Go Ahead, You're on the Air

By Will Bryan '08

I experienced yet another perspective on Davidson Athletics on Tuesday night, when Wildcat radio man Derek Smith asked me to fill in for Tia Washington and do color for the radio broadcast of theWomen’s basketball team’s game against Furman. The most color commentary that I have ever done came in my own living room bantering with my Dad as we watched a game with the sound turned down. Derek said that was all I needed to do on the radio, as long as I didn’t say anything too far out there. Not a bad deal.

As it turned out, I had a lot of fun. While I was expecting to be very nervous by those pregnant pauses that meant that I was supposed to have something witty and insightful to say, I found that there was so much going on in the game that Derek didn’t pause enough for me to get everything in. I do admit that there were a few moments where Derek’s up-tempo play-by-play lulled me into silence that I had to wake myself up and remember to say something.

So what actually happened in the game? Well Davidson overcame a 16-8 deficit to open up a 22-16 lead midway through the first half. During that stretch, they dominated the Paladins on the boards and mixed a potent three-point shooting attack with great entry passes that ended in open layups. The Wildcats were used to Furman’s 2-3 zone as they had faced something similar just a games earlier at Elon.

Although Davidson had way too many ball-handling turnovers and went through an offensive slump to start the second half, they held on for the double-digit victory thanks to some strong play fromMercedes Robinson and Ashley Lax. Robinson put together another double-double by scoring 16 and rebounding 10, while Lax came off the bench to score a career high of 11 points.

I learned throughout the game of the constant torment of the color-man: you often don’t get the chance to say what you want and you never have much to say when you are put on the spot. I probably sounded like a broken record as I talked about the “great passes and good looks” that resulted in made baskets. I hope I wasn’t too ridiculously obvious with my commentary. Some of the best moments of the night included joking with Derek about the ease of some Wildcat baskets while he chided me for making it sound easier than it really was for a man like himself.

Overall, I really enjoyed breaking down Davidson’s play on the fly and organizing some thoughts for the world to hear. It definitely beats having to organize thoughts with these stupid commas and periods and all the rest. Maybe I should start on an audio blog. Hmm, there’s a thought.