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Got this little article off of the sunbelt forum.  Personally i think it is garbage that the Sunbelt Conf office spends time thinking up rules like this.  The home team hosts for the first round SBC tourny games earned a first round home court advantage, the lower seeds didnt.



MT PA announcer must be neutral in Sun Belt tourney
By ADAM SPARKS
[email protected]
— Adam Sparks, 615-278-5174


As MT's public address announcer, Larry Tolbert tries to add some flare to Blue Raider basketball games.

He will be prohibited from doing so Wednesday night in MT's Sun Belt Tournament opener at Murphy Center.

Although Wednesday's contest is a home game for MT, Tolbert will not be allowed to show favoritism in his in-game announcements or incite Blue Raider fans while speaking into the Murphy Center microphone.

It is part of the Sun Belt's guidelines for its conference tournament first-round games, which will be played at campus home sites Wednesday as awarded to the No. 4 through No. 8 seeds. The top three seeds receive a bye to the final eight-team bracket in Mobile, Ala., where the same rules of neutrality will be administered.

MT's men are the No. 4 seed and play host to No. 13 seed Louisiana-Monroe. MT's women earned a bye to Mobile as the third seed.

Tolbert acknowledged having to prepare himself for the changes.

"I guess it could be a little hard to do," Tolbert said. "But I'll do my best, and I'll do whatever I'm told to do just like I always do."

Tolbert, who has been MTSU men's basketball announcer since 1980, said the Ohio Valley Conference previously had similar rules for its postseason tournament, but that they were rarely followed.

"In the OVC years ago, the rule was that you couldn't use an inflection in your voice for the home team (in the conference tournament), so I guess it was about the same as this," Tolbert said. "If that's the rule, then I'll follow it and do what my bosses say."

Tolbert has established a few distinct in-game calls this season.

A basket scored by MTSU forward Desmond Yates is followed by Tolbert's drawn-out call of the player's name, including a long bellowing bass-filled pronunciation of "Yates."

Tolbert's voice climbs quite a bit higher on emphasizing the second syllable of MTSU guard Kevin Kanaskie's last name.

Such voice inflections will be prohibited during the game or introduction of the starting lineups Wednesday night.

Instead, Tolbert must announce plays of both teams with a similar tone and presentation.

The rules were installed last year when the Sun Belt held its first campus site first-round games under the new tournament format. But MT's men traveled to Troy last year, so this will be its first experience as the host team. A Sun Belt conference call with sports information directors, marketing staff members and head coaches was held Monday to clear up any confusion of the rules. A Sun Belt representative will attend each first-round tournament game Wednesday.

Aside from showing favoritism in announcing the game's play, the announcer can also not encourage fans' actions or cheering over the p.a. system.

For example, Tolbert can not ask fans to "stand for defense" at the beginning of the game or "stand up and show your Blue Raider pride," which are two regular lines in his gameday script. No one else using the p.a. system can do likewise, including cheerleaders or marketing staff.

"It's not a big deal to me, but my feeling is that the higher-seeded teams should get to play it as a home game," MT athletic director Chris Massaro said. "That's the right that was earned by winning those games. I see it kind of like the NBA playoffs. They don't treat the announcer like he's on a neutral court there.

"But I also understand both sides of it, and we will comply fully with the league rules. We probably have bigger issues than that."
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Re: buffered pa announcers

I completely agree wiith you Roscoe!

and it all goes back to the hypersensitivity of the NCAA over "excessive celebration"…

I used to get in trouble for the same thing as the guy above…but i was a 75 - 25 announcer, and got many a glare as a reuslt…do admit i took it a bit far with "Who's your daddy?" when we made a dunk…that's pushing it…

the guy we have now is 60-40 at best…shouldn't be any issue there!
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Re: buffered pa announcers

Why not play the games at a neutral site, then? What is the home cooking supposed to be good for?

The SunBelt ought to spend more time releasing basketball previews before a third of the season is complete, lobbying bowl committees and the NCAA/BCS for fair treatment, attending the unofficial football conference championship game, figuring a way to get more than a few hundred people to the hoops tourney, investing in some adequate marketing and promotions, and getting some TV/satellite deals before worrying about P.A. announcers' tones.
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Re: buffered pa announcers

BMarkey said

Why not play the games at a neutral site, then? What is the home cooking supposed to be good for?

The SunBelt ought to spend more time releasing basketball previews before a third of the season is complete, lobbying bowl committees and the NCAA/BCS for fair treatment, attending the unofficial football conference championship game, figuring a way to get more than a few hundred people to the hoops tourney, investing in some adequate marketing and promotions, and getting some TV/satellite deals before worrying about P.A. announcers' tones.


Perfectly said
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Re: buffered pa announcers

Agree with the comments above, but would like to add some additional insight. All conferences observe this rule. As a former PA announcer, any NCAA play-in tournament or tournament must be neutral as far as the PA announcer goes. The host team will also extend an invitation to the visiting team's cheer, dance and band to perform at halftime and/or timeouts.

I'm a proud lifetime member of the FAU National Alumni Association. Are you a member? Join now at www.faualumni.org.
Tradition in the Making, One Alum at a Time…
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Re: buffered pa announcers

roscoeowl said

BMarkey said

Why not play the games at a neutral site, then? What is the home cooking supposed to be good for?

The SunBelt ought to spend more time releasing basketball previews before a third of the season is complete, lobbying bowl committees and the NCAA/BCS for fair treatment, attending the unofficial football conference championship game, figuring a way to get more than a few hundred people to the hoops tourney, investing in some adequate marketing and promotions, and getting some TV/satellite deals before worrying about P.A. announcers' tones.

Perfectly said


Actually i think they shoudl spend more time educating thier refs……

does this mean the refs for this game have to be neutral as well, cause they sure havent been all season
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Re: buffered pa announcers

Didn't seem like the PA announcer was being neutral at all for tonights game. He did his usual shtick Nwoji for threeeeeeeeee

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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Re: buffered pa announcers

buffered pa announcers

na it was a different person, and the guy made a lot of fiu comments
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Re: buffered pa announcers

I didn't really like him, but I guess he had to be fair, but I think thats dumb. We won the right to play at home, we should be able to keep everything the way it is
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Re: buffered pa announcers

who calls free throws from an announcer's standpoint?

NOBODY.
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