Sports Final: Bob Lobel explains why he's never watched his famous Williams, Bird, and Orr interview
BOSTON -- Bob Lobel is responsible for putting together one of the greatest sports interviews ever, welcoming Boston sports legends Ted Williams, Larry Bird, and Bobby Orr to the WBZ-TV's studio for a lengthy chat back in 1992.
Boston sports fans have likely relived that special night a number of times over the last 30 years. Even younger fans who weren't staying up late to watch Sunday night sports when it first aired have gone back to watch the momentous interview.
One person who has never watched it though? That would be Lobel himself.
"I've never watched the show," Lobel said on a special edition of Sports Final on Sunday night -- much to the amazement of Steve Burton. "Never watched the show. I'll say it one more time: I've never watched the show."
Lobel's reason is a simple one.
"Because if I watched it, I would end up being so critical of myself for not asking this question, not asking that question, not doing this follow-up. Why punish myself when the show is over and done?" he said.
Lobel does recall that Bird and Orr, who are both very shy, deferred to Williams for much of the interview.
"That's what I remember," he said. "But I have no idea what went on in that show."
But he's got a pretty interesting story on how he essentially got the Boston sports version of Mount Rushmore into the WBZ-TV studio that evening. Originally, it was just going to be Bird and Orr, "the two winter sports heroes," as Lobel called them.
"The week before that show was going on after we had talked about it on the air, John Henry Williams – Ted Williams' kid – was in the office because he was hitting on one of our interns. … It doesn't matter who … but John Henry Williams came in and said, 'I hear you're doing a show with Orr and Bird. Dad is coming into town next week, do you want him to come in and join you guys?'" Lobel recalled. "I said, 'Let me think about it.'
"It didn't take long to think about. So that's how Ted came in," he explained.
Only, Ted almost didn't come in. The morning of the interview, John Henry called up Lobel to say that his dad wasn't going to make it in.
"That Sunday morning I got a call from John Henry Williams and he said, 'Dad is sick.' I said, "Tell him no he's not. He's not sick. I don't care how sick he is, he's coming in.'
"I don't think he was sick. I think John Henry was just trying to milk me for more money. But I wasn't paying him," Lobel explained. "Know what happened? He wanted the rights of all the photographs that were taken. He's not stupid. That picture went for like $500 per framed copy. So that's what happened."
In the end, Williams made it in for the interview and the epic sitdown continues to be one of the best 45 minutes of Boston sports talk you'll ever watch. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out.
