{"id":5238,"date":"2017-09-08T15:03:25","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T20:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/?p=5238"},"modified":"2020-02-17T13:30:27","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T19:30:27","slug":"espn-college-football-announcers-madison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/espn-college-football-announcers-madison\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN’s college football announcers really nailed Madison last Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being a sports broadcaster isn\u2019t easy. (I assume.) You\u2019re constantly traveling, and there\u2019s a lot of prep work leading up to the game because you must learn all of the players\u2019 and coaches\u2019 names and stories. And then next week you get to do it all again somewhere else.<\/p>\n

In the world of college football announcing, you must also learn fascinating trivia and quirky anecdotes about the city and campus. Or at least have interns who have access to Google and Wikipedia.<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Adam Amin (play-by-play), Dusty Dvoracek (analyst) and Molly McGrath (sideline reporter) traveled through Madison last week for Wisconsin\u2019s season-opening 59-10 win over Utah State.<\/p>\n

In doing so, the trio learned about everything from architecture to geography to dairy cuisine, and also learned that an underdog football team can sometimes get an early lead but then the other team \u2014 the one that everyone expects to win by a lot \u2014 starts winning and then does even more winning, so don\u2019t get carried away about an upset brewing when it\u2019s really not.<\/p>\n

Anyway, here are transcripts for some of their highlights.<\/span>\n

Utah State 3, Wisconsin 0 \u2014 4:56 left in first quarter<\/h3>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"Bookstore\"<\/p>\n<\/span>Exterior:<\/em> A Room of One\u2019s Own,\u00a0315 W. Gorham St.
\nInterior:<\/em> Barnes & Noble, West Towne Mall<\/span>\n

Adam Amin:<\/strong> \u201cGotta appreciate the fact that since 2012 Madison holds the title of \u2018Most Bookstores Per Capita in the United States.\u2019 [Editor\u2019s note: We have found no evidence that this is true. Did he mean libraries?]<\/em>\u00a0Smart folks around here in Madison, although I did get a nice note from one of our buddies today that Madison and the state of Wisconsin have as many bars as the state of New York, which has five times the people. So I think books and booze apparently is the name of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dusty Dvoracek:<\/strong> \u201cI think they\u2019re proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cI think they should be proud of that.<\/p>\n

D.D.:<\/strong> \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cAnd cheese too.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.D.:<\/strong> \u201cYeah, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cYou can\u2019t forget the cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.D.:<\/strong> \u201cThe cheese curds we had the other day were off… the… charts.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cNo doubt, my man.\u201d<\/span>\n

Utah State 10, Wisconsin 0 \u2014 9:37 left in second quarter<\/h3>\n

\"Capitol<\/p>\n<\/span>Exterior:<\/em> Capitol building from State St. near N. Fairchild St.<\/span>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cT.J. Edwards (with) a couple of big plays on that defensive series here in the second largest city in Wisconsin \u2014 250,000, many of them college students. They\u2019re a little surprised by the score tonight. We\u2019re in Madison…\u201d<\/p>\n

[commercial break]<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Gilmore<\/p>\n

\"Gilmore<\/p>\n<\/span>Exteriors:<\/em> Gilmore House<\/span>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201c…Look at the Gilmore House<\/a>, a residence built for Wisconsin professor Eugene Gilmore by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago born and bred. [Editor’s note: Wright was born in\u00a0Richland Center, Wis. and grew up in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Iowa and Wisconsin.]<\/em>\u00a0You played in Chicago, former Bear Dusty Dvoracek, Oklahoma standout. (I\u2019m) Adam Amin. Molly McGrath is with us as well. I think a lot of folks are probably tuning in, looking at the score and going, \u2018What… is… happening in Madison?\u2019\u201d<\/span>\n

Utah State 10, Wisconsin 0 \u2014 5:35 left in second quarter<\/h3>\n

\"Madison<\/p>\n

\"Seattle<\/p>\n<\/span>A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cUniversity of Wisconsin classes resume on Tuesday [Editor\u2019s note: It was actually Wednesday.]<\/em> so let\u2019s give you a little bit of a lesson about Madison. Let\u2019s look at what an isthmus is, all right? Seattle and Madison are the only two major cities in the United States that are built on an isthmus. …\u201d<\/span>\n

\"Madison\"<\/p>\n<\/span>A.A.:<\/strong> \u201c… What\u2019s an isthmus? A narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water that would otherwise separate them.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.D.:<\/strong> \u201cYou sure they didn\u2019t misspell Christmas?\u201d<\/p>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cI think they may have. It\u2019s a war on Christmas in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

D.D.:<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m a nose tackle who played for Oklahoma. Vocabulary like that is a little above me.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cC\u2019mon now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly McGrath:<\/strong> \u201cC\u2019mon Dusty, this is a place of higher learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cMolly\u2019s got a point, my man.\u201d<\/span>\n

Wisconsin 24, Utah State 10 \u2014 9:56 left in third quarter<\/h3>\n

\"Fromagination\"<\/p>\n

\"Fromagination<\/p>\n<\/span>Exterior and interior:<\/em> Fromagination,\u00a012 S. Carroll St.<\/span>\n

A.A.:<\/strong> \u201cOur friends here in Madison at Fromagee Nation<\/em>, 10 years strong in Madison. The state of Wisconsin, if you\u2019re unaware \u2014 and I\u2019m sure you were \u2014 it\u2019s the largest producer of cheese in the United States. It\u2019s the only state to offer a Master Cheesemaker\u00ae Program<\/a>, so if this thing for you and I doesn\u2019t work out, Dusty, I know what our next thing\u2019s gonna be. \u2026 It\u2019s all about the presentation, am I right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

We’ll even forgive the pronunciation.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Chris Drosner (@WSJbeerbaron) September 2, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n