One on One With Ted Alexander

Ted Alexander has been the Voice of the Old Dominion Men's Basketball team since 2007 and in 2009 added the Voice of the Football Monarchs to his resume. ODU's Director of Broadcasting, Alexander recently sat down with ODUSports.com to discuss how he got involved in broadcasting, his career path, preparation and more.

What is your favorite call from your broadcasting career?
It has to be the NIT basketball quarterfinal game buzzer-beater by Monarch Trey Freeman.  ODU vs Murray State.  The winner goes to New York.  It was a great game with a great finish.  We had time to set the play and I thought the call went well.  You never know what a buzzer-beater is going to sound like.  That one was a lot of fun.  The bonus result:  it meant I'd get to do a broadcast from Madison Square Garden (my favorite all-time arena) for the first time.


 
What is your favorite call you've heard from another announcer?
The most meaningful for me was a series of calls.  I grew up listening to New York Knicks games on the radio with Marv Albert doing the play-by-play.  I remember taking my dinner up to my room, getting out a piece of graph paper, putting in the lineups and scoring the games.  The excitement from Marv and the noise from the crowd made the broadcasts electric.
 
How do you prepare for a game?
From an overall performance standpoint, I listen to and watch a lot of games on the radio and TV. I listen to the announcers do their pregame setups, in-game resets, storylines, etc.  For specific games I try and watch game video and read whatever I can to learn more about a team and its' players. I enjoy setting up my spotting boards/scoresheets. I do them by hand which, for me, helps me to absorb the material a little better.  Duplicate numbers makes calling the right name a bit more challenging.  Following opponents all year helps make preparing for that game a little easier.
 
What differences do you contend with doing football, basketball and baseball play by play?
What makes my job so much fun is the different broadcasting muscles you use doing each sport.  For football you're up in a booth, away from the action, watching 22 players.  Reference points are marked in one-yard increments.  The buildup for a football game is like no other sport.  No huddle offenses mean the color analyst (Andy Mashaw) has to get in and get out with his points quickly.  You never really know when scoring plays are going to happen.  The biggest play in any game can happen at any time.  Most basketball broadcasts are done from courtside.  In many cases you're right next to the bench.  It's usually really loud in a basketball arena.  It's easier to identify the players because you're a lot closer and can see their faces.  Hoop broadcasts are different because there are a lot of scoring plays.  The mission is to make the call of each play a little different.  Each game develops its' own rhythm.  Basketball analyst Dave Twardzik is really good at inserting his expertise in between the pockets of action.  Baseball is more of a conversation.  The pace of the game is slower.  There is much more room for anecdotes about the players, the game, the crowd, anything.  The art is finding the proper mix between anecdotes and play-by-play.  I listen to games on the radio and find that the things that I remember are the colorful tidbits and stories rather than an overload of statistics.  You've got to be on your toes doing baseball because you never know when the play of the game is going to happen. 
  The most important thing to remember is that for the radio audience, you must provide the sights and feeling of the game.  If something crazy is happening you have to convey that feeling in your call.  Even if the opponent does something incredible, you owe it to your audience to make the call incredible.  You can't over-hype everything.  Your delivery needs to have different levels of excitement.  If you go to your top-level on the first bucket/out/touchdown of the game, where else can you go?
 
What's crossover season like going quickly from one sport to another?
It's fun, just a little bit crazier when you've got a Friday basketball game and a Saturday football game.  You still do the same prep work, you just have to focus on the game you're doing.


 
What advice can you give to aspiring play by play broadcasters?
Get out and broadcast some games.  Whether it's on the student station, into a laptop, onto a tape recorder, get out there and get some reps.  I've been in the stands doing a football game into a cassette recorder to get experience.  You may feel self-conscious at first, but getting that experience is really important. Find a way to get involved with the game.  If you can't do the play-by-play, maybe there's another role you can fill.  Once you're in the door, anything can happen.
 
How did you get involved in play by play announcing?
I grew up wanting to be a disk jockey.  I got on my college station freshman year and did everything from news to music to sports play-by-play. I had a music radio show for 10 years.  During that time I was pregame and halftime host for a college basketball broadcast. I filled in for the play-by-play guy once, kept the tape and used it some 20 years later to get the ODU job.  I've also done television news and sports.
 
What is the weirdest moment in your play by play career?
December of 2009.  Set to broadcast ODU at Georgetown basketball game.  Major snow in the forecast. Couldn't travel with team to game Friday because of television commitments.  Decided to take train from Newport News to DC. Epic snowstorm (20-30 inches in places) caused major delays. Did pregame show live from the train. Halftime show from Union Station.  Postgame show, after the ODU upset win, from the Key Bridge.