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But when nothing is going right, panic won't help. You must stay cool, which is the essence of Larry Michael, the voice of the GW men's basketball team for the past 12 seasons.
Most Colonials fans watched the season-opener at Wake Forest on ESPN. But on WMET, the play-by-play was non-existent. Michael, along with student assistant Charlie Beattie, were at the mercy of the Lawrence Joel Coliseum's faulty equipment.
No tantrum or dictatorial orders followed. Instead, Michael coolly made the pair's objective clear: "Keep trying to get the broadcast going, and I'll announce the game like usual." With about eight minutes to go in the first half, Michael's voice finally hit the airwaves, which was quite a relief for Beattie, who was afraid he might not survive his first day of work.
"Larry appreciated it more that I stayed with it," Beattie said of the episode at Wake Forest. "Instead of completely tearing things down, it helped cement our relationship."
The senior was impressed. Michael could have overheated, but he trusted a college senior before really even getting to know him. That calm confidence - and trust in people around him - has helped him become one of the most versatile people in the radio business. In addition to the GW gig, Michael is the Washington Redskins' play-by-play man on WJFK, the host of the Notre Dame Football pre-game show, and Westwood One's senior vice president for sports. In his career, he has broadcast the NCAA Tournament and the Olympics and worked extensively in golf and even boxing.
"He's got his finger in everything," GW Director of Athletics Jack Kvancz said. "I don't know how he does it, but he does it."
Aside from his vocal talents, Kvancz said Michael's success rides on his adaptability. The AD then brought up Marty Glickman, one of broadcasting's all-time greats. Even as the Yankees' play-by-play man when Kvancz was growing up in Connecticut in the 1950s, Glickman still worked high school football games.
