I had the privilege of calling the US women's national team's final game of 2019 on Sunday, a 6-0 cruise against Costa Rica that was most notable as the second game for new US head coach Vlatko Andonovski as he prepares the US for Olympic qualifying that starts in late January.
It was some adjustment to go from college soccer venues that mostly have fewer than 4,000 seats to calling a game in an 80,000-seat football stadium. Let's just say binoculars came in handy! But a true joy to cover this team for my only ESPN2 game of the fall and to work with Julie Foudy again. Here are the highlights:
11 November 2019
08 November 2019
"Brian Ching got it!" - Flashing back to 2009
Hard to believe this was 10 years ago. Although it's safe to say a LOT has changed! A special moment to call near the end of my first season as Houston Dynamo radio broadcaster (I don't sound quite ready for it, do I?), even if partner James Clarkson got a little more involved with the call than is typically kosher.
This was overtime in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs after Houston and Seattle had played back-to-back scoreless ties. President George H.W. Bush and 27,000+ on hand in an electric atmosphere at the since demolished Robertson Stadium.
One hell of a moment, though, and a privilege to call it:
This was overtime in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs after Houston and Seattle had played back-to-back scoreless ties. President George H.W. Bush and 27,000+ on hand in an electric atmosphere at the since demolished Robertson Stadium.
One hell of a moment, though, and a privilege to call it:
09 October 2019
West Virginia-Texas highlights
Enjoyed this one! Watched unapologetically from the air conditioning as West Virginia beat Texas in overtime on a wild play that went from a Texas corner kick at one end to a West Virginia game-winner at the other.
My first game working with Morgan Conklin, and we had a blast. Great to get back to Texas, even for less than 24 hours!
My first game working with Morgan Conklin, and we had a blast. Great to get back to Texas, even for less than 24 hours!
Closing out the weekend in Austin with @TexasSoccer hosting @wvuwomenssoccer.— Morgan Conklin (@_MConklin) October 6, 2019
Join @jtyardley & me on @LonghornNetwork now!! pic.twitter.com/DRgOtNG4ru
16 September 2019
Bleary eyes, getting JIP'd, and the power of one name
I'm still recovering a bit from my first Thursday-Sunday combination of the college soccer season, but I was fortunate to have some great moments to call.
To start things off, some early morning wake-up calls to get to and from Tallahassee left me a little sluggish, but I managed to squeeze in a short nap (a rarity for me) and get primed for our Thursday night Top-25 matchup between No. 6 Florida State, the defending national champs, and No. 24 Colorado.
Our network for this game, ACC Network, however, was primed for a different reason: the release of the men's college basketball schedule! The ACC is a basketball conference, as you may know, and the schedule reveal is a big deal, set to follow our 7pm game on a 9pm broadcast of All ACC. A college basketball fan and announcer, I was looking forward to it also, and I was quite happy to promote the show during our broadcast.
Then came the JIP.
JIP stands for joined in progress, and "getting JIP'd," in television parlance, means not coming on the air until the previous event concludes.
This was a major JIP. Soccer games typically last two hours. But college soccer games have overtime in the regular season, and this particular college soccer game had an injury, a sequence that led to an assistant coach being ejected, three penalty kicks, two video reviews (for no reason we could comprehend), and a team getting lost between the locker room and the field (seriously, it happened).
So even our regulation 90-minute game took us past 9pm, something partner Angela Hucles and I didn't realize up in the booth (see how happy we are!?). But we knew the score was 2-2 and we were headed to overtime, which meant some basketball fans were going to be screaming bloody murder.
Then I looked at the time during the commercial break before overtime and realized it was already 9:10 or 9:15, and we hadn't even started OT. We now had a sizable viewing audience that did notcare know much about the first part of the game and, in many cases, was not enthusiastic about familiar with college soccer.
So I approached overtime with as much big-picture information as I could, reminding people that Florida State is the defending national champion, Colorado was unbeaten, FSU had dominated the game but only scored via penalty kick, Deyna Castellanos is an international star of sorts, and highlighted the key players on each team. It seemed to work:
But the big reason we left feeling good about ourselves is that we got an overtime game-winner! Everybody likes a walk-off, and Florida State delivered late in the first overtime to give us a dramatic ending and allow the majority of our audience by that point to get their hoops fix. Pretty cool moment to call:
To complete a sports trifecta, I scooped up an ACC baseball in the parking lot, presumably from a practice home run blast, so hopefully this means a return to Tallahassee for college baseball in the spring!
My Sunday game, with NC State hosting Furman, was nowhere near as dramatic, but we did get some impressive moments from Wolfpack star Tziarra King, who has the perfect Twitter handle for a one-name soccer star (@Tziarra) and is one of the country's most exciting players. Always happy to call a hat trick, always happy to call a run like this:
Let's root for more heroics, more dramatics, and no more JIPs as the season continues!
To start things off, some early morning wake-up calls to get to and from Tallahassee left me a little sluggish, but I managed to squeeze in a short nap (a rarity for me) and get primed for our Thursday night Top-25 matchup between No. 6 Florida State, the defending national champs, and No. 24 Colorado.
Then came the JIP.
JIP stands for joined in progress, and "getting JIP'd," in television parlance, means not coming on the air until the previous event concludes.
This was a major JIP. Soccer games typically last two hours. But college soccer games have overtime in the regular season, and this particular college soccer game had an injury, a sequence that led to an assistant coach being ejected, three penalty kicks, two video reviews (for no reason we could comprehend), and a team getting lost between the locker room and the field (seriously, it happened).
Then I looked at the time during the commercial break before overtime and realized it was already 9:10 or 9:15, and we hadn't even started OT. We now had a sizable viewing audience that did not
So I approached overtime with as much big-picture information as I could, reminding people that Florida State is the defending national champion, Colorado was unbeaten, FSU had dominated the game but only scored via penalty kick, Deyna Castellanos is an international star of sorts, and highlighted the key players on each team. It seemed to work:
Snark aside, FSU and Colorado are two Top 25 teams and @jtyardley is doing a very nice job on the play-by-play.— Mike Waters (@MikeWatersSYR) September 13, 2019
But the big reason we left feeling good about ourselves is that we got an overtime game-winner! Everybody likes a walk-off, and Florida State delivered late in the first overtime to give us a dramatic ending and allow the majority of our audience by that point to get their hoops fix. Pretty cool moment to call:
Jenna Nighswonger called GAME.@FSUSoccer gets the W in OT! pic.twitter.com/xagYeaFvuH— ACC Network (@accnetwork) September 13, 2019
To complete a sports trifecta, I scooped up an ACC baseball in the parking lot, presumably from a practice home run blast, so hopefully this means a return to Tallahassee for college baseball in the spring!
My Sunday game, with NC State hosting Furman, was nowhere near as dramatic, but we did get some impressive moments from Wolfpack star Tziarra King, who has the perfect Twitter handle for a one-name soccer star (@Tziarra) and is one of the country's most exciting players. Always happy to call a hat trick, always happy to call a run like this:
.@packwsoccer was down 1-0 early to Furman, but @tziarra and Co. were not having it!— NC State Athletics (@PackAthletics) September 15, 2019
Here's her equalizer in the 17th minute.
📺 ACC Network (https://t.co/b0ACtNFKPH)#GoPack // #NCState pic.twitter.com/gnXAlJbZaM
Let's root for more heroics, more dramatics, and no more JIPs as the season continues!
29 August 2019
New network, new role, new level unlocked!
As avid followers of this blog know ... I've been shirking my blogging duties. There are many reasons for this, but let's get past those and focus on not making it FIVE months without posting.
The news is that my role with ESPN will increase this year, a big professional deal that is more than three years in the making. It's occupied a lot of thought and attention and time, and it's really exciting to finally start. My focus will be on ACC Network soccer, with some professional soccer, college basketball, and miscellaneous odds and ends thrown in.
I'm not sure I'm capable of explaining what it means, after almost eight years of free-lancing, to have guaranteed broadcasting income. It's not a full-time deal at the moment (baby steps!), so there will still be plenty of free-lancing and scheming and job-chasing. But to earn and receive a commitment from ESPN and some people I truly respect and admire really provides encouragement and validation of work I've put in going back a long way, and it's something special.
I'm incredibly fortunate to have the support of family (nuclear and extended), and friends (old and new) in chasing, pursuing, and realizing this and other opportunities, and I really am grateful for it. This is neither the time nor the place to list everybody, but suffice it to say, Thank you.
Moving ahead, the fall schedule still has some moving parts to it, but it is well and truly underway with a two-game ACC Network week with games Sunday and Wednesday this week. Sunday was a special thrill and adrenaline rush, as Lori Lindsey and I called the second ever live event on newly launched ACC Network, and the first produced from a school control room. What's more, it was the first game at Syracuse for former Rice head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams, who I know from my undergraduate days at Rice, when she started her coaching career as an assistant. The emotions and intensity of seeing her new team pull out its first win was a welcome start to the season!
There is much more still to come, and I am hopeful of providing slightly more regular updates as the year goes along. But there's an ESPN paycheck in my bank account this morning, one I didn't have to submit an invoice for, and that's a goal I never felt certain of achieving.
I'm not sure I'm capable of explaining what it means, after almost eight years of free-lancing, to have guaranteed broadcasting income. It's not a full-time deal at the moment (baby steps!), so there will still be plenty of free-lancing and scheming and job-chasing. But to earn and receive a commitment from ESPN and some people I truly respect and admire really provides encouragement and validation of work I've put in going back a long way, and it's something special.
I'm incredibly fortunate to have the support of family (nuclear and extended), and friends (old and new) in chasing, pursuing, and realizing this and other opportunities, and I really am grateful for it. This is neither the time nor the place to list everybody, but suffice it to say, Thank you.
Moving ahead, the fall schedule still has some moving parts to it, but it is well and truly underway with a two-game ACC Network week with games Sunday and Wednesday this week. Sunday was a special thrill and adrenaline rush, as Lori Lindsey and I called the second ever live event on newly launched ACC Network, and the first produced from a school control room. What's more, it was the first game at Syracuse for former Rice head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams, who I know from my undergraduate days at Rice, when she started her coaching career as an assistant. The emotions and intensity of seeing her new team pull out its first win was a welcome start to the season!
Missed last night's game? We got you covered. Visual recap of our 1-0 shutout of Colgate.⬇ 🍊⚽ pic.twitter.com/QN24kJOTTx— Syracuse Women's Soccer (@cusewsoc) August 26, 2019
There is much more still to come, and I am hopeful of providing slightly more regular updates as the year goes along. But there's an ESPN paycheck in my bank account this morning, one I didn't have to submit an invoice for, and that's a goal I never felt certain of achieving.
07 April 2019
Red Bulls vs Minnesota highlights
Highlights from my second MSG broadcast of the MLS season:
Partner Shep Messing and me just before kickoff:
Partner Shep Messing and me just before kickoff:
13 January 2019
Videos to look back at 2018
My plan to put together a New Year's post has clearly gone by the wayside. I hope to look back at 2018 in a little more detail at some point, but for now, here are a few videos that'll show you just what I was up to professionally in 2018.
Soccer demo reel:
All MLS goals called in 2018:
NBA demo reel (some of which strays into 2017):
Soccer demo reel:
All MLS goals called in 2018:
NBA demo reel (some of which strays into 2017):