If you love what you do for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life. But what if you love what you do and the people with whom you do it?
Welcome to the world of Rece Davis, the host of ESPN’s College GameDay for both football and men’s basketball. Right, Rece?
“I really don’t like those guys and they don’t like me,” he said when asked if he has as much fun on the air as it appears. “No, I’m very fortunate to be able to work with those people.
“I draw a line between ‘friend’ and ‘friendly.’ I count those guys as friends. We know about each other’s lives. We care about each other personally. We talk about things besides work. I’ve been around (Jay) Bilas for a long time. I don’t have a better friend in the world.”
It’s currently the offseason for Davis, who is crazy busy during college football and basketball season. But he’s getting ready for another stellar season with guys like Bilas.
The guys he counts as friends are former college football or basketball players or coaches. On the football side, he teams up with Kirk Herbstreit (who played at Ohio State), Desmond Howard (Michigan) and Pat McAfee (West Virginia) among others. On the basketball court, he’s often found with Bilas (Duke), LaPhonso Ellis (Notre Dame) and Seth Greenberg (former coach at multiple Division I schools).
Often the analysts are asked to comment on their former teams, something Davis doesn’t shy away from asking. While a few people take exception to Herbstreit talking about the Buckeyes or Bilas talking about the Blue Devils, Davis thinks it’s a good fit.
“No one should expect broadcasters to be without emotion or be robotic,” he says. “What they can expect is the ability to step back and evaluate. My guys do that very well. With Kirk or Jay, I would be disappointed if they didn’t care. But they are wise enough to know they can have a rooting interest and still be fair.”
Davis is an alumnus of the University of Alabama, a school whose football program has had a long run of success. He doesn’t focus on that, at least on the air.
“It’s pretty easy, not because I’m not proud or don’t care. It’s a little different for me because I didn’t play. I tell people that my talents ran out after high school, though all my high school teammates will say that it ran out a long time before that.
“While I don’t think that disqualifies me from having an opinion, that is the one time I have to step back farther than (my colleagues) do.”
There is one exception when his allegiance to the Crimson Tide comes up…at home, especially when Alabama is playing his wife’s alma mater, Auburn University. They have a hard time watching the game together, because his son tends to root for Auburn and his daughter roots for Alabama.
Davis has spent his entire adult life in sports broadcasting, initially in local TV coverage and with ESPN since 1995. He has worked his way up at the network to his current post of hosting the lengthy pregame shows at some of college football’s and basketball’s most prestigious arenas. He’s also anchored the network’s World Cup coverage, but his favorite sports are the two sports that take most of his attention.
“I feel fortunate that I’m doing the two sports that I love the most,” he said. “Well, probably second and third. My favorite is whatever baseball team my son is playing for at the moment. I love doing the NFL Draft. The opportunity to call more games would be great.
“But I don’t have any events that stand out. If ESPN ever got the Olympics, I think every sports broadcaster would love to be an Olympics host. But I won’t feel unfulfilled if I never do that.”
Forced to choose between the two, he says his basketball buddies will be jealous.
“As exciting as it is in basketball, and I enjoy that, there’s nothing like a giant college football weekend on campus,” he said. “I think the nature of the postseason right now, those games can determine who might be able to compete for a national championship, and both teams know it going in.”
I asked Davis once what he thought he’d be doing if he weren’t in the broadcast booth. Quickly, he replied, “I don’t know. I know I wouldn’t be good at it because I’d be spending all my time thinking about sports.”
Then he got serious.
“I thought about campus ministry when I was in college,” he continued. “I want to be a good influence on people. I hope what I’m doing now has a good influence, but it certainly hasn’t been what it would have been in that role.
“You have to remember that (the decision to follow Christ) is the most important thing in your life because it’s the only thing that’s eternal. I need to remind myself of that quite often. Being a broadcaster is something I do, it’s not who I am.
“How I live out my faith and influence people is most important. You attempt to do that and fall short. There are other people on our team who are people of faith. And I’m thankful for their support. You try to do the best you can and seek forgiveness when you don’t.”