 A 2015 profile of Hansen at the now-defunct Grantland site noted that many viewers assumed Hansen was a former conservative, when in fact he has been politically liberal his entire adult life and his views have often clashed with the mostly-conservative Dallas fan base of the Cowboys and Mavericks 

Since 1983, Hansen has had a segment during "Sports Special" on the Sunday of the week before Christmas.He always shares a story of a child's death in the past year and talks about it before playing a video of clips from the 1980s of kids in Dallas.At the end is young Hansen with his own children.