It’s been a little over a week since the Final Four concluded in Minneapolis. Last week I detailed what it was like working behind the scenes with the Westwood One crew. This week I wanted to share a few unique observations and experiences from college basketball’s biggest weekend.

Funny Moment From A Former Pro: You don’t go to the Final Four looking for comedy, but there was one moment that I couldn’t help bursting out laughing.… Read More

New podcast conversation with Kevin Belbey, Director of Sports Broadcasting for The Montag Group. He’s a sports broadcasting agent who provides great insight into the broadcaster/agent dynamic. Topics of discussion include:

• Going to the Newhouse School at Syracuse and realizing that sportscasting wasn’t going to be his future.
• Why getting an agent isn’t a path to get out of a career rut.

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:

• The keys to covering games in a tournament setting with numerous games each day.
• The book he bought that taught him how to control his voice like an instrument.
• Specific steps he took to develop the sound quality of the voice.

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:

• How hearing Vin Scully as a seven year old led to falling in love with sportscasting.
• His first reaction when he learned he was going to be working as the Dodger announcer after a lifetime of being a fan.

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