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The PFB Sports Survey: Ernie Johnson

May 20, 2008 – 8:08 am
Posted by bryan in » The PFB Sports Survey

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The PFB Sports Survey is a weekly feature here at Prayers For Blowouts where we throw a few sports related questions at some of the most notable voices among Christian authors, pastors, musicians, and butchers to see if they like sports as much as we do.

Today’s spotlight is on Ernie Johnson, who is pretty sure he can take you down in a shooting contest from the charity stripe. (Yes, even you too Mr. “I once hit 25 free throws in a row when no one was looking”.)

Ernie is the two-time Emmy winning studio host for TNT’s NBA Coverage. In addition to his work with basketball, E.J. has also covered Wimbledon, the NFL, the Winter Olympics, the PGA Tour, and Major League Baseball. Even more impressive than beating out Bob Costas for the Emmy in 2006, Ernie also is the highest rated media member in Deadspin’s Media Approval ratings poll (96%)

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1. What number best describes the role sports play in your life on a scale of 1 to 10?

EJ: Despite the fact that I make my living as a sportscaster I wouldn’t call myself a 10. While I love sports, and my dad played pro baseball (Milwaukee Braves, Baltimore Orioles in the 50’s) I don’t spend every waking moment watching sports, so I’m probably about an ‘8′. My wife, Cheryl would be a ‘1′ on that scale in terms of watching sports on tv…but she loves to play tennis and went to Wimbledon with me one year when we were televising it, so I’ll give her a ‘4′.

2. Rank your 3 overall favorite sports, college or pro.

EJ: #1 would be baseball because I grew up with that and wanted to be a player when I grew up. That dream lasted through my freshman year at the University of Georgia. I walked on as a freshman and walked off as a sophomore.

#2 would be basketball…love working the NBA with Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, and don’t miss March Madness in the college game.

#3 Golf. I’m a lefthander…and actually played a few holes with Phil Mickelson in a pro-am before we televised the Grand Slam of Golf in Hawaii. He said of one of my tee shots, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ball go that far left.”

3. What is the one team that you root for more passionately than any other, and is there a team that you hate, maybe a little too much?

EJ: I don’t really root for teams. You sort of have your allegiances drift away once you work in the media because you’re covering so many different teams and you don’t show favoritism. Growing up in Milwaukee I used to be a huge Packers fan.

4. Do you play fantasy sports?

EJ: The only time I’ve played fantasy sports is when we’re told to by our sales department as part of a promotion with the NBA. It’s great for some people, but I can’t see myself sitting up until 2:30 in the morning waiting to see how the Angels-Mariners game came out, wondering if Ichiro went 3 for 4.

5. What is the most memorable sporting event you have ever attended in person?

EJ: The most memorable moment I witnessed was Henry Aaron’s 715th Home Run.

6. What is the best highlight and/or worst lowlight of your sports playing career as a child or as an adult?

EJ: When I was playing 7th grade basketball at St. Jude’s Elementary School in Atlanta, we were playing Westminster for the championship. I hadn’t scored…we were up by 1 with the ball in the closing seconds and Westminster needed to foul. They fouled me, and I hit 2 free throws to ice it.

At Georgia, as a reserve first baseman I hit a dazzling .154. One of my 2 hits that season came at Tennessee and gave us a 1 run lead (it was my 1 college RBI) in the top of the 9th. We were 3 outs away from clinching the Eastern Division of the SEC. A grand slam homer by Tennessee spoiled that. We still won the division the next week, and as usual in the SEC Championship series against LSU I found my familiar spot on the bench.

7. If you could change one thing about sports, what would it be?

EJ: One thing I’d change about sports these days is the starting times of games. When I was a kid I could always watch the world series…there were day games back then, folks. I think earlier starts would allow more kids to see more games.

8. Do you have an opinion on Christian athletes who, without being prompted, talk about their faith in post-game interviews?

EJ: I don’t have a problem with athletes talking about their faith. I have a problem with athletes thinking God wanted their team to win a game.

9. High school gym class…your favorite 45 minutes of the day or the source of countless nightmares and embarrassments?

EJ: High School gym class was cool with me when we were playing games. When it came to exercises, etc., I always found a way to avoid the pull-up bar. Still do.

10. Sports are often the whipping boy of pastors and clergy because so much passion, money, time, and energy is poured into them. Do you think this criticism is valid, or are sports okay as a diversion from the stresses of life.

EJ: Sports to me only becomes a problem if it hinders what you’re doing as a father/husband, or actually becomes idolatry. If you skip a bed time story with your daughter because you might miss the kickoff…if you blow off a family outing because you want to play 18, etc, etc…then I think it’s a problem. Otherwise I feel sports is a great diversion from all the “stuff” that’s going on in the world, at the office, or down the street.

11. If you had to compete against other media folk, in which of these 5 competitions would you have the best chance of winning? 5-mile run, 18 holes of golf, free throw shooting contest, arm wrestling match, or a game of bowling.

EJ: I’ll shoot FT’s with anybody, anytime.

12. What is your favorite sports movie of all-time?

EJ: Favorite sports movies of all time would be “Field of Dreams”, “Bull Durham”, “Remember the Titans”.

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You can click here for an exhaustive (but not exhausting) list of everyone who’s been featured as a PFB Sports Survey participant.

If you’d like to be considered for the PFB Sports Survey, or know someone who should be, send along a name and email address to prayersforblowouts(at)gmail(dot)com.

Tags: Ernie Johnson, PFB Sports Survey