Play-by-Playcast

Mark Champion is the longtime voice of the Detroit Pistons and before that the Detroit Lions...and before that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  But his career didn't start on a play-by-play path.  On this episode he takes us on the jounrey, describes what it's like calling Barry Sanders 3-yard runs, talks about his famous Dinsey World voiceover and much more.

Jesse Goldberg-Strassler is a wordsmith, the ultimate wordsmith.  He's a writer who just so happens to talk on the radio, the ultimate painter with words.  Jesse's passion for what he does drips off everything he says.  The voice of the Lansing Lugnuts, the class-A affilate of the Toronoto Blue Jays, Jesse is also the author of two books on the language of sports (The Baseball Thesaurus and the Football Thesaurus) and the man behind the curtain on an annual old-school recreation broadcast.

American Pharoh winning the Triple Crown is easily one of the top sports moments of the 21st century so far.  Larry Collmus was there to tell us all about it.  Calling horse races since he was 18, Collmus worked his way up the ladder until he, in 2011, got the call from NBC to take over for Tom Durkin as the voice of the Triple Crown.  The three races are three of the biggest sports days of the year, and if there's a Triple Crown up for grabs at the Belmont...well that's an whole different ball game.  On this week's episode Larry talks about the art of calling the races, the biggest moments he's witnessed, getting the call to NBC, working with the likes of Bob Costas and much more. 

Lanny Frattare spent 33 years as the voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates and now teaches at Waynesburg State in Pennsylvania. Over the course of his career he witnessed everything from Barry Bonds to Willie Stargell and Bob Knight throwing a chair.  This week we visit all those things, where he was when Sid slid and really dive into the mechanics of a good baseball broadcast.  It's a fun wonky edition of the PxPCast.

Professional wrestling (or sports entertainment) has a play-by-play broadcaster.  He's an important and iiconic (see what we did there?) part of the broadcast.  Everybody knows Jim Ross yelling "Good God almighty! He killed him! As God is my witness he is broken in half!" It's edited into highlight reels of other sporting events all the time.  It's an important part of the pro-wrestling experience.  It's as important as "it is high, it is far, it is gone!" You could argue it's more important and you could argue it's even harder to pull off well.

Rich Bocchini (formerly known as Rich Brennan in WWE) is now one of the voices of MLW Fusion on beIN Sports.  He joins us this week to talk about broadcasting pro-wrestling...and what happens when the announce table gets destroyed.  

Follow Rich @RichBocchini and check out MLW Fusion, Friday nights at 8pm on beIN Sports!

Ken Daniels has spent 21 years as the telvision voice of the Detroit Red Wings, coming to the states from Ontario and Hockey Night in Canada. The author of the book "If These Walls Could Talk: The Detroit Red Wings," Daniels recounts and dives deeper into some of the stories and experiences of the book and of his career.  Topics range from working with his idols in Canada, jumping to the NHL without having experienced the minor leagues, working with Scotty Bowman and much more.  Ken also discusses the death of his son Jamie in 2016 and the opiod epidemic that surrounded it.  For more information please visit JamieDanielsFoundation.org and check out the recent story about Jamie from E:60 on espn.com.

Tim Roye has been the voice of the Golden State Warriors on radio since 1995. In that time he's seen some incredible basketball...and some not so incredible basketball.  Tim talks about describing both ends of the spectrum, his attention to detail on the air, how he made his way from the northeast to the west coast and his love for radio at a very early age.  Follow Tim on twitter @warriorsvox.

Kate Scott is a pioneering female pxp voice working with the Pac-12 Networks and hosting Pac-12 Today on SiriusXM radio.  In 2016 she made her NFL debut, filling in for Ted Robinson on a pair of 49ers preseason games.  A soccer star in high school, Kate went to college at Cal and got the journalism itch, working across mediums and across the Bay Area, building her profile to the rising broadcaster we have come to know today.

Andy Masur has been the pregame host of the Chicago Cubs. Then he was the voice of the San Diego Padres.  Now he's back in Chicago...this time across town on the southside.  It's been a wild ride and Masur joins the podcast to walk us through his trip to the Major Leagues and back home.  We'll also break down what makes a good baseball broadcast and we'll talk Sister Jean.

Brent Stover has been with CBS Sports Network for over a decade serving as the ultimate jack-of-all-trades.  One of the network's top anchors, Brent also calls many of its top pxp assignments.  This week's epsidoe dives into a lot of what makes a great broadcast on TV, calling non-traditional sports, maturing and coming into your own and, of course, his thoughts when he received his first CBS blue blazer.