While the Arizona Cardinals and Washington Redskins warmed up before their game at FedEx Field on Sept. 21, much of the attention in the south end zone was focused on a hefty fellow big enough to pass for a lineman if not for the black golf shirt and black sunglasses.
Tony Siragusa - “Goose,” that is - was getting ready for the Fox telecast - or at least trying hard to. Fans with field passes pressed him for autographs and photo opportunities. A chatty, 345-pound, blue-collar Jersey and Baltimore guy who looks as if he could play nose tackle in the NFL or a thug on “The Sopranos” - both of which he, in fact, did - Goose was happy to accommodate.
“If I’m not having a good time, I’m not doing what I want to do,” he said.
But fun has its limits. In about 30 minutes, Siragusa would appear before millions of people, and he needed to get ready. “I gotta work,” he pleaded, whistling sharply and waving his arms in a “that’s enough” motion.
He walked to a monitor in the front row of the too-close end-zone seats and resumed preparing for his job as an analyst along with play-by-play man Kenny Albert and Daryl “Moose” Johnston, another jock-turned-analyst. It’s the Moose and Goose Show. But unlike any other NFL analyst, Siragusa works not in the booth but on the field, almost always in one of the end zones with his monitors and a Telestrator. He is quick to point out that he is not, contrary to what many believe, a sideline reporter. That’s a different species altogether and a label he abhors.
“A lot of people think, ’Oh, you’re a sideline reporter,’” he said, making the words sound like a grievous insult. “That’s a big misconception. I’m an analyst. I don’t report. I’m not reporting on stuff that happened Wednesday. I couldn’t care less. My focus is on what’s happening right now in the game. Why are things happening and what they could do better to change what’s happening.”
Said Albert: “The typical sideline reporter does injury reports and might interject a couple of story lines along the way. The difference is that Goose, as an analyst, can jump in at any time. He controls his own microphone.”
Although the idea is starting to catch on in college broadcasts, Siragusa, who returns to FedEx with Johnston and Albert for Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams, is the only NFL analyst who works outside the booth. And it’s not because the booth is so small (although it has been considered).
“I think we’re revolutionizing the way we analyze NFL games,” he said. “I’ve done a couple of games up there [in the booth], and you don’t get the same vantage point as you do in the end zone. Me being down on the field, I can give people at home a better idea of what’s going on.
“It’s like a crossfire. You’re looking at it from the sideline. You can’t see the holes opening. I can. You have someone looking from the sideline and someone looking from the end zone, [and] you have both perspectives. I can see everything that’s happening.”
But not without some obstacles. According to Siragusa and other Fox people, the end zone area at FedEx is among the most difficult in the league to negotiate from a TV standpoint (not to mention being dangerous to the players). The distance from the end line to the front row of seats is only about six feet.
“This is probably the least amount of room we have in the league,” said Siragusa’s on-field producer, Lou Tribuiani.
“A tough stadium,” Siragusa said. “As far as doing a game, it’s the worst there is. … They keep putting more and more seats in, so we don’t have the room and flexibility we need.”
Siragusa was an undrafted free agent out of Pittsburgh who clogged the defensive line for 12 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens. He was a key part of the Ravens’ defense in 2000, one of the toughest ever, which carried the team to a Super Bowl championship. As such, Siragusa likes to examine the intricacies of line play.
But he watches the other positions, too. During a playoff game in Green Bay last year he said he picked up quarterback Brett Favre giving his receiver an almost imperceptible look when breaking the huddle, and what appeared to be a running play turned out to be a pass. Siragusa saw it coming.
Yet the key difference of Siragusa’s field position might be more about atmosphere than X’s and O’s. Beyond getting a better sense of crowd noise, he said he can sense when a team is flat like the St. Louis Rams were in their Week 1 blowout loss in Philadelphia - “The wind was out of ’em early,” - and changes in momentum.
“It’s one thing you can’t see,” he said. “You gotta feel it.”
Said Johnston, the former Dallas Cowboys fullback: “He’s able to tangibly feel the emotional swings on the field. It’s something you’re never going to explain to a viewer [from the booth].”
Other than when the camera switches to Siragusa or Johnston cues him on the air, there is no audio or visual signal that lets Siragusa know when to talk. He is, in essence, flying blind. After Albert calls a play, Siragusa has “a second and a half” to determine whether Johnston will say something, Siragusa said. If not, he knows he can jump in.
Said Fox producer Barry Landis: “He has a remarkable feel for when to get in and when to get out.”
Siragusa, who started with Fox in 2004, has varied interests, all based on his outsize personality and physique. He appeared in several “Sopranos” episodes as a bodyguard and in the 2002 Spike Lee film “25th Hour” as a Russian bad guy. He does a show on the DIY Network called “Man Caves,” which is about building what is advertised as “the ultimate guys’ hangout.” He owns six restaurants in his native New Jersey and a business that makes Goose’s Baby Back Ribs.
Siragusa ballooned to 440 pounds after he retired following the 2001 season, but thanks to a noninvasive surgical procedure, he is back to his playing weight. Still, he remains a very big man. When he performed the Lambeau Leap during a Packers game, he needed a trampoline.
“You don’t see guys over 300 pounds doing the Lambeau Leap,” he explained, “and I was wondering why. Well, the wall is, like, five feet high. People don’t understand.”
Clearly, that was no job for a sideline reporter.
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