when we were there,
[00:34:57.860]it was it really special because that was Kristaps Porzingis
[00:35:01.690]his first game back in New York.
[00:35:04.210]So there was already electricity about it.
[00:35:06.760]It wound up being a national television game on TNT,
[00:35:09.810]so we were removed from our spot in the rafters
[00:35:13.480]where I'm looking through a pane of glass to the floor,
[00:35:18.260]where we're in tight like shuttle astronauts
[00:35:23.160]to sitting literally on the court.
[00:35:25.989]And the experience was completely unforgettable.
[00:35:29.190]A great game, terrible finish, but a great game.
[00:35:32.820]But the Garden is awesome.
[00:35:35.900]The old arena in Oakland
[00:35:37.950]was amazing from an atmosphere standpoint.
[00:35:41.400]The warriors were terrible for years,
[00:35:43.170]but they always had great fans
[00:35:44.460]and then they got good and the place just went crazy.
[00:35:47.800]There new arena is pretty amazing too.
[00:35:52.591]You find out what a what a billion can get you,
[00:35:55.485]and in that place it can get you a lot.
[00:35:59.010]Let's see.
[00:36:00.636]I mean, basketball, what else-
[00:36:02.209]Have you ever done Allen Fieldhouse.
[00:36:03.970]I've been to Allen and love it.
[00:36:07.030]One of the things I think that's really special
[00:36:09.800]about the college game in both basketball and football
[00:36:12.500]is let's face it,
[00:36:14.130]Allen Fieldhouse is different from Cameron Indoor Stadium,
[00:36:18.851]which is different from Memorial Gym in Nashville
[00:36:20.800]where Vanderbilt plays,
[00:36:22.080]which is different from the Polestra.
[00:36:24.291]Everybody's got their own deal.
[00:36:27.430]And the same thing in football,
[00:36:28.980]it's the big house, it's Notre Dame,
[00:36:30.570]it's it's Nebraska,
[00:36:31.780]it's Florida where I went to school.
[00:36:34.670]We all have a certain identity where in the NBA,
[00:36:38.870]we all basically have 18 to 20,000 seat arenas
[00:36:43.270]many with the multiple luxury suites and whatnot.
[00:36:48.000]On the pro level,
[00:36:48.880]it's a very best practices type of attitude
[00:36:52.820]as opposed to college,
[00:36:55.511]where everybody's kind of doing their own thing
[00:37:00.150]under the umbrella of a particular conference,
[00:37:02.310]but there's no doubt
[00:37:04.230]that when you walk into Memorial stadium and Lincoln,
[00:37:07.220]you know where you are, okay.
[00:37:09.630]You know exactly where you are.
[00:37:11.520]And that to me, that's the beauty of the college game
[00:37:14.840]that separates itself from the pros.
[00:37:16.980]Chuck, we've got two questions left
[00:37:18.417]and Allen Jenn Sheppard asked the first.
[00:37:20.610]Go ahead Jenn.
[00:37:22.580]Yeah, thanks Chuck.
[00:37:23.890]I was just wondering about your Instagram account,
[00:37:26.030]why you created that?
[00:37:27.460]If you could connect that to students,
[00:37:29.410]seeing the opportunity and growing value.
[00:37:33.820]You're talking about NBA Eats?
[00:37:35.240]Yes sir.
[00:37:37.150]Well, NBA Eats was done primarily
[00:37:40.060]at the urging of my wife,
[00:37:42.160]who's much more social media savvy than I am
[00:37:46.060]as a as a corporate PR person
[00:37:48.600]and a crisis manager and things like that.
[00:37:51.680]And she says, "Look, you go to all these places
[00:37:54.010]go to all these incredible places.
[00:37:56.900]You should take pictures and talk about it."
[00:37:58.390]And she's a better picture taker.
[00:38:00.240]I mean, she can take pictures of anything,
[00:38:02.380]and takes wonderful pictures.
[00:38:04.040]I take crappy pictures, okay.
[00:38:05.570]I'm just not very good at it.
[00:38:07.090]And it's not the first thing that comes to mind,
[00:38:09.200]but I love to eat.
[00:38:11.380]Look at me, I love to eat.
[00:38:12.840]So, it's one of the great things about being in the NBA
[00:38:17.530]is you're traveling North America on someone else dime.
[00:38:21.790]And so why shouldn't I take advantage of that?
[00:38:24.753]That was really the impetus for it,
[00:38:27.940]and it's a lot of fun to do.
[00:38:29.620]And Mark Falwell, who does our television.
[00:38:32.790]His taste is much more eclectic than mine
[00:38:37.520]when it comes to food,
[00:38:38.440]so he'll produce pictures from places
[00:38:41.480]that I would never dream of going,
[00:38:43.440]but that's all part of it too.
[00:38:45.760]And that was really what it was all about.
[00:38:50.470]I don't know if it holds any connective tissue
[00:38:54.180]to anything else other than the fact
[00:38:55.850]that I simply enjoy doing it.
[00:38:58.880]I'm not on Instagram myself in general,
[00:39:01.860]all my stuff generally is on Twitter or Facebook
[00:39:04.890]but this is something that was again created by my wife,
[00:39:08.590]and then it's carried over.
[00:39:10.303]I think we have it on a Facebook page too,
[00:39:13.920]but again, it really comes down to the fact
[00:39:17.540]I'll eat the food,
[00:39:18.800]I'll take the pictures,
[00:39:20.060]I'll write a little copy,
[00:39:21.500]she'll edit the copy and then she'll post it.
[00:39:25.370]Final question.
[00:39:26.360]And Chuck,
[00:39:27.193]thank you again for taking your time to join us today.
[00:39:29.580]You've been in this business now for three decades.
[00:39:33.540]Is that correct?
[00:39:34.910]Little more than that
[00:39:35.770]Yeah, but you're in the neighborhood.
[00:39:39.080]So what mountain, what objectives
[00:39:43.740]do you still want in your career
[00:39:45.653]to be able to challenge you with experiences
[00:39:49.030]that you'd still like to have?
[00:39:51.290]Well, there were two places
[00:39:52.560]I've never done a football game at.
[00:39:53.960]I've never done a game at Notre Dame.
[00:39:55.480]I've never done a game at Michigan,
[00:39:57.350]and I would love that opportunity presented itself
[00:40:01.110]to be able to do that.
[00:40:03.950]You know, I'm older now.
[00:40:08.523]I'm not where you guys are.
[00:40:09.530]What you're looking forward to.
[00:40:13.230]I guess at one time I had Network dreams.
[00:40:17.860]I don't really have those anymore.
[00:40:19.910]I love what I do.
[00:40:21.400]I absolutely love what I do.
[00:40:25.514]And the shutdown killed me.
[00:40:29.330]It just made me, it made me bored,
[00:40:31.760]made me frustrated.
[00:40:34.258]When the NBA decided to come back
[00:40:35.510]it made me extraordinarily happy,
[00:40:38.580]and frankly, it lasted too short a period of time.
[00:40:43.350]It was six weeks basically for us
[00:40:46.110]from the time of the first scrimmage
[00:40:47.530]to the time of the last game of our series of the Clippers.
[00:40:51.360]And I can't wait for us to start again,
[00:40:55.290]whenever we start, which will probably be,
[00:40:57.840]sounds like now early January of the 21,
[00:41:02.040]but I love doing the work.
[00:41:04.280]That's the thing that's most important
[00:41:06.250]I think for all you, regardless of what tact you take,
[00:41:10.380]is that you gotta wake up in the morning every day
[00:41:13.130]and just can't wait to get at it.
[00:41:15.470]And frankly, when we're in season
[00:41:18.740]it's like, okay I see the schedule,
[00:41:22.170]Okay, I got a couple of days before we're playing this team.
[00:41:25.951]Let's knock these guys out right now.
[00:41:28.260]'Cause I really do try to work ahead
[00:41:30.470]but I love doing my own notes.
[00:41:32.800]I love coming up with stuff
[00:41:34.630]that the teams generally don't come up with
[00:41:37.770]because most of the time,
[00:41:39.400]there are notes that they don't want you
[00:41:41.250]to know about their team.
[00:41:42.690]But I love finding out that stuff.
[00:41:44.870]And love going through the process of digging through
[00:41:48.630]the NBA stats site or Basketball Reference
[00:41:51.560]or Cleaning The Glass or whatever,
[00:41:54.430]and doing the reading and talking to my counterparts
[00:41:58.410]to try to find out more to be ready to do the game.
[00:42:02.930]That's the stuff that excites me.
[00:42:06.260]The games are great.
[00:42:07.620]They're phenomenal and I love them,
[00:42:09.740]but equally it's the preparation that keeps me going.
[00:42:13.570]And it's always something to look forward to.
[00:42:18.850]I'm always wanting to know,
[00:42:21.740]in the case of Doncic,
[00:42:23.834]what's the next ridiculously incredible thing
[00:42:26.940]he's going to do?
[00:42:28.910]What am I going to see that I've not seen before?
[00:42:33.010]And even if the moment is bad,
[00:42:35.450]how do I describe that moment?
[00:42:37.870]There's always something to look forward to,
[00:42:41.505]so, it's not to the point where I feel
[00:42:45.672]as if I need to accomplish anything more.
[00:42:48.240]I think at this point it's more of maintaining
[00:42:53.160]the enthusiasm I have for what I have.
[00:42:55.800]And frankly, in the world that we're living in right now,
[00:42:59.880]to be thankful for what I have.
[00:43:02.470]And believe me, I am the luckiest human
[00:43:04.600]on the face of the earth to do what I do.
[00:43:07.150]Chuck Cooperstein.
[00:43:07.983]radio host for the Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Texas,
[00:43:11.200]and Chuck thank you
[00:43:12.870]for taking your time to be with us this afternoon.
[00:43:15.803]Barney, thanks for having me guys.
[00:43:17.320]Thanks for your questions.
[00:43:18.710]Good luck to y'all.
[00:43:22.976]And good luck against Ohio state,
[00:43:24.230]You're gonna need it.
[00:43:26.041]All right. Everyone have a great day and a great weekend.
[00:43:28.120]Chuck, thanks again.
[00:43:29.310]We'll talk again. Thanks.
[00:43:31.226]Okay, you bet
[00:43:32.059]Bye.

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Chuck Cooperstein, announcer, Dallas Mavericks

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