![]() So, when I graduated and I was hosting for CBS SportsLine, that’s what I always thought I wanted to do. You’re younger, so you grew up in a different era of SportsCenter, but SportsCenter when we were growing up, those were the people who were sports broadcasters, right? Yes, you had your Keith Jacksons and your Verne Lundquists and your Brent Musburgers and all the people we watched call games, but the people who everyone knew for sports were Keith Olbermann, Dan Patrick, Chris Berman, all the people that were on ESPN SportsCenter, Rich Eisen, Stuart Scott. I went to college also wanting to be a SportsCenter anchor. Why didn’t you start out with play-by-play announcing and how did you ultimately get there? It was just something that was there.Īfter graduating from Syracuse, you were hired to be the face of CBS SportsLine in 2005 while also working as a radio host. I don’t know I just love that aspect of it. And they said, “Give us your best play-by-play call.” And so, I did my version of George Blaha calling Vinnie Johnson’s game-winning shot in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Basically, for some people your only audition was this. ![]() And you waited in line for three hours to get in. In fact, when I auditioned for ESPN’s “Dream Job” going into my senior year of college, they sat us around at a high-top bar table like this. And George Blaha, who still is the voice of the Pistons and Michigan State football, I just always pictured myself being him and calling those shots and Vinnie Johnson’s game-winner. Like the whole thing, right? Through the second title when they beat the Trailblazers and Vinnie Johnson hits the game-winning shot. It was called “Back-to-Back,” and it was basically a chronicle of how they went from this franchise that was based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Detroit and how they went from that and how bad they were but then they went and drafted Isiah Thomas. So, when the Pistons had Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars and they won the back-to-back titles, for Hanukkah one year my parents bought me this VHS tape. It’s obvious how you became enamored with sports, but what cultivated your desire to pursue a career in broadcasting? Jason Horowitz has been named the Raiders' radio play-by-play voice, joined on the call for all Raiders games this season by Lincoln Kennedy. From a living perspective, there’s just so much in Michigan more than people realize. From a sports perspective, growing up in Michigan was awesome. The Pistons, you had the Isiah Thomas era and then the Grant Hill era, and then you had Chauncey Billups-Rip Hamilton-Ben Wallace era. My brother was at Michigan State when The Flintstones won the national basketball championship. I was in high school when Michigan won the national championship. Plus, we grew up in an era of great sports teams. It’s funny, though, my entire life people always rip on Detroit, right? The city has had so many issues and there’s no question about that, but growing up in Michigan, Michigan was an awesome state to grow in. When I was 5, my brother and I would play video games and I would do play-by-play and he would shut the game off and leave. ![]() I’ve always wanted to be a sports broadcaster my entire life. What was your experience growing up in Detroit? He discussed his upbringing in Detroit, the origin of his passion for broadcasting, how he’s handled the pressure that comes with replacing legendary sportscaster Brent Musburger and what to expect from him in his first season as the play-by-play announcer for the Silver and Black. Luckily, Horowitz was able to recover to jump into a wide-ranging sit-down interview with The Athletic.
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