Brent Musburger's iconic 'you are looking live' catchphrase began as a nod to Vegas

Published Jan. 26, 2017 2:28 p.m. ET

Aaron Torres

The sports world got some disappointing news Wednesday when it was announced that iconic broadcaster Brent Musburger will retire at the end of this month. Musburger began calling games in 1975 and has been involved in some of the most memorable plays in American sports history. And he’s never been afraid to add his own unique – often gambling-infused – perspective to a broadcast.

And as it turns out, one of Musburger’s most famous phrases – “you are looking live” – actually has a Vegas-inspired back story.

Musburger’s former spotter Brian Movalson joined “The Audible Podcast” with Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel on Wednesday. He explained that in the days before weather reports were easily accessible by smart phone, TV or internet, ‘you are looking live’ was actually a way for gamblers to get updates on weather reports from across the country.

You can hear the audio above (around the 7:00 mark). Here is Movalson weighing in:

"‘You are looking live,’ everybody knows Brent for ‘you are looking live.’ That was an ‘NFL Today’ call, where I asked him about it. And it was basically a signal back to Vegas to say ‘you are looking live to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, and oh by the way, it’s freshly snowing, there are six inches of snow on the ground, and you may want to take the under.’

"That’s where that all came from. Back then we didn’t have the Weather Channel [or the ability] to go online to look at the hourly report for the weather. So Brent would signal to Vegas ‘you are looking live at Mile High Stadium in Denver’ or wherever it was and they’d go around the country and that was Brent’s thing to get those live shots.

"But they were there to do the game and whether it was a half hour before the game or three hours before the game, why not just give a little tease and show the climate."