Joe Buck chose the bird in the hand as opposed to the goat in the pasture.
Buck spoke with Meadowlark Media’s Jon “Stugotz” Weiner and Mike Ryan in Tahoe over the weekend. Buck and Troy Aikman have left Fox Sports for ESPN. Buck was asked about Tom Brady joining Fox Sports (on a deal The Post’s Andrew Marchand reported as being worth 10 years and a total of $375 million) when he eventually retires.
“They floated that to me before I left, and I didn’t think it was completely realistic,” Buck said of potentially being paired with Brady, who presumably had not officially signed yet at the time Buck decided to leave for ESPN. “I’m still not 100 percent sure.”
Ryan interjected that we don’t really know when Brady will actually retire.
“Yeah, when is that?” Buck asked.
“Then it becomes a job. There are a lot of people who have just been phenomenal players, wonderful people, smart, can talk — and then you just have to see. I expect him to be great because he’s great at everything.”
Buck proceeded to explain why he wanted to stick with Aikman.
“But I think what you said before, with staying with Troy, it’s a known quantity for me at 53 years old at a place that’s now got Super Bowls. I’d rather take the known person and someone I enjoy working with,” Buck said.
Buck added he was excited to “get out of the way” of Joe Davis and Kevin Burkhardt, who are replacing him on Fox’s top MLB and NFL announce teams.
He also noted that he will now be working alongside his wife, Michelle Beisner-Buck, who does features for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” coverage — the two will be going from being apart throughout much of football season to together for all of it.
“It dawned on us that we’re actually gonna have no time apart. I don’t know what this is going to do for my marriage and our relationship, but we’ll just have to roll the dice and hope that it makes it stronger — instead of ending it,” Buck deadpanned.
