In the annals of odd announcing, the contributions of the play-by-play man for one recent Miami prep hoops contest shouldn’t go overlooked. Not because of his flair for the dramatic call, though his screeching excitement of a dramatic game-winner provides plenty of that. Rather, he may have just contributed the quickest mic drop sign off in broadcasting history.
With the game on the line, Miami (Fla.) Christopher Columbus High guard Chris Melendez lined up a three, burying the attempt to earn a 57-54 victory against traditional rival Miami (Fla.) Belen Jesuit School. Melendez’s jumper was impressively smooth and composed, a stark contrast to the call of the shot itself.
After counting down nearly each tick from the 18.3-second mark, the unnamed announcer of the game on a PlayOn Network broadcast focused in on Melendez just as he lined up a very deep three. When the ball went through the net, our man at the mic absolutely exploded.
“Got it! The Explorers win the basketball game!”
That first shout out was probably fair enough, given the game’s circumstances. What came next was much more puzzling.
“Chris Melendez with a shot from the logo, drains the bucket! And that is going to end our telecast, folks.”
Wait, what? That's it? Evidently that's it.
No sooner had the word “folks” slipped out of his mouth than the broadcast came to a thudding halt with a very audible microphone drop. If it seemed sudden to you, that’s because it absolutely was. Producers at PlayOn timed the drop from the moment that the announcer stopped talking and came out with 0.9 seconds.
In fact, his sign off was complete fewer than 15 seconds after the game officially ended. Given the dramatic conclusion, that has to be some kind of a land speed record. Usually a final second win is precisely when you want to elaborate about everything that just happened.
So, what was our official mic man up to? Did he have a doctor’s appointment? A late tee time perhaps? Precisely where he got to remains anyone’s guess, but we do know one thing: He got heading there awfully quickly.
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