During a recent podcast interview, FOX Sports announcer Joe Buck admitted to partaking in tequila drinks while in the broadcast booth with Troy Aikman.
While sports fans seem to be divided over Buck as an announcer, it’s hard not to enjoy this particular anecdote. While speaking to Colin Cowherd on his new podcast network The Volume, he shared that the broadcast duo enjoys a cocktail mid-game on occasion.
Cowherd mentioned Buck and Aikman’s chemistry on-air. He compared the pair to two buddies watching a game over a glass of bourbon. That’s when Buck corrected him. He said it’s not bourbon in the booth, but tequila instead.
“We have had that glass of bourbon in the booth. Although it’s not bourbon, it’s tequila, splash of Grand Marnier and grapefruit juice,” Buck responded to Cowherd. “I went through a couple years where in the first inning of every postseason baseball game, I had the runner go get the biggest beer that the stadium sold. And I had it sitting there, and I would sip it from time to time to remind myself to relax and have fun. I’m just doing a game.”
Buck said beer was his preference before bringing the idea over to FOX football games. However, he credits the evolution of the drink to tequila to Aikman who he joked is a “man of finer tastes.” The announcer says it used to help him relax and enjoy his job. After all, he works at sporting events for a living.
“And I brought that over to football,” Buck continued. “But because Troy is a man of finer tastes, beer somehow became tequila, Grand Marnier and grapefruit juice. We haven’t done it in a long time now, but it was good for a stretch. I feel like it’s a good mental trigger to just chill and remind yourself that you’re not refueling a F-16 in mid-flight. You’re doing a sporting event, and if you treat it like anything other than that you’re doing yourself a disservice.”
Joe Buck Is Sticking with Booze, Isn’t a ‘Weed Guy’
Back in December, Joe Buck opened up about his college experience on his own podcast. Buck and co-host Oliver Hudson welcomed one of the FOX announcer’s best friends to their Daddy Issues podcast.
The Dec. 3 episode welcomed Lee Dabagia, his longtime friend dating back to their days at Indiana University. Buck says school and work kept him from partying too much in college. However, he said Dabagia lived it up during their collegiate years. Additionally, Buck admits he sort of wished his college career mirrored his good friend’s time at their university.
In fact, Buck said he lived vicariously through Dabagia for a time since he lived a far more interesting life than he did in college. Even though Buck was often busy with work, the two English majors still hung out frequently. The pair have stayed close ever since, but Buck says the two shared one key difference in their time at Indiana. Dabagia was a “weed guy” in college, and Buck was not.
“He was the opposite of me,” Joe Buck said of his friend. “He was a weed guy in college. I wasn’t a weed guy in college. I kind of lived vicariously for a semester through Lee. Saw the cool side of Indiana University. … He was kind of what I wished my college career was like. But I was working and doing all this kind of stuff during college.”
