ESPN studio hosts called into play-by-play duties after audio error
By Ethan Levine
Published:
Kentucky and in-state rival Louisville played one of the greatest games in the history of their rivalry on Saturday, as Louisville survived to win a back-and-forth thriller and beat UK for a fourth year in a row.
However, things took a bizarre turn on the ESPN2 broadcast as the game returned from halftime. The Worldwide Leader experienced an audio malfunction in Louisville’s Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium during the halftime break, and the network had no choice but to turn to its in-studio hosts — Brett McMurphy and Robert Smith — to call the play-by-play during Kentucky’s first drive of the second half.
Then, as if things hadn’t become strange enough for the television viewing audience, broadcasters Beth Mowins and Joey Galloway called the second drive of the half using what sounded like a telephone. The two personalities gave the impression they were callers into a live talk radio show based on the audio quality.
Take a look and listen at the studio hosts call a series followed by Mowins’ and Galloway’s telephone call on the second series:
It was certainly an awkward sequence for ESPN and its viewers alike, but the issues were eventually resolved and most of the second half was still broadcast under ordinary circumstances.
However, I bet you all have a new appreciation for the crowd noise that seeps through during televised sporting events.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.
