As postseason appearances go, the 1990 Aloha Bowl ranks toward the bottom.
Syracuse beat the UA 28-0 in Arizona coach Dick Tomey’s Hawaii homecoming. Despite having Rob Waldrop, Darryl Lewis, Ronald Veal and return specialist Michael Bates on their roster, the Wildcats were outlasted by Marvin Graves and the Orangemen on Christmas Day. An utter disaster in paradise.
Brian Jeffries missed out. “The Voice of the Wildcats” didn’t travel with the team to Honolulu because of financial reasons.
It stood as his only no-show from 1986 until last week, when — because of the COVID-19 pandemic — Jeffries and analyst Lamont Lovett were forced to call the Wildcats’ loss to Washington from athletic director Dave Heeke’s suite at Arizona Stadium. They’ll do it again on Saturday, when the UA plays at UCLA.
It’s a change for Jeffries, who for three decades has been a part of the UA’s traveling party. He was there for Arizona’s Fiesta Bowl win over Miami on New Year’s Day in 1994. And Ortege Jenkins’ “Leap by the Lake” in 1998. And Khalil Tate’s record-setting game against Colorado in 2017.
Jeffries watched the rise — and decline — of Dick Tomey’s program, and has called every game coached by Tomey’s successors: John Mackovic, Mike Stoops, Rich Rodriguez and Kevin Sumlin.
Calling road games from Tucson requires some technology. Jeffries and broadcast partner Lamont Lovett, who was a member of the ’90 Aloha Bowl team, watch the game on two screens: the TV broadcast and a wide-shot video feed of the field. Add in a live stat screen, and that’s three monitors Jeffries has to scan the entire game.
Doing it for the first time last week “was challenging,” Jeffries said. “I’ve never done anything like that before. Fortunately, other folks had already done it so I had guidance from other broadcasters around the country. Also, a couple of guys in the Pac-12 had already done it as well so it gave me some idea of what to expect but at the same time, it was all brand new.
“When you’re at the game, you get a feel for the game and see everything going on. Watching it from a video monitor, you don’t have the same ability or the same feel. … Everything that goes into a broadcast, it puts you behind. At the same time, you gotta just do with what you have. That’s what we did. We prepared like it was a regular game and broadcasted like a regular game.”
Jeffries’ radio call includes natural sound from the game, such as pads hitting and officials’ whistles. Last week, the home team’s radio feed provides the sound using a field microphone.
“It gave us the feeling that we were at the stadium. In radio, that’s vitally important because that’s our energy right there: what the fans bring,” Jeffries said. “To hear that in our ears was very important. … It gives you the sense that you’re there, and to me that’s really important.”
Lovett, who’s been the Wildcats’ color commentator for 17 years, said the remote broadcast “was definitely a different experience.” Locally, UA games air on 1290-AM and 107.5-FM.
“It was unique, for sure. Brian is a professional, I’m a professional and we just adapted to it. We just kind of went with it,” he said.
Jeffries said his biggest challenge was identifying where on the field players were tackled. He had to wait for the stat feed to show the yardage of a play and the line of scrimmage.
“If you’re at the game, you can see that because you have the whole vision of the field,” Jeffries said. “That was the hardest thing. It was almost like calling the game on delay because you wanted to wait and make sure the play unfolded instead of guessing where the ball might be.”
It took one quarter for Jeffries and Lovett to settle in last Saturday, but they adjusted quickly.
Still, they have concerns. Jeffries fears a repeat of what happened during the ESPN broadcast of last week’s USC-Utah game, when the cameras malfunctioned for one series. ESPN’s broadcast duo of Dave Flemming and Rod Gilmore, calling the game remotely, relied exclusively on the live stat feed to describe the game action.
Should a situation like that occur for Jeffries and Lovett, a week’s worth of preparation, game notes and pertinent nuggets spread across a spot chart would then become even more important.
Jeffries spends his entire week combing through media guides, his personal filing system of information about the other Pac-12 teams, interviews and statistics. Early in his career, Jeffries learned that legendary broadcaster Dick Enberg used only 20% of his notes for a broadcast. He kept the remaining 80% for a rainy day.
“We always make sure everything is covered because you just never know what’s going to happen,” Jeffries said. “You have to be ready at a moment’s notice.”
Sometimes Jeffries’ weekly prep work goes to waste, like when Arizona’s season opener at Utah was canceled after multiple Utes tested positive for COVID-19. There’s also the possibility Arizona could schedule another opponent on short notice if one of its games gets canceled, which would lead to even more preparation and studying of other Pac-12 opponents.
“You have to be flexible and ready for everything because the world is changing at a moment’s notice,” he said.
As the college football season slogs along with the virus’ fingers around its throat, Lovett can appreciate the little things.
“We just have to keep that perspective that everyone is just doing the best that they can, and don’t be surprised by anything and be flexible. It’s definitely a relief and it’s nice to see the sport being played,” Lovett said. “But at the same time, we realize we’re watching a game that could be canceled. Every day, we’re just waiting to hear what’s going to happen.”
Whether it’s live from the Rose Bowl or 439 miles away from Heeke’s suite at Arizona Stadium, Jeffries and Lovett are thankful they get to continue their Saturday tradition. “The Voice of the Wildcats” won’t be silenced.
“It took some adjustment. It was a challenge. I would not like to do it on a regular basis,” Jeffries said.
“But if we walk away with the score right, then we can walk away feeling pretty good about it.”
