It has been a wild week for Gus Johnson, one that he will never forget. On May 7 he worked his last event for CBS, the network he was with for 16 years. He called the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley welterweight title bout on Showtime pay-per view, then was introduced Tuesday as the lead college sports play-by-play man for the Fox Sports Media Group.
He will team with analyst Charles Davis to call football games from the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and Conference USA — a total of 15 games, plus the Cotton Bowl. Johnson also will do college basketball and be part of the NFL rotation for the network.
The former WTTG (Ch. 5) sports anchor will do some football and basketball games for the Big Ten Network, but the majority of his work will be seen on either FX or Fox.
“Being the lead college play-by-play guy for Fox with an analyst like Charles Davis makes this a great career move for me,” Johnson said. “I have been given a bigger stage to work on, and I want to thank Fox for the wonderful opportunity. We have the Big Ten, the Pac 12, the Big 12 and C-USA. That is an impressive lineup of football to pick from each week. This move is also all about being comfortable and my relationships with [Fox Sports co-president and chief operating officer] Eric Shanks as well as [Big Ten Network executive producer] Mark Silverman. They made the move from CBS to Fox easier for me.”
Changing networks isn’t going to change the enthusiastic style that has won him so many fans, however.
“My style is who I am. I enjoy broadcasting and love what I do, so why not be enthusiastic about broadcasting sports?” Johnson said. “I am very grateful to have a large number of fans who enjoy the way I do games. I also know that I have some critics as well, and that is fine. Not everyone is not going to like you, and it comes with the territory. But when facing someone who is truly critical of my work, I always use a quote from the late Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke: ‘Criticism is like walking in the rain. Once you get wet, what’s another drop?’ Sometimes you have to take the bitter with the sweet when you’re a public figure.”
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!, on washingtonexaminer.com.
