The Daylan Show
The show that features people in the sports, media, and journalism world as they talk about their electric journey! Created in the summer of 2020, host Daylan Flowers has now conducted over 80 episodes with people all over the world. A college student, Daylan has completed four full seasons of his self proclaimed show. Aimed at having guests on and sharing their stories. People from all walks of life and sports have graced the screen with Daylan, as he continues to share as many words of wisdom possible. Lots of fun and meaningful conversations are held, so sit back and enjoy! Don't forget to subscribe and check us out on all podcasts platforms.
The Daylan Show
Season 5 Episode 14- Featuring Derek Jones
Derek Jones takes us on a fascinating journey through his career as a sports broadcaster, from his early days recording NFL games on VHS tapes with the sound down to calling NCAA Tournament games for ESPN and Princeton basketball.
Growing up in the Philadelphia area, Jones was surrounded by legendary voices like Harry Kalas, Gene Hart, and Merrill Reese who shaped his understanding of what great sports broadcasting could be. Unlike today's aspiring broadcasters who have technology at their fingertips, Jones had to be creative - practicing play-by-play into a tape recorder while watching recorded games with the sound muted. This passion led him to Rowan University, where he discovered the importance of versatility in media, learning everything from camera operation to editing to on-air work.
The conversation reveals the stark differences between radio and television broadcasting. "Radio requires so much more talking," Jones explains, as you become "the eyes and ears" for listeners who cannot see the action. Television brings different challenges - working with producers speaking in your ear, coordinating with analysts, and knowing when to let the visuals tell the story. His detailed breakdown of game-day preparation offers invaluable insight for aspiring broadcasters, showing the meticulous work that happens days before the red light comes on.
Perhaps most compelling are Jones's career highlights, particularly calling Princeton's improbable 2023 Sweet 16 run. His story about receiving a simple pat on the shoulder from broadcasting legend Verne Lundquist after his first NCAA Tournament broadcast captures the special moments that make this demanding profession worthwhile. For anyone interested in sports broadcasting or media careers, this conversation provides both practical advice and inspirational fuel for the journey.
Subscribe to hear more conversations with fascinating professionals who've turned their passions into careers, and learn the behind-the-scenes realities of the sports media world.
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Welcome to the channel if you're new. We appreciate your support and your subscription. It takes us just a few seconds, it's free and it allows us to keep having conversations like this. So hope you guys enjoy. If you're new, I hope you enjoy this conversation. I hope this conversation leads you to take in some information from previous episodes and conversations that we've had over the five years of the show. So, thank you, guys, and, without me talking too much, let's introduce our guest for this episode, mr Derek Jones. Woohoo, good to be here, thank you. Thank you so glad that you're here. Admire your work. Super grateful that you're able to join me today. Before we get started, just how are you doing? How's life treating you right now, in the later parts of the year right now, in the later parts of the year, right now?
Speaker 2:Well, as we're talking, it is brutally hot here in New Jersey and it is about we just got done with a couple of 199-degree days here, so it's been rough, but I'm hanging in there, I'm in the AC, so I can't complain too much.
Speaker 1:That's good. That's good. I definitely feel you living in the South, that summertime kicks on and gets a little hot outside, but I feel you. Mr Jones, if you don't mind for people watching or listening that may be new or may not be familiar about who you are, what your work is, do you mind just giving a brief introduction about yourself so people who can get comfortable with you, just where?
Speaker 2:you're from what you do in your career and just maybe some things you've been able to accomplish as well to get you where you are today. Oh, no problem, my name is Derek Jones. I have spent the last six years working for ESPN. As far as college basketball goes, I've been working on their college baseball programming as a play-by-play announcer over the last three years, and then also I've worked as the play-by-play announcer for Princeton University men's basketball since 2012,. Radio play-by-play and television play-by-play, and also I was before that the Princeton Women's Basketball radio play-by-play announcer as well. My regular job is the station manager at Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM, which is Rowan University's campus radio station. For those of you that are unaware, Rowan University is located in a town called Glassboro in New Jersey and it is right outside of Philadelphia, so we're knee deep here in Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers country here. So I've been doing that with Rowan as a station manager since 2012. So I've been doing play-by-play overall since literally since I was like 19.
Speaker 2:So, whether it be college radio, then eventually getting into television, I've been involved in the business for a little while now. I greatly enjoy it. I've had a chance to cover numerous NCAA tournaments with Princeton women's basketball and Princeton men's basketball Covered some Ivy League tournaments as well. I got a chance to cover Princeton's great run in the Sweet 16 on the men's side a couple of years ago. I've done three now NCAA baseball tournaments and I've been a part of Champ Week for ESPN's college basketball coverage as well. So I've had a tremendous time getting a chance to work with a lot of awesome people in the field. So this is I'm literally getting a chance to do my dream job. When I grew up as a kid, I wanted to become a sports broadcaster and I've been able to make my way there with the help of a lot of great people yes, sir, thank you well you kind of talked about there.
Speaker 1:But I want to ask you know, what age did this even like, become a, a dream for you wanted to be a sports journalist, sports broadcaster. What age did that kind of initiate in your mind? And, as well, was there anyone that maybe you, you know, you maybe looked up to in terms of their work and you admire what they did in the in the journalism world? Was there anybody like that for you that you kind of just love watching or reading or listening to their work?
Speaker 2:well. So I I would say the first sport I really fell in love with, as far as just like constantly watching, was the nfl, and the NFL had a lot of cool broadcasters as a part of it. Pat Summerall was the lead play by play announcer for years for CBS and, of course, along with John Madden, they were the A team for CBS and then eventually for Fox when I was growing up as a kid. So I really gravitated towards them. I used to look up when and where they were going to be broadcasting games, when they used to do that stuff in newspaper capsules for the USA Today. But you know, on top of that, I think one of the things I got really lucky with is the area I grew up in. I was born in Virginia but I moved to the Philadelphia area, new Jersey, specifically when I was a young kid and because of that I got a chance to listen to a lot of broadcasters for my favorite teams.
Speaker 2:For the Phillies they had Harry Callas. For the Flyers they had Gene Hart, who was a staple for them over the years. Harry Callas, of course, did not only the Phillies play-by-play announcing on the TV side and radio at times he also did a lot of broadcasting for the NFL, so whenever he was on doing anything, I made sure I was able to listen to it. Then you know the Eagles Merrill Reese here locally, who's still doing it at such a high level for the Philadelphia Eagles, and then for the Sixers, you know Mark Zumoff, who has been around the team for a long time, up until retiring a few years ago. He was a longtime staple.
Speaker 2:So we just had so many great broadcasters. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's so many other guys. Jim Jackson, who's doing it now for the Flyers, does an excellent job. There's so many announcers that I was able to listen to growing up as a kid and it just kind of, they were so enjoyable to listen to that I. It just became something where I said I'd really like to do that and I that was about I want to say eventually, when I turned, uh, like right around 14 years old, that's when I really realized, okay, this is something I want to do. So when you take a look at the big picture of things, you know, 13, 14, 15 years old, that was a formative time for me because I was realizing, okay, I think this is where I like to go with things. And then when I was 14, I knew when I was 13, I wanted to do it, but when I was 14, I actually started to kind of put some things together in order to try to at least figure out how to do it.
Speaker 1:I was going to ask that as well Were you able to cover anything before you got to college, maybe a high school team, the high school that you went to? What work were you able to do before you got to college? That maybe prepared you in that role, if any?
Speaker 2:Not much. A whole lot of writing. It's not like it is now. Now kids have so many opportunities to do things. Now you can just get on Amazon and buy stuff or get like a little micro or go down the street and buy something and you can like do play by play on your own. Back then it was a lot harder.
Speaker 2:So I I didn't have that opportunity to cover it in high school because that just wasn't something. Our high school, triton High School in Runnymede, new Jersey they didn't have really any outlet for media in that regard, so I really couldn't do it there. So what I did was I would just write a lot. I kind of figured out you know writing styles and things like that when I was 13, 14., 14. When I was in eighth grade I took a writing class and that really kind of made me realize, okay, there, that's one area I can go into. And then I had I still, to this day, somewhere in my parents' house have a ton of sports illustrateds from when I was a teenager, from back in the day during the Jordan era and all that. And you know I would read. I would read about all the stars and all the major sports.
Speaker 2:Peter King was one of the more popular writers that I read a lot on the NFL side of things. So I liked him. Tom Verducci, so there were, there were a lot of people who I really looked up to growing up as a kid and I you know the play-by-play thing, I really the only way I could do that and what I ended up eventually doing was I bought a little tape recorder and I used to record NFL games on VHS tapes. I know I'm dating myself by saying VHS tapes, but I used to record games, and so what I ended up doing was I would go back and turn the sound down and then just announce the games into the recorder, and that's kind of how I really started to get an interest in it in terms of seeing how I could do it.
Speaker 2:And then by the time I got to college, it was like, ok, now you're in a situation where you can try to do this because the resources are there. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:What was your process in choosing Rowan University? Did you consider any other schools? You know, how did you end up landing at Rowan? What was kind of like the finalizing factor that you ended up deciding to go there for school?
Speaker 2:So I got accepted to three schools, none of which were ones I up deciding to go there for school. So I got accepted to three schools, none of which were ones I originally wanted to go to. I originally wanted to go to the university of miami because I was a big fan of the hurricanes in the early 90s uh, their football team. So I was like I, I want to go there and I knew from reading a couple of things that their communications program was good, and so that was the idea. My parents were like I don't think. So I don't know if we're going to send you that far away from home. So I ended up applying to Rowan, delaware and Temple. I got accepted to those schools and then, with Rowan, I knew Rowan's communication program was pretty good.
Speaker 2:They had some tie-ins with NFL Films, so I thought maybe that was an avenue that I could potentially pursue Back then and they still do it now they had students certain students go through kind of a pre-college institute where you could get college credits before you actually took classes in the fall. So I ended up going to Rowan for that and then from there I was rolling once I got into the fall after taking a couple classes during the summer there. So you know, it was kind of one of those deals where you know I could have gone to Delaware, I could have gone to Temple, but I ended up going to Rowan. And you know I've been affiliated with the school in some capacity since.
Speaker 1:What was your time at Rowan? Like I know, you gained your bachelor's and your master's there. What was your experience like there at Rowan? What were some of the things that maybe you picked up in your college years that maybe you still use on a day-to-day basis, every day, in your work?
Speaker 2:well, I think you have to be willing to try different things. So our tv station at the time didn't really have the capability to do things live for sports. So because when I originally went to Rowan I wasn't thinking about radio yet. I thought I would eventually get there, but that wasn't my first move. So I got involved with a TV station there and what I learned pretty quickly was you have to learn how to do everything, or at least you try to, just in case. So they in the beginning.
Speaker 2:I did a handful of football games there my freshman year and the way they had it set up was they rotated crews, so you would do a half of play-by-play cruise. So you would do a half of play-by-play, then you would get up on top of the press box for the other half and shoot camera. So shoot the game running the camera, and that was. That was pretty interesting. And then after all of that, if you wanted the tape to air, you wanted the game to air you had to go back and edit it. And I didn't know I was you know this is when I was, you know, 18, 19 years old I didn't know how to edit tape. So that took me a long time to learn how to do that and it was hard, but I learned some valuable things. I would say the most important things. I think that I learned right away when I was a student there learn how to do as much as you can, and whether it's writing, editing, interviewing, play-by-play opportunities. Don't just pigeonhole yourself to do one thing, because if you just say I'm not going to do X, y and Z, then it's going to be a lot more difficult for you to get a job when you get out of school. So I think that's the thing that I would say. I got out of school before social media became a thing, so it hadn't really heated up by that point. That wasn't a thing that teams were readily using, but if it was around when I was around, I definitely would have tried to do something in that realm.
Speaker 2:I think students I think students sometimes are a little gun shy or think I want to be the next version of fill in the blank person, and that's their whole personality when they're in college. I don't really think you can pigeonhole yourself that way. It's. It's too as many opportunities as there are right now. It's still hard to get jobs. So I think students really need to learn, especially writing. Don't even get me started about writing nowadays for students in college, but that that's something where you can get a leg up on people. Write for your school newspaper. Go learn how to cover a team. I mean that was one of the. That's one of the biggest things I learned when I worked at Row newspaper. Go learn how to cover a team. I mean that was one of the. That's one of the biggest things I learned when I worked at rowan learning how to cover a team. I covered football when I was there and covered basketball. Like you know, that's your opportunity to make relationships with people and learn how to cover a team properly you.
Speaker 1:You just kind of mentioned a bunch of different things in that moment and I wanted to ask and I'm sure you kind of will repeat a few of the same things so if you could give a piece of advice to a young journalist, someone in college or maybe in high school getting ready to go to college, someone just graduated college, what would you want to tell them in terms of getting to the levels of where they want to be at or where you're at currently getting to?
Speaker 2:the levels of where they want to be at or where you're at currently? Well, number one. I don't think, and I didn't realize it when I was in college, and now it's literally, if you go on Twitter, it's in your face. It is an extremely competitive field, without a doubt, and I spend spend five minutes on LinkedIn and I see students who are putting up hey, this is what I'm doing, this is I did this, I did that. It's so competitive now in the industry and I, you know, one of my friends in the business told me and he's told students this he said it's the best time to get involved in the business. It's also the worst time to get involved in the business. He said it's the best time to get involved in the business. It's also the worst time to get involved in the business. He said it's the best time because there's so many opportunities. It's the worst time because there's so many opportunities, because so many people want to. People view this, as you know, kind of a fun house, and I will be the first to tell you. You know, I am somebody who's been blessed to get a chance to do what I love. I think it's important for students to understand how the meat's made. So you're going to hear about internships from college professors. Obviously, go, go do those. Learn whatever it is you want to do. Try to find an internship related to that, because you're going to realize whether or not you like it.
Speaker 2:When I first started at Rowan, I thought I was a TV person and I thought I was going to be involved more in TV. I ended up. My freshman year was pretty much the only year I was involved in television and I just dove head into radio. I think if I had to do it over again and I don't even know if I could have done it differently, just based off of the circumstances, but I would have wanted to get more involved in the television side, but the opportunities really weren't there as much so it was it would have been tough to follow through on that. I just think you have to one recognize how tough the field is, recognize there competition and that there are other people out there besides you that want jobs.
Speaker 2:I think there's a finish line mentality for students where they say, okay, I graduated, I did all this stuff, Where's my job? It's a nonstop process, Even if so if anybody here is in high school taking this in, if you have a high school newspaper, you work at a high school that has the ability to do live streaming, do play-by-play for sports. Do it, Even if you're in college now and there are high schools around you that are offering opportunities for streaming. Do it. Reps are so critical and they're more critical now. But the reason why reps are critical? For two reasons. One, it helps you get better, but also it allows you to meet people and allows you to connect with people and build networks, because that's one of the biggest things in the business. As much as you'll hear about resumes and demos and things of that nature, and all that stuff is important.
Speaker 2:Who you meet along the way and who you know along the way can be just as important.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, appreciate that. Thank you so much for that. For you, after you graduated college, what was the process of finding a job? Was it something that you were able to immediately get into the work field? That you had to go a few different route, revenues to figure out exactly where you were headed? What was the job opportunities like for you right after you graduated college?
Speaker 2:So it was pretty weird and this is why this is another thing I tell people college. So it was pretty weird and this is why this is another thing.
Speaker 2:I tell people no, two people have the same path. It's all different. My path was totally different from what a lot of people will experience. So right around the time I was going to graduate, my boss at the time, a gentleman named Frank Hogan, came to me and said you know, hey, would you think about going to graduate school? We have a graduate assistant program and this would give you an opportunity to stay for another year. You get your graduate degree as well. You basically go to school for free because you'd have an assistantship through the campus radio station where I was.
Speaker 2:I was sports director my senior year at the campus radio station. So I was for a time. You know, I was like any other senior. I was probably going to be on the way out looking for a job Well, so he approached me with that and so I decided to get my master's degree in public relations. So I did that for about a year and a half. So right near the end of that he said hey, we had an opportunity. Come up where we have an assistant station manager position open at the radio station and it would be there to help me.
Speaker 2:You can still call games, which I thought was very attractive because I could still do games and help develop students while I was there, and back then we didn't have that many students calling games. So I mean I was, I was going to get some burn one way or the other calling games while I was earning, while after I was done earning the degree. You know, then you're kind of put in a situation where you know we don't have that many students to go cover all these things at once. So I kind of had to step in anyhow. And then on top of that, you know, I was given the opportunity to go out and find some freelance work.
Speaker 2:I had some connections with some previous people that I'll probably talk about a little bit later on at some point, who had worked at Rowan, who had gone to school at Rowan and then from there, because of connections I made with them and we were friends, I was able to help land jobs. But I think there were a couple things here and there that interested me. But it was send your demo here and we'll call you back if we want you kind of thing. So the opportunity to get another degree I thought was okay, I can call games and hang around for another year and get a master's degree, so I said okay and then soon after that the job popped open and I think the big key for me with that was I was still going to have the ability to go call games and get better and then long-term figure out where I was going to go with things.
Speaker 1:Years later. How were you able to gain the opportunity to be the play-by-play at Princeton for the women's basketball team and with that opportunity, what did you kind of see for maybe your future within doing what you were doing there at Princeton at that time?
Speaker 2:So another lesson for all of future people who work in sports media and broadcasters life is about timing in a lot of cases. So when I went to Rowan, the sports director before I became sports director was a guy by the name of John Sadak. John Sadak eventually went on to become, and he currently is now the play-by-play announcer for the Cincinnati Reds on television. So he and I were good friends still are to this day and John and I stayed in touch. After he graduated, john ended up calling games for Princeton and he ended up calling games for the women's team, so I would occasionally fill in for him. As his star started to ascend and he was doing these different things, he would need people to fill in for him. So I started to fill in for him a little bit so he eventually got moved to the men's team and so, coincidentally, at the same time he was moved to the men's team A, there was an opening on the women's side for an announcer, but also the women's basketball team had just hired a new head coach. So it was kind of like I said okay, so this is a really um, this is a really cool opportunity for me. And what basically happened was you know John. John has been so great to me as far as any time there's been an opening. Even now, if there's an opening he hears about, sends it to me, lets me know what's going on and if there's any way I can make things work, I'll try to do it. So he let me know about the women's basketball position. So eventually, to make a long story short, I got involved with that and started doing that full time.
Speaker 2:So the head coach of Princeton women's basketball in her first year at the time was Courtney Banghart, who is now the head coach for the University of North Carolina. So she in her first year there. It was a rough year because the team was not very good and she was taking over for really a program that had its ups and downs but had not been a national threat at all. So she was trying to make something out of it. And so her first year I started that year as well. So the neat part about that was everybody was trying to get to know each other and that year I really started to learn more and more about basketball. I already knew a lot about basketball at least I thought I did but then you get an opportunity to talk to coaches and interview them and then you realize whatever it is you thought you knew about basketball. You don't even know half of what you think you know. So that was how I got involved with Princeton women's basketball and I covered their their teams from 2007 through the end of the 2011-12 season.
Speaker 1:For you? What are maybe some of the? The differences simulators between doing radio and doing tv? Like what, what? What are the? The comparisons between those two is there? Do you enjoy either either one a little bit more? Like, like what are the processes between those two for you?
Speaker 2:okay, so you know it's. I love that you asked that question. That is one of the things that I think is hardest now for a lot of young broadcasters, because all of the streaming that happens now people, it's hard for them to transfer those skills from one place to the other. So they do streaming, then they go on radio and it's not the same thing. Radio requires so much more talking TV. I think it's important to get out of the way of the analyst. Let the analyst shine. Radio it's flipped a little bit, because radio you have to explain what's happening and where you know. On TV you have to make sure you don't need to describe every singular thing that happens during the course of a game, but your role is to you know, help describe but also help the analyst succeed, because the analyst is there to tell people the how and the why, and that's you want to help them accomplish that. So I think when I started doing stuff for espn and actually it started before because the ivy league struck a deal where they were able to start doing some streaming, so I kind of got a little bit of a head start in terms of tv before I started doing stuff with the espn. But, um, I don't, you know, I love them both. I don't. I don't know if you have to pick one over the other. It would be really hard to do because I think both there are things that are really cool and challenging about both.
Speaker 2:I think with TV, there's so much going on in a television broadcast. That's why, you know, I get, I get annoyed when I hear people criticizing other broadcasters, because, yeah, broadcasters, of course you have to prepare, but there are so many things going on in the actual course of a broadcast that nobody that's watching knows about. You have a producer talking in your ear. You have to worry about what the producer's telling you. You have to worry about what your color analyst is saying. You have to make sure you're listening to both. And then, obviously, you have to make sure you're describing the action. And if you're working with talent stats, you also you know you're, you're working with them as well, as they try to give you information to help you do your job. So, um, there are a lot more moving parts in television, your job. So there are a lot more moving parts in television. Radio not so much, but radio. You better have high energy on radio and I think that's one of the things I've always enjoyed radio, because you are the eyes and the ears.
Speaker 1:So to speak.
Speaker 2:You are delivering the information to the public and you're helping explain to the public what's going on where they may were in a lot of situations they may not be able to watch the game. You know, and I think that's one of the neat aspects of doing radio, it's like you're you're the voice and you've got to let people know what's going on. And I think with radio that's what the cool part of it is. Tv is so much more storytelling, reliant, letting people know how and why things are happening, but also painting a picture about laying out what people are seeing and why they're seeing it and what matters, the stakes of a game. So each radio and tv each have their own challenges, unique challenges, but I I know it's it's a, it's a political cop-out answer maybe, but I love, I love, I love both of them.
Speaker 2:I mean I was nervous first going on tv because you know I'd done radio most of my career and I didn't.
Speaker 2:I mean, I, I, one of the first like true TV games I ever did where it wasn't being simulcast or anything, um was a high school game and high school basketball game and I, I just didn't. You know, when you're doing the simulcast stuff, sometimes you know they're not. They're they're using your audio for a web stream and sometimes, when they do, you're not getting the true experience. So, um, you know, eventually they they turn everything into espn plus with the Ivy league, uh, basketball setup. So you would get the real experience basically.
Speaker 2:But you know, there was a certain point in time where it wasn't quite that way. So then I would hop into doing a high school basketball game on TV and it was a different world. I was like you know some, as radio you're not thinking about a camera when you're on tv, you got to think about a camera and then all of a sudden you got to look, you got to make sure you're looking straight into the camera, you're not looking off for some reason. And I think sometimes like those kinds of like little things, you know you, you can't take those for granted. So I it was an adjustment for sure doing television, but I, I really enjoy it. I've loved my opportunities that I've been able to, to get my hands on and, uh, you know, I, I still, I still find myself. Uh, you know, sometimes people call me, you're a radio guy. I could tell they when they, when they listen to me calling a game yeah so.
Speaker 1:So it's uh, old habits die hard, but I, I love doing both yeah, what does you know, uh, maybe a game day look like for you for a princeton basketball game, maybe, what? What does it look like in terms of you know how early do you arrive to the arena? Uh, how much purple, like what kind of preparation goes into getting ready to, to be on camera, like, how many notes, pages and notes do you have, like what? What does a game day look like for you in terms of getting ready to set up and go for the night?
Speaker 2:So for a Princeton basketball game, let's say it's during the Ivy League season. So the Ivy League season sometimes it's back-to-back Friday, saturday Sometimes it's a one-off. But I make charts so I have a depth chart with stats and player facts and all that stuff. I don't like to have a ton of stuff Now. I like looking at a lot of information but I don't like having a ton of stuff during a basketball game because it's really easy to get lost in papers in front of you and stuff. So I think you've got to be careful with that.
Speaker 2:But certainly when you get to the week of the game I'm diving in pretty much the first moment I can easily a few days out you start putting your boards together and start doing that kind of thing, Putting the boards together. I'm a slow poke so that'll take me a day or two to put together. And then if you're heading up, it's a home game. I'll get there between 90 minutes to two hours before the game. If I'm with the team, if it's on the road, I normally go with the team, so then they'll get to the gym about 90 minutes beforehand. So when I go on the road it's normally for Princeton a radio call so I get there set up any notes. I have set up my boards um, as far as you know, laying those out, making sure I go over those, making sure if there's any last minute things I need to switch with them, I switch them or you know I'm good to go.
Speaker 2:Obviously I need to make sure the equipment works. That's one of the big differences. The home games I'm doing, the tv stuff, I don't have to worry about the equipment. Everything's, everything's set up. I just show up with my notes and take it from there. For radio, you're responsible for plugging in all the equipment. There's no on-site engineer, so you're the on-site engineer. I'm the on-site engineer when I go on the road.
Speaker 2:So you've got to make sure you do that. So typically when I'm on the road, we'll get there probably 90 minutes, hour 45 before the game starts. I'll hook everything up real quick. Radio's a really easy setup. And then I would say, probably I go on the air for radio games 20 minutes beforehand with a pregame show. Shortly before that I talk to the coach. I do a pregame interview with the coach before every road game that I cover. Home it's a little different because the radio crew that are doing the home games they'll go talk to them. So I'll get a chance, normally during the course of the week beforehand, to chat with them, him, so I'll get a chance normally during the course of the week beforehand to to chat with him. Um, so you know, each each week is a little different depending on whether they're home or away. But then you know once, once the game's going, it's going. So I think that you know once, once the ball's tipped, you know you're, you're, you're off and running with it. So, um, I I would say for me and, and I I think one of the neat things about calling games and I would definitely, if you don't feel this way about calling games, then I don't know, maybe reassess whether you should be doing it Like I don't need to have that.
Speaker 2:You know, sense of dread like 48 hours before a game and say, oh, I have to do this game, okay, I guess I have to do my notes now. No, it's never like that. The second the game is over, I'm thinking about the next game. Yeah, so I'm like okay, if Princeton is playing Yale next week, what did Yale do tonight? You know, if Princeton's playing Harvard, what did Harvard do tonight? Like I'm always looking at that Because the other component too is social media. That's why I think that's great from the sense of you always got to stay locked in. Yeah, if you're calling games and you're on social media, you got to stay locked in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're calling games and you're on social media. You got to stay locked in because people are going to ask for information. They want to know what's going on with the team. They're going to ask you questions hey, how come the lineup's this, how come the lineup's not this? You're going to get all that stuff. So you're always. You know, in a way, you're always on. So I think I felt like I've been more locked in because of social media, like during during the. The period of time when I was covering women's basketball, social media was around, but I think, you know, play-by-play announcers are still kind of trying to figure out the role in things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a thousand percent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now it's like you know you're always looking for information for the next thing that you're doing. So you know I just to me game one till the last. Game is just one long continuous threat and I just do my charts within that thread. If that makes sense, yes, sir.
Speaker 1:Jumping to 2018, same kind of question about the Princeton opportunity. But how were you able to get in contact with ESPN and gain the opportunity to work for them? And so far, what has that journey been? Get in contact with ESPN and gain the opportunity for work, work for them and so far, what has that journey been like to? To work for ESPN to cover, you know, college baseball games as well. What's that journey been like so far over the last few years?
Speaker 2:um, it's, it's been incredible. I I can't. I can't explain totally. It's hard to explain totally what the feeling is like when you're about to go on air, but I guess I can get to that in a second.
Speaker 2:The opportunity came about, thankfully, and this is I talk about timing. You know, one of the great things about covering the Ivy League was the Ivy League was on the rise. Great things about covering the Ivy league was the Ivy league was on the rise. More attention was starting to go to the Ivy league because of the success teams were having on the women's side, men's side. So when they came up with the originally it was the Ivy league digital network and then eventually they started working with ESPN plus to the extent where all the games were on ESPN Plus, all the home games in some capacity, and then, of course, they would have games that would be on the Lanier ESPN family of networks.
Speaker 2:So what ended up happening was Noah Savage, who I work with at Princeton. He's the analyst for the games alongside me. He was, you know he was looking for opportunities as well. Noah is a tremendous guy to work with. I've loved working with him for years now. I've worked with him since I started doing the men's stuff in 2012. Now I've worked with him since I started doing the men's stuff in 2012. And he was looking for an opportunity and at the same time, we both basically got an opportunity to call games for ESPN. One of the people in charge of making those decisions, a man by the name of David Seisler, reached out to Noah first and he reached out to me afterwards. And you know, one of the things that I think is really cool about broadcasting is like people are. People can be very helpful and very positive about your work, and I think that's one of the things I would say about you know, make sure you get feedback from somebody. Noah would always tell me he's like dude, you can do this, you know, and keep going with it, and I was like I don't know man, I don't know. It sounds kind of crazy, but that's. You know, that's what kind of ended up, what happening, what that? That's the way things played out. You know we were able to.
Speaker 2:Basically, noah and I started working for ESPN the same year, in 2018. And you know we would get some games together, but basically we got the opportunity at the same time. But I always credit him because he took the initiative, uh, to put himself out there and, as a result, um, I got an opportunity. Because he got an opportunity and and that that was one of the neat things, uh, that that really happened, really happened there. So, you know, mr Seisler was was nice enough to give me opportunities to call games and they put me on the Myrtle beach invitational.
Speaker 2:My first year. I was there and I I have never been so nervous and scared my life. I was just like because, you know, on top of calling these games, then you realize you know, these are the guys you've been watching on television, yeah, for a year, like some of the guys you work with, the, the teams and players you're watching, and then they're right there in front of you playing basketball and you're like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. You know I did a. You know that tournament had, you know, had St Joe's in it, wake Forest was in it. So that was when Wake Forest was coached by Danny Manning. St Joe's that was with Phil Martelli. Central Florida that was with Johnny Dawkins. So it was like all of these like cool opportunities to start covering games in college basketball. So, uh, that that's really how I got started on the college basketball side.
Speaker 2:And then a few years later, I was able to make some connections to get an opportunity to do baseball and I, you know, baseball I had done at the Division III level. I had covered a couple World Series when I was at Rowan and at least before I became station manager, I had done some games even after that. And so you know, I was doing games in some capacity but I wasn't doing them, you know, day in, day out. But I knew I could do it, you know, and I had just gotten done, I think months before I got the opportunity to call baseball games and the year before, in 2022, I called a regional championship at the division three level. So you know I can, you know I knew I could do baseball, so I got the opportunity to do it.
Speaker 2:Now here's the thing you have not lived. You have not lived and you may know this, you have not lived until you have SEC sports. It is that phrase. It just means more. That's no joke. It just means more to all parties involved the fans, the players, the coaches, everybody. And that was an unforgettable experience to start covering that in 2023. And it's, it's been a remarkable time. I was just down at Ole Miss a few weeks ago doing the Oxford Regional. It didn't end well for the Rebels, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:But, what.
Speaker 2:What an experience that was being at Swayze Field. That was a time. So you know, I think, getting the opportunity to call you know I dabbled a little bit in college football, at least at the Division I level. I got a chance to call a spring game a couple years ago with Pitt. I did college football forever for Rowan, doing play-by-play for that. So hopefully one day I'll be able to get back in the booth to call some college football, but right now I'm having a great time.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, throughout Trick or so far, has there been that one moment or moments that have just been like yeah, this is why I love what I do. This is something that I'm going to remember forever. This is something I'm going to tell my grandkids what have been some of those moments that have just been like. This is extraordinary to be a part of.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's so many I it's it's hard to pinpoint it to one, but I'll give you a couple. This is before I think, before I even got to ESPN. I think the experiences with Princeton basketball, calling the NCAA tournaments on the women's side first you know I didn't button that story up in the beginning Princeton women's basketball struggled for a long time and then, when Courtney Banghart came in, struggled the first year and eventually they went on a historic run that they're still enjoying to this day and I was able to call three ncaa tournament games and that is such a unique experience calling tournament games. And then when you get to the men's side in particular because at the time they've done a better job with it now, but back then in my opinion, it wasn't handled the same in terms of how it was covered. I think now there's been so much attention brought to the women's game that it's getting the respect that I think it deserved a long time ago. So I would say, definitely covering the three NCAA, the three NCAA women's tournaments games. Those were huge. But I think also when you look at the men's side for Princeton, everything changed really for me when they switched to the Ivy League tournament and yeah, and us being able to cover the Ivy League tournament.
Speaker 2:The first year they did the Ivy League tournament was 2017, and Princeton was 14-0 during the Ivy League regular season. Their first game was at the Palestra against Penn, because of the way they had done the Ivy League tournament. It was a central location, neutral site spot, but it just so happened Princeton played against Penn. That was an unbelievable game. But the follow-up to that is Princeton ended up winning that game and that tournament and they went to the NCAAs. So I would say, you know, one of the big moments for me, I got to call Princeton and Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament. I told somebody a long time ago. They asked me well, what do you want to do in your career? Like, what's one thing, what's your?
Speaker 2:dream I said I'd like to call an NCAA tournament game on the men's side. I would love to do that, whether it's radio or TV, and I had the chance to do it. So we get to Buffalo. The chance to do it, so we get to Buffalo. And one of the neat things about that experience is you're looking to see what announcers that CBS sends to the site. So they sent Vern Lundquist and Jim Spenarkel.
Speaker 2:Now I'd already been a big Vern Lundquist fan because of his work with the NFL. I grew up watching him for years Like my favorite NFL game of all time. He called so, which was like Eagles 49ers 1989 in Philadelphia, but he was on that game. So he shows up and he's there, and he's there and so he's talking to my roommate at the time who happened to be the sports information director for Princeton for men's basketball. So Vern Lundquist and Allie LaForse and Jim Spenarkel are all talking to my roommate, andrew Borders, and I'm just sitting there. I'm like I can't believe I'm here. So Princeton goes on to lose a game to Notre Dame. So I talked a little bit to Vern, saying, hey, it's great to meet you, whatever. So Princeton loses 60-57, and we're wrapping up the broadcast and I'm talking, I'm yammering, going on and on and on, and all of a and.
Speaker 2:I'm talking, I'm yammering, going on and on and on and all of a sudden I'm talking and I feel this tap on my back and it was Vern and he didn't say anything, but it was just, like you know, kind of a more like a so long kind of pat. I always remember that because that was like you're crushed because princeton just lost.
Speaker 2:But then I just kind of still remember feeling that pat on my shoulder from from verne after, after the game was over, and uh, because yeah, you know I think the, the tv guys or they spend some time with you and sometimes they'll pick your brain, sometimes they'll you know, they'll pick the brain of the people around the program, but you know, they, they, they know what it means to everybody involved for each team. So I thought that was really a cool moment. And then, of course, well, I don't even know. I think the one thing I will take away and I've had a ton of great experiences with ESPN I've been, I've been in North Carolina, I've called games to the ACC, I've called SEC games, I've called NIT games. I've done all kinds of great stuff. I've done, obviously, the baseball stuff has been phenomenal.
Speaker 2:The NCAA tournament run in 2023 is right near the top for me, for Princeton, and being able to call that on radio, that was, you know, because you're going into that. I had just left an NIT game to go call that. I had just finished up an NIT game in Virginia and I had to fly from Virginia to Sacramento, california. So it'll take me about 10 minutes to tell you the flight travel I had to go through to get out there. It was a remarkable experience. You know, princeton beats Arizona. It was a two versus a 15. And I was sinking, going into the game and I was surprised, like anybody, that Princeton won that game. But I remember watching practice and being in the meetings and I remember thinking to myself you know, I don't know if they win, but they're not going to get embarrassed, this is going to be, there's going to be a game, because they had all their bases covered and I'm not saying other coaches don't't, but I just felt like they were prepared and they had. I mean, you know, they have a guy on that team. They had a guy on that team who's in the NBA now, tosana Wolmont, who plays for the Nets.
Speaker 2:So them winning against Arizona, and then the follow-up to that where they beat Missouri they beat the breaks off Missouri in the second round and then a chance to go to the Sweet 16 and play against crate. And I mean that. That whole experience I'll remember for the rest of my life because that was you, just you can't be covering a team. Being with them and then getting to see them experience that that's just, that's unbelievable, that that that was. That was probably. If I had to pick one, if I had to pick one, I would say that's. That's probably my favorite experience of all time just being with that team during that whole run, because I don't think a lot of people thought that would happen, considering how the regular season ended for them. It didn't end all that well and they got it. You know. You know how it happens in in march you get on a roll. It's hard to stop.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir. Well, look, Mr Jones, I know I've got to get you out of here. I want to say thank you for giving me some of your time and being able to chat with you. This is a pure joy. I had a lot of fun listening to you and learned a few things as well. So I want to say thank you and hopefully we get to meet one day as well. Hopefully we get to encounter each other's past one day. Maybe we get you back in Oxford. Hopefully we actually win the series this time and I get to meet you this time. So I appreciate you so much, mr Jones.
Speaker 2:No problem at all, it's been a blast. Yeah, it was. Yeah, hopefully I can get back down there again. The pitching couldn't hold up for Ole Miss against Murray. Murray State turned into the 1993 Blue Jays in that regional. I've never. That was crazy. But yeah, maybe we will cross paths at some point. But thank you so much for having me on this show. It was a great time. I hope I didn't yap too much. It was. I just love talking about the business and talking about everything that's involved with it, so hopefully I get a chance to meet you down the road. Take care of my friend.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, thank you so much. Much, much blessings to you and if you're new here, hope you guys enjoy. Leave a like, leave a comment. What did you enjoy the most about Mr Jones's story? I had a few different ones that I enjoyed the most, but if you're new, as well, subscribe. We appreciate you guys for.
