From Sports Fan to Sportscaster: The Everyman Sports Junkie Turned Announcer Shares His Thoughts on the Job

By Vinny Micucci

"From Sports Fan to Sportscaster" is written as if told to you over dinner. The stories are first-hand accounts of working as a Sportscaster at various sporting events. You will feel what it is like to be in the winning clubhouse of a playoff baseball team. You will learn what goes on when covering a sport and how headlines are made. For the sports fan who always dreamed of meeting athletes, announcing the big game or hosting a radio show...allow the author to show you what it would be like.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456745509

Vinny Micucci

"From Sports Fan to Sportscaster" is written by design to feel as if we're talking over dinner. Throughout the years, I've frequently heard about how much fun my job must be and that many people would love to get the chance to work in this field. Though I certainly agree with and appreciate these sentiments, this book goes deeper into the day to day work. In just over a decade, I've spent my time working in Major League Baseball. I covered numerous events including drafts, all-star games and playoffs for the NHL, NBA & NFL. Additionally, I've worked for a Minor League Baseball team as the on-field host. I've interviewed a countless number of notable names from Alex Rodriguez and Robert Redford to Jay-Z and Bud Selig. As a huge sports fan growing up, this field was a perfect match to get in to. However, with such a close knit family and a desire to start one of my own, there was a need to learn how I could make this all work. Vinny currently lives on Long Island in New York with his wife, Kara. In addition to maintaining work in the industry, Vinny currently teaches aspiring sportscasters how to develop their skills. He operates a training center and website where students can learn how to provide play-by-play of a sporting event, interview properly, host a radio show and more. For more information, visit www.sportscaster101.com.

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 – The state of the Sports Media Business

Chapter 2 – A True Yankee

Chapter 3 – In the minors, amateur status

Chapter 4 – MLB.com, The Good

Chapter 5 - Your Fantasy Sports team & You

Chapter 6 – John Marzano

Chapter 7 - If only this could be done the right way

Chapter 8 – So you wanna be a broadcaster?!?

Chapter 9 - The Roll Out

Introduction

I heard a quote from an unnamed author who said that No one lies on their deathbed wishing they had worked harder on the Johnson account. From a very early age, I lived by that quote. It wasn’t because I knew of it, but more that I always felt that way. This book is nothing more than an average Joe sports fan getting that break to talk about sports, meet athletes, visit ballparks, various cities and more and what made the experience an incredible one. Keep in mind, I worked very hard at crafting my skills and in theory had enough talent to be given the chance to make it in this profession but the mentality is something totally different and that I didn’t always have. So it seems that in the end, I just want to be an average Joe sports fan with my white picket fence and close knit family. You will learn I didn’t want to write this book to make money. Heck, you may have no idea who I even was when you came across this book and above all, I didn’t do it for any sort of fame. In fact, it will quickly become obvious that I don’t want to put the full-time commitment in certain aspects of this business anymore. So why did I write it? Maybe one day, my grandkids will have the chance to read what their grandfather was thinking going through his early life in the sports media field. I am fully aware that I have no complaints in life. I have been fortunate to get the opportunity to go after what I want and my support system of family and friends remain strong. I want my kids to look up to me the way that I look up to my parents. Still, you can’t take yourself too seriously. There are those who truly deserve to be looked up to. Fire Fighters and Police Officers and all branches of our military sacrifice a lot more than I ever will. They have the right to step back and complain. With that in mind, every individual still works to make their living situation as great as it can be and that is what I desire.

The work associated with covering professional sports is great. The atmospheres you find yourself in, the people you meet and the stories you gather are all moments that I will hold onto forever. The behind the scenes are just like any other place and the people in charge are more often than not...clueless and lost. It does require a certain being. Much of what I envisioned for my future went against what it takes to be successful entering the business but when you are in college and not tied down to any one place or person or moment, you decide to challenge yourself. My family life is wonderful. I have loving parents married for over 35 years. I am close with my brother and sister and all of my extended family is tight and never had more than your daily run of the mill issues. My mother stayed at home and raised us kids and believe me, I learned the value of that job early on. My father was home in time for dinner each night and although they were strict, my family values and the way I wanted to do things became pretty clear. I do not want to live out of a suitcase and be away from family for anytime let alone an extended one. Uh oh – this was problem #1. I was not getting into a 9-5 business. I was not going to be home often and I was not going to be able to start a family much like my parents did in the late 1970’s. As I approached 30 years old, I had purchased my first house, I had over a decade’s worth of built up memories and relationships in the field and I had just met my love…Kara. Now feels like the right time to settle in to who I really am.

Chapter 1 – The state of the Sports Media Business

The more I follow and cover sports, the more I feel as if I were born in the wrong decade. I don’t want you to get me wrong. Sure, I love the technology, the evolution of the games, the seemingly endless options of entertainment and matchups that exist nowadays but the reason I got so into sports is the same reason I want to keep it that way. Media coverage in sports has gone haywire. No longer are we reporting on the news, we are simply making the news. One of my biggest problems with sports coverage can begin with the Major League Baseball All-Star game. As big a sports junkie as I am, baseball is heads and shoulders above the rest my favorite one and I respect its athletes and their abilities immensely. I am not jealous of their salaries, fame or anything that comes with the job. However, the midsummer classic has become quite a spectacle and not always simply because of a few Hall of Famers that arrive for the party. In 2008, the All-Star game took place less than one hour from where I grew up, lived, went to school and had worked. It is at Yankee Stadium. I had been there hundreds of times and could not wait to enjoy all the weekend had to offer. I was not about to let some inaccurate, unnecessary coverage of the event get in the way. This was a futile effort, cause it was about to do just that. First, Major League Baseball can’t have its cake and eat it too. As wonderful a job Commissioner Selig has done with the sport, in my opinion, he overreacted to the 2002 All-Star game in Milwaukee. I don’t particularly care that the game ended in a tie that year. My favorite memory of the game was Torii Hunter robbing Barry Bonds of a homerun while 2nd year player Ichiro Suzuki looked on in awe in right centerfield. I don’t believe that many fans cared either, but the writers chose to make it an issue and thus an issue we have. Major League Baseball had been hosting All-Star games since 1933, which by the way the American League won 4-2 since we need to know the outcome. From that moment to 2002 in Milwaukee, 72 All-Star games were played. From 1959 to 1962, two games were played each year and in 1961 at Fenway Park, one of the games ended in a tie. Why was it suddenly an issue? Is there too much media with a need to sell a headline? Was the simple coverage of the game itself not enough of a storyline to be different from the rest? Let’s start the uproar for now it counts. This slogan was given to the game since now the winning league received home field advantage in the World Series that year. That and FOX, CBS, NBC and whomever else would have a draw to the game would bump ratings. Now it counts became quite the punch line for those talking about the game itself. So why can’t baseball have its cake and eat it too? Well, you either make a game that counts in which case fan voting is ridiculous or you don’t and let the fans decide whatever they want. You should get the best team out there with no need for a player from each team and duel until the winner gets home field advantage. I do not care for this way. Instead, go back to an exhibition game, get a player from each team, create a legend spot on the roster and give the winning team something that universally motivates everyone and that is money. They do it in the form of shares to teams that finish in first and second in the division and based on how far they advance in the playoffs as well and they did it for exhibition games in Japan when I covered the 2006 Japan All-Star Series. There, MLB All-Stars traveled to play the stars of the Nippon Professional League. Trust me; the players had the look of wanting to win. Money and the pure competitiveness of these pro athletes will serve the game just fine. You cannot go half speed in baseball. It just simply does not work. The tie in Milwaukee was apparently devastating and due to the media coverage, we have a new All-Star game format...and it counts!

Here is my mostly direct encounter with how the news is made and not covered. At the 2008 All Star Game in New York, there was as there is every year various media availability sessions. I was put in charge of covering the event and therefore entered into the large hotel room where the All-Stars of each team would gather. Each league gets an allotted time of about an hour, usually less for hundreds of media from around the country and the world for that matter to speak. The questions are repetitive and horrible and it is no wonder that some players arrive late, take the fines and not arrive at all or appear to have a puss on their face the entire time. Now, certainly I would say to just suck it up and talk for a bit and go back to your All-Star experience but the treatment that Jonathan Papelbon received was just uncalled for. I give you a side note to consider while reading. I promise that during my entire time as a broadcaster, not once did I let fan allegiance deter how I covered events. I do want you to know where I am coming from at all times, so you should you know I grew up a Yankee fan. That should only add to my comments as I watched the right handed closer handle questions. With the game taking place at the old Yankee Stadium, the New York media peppered the fiery pitcher with questions about who should close the game. I was at Papelbons table for a good 5-7 minutes. I heard the same question asked of him several times. EACH TIME, the man answered it well. He credited the work of Mariano Rivera and said calmly that If I was managing the team, I would close but I am not, so it don’t matter. I stood there and not once thought he was pulling rank on Rivera…not once did I think he was asking his own manager Terry Francona who was skipper of the AL team to put him in that spot. The guy simply said in translated terms that he is a competitor and he always wants the ball in the big spots and of course he is confident in himself to say that. Needless to say, the back page of the New York Daily News on July 15th, 2008 stated, PAPELBUM – why?? All I can say is that I was there and saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own two ears. He never made a point to call out New York’s legendary closer. He simply stated what any player would. The caption on the back page also stated Red Sox reliever says he, not Mariano, should close tonight’s All-Star Game. Try and search for any other quotes by the righty other than the one I already stated above. You won’t find any. In fact, much of the writing uses terms like Papelbon suggests it is he and not Rivera who should close – in other words, it is all how you perceive it and believe you me, I never perceived it that way. Similar response is used when players make predictions. In 2007, Jimmy Rollins said in spring training that the Phillies would win the NL East. It became back page fodder as it should have for the Mets but we take his word in the media and with fans and we crucify him for thinking that his team can win. Rollins did it again in 2009 when he said that the Phillies will win the World Series in 5 games on late night TV. I hosted a World Series show on MLB.com several hours prior to each game which took callers. I couldn’t believe the hatred being thrown at Rollins for saying those words. What in the world is he supposed to say? If Rollins replies, they have a good team over there and it will be hard but we are hoping to come out on top, then he is considered boring and predictable. If Rollins says, we are a great team and I can’t wait to start the series. I think we are going to win it in 5 games, then he is pompous and fans will loudly spew hate his way and the back pages will read, Confident shortstop predicts team will roll over New York and the byline should say - oh and don’t forget to say imaginably rude things to him when you see him. What do we want him to say when you ask him what does he think will happen in the series? That is a stupid question and a player should really respond with, You know, I think we are very overrated and a very poor team and to be honest, I think the other team will win it in 5 games. I am not sure how we even got to this point at all. Let’s see what the back pages say then.

It was spring of 2007 and I was touring Florida’s Grapefruit League filing reports on each team’s camp. There are these words that fly around a clubhouse from reporters to players that have no meaning anymore. I imagine when there were only a few reporters on the beat for each club that it was never said since the group simply spoke with the player as if the two were having a conversation while waiting to board a train. However, with the amount of media today, there is a need to say the magic words just two quick questions or do you have a quick five minutes. It is as if, the relationship is so miniscule that media members are doing their best to sell the player on their interview. Unfortunately, when I come along and say these words, they are meaningless to a player even though I have the utmost intentions in mind. I was in Vero Beach with the Dodgers when I saw someone ask Luis Gonzalez if he had just five minutes for a sit down interview. Luis was kind enough to say hold on one moment and proceeded into the clubhouse. At that point, there is a 50/50 shot as to whether or not the player will ever return. Luis however was sincere in his statement and came back outside to sit with the reporter. Start the clock…in that time two or three minutes had passed and catcher Russell Martin passed by us. I along with J.C. our camera man and Tom our producer asked him for five minutes of his time. With a smile, Russell sat down and we quickly put a microphone on him. I asked him the usual Spring Training questions. We discussed the Dodgers upcoming season, the pitching staff and his expectations for the year. After nearly five minutes had passed, I said thank you to the Dodger backstop. Immediately, he said…Really? So you actually meant five minutes? Clearly he had mentally booked way more time in mind for this sit down and that showed when he didn’t immediately leave. We all sat around and spoke for just another few minutes without the camera on. I don’t even remember if we spoke about baseball. The point was that he didn’t mind sitting down with anyone to speak, but the thought of doing it for a long period of time with a large amount of media members might prevent him from