![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/TDP-L-Broncos-Camp-RJS-106572.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRemember that scene in the movie \u201cMoneyball\u201d? The one in which Brad Pitt, playing Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, works the phones like a master pianist and lands reliever Ricardo Rincon?<\/p>\n
Armen Williams had that face once. Back in 2016. He\u2019d just signed former Broncos wideout and two-time Super Bowl champ Brandon Stokley, one of the hottest radio free agents along the Front Range, to a contract as a host with 104.3 The Fan.<\/p>\n
Williams, then The Fan\u2019s program director, had spent months in pursuit of Stokley, twisting more arms than \u201cWrestleMania XII,\u201d even getting Stokley\u2019s wife, Lana, on board.<\/p>\n
Dude was fist-pumping to himself, high-fiving the universe. At least until another former Bronco, Al \u201cBig Al\u201d Williams, walked into his office and kicked his mojo in the teeth.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long,\u201d Williams, the CU Buff turned Denver radio icon, asked the program director, \u201cdoes Stokley\u2019s contract go?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA year,\u201d Armen replied.<\/p>\n
A pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll be done by August,\u201d Big Al countered.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to realize that he\u2019s missing too much golf. He wants to play golf every day. He won\u2019t be here for more than a few months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seven years later, Stokley loves his golf. But you know what else he loves? His show. Heck, talk radio in general.<\/p>\n
And one of the most notable second acts for a former pro athlete in Denver, in a town full of pro athletes with second acts, keeps adding pages to its script.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never would\u2019ve thought I\u2019d be doing this for this long,\u201d said Stokley, who co-hosts The Fan\u2019s popular midday \u201cStokley and Zach\u201d show with Zach Bye.<\/p>\n
\u201c(But) I really do enjoy it and it\u2019s kind of fun, it\u2019s kind of keeping you involved in the sports world, especially because 90% of our stuff is local stuff, which is a lot of fun. So you kind of stay connected to the sports community here. It\u2019s been great, but no, I never would\u2019ve thought I would\u2019ve lasted this long talking sports for three hours a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
During Broncos training camp, the former receiver keeps a small notebook with him, writing down observations \u2014 what he liked, and what he didn\u2019t. Stokley takes the prep side, the homework side, seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to go back to my notes to (talk) about the things I saw in practice, good or bad,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to be prepared. If I\u2019m going to spend three hours watching practice, (it\u2019s) so I don\u2019t forget anything that\u2019s relevant.<\/p>\n
\u201cSame thing for games \u2026 I take notes throughout the game, just so I can have my reference points the next day to go back and look back at them. During (football) season, we\u2019re talking Broncos 99% of the time. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to be talking about for a few days during the week, until we transition to the next game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be good at what I do. I want to be prepared. I want to have a good show. I want it to be entertaining, but (you\u2019ve) also got to give your opinion and give your observations on what I see and what\u2019s going on out there. I feel this way, if I\u2019m writing it down, and taking notes, I can do a better job. That\u2019s what I want to do. I want to try to be good at it. I don\u2019t want to half-(expletive) it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stokley, 47, had dipped his toes in radio after his 15th and final NFL season in 2013, taking part in the league\u2019s \u201cBroadcast Bootcamp\u201d and filling in on The Fan while plotting his next professional chapter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did do a little bit of it, but not a lot of it \u2014 not enough to know, like, \u2018OK, this is what I love to do,\u201d Stokley recalled. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve done it, and then you do it for three hours, I was just exhausted. I would come home and just feel like I had finished with a football practice, mentally and physically, my voice, everything. I was probably just too fired up about everything. It just had to take some time, like anything else, to figure out how to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a player, you\u2019re used to being interviewed. And now, all of a sudden, you\u2019re the interviewer. I remember, early on, our producer, I would have him write out our questions for the day. That was very hard for me (initially): \u2018What am I going to ask?\u2019 \u2026 That took some getting used to for me. And for most athletes, they\u2019re not used to being in that spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stokley warmed to the role, and to the interviewing process. After being paired on The Fan with Denver radio veteran Sandy Clough and then Charles \u201cC.J.\u201d Johnson, things hit a new gear when Armen Williams brought Bye in from upstate New York. The two clicked like old friends off the air and playfully argued and teased like an old married couple on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both very competitive and we like the same stuff,\u201d Stokley said of Bye, who played basketball at the College of Saint Rose, a Division II program in Albany, N.Y. \u201cHe was a college athlete, so we both like to compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s the thing with radio: It\u2019s hard when you don\u2019t get along with your partner and you don\u2019t have that chemistry. You\u2019re talking for three hours, every day. I\u2019ve been fortunate to have great partners for as long as I have. That\u2019s what makes it fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
And like any successful, long-running show, it\u2019s rarely boring.<\/p>\n
In September 2018, The Fan surprised Stokley by bringing his old coach and friend, Gerald Broussard, into the studio along with Lana and their two boys in order to announce \u2014 and celebrate \u2014 Stokely’s induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just really overwhelming and just really cool how I was able to find out,\u201d Stokley recalled.<\/p>\n
At the other extreme? The Von Miller interview.<\/p>\n
Actually, it wasn\u2019t so much an interview as a series of questions with some awkward silences tacked on late.<\/p>\n
The iconic Broncos pass rusher \u2014 and former Stokley teammate \u2014 appeared on the show in October 2020, and stuff got \u2026 well, weird.<\/p>\n
When the discussion turned to his contract and his future with the Broncos, Miller\u2019s signal went quiet, then apparently cut out.<\/p>\n
When they got him back on air, the Denver defensive legend sounded terse, forcing both Stokely and Bye to pivot on the fly.<\/p>\n
Stokely said he\u2019s spoken to Miller, now with the Bills, since that exchange and \u201cI believe that we\u2019re good. \u2026 I hope that\u2019s the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s always a challenge when you\u2019re interviewing players, especially guys that you played with, and try to be professional. But sometimes, you\u2019ve got to ask the tough questions. And it\u2019s never anything personal. \u2026 It didn\u2019t go the way we had planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all look back on it just kind of laugh. No harm, no foul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armen Williams laughs, too. It\u2019s August 2023. Brandon Stokley\u2019s still here.<\/p>\n
And still giving Broncos Country a piece of his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give Big Al (crud) about it to this day,\u201d Williams said. \u201cAnd I remind him every single time: \u201cHey, remember when you told me (Stokley) was gonna quit after a few months?\u2019 Luckily, this was one time that Alfred Williams was incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n