NFL Jocks Tackle Broadcast "Boot Camp"

Intense Seminar Lures Players Hoping to Make Leap from NFL Athlete to Big Time Broadcaster

(CBS)  They are monstrous men - modern day warriors showing off for millions on TV every Sunday. But there's suiting up - and then there's suiting up.

The NFL calls it broadcast "boot camp," an intense four-day training program that includes 20 current or former players hoping to make the leap from NFL athlete to big time broadcaster, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor.

Glor asked Buffalo Bills back-up quarterback Gibran Hamdan if the perception that NFL players are set for life is not true.

"For a select few, maybe that is," Hamdan said. "For a guy like me, I'm definitely not going to be able to rest on my financial laurels."

Players like Hamdan are coached by a special team of on-air talent - in the makeup room and the dressing room.

Glor decided to give player Tony Wragge a few pointers on how to tie a neck tie; he also gave Hamdan his thoughts on whether he had camera-ready socks.

It's not always pretty, and it's never easy.

"You know, I think back on my problems, when I first came on TV, looking at the wrong camera and, saying the wrong thing," says former quarterback and current broadcaster Ron Jaworski. "There's a lot of good, funny things that happen along the way, but it happens to everybody."

Which is why these players, used to being in the end zone, are getting respect for stepping out of their comfort zone.

"I admire them because they're so accustomed to being cheered and applauded and getting kudos," says CBS Sports broadcaster James Brown. "They are literally exposing themselves to a brand new venture."

What is tougher: playing football or broadcasting?

"Wow, that's a tough question," says would-be broadcaster La'Roi Glover.

With the average NFL career just shorter than a presidential term, being a Monday morning quarterback doesn't look so bad after all.

[formrusmcsgt]

Just what we need...more meat-headed atheletes trying to give us "insightful' analysis.....

[Ichabod09]

Is anyone watching broadcast television anymore? The deluge of advertising on broadcast has made the internet the place to go for entertainment.

[rondivoo]

I'm with you there except now, the Internet is deluging us with advertising. The news comes more and more via videos which always start out with a commercial. Tell me it isn't so!!!