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Tavis: It's always a pleasure to see my friend James Brown, J.B., the Emmy-winning host of 'Fox NFL Sunday.' He'll be working this Thanksgiving, as he always does, I guess, as part of Fox's football coverage. He's now in his--10 years?

James Brown: 11th season.

Tavis: Golly.

James: Yeah, tell me about it. But you can stay with 10. I can live with that, so...

Tavis: Glad to see you, J.B. How you been, man?

James: You're still too young. No wrinkles, no sweat.

Tavis: Man, please, I'm 40 and pushin' this year. You look great, except for this, uh...

James: Yeah, yeah.

Tavis: Tell--OK--

James: Not as nimble as I used to be.

Tavis: What's the true story? The true story!

James: I picked up my barber's kids from daycare.

Tavis: OK.

James: Going up the stairs of the school, their book bags in either hand, missed the first step, Tavis, rolled my foot. Oh, it hurt like all get-out. The kids turned around, 'Mr. Brown, you OK?' They were laughing at me. Next day, when I had it x-rayed, fracture of the fifth metatarsal, broken in two places. Now, the guys on Fox are always on me about losing weight. Howie Long said I made a midnight run to the refrigerator, opened up the door, and a pound cake fell on this. But, hey, what can I do?

Tavis: That story is a great story because our producer, Neal Kendall, was telling the story before we came on the air about how he worked with you years ago in his early, first TV gig, he worked with you on a project. He said J.B. knew in a matter of minutes everybody's name on the set, and I raise that because you have this reputation, well-deserved--I know this firsthand--of being the nicest guy in all of television. I mean, you are... Tom Hanks, they say, is the nicest guy in Hollywood. J.B. is the nicest guy in television. Why you gonna pick up your barb--you're like, you're J.B.! Why you picking up your barber's kids?

James: If it will lead me to the point of having a paycheck like Tom Hanks, I'll continue to do that, let me tell you.

Tavis: But you're picking up your barber's kids, J.B.

James: He's a buddy. You know, he had a client in the chair, and because I can't be regular, based on a schedule like yours, he squeezed me in and asked me, because he had another client coming in, could I pick the kids up? I said absolutely. But you know, sometimes, Tavis, it's interesting, hearing that 'nicest guy in TV' sometimes sounds like it's a death sentence, if you will, but, gosh, what's wrong with being very personable and engaging with folks? And in terms of learning the crewmembers, first year with Fox, Terry Bradshaw is calling everybody Bob or Bub. And I said, 'Terry, they got names. Everybody's not from Louisiana, OK?' So I made them wear nametags, so Terry, at least in the 11th year, just about has everybody's name down. Absolutely.

Tavis: But that is so antithetical to what we get from so many athletes, and indeed--I don't want to bag on athletes-- celebrities, who we don't feel oftentimes are people that we'd necessarily like to hang out with.

James: Mm-hmm. You know what? That may be true, but I learned a long time ago--First of all, my mother wouldn't have that. My mother's 5'5', I call her the sergeant--Mary Ann Brown--runs the family with a iron fist. My father, God rest his soul, died many years ago. But her whole thing was people skills, interpersonal skills will carry you a long way in life if you're engaging with folks because at the end of the day, it is all about relationships, no matter what the industry is, and I've never forgotten that.

Tavis: Let's talk some football, shall we?

James: All right.

Tavis: So, tomorrow...

James: You might know more than I do.

Tavis: No, I doubt that. Tomorrow, big day, Thanksgiving. Big games tomorrow, but one of the games--Dallas and...

James: Chicago. Yeah, not a great match-up of teams this year as it's shaken out, although Chicago with Lovie Smith, African American coach who's taking care of business with the Bears, has them on a nice path right now. Right now, their special teams and defense is doing the job. Most of the talk is about the Dallas Cowboys and why it is that they're struggling right now.

Tavis: They're 3-and-7 now?

James: Yes, indeed, and folks are thinking that because Bill Parcells, older coach, and Joe Gibbs, coming out of retirement, maybe the game has passed them by. Believe me, nothing's further from the truth. Football's just a little tougher these days because of the business of football. Free agent movement, salary cap restrictions, makes it tough to develop some continuity year after year.

Tavis: But I saw the other day--and, again, you know stuff better than I do--but I was looking at a list the other day in the paper, and I've been a Cowboys fan for years. Looking at their draft picks for the last 8 years...

James: Good point.

Tavis: They ain't done so good on those draft picks, J.B. That ain't the business of football. That's bad drafting.

James: Which means my colleague in the 'Fox NFL Sunday' studios, Jimmy Johnson, did a remarkable job when he was there. It really is a gift, a skill, and Jimmy Johnson is perhaps one of the very best who ever had been in the game at evaluating talent. And they've been hurt in that category over the past 5 or 6 years, I would say.

Tavis: What do you make of the fact that you do now have--you mentioned Lovie Smith in Chicago, so there are some African Americans now starting to get a shot--not nearly enough--but starting to get a shot in this game called football. As an African American who sits in the lead chair every Sunday, is too much made of race in granting or not granting opportunities?

James: Great question, Tavis. I would hope that we are rapidly getting to the point where we don't have to bring that up, embellish that if you will. We're not there yet in terms of positions on the field, head coaching positions, coordinators, and especially in the front office, decision-influencing positions and decision-making positions. We're still far, far away from accomplishing that objective. We're getting there. Hopefully, it'll happen a little quicker.

Tavis: Let me throw out some other things. I don't get a chance to see you often enough.

James: I'm ready for questions.

Tavis: I love you dearly.

James: Thank you.

Tavis: When a guy goes to Harvard, you can throw a wide array of stuff at him.

James: Hey, your good friend Cornel West? You know, my roommate? Has to stay on top of him.

Tavis: That's like a great story here. There are, like, three people who I know very well who were all roommates at Harvard: J.B., who turned out to be J.B., ‘The Man' on Fox; Cornel West, the eminent professor, was J.B.'s roommate at Harvard when J.B. played basketball there.

James: He was deep into the books. I was out shooting hoops.

Tavis: Ha ha ha! And another brother named Sylvester Monroe, who went to be a great writer for Time magazine.

James: Absolutely.

Tavis: The three of y'all were roommates at Harvard.

James: And the thing that we had in common, we had the serious Afros. I had so much hair on my head, Tavis, I'd have to give you the comb to kind of get the back of it. Muttonchop sideburns. True story: when I went to IBM for an interview-- After I didn't realize my dream of playing professional basketball-- I went over to IBM--and I tell this story so often--Tavis, nobody talked to me about the proper attire. I had this humongous Afro, thick muttonchop sideburns, velvet blue bow tie, powder-blue shirt, plaid blue suit, thick stack-heeled shoes, and I'm going over for an interview looking like this.

Tavis: Looking like Superfly.

James: And the only reason the guy interviewed me is because he knew this bigwig Clifford Alexander, secretary of the Army in the Carter administration. He pulled me to the side and read me the riot act and told me not to ever go anyplace looking like that, because I'd be given a perfunctory interview and bounced out of the door. So I've been wearing a shirt and tie ever since.

Tavis: You look a lot better on Fox thanks to Mr. Alexander's advice about haberdashery.

James: Which is why Terry, Howie, and Jimmy won't accept an invitation to come and spend the weekend at my house because they assume that their pajamas would be an ascot and a dinner jacket.

Tavis: What do you make of the fact that so little seems to be paid these days to these athletes getting a good education, and indeed, now they're jumping right from high school in many cases to the pros, certainly in the NBA?

James: You know what, Tavis? That's a soapbox that I am on vehemently. I do a radio show, like yourself, Sporting News radio, and I rant and rail about that. The overwhelming majority of athletes have to get an education. I'll never forget, my mother put it in very simple terms: what you put between your ears, they can't take away from you...and you will be paid handsomely for what's between your ears, as well. Many of these athletes--and it's hard to get through, because they think they're invulnerable. They think that the athletic prowess that they possess is gonna go on ad infinitum. Absolutely not the case. And it's a shame. Guys my age still talking about 'would've, should've, could've.'

Tavis: The NBA brawl.

James: Oh, yeah.

Tavis: What did you make of that?

James: Tavis, a, uh, a sad statement in sports, generally. I know folks have reacted on a number of levels. Everyone is a pseudo-psychiatrist or social scientist now. Many visceral reactions to what took place. The fact of the matter was the lines were crossed. The athletes are not supposed to cross over into the stands. The fans are just as culpable because it was riotous, unbelievable behavior on their part--what you're seeing. I refuse to be convinced otherwise that the steady diet of junk that we get on TV, whether it's trash-talking, thuggish mentality, or what have you, isn't having an effect, not just on kids, but on adults as well. It was absolutely the worst thing I'd seen in a long time. Ron Artest, and believe me, I say this lovingly, he needs help. Without a doubt. All of it is not on him, because the fan behavior was absolutely unbelievable as well. Egregious behavior.

Tavis: Let me challenge you on that. Tell me why you believe that Ron Artest needs help. ‘Cause I gotta be honest with you, like I said earlier on this program, anybody, white or black, throws a beer in my face, unless he's your size, of course, is gonna get clocked.

James: Absolutely.

Tavis: I'm coming after him if you put a beer in my face. Why does that mean a brother needs help? I'm just not gonna let you pop me like that, J.B.

James: Because his pattern of behavior, his body of behavior up until that point clearly dictates this is a guy crying out for help. I talked with Dion Sanders on my radio show this morning, as well-- yesterday, as a matter of fact--and Dion was saying the same thing, how he was crying out for help when he played with San Francisco, but nobody knew it. Because you perceive because of the money they're making, you think that's a panacea, the guy's living a fairy-tale life. The guy needs help. Anger management. He goes ballistic out there. Some of the things he does on the court clearly defy logic, and it's happened several times. Ben Wallace, while we don't talk enough about him, and he seems to be--

Tavis: He needs a haircut.

James: Hey, you know what? But he's being paid handsomely for that 'do', you know? What can I say? Without a doubt--

Tavis: They got the J.B. old-school 'fro.

James: Hey, you know what--

Tavis: Was your 'fro that uneven, though, back in the day?

James: No, ‘cause I kept mine braided.

Tavis: OK.

James: Went out on a date, going to pick up my now wife--

Tavis: Yeah.

James: Had that 'do', and I tell you, Tavis, I walked outside, and I felt something in my hair. Didn't want to mess with it because I didn't want to mess up the even 'fro. Went back in the house. Got the big pie rake. Dug real carefully until my hair kinda combed out. Boom. Looked over, man. It was a grasshopper, man.

Tavis: Ha ha ha!

James: My hair was your length the next day. You know, without a doubt.

But no, Ron Artest, I firmly believe that he does need help. You're right. Many athletes--Dion Sanders, Charles Barkley, they all candidly will say--Mike Dunleavy, the coach in the NBA, said this, 'You know what? You never know what will trigger a guy's reaction.' Throwing a cup of beer on him certainly would do it. They say, 'That's disrespecting me. You affected my manhood.' But--and even though it's a different time, I understand that.

Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell... I talked to Oscar Robertson on my radio show. He said, 'J.B., I've been spit on. I've had fans throw things at me.' I said, 'Oscar, what did you do?' He said, 'After the game, I went and took a shower, loaded up, and went home.' The Bible says, you know, 'He who can control his temper, can conquer a city.' Sounds real nice sitting here talking with you in this nice, sterile environment, but I do understand. You really do need to control yourself. Because at the end of the day, what was accomplished?

Tavis: Let me ask you one final exit question right quick. I read something the other day from--I believe it was former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, who once said that 'In the mornings'--here's the chief justice now--who says, 'In the mornings, the first thing I read in the paper is the sports pages because it tells of man's accomplishment.' That's the best thing about sports, I think, at least back in the day. Nowadays, you read the sports pages, it ain't all good, literally. But what is the enduring lesson? What's the best thing about sport in America?

James: Wow. I think it's an excellent lesson to teach you that although the game of life is a lot longer than the four quarters in basketball or the two halves in football, the lessons you learn in the world of sports are easily transferable to the game of life. Just because you're behind by a big margin, the clock hasn't stopped. You can still persevere and get it done. Fundamentals, having a foundation is extremely important. Michael Jordan, for all of his exploits on the court: internalize, practice the fundamentals. That's what's key. Many people think there's a shortcut to success. Uh-uh. It's still hard work. It's still working with those fundamentals, and those same skills work well in the game of life.

Tavis: Well, if I have to grow me a big Afro to get me a wife as fine as Dorothy, next week, I'm gonna have a 'fro on this joint.

James: Hey. Let me tell you. She'll be preaching to you, too, buddy, just like your bishop.

Tavis: Well...maybe I won't. love you, J.B.

James: It's all good.

Tavis: Good to see you. Up next, actress Alyssa Milano. Stay with us.