Posts Tagged ‘Radio’

Regardless of how things turn out for the Tennessee Volunteers this fall, the 2009 season represents so very many milestones—it really isn’t even worth the trouble to try and count them all.  There has been so much change lately and so very many new looks and faces that everything seems as if it is in flux.  Some feel this near c-change is long overdue, others decry it as a loss of tradition, others still reserve judgments and simply point to the inevitable movement of the hands of time.  Still, no matter how great the changes may be, the echoes of years gone by still ring in the air around Neyland Stadium.  Thankfully, this will never change.

In addition to all of the “obvious” landmark events that have or will occur as part of the 2009 football season, there is one more that may go unnoticed by many.  Though it hardly seems possible, the 2009 season marks Bob Kesling’s tenth year as the “Voice of the Vols.” Since the kickoff of the 1999 football opener against the Wyoming Cowboys, Kesling along with color-commentator Tim Priest, and sideline reporter Mike Stowell (who succeeded Jeff Francis in 2007), have brought the sounds of Big Orange football into our homes via the “Statewide Stadium” that is the Vol Network.

As have I pointed out in previous posts, since I was a child, I have always been a dedicated fan of live sports radio broadcasts.  I learned at an early age that television broadcasters, no matter how good they may be, simply cannot match the style, flair, color, or excitement that a gifted radio sportscaster can bring to a game.  There are few on television that come close—Ron Franklin and Mike Gottfried being pretty much the best—but even they cannot quite stay in step with the great radio broadcasters of the game.  Of course, for every Franklin and Gottfried, there are a bevy of lackluster talking suits which do little more than get in the way of the game rather than actually improving your understanding of what is taking place.

Thus is the curse of television…

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After last night, I’m just glad that the Canes are still alive…

My, oh my!  The Carolina Hurricanes are going to the NHL Eastern Conference Finals!  Led by the RBC Center’s master of the scoreboard ceremonies —the Nature Boy, Ric Flair—everyone is “WOOO-ing” in my hometown, the City of Oaks.

Video: Carolina Hurricanes Goal! WOOOOO!

The Hurricanes scoreboard celebration after scoring a goal

Once again, the Carolina Hurricanes pulled off the amazing, besting the Boston Bruins 3-2 last night in Game 7 of the NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals.  Once again, the decisive game of the series came down to the wire, with Carolina securing the victory off of a Scott Walker chip-shot goal with only 1:14 left in sudden death overtime.  The goal scored at 18:46 on the clock in overtime by Walker (who used to play for the Bruins), sealed the game, advanced the Cardiac Canes to the NHL Eastern Conference Finals, and gave the Bruins a chance to get start on all those “honey-do” lists around the house.  For some real insights on the game, check out Canes Country (which is written by people who actually understand hockey).

Up next, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Once again, I find myself loving this “hockey thing” and having something to cheer about in the off-season as I prepare for the Tennessee Volunteers’ upcoming football season.  Of course, as I mentioned a few weeks ago when the Canes beat the New Jersey Devils, hockey can be a hard sell in the South, where few people ever played the game.  Still, it seems to me that hockey is a natural fit in the South due to all of the things it has to offer.  In reply to my last hockey post, I posted a few comments on the issue:

I think the primary reason that so few Southerners really “get” hockey is due to the fact they had no exposure to playing it. I played (at some level) all of the major sports, except hockey growing up. The first time I went to a hockey game I was a little sketchy on the rules and really wasn’t completely sure what was going on except for trying to get the puck in the goal.

The penalties left me a bit perplexed too. I remember thinking “A penalty of ‘icing’ — what the hell is that about? The playing surface — in case you hadn’t noticed Mr. Referee—is a big freakin’ sheet of ICE! They’re all knocking big chunks of the frozen stuff all over the place, why do you have to pick on that guy?”

Over time, however, I have picked up on most of the rules and so forth, but the other thing I realized the night I first went to watch a hockey game was that I didn’t need to understand the rules. In some ways, hockey is a synthesis of all the great games: the team model of basketball; a flow like soccer; the speed of … well … racing; the use of sticks to hit things like baseball (okay that one is a bit of a stretch); and the strategy and bone-crushing physicality of football. Oh, yeah, and there is the whole fistfight thing from boxing.  The thing that makes it so exciting is the speed and the anticipation of the goal.

Most of all, it is just a hell of a lot of fun to watch. I really wish more Southerners would give it a look, it is a blast to watch in person.

So, all of you, go out and watch a hockey game next time you get the chance, whether it be the Hurricanes, the Predators, the Knoxville Ice Bears or whatever team is in your area. It’s a good time.

Just remember to bring a sweater…

• via: Comments on “Speaking of Hockey…” | Gate 21

Seriously, hockey is a pretty darn cool game.  On top of that, most of the teams in the South know that they are a new thing to a lot of folks, and as a result have done everything they can to reach out to the community and show them what a great game hockey is.  Here’s Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos explaining—GEICO style—what the Hurricanes did to get the community involved (well, sort of):

Video: Carolina Hurricanes: Real Hockey

I love the outtakes reel at the end of that one

The game is just exciting, and I for one agree with what Mike Greenberg said on today’s edition of ESPN’s Mike & Mike in the Morning this morning: while I may be a much bigger fan of other sports, the NHL playoffs are some of the most exciting sporting events you will ever see.

Yes, just like before, I do realize that all this hockey talk is a bit off-topic for a site focusing on the Vols and the SEC.  Still, I figure there’s a little wiggle room in that whole “Life, the Universe…” part of the Gate’s byline (that’s those words at the top of the page, if you were wondering).

Besides, what else is there to write about at present…

– So it goes

Videos(s) Courtesy of:   Raleigh News & Observer •  N&O.com ||  Statement on Fair Use

Continuing with more random off-season banter, today’s “message of love“** goes out to one of my absolute favorites on the web and the radio: Tony Basilio and “Beano Jeff” on the Edge.

Sports-talk shows are about as common as overly-opinionated and poorly written blogs like Gate 21 … okay, maybe not that common, but they’re common.

As a general rule, I tend to tire quickly of sports-talk personalities — especially those where the show ends up being more about the host than it is about sports (which is increasingly the case). It is for this reason that I have not been a regular sports-talk listener for the last decade; that is, until a friend turned me on to B&B at Midday.

If you are a fan of the Tennessee Volunteers and enjoy talking sports, then you should really give Basilio & Beano a listen. They just celebrated their second anniversary on the air with Knoxville’s WVLZ, and — in my humble opinion — they are the best sports-talk tandem anywhere. Period.

They’re on the the air everyday from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm on ESPN Radio – Knoxville: 1180 WVLZ. There’s no spin, just truthtellin’ and real analysis of anything having to do with Tennessee, the SEC, and the rest of the sports world. The biggest difference between B&B and all the rest is the fact that they unabashedly represent the views of the common fan, and don’t needlessly buy into the hype that so often spews from the mouths of many out there in the sports world. I like that “de-crap-ified” type of sports-talk. Tony Basilio and “Beano Jeff” are down to earth, never take themselves too seriously, and aren’t afraid “to call a duck a duck.”

“Hey, don’t you live like six hours from Knoxville? How are you listening to the show?“

Well, sports fans, you’re right — I live in the bowels of ACC country. In my neck of the woods I hear enough about the Tarheads and Dook to make me want to retch, however, through the miracle that is the internet, I can listen to Basilio & Beano everyday from my desk (when I should be doing something else … such as work) via their streaming audio broadcast on the web. Thus, as long as you have an internet connection, you can get your daily fix — even from hundreds of miles away … or more (not too long ago, a Tennessee fan living in Japan called in on the show). If you miss the show, they even have podcasts of the show available for download.

At any rate, give Tony and Beano a listen: always standing up for the common fan, always interesting, always honest…

– Go Figure …

** Disclosure: While Gate 21 and TonyBasilio.com both feature hyperlinks to one another, neither site, their parent companies, editors, nor webmasters receive any payment or other compensation of any type or kind in return for those links. Furthermore, neither Gate 21 nor Lawvol received any compensation for this review, which was not requested or solicited by B&B at Midday or WVLZ. This “Shout Out” represents the actual opinion of the author (for what that is worth) and was in no way influenced by any other person.

In other words: This isn’t an advertisement.

I recently read a little observational piece over at Get the Picture! about legendary Georgia Bulldogs radio broadcaster Larry Munson. This article mainly referred to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution which mentioned that, due to health problems, Munson will not be attending the Atlanta Sports Awards Gala.

That brought back some memories …

Now — obviously — I am not really a Georgia fan, but I have a great deal of respect for Munson, not so much for his style or delivery, but because of what he represents. Munson, along with Mississippi State’s Jack Cristil, the Tarhead U’s Woody Durham, Duke’s Bob Harris, and Gene Deckerhoff of FSU represent the last of the great southern college radio announcers. I’m sure there may be a few more scattered across the country, but there can’t be too many more. They are, sadly, a group which is fading farther and farther into the past every year. I know that time presses on – that is hardly a revelation. The fact that millions of broadband denizens congregate in this place known as the blogsphere — a place which did not even exist a few short years ago — is testament to that. While I embrace the advance of technology and progress, along the way we do lose real tangible pieces of the past which are truly golden.

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