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Greg Rosenthal
This is an iHeart podcast.
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Greg Rosenthal
Are the 25 greatest football players to grace the gridiron since the year 2000? Introducing NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years Join me, Greg Rosenthal and an all star cast of media personalities including Mina Kimes, Steve Wise, Kevin Harlan and more for a look at five football's best since the turn of the century. Listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years starting on June 30th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Chad Millman
Welcome to the Favorites, the podcast part of the Volume Podcast Network. I am Chad Millman of the Action Network.
Matt Mitchell
Hi everybody. This is producer Matt Mitchell. Chad and Simon are still on vacation, so today I've got a special treat for you. Seven years ago this week, shortly after the creation of the Action Network and long before the advent of the Volume Podcast Network, Chad Millman welcomed his longtime friend Colin Cowherd onto the podcast. The Favorites was called the Buffet at the time and PASPA had just been repealed by the US Supreme Court, opening the floodgates for legalization of sports betting nationwide. In this episode you'll hear Chad and Colin discuss the future of sports betting content. We'll learn why Colin hates too many choices, how he approaches building a TV show, and a whole lot more. I hope you enjoy it. The show is off on Thursday, so on behalf of everyone here at the Favorites Podcast, we wish you a very happy, healthy and profitable Independence Day and Happy Birthday America. Enjoy.
Chad Millman
I have a good friend who also is probably the most talented radio host and you could include sports and non sports in that. Working in the biz today, my former castmate at ESPN who I was on a show with for two years now at Fox, starring on all various platforms for Fox Sports, Mr. Colin Cowherd. How you doing buddy?
Colin Cowherd
Hey, how are you doing? I'm doing great man.
Chad Millman
We got so much exciting stuff to talk about because you and I have been talking about sports Betting in the mainstream space. Honest to God. We probably became friends in, like, 2011 when I moved with the magazine of Bristol.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
Chad Millman
And we would talk about it on your show. And then we were doing Colin's football show on Sunday, me, you, and Tom Waddle, which was so fun.
Colin Cowherd
So fun.
Chad Millman
Maybe the greatest professional experience any of us.
Colin Cowherd
It still ranks as the most fun I've ever had in my career. That was so fun.
Chad Millman
I mean, that show, honest to God. You know, there are times, you know, because we are starting something brand new at Action Network, and honest to God, like, I am shooting this in our studio, which doubles as our conference room. And it is not all that dissimilar from the studio we had for Collins football show. It is like a converted closet.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. I mean, I'm. I'm kind of a. I'm kind of a believer in if you can't be. We knew the show was never going to be NFL Live. So once you know, you're not. It wasn't a ratings play. What it was going to be is kind of an iconoclastic, weird, contrarian play. And we went into that show with a perfect mindset of, let's do a show where a guy wakes up on Sunday and what would he laugh at? We had cartoons on that damn show. Because once. Once you get out of the pressure of, okay, it's SportsCenter 6, you got to get a rating. We knew we were on Sunday morning, Right?
Chad Millman
Yeah.
Colin Cowherd
So once you're out of that space, you. All this freedom to just be goofy and funny. And I thought it was such a liberating, fun show.
Chad Millman
It really was. The best part about it was there were times where I would be sitting with you at the desk, or Waddle would be sitting with you at the desk, or you would be doing your monologue, and people would just. We would just start yelling at each other, like, cat calling either a comment. Like, there were so many times where I would, like, say something to you about a game. And we had this segment where, like, you'd ask me, what are the wise guys thinking? And I tell you if you were right or wrong based on your premise. And, like, Waddle would just come in from left field with the strangest comments as if, like, we were listening to him as if we were sitting in someone's living room.
Colin Cowherd
Well, it's the one thing I miss about doing local radio is that you could burn segments on just goofiness. And now every segment I do, I mean, it's charted, graphed. There's a number to it, it's sponsored. So it's a bit reductive where you're doing the same kind of stuff and you have to talk about all the big brands. LeBron Brady, NFL, NBA. But there is a freedom that when you're not, when you're not playing in the big rating space, that you can just be fun. And fun's an important part of our business.
Chad Millman
Do you ever get sick of having to play in the big rating space?
Colin Cowherd
Well, I do find, again, the word I would use as reductive, I do find that once you go to television, and that's big boy business, and I'm in a spot now where, you know, I'm trying to get numbers, I'm competing against a Goliath that I do the same topics over and over. It's my responsibility to make them as interesting as I can. But that's, you know, you can't do lacrosse topics. You can't do top 10 sports, movie topics. And some of that is good. You need that. You can do that in local radio. You can even do it in syndicated occasionally during the summer. But, you know, it's just part and parcel. You want to. You want to play in the bigger space. That's. That's what you got to do. You got to talk about mostly the.
Chad Millman
Big stuff you've talked a lot about. I've heard you talk about this, and it was brilliant. Constructing a show, sort of like there's a tree that you're creating, and then there are sort of branches that come off it. But you always sort of have that tree. Explain to people, like, what your philosophy is there.
Colin Cowherd
My philosophy for 20 years has always been, when a hurricane hits, the Weather Channel drops all the rest of its new. Its weather coverage. They talk about only the hurricane. MSNBC only talks about Trump. Why do I have to talk about a bunch of stuff? It doesn't make any sense. Because when I go to a bar, a restaurant, a movie theater, a grocery store, nobody asked me about anything other than NFL, LeBron, and major topics. So I'm a believer in, you have to go into shows with two trees, and the trunk is, you know, Brady, if there's a controversy, and the trunk of the tree is LeBron, it's my job to create branches off each. But this idea that you can go into a show and have 12 topics, those shows don't get ratings. When LeBron goes to the Lakers, if he does, I'm going to talk about that for three hours, for three straight days. The key is, can I give you seven branches Seven unique angles on it. But, you know, the Weather Channel never has to apologize for staying on storms. Fox and MSNBC never apologize for staying on Trump. Why do I have to apologize? Because I don't cover regular season baseball, which nobody wants to talk about.
Chad Millman
So how much time do you have to spend thinking about what those seven branches are going to be all day?
Colin Cowherd
It's my life. I do two and a half hours of prep every day, which is, you know, three hour show, two and a half hours of prep, and I get in the car, going home and keep a notepad with me at all times. And, you know, two or three times during the course of a day, if something pops in my head, I write it down. And, you know, it doesn't mean I'm obsessing about it, but I always keep a pen in my pocket or near me. So if something pops into my head and I'm like, that's an interesting branch of that. But it's actually made my job easier over time because I don't cover 48 college football teams. I keep my eye on about eight. And I don't cover every NFL team. I keep my eye on about 10. I keep my eye on about six NBA teams and about 12 players. And it's an easier way to do it. And this idea that you touch all the bases, it's just not true television redundant. And it's repetition. That's just the reality of the business. That's what it is. Weather Channel, Fox, msnbc. I think one of the problems with ESPN now, Chad, they don't know what they are. Are you doing journalism? Are you doing opinion? Are you doing highlights? At Fox Sports 1, we do strong opinions on a small number of topics and we should never apologize for it.
Chad Millman
All right, so that is a great transition to gambling because you and I have talked about this a bunch. You started doing gambling on your radio show long before anybody else was doing it and you spoke about it. You're going to make picks, you're going to have people on who are going to talk about it. Then we did it on the TV show and you've continued to do it at sort of in your new role at Fox, your relatively new role. What do you think happens to your show and what do you think happens to the media writ large when gambling becomes a much more popular thing?
Colin Cowherd
You know, I have a theory on this and I'm going to throw it to you. I think there's going to be a lot of mistakes made. So even when I do Blazing five, I've Always tried to make it entertaining. I want it to be good TV before it's good gambling. Now I want to get my picks right. Don't get me wrong, I want to go 3 and 2 or 4 and 1 every week. And I take pride. I've never been below 55%. I did have one great year. I was like 62. But I try to be in that 55 to 61%. And I feel very. If I go three and two every week, I'm. I think that's about as good as a schmuck like me can do. And I do my homework on the picks, but I think there's going to be a lot of mistakes made. I think people are going to forget a tenant of television, even the Weather Channel. Okay, let's go to, let's go to the Weather Channel. The most popular person on the Weather Channel is Jim Cantore because he's the most entertaining. And even on Fox News, which does harsh criticism, Bill O'Reilly was the most popular because his show had the most little goofy, crazy things in it. Best word of the day, funny arguments. When you do these gambling shows, they've got to be good television first. Okay, don't give me numbers nerds. Give me good tv. People who, who get the numbers because the gambler is going to watch the stuff regardless. A golfer is going to watch golf regardless. When golf pops is when they have tiger, when they have a TV star. So when these shows come out, everybody's going to be in the numbers. Numbers, numbers, numbers. The winner will be the, the wildly entertaining TV personality who can figure out the numbers and talk so the layman can get it and guys like you can respect it. That will be the key in this space. Not getting the hardcore numbers guy, getting the guy that's funny, smart and does get the numbers. And that's my belief. Ten years, we'll look back that the companies that go into really like, you know, super uber heavy gaming expert over entertaining person who can talk gaming, they will lose. You still have to entertain people. How's that for theory?
Chad Millman
How? Well, I like. I like the theory. I believe in the theory. I'm trying to execute on the theory with what we're doing. Action Network. And you're, you know, by the way, everyone's listening to the podcast action network.com go to the action Network, to the buffet page on itunes. You subscribe, you rate, you review, you unsubscribe, you resubscribe. Let's push this puppy. That's all we can do is push. But yeah, I agree with you. It's what I've always believed when I was doing it at espn. And now that we're doing it here, we're hiring people who know how to translate and keep people entertained and. And educate. You know, we're putting cheese on the broccoli. You know what I'm saying?
Colin Cowherd
Well, that's why ours. That's why our Sunday show worked, because it was entertaining first and then give you real, real data. We used to keep your picks to the end. So it was funny, it was goofy. We laughed, we had cartoons. Yeah. But in the end, we got this really smart guy, Chad, and even with a sense of humor, you gave us real data. And so, you know, I. You know, the other thing is, I've always thought that I'm best served as a liaison between people like you who are really smart, and the public. I don't want to be as. First of all, I couldn't be as smart as you, but I don't want to be an expert in gambling. What I want to be is know enough. I want to be able to talk a little bit of your language. But I also, when I talk to you, Chad, want to say something that you go, God, that is such a. That is such a mark. Because I got to be a dope. I got to be closer to being a dope than an expert, because I am the public. I am the consumer. So when I would bring you on the show and there were five picks, in two of them, you're like, that's a really good. That's pretty good. And then two of them, I was like, who? You're a mark. And then one of them. We can go back and forth, but I've always felt my job in this gambling stuff, I'll be the mark. I want to be able to talk a little bit of gambling lexicon, but I don't want to become come across as expert because I don't think that's any fun for the consumer and the audience. They want to play. I want them to feel like they're kind of me, where they think they know a little bit more than they do, but they're certainly not an expert.
Chad Millman
I will say the most fun on the show is always when you would give me an opinion that I thought was just so awful. And I would tell you how awful it was. Your face and your eyes, like, would contort into this and, like, waddle would start yelling in the background. And also everyone in the control room would start yelling. And I'm like, I'm thinking like, oh my God, that is a face that I don't think I could ever make. That's like a Jim Carrey face right there.
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Greg Rosenthal
Simplified 25 years, 25 players before training camp kickstarts a new NFL season, NFL Daily is going to look back. It is a special six episode series where myself, Greg Rosenthal and some of the top NFL minds like Kevin Harland, Mina Kimes and Bill Barnwell make the case for each player. We're taking a look back giving you NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years. So who made the list? You know, Tom Brady's on it. Where's Patrick Mahomes?
Colin Cowherd
Mahomes is into the end zone.
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Greg Rosenthal
He's on it. How about Lamar Jackson?
Colin Cowherd
Jackson takes it himself. Look at him dart back and forth. Oh, he broke his ankles and he's got a touchdown. He is Houdini.
Greg Rosenthal
You are going to have to listen to find out. Listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years starting on June 30th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts right.
Colin Cowherd
You know what? To me, the fun in it and I've been doing the Blazin 5 thing forever. The fun in gambling, which is really cool. I always learn something. I always learn something from a sharp. You're a sharp. And it's, it's amazing. My instincts. There's two. I have two or three bully. The only sport I ever really care about betting would be NFL. I bet a few bowl games, but mostly NFL. And I've always had two or three theories and they've served me well. Like my. Well, my first theory is if a team that was humiliated, if a team has a capable quarterback. I'm talking about, you know, like about 18 teams in the league. If they get humiliated on national tv, take them the next week. Because it's not college football where you get humiliated because you lack personnel. Teams are injured, teams aren't prepared. The game plan doesn't work. If a Big Ben gets humiliated, if a Matt Ryan gets humiliated, always, always look for that number the minute it comes out the following week. Because the public sells very quickly on big TV games. If a team looks like crap on Monday Night Football, the public's awesome. But that team usually comes back and plays their ass off. So that's just been one of my goofy theories forever and it made me nothing. But I have two or three little theories and that's just one of them.
Chad Millman
You almost nailed the theory. You almost got it exactly right. Okay, tell me what the big team, the big team that gets killed on national television and you know the public is going to be betting against them.
Colin Cowherd
Fade. Yeah.
Chad Millman
And you, that you, you got it almost there. And then at the very end you're like, and you know that team is going to come back strong because they got humiliated. That's not why you bet the team. You bet the team because the bookmakers are going to overcompensate because they know how they can set the line and they can fade that team in a way that makes it much more of an advantage for the sharp bettors to bet on that team. Because the, the point spread is just not going to be as much value on the, on the favorite in that particular, in that particular spot. That's why you do it. It's not because you think they're going to be more motivated. It's because the value is going to be in the point spread. It's priced better.
Colin Cowherd
Let me think of my other big theory I use. That's one of the. Oh, here's the other one, is that, that's my first one. Look very hard at teams that got crushed the week before as long as they have a capable quarterback. The second thing is there's always one really double digit line every week and I immediately take it off the board. That's the one game I refuse to bet. I just take it off the board because they're trap bets and I hate betting a game where I know I have to root for an inferior product. I'm not going to root for a 13 point dog to hit a field goal late. So I always take the 13 1/2 point spread. I'm like, I don't want to watch that game and I don't want to have to ever, ever watch a crappy team. Hopefully cover backdoor. So my two rules, Take a good team that gets smoked and just take the big double digit number and throw it away. I refuse. Now that's a bad because the Truth is, the underdog historically generally covers over 12 points, right?
Chad Millman
Yes.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, that's me. The first, I bet I always find it as a trap bet.
Chad Millman
First of all, I gave you like a golden nugget to elevate your first theory and, and you just glossed over it, moved on to the second one is if I, as if I hadn't even said anything. It's like I didn't even get involved in the conversation.
Colin Cowherd
No, I, your first, your first one was right. I consumed your take and you were right. And I just promptly moved and segue to a second take. I didn't belittle it, I simply consumed it and acknowledged that your, your acumen is much greater than mine.
Chad Millman
I appreciate the consumption. I do. The second one is interesting because you, you're right. You're only like to me, those are always the games that I look at first. Like I'm going to look at that double digit spread. I'm going to see that even though it's a double digit spread, 80% of the money is still going to come in on that favorite. And I am absolutely 100% going to bet on that double digit dog. It's like for years, you know, we used to talk about this show, like every single week we would do this on the show. We would talk about the Jaguars. The Jaguars are 12 point underdogs today. The Jaguars are two touchdown underdogs today. And every single week you'd be like, how could I take the Jaguars? I'm like, everybody who's a wise guy has taken the Jaguars because historically that's where the value is going to be. That's just, it's. Covering two touchdowns in the NFL is a really hard thing to do. It's like covering 28 points in college football.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. Then I'm stuck watching Blake Bortles three years ago trying to beat Pittsburgh. I just hate watching that. It's another reason I don't. But underdogs in college football, I hate rooting for crap. I hate having my money on crap. That's my dad's stockbroker advice. I don't. I like buying excellence. I like watching excellence. I hate betting on crap and hoping crap is just good enough to cover. I hate that.
Chad Millman
But I think that is a particular mindset of yours. And as someone who you like sports but you are also practical and you think about everything we do from a consumerism perspective and as a product. Right. The way you frame your shows, whether it's television or radio, all of the businesses that you're invested in you think about, it's a very clear sort of consumer service oriented relationship. So you think to yourself, I wouldn't put on crap. No one's going to want crap from me. So it disgusts you to have to have to put forth effort to watch crap or potentially lose money on crap. I think that is a, that is an entire sort of. You are offended by that sensibility.
Colin Cowherd
That's right. That doesn't make it a smart betting move. My mom said something to me 30 years ago by my dad. She said, your dad's not really. And I don't even know where this came from, but she goes, your dad's not really a quantity guy. He's a quality guy. And she said, your dad had three suits. They were gorgeous. He never believed in having 10 average suits. And we just got into this discussion. She goes, Your dad had three cars in his life. He lived to be 75. He had three cars in his life. He was never. Your dad believed in spartan furniture, one nice house, couple nice suits. He wasn't a big consumer. He just believed in, you know, go on two vacations a year that are great, not four that are average. And so I think I got that a little bit from my dad. I'm not a stuff guy. Like, you know, a prime example is I never. I try not to go on Twitter too much except for to down to retweet stuff. I've already done edited versions of my TV show or radio show because I think, I don't think most consumers are on Twitter. My friends aren't on Twitter. The media is. So I think it's just a lot of noise with very little impact. I always believe simple in a more complicated world. Simplicity makes me happier. Like the world offers you a million choices. That's just more anxiety. I still have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich four days a week when I go home after work. The more complicated the world gets, the.
Chad Millman
Simpler I get peanut butter and jelly every four days.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, I mean, I just. It's the same crap. Everybody, oh, I got to kale this and I got to kale that. I've never eaten fewer things than I eat now and there's never been more choices. I think I all. I all. I think choices equal anxiety. And I don't like anxiety. So I talk fewer topics. I eat eight to 12 things on a repeat basis. I go to, by the way, I have a vacation home. I mostly go to it. Only maybe one exception a year. My life gets simpler the more stuff I have around me. I don't even know how I got off into this tangent. But that's hell. How I don't even know where. This is just the way that my show is. I just start rambling. I don't even know what I'm talking about.
Chad Millman
What else do you. What else are you eating other than peanut butter and jelly?
Colin Cowherd
I have oatmeal every morning with peanut butter and a kale shake.
Chad Millman
So do I by the way. Oatmeal and peanut butter every day.
Colin Cowherd
Yep. I have a soup for lunch, mostly beans. I have a piece of fish or a piece of meat every night with a salad, one cocktail, watch a little sports bed, rinse and repeat. That's my life. That's it. I'm a very boring guy. Occasionally mix in this. This. I'm a very boring, boring. I'd be. There's a lot of jobs I'd be terrible at.
Chad Millman
You are at the pinnacle of your career. This is when you should be going out, blowing it all. Like your kids are getting older. You've like got a nice comfortable life. You should not be living the life sort of a monastic lifestyle.
Colin Cowherd
I know, listen, I'm not going to say I've never fantasized about wild, crazy lifestyle things, but that's just not who I am. It's just not my DNA, so. And I also think you start believing the hype fly in private, you start going too bougie. And I think you lose yourself. And so I tell my wife this all the time is I don't want to, I don't want to be private. I don't want to be this, this, this. Be among the people, relate to people. Media people make a lot of money. They put big fences up. I have neighbors jammed all over me. I'm at the dog park. I think you can lose yourself very easily. The richer you get. Because the richer you get, the let you know you can have people do stuff for you. Like I go to the grocery store every day, every day. I know people that don't refuse to go to the grocery store. I'm gonna have it delivered. I want to go there every day. Again, I don't even know how, why I'm talking about this. I'm just talking.
Chad Millman
Oatmeal is not going to buy itself. You know what I'm saying?
Colin Cowherd
Okay, I got. My wife's texting me here. You got anything else, Melman?
Chad Millman
Yeah, I actually have the actual question which is like, alright, if you play the segment, you bet your life. You talked about your dad. I know how important like family was to you growing up.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
Chad Millman
What was the biggest risk you took in your life? And what happened?
Colin Cowherd
I left college early. That 12 credit shy I got the phone call, I went to the baseball winner meetings, got home, and the Las Vegas Stars Don Logan called me and said, do you want a job? And I looked at my mom and I said, I'm 12 credit shy, what should I do? And she said, I'm not going to tell you. She said, you're gonna tell yourself what to do. And I left without a degree. And it was the best move I ever made. I bet on myself. I didn't think I was going to get that opportunity to go from college to a triple A announcing job. I mean, guys are in this business 10 years before they get to triple A baseball. And it was the best Triple A city. It was Vegas. So I bet on myself and I said, I'm going to leave college early, 12 credit shy and I'm going to go sell minor league baseball and I'm going to do an inning of play by play. And I just bet on myself. And it was the best move I ever made. I parlayed that into a TV job, I parlayed that into a TV career and a radio career. And, and I. It really came down to a very simple thing. I just didn't think I would get that good of an offer at my age and my lack of experience. And I thought, I can always go back to college. Las Vegas is never going to offer me a triple A play by play job. This is usually end up in like Amarillo or Midland, Texas. I'm like, I gotta go for it. And it was a big risk. Like a lot of people like, what are you doing? You don't have a degree. And I was like, dude, I can get a degree later. I can't get the Vegas job later. And it turned out to be some of my best friends were in that town. And you know, I don't consider myself a huge risk taker, but that was a risk.
Chad Millman
Well, I would say you are a huge risk taker because when is the next time you didn't bet on yourself that you're like, that was a screw up. I should have totally done that.
Colin Cowherd
I think it did something to me. It gave me confidence. And at the time I didn't have a ton. I was just a goofy college kid and I didn't really know what I was doing. And then when I succeeded, there's a domino effect. Like, hey, I can do this again. And I did it about four or five more times in My life where I, you know, like, I left espn. They offered me a bunch of money. It was the big network. And I went to a startup and it's been great. It's like almost like playing the US Open in golf. You want to start really good on Thursday because it lends itself to a good Friday, a good Saturday. If you really go into the tank on you shoot nine over on Thursday, you're screwed. And I'm a big believer in momentum, and it gave me kind of life, professional momentum that it's been going ever since.
Chad Millman
Well, I know what it's like to leave ESPN to go work at a startup.
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. But by the way, when you start kicking butt here, and you already are, you'll. This will not be the last place in the world you work. My wife always tells me that. Now she's like, you're a young 54. She goes, you think it's 74, you're gonna be doing the herd? She goes, probably not. And I'm like, yeah, you're right.
Chad Millman
Probably not 74. You're just gonna be hanging out in your house eating oatmeal and kale all day. That's it. Wondering, wondering, maybe I should have bet on those underdogs because I have so much more money.
Colin Cowherd
All right, Millman, I gotta get out of here. I gotta go and prep for another one of the shows I'm on.
Chad Millman
All right, thanks for coming on, brother. I'll talk to you later.
Colin Cowherd
Chad Millman, ladies and gentlemen, support his causes.
Chad Millman
Action Network reminds you, please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you care about has a gambling problem, help is available 24. 7@1-800- gambler Ugh.
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Greg Rosenthal
25 greatest football players to grace the gridiron since the year 2000? Introducing NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years. Join me, Greg Rosenthal and an all star cast of media personalities including Mina Kimes, Steve Wych, Kevin Harlan and more for a look at football's best since the turn of the century. Listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years, starting on June 3rd 30th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.
Podcast Summary: The Favorites - Colin Cowherd Interview 2018
Release Date: July 2, 2025
Host: Chad Millman
Guest: Colin Cowherd
Duration: Approximately 29 minutes
The episode begins with Chad Millman welcoming Colin Cowherd, a renowned radio and television host, to "The Favorites" podcast, part of the Volume Podcast Network. Chad reminisces about their long-standing friendship, dating back to 2011 when they first connected through discussions about sports betting. Reflecting on their collaborative past, Chad highlights their time together on Colin's football show alongside Tom Waddle, describing it as "the most fun I've ever had in my career" (03:22).
Colin discusses the stark differences between working in local radio and national television. He emphasizes the creative freedom enjoyed in smaller platforms, where he could "just be goofy and funny" without the pressure of ratings (04:24). This contrasts with his current role at Fox Sports, where content is more structured and driven by ratings, leading to a more "reductive" approach focused on major brands and recurring topics like LeBron James and Tom Brady (05:07).
Notable Quote:
"If you can't be [your authentic self], you're not." – Colin Cowherd (04:24)
Chad commends Colin's strategic approach to constructing his shows, likening it to creating a tree with a strong trunk and multiple branches. Colin elaborates on his philosophy, stating, "when a hurricane hits, the Weather Channel drops all the rest of its news... Why do I have to talk about a bunch of stuff?" He underscores the importance of focusing on a few key topics to maintain consistency and interest, avoiding the pitfalls of covering too many subjects which can dilute the show's impact (06:40).
Notable Quote:
"You have to go into shows with two trees, and the trunk is, you know, Brady, if there's a controversy, and the trunk of the tree is LeBron, it's my job to create branches off each." – Colin Cowherd (06:40)
A significant portion of the conversation centers around the integration of sports betting into mainstream media. Colin shares his insights on the burgeoning popularity of gambling, predicting that many media outlets will make mistakes by prioritizing entertainment over accurate betting information. He argues that successful gambling shows will balance entertainment with credible data, akin to personalities like Jim Cantore on the Weather Channel or Bill O'Reilly on Fox News who blend engagement with information (09:50).
Notable Quote:
"The winner will be the wildly entertaining TV personality who can figure out the numbers and talk so the layman can get it and guys like you can respect it." – Colin Cowherd (12:09)
Chad agrees, emphasizing the importance of translating complex betting information into an engaging format that educates and entertains simultaneously. They discuss the potential of platforms like Action Network to pioneer this balanced approach.
The conversation shifts to a more personal tone as Colin delves into his lifestyle choices, highlighting his preference for simplicity and minimalism. He shares anecdotes about his daily routine, including his consistent diet of oatmeal and peanut butter, and his disdain for the complexities of modern life and excessive choices, which he believes contribute to anxiety (22:15).
Notable Quote:
"The more complicated the world gets, the simpler I get." – Colin Cowherd (23:35)
Chad playfully comments on Colin's steadfast routines, to which Colin humorously acknowledges, "That's my life. That's it. I'm a very boring guy."
Towards the end of the episode, Chad poses a personal question about the biggest risk Colin has taken in his life. Colin recounts his decision to leave college early, just 12 credits shy of graduation, to seize a job opportunity in Las Vegas. Despite concerns about not having a degree, he describes this move as "the best move I ever made," highlighting how it set the foundation for his successful career in sports media (26:19).
Notable Quote:
"I bet on myself, and it was the best move I ever made." – Colin Cowherd (26:22)
He further explains how this pivotal decision instilled confidence in him, leading to subsequent career advancements and solidifying his belief in the power of self-assessment and taking calculated risks.
As the conversation winds down, Colin reflects on his career achievements and personal contentment with his current lifestyle. He expresses gratitude for maintaining a grounded and relatable existence despite his professional success, emphasizing the importance of staying connected with everyday experiences and avoiding the trappings of excessive wealth (25:10).
Chad and Colin share light-hearted banter about Colin's routines and future plans before wrapping up the interview. The episode concludes with Chad encouraging listeners to support the Action Network and reminding them to gamble responsibly.
03:22
Chad Millman: "Maybe the greatest professional experience any of us."
04:24
Colin Cowherd: "If you can't be [your authentic self], you're not."
05:07
Colin Cowherd: "There's a freedom that when you're not, when you're not playing in the big rating space, that you can just be fun."
06:40
Colin Cowherd: "You have to go into shows with two trees, and the trunk is, you know, Brady, if there's a controversy, and the trunk of the tree is LeBron, it's my job to create branches off each."
09:50
Colin Cowherd: "The winner will be the wildly entertaining TV personality who can figure out the numbers and talk so the layman can get it and guys like you can respect it."
12:09
Chad Millman: "How about Lamar Jackson?"
Colin Cowherd: "Jackson takes it himself. Look at him dart back and forth. Oh, he broke his ankles and he's got a touchdown. He is Houdini."
22:15
Colin Cowherd: "That's right. That doesn't make it a smart betting move."
23:35
Colin Cowherd: "The more complicated the world gets, the simpler I get."
26:22
Colin Cowherd: "I bet on myself, and it was the best move I ever made."
This episode of "The Favorites" offers an in-depth look into Colin Cowherd's professional journey, his philosophies on media and sports betting, and personal insights into his lifestyle and decision-making processes. Through engaging dialogue with Chad Millman, listeners gain valuable perspectives on balancing entertainment with expertise, the evolving landscape of sports media, and the importance of confidence and simplicity in both personal and professional realms.