If you’re a longtime viewer of CBS Sports football broadcasts, you might be in for a surprise when the 2017 season kicks off.
Sportscaster James Brown, host of The NFL Today, has radically transformed his body, dropping 74 pounds over the past 10 months, giving his 6’5” frame a lean look.
Brown went from around 290 pounds in October 2016, to around 218 pounds in June 2017, according to the Washington Post.
Brown previously had struggles with his weight, and lost 40 pounds in 2010 (per The New York Times), but this weight change was even more impressive.
Take a look:
Left: Grant Halverson/Getty Images, Right: @JasonRomano / Twitter
Left: Grant Halverson/Getty Images, Right: @JasonRomano / Twitter
Brown spoke with writer Jason Romano on the Sports Spectrum podcast, describing the inspiration for his current weight loss. All of it stemmed from some light weight shaming from Brown’s colleague Howie Long.
“You know, I had been battling this for quite some time,” Brown said on the podcast. “I would always tease and say when I started doing football . . . [that] I really threw myself into the job. And Howie Long, my colleague at Fox, used to tease with a bunch of his buddies, asking, ‘Man, what line did he play on? I mean, he obviously played for somebody.’ So I was trying to look the part, until Howie told me I looked like a swollen tick. That was not a good compliment.”
“Athletes, don’t they engage in — as much of an oxymoron as it is — they engage in negative incentive,” Brown continued. “And I remember when I was working out — and I had been doing it religiously for a few years, trying to get down — and I came into the studio one Sunday and I was all excited because that week I had lost five pounds. Howie looked at me, he didn’t crack a smile, didn’t give me a vote of encouragement at all, he said ‘That’s like taking a cup of water out of the Atlantic Ocean. Talk to me when you’ve really lost some weight.’”
Feel inspired by Brown’s weight loss and body transformation?
