cannon's giant posterous

When Florida guard Erving Walker drilled a three point shot to give his Gators a 70-69 lead with less than two minutes remaining in overtime of the Southeast Region Final this past Saturday, there were a lot of exalting fist pumps in the crowd.

When Shelvin Mack answered by nailing a three pointer from the top of the circle moments later to push Butler back ahead 72-70 many reacted by jumping out of their seats.

Nobody in the building was more pumped to be watching the hotly contested game between Butler and Florida than the great Gus Johnson. I watched him react to every possession with the same enthusiasm of the players, coaches, and fans in the building. It was a tight, tense game, and even though I could not hear a word he was saying his body language said it all: The game we are watching is epic. 

When I was broadcasting I tried to do something similar in that I wanted to create a vibe that the game happening now is important. For some broadcasters they do that with a cool detachment especially on television. The Pat Sumerall/Vin Scully school of broadcasting lets the picture do the talking. To me that works well in a sport like baseball where the crescendo of a moment has time to build before a pitch is thrown. In football the huddle prepares the audience for the next play. The build up is built into the sport. But in basketball or hockey the broadcaster plays a more central role in building the moment. The ball or puck is always in play, but that doesn’t mean it is a crucial spot in the game.

What makes Gus Johnson great is his ability to build the moment with his enthusiasm while still maintaining his composure to provide context for the play. I think that is what separates him from everyone else. I am sure he provided more examples of that during the Butler/Florida game.

When the final horn sounded the Bulldogs had, remarkably, clinched their second consecutive trip to the Final Four, and unheard of accomplishment for a mid-major program no matter how many talking heads are saying that those level programs no longer exist.

I was sitting in the 300 level at midcourt, and when the set up for the presentation began I decided to see if I could sneak through downstairs to get a better look at Butler cutting down the nets. I had not been to an Elite Eight game before, so I wanted to check it out.

When I reached the floor who should be standing there? Gus Johnson.

There are days that I wish I was still in broadcasting. I miss it. I miss the moments where the game is on the line. I miss the momentum changes. I miss the challenge of using the right word in the right moment without any chance to fix it if I messed up.

But most of all I miss what Gus said what it is all about for him.

“We are just having fun,” he said with a smile in a slightly hoarse voice.

When Gus is behind the mic aren’t we all?