In his first “NFL on Fox” broadcast with a new partner, Adam Amin had no chance of mistaking his analyst’s first name.
After four years working with Mark Schlereth, Amin called the Saints-49ers preseason game Sunday with Mark Sanchez. For never having worked together, Amin came away feeling good about their prospects.
“It felt pretty natural, and it felt easy,” Amin said. “Not just with us, but with the people in the truck, our crew and Kristina [Pink] on the field. When I got home, I gave Mark a call, and both of us felt, if that’s our starting point, I feel really good about how we’re going to get along.”
Bears fans will see for themselves Sept. 8, when Amin and Sanchez call the Titans-Bears season opener at Soldier Field. In fact, Fox viewers will see more of Amin in the years ahead after he renewed his multiyear contract with the network this summer. He also reupped with the Bulls as their TV voice, keeping him on board when they move to the Chicago Sports Network on Oct. 1.
Amin and Sanchez came together after Fox hired Tom Brady to be the analyst on its top crew alongside Kevin Burkhardt. That moved former lead analyst Greg Olsen to the No. 2 crew with Joe Davis. Fox promoted Sanchez to the No. 3 crew with Amin, moving Schlereth to the sixth team with Chris Myers. Schlereth’s focus is shifting to FS1’s studio programming.
Working with Sanchez will be a different experience for Amin. Schlereth is the grizzled former offensive lineman and Sanchez the former hotshot quarterback. The biggest difference will be in age. Schlereth, 58, is a generation apart from Amin, who’s only one month younger than Sanchez, 37.
“I’ve never worked with a quarterback my own age before,” Amin said. “When I was in my 20s and early 30s, those quarterbacks are typically still playing. Mark finished playing a few years back and jumped into this really naturally. I was thrilled to work with a contemporary for the first time at this level.
“But I was sad because Schlereth and I had grown a partnership for four years. But that’s also the business. I got used to that at ESPN because I had a different analyst on college football just about every year. So I knew I was capable of handling whatever change they were making.”
Amin said fellow Fox broadcaster Kevin Kugler had wonderful things to say about Sanchez after working with him the last few years. And upon learning of the pairing, “SportsCenter” anchor and mutual friend Kevin Negandhi texted both, saying they’re going to love working together.
They’re learning how to do just that. Amin said the two talk a lot on the phone with the goal of talking with each other as opposed to at each other, which should translate on the air. They’re also getting to know each other personally. After a Fox seminar in mid-July outside of Los Angeles, Sanchez invited the crew to his home in the area for lunch and some time at the beach.
One similarity between Schlereth and Sanchez that Amin enjoys is their pop-culture references. Though their reference points are different, Amin said they share a depth of knowledge to be able to bring up, for example, movies or music during broadcasts.
“[Sanchez] dropped an E40 reference,” Amin said of the Bay Area rapper. “We were at the [Saints-49ers game] on Sunday, and he drops a ‘Tell Me When to Go.’ That’s right in my wheelhouse. I work with guys like that. [Bulls analyst] Stacey King is a pop-culture-reference machine. That’s how I’ve got used to that.”
As part of his deal with Fox, Amin will continue to call an MLB division series. In October, he’ll be joined by Adam Wainwright and A.J. Pierzynski for whichever the network deems as the B series (Joe Davis and John Smoltz will call the other series).
“Three-man booths are hard to come by because you’re hoping for the chemistry,” Amin said. “The chemistry part for us I don’t think is a concern at all. Those guys are super easy to work with. I’ve got great relationships with both of them, having worked with them for the better part of four years.”
With the MLB and NFL schedules beginning to overlap, Amin is getting closer to the time of year when his calendar grease board looks like a popular restaurant’s reservation list. He moved into a new home in River North last month, and he’s deciding on a place to hang his “board of death.”
“I bought a place for the first time, so I’m figuring out where that’s going to go,” he said. “The specter that is looming over my schedule, that board of all the events that we cover. That’ll be coming up soon.”
• FS1 finally revealed its new daily show lineup, which includes Danny Parkins, the former afternoon co-host on The Score. Parkins will appear on the two-hour “Breakfast Ball” with Craig Carton and Mark Schlereth from New York. The show will debut at 11 a.m. Monday before moving to its regular time slot at 7 a.m. beginning Sept. 3.
• MLB Network’s documentary on Greg Maddux, “One Of A Kind,” will premiere at 7 p.m. Sunday. It includes commentary from former Cubs teammate Rick Sutcliffe, who discusses Maddux’s struggles early in his career.
