How to Call a Basketball Game, Part III: telling the story through the 2nd half
Once you hit the intermission, your focus can shift in a couple of key ways
Today, we wrap up our three-part series on calling a basketball game. In Part I, we went over the nuts and bolts of a broadcast from the moment you sign on until halftime. In Part II, we explored some of the different ways you can keep your verbiage fresh and some of the terminology you might consider using while you call a game. Now, in Part III, we discuss ways you can use those precious 15 minutes you get at halftime (or less, depending on if you’re hosting any/all of it) to shift your focus so that you can handle the second half of the game appropriately.
Before we continue, there are a couple of notes to share in this week’s newsletter.
Office Hours for March
First off, I wanted to say welcome to our new Office Hours subscribers! As an Office Hours member, you’ll get to join a group Zoom call with me and other broadcasters once a month as we discuss the craft, career paths and whatever else might be on your mind in the sportscasting/play-by-play industry. Our Office Hours for the month of March will be:
Wednesday, March 26 from 4-5 p.m. Pacific Time
I’ll send a link out via email at least 24 hours before our meeting to all members who are either being coached by me one-on-one or who have subscribed at the Office Hours level. If you’re interested or have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me at playbyplayu@gmail.com.
Brian Boesch buzzer beater
PXPU subscriber Brian Boesch, the voice of Michigan men’s basketball, called a buzzer beater last week as Nimari Burnett beat Rutgers, and the horn, for a thrilling last-second game-winner. You can hear Brian’s call of the moment here.
We wanted to give Brian a shoutout for his fantastic work for a few reasons.
When all 15,000 people in the arena were losing their minds, Brian stayed poised and hit pause.
After gathering his thoughts for a couple of seconds, he delivered incredible insight for an impactful, humanizing, contextual final call.
It’s easy to get lost in the moment and lose your mind along with the crowd. And sometimes, that can go really well. But if you aren’t ready to nail the moment, hitting pause is a phenomenal strategy. Taking a couple of seconds to find the right direction you want to go with the moment will not only increase the likelihood of your words being more precise and more interesting, but will also give yourself a chance to hit reset on your energy so your voice doesn’t crack and will allow the viewer or listener to soak in the crowd as a part of the moment, too.
Great work, Brian! He will break down his call in detail on this week’s upcoming episode of the PXPU Podcast.