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<\/a>By Randy \u201cThe Commish\u201d Gordon<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s strange how things happen. You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time and face sadness, unhappiness, tragedy or disaster. Or, you can be in the right place at the right time and run into happiness, elation, success and prosperity.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s called \u201cSliding Doors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how it works. You had a choice of several jobs. One offered more money than the other two. Another offered decent pay with fewer office hours required. Another offered less money than both of the others, plus longer office hours. But, they also offered better benefits, along with a promise of advancement and a career. You chose the third one. It didn\u2019t take long before you realized you made the right choice. While it hasn\u2019t been all peaches and cream, (what job is??), you\u2019ve made a living doing it. You\u2019ve paid your bills.<\/p>\n
You still enjoy doing the work. Meanwhile, the two jobs you turned down were with companies which have long since gone out of business. You were in the right place at the right time. You made the right choice. You had open doors to walk through and you chose the one best suited for you. Sliding Doors. You are sitting at a red stop light. It turns green. Instead of proceeding as one normally would do after a light changes from red to green, you look to your left. A truck is barreling through their light, which has just changed from green to red. You hit the brakes. In doing so, you just saved yourself from being torpedoed by the speeding, reckless driver. Had you not looked, then stopped.<\/p>\n
You may have been seriously injured, or even killed. One moment you are frightened, but otherwise, alive. Another moment\u2026 Sliding Doors. It was this week in 2009, when I walked out of Studio 5 at the SiriusXM studios in New York City, finished with another MMA show\u2014Fight Club\u2014which I had been hosting for the previous two years. In 2007, I heard that auditions were being held to host an MMA show at the growing satellite station, and decided to give it a shot. Although I had banned MMA some 15 years earlier, while Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, MMA\u2019s rules had changed since my departure, making it much less of a blood-letting sport, and I began following it. I entered the Fight Club auditions. While all who entered had knowledge of MMA, and many had what I call \u201cradio voices,\u201d none could say the were a former state commissioner. I got the job. Then, two years later, Sliding Doors. I was in the right place at the right time. After wrapping up another Fight Club, I thanked my Producer, Associate Producer and intern. I told them I was going to stay in the studio and finish a story I was working on. Around a half hour later, I was finished with my story.<\/p>\n
I pressed \u201cSave\u201d on my computer, packed up my notes, threw everything into my backpack, then headed to the big door to the soundproof studio. I opened the door and stepped into the hall\u2014and and a few feet in front of the path of the President and CCO of SiriusXM\u2014Scott Greenstein. \u201cHi Scott,\u201d I said. \u201cHi Randy,\u201d he said as he blew past me. Then, he threw on the brakes and stopped. He turned around and looked at me. Then he asked, \u201cRandy, were you just finishing with your MMA show?\u201d \u201cYes, Scott,\u201d I answered. \u201cFight Club.\u201d Looking at me a bit puzzled, he asked, \u201cWhy are you working here and doing an MMA show? I\u2019ve heard it and it\u2019s good, but why aren\u2019t you doing a boxing show? You are one of the top authorities of the sport. You should be doing a boxing show!\u201d I shrugged, then answered. \u201cTwo years ago, I heard there were going to be auditions for an MMA show. I came in, tried out and was hired.\u201d \u201cI get that, but you really should be doing a boxing show.\u201d Greenstein said, making a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should be doing a boxing show here, don\u2019t you think?\u201d This time, he wasn\u2019t making a statement. He was waiting for an answer. My eyes opened wide. \u201cSure, I do!\u201d I fired back, excitedly. \u201cHmm,\u201d he began. Then he asked, changing the subject, \u201cWhat is Gerry Cooney doing these days?\u201d It was confusing. First, SiriusXM\u2019s President was asking me if we should be doing a boxing show. In the next breath, he was asking what Gerry Cooney is doing. \u201cI know he lives somewhere in New Jersey with his family,\u201d I said, looking at Greenstein with wonder. \u201cDo you know him?\u201d Greenstein asked. \u201cAre you friendly with him.\u201d \u201cSure, I know him,\u201d I replied. \u201cAnd, sure, we\u2019re friendly, but it\u2019s been awhile since I\u2019ve spoken to him.\u201d \u201cYou know,\u201d said Greenstein. \u201cI have always wanted to meet Cooney. Do you think, if I sent a car for him, he\u2019d come in so I can meet him?\u201d I shrugged and said, \u201cI don\u2019t see why not.\u201d \u201cGood!\u201d he replied. \u201cI\u2019ll be in the office every day next week.<\/p>\n
See if you can get a hold of him and ask him if he could come in around 1:00 any day. If he says yes, just find out what day works for him. My office will set up the rest. Good seeing you, Randy.\u201d Greenstein turned and walked away. I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. Perplexed. One moment, the President of SiriusXM was asking me if I thought we should be doing a boxing show. The next second, he was asking me if I knew Gerry Cooney. I didn\u2019t know what was going on, but I knew I had work to do. I had to get hold of Gerry Cooney. I turned around and quickly re-entered the studio from which I had just done my MMA show in. I took out my phone and went to \u201cContacts.\u201d I searched for Gerry Cooney. There it was. I dialed it. I had no idea if the number was still a working one, or a number still being used by Cooney. In the two years I had been working at SiriusXM, I had not spoken to Gerry. The phone rang a few times. Then came a familiar voice. \u201cRandy?\u201d inquired Gerry. He had seen my name attached to the number on his phone. \u201cHi Gerry,\u201d I began. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d asked Gerry. \u201cHow nice to hear your voice. What are you doing these days.\u201d<\/p>\n
I told him about my being a show host at SiriusXM, and of the MMA show I was hosting. Then I said, \u201cGerry, listen. The President of SiriusXM is a big boxing fan. He told me has has always wanted to meet you. He said he\u2019ll be around all next week and would like to have lunch with you. He will send a car to pick you and to bring you home. Would you do it?\u201d \u201cDo you have any idea what he wants?\u201d Gerry asked me. \u201cI just think he wants to have lunch with you and meet you,\u201d I said. Gerry told me to hold on for a moment as he checked his calendar. A few moments later, he told me he was tied up on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday would work. I told him I\u2019d notify Scott Greenstein, and that Scott\u2019s office would handle the rest. I told him to text me on Wednesday when he arrived.<\/p>\n
The following Wednesday, at around 12:50pm. My phone buzzed with an incoming text message. It was from Gerry Cooney. \u201cI\u2019m downstairs at the security desk, picking up my pass.\u201d I told him to go to the 36th floor and I\u2019d meet him in the SiriusXM lobby. A few minutes later, the doors to one of our six elevators opened. Out stepped Gerry Cooney. He looked like he could wreck the heavyweight division, which was then ruled by Wladimir Klitschko. We embraced, and I said, \u201cCome on, I\u2019ll give you the 25-cent tour, then take you over to Scott Greenstein.\u201d \u201cWhat is this meeting about?\u201d Cooney asked me. \u201cHe just wants to meet you,\u201d I said, not knowing anything more. Cooney shrugged and followed me. I showed him Howard Stern\u2019s studio, the \u201cFishbowl\u201d (our big glass studio where the superstars of Hollywood, the music world and sports world are interviewed) and the biggest, most state-of-the art studios are housed. I introduced him to Christopher \u201cMad Dog\u201d Russo, the celebrity sports show host who had once been half of the famous Mike & The Mad Dog team on NY-based sports radio, WFAN. Then, it was time to meet Scott Greenstein. When we got to Greenstein\u2019s office, we looked through his see-through glass door. He was on his headset, talking on his phone. \u201cWe\u2019ll wait until he gets off,\u201d I said to Cooney. Cooney nodded. A moment later, Greenstein looked up. He smiled brightly when he saw us. He held up one finger. A moment later, he emerged from his office \u201cGerry Cooney,\u201d he said. \u201cYou are much bigger than I had pictured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he added, \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because you\u2019re standing next to Randy.\u201d We all had a good laugh. Then, he showed Gerry into his office. \u201cI\u2019ll be at my desk when you\u2019re done, Gerry,\u201d I said. \u201cOr text me when you\u2019re done.\u201d Greenstein looked at me. \u201cNo, Randy, don\u2019t leave,\u201d he said. \u201cI want you to stay.\u201d He held the door for me, too. Gerry and I sat on a large couch in Scott\u2019s beautiful office, which is complete with posters and awards from the 1996 Oscar-winning film \u201cThe English Patient\u201d, for which he was the Producer. After a few minutes of finding out about what Gerry was doing in his life, Scott asked, \u201cGerry, how\u2019d you like to do a boxing show here at SiriusXM?\u201d \u201cA boxing show?\u201d repeated Cooney in surprise. \u201cThat\u2019s right? A boxing show. A boxing talk show.\u201d With a stunned, shocked look, like a kid getting that surprise gift he never expected at holiday time, Cooney blurted, \u201cA boxing show, like with me and Larry Holmes?\u201d Scott shook his head. \u201cNo. Like with you and Randy.\u201d Both of our faces lit up. We looked at each other in total surprise. \u201cIs this for real?\u201d asked Cooney. \u201cA real show?\u201d \u201cA real show,\u201d said Scott. \u201cThe two of you will be the hosts.\u201d When we both agreed, Scott said he would turn the matter over to SiriusXM\u2019s President of Sports, Steve Cohen. \u201cI will send Steve a note. We\u2019ll have a meeting about this, Steve will call you both in, decide on a name for the show, a producer for the show and a time for the show. He\u2019ll be in touch with both of you.\u201d When we left Scott\u2019s office and I was walking Gerry to the elevator, he turned and said to me, \u201cDid you know about this?\u201d I shook my head, then told Gerry about my chance meeting with Scott in the hall one week before. Sliding Doors. Had I been one minute earlier, or one minute later, I would not have run into Scott Greenstein. He would not have asked about Gerry Cooney. I would not have called him.<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s been 11 years. Our show is technically called SiriusXM\u2019s \u201cAt the Fights,\u201d but our continually-growing audience knows us as \u201cCooney and the Commish.\u201d We playfully call ourselves \u201cThe Real Twins,\u201d in parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito\u2019s 1988 hit movie, \u201cTwins.\u201d We\u2019ve done everything we ever dreamed we would do as a radio team. We\u2019ve been ringside for title fights from Madison Square Garden to the Barclay\u2019s Center; from the T-Mobile Arena to the MGM Grand; and from the Staples Center to AT&T Stadium. We\u2019ve done our shows live from Yankee Stadium, Miami Beach and from Radio Row in Las Vegas, Dallas and Los Angeles. We\u2019ve done live boxing events for PBC Boxing, with me handling the blow-by-blow and Gerry the post-round color. We are on the air every Monday and Friday, from 6-8pm (ET), on SiriusXM\u2019s combat channel, Fight Nation, 156. During the pinstead of one hour–showsast few weeks, we have been on from 7-8pm, but that\u2019s because during the COVID-19 pandemic, we\u2019ve been doing our show on ZOOM. It took us a while to get used to using ZOOM, but now we are up-to-speed with it, and our two hour\u2014instead of one-hour shows\u2014will be returning. We goof with each other on the air, playfully yell at each other and laugh with each other. We have a longtime listening base of boxing fans and we are picking up new fans all the time. Our guests are many of the top names in the business. In recent weeks we\u2019ve had on seemingly everyone from (Bob) A(rum) to (Xander) Z(ayas), Top Rank\u2019s 17-year-old welterweight prospect, as well as everybody in between, including champions, former champions, top contenders, promoters, president\u2019s of networks, a lineup of boxing\u2019s top journalists and even some Hollywood actors. Some tell me I have been very lucky to have such a great job. Maybe I am. But I look at it as more than luck. I feel I\u2019ve been blessed with good fortune. I call it Sliding Doors.<\/p>\n
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[AdSense-A] By Randy \u201cThe Commish\u201d Gordon It\u2019s strange how things happen. You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time and face sadness, unhappiness, tragedy or disaster. Or, you can be in the right place at the right time and run into happiness, elation, success and prosperity. It\u2019s called \u201cSliding Doors.\u201d Here\u2019s how […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[22285],"class_list":["post-88733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-sliding-doors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88733"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}