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b'Al Koken on what started his career ~ \\n\\n"All because I jumped out of an airplane."\\n\\nAl Koken, Capitals Reporter and Host, NBC Sports Washington, and host Andy Ockershausen in-studio interview\\n\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tThis is a special, special treat to me on our podcast, a man, and I know that\'s a clich\\xe9 and I\'m going to say it anyway, needs no introduction, but he likes it. So I\'m going to introduce you to a wonderful, wonderful great broadcaster, Smokin\' Al Koken.\\nAl Koken:\\tWe\'re using my biblical name then? Is that what we\'re doing?\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tWho came up with the "Smokin\'"?\\nGlenn Brenner and a True Badge of Honor - "Smokin\'Al Koken"\\nAl Koken:\\tIt was given to me, and I wear it with a true badge of honor, by the late great Glenn Brenner.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tGlenn did that?\\nAl Koken:\\tWhen I was working with him at Channel 9, it was back in the day. Remember when the third-string quarterback held the clipboard, as opposed to being inactive? Glenn called me the clipboard guy. If he was on vacation, Ken Mease would go Monday through Friday, and I\'d fill in for Ken Mease. I was kind of their third guy. Back in the day when the Redskins were on CBS as opposed to Fox, after Redskin home games they would do a Redskin post-game show with Glenn in the studio, and I would be down at RFK Stadium interviewing players. During one of the broadcasts, we come back from commercial, they\'re going to come down to me, and I\'m going to interview a player. Glenn comes back and says, "All right, let\'s go back down to RFK Stadium and rejoin," and he paused. I\'m thinking, did he forget my name? He goes, "Smokin\' Al Koken." I kind of laughed, you know.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tFirst time you heard it?\\nAl Koken:\\tYeah. Of course, the next day, because it was given by Glenn Brenner, people, "Hey, Smokin\' Al Koken. Smokin\' Al Koken." That\'s how it stuck, but because it was given to me by somebody who I respect and love so much-\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tEverybody. Everybody loved Glenn.\\nAl Koken:\\tYeah, I treat that like a real badge of honor.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tOne of the things, and, this isn\'t at all for you, Koken, but it\'s important. One of the things Janice and I would really look forward to, because they were friends, was the Redskins show on Saturday night. Well, they taped it on Thursday, but John Riggins and Sonny, of course, and George. Before that it was Glenn. It was all those guys. It was about fun. It was a fun show. Stuff I\'m watching now, not fun.\\nAl Koken:\\tRight, and directed by our great friend, Ernie Baur, and produced by Ernie Baur. He was a guy who always made sure that the best of what Glenn did, which was off-the-cuff, ad libbing, as you said, having fun, that had to shine through. You couldn\'t sit there with John Riggins and Sonny Jurgensen and ask serious questions and get people to watch for 30 minutes. You had to have fun with it, and the more off-script they went, the better the show.\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tYou were right, and it doesn\'t happen anymore. But Al, you are a Missourian. You\'re from Missouri, but you\'ve gotta be shown. St. Louis. I remember you, we\'re trying to get you on the phone. They said, "Don\'t call him during the World Series. He\'s in St. Louis." That\'s was the first time I knew you were connected by a lot of things to St. Louis.\\nSt. Louis, Missouri Fan - Baseball, Football and Hockey\\nAl Koken:\\tGrew up in St. Louis, and obviously I was a huge St. Louis Baseball Cardinal fan, football fan, St. Louis Blues. That\'s where I really fell in love with hockey, seeing the St. Louis Blues for the first years of expansion. They came in 1967, and I remember my uncle had some season tickets, and going down and seeing the games, and just mesmerized. I tell everybody-\\nAndy Ockershausen:\\tYou lived in the city?\\nMovie "Back to the Future" Based on University City\\nAl Koken:\\tLived just on the edge. It\'s called University City. In fact, I\'ll give you a very quick story about University City.'