Reid, Goldstein discuss being sidelined by TV rules. And how 12-team college playoff works

Eric Reid and Steve Goldstein have gone from the emotional apex of calling the most memorable and exhilarating and stunning first-round playoff series in Heat and Panthers history to ostensibly being second-round spectators.

“It’s the only downside of the TV play-by-play job in the NBA; in the biggest games your team plays, you are not doing your job,” Reid said of NBA broadcast rules that give national networks exclusivity beginning in the second round.

Those same rules apply to the NHL.

So that means instead of listening to Reid and Goldstein call their teams’ second-round games this week (alongside John Crotty and Randy Moller), we’ll hear national voices including Steve Levy (who’s announcing Game 1 of the Panthers-Toronto series for ESPN) and Ian Eagle, who’s working Game 2 of Heat-Knicks series for TNT.

The Heat and Panthers have never had a more delightfully surprising first round of the playoffs, with both teams ousting heavily favored top seeds.

So is the letdown greater this year?

“It’s always hard to have to take the exit ramp after the first round,” Reid said. “This year it’s particularly painful because there’s no place I enjoy doing games more than Madison Square Garden. It’s a building I grew up in. I miss not being there and doing it. But I am enjoying our team’s success.”

Like Reid, Goldstein is heavily involved in Bally’s postgame coverage after all the games.

Unlike Reid, Goldstein is still on the road with the team - at least for the first two games of the Toronto series. “I’m happy to be involved in some level,” said Goldstein, who called his 1000th Panthers game this season.

Reid is in his 32nd season as the team’s TV play-by-play voice, Goldstein his 16th (he also did two years on radio). Both were at their best during the first round, delivering calls worthy of the moment.

“Heat-Bucks was uniquely special,” Reid said. “I looked at each one of our first round series in our history. The first round series I would even hold close was 1996 against the Bulls.... More surprising than eliminating Milwaukee in five games was the way we did it. We’re the best offense in the NBA in the playoffs, 120 points per game, close to 50 percent on threes. It’s a stunning reversal. It was building over the last 15 to 20 games.

“Our role players – Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love and Gabe Vincent -- have all had great moments. But to watch Jimmy [Butler] dominate in an old-school high-IQ, unselfish way has been one of the great joys.”

Goldstein’s final play-by-play call this season was his narration of perhaps the most memorable goal in franchise history - the Carter Verhaeghe overtime Game 7 winner in Boston - followed by his signature “let’s go home baby!” punctuation to game-ending scores. But when Goldstein awoke Monday, there was no wistfulness about relinquishing the play-by-play microphone.

“It was 100 percent joy,” he said. “I don’t look at it as a letdown. The way they won it was awesome to call. This team has only gone to the second round three times ever. They’ve done it back to back years. The thrill of calling Game 6 at home was the most fun I’ve ever had doing a game in that building.”

Reid actually is still calling the games, but with an audience of essential nobody.

Several years ago, Heat director of broadcast services Ed Filomia suggested that Reid call all the national-network-exclusive playoff games so that team-produced audio could be used on social media and on-line clips and be stored in the franchise’s broadcast archives.

So Reid and Crotty called Sunday’s Heat-Knicks Game 1 from Bally’s Fort Lauderdale studios, and will announce Game 3 from Kaseya Center on Saturday.

“It’s not drudgery; I enjoy it,” Reid said. “For years, Tommy Tighe did it with me and since John joined me, John has been doing it with me. Once we start, you’ll forget it’s fake - we approach it like it’s real.

“One of the greatest moments of my broadcast life came in a fake broadcast where Bam [Adebayo] blocked Jason Tatum’s dunk [in the 2020 Orlando bubble] and I jumped out of my seat. John looked at me like, ‘Is this guy crazy?’”

Anchoring the postgame shows is “not the same joy I get from doing games,” Reid said. “But I do enjoy the challenges of doing playoff postgame shows. It’s great to be joined by my partner the last five years [Crotty] and a great friend of 35 years, Ron Rothstein. Ron is the Jack Ramsey of today, a great coach with grandfatherly warmth.”

For Reid and Goldstein, it is about appreciating what they have in this round, not lamenting what they don’t.

“There is no good time in life to be selfish,” Reid said. “As an NBA broadcaster, the worst time to ever let selfishness creep into your mind is now. I’m always happy when my team advances and I’m grateful the organization has come up with a meaningful role for me in postseason.”

PLAYOFF NOTES

▪ Per Nielsen, 8.3 percent of Dade/Broward homes with TV sets tuned in Heat-Knicks Game 1 on ABC on Sunday. Panthers-Bruins Game 7 on Sunday night drew a combined 3.4 percent in Dade/Broward (Bally Sports Florida and TNT), with 4.5 percent watching the overtime. Dolphins games typically are in the 10 to 13 range.

▪ Not surprisingly, the final games of the Heat and Panthers’ first-round series were the most-watched games of the year for each team on Bally.

▪ TNT’s coverage of Game 7 of the Panthers-Bruins drew 3.2 million viewers nationally, making it the most watched first round game all time on cable and the most watched first round game on any network since a Boston-Washington game in 2012.

▪ Legendary Hubie Brown, still razor sharp at 89, calls Saturday’s Game 3 of Heat-Knicks with Dave Pasch on ABC at 3:30.

▪Panthers games in this round will be on a combination of ESPN, TNT and TBS.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF ANNOUNCEMENT

The NCAA announced dates for its first-ever 12-team college football playoff – beginning in December 2024 - and here’s how it will work:

The 12-team playoff field will include the six conference champions that the committee has ranked the highest, plus the six highest-ranked teams that aren’t among the conference champions.

The No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds will be the four top-ranked conference champions and they will get a first-round bye. The No. 5 through No. 12 seeds will be the remaining eight teams, and they will play in the first round.

The NCAA is determined to avoid NFL scheduling conflicts.

So the four first-round playoff games will be held with one game on the campus of the higher seed on Friday night, Dec. 20, 2024, and three games on the campus of the higher seed on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024.

As for the quarterfinals, one game will be played on New Year’s Eve (a Tuesday) and three will be played on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025 at bowl sites - Atlanta, New Orleans, Pasadena and Glendale, Ariz.

The semifinals will be held Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 (in Miami Gardens) and Friday, Jan. 10 (Dallas). A combined six NFL wild card games will be played on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The championship will be Monday, Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

The 2025/26 playoff dates also were announced and also will have eight out of 11 games on weekdays to avoid NFL conflicts.

Incidentally, the NFL is targeting Thursday, May 11 to announce the 2023 regular season schedule, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.