Kevin Harlan saved the day in a way that only he could on Sunday afternoon.
The longtime NFL broadcaster, who was on the call for the Minnesota Vikings’ win over the San Francisco 49ers on CBS, attempted to throw it back to the network’s studio for an in-game update in the second half. He’s done that plenty of times before while on the air, and there was nothing unusual about it.
The problem, though, was that Nate Burleson couldn’t hear anything from the CBS studio in New York.
As the highlight from the New York Jets-Tennessee Titans game started rolling, Harlan jumped in expertly.
“I can! I can hear ya!” Harlan hilariously shouted after Burleson said he was without any audio.
Just like that, Harlan was calling two games at once.
Kevin Harlan kicked it to Nate Burleson for a studio update. Burleson couldn’t hear.
So Harlan did the update himself, impressing Trent Green.
“You have called two games at one time. And now you’ve called a studio and a game at the same time.” pic.twitter.com/Pj3Dxvfc5C
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 15, 2024
Harlan was a bit slow on the details there, but it’s hard to blame him considering he was more than a thousand miles away working a completely different game. Naturally, broadcasting partner Trent Green was blown away when Harlan immediately rolled back into the Vikings-49ers game without missing a beat.
“You have called two games at one time,” Green said. “And now you’ve called a studio and a game at the same time. You never cease to amaze me. Incredible.”
Thankfully, CBS figured the issue out and Burleson had the next studio update without any problems.
“I appreciate you earlier, man,” Burleson said. “You know, when one person drops the ball, another one picks it up. … Back to my guy Kev, that can do it all.”
The next trip to the studio went a lot smoother.
“When one person drops the ball, another one picks it up…Back to my guy, Kev, that can do it all.” pic.twitter.com/2gbJ5CuFq7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 15, 2024
Harlan has been broadcasting games throughout the sports world for decades now, so it’s no wonder he didn’t hesitate on Sunday afternoon. He first joined CBS Sports as an NFL play-by-play announcer in 1998. He also calls NBA games on TNT, college basketball games for CBS and does “Monday Night Football” and the Super Bowl on the radio for Westwood One.