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BY MATT MILLER

FEB 2, 2016

 

It's February 5, 2006 at Ford Field in Detroit, game day for Super Bowl XL, and Rich Eisen is sitting next to Keith Richards. A bottle of water and an unlit cigarette sit between them. They're here to talk football. Over the course of the conversation (in which Richards never touches the cigarette), one of the most British people in the world admits, perhaps unsurprisingly, that he doesn't know a damn thing about American football. Up next is Mick Jagger. To Eisen's surprise, he sits down and "actually breaks down the Steelers and Seahawks like a fan. He knew that the Seahawks weren't favored and that the Steelers had a young quarterback," Eisen says. "It was great. I broke down the Super Bowl with Mick Jagger."

 

For the last several years, Rich Eisen has been one of our most reliable sportscasters. Alongside the iconic and dearly missed co-host Stuart Scott, Eisen helmed SportsCenter starting in 1996 before moving to the NFL Network in 2003, where he's been covering the most-watched event in the world ever since. His personal list of Super Bowl highlights is long: The year he hugged Joe Namath on live television. The year he asked fellow sportscaster Steve Mariucci for his favorite Katy Perry song (the answer: "I Kissed a Girl"). The year when he watched Plaxico Burress catch the ball in the end zone "literally two feet in front of me," Eisen says, to ruin the undefeated season of the Patriots. 

 

Eisen's first Super Bowl coincided with the year Janet Jackson's accidentally-exposed breast became the game's first viral Internet moment. It at least partially inspired the creation of YouTube. And it's when Eisen first got the idea to blend entertainment with sports into a new kind of show. "America's largest sporting event gets stopped for a rock concert and nobody bats an eye," Eisen said. "That's when I thought that people are ready to see non-sports people talking about sports." Two years ago, The Rich Eisen Show was born. 

 

"Sports is part of the pop culture landscape in this country, just like music and television and movies." Eisen said. "Matt Damon coming on and talking to me about the Patriots in the same way that James from Worcester, Massachusetts calls in—I think it levels the playing field, when someone you consider an A-list star bitches about the referee just like you."

 

This is Eisen's busiest week of the year. It takes roughly five uninterrupted minutes for him to go through his schedule: A media day, a media night, hours of planning meetings, The Rich Eisen Show live from San Francisco, followed by coverage for the NFL Network. He'll be interviewing a small army of celebrities, athletes, and analysts: Snoop Dogg, Victoria's Secret Angel Adriana Lima, Joe Montana, Brett Favre,Troy Aikman, and half-time act Coldplay. "I don't think people are keen to have Coldplay tell me about Cam Newton's red zone option," Eisen says. "But if they're gonna give me a philosophy on Peyton manning, I'd be into that."

 

Then there's the actual game. Surprisingly enough, that will be the most relaxing part of Eisen's whole week: he gave up in-game duties last year. Now he just watches it like a regular fan (with perhaps a bit more institutional knowledge). "I try to put myself in the position of the fan and the fan in my position," Eisen says. "So to be somebody in the stands and be just like everyone else as opposed to having a press pass around my neck is pretty fun."