Elton John must have had Gary Bender in mind when the British rocker recorded ”I`m Still Standing.”
Bender, who had a four-year fling as the Bears` preseason play-by-play man in the early `80s, returns to the Soldier Field broadcast booth Sunday night as the lead announcer on TNT`s National Football League coverage (which also will be carried by WLS-Ch. 7).
After he and partner Pat Haden finish Friday night`s telecast in San Diego, they`ll catch the first available flight to Chicago to complete their weekend odyssey.
But there have been other strange trips for Bender, 49, the former CBS and ABC sportscaster. Strange trips in a 22-year career because of the ”Big Foot” mentality of network executives. Strange trips precipitated by the comings and goings of Brent Musburger.
When Bender joined CBS Sports in 1975 after six years as the radio voice of the Green Bay Packers, he was assigned just about everywhere, from the National Football League to college football, from the NBA Finals to the Final Four.
That`s where he first lost out to Musburger.
”I got blindsided a couple of times by Brent,” Bender said the other day. ”I absolutely had no chance at CBS. He was talking about leaving for ABC and they (CBS officials) were afraid they were going to lose him. They had to do everything in their power to keep him. And one of the things he wanted was what I was doing, which was the lead position in college basketball and football. I guess I was defenseless.”
Possibly what left Bender vulnerable is his Midwestern style, described by one TV executive as ”Dick Enberg without the publicity,” a kind of man for all seasons.
So, in 1987, Bender left to join ABC, where he was assigned everything from baseball to college football, from college basketball to speedskating at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
And there he lost out to Musburger-again.
”I was jogging one day when I got a call” from an ABC executive two years ago, he said. ”It was one of those are-you-sitting-down kind of things. They told me Brent was coming to ABC. I really was surprised. I was stupid, I didn`t think he was going to do that. That was totally unexpected.”
Bender could have ripped ABC. He could have whined about his status. Instead, Bender quietly decided to find a new job.
”I`m very competitive in a quiet sort of way,” Bender said. ”I`ve always been that way. I`ve gone against different odds and have continued to survive. I`ve learned there`s a difference between taking it personally and taking it constructively. You`ve got to keep believing in yourself. You`ve got to believe you`ve got something to offer this business. I`ve always treated people well.”
But Turner Sports came riding to the rescue this time in the person of Don McGuire, an old friend from Bender`s CBS days and now an executive with Turner Sports, after Haden had told him last September that Skip Caray wanted to stick to baseball. Bender later ran into McGuire, who said, ”If you`re ever interested, call me.”
When Bender began negotiations with ABC as his contract ran out late last year, he called McGuire to see if the Turner offer still was on the table. McGuire flew to Arizona and after spending New Year`s Day together, he offered Bender the job.
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”When he said the things I wanted to hear, I accepted the offer,”
Bender said.
What did McGuire say? ”He wanted me to have fun,” said Bender. Then McGuire said, ”You can be our lead guy,” and the deal was made.
Now Bender is busier than ever. Besides TNT`s ”Sunday Night Football,”
he`ll be covering the NBA-again-and the Winter Olympics-again.
”It`s been really enjoyable,” said Bender. ”It`s been as advertised. Doug Collins and Hubie Brown, whom I worked with at CBS, kept telling me about what a different feel it is at Turner, a different way of doing business. And I`ve experienced that very thing. People are for you. They seem to have the sense that we can have fun and enjoy what we`re doing.”
And Bender isn`t looking over his shoulder any more.
”I made (Turner officials) promise me one thing,” Bender said, ”that you won`t hire Brent Musburger.”
– Musburger says he has no ill feelings toward golfer John Daly, who called the ABC sportscaster ”one of the worst announcers ever in golf” during a CBS interview last week. ”He`s the one who took the interview into several different areas,” Musburger told Golf World. ”I guess he`s unhappy that these things are coming out, but he`s got to take care of that himself.”
– WLUP Radio will be the local outlet for the new IndyCar Radio Network, starting with the Elkhart Lake 200 at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Former WGN motorsports contributor Paul Brian and Indianapolis 500 veteran Lou Palmer are the announcers. . . . With Sunday`s Cubs-Dodgers game not starting until 3:05 p.m., WGN officials will be rooting for a quick finish so they can get their Bears pregame programming aired before the team`s 7 p.m. kickoff against the Steelers.
– CBS has hired former Rams coach John Robinson and ex-Redskins lineman George Starke as NFL analysts for this fall, replacing Merlin Olsen and Irv Cross. Robinson and Starke will switch off with play-by-play man James Brown. The other CBS newcomer, analyst Matt Millen, will team with Tim Ryan.
– John McEnroe, who turned out to be less of a presence behind the microphone for NBC at Wimbledon because he was more of a presence on the courts, has signed a multiyear agreement with USA Network to provide U.S. Open analysis, again only after he`s finished playing. Tennis magazine contributing editor John Feinstein suggests network bosses ”encourage McEnroe to be himself, to act outraged when he feels outraged, to criticize officials if they deserve it and to talk honestly about the changes in the game that he has said for years are hurting tennis.” . . . McEnroe also will take part in the Arthur Ashe AIDS-Tennis Challenge, an exhibition CBS airs at 12:30 p.m. Aug. 30 as a preview to the U.S. Open.