Wake Forest Athletics News
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100% COTTEN
April 19, 2000
By Stan Cotten
I got to the ballpark early this past Sunday morning down at Clemson as the Demon Deacons and Tigers started getting ready for the third game of their three game ACC series. After some cool and rainy weather on Friday and Saturday, Sunday was supposed to be perfect. And it sure was starting out that way. It was sunny and warm. I lounged in the stands, soaked up some sun and watched the Deacons take batting practice. After a while, longtime Clemson radio announcer Jim Phillips wandered by. We chatted for a few minutes about baseball, golf and the business of being a radio play-by-play announcer in the ACC. I listened mostly. Jim's been at Clemson for 33 years. He's got more to offer than I do. And as he left and made his way toward the Tiger radio booth, I began to think about the job I have, how fortunate I am to have it and what a privilege it is to be a Deacon. I also began to ponder a question that I get quite a lot from fans and friends: Which sport do you like announcing the best? I've always wiggled out of it with an answer that would make most politicians proud. A non-answer basically. I don't want to offend anybody. I'm a fence-rider's dream. A moderate in conservative clothing. But I thought I'd give it a shot, the good 'ol college try. If you ask me which sport I like best I'll quickly answer football. Most of that comes from having some success at it as a young quarterback growing up in Tennessee before ACL injuries in each knee forced me on to the fairways. I studied it more, seemed to grasp it better and for some stupid reason loved the contact. I will add, though, that to this day my Little League coach swears I could have played baseball in the big leagues. "Speed to burn and a smooth, left-handed swing that could put the ball in play to all fields," is what he would say to me to this day before asking about my family. He'd leave, shaking his head and muttering the word "football" which, I think to him, is a curse word. I even pitched a perfect game once, as I remind Mark Freidinger just about every time I see him. This was, I underscore, all in Little League. We were all destined for the majors, weren't we? Where was I? Oh yes, football. I grew up in Knoxville, and every kid wanted to play football at Tennessee. So football was my focus from youth, and my love affair with it has remained over the years. I started my radio career at Carson-Newman, a current NCAA Division II power that, at the time, was an NAIA juggernaut. The Eagles won five national championships while I was in Jefferson City, a town of about 5,000 thirty minutes northeast of Knoxville. That was nothing but fun to be a part of. And besides, their head coach, Ken Sparks, who is still there today, was my high school coach in my final two years. I felt a strong loyalty to him at Carson-Newman and very much a part of their football family. All of that only deepened the joy I got from calling those games on the radio. I moved on to Marshall, and right out of the chute the Thundering Herd won the I-AA national championship my first year there in 1992. Coach Jim Donnan, now at Georgia, had built Marshall into a powerhouse. The Herd had a brand new stadium with a radio booth that, to this day, is the best I've ever seen--anywhere at any level. Now how could I not like that? At Wake Forest, I immediately took a liking to Jim Caldwell. I've never worked with a finer man. I have two daughters. But if I had a son, Jim Caldwell is the kind of coach and man that I would want him to play for. He reminds me of another pretty good football coach I know--my dad. I instantly became a Deacon football fan and optimist. Surely Jim Caldwell and his staff would get it done. They just had to. And they did. Being a small part of Wake Forest's bowl season this past season was a most satisfying experience. Getting involved and watching the program grow was a new and rewarding chapter for me. And how bad can a trip to Hawaii be? I'll admit, college football on Christmas Day is a stretch for me, personally. But that wasn't Wake's fault. I toughed it out on our trip to paradise and was as happy as anybody that the Deacs prevailed. I'll never forget it. Football, there's nothing quite like it...except basketball. I've never disliked basketball. I've never even slighted it. I'll admit that when I was being considered for the Wake Forest radio job, all I could think about was basketball--not football--in the ACC. What could be better than that? And to top it off, I would get to Winston-Salem just in time for Tim Duncan's senior season. My buddies all laughed and were certain that Wake would get to the Final Four in 1997. It would be just my luck. I tended to follow championship teams around. The Deacons didn't make it to the Final Four or the Elite Eight or the Sweet Sixteen for that matter. I really didn't notice. I was still in awe from my first ACC Tournament. Basketball at Wake was, and is, everything I thought it was going to be. Basketball had never gotten in my blood in the early days. I played it, but it was never a passion like football. Carson-Newman had some good teams while I was there, even a very good team or two. Marshall began to turn the corner after I got there upon the arrival of a young kid coach named Billy Donovan. Basketball was solid enough at those two schools. And then came basketball at Wake--and the ACC. It definitely finds its way into your blood. Then there's baseball. I've always loved playing baseball. In my opinion, a boy will miss part of growing up unless he plays baseball. There's something about it that no sport can match. I played into my early twenties, even when my bad knees said no. I limped through until I finally got smart. I did a little baseball at Carson-Newman on the radio and a little more at Marshall. I've done a few games here and there on television. But broadcasting baseball is a horse of a different color when compared to basketball and football. The pace feels as slow as honey in February. But the Deacons and their improbable back-to-back ACC championship years of 1998 and 1999 have made broadcasting a solid number of their regular season games and all of the postseason games a necessity. They deserve the coverage, and ISP and I are glad to give it to them. Football, basketball and baseball. Each sport unique in and of itself. But the question still remains: Which one do you like broadcasting the most? I have to admit. It's a question I can't answer. I'm an admitted "football guy." Coach Dave Odom tells me that to my face. But when football moves aside for basketball--I become a "basketball guy." I think Coach Odom would tell you the same. Right now I'm in baseball gear, and basketball seems far away even though the Deacs won an NIT title just a few weeks back. The great thing about play-by-play is that, by doing it, one becomes part of the game. While reporters of various media have to sit and wait for the games to end before they move in to do their job, the play-by-play teams do the bulk of their work while the games are going on. That's what makes what I get to do all year so intoxicating. It's like a round of golf. If you play well, you want to play again to see if you can better your previous score. If you stink, you want to get back out there and prove you can do better. You're caught either way. It's the same with play-by-play--of any of the sports. You're caught, and you can't seem to get enough. When I played football, that was about all there was in the world at the time. But when basketball season came along, I gave it all I had even though it was not my passion and I wasn't as good at it as I was at football or baseball. When at the ballpark roaming the outfield or pitching, there was no place like it. When immersed in a broadcast you get lost in it. Whatever the sport. There is nothing else at that moment. That's why there's no answer to the question.
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