2021 Final Four

[PaulNewman]

Domino, what can you tell us about the 2nd game being there live?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

FYI the second yellow on 10 for W&L had nothing to do with the contact. I Believe the initial whistle was blown for the ball being out of bounds (not positive). Apparently the official felt what happened afterward warranted the yellow ... he kicks the ball in frustration over the endline and to the fence. Apparently the official felt it was unnecessary and likely stalling (in a 1-1 game?!). So he applied the yellow for that ... NOT the contact that confused everyone.

And if you are wondering, that's according to those I've talked to who were near the moment and heard the convo.

As for those who didn't like our work ... to each their own. Let me know where you work so I can come and critique.

[Gregory Sager]

FYI the second yellow on 10 for W&L had nothing to do with the contact. I Believe the initial whistle was blown for the ball being out of bounds (not positive). Apparently the official felt what happened afterward warranted the yellow ... he kicks the ball in frustration over the endline and to the fence. Apparently the official felt it was unnecessary and likely stalling (in a 1-1 game?!). So he applied the yellow for that ... NOT the contact that confused everyone.

And if you are wondering, that's according to those I've talked to who were near the moment and heard the convo.

Interesting. I didn't see the frustration kick at all. But it's funny that those posters who were insisting that the second yellow on Kutsanzira was warranted didn't realize that the card was given out for something other than what they thought it was.

[irapthor]

I didn't think the card was warranted. Soft second yellow in a major moment.

Also, yes semifinals day is a long day but we've done this for years and have never had an issue. At all levels announcers try to have some fun with the call during lulls in the action and get serious when a serious moment is happening. How we handle it is no different than a Buck/Aikman.

[WUPHF]

At all levels announcers try to have some fun with the call during lulls in the action and get serious when a serious moment is happening. How we handle it is no different than a Buck/Aikman.

And those guys have their share of critics.

I prefer your approach and the banter to extended periods of silence or a constant stream of X passes to Y who passes it to Z.

[Another Mom]

First, shout out to the Salisbury alum! I am familiar with the school. Gorgeous.

Mispronouncing arguably the best known player's name, without it being a particularly difficult one, undercut your professionalism though.

[Mr.Right]

I hit mute about five minutes in, then I put the volume back on just long enough for them to pontificate on why drop balls should be contested...back to mute.

Chicago was playing very nervous and tentative for the first 30 minutes. Their achievement was to go into the half 0-0. But much better in the final 15 minutes.

Yup...I was 10 minutes in before my Mute. Would have rather had no announcers and just heard the sounds of the game at an elevated level. The good news is the UNLV hosting one year bit that they announced. I am def down for 2 deck Blackjack or late night Pai Gow before my D3 Semi's / Final.

[Mr.Right]

This could go another 90 minutes without a goal. Very few ideas in the final 1/3 for either team.

Both games really very few ideas in attack.

[FBALLISLIFE]

FYI the second yellow on 10 for W&L had nothing to do with the contact. I Believe the initial whistle was blown for the ball being out of bounds (not positive). Apparently the official felt what happened afterward warranted the yellow ... he kicks the ball in frustration over the endline and to the fence. Apparently the official felt it was unnecessary and likely stalling (in a 1-1 game?!). So he applied the yellow for that ... NOT the contact that confused everyone.

And if you are wondering, that's according to those I've talked to who were near the moment and heard the convo.

This is the opposite of what  the coaching staffs were told.  Even then, shots were taken long after the whistle earlier in the game. It would not make sense to show red there.

[camosfan]

This could go another 90 minutes without a goal. Very few ideas in the final 1/3 for either team.

Both games really very few ideas in attack.

These games are Chess matches , coaches getting their rare chance to play a final, should not be expected to gamble.

[Mr.Right]

This could go another 90 minutes without a goal. Very few ideas in the final 1/3 for either team.

Both games really very few ideas in attack.

These games are Chess matches , coaches getting their rare chance to play a final, should not be expected to gamble.

Then do not expect to Win.

[PaulNewman]

A few odds and ends from yesterday and last couple of pages...

Most importantly, beginning with Amherst...We saw the whole complicated/controversial package.  A great program doing whatever necessary to get back to the Final, relentless and unforgiving, determined to get the win with whatever that would mean, the yelling and histrionics [the writhing and rolls on the ground must be something they practice and I hesitate to say this because looked the he really did get hurt with a ball to the eye area late in the game but ten Cate is the best writher/roller I've seen with Cubbedu taking second place honors last night... and let me say I'd want both on my team as ten Cate who is not built like an Aroh battles and plays to exhaustion like no other and I've been saying Cubbedu could be a super-talented X factor and wondered why he doesn't start going back to the Tufts game], the ref having to chastise coach and bench, the hoofing and never ending flip throws into the box that may be ugly but puts enormous pressure on the other team with errors likely to happen over 90 or 110 minutes, rarely losing headers in their defensive third, taking a really superb Chicago team out of its game which isn't a shock but I honestly thought the Maroons would handle better, glimmers of just how good some of their players are, etc, etc.  D4 insisted early in the season that Amherst was the 2nd best team in D3 (we know who he thinks is 1st)...I tended to agree that they had been underrated early and I rated them very highly early in our little mock polls, but then after seeing them live vs Tufts I thought I had overrated them, and then obviously thereafter underrated them.  I will readily eat crow and if they win tonight I will grudgingly tip my cap.  The thing about crow is that if you put enough butter and teriyaki and/or lemon pepper on it you can almost convince yourself that the first bite tastes like chicken... but definitely by the second bite you're like "ah, no, that tastes like crow."

On the it's funny that those who endorsed the second yellow did so based on not what the yellow actually was given for (allegedly)...what's even funnier is that if they did that it was also because of the broadcast which the broadcasters also endorsed in real time and for some time thereafter (and just above here as well), so that's not quite the own there implied.  And aside from whether deserved or not, technically or otherwise, there seems to be at least some consensus that the ref lost track and may indeed have kept the card in his pocket if he had realized in the moment that he was gonna pull a second card. The look on the player's face even seemed to suggest he knew the ref didn't know but that he was screwed because once drawn there was no way for the ref to put it back...then the look at the book..and the delayed pull for the red.

WUPHF, there are miles and miles between extended periods of silence and letting the game breathe a little.  An anecdote here and there over 90 or 110 minutes is fine, to be expected, and maybe even a nice touch, but some of the completely irrelevant banter would happen when a team was moving the ball inside the 18.  I'm not exaggerating when at times it seemed more like the game was interrupting a video of the banter between two old friends at a bar watching a game, and maybe in some respect they were catching up and maybe the fact of the missed year and long wait had an impact.  Buck/Aikman and "lulls in the action" of two national semis?  Please, stop.  I mean, what's the over/under here on me thinking as I'm watching "wish they'd bring in Mr. Sager"?
You guys are super-experienced, know your stuff for the most part, have good chemistry with each other, etc, and I'm sure seeing snarky, jesting criticism after a very long day isn't pleasant, but you're broadcasters putting yourself out there to a (national) audience, so maybe try to hear the feedback and tone down the reminiscing and hyper-verbality.  All that said, work address is 25 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114.  Happy to show you around and let you observe.

So, not happy about another NESCAC final, especially after two OT games that easily could have gone the other way, but I look forward to seeing how this last game plays out.  Also curious if most think there was no PK call to be made for Chicago in OT because of course, especially with what that call could mean in OT, Kelly and Hope-Gund are going to pre-preemptively wave the "no, no, nothing there" finger and home plate safe sign.

[camosfan]

FYI the second yellow on 10 for W&L had nothing to do with the contact. I Believe the initial whistle was blown for the ball being out of bounds (not positive). Apparently the official felt what happened afterward warranted the yellow ... he kicks the ball in frustration over the endline and to the fence. Apparently the official felt it was unnecessary and likely stalling (in a 1-1 game?!). So he applied the yellow for that ... NOT the contact that confused everyone.

And if you are wondering, that's according to those I've talked to who were near the moment and heard the convo.

As for those who didn't like our work ... to each their own. Let me know where you work so I can come and critique.

Don't worry about the critics enjoy most of the stories, but could not understand how the team missed  Cubbedu coming on in the 30th minute and did not notice until , like 10 minutes later.

[blooter442]

My two cents — look, you guys are much better than most of us are (or will be) in terms of announcing. I'm sure someone would have a field day with the couple of radio things I did in college. And, as someone who wrote a column for D3soccer for 4 years, I used to get messages from people in my inbox all the time basically saying some version of "(semantic point) X is wrong." Even if you get 96% of things right, there will be people queueing up to call you out on the other 4%. Could be very aggravating but they were usually justified in their feedback. That's life — humans are taught to outweigh the importance of "the expected" and place more importance on anomalies. Probably why we feel losses 50% more, hence the concept of loss aversion.

My only feeling regarding last night was that when watching the professional game (the best) commentators tend to let things build a bit — they still tell plenty of anecdotes, but they pace them out pretty well and aren't afraid to let the crowd carry the noise from time to time. I do get the desire to fill the noise when the crowd noise is relatively down, but what if the sound guys could get a really good feed? Let the fans build the aura and you keep the continuity. The Maidenform thing was funny and has happened to all of us at some point but yeah Giamanti was the one that stuck out to me (as others have noticed, he has been pretty high-profile for the last few years). Doesn't mean that people don't mispronounce his name (it's not Smith or Jones, for example) but might have warranted another look.

[Gregory Sager]

I didn't think the card was warranted. Soft second yellow in a major moment.

Also, yes semifinals day is a long day but we've done this for years and have never had an issue. At all levels announcers try to have some fun with the call during lulls in the action and get serious when a serious moment is happening. How we handle it is no different than a Buck/Aikman.

At least Dave gets some semblance of training for this annual broadcasting equivalent to an Iron Man triathalon when he does the d3hoops.com basketball tournament with Pat and Gordon and Ryan in Vegas every December. I don't know how you manage to hang in there for eight hours' worth of commentary, Ira.