((HT: AJC/Hummer))
Most people looking at the Weavers simply would have seen a nice couple. Two people who’d traveled from Los Angeles to get behind the scenes of Atlanta’s “NBA on TNT” show, after buying the opportunity at a charity auction.
But Charles Barkley, the resident magpie on TNT’s popular, long-running show, saw an audience.
“You came all this way to hang out with boring ol’ Ernie Johnson?” Barkley, the former NBA star and most outspoken basketball analyst on the tube, said loud enough to be heard by the Weavers. And by Johnson, sitting nearby trying to finish a salad. And possibly by any professor working the underwater acoustics tank at nearby Georgia Tech. Yes, Barkley’s loud.
“Oh, we want to hang out with you and [visiting former player] Chris Webber,” answered Charisse Weaver.
Barely audible, between bites of spring mix, Johnson emitted the perfectly timed, bemused, “Thanks.”
There it is, Ernie Johnson Jr.’s professional life in summary.
For the 19th year, Johnson is reprising his award-winning role of anchor on Turner’s NBA telecasts, an Ozzie Nelson-plays-the-Apollo kind of gig that is recognized as one of the best in the business. He has a shiny Emmy Award to prove it.
As part of TNT’s NBA package, the studio show breaks down issues and action during pre-game, halftime and post-game segments. Barkley and Kenny Smith are the one-time players who bring the big opinions. Johnson is the temperate voice, in charge of such mundane stuff as facts and reason. Someone has to be the tether at the Macy’s parade, the broom at Mardi Gras.
Johnson has another way to depict his role on a set that is particularly hectic during these endless weeks of playoffs:
“To the viewing public, yeah, I’m the guy with the big forehead that Charles always makes fun of on TV. But there’s a little more to it than that.”
That “little more” consists partly of a wife with a calendar full of causes, a family that is a three-continent quilt and one long, intimate conversation with mortality.
Step back from the flat-screen image and look at the other dimensions of a television straight man. Then you find the NBA playoffs are hardly the only place where amazing happens.
The rest of the really, cool piece is in black...
The audio version is right here...
And that gave us the excuse to post this...
((HT: TNT/NBA))
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