Legendary PA announcer Budd Lynch still types his game notes

This is awesome.

Budd Lynch is the PA announcer for the Detroit Red Wings.  He's 94 years old. And here's a photo of his game notes from the other night.

Photo posted with kind permission of Ayron.

Please welcome tonight's guest PA announcer, Will Ferrell

Well done New Orleans Hornets, well done.

Profile of Michael Baiamonte, the Miami Heat P.A. Announcer

From the Miami Sun-Sentinel:

He is known as The Voice.
Deep. Rumbling. Animated.
And, depending on your basketball loyalties and sensibilities, somewhat annoying too.
Increasingly, however, Michael Baiamonte has become The Face.
At least when it comes to Heat home games.
"For so many years I was just a voice behind a microphone," says Baiamonte, in his 21st season as the Heat's public-address announcer. "Now a lot of people recognize me by face."
That's because his repeated in-game pleas to "Stand UP …. and make some NOISE … for YOUR … Miami … Heaaaaattttttt!!!!" are accompanied by a closeup of his face on the Jumbotron.
It's been that way at least since the Heat's run to the 2006 NBA title, and national TV cameras have taken to showing him as well.
No wonder his phone and email have been burning up with requests to emcee weddings and Bar Mitzvahs at as much as $500 an appearance. That more than justifies his decision 11 years ago to quit his job training telemarketers for an insurance company.
... 

Yet it's clear The Voice, with his willingness to straddle the line between announcing and cheerleading ("Let's Go Heat!"), has made his presence felt.
"The energy and the atmosphere at a game, every little bit helps, and Mike has that captivating voice," Heat forward James Jones says. "When you hear the fans clapping and cheering and making noise when the other team is trying to run sets, it can be a distraction for them and it can be a plus for us."
Baiamonte, 47, takes a showman's approach to his job, which he's held long enough to be one of the half dozen or so longest-tenured Heat employees.
"A big part of it is entertainment," he says. "You want to put on the best show you can."
Only a few PA announcers in the league have been at their post longer than The Voice, who grew up in South Florida and attended Gulliver Prep, where he also introduced the lineups before home basketball games.

Read the full article... 

A bit about the evolution of PA announcing in sports

The Toronto Argonauts of the CFL hired a new PA Announcer last year. The Toronto Star had a short article that touched a bit on how the job of stadium/arena PA announcer has evolved:

When the Argos began their search for a new announcer, Nathan Downer was at the top of their shortlist. The professionally trained voice that can go from deep and authoritative to booming and excited? Check. Toronto sports (and especially Argo-centric) background? He counts the team's 1982 return to the Grey Cup as a cherished sporting memory. Add experience as sports director for the Flow 93.5, and his present position, and there's some recognition factor there.

That, and, of course, a personal style, deepens the longer Downer, or anyone for that matter, stays in these kind of positions. Andy Frost, who replaced the legendary Paul Morris as the Leafs' house voice a decade ago, can't open his mouth without the potential for one of those "Hey, aren't you...?" moments.

"It happens constantly – I'm in a store and I say something and people recognize the voice," said Frost, who was among upwards of 100 (some say as many as 300) to be considered to fill Morris's estimable vocal cords. "Sometimes it's, `Hey Andy, call a Sundin goal for us!' That's usually young kids."

There's more to it than uttering "last minute of play in the period." Accompanying Downer on his dress rehearsal night – a pre-season game – was a huge file of sponsors' announcements, timing notes and lineups. A spotter sits at his side, because, as he says, "you're going through this page by page – then you look up and there's the game going on. You can't lose track of that."

For the generation around when the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup, Morris's deadpan delivery was the gold standard. In a pro sports environment where glitzy packaging and "Make Some Noise" messages on the Jumbotron are the norm, the Morris model is emulated nowadays in fewer and fewer spots.

"A lot of teams are looking for people to be a little bit more of a cheerleader in some ways – guys like John Mason in Detroit (with the Pistons)," said Jon Cudo of gameops.com. "It's part of the NBA's entertainment model going back to the late 1980s and early 1990s, which other sports have picked up on."

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It is not quite anything-goes, though. This remains very much a boys' club, the San Francisco Giants' Renel Brooks-Moon the only woman working as a PA announcer in big-time North American sports.

Cleaning out the inbox: game entertainment miscellany

• Man sues White Sox over t-shirt toss
  "It boggles the mind that someone would discard their fellow fan to the ground in pursuit of a cheaply made XXXXL T-shirt that will probably used to wipe off the dipstick during an oil change in a matter of days."
  
  
• Behind the scenes at the Chicago Blackhawks
  "It's a red three-ring binder and carrying it at his side at all times is Tom O'Grady, a decidedly old-school Chicago hockey fan in a decidedly new-school gig - orchestrating the in-house entertainment for Blackhawks games at the United Center..."
  
  
• Video: Slow-to-fast wave how do they do that?
  
  
• Video screens at the new Yankee Stadium they're bi
  
  
• Teams should let fans in stadium see whole picture Yes, they should. NHL & NFL lead the way for in-venue replays
  
  
• Wes Johnson: Voice of the Capitals All about the PA announcer for the Caps
  
  
• R. Kelly sings the National Anthem at a boxing match Bad idea, or as the kids are saying these days, "#FAIL"
  
  
• A new blog I found about GameDay Fan Experience
  
  
• Reno Aces 7th Inning Stretch Impressive and creepy at the same time. Reminds me of the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man
  
  
• Cool photo: giant American flag on the field in the shape of the continental USA
  
  
• Cool vid: "Play" from the St. Louis Cardinals
  

All about John Mason, the PA announcer for the Detroit Pistons

This is from a few years back, but worth reading. It's about "Mason", one of the most popular PA Announcers in the NBA. If you've never heard Mason's announcing before, check out this video of the Detroit Pistons introductions. (Or this video of kids doing their best Mason impression.)

“Deee-troit, bas-ket-ball.”

It doesn't really come across in writing, but if you've been to the Palace recently, you know what I'm talking about.

And the man behind those words is Pistons P.A. announcer John Mason. From his designated spot at the center of the courtside press table, Mason has perhaps the best seat to catch all the action.

Mason shares his thoughts on his dream job, the Palace crowd and some of the greatest moments he's witnessed, as well as a couple of memorable mistakes from his early days on the mic.

Read the entire article from NBA.com...

Scriptwriting 101: Keep it simple

Here's a handy cheat sheet from the Word Wise blog, with suggestions on some common phrases that can be reduced to one word:

• at all times: replace with always
• at the present time: replace with now or currently
• because of the fact that: replace with because
• due to the fact that: replace with because
• for the purpose of: replace with for
• in order to: replace with to
• in spite of the fact that: replace with although or though
• prior to, in anticipation of: replace with before
• with regard to: replace with about
• on an annual basis: replace with yearly
• at this point in time: replace with now
• subsequent to: replace with after
• a large majority: replace with most
• be in a position to: replace with to or can
• in view of the fact that: replace with because
• in the event that: replace with if
• at your earliest convenience: replace with soon
• be in a position to: replace with are or can
• under the circumstances: replace with because or therefore

Bob Sheppard: Yankees announcer forever?

Really interesting post today from Darren Rovell on NBC's Sports Biz blog: It's about Bob Sheppard, the 97-year-old announcer for the New York Yankees. He's been announcing for the Yankees since 1951 -- that's 57 years -- except this year there's a bit of a difference:

Sheppard, 97, who had been announcing all the names and numbers for the New York Yankees since 1951, hasn’t made it to the stadium this year due to illness, but his voice has lived on due to the fact that he has recorded the Yankee lineup.

Given the ovation at the mention of Sheppard’s name last night, it’s clear that there would be no replacement for Sheppard if he sadly never makes it to the new stadium next year.

But due to the state of text-to-speech technology, Sheppard’s voice could be the voice of the starting lineups for the next 50 years, if the Yankees choose to go that route.

Read on...

Awesome Detroit Pistons intro

Courtesy of the GameOps.com blog ... Stay on your feet, time to meet and greet ... John Mason, the Detroit Pistons PA announcer.