{"id":189,"date":"2012-10-28T07:50:09","date_gmt":"2012-10-28T12:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/?p=189"},"modified":"2012-10-28T07:50:09","modified_gmt":"2012-10-28T12:50:09","slug":"those-magic-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/2012\/10\/28\/those-magic-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"Those Magic Moments…"},"content":{"rendered":"

It usually starts with some inanimate object…maybe a hair brush, maybe even a wooden kitchen spoon…But invariably, if you ask play by play announcers how they got their start, they will tell you they were the ones running around the living room announcing games for their parents at a very early age…Hey, let’s be honest…who of us hasn’t called our own games even if it’s on the court….”Three seconds to go, \u00a0he\/she dribbles to his left, (raise voice here), \u00a0he\/she shoots, IT’s GOOD, IT’s GOOD!….You can even buy an app and customize<\/a> your own call!<\/p>\n

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Play by Play is one of those classic sportscaster dreams…but it’s nowhere as easy at is it seems…Unless, perhaps, you listen to Justin Kutcher<\/a> of FoxSports or Dave Goucher<\/a> of the Boston Bruins, who joined us recently at the Boston University sports journalism seminar series….”Just call the game”, said Kutcher. \u00a0“forget all the notes, the stats,. the stories, just call the game”…Great advice…some of the classic calls<\/a> over the decades are simply nothing more than reactions to what’s going on….”Do you believe in miracles?”…”I can’t believe what i just saw!”and as long as the San Francisco Giants are on the brink of their second world series title in three years, the classic Russ Hodges call “The Giants win the pennant!”<\/p>\n

Goucher and Kutcher got their starts at WTBU radio and took jobs in small markets that required them to do everything from \u00a0sales, to media relations, even wearing the mascot uniform…thankfully, for Justin, no videotape exists of those times but he relishes telling the story and considers it part of the learning process….and \u00a0for every aspiring broadcaster, Kutcher gives another piece of advice, “Record everything you do. \u00a0Not only will you need it for your resume reel but it’s a great way to critique yourself and see if you’re getting any better.”<\/p>\n

“Be yourself”, intones Goucher. \u00a0Don’t try to be something, someone you’re not”…The Bruins long time radio play by play admits to thinking about what he’d say when the team was on the brink of winning the Stanley Cup in 2011. \u00a0But in the end, for the most part, he painted the picture to tell the story<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Play by play is the glamour job in the industry, no question…but it takes hours of practice and a lucky break here and there…too many put themselves ahead of the game itself and wind up on websites like Awful Announcing<\/a> or The Bleacher Report<\/a>…Just call the game baby, just call the game….<\/p>\n

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It usually starts with some inanimate object…maybe a hair brush, maybe even a wooden kitchen spoon…But invariably, if you ask play by play announcers how they got their start, they will tell you they were the ones running around the living room announcing games for their parents at a very early age…Hey, let’s be honest…who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":901,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/fshorr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}