Occasionally, after nearly four years of writing this blog, it’s difficult to come up with fresh topics to write about. Sometimes there just isn’t anything exciting happening in my career. This week, inspiration was not a problem, as I’m writing this from the media room at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, which of course is the host of the Final Four!… Read More
With the Final Four coming up this weekend, everyone below the NBA level will be done calling hoops for the year. While some will move right into a baseball schedule, many of us are entering a period of down time. It’s a great opportunity for broadcasters to go on vacation, be around friends and family, and work other jobs that actually pay the bills.… Read More
In Episode 87 we chat with Brian Anderson of the Milwaukee Brewers and Turner Sports. Topics of discussion include:
I’ve said for many years that I believe Joe Buck is one of the most unfairly criticized sportscasters in the business. He consistently rises to the occasion and nails the biggest moments on many of the industry’s biggest stages. He’s the type of broadcaster where the game feels bigger when he is on the call. It’s why I was excited to finally dive into his book “Lucky Bastard,” where he goes deep into the ups and downs of his life and career thus far.… Read More
Watching NCAA Tournament broadcasters call four games a day with only a short window to prep has always seemed like an incredibly difficult task. I’ve also always wondered how I would handle making the jump to a television-style call for basketball when all my experience is on the radio side. This weekend, I received the opportunity to dive head first into both by calling the live stream webcast for the Junior College DIII National Tournament in Rochester, Minnesota.… Read More
Episode 86 of the podcast features Charley Steiner, the radio voice of the LA Dodgers and long time ESPN Sportscenter anchor. Topics of discussion include:
Last night I called the first of nine basketball games in six days. That gauntlet includes a high school game on the radio yesterday, a double header Wednesday evening at the Minnesota State Girls Tournament, and six games for the web stream of the NJCAA DIII National Tourney over the weekend. Needless to say I’m knee deep in prep and don’t have time to write a new blog post this week.… Read More
After covering nine hours of gymnastics last week, I was completely exhausted. I had a splitting headache, and my voice was barely audible the next day. On Tuesday I was scheduled to call a basketball game and still wasn’t recovered, but I was able to put mind over matter to get through it. On Wednesday my voice completely broke down, but that didn’t remove the basketball game from my schedule that evening.… Read More
In this episode I chat with Bill Spaulding, broadcaster for Harvard, the Ivy League Network, and Olympics coverage on NBC. Topics of discussion include:
When making your debut calling an unfamiliar sport, often the goal is just to make it through the event unscathed. The thought that you might make a call documenting history is the farthest thing from your mind. However, that’s exactly what happened over the weekend when I covered the Minnesota State Gymnastics Meet, and a remarkable young athlete named Chaney Neu performed the first ever perfect ten on any apparatus in the long history of the state meet.… Read More