The New Voiceover Star

 

The pre-broadcast game faces of Shawn Sailer, me,
Sean Adams, Dan Murphy, and Chris Erway

The first Greenwich football game of 2023 is in the books and it ended just like the last game of last year.

Greenwich 35, Fairfield Prep 21. Different score but same result.

Greenwich's defense looked insane and their offense and special teams had a few hiccups but still played well. 

In short, the Cardinals look outstanding again.

If I had to guess, Chris and I better keep our calendars open for the playoffs but, let's be honest, it's one game.

But, finally, we got to take the wraps off of the theme to open the broadcast.

Now, understand that the music hasn't changed. It's what we've used since before I started at WGCH. It's become fairly iconic.

But the words change. Generally, sponsors have changed.

A few years ago, we started using game highlights and those have changed.

And the voice reading the sponsors and welcoming listeners has changed as well. Some years, it was Bob Small. Mike Hirn did it for a year. I'm sure my voice has been heard as well.

You can listen to the broadcast of today's game here. The opening is at the beginning of the audio.

Effective today, Sean Adams is the voice that welcomes listeners to Greenwich Cardinals football.

It was one of my ideas though I didn't think it would fly. Yet, when I suggested it to Bob, he was all for it.

I didn't think Sean would go for it but he was intrigued. So, with me sitting nearby, he read the script. I think he did it in two takes.

He says he'd like to re-record it but I'm not sure it will be necessary.

I told no one. Bob knew because I sent it to him. Sean and I obviously both knew. But no one else.

So with a wonderful booth of friends today, we prepared to listen to what I had for them.

Kudos to Dan Murphy and Shawn Sailer -- as well as Sean and Chris Erway, of course -- for making this opening day simply exceptional.

As a father, I can't be more proud than to have my son introducing me. It's been a special path that we have forged with him following me into a surprising media career. I'm astounded at my son -- who's not a sports fan -- participating like this as a cameraman, studio operator, and now voiceover talent.

I was exceedingly proud to hear that opening -- as well as the closing -- on these broadcasts that have been so important to my life.

The day had its ups and downs, with a weather delay making us scramble a bit for a half-hour. Whether I'm actually on the air or not, I'm still in "radio mode" for the entirety of the broadcast, delay included. So it was for 3.5 hours today. 

But I also represent WGCH and, in some ways, the school and town off the air, so I'm mindful of that when interacting with fans as we did at the pregame tailgate.

I also count the good fortune of having many people stop us to say hello and catch up as we walked around the stadium. We are anything but a big deal but these interactions allow us to believe that we actually matter and we're grateful.

That doesn't mean we'll always be agreed with. There was a penalty on a pretty fierce hit during the game and I expected blowback from someone over how Chris and I handled that moment. It comes with the territory and I doubt we'd change our approach but we all know how social media is.

It was a fairly long day but we're home and we'll be ready for game two. A quick turnaround awaits as Stamford comes to Cardinal Stadium on Thursday night. Assuming all is well, our pregame show begins at 5:50 p.m.

We'll be there.

Oh, and I have to go get my tire looked at. Again.

We'll deal with that in the morning.

Then, quite likely my last Renegades game of the year. The team mascot, Rascal (not my cat) got engaged to his friend Rosie the Skunk today. 

I'm a sucker for romance.