[Benetti] A mammoth game in the league tonight.
Michigan trying to win itself the Big Ten with a couple of games remaining.
Minnesota here at the Barn, which they take very literally.
You have a chance, every night, to accentuate a moment.
Gets a look for Livers.
The emotional challenge.
Murphy.
The big moments.
One more!
Finds himself open and drills it, leading to a time-out, Minnesota.
[Benetti] If you told young Jason Benetti at age 13,
who was waking up and watching SportsCenter every morning
before he goes to school,
that he was gonna work for ESPN, he'd be like, "No. Like, that can't be."
You're watching the Big Ten on ESPN.
I spent a lot of time on Minor League Baseball buses.
And while I was doing that, I was doing basketball at a small school
in High Point, North Carolina, called the High Point University.
And they let me basically be as creative as I wanted to be.
I'd make some mistakes. I'd iron them out.
It was, essentially, focused practice.
[chattering]
[Benetti] The first thing I do game day
is go to shootaround, talk to the players and coaches.
[Pitino] Last game, he couldn't move.
-Tailbone? -[Pitino] Yeah, tailbone.
But he's been practicing the last two games.
The prep, day-to-day, is just about, at all times,
looking through bios, local newspaper articles, watching games.
I have these long sheets. I print them out on legal-sized paper.
They have each player, and it's a bunch of notes about each of the players.
I color-code 'em based on where they are in the standings and points per game.
There's a constant feel of "There can be more."
Like, if you wanted to never turn it off, you could never turn it off.
-Good to see you guys. -Good to see ya.
-Thanks, Richard. -Good to see ya.
-See ya next Thursday at Northwestern. -Oh, really?
-Yeah. -We'll be there. Cool.
[Benetti] Oh, no.
I got into this, and I was a radio guy because you could hide.
You grow up with a disability, people say stuff.
On ESPN, if I do a game, people are watching.
If they say something about me,
it's because they saw something that was different.
There we go.
How could I get mad about that?
That's how we perceive the world.
It's frustrating, at times, and it doesn't need to be.
It kinda is funny how I walk.
I might trip over something.
That's an opportunity for me to practice my John Cleese.
What do you want? Come on. Leave me alone.
By the way, not having a sense of humor is an absolute disease.
Torn anterior cruciate ligament.
-[chuckles] Just say ACL, dope. -A torn ACL. All right, sorry.
[Benetti] The reason I use humor as a device
is because a lot of people watch these games after a really bad day at work.
If I can make them smile twice or three times, that's the point.
If there's anything the most Disney about covering sports,
it's the smiles you can create.
What I've gotten to know about Jason is anything that I tell him
off the air is fair game on.
-...in the NBA. -I can't believe you swore me
to secrecy on that.
Look, after the Rudy Gay incident in Lincoln, yes.
It's funny.
I told him a story about, I guarded Rudy Gay
in a game over at the Target Center right down the street.
Well, of course I'm gonna bring that up. So I bring it up.
I did a good job. You know, I'm 6'8", not athletic, slow.
I wanna talk about this stuff. I wanna have some fun.
And on-air, he shoots it back like, "What would Rudy Gay say about that?
You claimed to lock him."
He's like, "What are you talking about?" In that, like, Robbie Hummel voice.
"Hey, how's it going?"
It's happened recently that he said, "I can't tell you anything."
And he doesn't mean it, I think, but he might.
You know what? It makes it fun. It makes it... you know?
It personalizes the broadcast, and he keeps you on your toes.
[Benetti] Aw.
I'd feel horrible if you did blow out your knee while filming this. [chuckles]
-Dunking with no one around? -[chuckles]
-[Benetti] Clock dwindling. -[Robbie] Good.
[Benetti] Yes, indeed. The officials say it does count.
But Minnesota is gonna lose its tenth game of the year.
It is gonna be an awesome run to the finish line in the Big Ten.
He's Robbie Hummel. I'm Jason Benetti. Our entire crew. Michigan wins. Well done.
Thanks, guys. Good job. See you next Thursday.
-See you Thursday? -See you Thursday.
-Good stuff. -Yeah. Great job.
-See you soon. -Yep.
I think the hardest part of the day is realizing that,
especially when I'm working with somebody that I just love being around,
like Robbie Hummel, that we can't do it for another week.
This job is fun at every turn.
It is fun. It's enriching. It challenges my mind.
And to know the level of excitement players create for the fans,
that's awesome to watch and be a part of.
That's the depth of human emotion.