Charles Barkley and Terry Bradshaw are two of the most successful athletes turned broadcasters in sports media history and Howie Long sees parallels between the two.
Monday morning, Long joined Barstool’s Pardon My Take and during the podcast, he was asked about working with Bradshaw. Next month, Long and Bradshaw will kick off their 30th consecutive season as part of Fox NFL Sunday together, having joined the studio show for its inaugural season in 1994.
“He’s one of the smartest people I know, truly, he really, really is. He’s brilliant,” Long said. “He’s a brilliant guy, but trust me, we’re not a rehearsal show. We do our show live, we don’t rehearse. And the reactions when he says things are so genuine because it’s like ‘Oh my god, did he just say that?’ He’s kind of the white Charles Barkley.”
Long is not the first person to make the descriptive comparison, with Saturday Night Live similarly calling Bradshaw the “white Charles Barkley” when they spoofed Fox NFL Sunday during a January episode of the sketch show earlier this year.
Bradshaw has been a leading NFL TV personality since the early ‘80s, Barkley went from playing to broadcasting after he retired from the NBA in 2000. But both former athletes have made their mark on the sports entertainment industry, thanks largely to their willingness to speak off-the-cuff, leading to moments of on-air brilliance and controversy.
While Barkley is often lauded for his authenticity, some of Bradshaw’s schtick is an act, according to Long. Earlier this year, Chris Wallace interviewed Bradshaw and bluntly asked the Pro Football Hall of Famer to comment on the perception that he is “dumb.” Long, however, lauded Bradshaw’s intelligence claiming he’s played into being a Jed Clampett-like character from The Beverly Hillbillies all the way to the bank.
“We’ve been together 30 years and we couldn’t be any more different,” Long told Pardon My Take before describing the vastly different backgrounds they grew up in. “But he’s like the older brother I could have never imagined having. It’s a great relationship.”
And if the decision is Bradshaw’s, that relationship will continue for another 30 years. During last season’s Super Bowl week, the 74-year-old Bradshaw said he has no plans of retiring and hopes to eventually supply Fox with a ratings boost by dying on-air.
