Mixing Up the Broadcast (Holty’s Blog)

Thanks to Bakersfield Californian Condors beat writer Mike Griffith (@MikeGriffith54) calling and complaining this morning, I have a blog topic to write about today. The Griff called and complained that he had to listen to NBC play-by-play voice Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick call game one of his beloved Los Angeles Kings’ Stanley Cup playoff game last night. He doesn’t like the screaming (which has gotten more frequent this year than I seem to remember) and the word choice that Doc uses for certain things, like ‘spirited the puck.’

Don’t get me wrong, Doc is one of the best around (I personally think Jim Hughson is better), but even I would get sick of myself if I had to listen to me call a game every night of the week especially when magnified in the playoffs. So, I understand Griff’s argument.

It’s a constant process during the offseason to better things that we do. One of the things Bartl (@KevinBartl) suggested was to have a “Holty’s Challenge Word” for our Twitter followers during road games. You can tweet words during a broadcast and I have to get them worked in during the period. It may take off and become a hit, you never know. That, the Spelling Bee airing  today, and with Griff’s complaining about Doc’s vocabulary got me to thinking about 5 words to mix in more regularly on the broadcast next season.

1- Jam | No this doesn’t mean that the team is playing an early game and put a fruit spread on their bagels. It means that the team has come out with some jump, is working hard in the gritty areas, and is doing the little things right. Who was a player with a lot of jam this past season? Jesse Gimblett (@GimboSlicce).

2- Sandpaper | I always liked this expression for some reason. It’s a term that’s come to describe the enforcer on a team, but I think it goes further than that. By the name itself, it refers to a guy who plays with a lot of grit. But, I think it extends to a player who can play with the grit and tenacity, like to mix it up every once in a while, but in the end is pretty smooth. I mean, after all, sandpaper makes things smooth. Who would be a good guy from last year’s squad to fit this description? Justin Pender.

3- Saucer and/or ‘Sauce’ | It’s tough to mix in passing terminology throughout the broadcast, because it moves so quickly. That and lets face it, things aren’t always very crisp in the transition game at the ECHL level. But this is a good word to mix in for passes that deserve it. It’s only a saucer pass or “sauce” if the pass lands though. Otherwise it might as well be a dump-in. Check out practice sometime. Evan Trupp (@Trupper19) dishes out some good ‘sauce.’

4-Mitts | I use this sometimes during fights, but I’d rather use it for its other meaning to be quite honest. Simply put, it’s just a different word for hands. If you have good mitts, you’re confident with the puck on your stick and tend to have soft hands for various aspects of the game. Based on his deflection ability and hand/eye coordination in front of the net, Tyler Helfrich (@Helfy15) has a pretty good set of mitts.

5-Crank | While the other words have mostly been to describe player or the game, how about a word to describe an action? I find it pretty funny to say, the sales guys have an app on their phone called “Qrank,” and it works. Guys crank the puck down the ice or around the boards, or could crank a guy into the boards.

There are the five words. Of course, the key to a good broadcast is to mix it up and not use the same word over and over. If I spent more time procrastinating from what Bartl calls “actual work,” I could probably come up with more. Maybe you can? Tweet @BroadcastHolt with some ideas and be sure to follow @Condors during the season to submit some challenge words. It’ll be fun. I promise.

Until next Thursday #Condorstown…

Have an idea for #HoltysBlog? Tweet him @BroadcastHolt or e-mail rholt@bakersfieldcondors.com

Ryan Holt a.k.a. ‘Holty,’ is the younger half of the Condors broadcast duo, and recently completed his first season in #Condorstown. His non-actual work during the day activities include writing blogs, walking around the office, restocking the Pepsi in the fridge, and watching a certain ECHL coach’s comments/videos to the media on YouTube. Follow him on Twitter @BroadcastHolt for random stuff confined to 140 characters.