 This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. No matter your life stage you can plan on Farm Bureau Health Plans for great health coverage with a sensible price tag. Visit FBHP.com. I'm Mike Keith with a very special guest from WKRN News 2 for 43 years. Bob Mueller. Nice to see you Mike. Thank you for asking me to be part of this. This is exciting. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Remember the first time I met you, January 2000, Atlanta, planted Hollywood, the Monday before Super Bowl 34, and it's one, I have a lot of memories of that week. Ice storm. The ice storm, all of it, but I'll never forget, John Dwyer asked me to be on the program you guys were doing down there, and I walk outside and there's Bob Mueller. And I'm like, what's Bob Mueller doing here? So I knew it was a big deal then. I was on the road a month that year because obviously that was the magical year of 1999. We did a special outside of Nissan's Adelphia Coliseum that turned into the Music City Miracle. We moved to Indianapolis broadcasting out in the snow and watched the Titans fans take over the stadium in Indianapolis in Peyton Manning's false dart. Then we flew to Jacksonville where Butch Bearden almost got in a fist fight with some Jacksonville fans. We win there. We do our post game in a pouring rain on the field in Jacksonville with one light, me and John Dwyer. They turn the stadium lights out on us and we're in the rain with one Klee glade on us for an hour. We finish our show soaking wet, have to run to the airport, get in a plane to fly to Atlanta where we're there for a week. That was a wild 22 days. That was an unbelievable time. So how did they, you're on the news side. How did they get you involved in all of that? We were doing a lot of the who's coming to the game. Who's the sponsors that are coming to the game? Where are some of the charity money going to? We did a lot of stuff with kids in the NFL zone. We did kind of the outside of sports aspect of it, how this Super Bowl and how this team is affecting the community of Nashville during this run. The Indianapolis thing as we go there this week I think is the forgotten part of the trip because everyone remembers the Music City Miracle Game. Everyone remembers Jacksonville. Everyone remembers the Super Bowl. But the Indianapolis thing was really a wild deal because when we arrived Saturday night. Fans everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. And I mean it was shocking. Nancy Thigpen in his white coat coming in and that the hotel room we were there when the team arrived absolutely packed with fans hanging from the rafters cheering these guys on to come in. And the stadium you remember you did the game the stadium was filled with more Titans fans than Colts fans and Peyton had at least three false starts. They did at their own state. They had to take a time out to because the crowd was too loud on offense in the first half and it was just it was an incredible experience. You and I have something in common. We both moved here from Chattanooga. Yes. And I remember when we moved here. I knew Nashville was the state capital and I knew Nashville was bigger than Chattanooga but I don't remember thinking Nashville was that much bigger or that much. Did you have the same impression when you moved here? Exact same impression. The reason I wanted to come here I was really into politics and obviously being the state capital it would be more in tune with what I was pursuing in my broadcast career. So I wanted to come cover the state capital. But yeah it was a little bit bigger. But really not much different than Chattanooga. It was kind of a quiet town with some power folks over here and nobody went downtown and that was it. Three restaurants maybe. The reason I came here was for work because I wanted to cover state politics and the first thing I covered was Lamar Alexander's gubernatorial run and got to meet Howard Baker and got to meet folks from when I was in college covering Watergate hearings hearing them on the radio and then got to meet these folks and eventually Al Gore two presidential runs so that was why I came here and it paid off for me. But you could certainly understand that twenty two day period in January two thousand and what it meant to people based on what it had been like when you came here twenty years ago. It was quite a moment. And Mike you know this too. There's Nashville before pro sports and after pro sports and it's night and day. Once the arena came we didn't have a team but then we got the team and then you know the miracle happens at the Oilers when it comes to Nashville and that actually happens. There's no comparison between when that happened and what was before that before that is not even close to what we're seeing now. All right so I want to mention Duncan here real quick because we're doing the OTP and it's always game on with Duncan so grab a coffee and kick off the action whether that's drinking a cup of coffee on your way to the game or grabbing one to go before watching the game at home. Duncan is always there to help you get your game on just like the pros like Bob Mueller. We need to be at our best come game time which is why Duncan is the most important part of your game day ritual because it's always the best call for football. America runs on Duncan. Bob Mueller. Yes. Where were you when the music city miracle happened. Well I could go 300,000 people that were in that building. I actually was in the building. I was in our suite. We had done a pregame show and my general manager was kind enough to let us come watch the game in the suite. And our suite was next to a big double suite. That big double suite belonged to Bud Adams the owner of the Tennessee Titans. And so the game progresses and with 16 seconds left Buffalo kicks the field goal and the stadium is suck dry of air. Everybody in our suite everybody in the other suite are putting stuff down and getting ready to head into the doors and people are leaving. And I'm the only one I'm sitting on a glass window with a window slide open kind of leaning halfway out of the out of the suite into the stadium. I'm going you know we got Al Del Greco if we can make a we we're not out of this yet. And then they make the kick and it's a short kick and Lorenzo Neal gets it. We see him toss back to white check what's this and there's he goes down down Kevin Dyson wide open catches up for 75 yards in the place explodes and everybody comes running back into the suites. The last person in Mr. Bud Adams. So he was not in there was not in there when it happened. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. But Adams was you saw him. I was there. He was not in the suite. They had left and they left. He was headed out. They were heading out of the suite before the kickoff that turned into the music City Miracle. They got back into the suite after the celebration. What's going on in the end zone. You have given the people something they didn't know. It's crazy. Well that's I love telling that story as somebody who spent his life in journalism and you were deep into it even at that point. Did you realize at that moment the significance of what had just happened. No. No. You know I think about what's it like to go to a Super Bowl or what this with wind means just it just means OK you're going to go play another football game or what does it mean for the city of Nashville. No. Anybody understood how that game how that the music City Miracle changed Nashville for one thing it's always going to be remembered for it. It's been replayed a thousand times and your call is fantastic. Oh thank you and Pat Brian was just fantastic. And so no I don't think anybody I think as the years have progressed we've realized what that what that one play meant to the city. Wow. When did you know you were going to Indianapolis. So we knew we had planned before the playoff before the wild card game that you know this is what we're going to do if this all have this wins we're going to go on. So we were packed and ready to go. We did our show me and John Dwyer. You know the Sunday was a Sunday or Saturday game I can't remember anymore. Buffalo game was Saturday. That's what I thought. Saturday game. And then we did that game we win. We do our post show and we're off to Indianapolis and spending a week up there snowed on us we're broadcasting in the snow outside. You know it was so exciting so much fun. Most of ever had my career. Absolutely the most fun. All these fans are so excited and Indianapolis is the bars and the restaurants are packed with Titans fans game day approaches and it's cold outside and we get inside and the place is just rocking with fans. The hardest thing about my job at that point was trying to be poised and not cheer the team in the broadcast booth because you know I'm I'm a news guy and I'm not covering the game. I'm covering other aspects of it but I can't cheer for them. So we win in Indianapolis. We do our post game. Me and Dwyer just looking each other like this is unbelievable. We didn't think we're going to leave Indianapolis with a win and head into Jacksonville and you can't beat Jacksonville three times in a row. You can't have to just can't happen and they were so cocky their fans were so they knew they were going to win and anybody who looked affiliated with the Titans was just given grief by everybody. They were pushing and shoves at Saturday nights before game parties with people like I said Bush Bears and then somebody else almost got into a fist fight and I will never forget the whooping the Titans put on Jacksonville and seeing Matthews lift that trophy and seeing that the team on the field with that trophy afterwards just going we're going to the Super Bowl the first Super Bowl for this franchise and what it meant to these players and the owners and the coaches and Jeff Fisher and everybody. People are in tears and it was just a feeling of like these guys have really accomplished something doesn't really matter what goes on from here but this is this is something that they have wanted forever and they finally got it. It made me so happy because I'll never forget all the people who had worked for the Oilers who had been close in the late 70s and early 80s the Steelers kept them out of two Super Bowls and then they had the seven straight winning seasons with Warren Moon and they went through the move and everything and they didn't want to move. You know that wasn't their idea but once they got here they realized it was a special place they came to embrace it they said man this is this is something else. You think the ownership and the Titans players and teams at that time when they came here were surprised by how they were greeted by no doubt accept it. There's no question. I mean it was a little rough going in because the stadium wasn't built yet and you were playing in Memphis and in Vanderbilt for a couple years and but once you got to the stadium it just seemed like the to the team enveloped or the city enveloped the team. It's a wave too because we've played the first game at the stadium. It's Friday night against the Falcons in the preseason we throw deep on the first play of the game and everybody's like hey this is our place and you know people thought Nissan Stadium was so special because it had chair back seats. You know that was that was the amenity it wasn't Wi-Fi and big screen and LED and at that time it's like we don't have to sit on a bench. This is fantastic. We might as well be on the Starship enterprise and then we start three and oh lose a game get to six and one lose a game get to nine and two lose a game and then when our last four and we go thirteen and three and it's been this fun year we get those to play off game well we're going to lose it's okay Buffalo's been really good and then all this stuff happens and the significance of the miracle play I contend that it's the most significant play in NFL history and here's why because we advanced from there to the Super Bowl that the immaculate reception the Steelers lost the next week now it may have been a more spectacular play maybe I don't know but the other part of it that I don't think is taken into account is what is discussed by you and that is not just the football significance but what the next 22 days meant to the franchise to the region to a generation of people my kids age your kids age who who became NFL fans in that moment it established football in a region of the country and solidified the move and we were doing once we got to Atlanta and the Super Bowl week and we were doing an extra we're doing all our newscast and we're doing an extra half an hour extra hour after the newscast from the end of the what were we the ESPN zone and our ratings we had the game we were fortunate ABC had the game that year we were our ratings were through the roof everybody in Nashville was watching you guys watching us tell the story what was going on in Atlanta through the ice storm through everything that was going on and and I'd like to know you know what was it like for you guys because I know what it was like for us it was strange because as the game is ending and it looks like it's tied they move the media we're going to the locker room so we miss Titans get going down right we were in the four years somewhere heading down to the locker room and here's the yell and we don't know what it is and then we find out what it is it's the deep past to Bruce it's the it's it's it's the the one poor defensive play we made the whole game but then we're kind of peering out and we see McNair making his run and there's no question this is going to happen and then you know Kevin Dyson on the end of that whole year from the music city miracle to one yard short and you can't believe it's over with and it just it's just like it's over it's it's over and then we you know for security reasons people were maybe taking their job a little too seriously we're trying to get out to cover to cover the they won't let us out on the field and we're we got we're going live we got to get out there we got to go we got to go finally get out there and Al Del Greco's in tears he's the first person we talked to and we're you know we're we're so proud of these guys and we know also how much it just hurts that they were this close to to you know who knows if we had one but this close to keeping the game going to give it another shot and I remember interviewing Jeff Fisher and and I've never seen him at a loss for words and he was at a loss for words was me and John were talking to him and and he just was so proud of the team and just so disappointed at the same time it's the most empty I've ever felt after anything athletic to lose a Super Bowl that way after that 22 days and we got back to the hotel and they have a post Super Bowl party Travis Tritt is performing at our post Super Bowl party and I will always be a Travis Tritt fan because he I felt like I needed to go down and go to the party my wife didn't want to go down she was worn out she says how can you do this as well they've done this nice thing for us I should go down and he stopped his said he goes listen he goes I just want you to all know how proud we are of you and you played a great game and of course you know the president called us after the games I've never heard of the president calling the losing team when we did a parade for the losing team never heard of it never heard and I've always wondered if they if it was a wrong thing to do I don't think it was I think the city was so in love with this team it was showing appreciation even though they didn't win it that they wanted to preach show the appreciation for these guys for what they did and I think the players appreciated that even even though they didn't have a Lombardi trophy right in the downtown was insane well they say and I don't know that anyone counted but it has been said that there were more people at the runner-up Super Bowl parade in Nashville than there were in St. Louis at their Super Bowl championship parade it was crazy people took their I'm from St. Louis they're not great big football fans they're better baseball right but yeah it was packed downtown well I mean we're broadcasting live obviously and the players are on the backs of convertibles coming through and people throwing confetti and there's tightness flags everywhere and there's kids everywhere and they're signing autographs as they go by the mayors down there it was it just it was a big thank you as what it was have some to go from you know we have the parade right there the first part of February and if you had gone back six months we didn't know if we were going to sell out all the games you know we had to work hard to sell out the first preseason game and then the second preseason game and then the regular season opener against Cincinnati that to me that's at the whole stage that they were going to lose that game and they pulled it out pulled it out and then the Cleveland game that followed and so then we you know when we started three and oh then we sold out a couple more games and when the record got better we we sold out the season and you know that was the goal but that was no sure thing and you look back on it now that how that changed that whole period of time and like this weekend Titans fans are going to go to Indianapolis next weekend thousands of Titans fans are going to London and what we're talking about almost 25 years ago set the stage for it is which is really crazy anything like it I don't I'd have to talk to other people in the broadcast in other cities but I've never seen it was like a college atmosphere it was like tailgating from going to college games that everybody who was a Titans fan they got in the buses they got in their cars they got into planes and followed the team and that just doesn't happen a whole lot in the NFL on a regular basis and you think about Kevin Dyson and what a great guy we I'm actually friends with Kevin and I talked to him about this all the time and give him grief anyone you are short and he low he takes it in but he's a he's the book in for the whole for the whole year he's the book in for the whole year and he's an interesting story because he's the miracle guy he well he's the guy who got picked before Randy Moss he I know that oh yeah he's the miracle guy he's the one yard short guy he's the guy who has what was on its way to being a great career sort of short-circuited because of a very strange injury that happened in practice and now he's principal at he's doctor Kevin Dyson doctor Kevin Dyson and you think about the impact of all of that in a 25-year period in who this person is as part of this community in all these ways and he chose to stay here and be part of this community which so many former Titans have there are so many former Titans you know this who live here and call this place home because they feel so welcomed when during their playing days and and even afterwards and you know people still go up and see these Keith Bullock and you know you name it there that live here or visit here and are still part of this community we did I don't know if you saw the reaction to Keith Bullock on Sunday I did it was crazy it was rock star crazy and then he stayed out firing he is Mr. Monday night but what he means to people what Eddie George means to people in so many different ways you had football coach how great is that I mean can you imagine being one of those players playing for Eddie George was sunplayed at Vanderbilt and he chose to come back here and you know he becomes an actor and he does all the things he I mean he's Eddie George yeah he's the beast he is and then Steve McNair um the tragedy of the Titans you know I was on a golf course with Neil or in my morning anchor when I got the call just you've got to be kidding me and well I didn't believe it was true you know what and then we're on the air and then it's just it's just got awful it was just a terrible terrible day and I lost my father that same week oh just a few days later it was it was a terrible week for me yeah I didn't know Steve very well I'd met him a couple times but the man that he was uh in the way that he died and it was just awful it's just awful and I know it must have been just crushing for the franchise well you're in the bed MGM studio we're glad you're here Bob Mueller uh but we've got a picture of Steve McNair in the corner and everyone who comes in has to go see that picture because he is he's the heart and soul and losing him was crushing and then how Eddie Eddie George decided to take the mantle of being the lead Titan he's the chairman of the board he's the he's the guy that steps forward when you have to have it of that part of the family it's been it's been heartbreaking and at the same time gratifying to watch what has come through that because I don't think Eddie really wanted that yeah I agree with you I think he was a great player and a great representative for the Titans in the city but you know I think he was a more quiet guy than Steve was uh Steve would never backed away from a question would tell you exactly what he thought but yeah and liked being the leader of the team all right I got to read this for our friends at Seat Geek the now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans the deal is finalized and Seat Geek is the newest member of the Titans family if you haven't heard the name yet get used to it because you'll be hearing it a lot more through the 2023 season whether you're buying or selling tickets to Titans games or any live event in Nashville Seat Geek is the place to do it Seat Geek the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans so Titans fans can fan your you probably go back to your to your start seeing a guy do libraries right good stuff good stuff all right so I want to ask you this week with Bob Mueller yeah thanks on Sundays how long has that been on I started that show in 2006 okay so there was a big Senate race Bob Corker and Harold Ford Jr and that was the start of the show I had done one in the 80s and 90s for a while but that one's been going on since 2006 very good show thank you especially if you're a political science graduate like I am so well done I think it's important not just as my show I think it's I think a people of a community want to hear from their elected officials and there are not enough venues and that's why I do it I think it's important for people to hear to folks who they vote for who they vote against that their opinions what they're doing for their for their constituents what they're doing for the community what they're not doing for the community and that that's really why I do it and it's often forgotten too that there is a public service aspect in responsibility with a radio station or television station and a lot of our great Titans radio stations have those sorts of programs and I hope it'll always continue well I appreciate that it's kind of my baby I write it produce it book the guests to do it all it's really good it is really really well done um as that guy what was a bigger accomplishment for the organization getting the first stadium deal done or getting the second stadium deal done well I think the second stadium deal really I do I you know I know I was here during you know the vote that was going to happen it was never not going to pass it was that was not going to happen they were they were not going to deny an NFL franchise to come to Nashville I was never afraid of that I know that there was a lot of folks that spent a lot of time campaigning and if you look at the result I mean it blew it out it was it was a big win I think this is difficult was more difficult because the political aspect of the country has changed since 1998 so I think that's why it was more difficult that and 285 million as opposed to 2.1 billion is a big difference but I think the positive that that didn't happen for whatever reason what with the titan stadium that's there currently is that this is not just the stadium this is river north oracle what the city is going to this is the east bank will be unrecognizable in five years there's going to be a whole new community walking bridges maybe a marina parks this isn't just about the titan stadium this time this is about a whole development of public public private monies that are coming in there that's going to transform the city that's why I think it's more important and was harder than the first one well the other aspect of it too is in the first one nashville had no leverage no they they they had to do it or they didn't and this time around it was said let's change how metros portion of this is going to be paid for and I think that was fair yeah with the hotel motel and with you know the sales tax issues around there and to see you know what this place is going to be is exciting I'm thrilled it's staying in the same I'm footprint too because I love that we have the stadium where we do yeah I I know you can't but I think where the stadium is now is actually a better site than where the new one is going to be I think love looking over the roof I know I know you can't just tear it down a bill because you got to play somewhere but it's going to be gorgeous it's going to I think that if it comes out like the the renditions are people are going to love this thing and I was rooting for a retractable roof because I think I think the the temperatures and the and the climate here are perfect for but we've got translucent and there's going to be open on the sides of it so I think we're we're close to being able it's going to feel outdoors I think we were all for retractable but when they did the research seeing how rarely you use it I mean just for the cost like a half a billion oh it's crazy yeah it's crazy do you know that they could have done a retractable roof on Arrowhead in 1971 no for $25 million that it was crazy at the time there was a roof they could have slid back and forth between the baseball stadium and the football stadium and so there you know they're actually been designed in this way and we're going to go to Indianapolis this weekend who knows whether they'll have the roof open or not and it's a process if you like I kind of decide to do it and it takes a while to get it open so I the the thing that I'm I'm excited about a lot of things about the new stadium but the terraces to that's going to give Bob Mueller the chance to look over downtown and look over the river are you surprised and I know it's because partially because of the footprint that it's actually going to be a little smaller than the Sun Stadium no no not at all the design I mean I think the the leagues I don't mantra is not right but sort of a lot smaller but a little bit well they wanted to go 55 and the Titans do we couldn't go to 55 we had to stay in the 60s but what's happened Bob is the change in the public's feeling about like the upper deck yep and that's why you're going to see the the upper deck be at least in part sort of the party deck where people can hang out people have changed how they use tickets how they use the stadium and I think that's going to be fun because my kids would certainly buy a ticket on the party deck and stand there with their friends and eat the food and drink the drink and and go out on the terrace tracks a different audience it attracts a different audience and you know Burke Nyhill has said it consistently and that is we have to give 15 16 17 different experiences we're now at Nissan Stadium you get about four and that's that's life yeah well yeah I'm looking forward to it's going to be it's going to be an experience when that stadium is up and running this has been an experience to have you here thanks for doing this and I was thinking about anybody who follows you on any of your socials or oh me on my my boat and my skiing well we know you're an active guy you were an athlete growing up and so getting a chance to talk sports for the news guys kind of I love I you know when I was in college I like I said I tried to play some baseball wasn't quite good enough but I did get to do play-by-play for baseball for football and kind of soccer and basketball and I absolutely am envious of you I think it's why did you give it up I think it's the most fun because in the 70s when I was graduating getting in it was when they first started hiring people that were former athletes and that it was a big trend and they weren't really everybody was kind of going in that route so I went to new and I love news I'm a big news guy but by far of everything I've done the years I was in college doing baseball play-by-play for the most fun I've ever had I love doing baseball play-by-play it's pretty great it's so much fun sitting in the stands doing play-by-play well you go to the park you stand around during BP and you talk into the to the manager or whoever you're talking to the guy I mean it's just it is the leisurely game that when it goes in the seventh or eighth inning when it really goes it's very exciting and baseball to me is is the hard sport you got to be a storyteller you to be really hard good baseball announcer it is there's a lot of downtime and you don't want to you don't just fill it with stats need to fill it with personality need to fill it with something that's going to keep an audience well and the part of it too that's very complicated in calling baseball is you're you're talking about the hot dog you ate and the experience you have and then a guy hits one in the gap and you go from slow slow slow to really fast and it's a it's hard to keep up that pace and keep up with everything but the guys who do it well are they're the best I was a big jack buck fan jack buck and harry carry of the day jack buck spoke at my high school senior football graduation bankwood got a picture with him when I'm 17 years old he was you know he was my hero he was such a good announcer I know he and harry were together but he and mike shannon yeah oh yeah Mike you know I remember we went to Atlanta to a game in 1992 and buck and shannon you know the one of the big reasons I wanted to go is I wanted to see them in the booth so I brought my binoculars and by the second inning it was filled with smoke and we could see the beer cooler I mean they were they were old school man yes they were they were working on some marboras and some it's a bud wiser it was a different time it was a different time man and thank you for doing this absolutely thank you for joining the Snickers hot seat do I get a snickers in the road oh well yeah I'm taking that there you go bob muhler news two 43 years congratulations on a great career I appreciate it come back and do this again I'd love to thanks for the invitation all right for bob muhler I'm Mike Keith thanking you for joining us for the OTP