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 The Football Diner Big Interview:
Nick Halling
interviewed by Michael E Lawrence
16/1/2008
It’s not as if you need any introduction to Nick Halling, one of the most if not the most recognisable faces in NFL broadcasting here in the UK. As Sky’s resident pundit on its weekly live shows, there’s nary a football-loving house in the land that doesn’t welcome him into their living rooms every Sunday evening.
But an introduction is what we’ll give you, because there may well be things you didn’t know about Nick Halling. You might not know, for example, that his involvement in football started with his publishing NFL season and American Bowl preview magazines in the mid 80s, before going on to edit Gridiron magazine, and later founding the weekly American Football News.
You might also not know though you might have suspected it that Nick Halling is a humble, self deprecating, and immensely helpful man who is just grateful to have been a part of the evolving NFL scene, and who credits himself with not even one zillionth of its gradual but undeniable rise to new heights of popularity in Britain.
With the 2007 season preparing its final descent to the runway, the Diner was lucky enough to have a natter with Nick about the upcoming Championship games and so, so much more
FD
Hi Nick, what are you up to this afternoon?
Nick
I’m actually at home completing my tax return it’s one of the joys of being self employed!
FD
Blimey sorry to tear you away from it. How is preparation going for the second biggest weekend of the NFL calendar, the Championship round?
Nick
It’s going well. It’s always a good week this one, because to a degree you’ve already done your prep throughout the season, you’ve covered these teams. If I did zero I could probably get by by now you know the squads, the schemes, the weaknesses and so on. And as is tradition for the conference finals weekend it’s just me and Kev in the studio, there won’t be a guest, it’ll be like going back in time! The other nice thing about the playoffs is there are fewer sideshows. You might have the question of Tony Dungy retiring, or the Jessica Simpson story, say, but mainly it’s just down to the games, we can focus on the football.
FD
We did a piece with Neil Reynolds recently in which he described the sheer amount of research he does before a broadcast do you still need to do as much as you were doing when you started a decade ago?
Nick
 First up let me say we don’t like Neil, and we don’t talk to him! I mean, he came in and won our fantasy competition first time round! No, Neil’s a fantastic guy obviously, you can see just how prepared he is. For me there’s a level of comfort now you get to know your strengths, your knowledge. 10 years ago there was a fear you could be found out as a British pundit on TV covering a US sport but now there’s no panic to cover every base, because the reality is that sooner or later a player is going pop up that you simply don’t know. Giants cornerback Geoff Pope last week was a case in point after he was signed from the practice squad December 31st. After all, each of the 32 teams has 53 players and rosters change quickly, I challenge anybody to know every single player inside out. So now, I’m accustomed to adapting to each situation. That said, when I was covering NFL Europe, I’d make certain to know at least one fact about every single player, because you do need that level of knowledge.
FD
Is it hard not to have the fan in you take over when you’re required to be objective?
Nick
I only get a little schizophrenic when the Steelers are in the playoffs! You do have to separate it out: I always go back to the Pittsburgh-Indianapolis divisional playoff game in ’06 (which the Steelers won 21-18) when Vanderjagt missed the field goal. I was virtually certifiable in the studio. But you can’t leap about when the cameras are back on, I had to go from euphoria to well, that was interesting.
FD
Ok, the playoffs having seen Indianapolis and Dallas lose and Green Bay and New England get behind early, do you think bye weeks are actually a hindrance to success?
Nick
They’re not a hindrance, I do think they can be a huge help. If you look at the stats over the years, the teams with byes have won far more games than those who have to play. This week, Dallas had been on the skids anyway that team hit a wall, they peaked too soon. The Colts were hurting and needed the rest, but as is often the case with them, they never seemed to get re-started after the break. Still, I think there’s a stronger argument to get healthy than to get hot, overall.
FD
Be fearless for us Nick who’ll win this weekend?
Nick
Fearless eh? The Patriots will win. That’s easy. I got on that bandwagon early in week seven I looked at them and realised there wasn’t going to be any letdown in the weeks that followed. No one can stop them. I don’t think San Diego will bother them, though you’ve got to credit Norv Turner, and Phil Rivers too, for winning a second playoff game. The Giants if they had a secondary I’d fancy their chances against Green Bay. But I think Lambeau and Favre and all the fairytale stuff will weave its magic.
FD
And how about the Super Bowl?
Nick
The Patriots will beat the Packers I’m going out on a limb! Saying that, that’s what I believe right now, but it could change by gameday. I always recall Super Bowl XXXVI when the Patriots played the Rams, and at the championship game stage I thought, and I said on air, the Rams will win by twenty. Then, as the game got closer, after a lot of analysis, it was clear the Patriots had a chance, and by Super Bowl Sunday I actually thought they’d win, but I’d already made my original prediction! So as of right now, Patriots, but you’ve got to think Favre he has one big game left he’s the master of improvisation and we’ll see how things change in the run up to the game.
FD
Now then, did you enjoy the Wembley game this past year?
Nick
It was kind of a strange one on the day for me it was a big moment, I remember turning to the glass in the broadcast booth and seeing the kickoff, and thinking who’d have thought this would happen! That said, I did feel a little detached from the day I wasn’t really in the heart of it being in the press box and not having been as involved as I’d like to have been in lead up. I’ve actually felt more involved during Super Bowls!
FD
Really? It looks likely there’ll be another game this year though
Nick
Yeah, I’m pretty sure there’ll be one, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t to be honest.
FD
That’s what we like to hear! All this must seem light years removed from your days at Gridiron magazine
 Nick
It’s been a long journey! I’d actually published a few NFL magazines independently which had done extremely well a pre season 1985 edition and an American Bowl preview for example before I got the job with Gridiron. The wave was about to break though there were 35,000 readers a month when I joined, but only 13,000 by the time I left as the sport’s popularity dwindled. It looked like the fad of American Football had come and gone like the skateboard or Rubik’s Cube! I’m incredibly lucky though, because I’ve been involved in broadcasting ever since, and of course there’s been a huge upswing in popularity in recent years.
FD
You must take some credit for the resurgence though
Nick
No, not at all! I’m a lucky blighter that I happened to be there at the right time. I don’t take one zillionth of the credit. All I do is to try and involve people, to help people understand it, to make it accessible to as many people as possible.
FD
You’ve interviewed and worked with lots of NFL greats over the years, do any stand out as the greatest?
Nick
There’ve been so many! One of the biggest buzzes was grabbing hold of Ronnie Lott for an interview when he was at Crystal Palace in the 90s, and him saying he’d talk to me but only if I walked with him to the locker room. Then, ten years later I was doing the World Bowl with him, and afterwards I reminded him of it when we were in the bar. I threatened to slap him for his rudeness! I was only kidding of course or I would have been in traction for the rest of the year. Don Shula to me is the man still, and I was walking with him after a training session when he threw his arm round me! It was a great conversation, he’s a charismatic guy. I’ve spoken to John Madden two or three times over the years, he’s nobody’s fool either. I met a lot of greats broadcasting NFL Europe games – one of my fondest memories was working an NFL Europe game with Cris Carter, when Jerome Bettis came up into the booth as a Steelers fan that’s about as big as it gets! I covered some games with (current Dallas OC) Jason Garrett, he’s very shrewd, a smart customer, but not stuck up or dry at all. Steve Beuerlein, Lincoln Kennedy, Bill Maas, Kevin Greene, the list goes on. Greene is a wonderful man, though he’s pretty scary!
FD
It’s a veritable who’s who! Any off camera anecdotes for us?
Nick
I was once in Barcelona covering a Dragons game for the USA Network in 1991 in the new Olympic stadium. It was the first year of the World League and I was employed as a sideline reporter. Before the game, we were rehearsing my segment – I’d even researched the Catalan for hello and welcome to Barcelona! and the director thought it’s be a great idea to put me in a traditional Spanish hat one of those black three cornered ones to give it a local flavour. So we began to rehearse it, and when we did the images would be played out on the large stadium screen. After a few times I began to notice some whistling and jeering. And the more we rehearsed it, the louder this whistling and jeering seemed to get. And then it occurred to me that it only seemed to happen whenever I appeared on the big screen. By the fourth time and there’s 25,000 people in this stadium it was getting really loud, and I realised it must be the hat. I said to the director these people are going nuts about the hat! but he was having none of it. But by the sixth time we’re doing it, it’s getting really poisonous, and suddenly people are actually starting to climb the barricades! A Dragons official rushed over saying it’s your hat! It’s associated with Seville! They thought I was mocking them by wearing it. And by now, people are actually starting to throw fruit and tomatoes at me! Well, the next time we rehearsed, as soon as I came on the stadium screen, I made a show of taking it off and throwing it away, and the place erupted into cheers! Otherwise I think there’d have been a scaffold with my effigy on it frankly
FD
We hadn’t realised sideline reporting was quite so dangerous! Alright, final couple of questions for you. First up, Nick Halling is in the Super Bowl as the quarterback of the Steelers, and it’s fourth and goal from the five with a second left on the clock. What play does he call?
Nick
Well, I’d get the backup in! I guess my dream would be to hand off to Jerome Bettis and for me somehow to make the key block that springs him to the score, just to be some small part of it!
FD
Of course. And finally then, when people look back on your career as an NFL broadcaster in the UK, what would you like your legacy to be?
Nick
 Wow, that’s a hell of a question! Many years ago as an aspiring and struggling sports journalist, I called up the Sports Editor of the Daily Telegraph with a view to covering the NFL for him. He said pretty bluntly no chance, you’re British, you’ve got to be born to that game to understand it. So the only thing I would like to be associated with is helping people see you don’t have to be American to understand and enjoy the game. It’s preposterous to suggest that nationality should preclude you from supporting. So I hope I’ll have been somebody who got the game, but who helped others get it too.
FD
Tremendous stuff! Thanks for the chinwag Nick, good luck with the final few weeks of the season. Is it back to the tax return now?
Nick
Nah, I’m going down the gym intead.
FD
Impressive! Come back to the Diner again soon
Nick
Happy too, thanks!
Sky Sports is showing the Conference Championships games plus Super Bowl XLII live and in high definition.
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