 |
| Rod Bramblett, Auburn |
The best ones do not take complete leaves of their senses. Their vocal
cords bend, but they do not break. But they can go more than a little
bonkers for their universities.
Rod Bramblett, the voice of Auburn football, had such moments, perhaps
the biggest ones of his career, at the end of the Tigers’ last two
games.
On Nov. 16, Auburn’s Ricardo Louis scored a deflected 73-yard touchdown
pass against Georgia with 25 seconds left, and the Tigers hung on for
the 43-38 win. Bramblett proclaimed it “a miracle at Jordan-Hare,” the
stadium where Auburn plays. Then, last Saturday, in the Iron Bowl
against Alabama, Chris Davis returned a missed field goal more than 100
yards to give the Tigers a 34-28 victory. Bramblett invoked the
almighty’s name to describe a moment that, for its ramifications, was
more meaningful than miracle.
“These are my top two calls,” Bramblett said Monday from Ames, Iowa,
where he was to call an Auburn-Iowa State basketball game that night.
“I’ve had some exciting ones and dramatic finishes, but nothing like the
miracle of a couple of weeks ago and the unbelievable play the other
night.”
Bramblett grew up in Valley, Ala., admiring Larry Munson’s radio calls
for Georgia and Jim Fyffe’s for Auburn. He graduated from Auburn in 1988
and began calling Auburn baseball in 1993.
After Fyffe’s death in 2003, Bramblett got the Auburn football job, and also started calling Tigers basketball. He does not embrace the title of a homer. But he is not ambivalent about which team he wants to win.
“I have a vested interest in what happens on the field at Auburn, not
only because of the job, but as an alum who loves the school,” he said.
“There are play-by-play announcers like Brad Nessler — he can’t be
called a homer. He’s middle of the road. Nobody’s listening to us for a
down-the-middle broadcast. They want me to convey the emotion.”
He added: “The Auburn IMG Sports Network pays me to call games for
Auburn. Fans are listening for the Auburn slant. They want to know that
the whole broadcast crew is living and dying with the school.”
That is part of the tribal college football culture as it is in local
sports across the country. Chris Ferris, the vice president of the audio
division of IMG College, which distributes and produces the radio games
of Auburn and dozens of other teams, said that Bramblett and announcers
like him effectively represent die-hard fans who are not sitting before
a video screen.
“They want to hear their guy call the game,” Ferris
said. “People want that call, with all the emotion and raw energy that
Rod is giving; you get a sense of what’s happening on the field and he
doesn’t get lost in the emotion. He’s still painting the picture.”
Although both of his recent Auburn calls elicited similar levels of his
passion, Bramblett said that he entered what sounded like a bit of a
dream state at one point in the Georgia call. “I remember what I said until the ball was tipped up and caught,” he
said, “and then I went back after to make sure the words made sense.”
Auburn was facing a fourth-and-18 at their own 27 and, out of instinct or experience,
Bramblett said: “Here’s your ballgame. Nick Marshall stands in, steps
up, is going to throw down field. Just a home run ball. And it is tipped
up, and Louis caught it on the deflection. Louis is going to score!
Louis is going to score! Louis is going to score! Touchdown, Auburn!
Touchdown, Auburn! A miracle at Jordan-Hare! A miracle at Jordan-Hare!”
(At some points, announcers in such states should pay royalties to the
Russ Hodges estate for his “the Giants win the pennant” repetition motif
from 62 years ago.)
Davis’s runback developed more deliberately than the Georgia play two weeks earlier.
After narrating Davis’s path in 5-yard increments until he reached the
Alabama 45, Bramblett’s now hoarse voice provided exultation to
listeners:
- “Holy cow! Oh my God! Auburn wins! Auburn has won the Iron Bowl! Auburn has won the Iron Bowl in the most unbelievable fashion you will ever see! I cannot believe it! Thirty-four to 28. And we thought a miracle at Jordan-Hare was amazing. Oh my Lord in heaven!”
He only wishes that he had quickly noted that Auburn’s victory put them in the Southeastern Conference title game.
In the visitors’ radio booth, Eli Gold, the Alabama announcer, did not
sound downcast although behind his crimson-colored glasses, he said he
was displeased. He said that he thought Davis might have stepped out of
bounds. He looked for Alabama defenders to tackle him. Finding none, he
conceded, “There’s nobody there for Alabama.”
Off the air, he said: “Our jaws were hanging agape. I was as shocked as anybody.”" image Todd Van Emst via NY Times
No comments:
Post a Comment