Mike Parker Oral History Interview, April 1, 2019

BILLY MUSGRAVE: Where were you born? What was the childhood and early years of your life like?

MIKE PARKER: Born August 3rd, 1958 in Los Angeles. Born out of wedlock. My mother put me up for adoption in October of 1958. My mother was a full blooded Mohawk Indian who had moved from the reservation outside of Toronto to Los Angeles and had a brief fling with my father. I have met my biological father fifteen years ago, and he told me he offered to marry my mom when he found out she was pregnant. She said no, my biological father started to cry and said "She knew, she was right, I would have been a bad husband". So she choose to have me 00:01:00on her on her own and turned down his offer for marriage. She had me though, and then put me up for adoption. I was adopted in October of 1958 by my parents George and Nancy Parker. My dad had built a home in Hacienda Heights, Ca. in anticipation of having children or adopting, and they also adopted my sister two years later. So I grew up in a home in Hacienda Heights in the San Gabriel Valley, around 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles. I lived there till I was 14 years of age until we moved to Cottage Grove, Oregon. A lot of stuff happened in between but I grew up in LA and ended up falling in love with sports as a 7 year 00:02:00old. I didn't know a lot about sports, my dad wasn't a sports guy and I ended up discovering sports through the radio which is a unique story itself.

BM: Thank you for sharing that. Can you talk about your love of sports as a youth? Did you play sports? Where did you find this love?

MP: I knew nothing about sports. I was playing with a neighbor friend, my friend 00:03:00Stuart Holland, I can remember the day pretty well actually. It was the spring of 1966 on a Saturday afternoon. He and I were playing on the street, and I went into the garage with Stuart and his dad was working in the garage with a radio on in the background. I was hearing things in the background like "The 1-1 pitch to Ron Fairly is low and outside, ball 2, 2-1." I had no idea what that was, or what the language was, so I went up to Mr. Holland and I asked him "what are you listening to?" and he said "Oh, that's the Dodger game" and I said "what are the 00:04:00Dodgers?" He laughed and said "You don't know who the Dodgers are?" And he proceeded to explain how that was our local major league baseball team, and that they were world champions as they had won the World Series the year before. It was a new language to me, but I kept listening as he worked, and I kept hearing things like "the 2-2 pitch to Fairley, grounded into right field for a base hit." So after listening to that for a while, I asked Mr. Holland who I was listening to. And he replied "Well that's Vin Scully, he's the voice of the Dodgers." And I thought, wow, this was so cool, before I walked into this garage I didn't know about baseball, I didn't know about the Dodgers, and I didn't know about this man called Vin Scully. So from that point, that was kinda my entrance 00:05:00into the world of sports and sportscasting all at once, and baseball specifically. I remember I went home that day and said "Dad, do we have a radio?" And he said "well yeah, why?" and I told him I wanted to listen to the Dodgers game. My dad, he drove around as the superintendent of a construction company in Southern California. He mainly drove the freeways of Los Angeles, he used to work with his hands and build houses but then he became a superintendent and we drove from job site to jobs site. That's one of the reasons we ended up leaving LA, he was sick of that lifestyle. But he would listen to the radio all 00:06:00the time so he knew who the Dodgers were. He was not a fan, but he knew who they were and he knew how to find them on the radio, so he did and I started the very next day listening to Dodger games.

And my dad, who passed away at the age of 92 in September of 2014, such a dear, great, wonderful man, saw that his young son had an interest in something he knew nothing about. He came home days later from work with old beat up baseball cards that he had found. We didn't know how to throw or catch, but we started playing catch and I felt like my world course was set from that point. I could have discovered it another way, but Mr. Holland's garage, my dad immediately 00:07:00seeing that his son had an interest in something. He had done that with monster movies: I had Frankenstein and Godzilla models and read all these creepy magazines. My parents always encouraged whatever interests I had, but this was a new thing. I still have one of the old three finger gloves we used. That was in April of '66, but by June, that summer, we as a family went to our first 00:08:00baseball game at Dodger Stadium. June 17th, 1966 I saw my first major league game at seven years old, I turned eight in August. I remember the game, Willie McCovey hit a three run homer to beat the Dodgers 4-1 in the 8th inning and I cried most of the way home. Don Sutton pitched for the Dodgers and Gaylord Perry for the Giants. I knew I had an eye for talent, because there was a great catch early in the game by a Giants player, and my dad and I looked in the program to see his name was Willie Mays. I knew then, at seven years old, that there was a 00:09:00difference in ballplayers, and this guy Mays was really good. That was the summer of '66, but that fall I was introduced to the Rams, and we started to 00:10:00watch football. It didn't take right away for me, but the following year it did, and we started to go to games at the Coliseum. The first time was December 17th, a Rams game at the Coliseum. Discovered basketball with the Lakers. With the Rams, we had Dick Enberg on the radio, and with the Lakers, we had Chick Hearne. We started to go to all the local pro and college teams. My life became immersed in sports. I read books, collected cards and fell in love with those three 00:11:00sports. Nothing seemed to really come into my world with the same kinda passion as baseball, football, and basketball. And even as an 8 year old I knew that's what I wanted to do some day.

BM: Could you talk a little specifically about your journey to Oregon State?

MP: Our family moved to Cottage Grove in 1973, due to health reasons. My mom became ill with cancer in 1970, and my dad decided to move us to a healthier and quieter place. We bought the property first but didn't move till March of 73'. Moving to Cottage Grove, we were closer to Eugene and there were a lot of Duck fans. More Duck fans than Beavers. And one of the first things I was asked when I moved there was "Who are you pulling for in the Civil War?" I didn't know what this was and didn't have a particular reason to pick one or the other. My friends invited me to the game that year. We took the greyhound bus to Eugene that day and went to my first Civil War in 73' and I haven't missed one since. So I knew, thanks to my high school friends, that the Civil War was a big deal. Due to the proximity of Cottage Grove to Eugene, I chose to go to school there so I could live at home and commute and save money. My mom lived longer than her original prognosis, some of those years being in healthy remission, and died in 1975. We were grateful for that and it was an unexpected blessing. I took some time off, changed majors, and finished in 82' at Oregon. Due to graduating from there, I became an ardent Duck fan and had a desire to be the voice of the Ducks. I wanted to do football, basketball, and baseball on the radio. I didn't care about TV, I wanted to do games on the radio and I wanted to do those three sports. I applied for the job to be the voice of the Eugene Emeralds, the minor league baseball team in Eugene. I did home games only in the summer of 83' and then the full season in 85,' 86'.

I went to the Winter Meetings for Major League Baseball in Hollywood, FL and handed out tapes to AAA clubs, hoping to someday get a Major League Job. I ended up getting two offers, one of them being the Pawtucket Red Sox. It would have meant a move away from my family--I had just married my wife, and our whole life was in Oregon. I knew it was a great offer and would have had a connection to the Boston Red Sox. I feel as if I took the job life would have completely taken a different route and I may be not be sitting in front of you right now. The announcer who did take the job, Gary Cohen, is now a longtime broadcaster for the New York Mets and has had a great career. That might not have happened to me, but being in a baseball-crazy area might have helped me get a major league job. But I'm grateful I said no, instead I came to Portland and took the Portland Beavers AAA job with the Pacific Coast League. The reason I'm so grateful I did that is because I met Pat Casey and Jim Wilson, two people who have become dear friends and very important people in my life. It was Pat's final year as a player, and Jim has been my radio partner for football and baseball since 2004. Life takes a totally different turn if I go to Pawtucket. So I'm grateful I met those guys and they've been great friends. From 87' to 98' we lived and worked in Portland doing sports talk radio. I hosted one of the early shows and was on the air every day from 90' to 98' on a couple stations in Portland. But all the while I wanted, since I was 7 in that garage, to be doing play by play on the radio. Sports talk show stuff is interesting, but it's not the same joy and rush I got from play by play. I was doing some high school games at Cottage Grove, Marshfield, games of the week in Eugene, I was always trying to take what play by play opportunities I could. In Cottage Grove in the mid-to-late 70s I did football, basketball, and baseball games for the small local radio station. It was invaluable experience. I was always hoping to have a job where I could do all 3 sports on radio. In the fall of 98', I remember one of the last few games I covered was the Beavers here vs Nevada, and I was gonna talk about it on Tuesday. I was called in that morning and told I was being let go from KEX in early Sept, 98'. The previous three years I had done Portland Trailblazers pre- and post-game shows, but not play-by-play on the games.

In the spring of 90' I drove a cab in Portland to pay the bills. I had a little severance package from the radio station, but I had to do something. I thought about jobs outside of sportscasting, a friend suggested I could make real money in a sales job. It was tempting, as we had two daughters now, and I needed to provide. A friend of mine said, "Hey, it's not glamorous, but if you work hard, you can make some good money driving the cab." He was a friend who also had a college degree and was trying to make ends meet. It certainly wasn't something I dreamt of doing when I was in Mr. Holland's garage that day, but I figured I could do it and still send some tapes out to try to get a broadcasting job. I interviewed with the Sacramento Kings broadcasting crew and in Houston over the phone. I thought about moving to both places, but I wasn't offered the jobs. In late February of 99', I was still driving a cab. I got a call from Mike Corwin who was an associate AD at OSU. He called and asked, said it was an emergency, and that they needed someone to broadcast the baseball series this weekend down at Cal State Northridge. Ironically, had I still been working for the radio station, I wouldn't have been able to go, as there were Blazer games this weekend. Because I had been let go, and was driving the cab, I made my own hours and was able to go. I got on the bus to go and I remember Pat Casey was on the bus and greeted me like an old friend, made me feel welcome. I'd interviewed him during his years at George Fox. I did 4 games that weekend at Cal State Northridge, and it was one of those "right place-right time" things. Mike Corwin told me that Mitch Barnhart, the AD at OSU at the time, had heard some of my broadcast and liked what he heard. He was interested in seeing if I could do some more games for us, and I was asked to do a couple more home and away games. I ended up doing about 15 more games that spring and after that the whole job came open at Oregon State. Darrell Aune was a tremendous announcer and a 29 year veteran, and I had listened to him a lot. He was one of my favorites ever, and one of the best to do it. The job came open, the whole job: football and basketball also. There were tons of applicants from all over. I was shown the box after I was hired and saw all the tapes that were sent in. It's one of the best jobs, to be in the Pac-10 and do all three sports. I had a bit of an inside track and I was outside of the actual job posting process. So I had a bit of an advantage. Mitch asked for some of my football and basketball tapes as a formality, and I was a little rusty. I submitted that, and apparently through all of that, he really just had me as the guy he wanted. I ended up meeting the people at Learfield, but it was more of a thing arranged by Mitch. It felt like more of a formality. I went through the process with them and it was more explanatory in nature.

A few days after that Mitch called me, I remember where I was in Northeast Portland and he said, "How would you like to be the voice of the Beavers?" I said "I think I'd like that. And Mitch, I do wanna be honest with you. If you've listened to talk radio in Portland you may know this...I graduated from the other school and I've talked about the passion I had for that other school over the years." I think even today, in 2019, there are still some people, some members of Beaver Nation, that hold that against me. "That guy's a Duck, we're not gonna hire him!" I warned Mitch about the flak but also said how I wanted this job more than any I'd ever wanted. I was never disrespectful towards Oregon State, I had interviewed coaches and players. Had interviewed Mitch before as part of my work, and I think he liked how I conducted these interviews and had a liking for me. He said "if you're the right person for the job, I don't care about that. You'll be fine". I remember hanging up the phone and saying "Honey, I'm not driving the cab tonight. I got a new job". It was unbelievable to me, it started the next night. That was in late May of '99 and around that time Dennis Erickson was hired to be our football coach. My first night on the job was an Oregon State event out in Hillsboro or something like that. It was a golf tournament. Suddenly, I was introduced and going on this caravan around the state with Dennis Erickson, Mitch Barnhart, Greg Byrne, etc. I was just thrown into this world. I got ready to call my first football game, the Beavers at Nevada, in September of '99. I spent a few months preparing for that, we rented Mike Corwin's old house for the first year and then bought another old house he used to live in. So Mike Corwin was quite a conduit for me and my life at Oregon State. Offered me the first job in baseball, we rented his house, and then bought an old house he lived in. We moved to Corvallis in July of 99' and have been here ever since. So that's how I got to Oregon State.

BM: Your first major broadcast was a football game at Nevada. What was that first broadcast like? Were you nervous?

MP: Well thankfully, I had broadcast the baseball games down at Northridge. I felt like I had something under my belt going into that first football game at Nevada. I was very nervous and had taken great depth to prepare for it, depth charts, research, key facts. I went to every practice during the two a day sessions that year. There used to be this tower on the old Prothro field where all the coaches would go to watch. It's gone now but thankfully it was there that first year in 99'. I would walk to the top steps and I would practice either mentally or out loud if no one was around and I would practice...Jonathan Smith drops back to throw, Lonnie Percoats is open, TJ Houshmenzadah makes the catch, Ken Simonton runs off right guard...this was to try to know personnel strategies, the plays we ran, obviously you want to know your own personnel. I wanted to be prepared for the game, as there was quite a lot of hype, as Dennis Erickson had just been hired. We were close to a winning season the year before, and the Civil War win was so great it inspired everyone with a lot of hope, and then Dennis comes in. But that first game I remember being totally nervous, and Bob Grimm, who was my first partner and a veteran of the OSU broadcast booth, was a great help to me. First quarter I was talking a mile a minute as I didn't want to miss anything. We had a break and Bob looked at me and said "take a breath, Mike" He helped me relax as the game went on, the Beavers were down early and actually rallied late to win 28-13. It was an exciting way to start, with a big Touchdown from Marty Mauer, 74 yarder on a bootleg. I've seen a lot of plays in my life but I can see Jonathan rolling out on the naked boot, and Marty, who caught a pass in the flat, made one guy miss and ran down the right sideline. It was a great play and we won, got out to a great start, and it felt like an exciting time for Beaver Nation. I know that's not unique to Oregon State, other people call their team a nation. But I said that that day and have continued to say that. Some people didn't like it at first, but that's sort of how we think of ourselves. If I didn't create that, I certainly helped popularize it. We've been using that ever since.

BM: Did you have any names that were really hard to pronounce?

MP: Every school does put out a pronunciation guide. There were a couple players who were more challenging than others. I remember with TJ, Dennis never got it right. I practice those things to make sure I get them right. Some of them are even easier names but just hard for me. The Beavers have a pitcher right now, Grant Gambrell, and for whatever reason I really struggle with that one. There are names trickier than others. It's an important thing and I work hard to get it right. [He shows his sheet of notes that he had used for the recent basketball games against Arizona and Arizona State.]

Vitaly Shibel from ASU, Remy not Rim-E, I write it all out phonetically, no matter who we are playing, so I can get it right. This is just for the Arizona State game, I spilled coffee on it, but here you can take a look. Whatever notes I can find, I color code, three point field goals in red, free throws in blue, minutes played in green, etc. And then whatever relevant notes, what happened in the first meeting, etc.

BM: Are there any athletes or coaches that really stand out over the years for you?

MP: That first year, in 99' to be working with the "Rockstar," Dennis Erickson, and he was...he had won 2 national championships, been in the NFL, and he was huge with the fans. He was very good to me, to hear him tell things off the record, tell funny stories, to get to work around him was an honor. But that first year, we beat Cal at home to finally clinch a winning season after 28 years of losing ones. I was kind of sick that week and wasn't feeling very well. My voice had matured in terms of the work load. Play by play requires more than just talk radio. The week of that game I was a little hoarse. There was a moment in the game where the Beavers clinched the game, clinched the winning season. Someone hit the Cal QB from behind and forced a fumble, Tavita Moala picked it up. Rest his soul, he was a great man and it's hard for me to think of him not being with us. But the ball came loose down around the Cal 25,30, Tavita picks it up in the 4th quarter of a tight game. 10-7, defensive struggle. Tavita picks it up and runs it back untouched. The place was going crazy. I think I said "picked up by Tavita Moala" and my voice cracked in that moment. [He laughs.] It was a highly charged, incredible moment. Night game, the place was going crazy, and my voice couldn't even meet the moment. But the emotions of the moment I've never forgot. The winning season was clinched and then the next week we beat Arizona with the fog rolling in. 28-20 in the fog and we were going for a bowl game. That first year in 99' were some memorable games. Tavita Moala was great to be around, the team was great, Jonathan Smith, Ken Simonton were on that team and had a great next couple years. Those were special times because of the joy involved with the renaissance of Oregon State football. It was fun to be involved with that and to get to call those games. The 2000 Civil War is as close to being my favorite football game as I could think, when Jake Cookus intercepted Joey Harrington three times. The Beavers won on a clear, cool day 23-13. Ken Simonton broke for a TD and Jonathan Smith threw 2 first quarter TD passes to Robert Prescott. The Beaver defense was dominant and they won, giving them a chance to the Rose Bowl. They ended up in the Fiesta Bowl and beat Notre Dame and that was a great memory.

BM: What does Beaver athletics and Beaver Nation mean to you?

MP: To be calling all three sports, and to do the talk show every day...it's just such a daily, integral part of my life. The world is sort of unimaginable without the next game, the next event. My daughters have grown up with it. Lydia my oldest, she loves the sports events and has had an interest in becoming a sportscaster herself. It's been so all consuming in a good way for our lives. I think about bowl game trips, looking forward to another one in the not so disant future. Getting to go to Hawaii in 99', the Fiesta Bowl in 00'. Vegas a couple times, El Paso, Phoenix, San Francisco, San Antonio. We've been to the bowl games together and the trips to Omaha in 05', 06', 07' when my girls were young...those are some of the great memories of my life. Incredible, rich memories and an appreciation for just that impact on my family's life. But also to be part of something that means so much to the community, Beaver Nation. In Corvallis/Albany in particular but also in Portland, just knowing the passion that we get when we do events there. And then feeling it on states around trip, different caravans where we go to Bend or Medford. I don't do as much anymore but still like to when I can. These events showed me that Beaver alums are everywhere. To be able to come in and talk about Oregon State athletics has been a thrill, and honor, and I feel that every time I get to call a game. It means so much to me, but I know how much it means to all the alumni base, to the season ticket holders, to our friends in the community, Beaver Nation and all it encompasses. Seeing how much fans care about the players, I think we're at a great time. Getting to know and interview coaches as well. Pat Casey, to see him build the program, to the high stakes drama of Omaha, to have three national championships is incredible. But to be able to be around that, call those games are things I will always cherish. But getting to know Pat Casey, Wayne Tinkle, Scott Rueck...Craig Robinson was very good to me. I got to shake the President's hand at the White House, thanks to Craig Robinson. Something that never could have happened without OSU and OSU Athletics. Just to get to know and interact with fans through the years...you know, we're at the stage where there's more games on television now, and less reliance on the radio. That feeling that I had when I was 7, when very few games on TV, I have felt those strong bonds still today. That feeling that we're all in this together, as Beaver Nation, and as fans has been an integral part of my life and unimaginable without it. I consider it an honor to be involved with those coaches, players, and members of the community...to get to call the games even when they are heartbreaking losses is an honor. I feel and know how much it means.

BM: What is it like knowing your broadcasts are national?

MP: It's interesting, because a lot of the games are available on satellite radio, so I've had people texting me from overseas, in Europe, Asia. There was a group on a trip in Italy during the World Series last year in Omaha, and they contacted me to tell me that. The technology has allowed people to tune in from all over. There are times when I have cringed a little bit, when I hear the homerism of calls when I'm going crazy for the Beavers. Sometimes on ESPN I have been mocked a little by me going crazy on the call. I've thought that there are some people who have considered me a joker or a homer. But I try not to worry too much about what people outside of our world think, because it's no big deal. I don't waste too much time thinking, 'how would a national audience feel about this?' I feel as if my number one responsibility is to the Oregon State fan base, which is actually counter to that of my hero in the profession, Vin Scully. He was a guy that without walking into Mr. Holland's garage and listening to him do his job as well as anyone has ever done for 67 years inspired me to get into my craft. But he was very neutral. Even though he loved the Dodgers, he was very neutral. He wasn't like these other announcers, like Harry Carry, who used the phrase "we". "We need some runs." I don't say 'we' or 'us,' but I have been very passionate about the Beavers and their successes. Scully was very neutral, and his mentor explained to him, 'your audience is more than just Dodger fans.' So even though he is my idol, I did not follow him that regard. I feel like when the Beavers win, I have won also. That's just how I feel, and how Beaver Nation feels. The upset wins over USC in football in 06' and 08'...with Jazquizz Rodgers...the 99' win against Cal, the 2000 Civil War, the Sun Bowl win in 2006 when we went for two and Yvensen Bernard scored. Those are my most memorable football games, and I'm not really ashamed of it. Unless I really stumble and butcher the call, I don't worry about what others have to think about my attempts to convey the joy for the team, coaches, and fan base. I hope I can convey this joy and excitement to them. I refer to them as the Beavers and don't use "we". I do draw a line at that. I have said it once, when we won Game 2 of the College World Series last year. "We will play for the National Championship" But there was Scully precedent, one time he did the same thing, so I didn't feel as embarrassed. And that's what the fans wanna hear in that moment. I go crazily happily when it goes well, but I also feel the pain when it doesn't. Working with Jim Wilson and Bob Grimm, we generally speaking do not let the emotions out too much like other guys. But it's hard to quell the emotions in these events.

BM: Did you ever meet Vin Scully?

MP: Well, his last year in the booth, 15' or 16', my daughter had talked to Harold Reynolds of MLB Network, and Corvallis native. She was trying to arrange a meeting with Vin for my birthday. But it ended up falling through, he had so many people parading in and out of his broadcast booth to thank him and pay their respects. I knew I probably wasn't going to be high on that list. I never got to meet him in a professional context, but I did get his autograph in another context, and he was very kind. Candlestick Park, 1980, I was a student at Oregon and a couple of my buddies went down to the Dodgers-Giants game. Got there early for BP, trying to catch home run balls, and Vin had walked down to the field to interview Tommy Lasorda. I saw the route that he took going down and was keeping an eye on him, I saw him finish the interview with Lasorda and he came back into the stands at Candlestick and I went up to him. Several other people had clamored around him, even Giants fan had enough respect for him. Autographs were never big for me, so I don't even have it anymore. He was walking up the stands and I called out to him, "Mr. Scully, I grew up listening to you in Southern California, just wanna thank you for the inspiration you've been. I wanna get into the profession and I'm working towards it because of you." And he said, "Thank you, young man." So I did meet him, he introduced himself to me and signed an autograph. But it wasn't in the formal setting my daughter, Lydia, was trying to make happen. Even though it was originally approved, the Dodger front office began to scale back on the visits, as Vin was exhausted and was 88 years old. So I didn't get that chance, but the one encounter I did get was very positive.

BM: Were there ever any opposing coaches or players that you were fond of?

MP: Well, Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll were two of my favorites. Harbaugh gave me one of my best interviews ever, and it was about Mike Riley. I forgot to mention him earlier, but he is one of the best. I love Mike Riley. He was great to me, had a great relationship, and learned a lot from him. Jim had actually played for Mike in the NFL, with the Chargers. Jim was talking about Mike, and gave him credit for his knowledge of the game, even compared him to Bill Walsh. His son, Jay, became a GA for Mike one year, and I asked Jim what his thoughts about his son coaching for Mike were. He put a plug of tobacco in and said, "I'll answer that this way. As parents, you raise your kids with certain core values, and when you send them out you hope that they don't try to tear that down and create a new value system. And I know if Jay coaches with Mike Riley, he'll be a better man than he was even with the values we instilled." I really like Jim, and respected that. And Pete Carroll also, we beat him twice in 06' and 08' and he always talked about how tough it was to play at Oregon State. He won conference and National Championships and we almost beat 'em in the Fog Bowl in 04'. Pete was very complimentary to Oregon State, the fans, the players, Mike Riley.

BM: What do you do in your limited spare time?

MP: I love to run, bodysurf on a road trip, 60 years old I have some back and hip issues that have limited the running somewhat. But during basketball season, when we go on road trips, I have run every stair in those arenas. McKale being the biggest challenge, because it seats 14,000. I wasn't able to do it this year, even though we were there, but that has always been one of my favorite things to do on a road trip. I've enjoyed that, I love to read. I got an old book of H.L. Menken essays. I read fairly widely outside of sports, I enjoy novels and history. C.S. Lewis. On planes and buses it's about the only time I get to catch up and enjoy my reading. I love old movies, I believe I'm in the 98th percentile of WC Fields and Marx Brothers film knowledge. My mom made me, as a kid, watch these movies, I didn't even want to and I whined and complained, but I have loved them ever since. That set me on a life course with movies, just like Mr. Holland's garage had done for me and sports. The movie was It's a Gift, 1934 I believe, and Fields was trying to sleep on the porch and had all these terrible things happening that prevented that from happening. I was laughing, and asked my mother who he was, at an early age this did lead me to reading about them. I have seven or eight books on their films and studies of them. At a young age I was reading film criticism. At nine or ten years old. If we ever had a WC Fields trivia night, I think I could hold my own against anybody, as I loved him, and my mom made me watch. My wife and I have started watching different series: Breaking Bad, Outlander, Game of Thrones.

BM: Do you have a favorite away venue to call a game at?

MP: I like Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, the atmosphere is great. Riley used to do the interview while sitting in the stands and we would walk up to the top and enjoy the view. I love Husky Stadium in Seattle. Sunken Diamond at Stanford is a beautiful, beautiful place to watch a game. It's second to Goss to me.