把球打出了球场

During a desultory college basketball matchup February 21 between Arizona and California, both Pacific-12 Conference teams mired in losing streaks, 乔·戴维斯已经做了功课. The still relatively new Los Angeles Dodgers announcer knew that his broadcast partner, 前加州大学洛杉矶分校教练史蒂夫·拉文, had once suffered through his own losing streak—and one with a bizarre twist. “真实的故事,” said Davis to Lavin about midway through the first half, 当两队都在努力打到篮筐的时候. 你在加州大学洛杉矶分校九连败期间, a student reporter in a press conference asked you who a good replacement would be. As memorable as the question was, your response was even 更多的 memorable.” This elicited from Lavin that, no, he didn’t coldcock the student reporter. 而, 实际上，他详细地讨论了四五名教练的优点，这些教练被传言可能是他的继任者.

Davis’s vignette was not just the product of diligent preparation, it was deft. 这给了陷入困境的球迷们微笑的机会，同时也让他们看到了所有球队和球迷都会遇到的不幸, 迟早的事.

两天后, Davis was working a preseason Dodgers baseball game in Phoenix with his analyst partner, 奥廖尔Hershiser. Taking advantage of the relaxed nature of a spring training game, 戴维斯鼓励好时公司, 著名的前道奇队投手, to explore the differences between spring training then and now, 包括在测量投球运动和投球旋转速度方面取得的科学进步, 好时公司津津有味地扩大了这一领域. “有了所有这些信息，我不知道我怎么能睡得着，”Hershiser总结道. “你会喜欢的，”戴维斯说. “哦，我的天哪，”Hershiser同意道. “我会把它吃掉的.”

这种交流是戴维斯让观众温和地了解他的搭档性格的许多方式之一，同时保持不那么重要的直播生动.

The beginning of Davis’s meteoric rise as a television sportscaster 已被记录在本杂志(2015年夏季). 2010年毕业后, 在闪电序列中, 他从为AA小联盟蒙哥马利饼干队做详细解说变成了大学棒球的组合, 足球, 和康卡斯特东南篮球队, ESPN, 和福克斯体育, 他还称大联盟和NFL比赛.

7月，戴维斯在道奇体育场与一位年轻的球迷打招呼.
图片来源:Max S. 美国格柏公司从那以后，戴维斯取得了长足的进步. In 2016, in anticipation of the retirement of the legendary Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully, 戴维斯被雇来为道奇队召唤50场比赛. 他表现出色，并在2017年接替了斯库利的继任者，同时继续打棒球, 大学橄榄球和篮球, 福克斯的NFL.

道奇队的机会是多么大的一件事，多么艰巨的挑战，怎么说都不为过. The Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers is a storied sports franchise, 洛杉矶的电视市场非常庞大. But, 更多的 than that, the 20-something (now 31), baby-faced kid from Potterville, Mich.(流行. 2,671) became only the second “voice” of the Dodgers in seven decades, 接替一个偶像般的人物, not just in Southern California but in all of sports broadcasting.

追求自己喜欢的职业, 优秀地, and being well compensated for it—that’s pretty much anyone’s definition of a dream job. 当然是乔·戴维斯的, who will be the first to tell you that he didn’t build his career all on his own. 花了一所大学的时间. 贝洛伊特 “set me up to get ahead of the curve when I graduated,” Davis says. 经济学和创业名誉教授杰瑞·古斯塔夫森63年和退休广播教练戴夫·克努森94年可以告诉你如何.

“乔是一个很好的例子，他试图利用学院的资源，而不是正式的, 标准化的课程,古斯塔夫森回忆道. “他在伯洛伊特学院得到了很多你认为普通大学无法提供的帮助.其中之一是古斯塔夫森与伊利诺伊州小联盟球队绍姆堡飞人队(Schaumburg Flyers)的老板有关系, which helped lead Davis to a broadcasting summer internship. Gustafson encouraged Davis to pursue his own entrepreneurial instincts, 这让戴维斯开始了一项编辑高中运动员招募影片的生意(这让他赚了几千美元，还帮他支付了一些费用), 戴维斯回忆).

大一开学第一周，戴维斯告诉广播老师克努森，他想成为一名体育播音员, Knutson told him: “It’s not just sitting behind a mic and talking.”

戴维斯很快就拿到了. 他学习了所有关于制作的知识，并在大一的时候开始转播伯洛伊特的篮球比赛. 然后，他得到了机会和鼓励，将原始的一台摄像机扩展到三台. 他开办了自己的社区电视体育节目——他甚至被允许在伯洛伊特市中心的一家爱尔兰酒吧处理远程广播的棘手后勤问题.

鹰不能在隧道里翱翔, 而且是在一个大机构, Davis’s progress would likely have been constrained by both protocol and numbers. 克努森说，如果他能在大一结束时操作照相机，那就很幸运了. 如果他去了威斯康星大学(University of Wisconsin)或圣母大学(Notre Dame)，就会有人注意到他的才能. But at 贝洛伊特 he could jump in with both feet from day one and get one-on-one encouragement.”

戴维斯还从当时的通讯项目主席那里获得了独立学习的帮助, 戏剧副教授艾米·萨尔诺, who told him up front that she knew nothing about sports broadcasting. 尽管如此, 萨尔诺教戴维斯有用的体育转播技巧, such as how to project his voice and how to breathe while speaking. Davis is grateful: “What broadcasting school is going to have a study on projecting their voice? 这就是我在贝洛伊特的结果.”

The small liberal arts college experience that 贝洛伊特 provided, 根据古斯塔夫森和克努森的说法, gave Davis the opportunity to craft his own customized education. 如果他有什么想法的话，那是个人化的, 他可以把它拿给他的教练，学点聪明的, 及时的反馈. It was flexible—let’s do a community access TV show in an Irish bar. It was 亲自动手的—instead of just reading about using multiple cameras, let’s try it. And there were no artificial barriers—he was never told that freshmen don’t get to do that. It was, in short, a very good environment for a proactive learner like Davis.

伯洛伊特的另一个重点帮助了戴维斯, 尽管他对准备和细节的重要性有着超自然的倾向. “I’m obsessive in everything I do,” says Davis, who graduated summa cum laude. “I think that obsessive nature is the fuel to the persistence.他的另一个自我描述是“一丝不苟”.“确实, both Davis and Hershiser cheerily describe themselves, 彼此之间, 作为肛门保留, 这两个人尽管年龄相差很大，但还是成为了非常亲密的朋友，原因之一是什么.

Hershiser, 60, 他一直是ESPN的分析师，多年来与各种各样的实况转播播音员一起工作, 对戴维斯的准备程度感到敬畏吗. “If I forget something,” Hershiser says, “like when a trade was, he’ll finish my sentence. 这就是他的准备. 这看起来像是谈话，因为这就是谈话，因为他对任何事情都准备好了.”

Hard work behind the scenes is one secret to Davis's success. 即使是在淡季, 他经常在凌晨4:30起床，研究道奇队下赛季将面对的对手球队的球员.
图片来源:Max S. 美国格柏公司

这种准备有几种形式. 比赛结束后，戴维斯大约11点回到家.m., he puts in another 90 minutes or so researching the pitchers for the next day. 在休赛期，他早上4:30起床.m. 对道奇队下赛季将面对的对手球队的球员进行同样的研究. This effort produces ridiculously detailed electronic pages for hundreds of players, 充满了数据, 细节, 和轶事. 哦，我有没有提到? 它们有六种不同的颜色编码.

在六月中旬旧金山巨人队的系列赛中，这种疯狂的劳动产生了这样的掘金:巨人队的投手王牌麦迪逊·布姆加纳在北卡罗来纳州的一个小县城长大，那里有很多布姆加纳，一个地区被称为“布姆镇”,布姆加纳是一名猎熊人，他用他的奖金买了农田，还了他母亲的抵押贷款. 在典型的戴维斯/好时广播中，这些花絮几乎每一局都有规律地出现，并穿插着技术分析和历史轶事, such as a fabled early 20th century Giants manager John McGraw being so mean, 据一位同时代的人说, that he “eats gun powder for breakfast each morning and washes it down with warm blood.”

戴维斯的伯洛伊特之旅并不完全是典型的. 一个高中明星四分卫被招募, 波特维尔的孩子有选择, 包括布朗, 哈佛大学, 和锡拉丘兹. 他选择伯洛伊特的原因之一是在大一的时候有机会踢足球. At least one other 贝洛伊特 alumnus is particularly happy he did: Rick Krajewski’09, 他是兄弟会的一员，也是道奇队的全职统计员，坐在道奇体育场同一间舒适的广播亭里，向戴维斯和赫时提供神秘而精彩的棒球统计数据. 戴维斯的妻子利比(Libby)对这个选择也很满意. Even though she didn’t attend 贝洛伊特, they met at a New Year’s party his sopho更多的 year. They now live in South Pasadena with their two small children.

回首往事, Davis says he would have been “crazy” not to have made the decision to attend 贝洛伊特. “有很多人愿意创造机会，并帮助我创造这些机会——这成为了最大的好处.”

He also says he benefited from his liberal arts education. “我不知道这句话是谁说的，但我以前听过:你花了一周的时间准备播报一场足球或篮球比赛, but you spend your whole life preparing to call a baseball game.”

A theatre arts/communications major and journalism minor, 戴维斯还选修了政治学课程, 心理学, 经济学, 和哲学. “You name it, pretty much every category of every discipline you can think of,” he says. “A little bit of learning in those is what a liberal arts education is and, 作为一名棒球播音员, 非常有价值的背景.”

没选伯洛伊特而不是哈佛真是疯了? Well, it’s hard to argue with Davis’s life and career choices to date. No doubt his prodigious talent would have won out regardless of his undergraduate decision. But it is also hard to argue with the conclusion that a customized, 亲自动手的, no artificial barriers education gave the rocket a boost.

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在成为阿拉斯加的出庭律师之前, 彼得Gruenstein 69 was an investigative reporter in Washington, D.C.在那里，他也写过一些体育文章. 他关于国防承包商向五角大楼官员和国会议员送礼的系列报道获得了普利策奖提名. His son, Leo Gruenstein, assisted in the preparation of this article.