I have the best radio partners when it comes to broadcasting basketball games. Section basketball playoffs are so much fun and they make it even better.

Bart Hill and Morgan Kockelman have been broadcasting with me this year covering the section basketball tournament for both boys and girls. Bart is a retired teacher from the Lac qui Parle Valley School District and the head baseball coach for the Eagles. Morgan is currently attending SMSU. Morgan had a successful high school volleyball and basketball career at Minneota High School. She is a state champion in both sports.

Broadcasting a sporting event with someone is like a dance, it’s a lot of give and take, timing must be perfect. Actually, timing is everything. As the play by play person my job is to describe what is happening on the court as best I can. I remember the great Ray Christianson from WCCO Radio who covered the Gophers describing his play by play by saying that he imagined a blind person sitting next to him and he was describing to them what was happening. I have always remembered that. The person doing the commentary is like the replay on television. Their job is to add more details to what the play by play person just described. Mentioning the players name is very important. Humor is important and saying the score often is very important.

Bart comes from a coaching background so when he does commentary you are getting a coach’s perspective. When Morgan works with me, you are getting a former players point of view and opinion. It all works well. I said timing is everything, the give and go between broadcasters. What I mean by that is the commentary broadcaster jumps in with his/her commentary after the play by play person is done describing the action. The commentary must be short and to the point to get back to the play by play. It’s like a dance!

I like to listen to the broadcasts I do the next day to learn from them. To see how I can get better. How can I make the broadcast better. Early on in my broadcast career I found I hardly ever said the score of the game. Now, when broadcasting I consciously and sometimes write down on paper in front of me SCORE! I am always saying the score. I learn so much from listening to my games.

So this week while you are listening to section basketball, take a moment and see how the play by play guy is doing with the commentary person. What’s the timing like? What’s the score? Who’s playing? Are we making you laugh sometimes during the broadcast. A lot goes into broadcasting a basketball game and I want to thank Bart and Morgan for doing a great job.