Will Jon Gruden Try To Emulate His Hero, Frank Gifford?
August 7th, 2026
New member of Bucs broadcast team — for one game.
So Chucky is going back to the broadcast booth, at least for a night.
Because long-time TV voice of Bucs preseason football, Chris Myers, has an assignment conflict with his employer, FOX Sports, he cannot work the Aug. 22 game when the Bucs host the Chiefs.
Enter Chucky. Joe was told that former Bucs great Rondé Barber, worked hard behind the scenes to get Chucky into the broadcast booth to join him when Myers is absent.
Barber apparently twisted the right arms.
Still, no one knows what this broadcast will be like. Neither Chucky nor Barber has experience as a play-by-play guy, but both have network game broadcast experience. Chucky was a BSPN analyst on Monday Night Football and Barber was a color analyst for FOX.
Chucky even feigned surprise yesterday in a press conference at One Buc Palace that he would be calling play-by-play.
(Asked if he did any practice games with Barber, Chucky said, “I had a beer with him.”)
If the Bucs/WFLA play their cards right, this could be very interesting and maybe groundbreaking. Joe was thinking Chucky and Barber should do a sports radio show (without callers) during the game. The subjects would be determined by the plays on the field. Or, Chucky and Barber could do like Chucky’s employer, Barstool Sports does: They have dudes sitting around the TV talking about the game.
That Barstool Sports format is weirdly entertaining.
One thing’s for sure: Chucky is going to be pro-Bucs.
“God knows what’s going to happen,” Chucky said. “We’re going to celebrate the Bucs.”
Early this summer when Ira Kaufman had a sitdown with Chucky, he told Ira, “Why not play-by-play?” Chucky reminded Ira he was a broadcast major at Dayton.
So Joe asked Chucky who some of his favorite play-by-play men were that he idolized growing up?
“I used to imitate a lot of these guys,” Chucky said. “Lindsey Nelson and Vin Scully, Curt Gowdy. My favorite of all time was Frank Gifford. A lot of people thought Frank was the color guy. Frank was the play-by-play guy.”
(Trivia: Frank Gifford was the second Monday Night Football play-by-play guy. The original was Keith Jackson.)
“Frank, I got to know a little bit during my days at Monday Night Football,” Chucky said. “He was clearly my favorite guy.”
The reference to Nelson is interesting. Chucky is a Notre Dame fan because his dad Jim used to coach running backs there. So Joe guesses Chucky used to watch those old Notre Dame-produced syndicated broadcasts on Sunday mornings that whittled the games down to one hour.
“After an exchange of punts with neither team advancing the ball, we move ahead to midway through the fourth quarter with the Irish leading Georgia Tech 21-17.”
This broadcast with Chucky and Barber will certainly be unorthodox and could be trend-setting. Chucky is looking forward to it.
“I’m fired up because it is football season, especially for the Buccaneers.”
August 7th, 2026 at 12:57 am
Gruden is amazing on TV, just don’t put him in charge of your draft.
August 7th, 2026 at 1:05 am
remember another knock was he liked to sign aging veterans but i think after this offseason that may have been a necessity with the glazers as owners he had no choice but to. talking about post super bowl in both situations
August 7th, 2026 at 5:16 am
The Glazers forgiving Gruden was one of the nicest things I’ve seen during Americas “cancel culture” era.
It’s not spoken about enough how merciful and kind it was of the Glazers to forgive Chucky and give him another chance.
We need more forgiveness in this era of self righteous crucifixion culture.
August 7th, 2026 at 6:20 am
Great for the franchise they mended fences. Gruden did a dumb thing, who hasn’t? He’s not a mean, or bad person. Glad he’s back in the fold.
August 7th, 2026 at 6:51 am
Chucky should me coaching.
August 7th, 2026 at 7:33 am
I expect a few fumbled snaps between these two but those will keep it entertaining. I hope these two let it fly with unconventional opinions to keep it interesting!
August 7th, 2026 at 7:49 am
Tony Romo can still have a job doing football announcing, then a few small mistakes are no biggie. They will do much better than the over paid Romo. He’s awful.
August 7th, 2026 at 7:50 am
@Teacherman, well said and very true. This world is in sad shape. People have become so disrespectful and unappreciative.
August 7th, 2026 at 8:06 am
Great interview, watched it last night on the YouTube travels
August 7th, 2026 at 8:28 am
Why is this newsworthy?
August 7th, 2026 at 8:43 am
^^^ This ^^^
August 7th, 2026 at 8:44 am
Why on earth would you think it is not?
August 7th, 2026 at 9:23 am
It would be a Buc’s fan dream for Chucky be our head coach again.
August 7th, 2026 at 10:11 am
Gruden talking about throwing passes to James Wilder in practice was amusing.
Hopefully that is a sign that Gruden will have some influence on getting James Wilder on the RoH and younger Buc fans understanding just what a great player he was for the Bucs and in the NFL in the days when running backs were as big as WR’s to the game today.
August 7th, 2026 at 10:52 am
Maybe for those who don’t remember when he did. Love the guy for what he did for the Bucs, but the game has passed him by.
August 7th, 2026 at 12:04 pm
it’s newsworthy because chucky is going to be our next HC
🙂
August 7th, 2026 at 12:04 pm
he’s primed and ready
August 7th, 2026 at 12:06 pm
he’s already thought about the bucky & chucky show
August 7th, 2026 at 1:07 pm
🤣🤣🤣
The Bucky and Chucky Show
🤣
August 7th, 2026 at 3:10 pm
Does this include getting it on with a flight attendant?