MLS Game 3: Bouncing Right Back

I'm fond of saying, on air, that teams and individuals love to have a quick turnaround after a frustrating performance so that they can try to quickly right the wrongs of that disappointment.

That storyline was at play in my work last week, as I was able to move on from some Wednesday frustration to enjoy an exciting game on Saturday, one I feel had some really good calls of exciting moments.

They didn't all make the highlights, actually. This compilation leaves out one of the best plays of the game, a defensive intervention by Griffin Dorsey, but it still provides a good sample of our broadcast.

This game was also rare for me because of how much Spanish it involved. Both coaching staffs speak primarily Spanish, while my partner (MetroStars legend and former New York Cosmos coach Giovanni Savarese), my producer, and both of the Spanish-language announcers were all fully bilingual. This left me embarrassed at speaking only one language and relying on automatic transcription and Google Translate after the coach calls. It wasn't a problem, just something I hadn't experienced in a while, since my days in Houston when the Dynamo competed internationally.

It's an area of growth for me: I hope to be able to understand so much more and to be able to communicate in Spanish beyond "lo siento por mi español."

I've got one more MLS game before the World Cup, in D.C. on Saturday, and I can't wait to see what happens in that one. 

MLS Game 2: It’s Not Always Perfect

I’m not going to lie: I walked away from Wednesday night’s Apple TV broadcast pretty frustrated with myself. Our game—No. 1 (Nashville) vs. No. 2 (New England) in the Eastern Conference—had three goals, and I felt like I messed up two of them.

Not great, Bob!

I got caught storytelling on Nashville’s first goal and took too long to switch to calling the scoring chance. Then on the third goal, I initially identified Hany Mukhtar as the goalscorer, when I KNOW that I should wait until I’m certain before I say a name. I quickly corrected to Bryan Acosta, but it ruins the call.

Many other parts of the broadcast were good. A colleague praised our scene set, which opens the broadcast. I thought we covered a lot of topics relevant to each team. We got to tell some great stories (including the one that bled into the opening goal). I felt there were some good transitions from our promotional reads back to game coverage. We did an on-camera report after the game down on the natural grass surface. Plenty of things to be proud of and to build on.

For all of that, I was definitely holding onto the game’s big moments—which I feel I didn’t match—as I drove home. But as I tell my kids, we’re not perfect, mistakes will always happen, and what’s important is how you respond to them. So I’m ready to have a great call on Saturday, nail the big moments, and call these games at the top of my skillset.

The best part of my night? As I walked with my partner, Jalil Anibaba, and our Spanish play-by-play announcer, Moisés Linares, to the production truck, a young fan called out to me, “I like the suit you’re wearing! You look nice.”

Back in MLS With a Bang!

My voice is more than a little froggy this morning after calling a wild 3-2 win for D.C. United over Orlando City in a Major League Soccer game Saturday night.

We don't have time or space to go through all my emotions leading up to the show, my first on the primary English TV feed of an MLS game since an ESPN game I called in 2021. Suffice it to say, I've been looking forward to it! The event itself certainly delivered more than I could have asked for.

Five goals, multiple lead changes, and a 90th-minute game-winner from the home team in front of their supporters? Yeah, that's how you draw it up. What's more, the decisive goalscorer, Kye Rowles, was the D.C. United representative we talked to on Friday to prepare for the match. I did not expect that he would be the hero less than 36 hours later!

Here are the highlights of a game I thoroughly enjoyed calling with my partner, 12-year MLS veteran Jalil Anibaba, who I only met on Thursday but already consider a friend. We had a blast!

For my first broadcast on Apple TV and my first full broadcast in almost six months, I felt very good about our show. Getting fooled by the 80th-minute chance and calling goal on a shot that didn't go in will not make my personal highlight reel, but it happens to the best of us.

It was also a treat before the game to say hello to a broadcasting legend, Dave Johnson, for whom the broadcast booth at Audi Field is named. He is battling multiple sclerosis and doing so with remarkably good humor, maintaining a busy schedule of Wizards and United broadcasts, working with Bruce Murry on the latter.

Dave is a true class act for whom I have so much respect. He showed that American broadcasters can put their own stamp on soccer. Ever the insider, he had confirmed both lineups and bench rosters way before us TV folks, helpfully sharing that information to help us prepare.

I have a few weeks for my voice to recover before I call three more MLS games in May, and then everyone's focus will flip to the World Cup.

But for now, I'm very happy to have gotten my feet wet. As I texted a friend this morning, "God was it fun!"

“You were ON today”: Closing out soccer season with a bang

Obviously, I've been derelict in posting, to say the least. But I want to celebrate the culmination of my college soccer season today.

My spouse often asks how my broadcast went, and after one of many "OK" responses, or perhaps it was an "it could have been better" night, she said, "You never say 'Good' or 'great' when I ask."

I had to admit it was true. I'm hard on myself and tend to focus more on the things I think I should have done better than the things that went right.

But today, my last game of the season, the Ivy League men's championship game, called in person on the Princeton campus, felt right. It was an exciting game, with an early goal, a dramatic penalty kick save, and a late goal. It looked great, on a crisp, sunny afternoon with just enough fall foliage still lingering. And in addition to my knowledge of the teams, player identification, storyline development, interviews, chemistry with my partner, and on-camera hit, all of which felt good today, I also felt like I nailed the big moments.

I haven't listened back to any of it, to be honest, but all of the big spots felt good as they happened. My partner liked the goal calls, and I spoke long enough to punctuate it but quickly enough to lay out and let the pictures and sounds of player and fan reactions carry the mail.

A colleague texted me later, "You were on today!" and it took me a second to figure out what he meant. But I'll gladly take it. What a fun morning and afternoon, a great way to close my portion of the college soccer schedule!

Bonus baseball! Stepping onto LLWS regionals on short notice

Calling Little League's Intermediate 50/70 World Series (for 13-year-olds) is one of the annual highlights of my broadcast schedule. It's so much fun and I look forward to it (and prepare for it) for months in advance.

But I can admit the lights shine brightest on ESPN's coverage of the 12-year-old Little League World Series, with regional games featured on linear television. Williamsport is the event so many of us grew up watching (I can still vividly remember some of the broadcast opening from when I was 9), and, of course, it's the one I aspired (in vain, as I knew it would be) to play in.

So when I had the chance to call two games in 12-year-old regionals, filling in for a fellow announcer experiencing technical difficulties connecting with our Whitestown, Indiana site (pictured), it was a no-brainer! I was already in Little League mode, paying attention to the regionals anyway, and still had pages left in my custom scorebook built to support Continuous Batting Order, in which every player (up to 14) is in the batting order the entire game.

So on August 6, I called the Great Lakes Region elimination game between Jasper, Indiana and Bowling Green East, Kentucky:

The following day, I called the Midwest Region winners' bracket final between Webb City, Missouri and Sioux Falls, South Dakota:

They were both tight, well-played games that seemed to fly by (less than 1 hour, 45 minutes for each) compared to the games in Livermore, which are an inning longer and inevitably slow down due to the addition of leads, pickoffs, and true stolen bases.

As I do at the 13-year-old level, I took pride in calling the teams by their league names, not just by the states involved. There's state pride involved, absolutely, and some teams even choose to order new uniforms that feature their state name. But most wear their original uniforms bearing their league name, and when you've beaten teams from all over your state to win the prize of representing that state, the town and the league deserve some specific love. Some towns have more than one league, too, as my hometown did when I played. After all, California didn't win back-to-back Little League world championships in 1992 and 1993; Long Beach, California did! 

The games were close and interesting and fun to call, and both were such an adrenaline rush, too: I was trying my best to get up to speed on these teams in short order, working with a new partner in Chris Burke and new production crews, and scrambling to get everything done. For the second game, I even had enough time to set up and appear on camera for our open!

It was incredible fun, an important contribution to our team's coverage, and a taste of something I can hope to work on again in the future!

Eastbank, World Series Champions!

My non-stop week calling games from the Little League Intermediate 50/70 Baseball World Series came to a thrilling conclusion late Sunday night, as the Eastbank Little League from Kenner, Louisiana (right next to Louis Armstrong Airport) edged defending champion West Seoul, Korea with a run in the top of the seventh inning to take the world championship.

Champions of the Little League World Series (12-year-olds) back in 2019, Eastbank becomes the first  individual league ever to win both the 12- and 13-year-old world championships (although Seoul in 2014 and West Seoul in 2015 presumably had some significant overlap).

Both teams were so sound and had such good pitching that we never expected a wild, 8-7 game, but that's exactly what we got. This video doesn't include our opening tease, which I was quite proud of, but here's about 25 minutes of 13-year-old Little League fun:

2024 LLIWS Preview: MOT, Middletown, Delaware

I have the privilege of calling a Little League World Series once again this year! This will mark my third consecutive call of the Intermediate 50/70 Baseball World Series, held from July 28-August 4 in Livermore, California. It's for 13-year-olds, played on a field slightly larger than Little League but still smaller than Junior League (50 feet from the pitcher's mound to home plate, 70 feet between the bases). Following this tournament and its qualifiers closely over the last three years, I've come to expect fantastic action and stories, and I'm looking forward to bringing them to you again this year!

The 2024 Intermediate World Series will air on ESPN+, and I will lay out the backstory for one of the 12 competing teams each day from now until the tournament's start on July 28. I hope you'll read along and remember a nugget here and there when you watch the tournament!

MOT, Middletown, Delaware

League:
MOT Little League
Location:
Middletown, Odessa, Townsend, Delaware
Championships:

Delaware Dist 1
East Region
Record: 8-0
Date Qualified: July 25
Noteworthy:
1st team from Delaware to reach ILWS

Coaches: Kevin Koerner, John Murray, Jeremy Clark.

At the 12-year-old age level, there have only been two Delaware teams to qualify for the Little League World Series since its founding in 1957. So it was a surprise to many when the Delaware District 1 champions, the host of this year's 13-year-old East Regional, swept it without a loss.

But nobody at MOT (pronounced Em-Oh-Tee) felt surprised, because this group had always shown it was capable. State champs as 10-year-olds and 12-year-olds, they returned 11 players from the squad that competed at 12-year-old regionals in Bristol, Connecticut last year. With some imposing 6-foot frames and big-game pitchers like Mason Guth and Jordyn Brown, they expected to make noise.

So when they took the regional stage and calmly dispatched Fairfield American (Connecticut) and dashed around the basepaths to stun Hub City (Maryland), Little League watchers took notice. But when they run-ruled Keystone (Pennsylvania) in the winners' bracket final, they became serious contenders. A much-delayed-by-rain win over South Vineland (New Jersey) Thursday night avoided the logistical nightmare of playing a delayed 'IF' game on Friday and sent MOT to Livermore.

These are heady times for MOT, with state championships at the 10- and 12-year-old age levels joining the 13s and the Senior League softball squad. Those players also start in the World Series this weekend, but in a less exotic (albeit cheaper logistically) destination of Sussex County ... Delaware. The 50/70 boys and their families are dealing with hastily arranged flights to California and, from the sounds of things, are having a ball. We'll see if that translates to the field, starting this afternoon on ESPN+!

Road to Livermore
Delaware Dist 1
July 5	at Dover	W	20-0 (4 inn.)
July 6	Camden-Wyoming	W	18-6 (5 inn.)
July 8	Milford	W	11-0 (5 inn.)
East Region
July 20	Fairfield American CT	W	5-2
July 21	Hub City, Hagerstown MD	W	5-4
July 22	Greater Nashua NH	W	18-5 (5 inn.)
July 23	Keystone, Clinton County PA (winners' bracket final)	W	11-1 (6 inn.)
July 25	South Vineland NJ (final)	W	2-0
Intermediate Baseball World Series
July 28	Vine Ingle, Macon GA	L	4-6
July 30	Livermore CA (elim)	L	5-6 (9 inn.)
Aug 1	South-West Germany (Goodwill)	L	0-3

 

2024 LLIWS Preview: Scripps Ranch, San Diego, California

I have the privilege of calling a Little League World Series once again this year! This will mark my third consecutive call of the Intermediate 50/70 Baseball World Series, held from July 28-August 4 in Livermore, California. It's for 13-year-olds, played on a field slightly larger than Little League but still smaller than Junior League (50 feet from the pitcher's mound to home plate, 70 feet between the bases). Following this tournament and its qualifiers closely over the last three years, I've come to expect fantastic action and stories, and I'm looking forward to bringing them to you again this year!

The 2024 Intermediate World Series will air on ESPN+, and I will lay out the backstory for one of the 12 competing teams each day from  now until the tournament's start on July 28. I hope you'll read along and remember a nugget here and there when you watch the tournament!

Scripps Ranch, San Diego, California

League:
Scripps Ranch Little League
Location:
San Diego, California
Championships:

California District 32
Southern California Section 6
Southern California
West Region
Record: 18-2
Date Qualified: July 18
Noteworthy:
2nd World Series bid (2018)
Coaches: Lance Taschner, Al Taschner, Rich Ragus

The final qualifier for this year's tournament, Scripps Ranch also has the most impressive resume. Veterans of Southern California state tournaments against high-level competition over the last three summers (including beating 2023 world champion El Segundo as 11-year-olds in 2022), this 13-year-old campaign culminated at last week's West Region tournament in Nogales, Arizona.

Seeded third for the single-elimination bracket, Scripps Ranch stunned and shut out two of the most consistent, high-level Little League programs in the region and previous Intermediate League World Series participants Central Maui and Bollinger Canyon on back-to-back nights to reach Livermore, with Landon Miller and Aaron Tinoco handling the pitching.

Scripps Ranch has been to Livermore before, in 2018, under the same manager, Lance Taschner. Its 20-game gauntlet to reach the World Series and its first-round bye make the San Diego league one of the major favorites in this year's U.S. bracket.

Road to Livermore
California District 32
June 14	Rancho Penasquitos, San Diego	W	16-0 (4)
June 15	Clairemont Hilltoppers, San Diego	W	12-5
June 17	Point Loma, San Diego (winners' bracket final)	W	8-0
June 20	Point Loma, San Diego (final)	L	4-6
June 21	Point Loma, San Diego (final)	W	12-5
Southern California Section 6
June 25	Oceanside National	W	10-0 (5)
June 28	at Encinitas (winners' bracket final)	W	11-1 (5)
June 30	at Encinitas (final)	W	10-0 (5)
Southern California
July 2	Laguna Beach	W	9-2
July 6	Santa Anita	W	10-7
July 8	Upland National	W	5-4
July 10	East Hills Yorba Linda (winners' bracket final)	W	7-6
July 12	East Hills Yorba Linda (final)	W	5-2
West Region
July 17	Central Maui, Wailuku HI (group)	L	1-5
July 19	San Xavier, Tucson AZ (group)	W	11-0
July 21	Post Falls ID (group)	W	21-1 (4)
July 22	Cascade, Turner OR (group)	W	22-3 (4)
July 23	Douglas AZ (quarterfinals)	W	21-2 (4)
July 24	Central Maui, Wailuku HI (semifinals)	W	4-0
July 25	Bollinger Canyon, San Ramon CA (final)	W	5-0
Intermediate Baseball World Series
July 29	Vine Ingle, Macon GA	W	12-9
July 31	Eastbank, Kenner LA	L	1-11 (5)
Aug 1	Livermore CA (elim)	L	5-12

2024 LLIWS Preview: Eastbank, Kenner, Louisiana

I have the privilege of calling a Little League World Series once again this year! This will mark my third consecutive call of the Intermediate 50/70 Baseball World Series, held from July 28-August 4 in Livermore, California. It's for 13-year-olds, played on a field slightly larger than Little League but still smaller than Junior League (50 feet from the pitcher's mound to home plate, 70 feet between the bases). Following this tournament and its qualifiers closely over the last three years, I've come to expect fantastic action and stories, and I'm looking forward to bringing them to you again this year!

The 2024 Intermediate World Series will air on ESPN+, and I will lay out the backstory for one of the 12 competing teams each day from now until the tournament's start on July 28. I hope you'll read along and remember a nugget here and there when you watch the tournament!

Eastbank, Kenner, Louisiana

League:
Eastbank Little League
Location:
Kenner, Louisiana
Championships:

Louisiana (unopposed)
Southwest Region
Record: 4-0
Date Qualified: July 25
Noteworthy:
2019 Little League World Series champions (12yo)
2nd consecutive Louisiana qualifier

Coaches: Scott Frazier, Chris Schexnaydre, Ryan Roussel

Many teams that win their state title by default do not last long when they get to regionals. Untested as a group by recent game action and typically hailing from states with lower participation numbers, they go out in the early rounds. But when teams in the Southwest Region saw Eastbank Little League as the Louisiana state champion, they knew this was different.

Eastbank sauntered into New Braunfels, Texas (Hurricane Beryl forced a relocation from Sugar Land) and lapped the field, putting up at least 11 runs in all four wins. The Cajuns wound up racing out of town due to more bad weather, getting to Houston late Thursday to catch a Friday flight to their ultimate destination: Livermore.

The league, located adjacent to Louis Armstrong Airport near New Orleans, was only founded in 2013, and its founder, Scott Frazier, led the 12-year-old team to the 2019 Little League World Series championship. Frazier thought that was his last hurrah as a coach, but like so many teams, this group's motivation began with their elimination as 12-year-olds, when they battled through illness to reach extra innings against Ascension Parish in the state final, trying to force the 'IF' game. Down a run in the 8th and down several players due to a stomach bug, Eastbank loaded the bases, but a snappy double play ended their all-star campaign. (For the neutrals out there who might want a taste of Louisiana baseball atmosphere, here's the clip; Eastbank fans, look away.)

Ascension Parish (which reached Livermore last year but did not offer a 13-year-old league or all-star team this year) saw its 12-year-olds go on to the Southwest Region final against Needville, Texas, which eventually reached the U.S. championship game as the unbeaten team. So Eastbank knew it was competitive with the country's best, and the 13-year-olds proved it this week.

In Livermore, Eastbank will open against tournament veteran HYR, and it will need to show off its pitching depth (it has some: the first two games in New Braunfels were combined no-hitters) in a hurry. Righty Joe Banquer, who started three of Eastbank's four games in the regionals and went the distance against San Antonio's Northside Suburban on Thursday, will not be available to pitch until Tuesday.

Road to Livermore
Southwest Region
July 20	Deer Creek, Edmond OK	W	19-0 (5)
July 21	Santa Fe NM	W	16-0 (5)
July 23	Northside Suburban, San Antonio TX (winners' bracket final)	W	13-1
July 25	Northside Suburban, San Antonio TX (final)	W	11-1 (6)
Intermediate Baseball World Series
July 28	HYR, Georgetown IN	W	8-2
July 29	Livermore CA	W	4-2
July 31	Scripps Ranch, San Diego CA	W	11-1 (5)
Aug 3	Livermore CA (US final)	W	3-1
Aug 4	West Seoul KOR (World Series final)		6pm PT

 

2024 LLIWS Preview: Diamond Baseball, Boisbriand, Québec

I have the privilege of calling a Little League World Series once again this year! This will mark my third consecutive call of the Intermediate 50/70 Baseball World Series, held from July 28-August 4 in Livermore, California. It's for 13-year-olds, played on a field slightly larger than Little League but still smaller than Junior League (50 feet from the pitcher's mound to home plate, 70 feet between the bases). Following this tournament and its qualifiers closely over the last three years, I've come to expect fantastic action and stories, and I'm looking forward to bringing them to you again this year!

The 2024 Intermediate World Series will air on ESPN+, and I will lay out the backstory for one of the 12 competing teams each day from now until the tournament's start on July 28. I hope you'll read along and remember a nugget here and there when you watch the tournament!

Diamond Baseball, Mirabel, Québec

League:
Diamond Baseball Little League
Location:
Boisbriand, Québec
Championships:

Québec
Canada
Record: 7-2
Date Qualified: July 24
Noteworthy:
2nd appearance in 3 years (2022, 2024)
3rd appearance (tied for most by Canadian team)

First Canadian team to win 2 games (2022)

Coaches: Laurent-Philippe Laurin, Jean-Luc Turgeon, Alex Blais

Quebec's Diamond Baseball will make its third appearance in Livermore this year after peaking at the right time in Canadian nationals, downing the British Columbia-based host district in the semifinals and the British Columbia champions in Wednesday's final, despite losing twice in the round roubin.

Two years ago, Diamond Baseball went farther than any Canadian team in Intermediate League history, notching two wins, the second over Liga Pabao from Curacao, propelling them to the international bracket final. This year, they'll open with Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, with the winner facing Pabao on the tournament's second day.

Diamond Baseball may bring one other first to Livermore this year: a former participant turned assistant coach! 20-year-old Alex Blais may be the youngest coach in Intermediate League history, and having been a player on the 2017 Diamond Baseball team, I feel confident he is the first participant to return as a coach. He's actually played at the Intermediate League, Junior League, and Senior League World Series, all while preparing for the elite junior hockey career that he continues each fall and winter.

Road to Livermore
Québec
July 6	Royal Repentigny	W	10-3 (6 inn.)
July 7	Royal Repentigny	W	4-3
Canada
July 17	Cape Breton Ramblers, Halifax NS (group)	W	13-0 (5 inn.)
July 18	Layritz BC (group)	W	5-1
July 19	at Fraser Valley Firebirds, Coquitlam BC (group)	L	0-1
July 20	Lethbridge AB (group)	W	12-4
July 21	Kingston Colts (group)	L	5-11
July 23	at Fraser Valley Firebirds, Coquitlam BC (semifinals)	W	15-2 (5 inn.)
July 24	Layritz BC (final)	W	5-2
Intermediate Baseball World Series
July 28	Amelia Guaynabo PR	L	4-12
July 30	Hills, Sydney AUS (elim)	L	2-3
Aug 1	HYR, Georgetown IN (Goodwill)	L	2-7