After almost 17,000 hours of television time over five decades, it might seem like the logical moment for a veteran talk show host and mega media icon to kick back. Instead Regis Philbin is kicking off a new chapter in his career in front of the camera, reinventing himself as the host of the new Fox Sports 1 show, “Crowd Goes W!ld.”

Regis Philbin . . . sports? Isn’t he that affable guy who banters with beautiful blondes each morning about everything from what you put in your coffee to the latest celebrity gossip?

Correct. But Regis is quick to point out that sports excite him. His bubbly blond co-hosts spanning twenty-five years, Kathy and Kelly, barely humored him when he wanted to bring up plays of the day. “They would roll their eyes and say ‘oh no, not again,’” he says.

So this 82-year-old television icon has finally landed in a place where sports is the lead and nothing could make him happier. “I have loved sports, I really have,” he says. “I have followed sports very closely all my life.”

And now it’s total sports immersion in a forum that plays to Philbin’s folksy, freewheeling style.

The new show on the new 24-hour Fox Sports 1 network serves up banter with and about fellow sports lovers, from actual players to celebrity fans, all with an eclectic panel of co-hosts, including Super Bowl champion, Trevor Pryce; tennis player turned comedian, Michael Kosta; Wall Street Journal sports columnist, Jason Gay; social media icon, Katie Nolan; and honest-to-goodness TV news anchor, Georgie Thompson.