Sports squawk

The Big 10 (Big 12?) and Pac-12 conferences are holding their inaugural championship games this weekend.
The Pac-10 game is tonight at 8 p.m. and the Big 10 game is Saturday at the same time. The Fox network has both broadcasts.
Fox has been getting into the college football TV business this year with weekend games on the FX cable channel and the Fox network getting a couple of games. The broadcasts, with former CBS play-by-play broadcaster Gus Johnson and Charles Davis, have been every bit as good as the Fox NFL games on Sunday.
It's going to be an interesting challenge for the duo this weekend because they're going to broadcast both games -- and are going to have a jet all to themselves.
"Just to be able to feel like James Bond for a day, and go from Eugene to Indy on the boss' boss' boss' plane. That's something we're going to remember," Johnson said with a laugh.
The Pac-12 championship is in Eugene, Ore., and the Big 10 game is in Indianapolis. Kickoff tonight is 8 p.m., and if you give them a four-hour broadcast, there's no way to get a commercial flight back.
So, they'll hop on the Fox jet.
"Fortunately, we have a great boss in Eric Shanks and he made a call to the boss of all bosses, Mr. Rupert Murdoch. We're fortunate enough to be flying on his plane from Eugene to Indy," Johnson said.
Johnson is in his first season with Fox after he and CBS parted ways. Davis has been part of the Fox Sports Net cable broadcasts for several years.
"Let's be honest, we don't have real jobs. We have great jobs. We don't work for a living," Johnson said during a conference call Wednesday. "We get a chance to go all around the country and call sporting events, right now football. This is an exciting time of year to be part of two championship games."
Johnson flew six hours from New York City to Eugene, Ore., and has had the opportunity to watch a lot of tape on all four teams.
"I've put three [spotting] boards together: Oregon, Wisconsin and UCLA," Johnson said. "I'm going to put this Michigan State board together after we meet with [Oregon coach] Chip Kelly."
Johnson worked for CBS from 1996-2011 and was one of the network's key college basketball broadcasters. He also was the radio voice of the New York Knicks from 1994-2010. Davis is a former All-Southeastern Conference defensive back at Tennessee.
"Our bosses have entrusted us with doing these games to represent the network and to do justice to the teams that are playing," Davis said. "In the back-to-back time frame, a lot of people say 'Whoa, how can you get that done?'
"It's not just the prep this week. We watch college football all year long."
The Fox duo have done this before -- going from a Saturday college game to a Sunday NFL game. Johnson has had even more experience doing multiple games than this. When he was with CBS, he used to do four games in one day during the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
"I think the NCAA Tournament for all those years was wonderful, sometimes doing four games in one day," he said. "Doing back-to-back college football games is, to me, a totally different animal."

- Howard Herman, Berkshire Eagle Staff

---

Here's a sample of Gus Johnson's most notable football calls: