The ESPN PR people are out in force and have sent out excerpts of the halftime interviews that Monday Night Football host Chris Berman conducted with both presidential candidates.
Here’s what you’ll hear and see.
Excerpts From Obama and McCain Interviews With Chris Berman For ESPN’s Monday Night Football
On the eve of the presidential election, ESPN’s Monday Night Football will present interviews during halftime (approximately 10:15 p.m. ET) with both major party presidential nominees — Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Republican Senator John McCain. The one-on-one interviews, conducted via satellite with ESPN’s Chris Berman, were taped separately earlier today.
Below are select quotes from each interview. The entire interviews and complete transcripts will be available on ESPN.com shortly after halftime of the MNF telecast, which will feature the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Washington Redskins (kickoff at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN and ESPN HD with the Spanish-language telecast on ESPN Deportes).
On one thing you would change in sports:
Obama: “I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. I’m fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other. Get eight teams – the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff. Decide on a National Champion.”
McCain: “I’d take significant action to prevent the spread and use of performance-enhancing substances. I think it’s a game we’re going to be in for a long time. What I mean by that is there is somebody in a laboratory right now trying to develop some type of substance that can’t be detected and we’ve got to stay ahead of it. It’s not good for the athletes. It’s not good for the sports. It’s very bad for those who don’t do it and I think it can attack the very integrity of all sports going all the way down to high school.”
On what you learned about yourself over the campaign:
Obama: “What I learned about that I think was positive was that I don’t get too high when things are going well and I don’t get too low when things are going tough. I think that has helped me and the organization stay steady.”
On the best piece of advice from the sports world:
McCain: “I have to go all the way back to high school. I had a football coach who was a football star himself…The most important lesson he taught me was you’ve always got to do the honorable thing, even when nobody’s looking because maybe nobody will know, but you’ll know.”
I know Chris Berman studied political science when he matriculated at Brown University. I’m not confident in his interviewing skills as he has never been strong in that area, but in this case, all you have to do is say, “Hello” and both men will give you a 5 minute answer.
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