‘We’re used to having a full house.’ PA announcers no exception to adjustments for COVID.
To cope with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic requires flexibility and a willingness to adjust. Public address announcers are not exempt. That’s not surprising given the job normally requires raising your voice, but now in largely empty arenas.
Patrick Whitmer, who is in his 14th season as public address announcer at Kentucky home games, acknowledged this paradox.
“I’m probably a little bit quieter,” he said. “Because the last thing you want to do is hear your own echo coming back at you. I try to lower my voice a little bit and not focus so much on trying to be so loud to cover the fans yelling.
“The main thing is I can hear myself a lot easier now.”
When asked if this was a good or bad thing, Whitmer said, “It kind of depends. It’s different because, obviously, we’re used to having a full house. I feed so much off the crowd, and vice versa. It’s just odd not having a lot of noise and a lot of cheering.”
Another change is his job location. He sits at the scorer’s table, which is across the Rupp Arena court from the teams this season.
In previous seasons, a would-be substitute reported to the official scorer who sat next to the public address announcer. Now Whitmer must look across the court before announcing a substitution.
“On occasion, I’ll be, like, oh my gosh was he already in the game?” Whitmer said. “I have to pay extra attention to make sure I’m picking up who’s actually coming into the game.”
Dan Borne, who is in his 33rd season as the P.A. man for LSU home games, noted how social distancing has brought changes to his communication with the official scorer. “We do a lot of hand signals,” he said.
When asked how he determined when to raise his voice, Borne, whose name is pronounced Bor-NAY, said, “I use Shakespeare. He’s sort of my guide on this. He said, the play’s the thing. The less said, the better. So, I keep it to a minimum.
“If there’s a great dunk, of course I rev it up. But, of course, you don’t have 13,000 (fans) revving it up with you.”
Speaking of name pronunciation, Whitmer said he arrives at Rupp Arena as much as two hours before games to make sure he knows how to say unfamiliar names. He will check the opposing team’s website or media notes or speak to the visiting team’s Sports Information representative.
Of UK’s new transfer from West Virginia, Oscar Tshiebwe, Whitmer spoke confidently of learning how to pronounce the name. He will be eligible to play next season. Incidentally, it’s SHEE-bway.
Whitmer laughed when it was noted that when he announced a basket or foul by Devin Askew, it sounded funny. When he said “Askew,” it sounded like a sneeze. Gesundheit!
“I can see that,” Whitmer said.
Whitmer, who turns 51 on Feb. 25, grew up in Russellville. He’s a graduate of Transylvania, where he filled the P.A. role in men’s basketball as a student and then after graduation. He was the backup announcer for UK home games before getting the job in 2007.
“I’ve always been such a fan from when I was a child,” he said. “It’s a labor of love. It’s just a lot of fun.”
Sobering perspective
Going into this weekend’s games, Kentucky was at No. 77 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.
NCAA associate director of communications David Worlock offered this perspective. On Selection Sunday 2019, there were 23 teams ranked between 33 and 75 in the NET that did not make the NCAA Tournament field. St. John’s had the worst NET for an at-large selection at No. 73. Then came Arizona State at No. 63 and Minnesota at No. 61.
Going into the game against Tennessee, Kentucky had a record of 3-11 in games against opponents in Quad 1 (1-6) and Quad 2 (2-5).
Said stats savant Ken Pomeroy, “I am not a bracketologist, but I don’t think they have a chance at the tournament with that record.”
Parting words
The final paragraph of The New York Times obituary on John Chaney was a quote from the former Temple coach. It was in reference to his famously confrontational relationship with then UMass Coach John Calipari. Presumably, Chaney was being playful.
“My only regret I have is that I exposed so much of myself to the media,” Chaney said. “Certainly, I regret the language I used with Calipari. I should have waited until after the game was over and then took him outside and beat the hell out of him.”
On his radio show Wednesday night, Calipari said he and Chaney had a cordial 30-minute telephone conversation about five months ago.
“He made me a better coach,” Calipari said. “His competitive spirit brought out that competitiveness in me. …
“He’s a guy kind of like John Thompson. You never thought they would die. They were going to live forever.”
‘Monster’
One of many reasons to lament the cancellation of Kentucky’s game against Texas last weekend is not seeing the Longhorns’ freshman big man, Greg Brown, play.
He was a McDonald’s All-American who drew recruiting interest from Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina.
“But he grew up in Austin,” ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla said. “His father (also named Greg Brown) played football at Texas and the NFL (Denver Broncos). So, he ended up being a legacy recruit for them.”
Brown’s mother, Tonya Wallace, also attended Texas. She was on the track and field team.
Brown was averaging 11.9 points and 8.0 rebounds going into what would have been the game at Kentucky.
Fraschilla noted that Brown was averaging a rebound every 2.79 minutes.
“Elite is a rebound every three minutes,” the ESPN analyst said. “He’s a monster rebounder. Very athletic. A kid who’s just learning how to play the game.”
Limits on love
Jai Lucas was on the Texas staff before moving to Kentucky this season.
Lucas apparently made an impression on Andrew Jones, a redshirt junior guard for the Longhorns.
When asked about Lucas two days before the UK-Texas game scheduled for last weekend, Jones said, “Coach Jai. Man, I miss him a lot. He was a great mentor. Really knowledgeable about the game. Got a great personality. … A lot of great memories.”
But Jones added that competitiveness supersedes sentimentality. “When we play them …, I’ll let it go out the window,” he said.
Make-up dates
In anticipation of COVID-19 disrupting the schedule, the Southeastern Conference set aside the final weekend of the regular season, March 5-7, as a time to make up league games that have been postponed.
As with seemingly everything during the pandemic, the weekend set aside for makeup games is tentative.
A number of factors that will determine the schedule in the final weekend of the season, the SEC office said. Number of games needing to be made up, matchups and team schedules going into the final weekend.
The SEC has not ruled out a team playing makeup games on back-to-back days. The league is also open to playing makeup games on other other dates convenient to both teams prior to the final weekend.
Margaritaville
A teleconference Tuesday featuring South Carolina Coach Frank Martin took a lighthearted turn at the end. He and a reporter exchanged salutes to life in Key West, Fla.
Martin, who grew up in Miami, recalled being in a Key West bar one afternoon. Suddenly, he had a revelation.
“I realize I’m drinking with Jimmy Buffett,” he said.
With that, Martin playfully told the reporter, “Go to Key West, bro. Have the time of your life.”
Happy birthday
To Malik Monk. He turned 23 on Thursday. … To Ramel Bradley. He turned 36 on Friday. … To Tai Wynyard. He turned 23 on Friday. … To Lance Ware. He turns 20 on Monday. … To Henry Thomas. He turns 50 on Monday. … To Winston Bennett. He turns 56 on Tuesday. … To UK Coach John Calipari. He turns 62 on Wednesday.
