pic: IRI 2003 Belly Check
 

Hail to the EXCELLENT announcers at IRI:

1: Uh-oh! Looks like we have to do a belly check!
2: We have one down! Two! Three!
1: We have 4 down! Amazing!
2: Uh-oh, we're doing a paper check!
1: Does he have enough paper to do the check Paul?
1: I don't know...

Serious ref bashing, but still, kudos on the excellent play by play and keeping the crowd lively. Were they students or were they simple FIRST addicts from college?

Not Students
 

Kieth,

No. Dan Green (announcer) and I (MC) are both engineers. I am the engineering mentor for team 217 and Dan is an engineering mentor for 111. Dan did a lot of the announcing at the MidWest Regional, so he had experience. This was my first time doing MC, so it was very exciting for me.

I'm glad you enjoyed our off beat commentary and thank-you for your kind words.

With regards to the ref bashing, you had to be at last years competition to fully understand the jokes, but it was all in good fun. Baker and I are very good friends and that is pretty much the only reason we could get away with as much bashing as we did.

-Paul

Re: Not Students
 

ahem... used to be. :)

Seriously, Paul and Dan did a great job. It was definitely fun to be "made fun of" as a referee crew. They kinda reminded me of the performance that Dan and Blair did at this year's St. Louis Regional, where they would go back and forth on things, making jokes and ad-libbing. Heck, they even took jabs at Mike (dez250) as he was "rookie scorekeeper", helping Ken Leung!

The performance that these two put on was probably the best announcer - m/c job that I've seen at a FIRST competition. They knew the game, the teams, and they had fun. I hope the entertainment translated over on the webcast.

I predict that Paul and Dan have started something here... I bet that FIRST announcers will follow their lead and make fun of FIRST refs during next season.

Also, if regional directors know what is good for them, they will be asking these guys to "perform" at their regional.

Good job, Dan and Paul !!!

Andy B.

Re: Re: Not Students
 

Ohh God help us... ;)

Like everyone else said... I thought Dan and Paul were excellent! I hope to see more MC/Announcer duos with the same great dynamic they had.

What match number is it again?

Re: Re: Re: Not Students
 

Well, it was 37, so that must mean.... 38!

I enjoyed the commentary... even if it was mostly directed at us referees ;) Great job, Dan and Paul!

Don't Get the Joke?
 

For those of you who don't get the "What match number is it?" joke. Here is the story: In matches 34, 35, and 36 we forgot to mention the match number during the introductions. Andy, very politely, mentioned to us that some spectators asked to here the match number. Well, Dan and I used it as an opportunity to make the competition more entertaining, so we mentioned match 37 about 8 times and kept on "forgetting" the match number throughout the day and asking the crowd. It was pretty funny, but I bet some people eventually got sick of it.

-Paul

Re: Don't Get the Joke?
 

Very good Paul, keeping with the "Baker-esque" style of explanations... :D ;)

Yes. I am in the "Baker Camp"

Re: Re: Not Students
 

Please, oh please I hope the regional directors for the Midwest Regional heard Dan & Paul's performance. We need to get them reserved for next year's competition ASAP. With any luck they'll add to the excitement of the competition instead of sucking all the life out of the crowd. Note to regional directors: it helps greatly if the announcers have seen a FIRST competition before.

We need to get you guys doing a play by play in a regional somewhere.

I could definately see these two on national television before a nationally broadcasted FIRST competition, sitting like John Madden or the other announcers would arguing the teams pros and cons, and whos the strongest players of the day...

MC-ing
 

You guys did a great job :) That match thing was pretty funny, and the commentary to the matches was excellent.

Next year say 2-ha though.:]

Great Announcing
 

I just want to thank you to first off for the wonderful commentary you guys did, it really livened up the competition. Also with the guest crowd commentaries, that was unique, it was awesome to hear a voice change here and there even if it was Raul's (by Dan)LOL... Also it was pretty nice being able to have commentators, let alone ones that knew the game and say things that make sense...

Now also it was funny to see them take some jabs at the refs, a few team members and even me... I know that i was surprised when Paul called me the rookie score keeper, but it made not only me laugh but also allot more people that knew who i was... I hope to see you guys at more competitions and also keep up the good work, together or separate...
~Mike

Yes, those 2 were great. If the Midwest Regional director knows anything, they want Dan and Paul. I mean, how many other matches were ruined because the announcer mocked one of the coaches out on the field? (Raul from 111) By the way, that was hilarious. When I first heard that I was kind of shocked because I thought Wildstang was in that match and I was right. I glanced over and some of the referees were having a hard time concentrating on the match because they were just cracking up. Classic :D

I got my pictures back today, and you can see a good bellycheck here

I think that's John looking closely while Jeff and Kit observe John's perfect technique.

haha now that shows a Belly check clearer and i think that was before kit tried to go down for this check i showed...lol
~Mike

I'm surprised Steve Warren hasn't replied to this one yet. He was an announcer for Curie, the Canadian, Pittsburgh, and West Michigan Regionals, and he did a whole lot of this to the refs every time they went down or pulled out the paper. I'm told he got some bad looks from them. Sorry to say, but this phenomenon isn't new. :)

Here's another belly check picture that someone just uploaded.