With summer now in full swing, CBS Sports’ TIM BRANDO finally has some spare time to catch his breath. From August through April, Brando can be seen hosting “College Football Today,” calling NCAA basketball or hosting his daily "Tim Brando Show." With the Shreveport, La., resident getting a relatively free weekend, he is excited about spending some much-needed time with his family, but also getting in some work for the upcoming college football season -- and maybe sleeping in a bit.
FAMILY TIME: I put a premium on spending time with TERRI (his wife) and the girls because I’m gone so many weekends. Whatever they want to do. Whether it’s at home or going someplace or meeting up with them. If it’s just my wife and me, we'll go on a date and do what we want to do. No matter what sporting event happens to be on, I’m still going to put them first. There aren’t many guys in my profession that can say they’ve been married to the same woman for 34 years. I’m proud of the fact that we’re still a family and we’ve been on this ride together. It takes a lot of patience and perseverance for any wife to put up with her husband being gone as much as I am.
WEDDING GUESTS: My daughter TARA is a bridesmaid in a wedding coming up in Jackson, Mississippi, and I’ll be doing that on Saturday. I have to make time every weekend, as much as possible, for my wife and my girls. On Sunday, I’ll be flying up to Charlotte to tape six weeks worth of the syndicated show that Raycom does called “Football Saturdays in the South.” It’s something I’m really happy to do and it kind of gets me in a college football mode when I’m doing that show.
HONEY-DO LIST: I have chores. I’m more apt to do them after my show on Monday -- when the golf course is closed. When it’s closed, when I say goodbye on the show, I can usually be found at Home Depot picking up either Miracle Grow or just some good old topsoil. I bring it home and dump it wherever my wife deems necessary. We had a tornado come through a couple weeks ago that tore up some of our shrubs and bushes and things, so it’s my job to go get whatever she needs and then she likes to do it herself.
YARD MARKER: I mow the lawn for myself and for my oldest daughter, TIFFANY, who lives about two-and-a-half miles from where we live. It’s a little bit like golf. It’s therapy and in this heat, you feel like you get a workout. That keeps me from having to get on the StairMaster or treadmill on Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Either the golf or me dumping the dirt or mowing the grass, that keeps me busy. Maybe it’s a southern thing that I enjoy mowing the lawn. It’s good for the soul. I have a push mower, I enjoy doing it the old-fashioned way, and I’ll continue to do that as long as my bones will allow.
BORN ON THE BAYOU: The older I get, the more we like to stay home when I’m off the road for dinner. Superior Bar & Grill in Shreveport is a nice place and we like to go a lot. As Louisianans, we love our seafood, and you will never get a shrimp fajita any better than the one you’ll get at Superior Bar & Grill. The shrimp there are to die for. They’re grilled to perfection and just really, really good. If you’re not watching the games on the big screen, you’re watching the people. Sports and people-watching tend to be enjoyable. Sometimes, in our case, we enjoy the people as much as they enjoy watching us. When you live in your hometown, it’s kind of cool.
FAIRWAYS & GREENS: At this stage in my career I think it’s nice to still have some goals. I just kind of want to be the left-hander coming out of the bullpen whenever CBS calls about golf coverage. I love golf. I live on a golf course and I’m an avid player. If I’m not playing golf, I’m probably watching golf. I’m more of a consumer of it than I am a commentator of it, but I do want to become more of a commentator of it. A lot of time the telecast ends around 5:00pm, so I’ll get out there before it’s dark.
SUMMER READING: I do this a lot in the summer and at the beach, but I’ll get every imaginable college football preview book that there is. You name it, I’ll get it. The daily stuff online is really good, but I’ll still take some time in the summer, maybe while we’re at the beach, to read Sporting News or Lindy's or Athlon or something like that before we play some backgammon on the beach. I’m big into biographies, too. Not just about sports but about entertainment.
SLEEPING IN: I usually get up early every day -- around 6:00am. On weekends, I might wake up around 6:30am, but then say, “Hey, it’s Saturday,” and get another hour and a half of sleep. I can go with four or five hours of sleep when I’m busy, but when I’m not, the idea of getting a full eight hours of sleep -- I definitely enjoy doing that.
