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Dave South for Dummies

Listening to Fighting Texas Aggie broadcaster Dave South is an acquired taste, much like fine wine or prune juice. Just give it some time and you’ll come to appreciate it. Among many jaded Longhorns, they listen sparingly and only to his classic calls - Sound of Silence. I had the pleasure of taking in a full three hours of Dave South on my drive back from the Red River Rivalry. It took some getting used to, but after an hour or so, I came to understand why he’s YOUR voice for the Aggies. 

Listening to a Dave South broadcast is much like waking up after being sedated or from a drunken stupor. You don’t know where you are or what’s going on and you feel a bit nauseous and dizzy.

Interview_medium

via giving.tamu.edu

Dave South - the only play by every other play broadcaster

Star-divide


The first thing to do is orient yourself to the surroundings. Are the Aggies the home or road team? This is crucial in interpreting the abstract musings of Dave South. It’s pivotal that you couple the crowd cheers and band noise to know if it’s a positive or negative play for your Aggies.

Example #1 – "Johnson takes the snap from center….[K State crowd cheers}…2nd and 19."

By not actually describing the action on the field, you get a visceral reaction. It’s almost as if you are in the game. The great Vin Scully uses this technique to let the listener take in the moment, as he did after Kirk Gibson’s World Series walk-off. Dave South takes it one step further, and actually does not explain what happened. You only hear the crowd. You are there.

Other times, like a great jazz musician, Dave South improvises. He’ll give you his feelings – from his gut. The great ones all do. Sometimes, with onomatopoeia. Like Madden, "BOOM!"

Example #2 – "Michael takes the handoff….[K State crowd cheers]….wow!"

In this example, Dave South is brilliant. It’s freelancing. Sometimes, his color commentator has to clean up the play by play and describe that the Aggie running back Christian Michael was knocked down by 3 K State defenders for a loss of 3.  This is just Dave South nurturing his broadcast partner – passing the baton, if you will.

Because the color commentary many times explains the action 6—7 seconds after the play, a Dave South broadcast is perfect for the lag you get combining radio with the TV broadcasts. You can simply turn off those biased, BOMCs and tune into South. That’s innovation. That’s synergy.

And, Dave South knows his audience. Your Fightin’ Texas Aggies. Or, Your Aggies. Why all this pretext over hiding his allegiance. Dave South is an unabashed Aggie and he’ll tell you in virtually every sentence he utters. 

Example #3 – "Harrell back to pass, heavy aggie pressure, HE’s ABOUT TO BE!!!…….[Silence at Kyle Field]…….Tech score"

Why should Dave South describe negative plays? Who is that going to help. Let the audience digest the news. At the same time, you have to love Dave South enthusiasm and optimism.

Example #4 – "Johnson to GRAYYYYYY!. YES! YOUR AGGIES CONVERT A THIRD DOWN! YOUR AGGIES CONVERT A THIRD DOWN!"

Example #5 – "It’s now time for your Aggie Defense to get a stop here. [down 59-7]"

Boundless enthusiasm. Boundless enthusiasm. Imagine the solace Dave South would have brought to the families of those killed in the Hindenburg disaster. What a maestro! He’s like Atticus Finch in a way.

Hindenburg-300x224_medium

via www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com

"What a great day to see the Great Zeppelin - The Hindenberg. Oh, what a great flash of light...............uh oh...................uh hum................well, it's making a landing.........looks like they'll need to make some adjustments to get it back up again."

Dave South is an innovator, a motivator, a legend. No other announcer has ever mastered stream of conscious commentary quite like Dave South. He’s a cross between Edward R. Morrow & Jack Kerouac. A master artist – the Jackson Pollack of broadcasting. And just like many modern artists and A&M’s traditions, you can’t understand it from the outside. You have to be part of it.

All comments, FanPosts, and FanShots are the views of the reader-authors who create them.

5 recs  |  Comment 18 comments

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Very nice read Eskimohorn

The imagery was outstanding. Almost as good as Dave’s.
;)

Get off your knees Greg, you're blowin' the game.

by kriess on Oct 20, 2009 9:40 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Something new to me

Makes me want to listen one day and see what Dave South is all about. His name has a nice ring to it, like he should be an old-timey storyteller with a penchant for boozing.

by atxdman on Oct 20, 2009 10:10 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Didn't he get kicked out of an SWC basketball tournament game

for continually hollering at the officials while broadcasting?

by edsp on Oct 20, 2009 10:29 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Last

Saturday’s broadcast must have been exceptionally silent, with a huge amount of ambient crowd cheering.

Kind of like:
 “Here’s the opening kickoff………………….(3 hours worth of crowd cheering)……………………………………………Aggies lose valiantly, (whispers) 62-14.”

by tdwalsh on Oct 20, 2009 11:11 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Fightin Texas aggie

Should read fightin’ Texas a&m aggie. They are not the flagship.

Your tongue can't repel flavor of that magnitude!!

by UT2001 on Oct 21, 2009 9:18 AM CDT via mobile reply actions   0 recs

actually...

according to beergut, texas a&m aggie. His fingers are too weak to reach that Shift key.

by vy til i die on Oct 21, 2009 1:10 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

technically

both schools are considered flagship universities since they are very similar in prestige and have been around nearly the same amount of time. Texas A&M is considered the flagship university in the TAMU System and UT is the flagship university in the UT System.

by mwg12 on Nov 3, 2009 1:03 AM CST up reply actions   0 recs

boo

Atticus Finch lol

by cpabis on Oct 21, 2009 9:56 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Brilliant, Eskimo.

I’ve listened to a few agric games on radio over the years. (Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why.) Anyway, Dave is the epitome of agric delusion; but, in a way, you gotta admire someone who is so comfortable in his own skin.

I'll never forget ol' what's-his-name.

by Horntod on Oct 21, 2009 11:27 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Dave South makes me appreciate Craig Way that much more

I know a lot of Aggies think Craig is biased because he gets so excited when Texas does something positive, but at least he does not refer to Texas as “we” or “us” or “our.” Dave is particularly insufferable when he’s calling baseball games in terms of homerism.

by bassale47 on Oct 21, 2009 3:07 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Craig is a professional

He’ll give the opposing team their due when they make a play. Or, he’ll at least explain what’s happening.

by Eskimohorn on Oct 21, 2009 6:09 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Excellent stuff, EH

Had a nice laugh when reading this. Rec’d.

by GhostofBigRoy on Oct 21, 2009 3:45 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

South gets more slobber per square inch of mike than any broadcaster alive.

He is a lot of fun, though, particularly when the ags have a chance in a tight game.

by whills on Oct 21, 2009 9:20 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

LMAO!!!

 I like Dave, but that was inspired.

 Dave’s problem is he really should be doing color, and let someone else do play-by-play.

 He is unapologetic about being biased; as he says, he works for the Aggie Network, not CBS or ABC. Why shouldn’t he be a little biased?

 I can’t stand Craig Way; what he describes and reality are often two different things.

by Beergut on Oct 22, 2009 4:00 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Craig Way

" I can’t stand Craig Way; what he describes and reality are often two different things."

How’s that?

Also, agree – Dave South should do color commentary, if anything at all. His play-by-play is by osmosis.

by Eskimohorn on Oct 22, 2009 8:32 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

I was thinking after reading this and listening to that clip

About how thankful I was for Way.

I dont ever listen to him for Football, but Ive heard him do many a basketball game, and its like being there.

by BoddickerIsClutch on Oct 22, 2009 11:02 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

The only thing Craig does that annoys me

is the 5-hour-long description of everyone’s uniforms. But as a play by play guy, it doesn’t get much better. I don’t know what beergut’s problem is. Craig may be too excitable for opposing fans, but his description of the action is outstanding.

by bassale47 on Oct 22, 2009 11:29 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

I actually dig that stuff

It kind of takes you back to the days before everything was on TV, and everybody listened to games on the radio. He describes the uniforms, and tells you which direction they’re going (“right to left as you imagine it in your mind’s eye” — of course it makes no difference, you could imagine it either way). This is all so you can visualize the action as you’re listening to the play-by-play.

I did some radio production work a long time ago, and that’s one advantage that radio has – you can use the viewer’s imagination instead of just showing them something on the screen.

And I love listening to Craig Way – his allegiance is clear, but he is able to remain objective most of the time. If, for example, a questionable call went for Texas and he says they got a lucky break, or if an opponent makes a great play, he recognizes that.

by SelimSivad on Oct 23, 2009 9:43 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

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