Bentley Ready for NBC
Matthew Pickut
Saturday February 1, 2003
 Ray Bentley during his coaching days with the Destroyers Image courtesy of Mike Wright |
From the league’s perspective, Bentley will offer viewers an inside perspective similar to what former coaches offer to NFL broadcasts. “I think the one thing that they [NBC] are counting on is, having coached in this league, I know the ins and outs and all the details,” said Bentley. “I can be their expert.”
Bentley will be teamed with Mike Breen who will add Play-by-Play to his duties as the television voice of the New York Knicks on MSG. Breen also hosts "NY Hoop Beat with Mike Breen," the thrice weekly look at the NBA, featuring conversations with both the stars and the executives. He also has filled in as host of "MSG SportsDesk," the nightly sports news show, "Yankee ScoreCard" and "Knicks Gamenight," as well as assorted play-by-play duties for Big East and Atlantic 10 basketball games.
“The biggest thing is to share my love of Arena Football with the American public,” Bentley said. “The league is under-exposed and I think it’s a great game” Bentley’s love of the game is obvious and while the time off the turf has taken away from the pain in his knees, it hasn’t taken away his respect for the game.
“It’s an exciting brand of football. There are a lot of big plays,” Bentley believes, “but once I got more involved with the people who play this game… these guys aren’t millionaires, they don’t have an inflated opinion of themselves. These are guys are playing for the love of the game. It’s refreshing to me, having seen the other side of things.”
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
