Barch
In my career as a Bowling Green broadcaster, I had the opportunity to do two games with my good friend Andy Barch.
Barch was the voice of WBGU for several years, making every BG play sound like it was can't miss.
Without a doubt, the two games were the two best broadcasts I did. (It helped that both games were close. If I had to pick a third, it would be my football game with Aaron Rund. The only reason that evades the top two is because the score was 70 to something).
Anyway, in those two games with Andy, he and I seemed to work seemlessly, I think because we both understood the need to research an opponent.
But there are two other reasons I remember my time with Andy. In the baseball game the two of us did, there was a grounder to a BG infielder named Spencer Schmitz. I was on play-by-play and Andy was doing color. I called the grounder, and said, "Ground ball to Spencer ..."
Well, you can guess what came out.
I could hear the SID in the background.
"Did he just say... ?
I tried to hold it in, but a look at Andy completely cracked me up. Andy gave me this smile. While I tried to ignore it, the man was playing it up.
"Don't worry Zach," he said. "We all have moments like that."
This was of course on the air.
The second moment was the last broadcast I had at WBGU. As we retreated from the Anderson Arena press box for halftime of a BG women's basketball game, I realized that blood was all over my face, streaming from my nose. I got a tissue, dozens of them, and removed the crimson that was on my face.
I came back to the booth just before the start of the second half. Andy made some remark about how physical the game was, and it had "rubbed off" on me.
Barch was the voice of WBGU. His call of the BG-Northwestern game in 2001 is the call we'll all remember:
"Folks, you've just listened to one of the greatest comebacks, one of the greatest overall games, one of the greatest overall upsets, in Bowling Green history!"
Ok, maybe I should have capitalized all the letters to make it more realistic.
After he made his mark there, he moved on to BG 24 (the television station), where he also drew rave reviews.
Now, he has made it. When the local paper does a story about you Andy, you know people are taking notice.
Notice that's well-deserved.