COLOMBIA – South Carolina men’s basketball and baseball announcer Derek Scott did what he usually does from February to May. He walked into the Founders Park press room, sat down on his briefcase, took off his headphones and prepared to go into action.
Except it was mid-January. The baseball field was dark and the stadium lights will only be on for a month. The Gamecocks baseball team is still training in the winter and hasn’t even finished the list.
The big screen TV in front of the table where Scott and color analyst Casey Manning were sitting glowed, showing LSU and USC warming up for their basketball game in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In the coronavirus era, this is as close to the court as possible.
“It’s definitely weird,” said Scott.
The pandemic has forced so many changes in sports that it is difficult to list them, and broadcasting teams are no exception. Usually part of the team on road trips, from the trip to accommodation to meals, the decision was made to limit the spread potential of COVID-19 as much as possible.
South Carolina men’s basketball expresses the voice of Derek Scott (right) and Casey Manning at Founders Park, describing the action of a USC street game. David Cloninger / Team
During home basketball games, Scott and Manning – and Brad Muller for the women’s team – are on their usual perches on the court, although on the opposite side in the COVID configuration of the Colonial Life Arena. For road games, they are at the stadium.
The TV booth at Founders Park is connected to a live broadcast from the arena with an audio feed connected to the sound mixer so it doesn’t sound like they’re “streaming from a broom closet,” said Muller. The sound allows listeners to hear sneakers squeaking and balls hitting, while TV is a separate broadcast from the actual broadcast on ESPN or the SEC Network.
It’s not a bad setup, but it is clear that broadcasters prefer to be with their teams in the arenas. Everyone is doing well during the pandemic, including the radio voices, even when the TV goes off for a few seconds.
“It’s not how I would prefer to do it, but it is better than the alternative of doing nothing,” said Muller. “You’re just hoping that the TV doesn’t turn off. If that happens for a second, I send for a commercial break and hope it comes back. “
The objective is still the same: to give the listener an image of what is happening. The announcers make it clear that they are not really in the arena with the team, but want to end the game and inform the public of details not seen on the TV broadcast.
Brad Muller describes the action of the street game at a booth at Founders Park. David Cloninger / Team
“If I were trying to do this at home, I would rely on my TV provider and there could be a storm or an interruption. So on campus, it’s a more reliable connection, ”said Scott. “We are counting on this feed and live statistics to find out what is going on.”
Scott is in his fifth year with the men at USC and has been doing radio, piece by piece, for 30 years. Manning, a former Gamecock basketball player, started in 1993. Muller took over as female players 14 years ago and has been on the radio for 27 years.
It is strange to operate as they have done today, but they are grateful that the USC has the configuration to do so. With the school’s TV studio at Williams-Brice Stadium anchoring the broadcast, they can use Founders Park or the football press box to keep radio listeners tuned from Baton Rouge to Lexington, Ky.
“I broadcast from Division II schools, where I was on a stage at the end of the arena, with a back door open behind me,” said Muller. “With COVID, it took a long time to figure out what they would have to do and how they would do it, but USC was proactive in approach.
“For SEC schools, all games are on TV in one way or another. This meant that there was the ability of the home TV team on each team to set up their stations with a large monitor and natural sound power. I put it all on my mixer, and it sounds like I’m sitting on the court instead of a few hundred miles away. “
The arrangement means that adjustments must be made to the stations’ pre-game routines. The pre-match men’s show starts 30 minutes before the match, the women’s 15 show, with comments from the coaches. Muller usually goes to the Gamecocks locker room and Dawn Staley is waiting for him for a brief taped conversation, which he later plays on the radio.
Scott uses audio from coach Frank Martin of the team’s shootaround earlier in the day or weekly press conferences.
“We were blessed to be allowed to enter the test protocol, so I test when players do it, three times a week,” said Scott. “As long as I pass the test, I can still practice and talk to them.”
But there are disadvantages. Relationships are built on flights, on bus trips, on meals in the hotels of the teams. Broadcasters know the players on a personal level, allowing them to share some of that information with the public.
They are now limited to brief interactions in practice and called Zoom.
“I arrive about an hour and a half before the tip, to take my time, just to say hello to the players at the shooting game. It’s not a big conversation, just a ‘Hey, how are you?’ because we are all part of the team, ”said Manning. “You don’t get that camaraderie because you can’t do that anymore.”
But the game begins and the action and routine are established. Muller handles the entire broadcast alone, while Scott handles the game-by-game with Manning entering the conversation with notes, stats and comments.
“How, in the name of arbitration, is this not a call?” Scott, incredulous, asks with his arms raised during a particularly nasty gust when the Gamecocks let a leadership escape against LSU.
Staley never gives a radio interview after the game, designating the assistant coach who was in charge of watching the opponent to speak to Muller. Usually, they walk around the court and put on extra headphones. Now they call him and he connects the phone to the radio.
Scott sends a Zoom link to Martin, who usually ends the game with Scott on the court and then gives his press conference. “Zoom’s audio is better than a real line,” said Scott, “so while he’s using Zoom on the phone, it sounds much better on the radio.”
The equipment is restored and packed, the coats are zipped and there is the good side of the new normal. Each of the broadcasters wants to be on the road with their teams, so that they can report as accurate an image as possible of mentality, health and how the rest of the season is looking like Gamecocks.
South Carolina men’s basketball expresses the voice of Derek Scott (left) and Casey Manning at Founders Park, describing the action of a USC street game. David Cloninger / Team
But driving 20 minutes after the game to get home is much more convenient than getting home at 2:30 am from College Station, Texas, and having to work the next day. All three men have a regular job alongside their broadcasting duties, Manning as a court judge.
“You get used to the routines of being on the road. I miss my family, but I like to see the shots early in the morning, what they are going to do against that opponent, ”said Muller. “USC did a fantastic job with this setup so that we can do our job, but I prefer to be on the court. You are trying to put people in the arena who cannot be there.
“On the bright side, I get home a lot sooner. And I don’t need to wear a tie on the day of the game. “