Joe Buck admits it was ‘awkward’ to watch Super Bowl after Fox exit
After leaving Fox for ESPN last year, Joe Buck experienced his first Fox Sports-broadcasted Super Bowl without being in the booth since 2002.
On Thursday afternoon, Michael Kay asked Buck if it was odd watching the game out of the booth. He jokingly responded with, “Who won?”
The longtime play-by-player appeared on ESPN Radio’s “The Michael Kay Show” first and foremost to celebrate and remember his former partner, legendary MLB broadcaster Tim McCarver, who died Thursday at the age of 81.
However, toward the end of the interview, Kay could not help but ask Buck about Super Bowl 2023, which saw Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen make their debuts as Fox Super Bowl broadcasters.
“Yeah, I watched [The Super Bowl]. Was it weird? A little bit,” Buck, who was in Cabo during the game, admitted. “Because I think it’s only human nature to go, ‘Nobody can survive if the great Joe Buck isn’t there.’ But everything moves on, and they’ve moved on. And I’ve moved on. And Troy’s moved on. And I think everybody’s happy with what they have and where they are…It’s awkward because you’re not there anymore and I was there for 28 years of my life and did six of those things, but as far as the individuals involved, I couldn’t have been happier.”
The former Fox broadcaster was with the company for 28 years before moving to ESPN. Aside from the six Super Bowls he called, he was also in the booth for 24 World Series. Buck was happy to see Olsen and Burkhardt get their time to shine.
“They did a great job, which I knew they would,” Buck said about the new Fox Super Bowl broadcasting pair. “They were in great hands with Rich Russo, our director, and Richie Zyontz, our producer. And those guys are friends of mine.”
“I said it at the time when I moved over to ESPN, to get out of the way of somebody like Kevin [Burkhardt] and to get out of the way of somebody like Joe [Davis] on the baseball side, was kind of the untalked about silver lining. It was something that gave me great pleasure,” Bucks said proudly.
Despite no longer being a part of the Fox Super Bowl broadcasting team, Buck will return to calling the Super Bowl in 2026 when ESPN and ABC are scheduled to broadcast the big game.
