"Dan:" "We really got nine hockey segments tonight?" "Casey:" "Three shootouts, two penalty shots, Stef an LeCourier..." "" " Jerome will be happy." "" " Who's Jerome?" "" " Jerome." "" " Right." "" " He'll be happy." "" " Yeah." "" " Sur e." "" " Who is he?" "" " Jerome?" "" " Right." "I'm talking about Jerome." "You can say his name as many times as you like." "I'm still not gonna know who he is." "" " Camera two." "" " What about it?" "He's the camera operator." "Who?" "Ar e you pr epar ed to do a broadcast right now?" "Yeah." "The camera guy." "What about him?" "Is Jerome." "Jerome is the camera operator on number two." "[ Snaps fingers ] And he likes hockey." "Now you'r e with it." "Will: 60 seconds to VTR, two minutes live." "All right, her e's a change." "We'r e flip-flopping the Virginia Slims quarterfinals and the IOC meeting." "" " Kill 23." "" " I never had 23." "Then you won't miss it much." "Jer emy, tell me what's happening in Chattanooga." "Tell me quickly." "Tell me succinctly -- bullet points." "[ Snaps fingers ] We'r e on the air in less than two minutes, so don't give me a Valedictory addr ess." "Talk to me as if I'm a small child." "Tell me what's happening in Chattanooga." "I don't know what's happening in Chattanooga." "Okay, tell me a little mor e than that." "I think, as a New Year's r esolution, you should r e-dedicate yourself to the idea that this is a team." "You play f or a team -- a team with many players." "" " And you think I should learn their names." "" " I think it'd be nice." "" " I agr ee." "" " See, a team's made up of a group of individuals..." "" " You're gonna keep talking anyway?" " individuals who f orsake their own individual needs to pursue a common goal -- the team goal." "In our case, the goal is a nightly national television show." "I'm saying I know the guy's name now." "Will:" "Roll VTR." "60 seconds, live." "Show me Tokyo." "Show me the Chyron on 4." " 4 is up." "" " You've got Tokyo." "That was Brian in Chattanooga." "All right, tell me what he knows -- bullet points." "I can f eed it right to Casey and put it in the tease." "Casey, stand by, I'm gonna fill the tease." "What does he know?" "" " He doesn't know anything." "" " Stop standing by, Casey." "What's going on?" "There was an incident at Tennessee Western involving some black athletes and a Conf ederate flag." "" " What happened?" "" " We don't know." "Dave:" "In 3...2..." "Good evening." "From New York City," "I'm Casey McCall alongside Dan Rydell." "Those stories, plus we'll head out to the Hoosier Dome wher e Bobby Knight's done a little interior decorating, and we'll leave room f or mor e hockey than you can shake a big stick at." "We'll bring you the thrill of victory and the agony of def eat and, because we've got soccer highlights, the sheer pointlessness of a zero-zero tie." "You'r e watching "Sports Night" on CSC, so stick around." "We're out." "Back in 60." "What's going on in Chattanooga?" "We don't know." "" " We don't know?" "" " We don't know." "" " We don't know anything?" "" " We don't know much." "But, f undamentally, we'r e still a news-gathering organization, right?" "Sur e." "" " Then what's the problem?" "" " We'r e not very good." "That's what I thought." "Comin' back on Dan in 3...2..." "Woman:" "Dan, Casey, back to you in the studio." "Thank you, Kelly Kirkpatrick, in Gr een Bay." "You look cold." "Put some clothes on." "Hey, f olks, look outside." "Tinsel, mistletoe..." "It can only mean one thing." "Casey." "Play of the year." "Play o' the year." "Our crack staff has been debating the subject, and we'll bring you our choice on New Year's Eve, but we want to hear f rom you, so if you've got a play of the year," "or just go on over to Casey's apartment and knock on the door anytime." "That's all f or us." "You've been watching "Sports Night" on CSC." "We'll see you tomorrow." "Good night." "" " Music." "" " Go." "" " Animation." "" " Go." "And we'r e out." "Camera wrap -- 12:06." "So, what are you planning on cooking tomorrow morning?" "I'm not cooking." "It's not a cooking show." "" " Ar e you sur e?" "" " It's a news show." " "The View"?" "" " Yeah." "The one with Barbara Walters and the f our women who cook?" "They don't cook." "It's a news show." "" " Who ar e the other guests?" "" " It's just me and another guy." "" " Who's the other guy?" "" " You'r e havin' a good time, ar en't you?" "" " Who's the other guy?" "" " It's Wolf gang Puck!" "You want a piece of me?" "No, but thanks." "You know, it wouldn't kill you to go out ther e and do a little pr ess." "I've been grounded, r emember?" "How long's the network got you in the penalty box?" "No public statements f or six months." "" " You want me to talk to somebody?" "" " No." "" " I can." "" " I'm perf ectly happy just doing my job and keeping my mouth shut." "I don't need to give interviews." "I don't even want to give interviews." "I'm happy f or the chance to not give interviews." "" " You don't want me to talk to 'em?" "" " No." "" " Okay." "" " Talk to 'em." "" " Danny..." "" " I need to give interviews." "I like to give interviews." "It's the only chance I get to talk to a huge group of total strangers." "" " Ex cept f or that hour every night you'r e on television." "" " That's right." "" " I'll talk to 'em." "Dana:" "Hey." "" " Knock 'em dead on the cooking show tomorrow." "" " Thank you." "[ Laughs ]" "[ Cheers and applause ]" "And welcome back to "The View."" "We ar e talking with Casey McCall, co-host of "Sports Night, "" "which can be seen every night at 11:00 P.M. on CSC." "Yes, with my partner, Dan Rydell, who couldn't be her e this morning." "Hope he has a good ex cuse." "" " Yes, uh, he likes to sleep late." "" " Good enough." "Bef or e we went to commercial, you wer e saying that you and, uh, Dan write together." "Yes." "How does that work?" "Well, I take the nouns and verbs." "Danny handles the adjectives and pr epositions, and, uh, anything with an umlaut, we toss a coin." "Now, Casey, you know we can't let you go without asking you about those ties." "Ah, the ties." "The f amous neckties." "Now, listen up, ladies." "You're single, right?" "" " Yes, I'm r ecently divorced." "" " Well, I think you should know that a man who knows how to dr ess himself is a very sexy thing." "Which is why so many of us ar e drawn to Carrot Top." "Debbie:" "Absolutely." "All right, if you're a sports f an or just like neckties, don't miss "Sports Night"" "with Dan Rydell and our guest, Casey McCall, every night at 11:00 on CSC." "We'll be right back after this." "[ Cheers and applause ] Thank you." "Thank you very much." "By the way, in the memos that are circulating, we'r e spelling Chattanooga about 14 diff er ent ways." "Now what do we know?" "Two O's, thr ee A's." "" " That's it?" "" " No, there are other letters, too." "" " But sur ely that's not what you meant." "" " No." "Roland Shepard is a tailback f rom a small town in western Tennessee called Tipolo -- one "T," one "L."" "He rode the bench f or two years, and then two weeks ago, he won the starting job when Lillias went down with a torn ACL." "He rushed f or 218 yards in his first game, 273 yards in his second." "That 2-game total's a conference record, by the way." "He scored four touchdowns on the ground, two of them against the third-ranked rushing def ense in the nation." "He also caught a pass f or a touchdown and ran a punt back f or a touchdown." "He's carrying a 3.3 GPA with a major in chemical engineering, and the engineering department at Tennessee Western is f or r eal." "" " So what's going on?" "" " They're gonna kick him out of school." "They'r e threatening to kick him out of school." "" " The Conf ederate flag?" "" " Yeah." "They fly the flag outside the stadium?" "" " Yeah." "" " Also, students wave 'em in the stands." "Nothing you can do about that." "Yeah, but outside the stadium, that's the school." "Anyway, there'll be a press conference at 3:00." "We have it on satellite." "The rumor is Roland won't play unless the school takes the flag down." "The school's gonna announce that Roland is suspended f rom the team, as a r esult of which his scholarship will be r evoked, as a r esult of which Roland will go back and pump gas in Tipolo, Tennessee." "Dan, be on the pr ess conf er ence." "Meantime, I need to hear some plays of the year by the end of the day." "Thank you." "Back her e at 6:00." "Danny, I need to talk to you." "Good, 'cause I need to talk to you, too." "Who should go first?" "Since I don't r eally car e what you have to say, I think it should be me." "Fair enough." "Luther Sachs has taken a special inter est in that situation in Chattanooga." "" " He's an alumnus." "" " He's got a couple of buildings named after him." "" " Yeah, he's a hell of a guy." "" " He's a Southerner." "Luther Sachs is German." "He's a Southerner f or thr ee generations." "Faulkner was a Southerner." "Faulkner was a Southern gentleman." "Ther e's a diff er ence?" "The diff er ence, Danny, is all the diff er ence." "So, what does Luther want?" "A piece on Southern gentlemen, the Southern tradition -- the Southern tradition in sports, in cultur e, in history." "" " All symbolized by the Conf ederate flag." "" " You learn f ast." "" " You really want to do this?" "" " No." "" " Then don't." "" " There are days, Danny," " when I'm just too tir ed to fight that man." "" " You gotta let us know when it's one of those days, and we'll fight him f or you." "You gotta stop thinking of me as the champion of all things black." "Now, listen up, ladies." "You'r e single, right?" "" " Yes, I'm r ecently divorced." "" " Well, I think you should know that a man who knows how to dr ess himself is a very sexy thing." "Which is why so many of us are drawn to Carrot Top." "Debbie:" "Absolutely." "[ Knock on door ] All right, if you're a sports f an or -- " " Ex cuse me, Mr. McCall?" "" " Yeah?" "I'm sorry." "Is this a bad time?" "" " For what?" "" " I'd like to ask you a question, but if you'r e pr eparing the show, if this is a bad time, I can " " I can come back." "What's your question?" "Well, uh..." "what's my name?" "What's your name?" "Yes." "Um... what ar e we doing right now?" "If this is a bad time, I can just come " "I'm sorry." "I'm not very good at r emembering names." "Who was the number-two man on the Boston Red Sox staff in 1977?" "It was Ferguson Jenkins." "My name is Monica." "I'm the assistant wardrobe supervisor f or "Sports Night"" "as well as two other shows her e at CSC." "I think you hurt the f eelings of the woman I work f or." "Her name is Maur een, and she's been working her e since the day you started." "Well, I know Maur een." "Can I ask you a-another question?" "I'm sorry I didn't know your name." "" " Do you know what color this is?" "" " Well, it's gray." "It's called gunmetal." "Gray has mor e ivory in it." "Gunmetal has mor e blue." "Can you tell me which of these shirts you should wear it with?" "[ Chuckles ] l-I don't know." "No, you don't." "Ther e's no r eason why you should." "You'r e not expected to know what shirt goes with what suit or how a color in a necktie can pick up your eyes." "You'r e not expected to know what -- what's gonna clash with what Dan's wearing or what pattern's gonna bleed when Dave changes the lighting." "Mr. McCall, you get so much attention and so much praise f or what you actually do, and all of it's deserved." "When you go on a talk show and get complimented on something you didn't, how hard would it be to say, "That's not me." ""That's a woman named Maur een who's been working f or us since the first day." ""It's Maur een who dr esses me every night, and without Maur een, I wouldn't know gunmetal f rom a hole in the ground"?" "Do you have any idea what that would've meant to her?" "[ Sighs ] Do you have any idea how many times she would've played that tape f or her husband and her kids?" "I know " "I know this is when it starts to get busy f or you." "I hope I didn't take up too much of your time." "[ Exhales deeply ]" "Please don't tell Maureen I spoke to you." "She'd be pr etty mad at me." "I won't..." "Monica." "Elliott:" "We need a plan." "" " We definitely need a plan." "" " We need a plan." "Her e's what we'r e gonna do -- we'r e gonna make a list of all the sports moments that ar e potential plays of the year." "Then we'r e gonna list the pros, and then we'r e gonna list the "cons."" "Why do women like making lists?" "" " Women don't like making lists." "" " Yes, they do." "They'r e never quite so happy as when they'r e making themselves a little list." "You ever think about why you make lists?" "It's so I can cross things off it." "You ever think about why you've got so much crap in your wallet?" "I save my r eceipts." "You save f ortunes f rom Chinese r estaurants." " [ Clears throat ] Can we work now?" "" " Well, I think we should." "But Natalie's gonna want to list the pros and the cons." "" " Women's ice hockey." "" " You're kidding." "The U.S. women's team won the first Olympic gold medal in ice hockey, and there were over 4, 000 f ans in the arena to see them do it." "They beat a bunch of Slovakian cocktail waitresses, and ther e wer e over 4,000 people at my cousin Jacob's bar mitzvah." "[ Laughs ] What do you got?" "Mark McGwir e hits 70." "It's a little obvious." "Our goal isn't to be cunning, is it?" "Can we keep this organized?" "Pros and cons." "Well, the pro is he broke an unbr eakable r ecord, and the con is Kim likes women's ice hockey." "" " What's next?" "" " Jeff Gordon." "" " No." "" " Why?" " 'Cause it's NASCAR, and who gives a damn?" "" " Who gives a damn?" "" " How many people give a good damn?" "Well, it's the world's most popular sport, so probably mor e than 4,000." "" " Next." "" " All right." "Austrian skier Herman Maier." "" " Pros." "" " He got up f rom one of the most horrific accidents in Olympic history and won the gold medal two days later." "" " Cons." "" " It's downhill skiing." "" " And?" "" " Who gives a damn?" "It was very important to my parents and to their parents that I be the first in my f amily to attend college." "But I can't imagine that any of them would feel anything but shame and humiliation at the sight of me playing f ootball under that flag." "I wish no disrespect to my school, my fellow students, or my teammates." "I'll answer any questions you have at this point." "What do you think's gonna happen to him?" "[ TV volume decr eases ]" "I keep watching it over and over." "I think it's all I've done today." "Shepard will get picked up by another team." "I'd imagine." "The thing is, six of his teammates stepped down, too -- six of them -- two of them white and none of them starters." "They're the ones who are gonna have some trouble." "What'd you come in to tell me?" "I wrote the piece." "I'll tell Luther to watch it." "It takes the position the Conf ederate flag is a symbol of a cultur e -- a cultur e with a gr eat tradition of literatur e and art," " music and architectur e, gr eat statesmen." "" " That's crap." "" " So why ar e you telling me to write it?" "" " I'm not telling you to do anything." "I think we'r e all pr etty surprised you'r e not doing a commentary yourself." "What's going on?" "" " Nothing's going on." "" " What's going on, Isaac?" "[ Sighs ]" "I don't want to make this into a big deal." "You don't want to make what into a big deal?" "Luther's been looking f or an opportunity to fir e me." "He has been f or about six months." "" " Ar e you sur e?" "'Cause I think you'r e wrong." "" " No." "" " I'm not." "" " He has a lot of respect for you, Isaac, and while I may not like the guy, he's sur e no idiot." "I like my lif e right now." "I've never been happier." "I used to pick fights with management twice a day, just like you." "They wanted to fire me, that was fine." "Ther e was always someone who wanted to hir e me." "That's not the way it is now." "Luther can hire someone half my age to do my job." "I like my lif e right now, and I'm proud of this show." "I can't believe it." "I come in her e with you talking about those six players who stood by Roland Shepard, and you don't have the same r espect f or the people who work f or you?" "You don't think if Luther ever showed you the door ther e wouldn't be about a hundr ed people lined up right behind you?" "There's something real bad going on in Chattanooga, Isaac, and Luther can fix it." "And you know it." "Tell Dana to throw this one out of the rundown." "Tell her you'r e gonna do a 2-minute editorial." "Not this time." "Okay." "Yeah." "Uh, Danny..." "Don't tell anyone about what I said." "Sur e." "60 seconds to VTR." "Two minutes, live." "The Yankees win the World Series." "That was a big shock after they won 114 games." "What is it with this element of surprise you people ar e looking f or?" "You know what we'r e f orgetting?" "" " What?" "" " Michael Jordan and the Bulls win the NBA championship." "Yeah, ther e's something that doesn't happen a lot." "What do you guys think?" "" " Us?" "" " Yeah, what do you think?" "" " About what?" "" " Play of the year." "We'r e eight days away." "" " I hadn't r eally -- " " What do you think?" "We'r e studio technicians." "" " Yes, we know." "" " These are editorial questions." "Yes, we want to hear what you have to say." "" " Really?" "" " Go ahead." "There are no wrong answers." "Nothing's too stupid to suggest." "Ex cept women's ice hockey, but Kim pr etty much has that cover ed." "So what do you think?" "" " You r eally want to know?" "" " Absolutely." "Mark O'Meara winning two majors." "" " Cal Ripken ending the str eak." "" " Peyton Manning." "Well, that was a colossal waste of time." "Good evening." "Isaac, I haven't seen you all night." "Dana, I hate to do this to you on such short notice, but I'd like a couple of minutes of airtime tonight." "" " Really?" "" " If you need to make some room," "I believe you can dump that piece that Danny was planning on doing." "I don't think he'll mind." "No, I don't believe he will." "He said something to you, didn't he?" "Will... get Isaac wir ed up." "Sur e." "Earlier in the show, we told you about Roland Shepard and the six other players who wer e dropped f rom their team and then their school f or r ef using to play f ootball under the Conf ederate flag." "Her e's Isaac Jaff ee, managing editor of "Sports Night,"" "with an editorial comment." "Isaac?" "Thank you, Casey." "Exaudio, comperio, conloquor." "That's a Latin phrase that translates..." ""To listen, to learn, to speak."" "Those words ar e carved into the stone arches that f orm the entrance to the undergraduate library at Tennessee Western University." "This afternoon, an extraordinary young man named Roland Shepard made what had to have been an ex cruciating decision." "He said he wasn't playing f ootball under a Conf ederate flag." "Six of his teammates then chose not to let Shepard stand alone." "And I choose to join them at this moment." "In the history of the South, ther e's much to celebrate." "And that flag is a desecration of all of it." "It's a banner of hatr ed and separatism." "It's a banner of ignorance and violence and a war that pitted brother against brother, and to ask young black men and women, young Jewish men and women, Asians, Native Americans, to ask Americans to walk beneath its shadow" "is a humiliation of irr educible proportions." "And we all know it." "Tennessee Western has produced some outstanding alumni in the last hundred years, people of wisdom and vision, str ength and compassion." "One of them is Luther Sachs." "Luther Sachs owns Continental Corp, which owns the Continental Sports Channel, which you'r e watching right now." "Luther Sachs is a generous alumni contributor to Tennessee Western with a considerable influence over its chancellor, Davis Blake, and its board of trustees." "Luther, you've got a phone call to make." "You've got to call Chancellor Blake and tell him to take down that flag or he can stop looking f or your checks in the mail." "You've got to put these young men back in a classroom, and I mean pronto." "These boys ar e gonna make you proud one day, Luther." "I challenge you to do the right thing -- not an unr easonable r equest to make of a man whose alma mater declar es," ""Exaudio, comperio, conloquor" -- to listen, to learn, to speak." "In the meantime, God go with you, Roland Shepard, and you six Southern gentlemen of Tennessee." "God's not done with any of you yet." "That was our managing editor, Isaac Jaff ee." "We'll be back." "We're out." "[ Applause ]" "You can bring it, boss." "You know I could kiss you on the mouth right now, right?" "[ Laughs ] Then stay over ther e." "I could get very physical with you right now." "Danny..." "I'm having some very kooky thoughts her e." "[ Indistinct talking ]" "" " Thank you all." "" " Isaac..." "I can't even -- that was..." " l-I mean..." "" " All right!" "We've lost radio contact with Dana." "[ Laughter ]" "" " Isaac..." "" " Yes?" "No kidding -- play of the year." "Thank you, Jer emy." "Isaac?" "Showtime?" "Luther Sachs on line 4." "Hey, Isaac..." "Yes?" "Right behind ya." "Back in 10." "It was " " I've never..." "[ Sighs ]" "I mean, I'm serious." "That was just..." "In 3...2..." "That's all f or tonight, but bef or e we sign off, we f elt that with Christmas only a f ew days off and with people making up lists and checking them twice, it was as good a time as any to mention some people" "who ar e important to us her e at the show." "It seems that quite a f ew of you, f or instance, like the way Dan and I dr ess on the air, and you should know that we'r e dr essed by Maur een Gates and Joseph Roveto." "Maur een and Joseph ar e assisted by a young woman named Monica Brazelton, and Monica is not to be trifled with." "Our camera operators ar e Ray," "Wayne, Bruce, John, and Jerome, who wishes we'd do mor e f eatur es on hockey." "Not gonna happen, Jerome." "Every time I pick up a pencil or put down a coff ee mug, that's Jody Mann and her trusty aid John Frantz, and if you've ever wonder ed what a gaff er was or a best boy," "you should ask Keith and Mark." "We've got some people who don't get paid much, but that's okay, 'cause the hours ar e terrible." "They'r e our P.A.s, and their names ar e" "Laur en, Victoria, Jake, Lee, Ashley, and Brad." "This is a script." "Dan and I write it." "And then two people come along and put it together so that we can also r ead it." "Their names ar e Joan and Chris, and they, us, and everyone else her e ar e pr etty much at the mercy of the script supervisor, Carol McKechnie, who's got a little thing f or me, and I think it's time she admits it." "" " Keri Mclntyr e..." "" " Nicole Burke..." "" " Shawn Hanley..." "" " Jeff Wheat..." "" " Mark Johnson..." "" " Cajun..." "" " Cajun..." "" " How 'bout Skip Cook?" "" " How 'bout Phil Heath?" "" " How 'bout Karen, Julie, and Angela in makeup?" "How 'bout Br enda, Cammy, and Jody in hair?" "We've got film on this show." "You know who cuts it?" "Janet Ashikaga." "Know who her assistant is?" "Laura the wonderf ul." "We've just named a small f raction of the people who put this show on television, which means we've left out many mor e, and we'll try and r ectify that as we head towards December 25th." "But f or now, I'm Casey McCall alongside Dan Rydell wishing everyone in your home, along with everyone her e at my home, a very happy Christmas." "Good night, everyone." "[ Rock music plays ]"