CBS Sports’ Joe Musso caught David Kaplan’s eye long before Musso caught the eye of CBS.
Musso, a Chicago native who grew up in the Galewood neighborhood, played wide receiver at Illinois Wesleyan on the same football team as Kaplan’s stepson Garret Laflamme.
“He reminded me of [former Bears receiver] Tom Waddle,” said Kaplan, then a host at Comcast SportsNet Chicago. “He was not the fastest but the toughest. This guy would take a hit. I said, I wanna meet that dude.”
Musso wanted to meet Kaplan, too, but for a different reason. He wanted to be a broadcaster.
“I went up to him at a tailgate and said, I’m really interested in getting into the business,” Musso said. “He goes, You’re my intern this summer.”
In 2011, Musso interned at CSN, jumpstarting a career that now has him at CBS Sports, where he’s hosting “Scorecard,” a PGA post-round show that debuted this year and will air after each round of the PGA Championship this week on CBS Sports HQ, the Golf on CBS YouTube channel and Paramount+.
After graduating, Musso worked at CSN as a production assistant, connecting with talents such as Pat Boyle, Chuck Garfien and Sarah Kustok. But he was itching to work on the other side of the camera.
“I’m enjoying being a part of this, but I think I want to do that version of it,” Musso said of his thinking at the time. “How much fun it looked like they were having. We’re talking about Blackhawks Cup runs, the Cubs trending toward being something.”
After attending Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Musso worked at CBS affiliates in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California, before joining the nascent CBS Sports HQ in 2019. A passionate golfer, he worked to put his stamp on the channel’s golf coverage.
That led to “Scorecard,” which is a casual, comfortable and informative watch.
“I feel like myself and Shane Bacon, who even before being co-host, have been golf buddies,” Musso said. “So I think that like the conversation started well before the show started, which has allowed us to hit the ground running.
“One of our executives said, The show made me wanna crack a beer and watch it with you guys. That’s exactly what we’re going for.”
Kaplan was impressed with Musso’s work as an intern 15 years ago. He’s even more so now.
“Joe has ‘it,’ ” Kaplan said. “If I were a news director in Chicago looking for a sportscaster, that’d be the first call I’d make.”