This transcript was exported on Sep 09, 2021 - view latest version here. John Boccacino: Hello, and welcome back to be 'Cuse Conversations Podcast. My name is John Boccacino, the Communications Specialist in Syracuse University's Office of Alumni Engagement. Scott Hanson: I appear on Sundays on your television and in your living room, but I'm grinding on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, just to saturate my mind with everything that could possibly come up on an NFL RedZone episode, because the show is seven hours. It's ad-libbed. I don't know what game is going to be the fantastic finish or the controversial call or the amazing milestone that's reached, but we're going to have two or three or four of them that are going to be jaw-dropping. I don't know which ones. So I got to study for all of them. John Boccacino: Scott Hansen has enjoyed a decorated sportscasting career since graduating with a broadcast journalism degree from Newhouse in 1993. But the role that he's best known for is as host of NFL RedZone, the NFL's live whip around the league show dedicated to getting fans of all 32 teams a look at every touchdown and every big highlight from their game that week. It's a unique role for Hanson, a former walk-on, and four year member of the Orange Football team. For seven consecutive commercial free hours each Sunday during the regular season, Scott acts as the eyes, ears, and voice of the NFL through a fast paced and frenetic show. It takes a [inaudible] guy to pull off a broadcasting feat like this, but I got to imagine you love the adrenaline rush of doing this week in and week out? Scott Hanson: Oh, 100%. It is a thrill ride, unlike anything else. And I've done some interesting broadcasts, but hosting NFL RedZone, it's been the thrill of my career, and the vehicle for my career that has facilitated an amazing life that I've enjoyed all the way from the early nineties back there on the hill at Syracuse. And by the way, John, great to be with you on the show here today. Thanks for having me. John Boccacino: Absolutely. It's a pleasure to have you on here talking NFL football. We love our summers, but when football rolls around, the Dome will be rocking this year for the 'Cuse and the action for all 32 teams is going to ramp up soon. This is a pressure packed environment, Scott, that you find yourself in hosting the NFL RedZone. What made this job so attractive to you? Scott Hanson: I've always been a 10,000 foot view type of guy in sports. I not only want to know the minutia, the individual details of a game, a team, a player, I want to know the big picture. I always want to see what the macro ideas that are coming out of my favorite sport of football. And to give you a little illustration to that, before I became host of NFL RedZone, 12 years ago, this will be our 13th season this year, for two or three years, I was a roving reporter for NFL Network. So they would send me to an individual game, whatever it would be, "Hey, go to Gillette. The Patriots are hosting the Jets. You're going to cover that game that day." So I'd go get my credential, I'd be up in the press box, Tom Brady would be Scott Hanson podcast (Completed 09/09/21) Page 1 of 10 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on Sep 09, 2021 - view latest version here. taking on the New York Jets there at Gillette Stadium in New England, and I'd have my laptop open up on press row in the media box. I'd be watching the Patriots live on the field in front of me, but then I'd be elbowing the other reporters to the left and right of me, "Hey, Peyton Manning has 200 yards passing in the first half. Adrian Peterson just popped a 50 yard run in Minnesota. Talking about the other games that were going on, not even the one that was live in front of us there. So I've always wanted to see the big picture. And when I heard in 2009, it was the summer of 2009, that the NFL was going to start up this concept, NFL RedZone, and what it was going to be, every touchdown from every game, seven hours, no commercials, this action packed show. I called up the talent coordinator and I said, "Hey, is it true that you guys are starting this," and he was like, "Yep." I said, "Who do you got to host it," he goes, "Well, we're looking at some people." And I said, "Is my name on the list?" They had already known me for working two or three years for them as a roving reporter, seen I think my knowledge of the game, my passion for the game, my energy that I bring to my career, and they said, "Yeah, yeah. Your name's on the list." We had an audition basically to submit the deal, and obviously it went well enough for me, and here I am, 12 going on 13 seasons later. John Boccacino: The only host of NFL RedZone. It's fantastic. And it really does seem like it's a great fit. You are, I can tell just off the first couple of minutes, high octane, high energy, and I love the fact that you're watching the Patriots play at Foxboro And you're still thinking about, "Well, what's happened with Peyton Manning? What's happening with AP?" Has that always been the way your brain functions, where it's multitasking, and it's not just one thing at a time? Scott Hanson: Yeah, that's a good question. My mom will tell you, "Yes," because when I was named host of NFL RedZone, the first episode was coming up. So we're talking September of 2009. And I called my mom up and she had known that I was taking a different role with NFL Media, but I was like, "Mom, you've got to watch this show. This show, if we do it right, if I do it right, if we do it right, it is going to be a galactic success." So she was like, my mom could care less about football other than when I played, she would always be there and watching the games and root me on like a great parent would. And I did the first show and I called her up after the show, and I'm like, "Mom, mom, what'd you think?" And she's like, "Well, Scott, you act like I haven't been seeing you do this your whole life." I'm like, "Really?" I'm like, "What?" She goes, "I used to watch you in the living room." Now, this was back in the day. I grew up in the eighties primarily, and there was no Sunday ticket on DirecTV. There was no... So I grew up in Michigan. So we'd have the Detroit Lions game on the main TV. Now, maybe on one of the other channels, we could get a second game. So I would wheel in my dad's TV from his den and extend a long cable and put it in. A lot of people do Scott Hanson podcast (Completed 09/09/21) Page 2 of 10 Transcript by Rev.com This transcript was exported on Sep 09, 2021 - view latest version here. that now, but back then it was like, "That was weird." I would even turn on a radio to see if I could catch a different broadcast of a different NFL game, or maybe like an all sports radio, whip around coverage, them talking about who's scoring, whatever like that. And then I'd have a newspaper and a magazine in front of me that had stats and facts and whatnot that were leading into those games. I would sit there and do all of that all at the same time. And my mom reminded me, "Scott, you used to do that all the time. That was a routine thing that you would do on an NFL Sunday." And when I was there at Syracuse, I had a great buddy of mine, Dave Donovan, he's a terrific alum of Syracuse. We were contemporaries in class together. And he and I, I was playing football, so I might have a workout in the morning. Like the day after the game, they would have a light workout for the football team. But then in the afternoon we would be free on our own free time, and him and I would drive out to a sports bar out in... Oh, goodness. I wish I could remember the name. I want to say it was called like... It might not be there at Syracuse anymore. Bleachers or something. Something like a sports bar name. Maybe in Liverpool? I can't remember exactly where it was, but we would drive out to a sports bar and we would sit there and just watch every single game. And we just ate it up at our time at Syracuse. So, yeah, I've always been kind of a multitasker. And I don't know, now we're recording this on audio, but if we also have the cameras available, I don't know if you can see over there, but that's my media wall here in my condo in Los Angeles.