Michael Burles on remembering Bill Walton, PA announcing, Blazers’ draft
[Applause] [Music] yo what’s up you have found we like the Blazers I am Michael burls and with me as always is Brandon goldner hello and Ryan Whit what up let’s go uh Michael hey audience you may be wondering wait a minute that wasn’t Brandon’s voice it’s because we have Michael burls here with us you might know him as berous M on Twitter he’s also just a standup dude and like just a nice person also is the PA announcer for your Portland Winter Hawks Michael what’s up how are you thank you for being here I am good thanks for having me on the show this is great how did it feel doing that intro for such an illustrious podcast such as ours it felt like a huge honor um and I realized as I was doing it that I after listening to your podcast many times I was actually going to ask you when you cuz you do your big intro I was like oh my gosh does Brandon do intros for people who do [Music] intros before a game like I introduce all the players but like can someone introduce me I don’t know if they’d be okay with that but they’re always just so enthusiastic and um and very you know they’re very good thanks see this is what happens Brandon you scare one child while they’re sleeping we have to bring in professionals I heard Michael let don’t know if you heard that story about Rose’s daughter yeah anyway um shout out to Audra so I kind of wanted to get things started off we had an agenda and then you know news broke the other day of um the great Bill Walton and and his passing and so I kind of wanted to start off there unless you guys got any uh got any qualms about that um I have a rather interesting Bill Walton direct story and adjacent story so back when I was podcasting with uh the Blazer Tag where I got my start I don’t remember how it happened but I got put in contact with a gentleman named James Kirkland uh Jamie Kirkland people may know him from Twitter but uh he is an actor he has acting credits on um new girl uh he has acting credits I believe he was a background actor once in One Tree Hill when he was very much getting started uh he has been the star of at least three different Super Bowl commercials that I know of but he also wrote a very Niche the Bill Walton Mysteries and that is how I got put in touch with him and the entire premise of those books is that because Bill Walton and Dave Pash they when they would go and call the Pack 12 tournament games the behind this is that they get dug into these or they get drugged into these Mysteries and basically have to play like buddy cop detective with Dave Pash being the straight laced guy and Bill Walton obviously being the the humorous one and he has two books uh it was originally supposed to be a three book series I will talk about what happened with the third book but the first one is uh Walt mystery Friend of the Devil and then the other one is when they were doing the Pack 12 tournament in Hawaii uh Fire on the Mountain and so I had met James and I had interviewed him for a podcast and him and I had struck up friendship and after his second book came out um I remember talking to him and he’s like the best thing that could ever happen for me is if I could get Bill Walton to autograph one of my books and so I don’t know if everybody remembers the uh the very famous Bill Walton bike shorts uh from when the Portland Trailblazers introduced their Oregon City Edition jerseys he was up on a stage in some very tight bike shorts that left nothing to the imagination and I I ended up finding my way to that event and through talking toey and Jamie Hudson And I think Jason quick I kind of like I know these people I know these people I know these people my way up on stage to where I was standing up there talking to Bill Walton and I was like hey I happened to just about yeah it was very awkward and he was standing there like hands on his hips with me for of that but uh but yeah I was like hey I happen to know the author of this book series um and I was just wondering and he goes oh the Bill Walton Mysteries and starts going on Just a Bill Walton esque tangent about like how he’s read a third of the first book and the last half of the second book and just giving his thoughts on it and I was like I’m just looking for like if you could he’s like well I got a couple things I got to do I gotta I got some photo ops he’s like but I hear down the street there’s some great kombucha he’s like if you want to bring the books down there and I was just like did Bill Walton just invite me out for drinks whoa and and so I was like yeah sure and I just kind of hung around back in stage and I was like there’s no way he’s like he’s going to get whisked away by handlers or whatever but sure should about like 30 minutes later he comes over Wheeling his bike up to me he’s like let’s go grab a drink and so I got him to sign both copies of James’s book and I told James I was like Hey are next time you’re in town because again he’s an actor in La I was like next time you’re in town visiting your parents let me know I have a gift for you and a couple months later he came back up in town and I was like Hey here are book one and book two of your series both signed to you personalized by Bill Walton and he just started breaking down crying right then and there so the books that I’m currently holding right now our first editions that he got me that are autographed by him but I traded him the Bill Walton autograph books of his own the Bill Walton mysteries for him after Bill was like hey let’s go grab a drink at this bar right over here couple years ago and that is also where I got my Bill Walton autographed basketball and I think at an event many many years ago so this would have been 14 years ago that is the first professional basketball player that my kids have ever met I believe I have a photo of me with my six-month-old son and my 20-month old daughter standing next to Bill Walton all looking just incredibly young and stupid and dumb but yes those are that those are my Bill Walton stories those are my Bill Walton memories I still cannot believe that I was just some random guy that found his way up on stage and said please autograph my book and he’s like let’s go grab a drink yeah well he must I don’t I’m not sure either one of us can top a story like that I feel like you’ve set the bar too high for this conversation uh you guys told me I get to go first I asked this before to the audience he is correct I did make that mistake uh I’m curious Michael like what is your connection with Bill Walton I mean I know that like I’m not gonna guess anybody’s age but like I’m assuming you know that Bill Walton played in an era probably before we were super keyed into basketball at any rate but I’m just curious like what your connection if any was to uh the L 10 well I remember so I was four when we won the championship and um I don’t remember like the game but I remember the idea of us winning and it was very exciting um but my remember the first time actually seeing Bill walon playing was for the San Diego Clippers against our Blazer and forgotten era yes I remember like you know his name and everything so I’m like wait I’m like what I’m like pointing at him like what’s going on and um I think my dad had to explain to me what year about that was um might have been uh 79 or he was 79 through 81 I believe so just a couple years so um it also was sort of this is a ridiculous story but we had an old Atari like with pong on it and so um I was watching the game but I was a little kid so I got distracted so then I start playing um Atari Pong against the computer and I in my mind am the Blazers and then the other computer pong pattle is the San Diego Clippers and so brother and my dad are watching the game you know being fans and I’m playing this pong game and like when I score I’d be like yes Blazer score my brother would be like no they didn’t and I was like and um I just yeah that so that’s that’s like my first memory of actually seeing Bill wal and playing against Portland but um just so much of like all the story I was up to like three in the morning reading everyone because I couldn’t read them during the day yesterday just reading so many so many uh tributes and and experiences people had with him and uh he’s just so funny but also Al just so I was just thinking about it is there anyone who was welcome to be so verbose and like he did it in such a positive way like he’s not like ripping on people and he’s not like sometimes you have criticisms like he have some funny cracks on Danny a here and there but um but like he’s just he can just go on and on and on and like his co-hosts are just like you can see him when when you see the video of like they’re just laughing or trying to hold back a smile and um he just seem so amazingly well- loved and just he had such a passion for everything he described it was just incredible he he definitely leads uh all basketball commentators and broadcasters in conversations about volcanoes had during the middle of a basketball game one of the most important geologic features to life here on Earth in fact the volcano um well I you know to be really honest I don’t have that much of a connection with Bill Walton as either a person in Ryan’s case or a fan in Michael’s case like he was an era before my fandom started which was during the Drexler Porter Duckworth era of basketball in the early 90s but what I will say a couple quick thoughts one you know I don’t know how you want to quantify greatest of all time but it is true that he is the only Blazer to win Finals MVP the only Blazer to win regular season MVP and even though his career in Portland was cut short by injury and was you know made Complicated by him suing the team Doctor Who he previously had a good relationship with and basically blaming Portland for um you know mismanaging his injuries he took Portland further than any one person ever has and for a franchise that is sorry to say it somewhat like you know depleted in its claims to success I do think that there’s a credible case to be made that he’s the greatest Blazer of all time and I get the argument against you know I’ve been on the record as saying I think that person could potentially be Dame it could be clad Drexler but he got the team to a place no one else did so I respect that and the second thing I want go yeah I I was gonna say I hate to cut you off here that’s a lie I love to um I was gonna say think I think the better cutting off summation of it is not greatest Blazer of all time but like the most the most encapsulating of Portland player like of all time like I mean he was a guy who biked to games and was doing all like the quote unquote hippie Portland things that you see everybody doing now like he did all that kind of stuff in the background as the super as one of the superstars of the team like if you want to talk about a player that maybe encapsulates the the culture of the city um of the team that they play for more I think Bill Walton has that hands down I think that’s fair yeah I think that’s really fair um yeah I mean there’s so many anecdotes that you could share but the the other one I wanted to share and then I’ll get off my soap box and where I feel felt feel a personal connection with him is as someone who growing up had a a stutter a speech impediment uh as I found out in the pre-recording it actually sounds like all three of us dealt with some version of a speech impediment we when we were younger so we understand but like for me being something I was actively bullied for including from my brothers and something that kind of led into my fear of public speaking uh you know that’s like a very real thing and it affects your personality it affects how you navigate through the world it affects your social life and for him to be someone who then made a career out of using his voice and his ability to enunciate his ability to see what was happening and paint a picture for you using his voice is really inspiring and for me honestly sometimes I sit here and I know our podcast is not the largest podcast I understand that but I have a lot I have a lot of fun doing it but just that I am someone using my voice to do this is sometimes like wow that’s like seven-year-old me wouldn’t would have not believed it and I think that’s really neat and like actually to you Michael like I’m curious like if to the extent that you’re comfortable sharing like you know you said again in the in the in the pre-recording that you also dealt with a speech impediment and here you are as a professional right like I’m an amateur podcaster you’re a professional using your voice for for work that you do like how like how was that is that is that something you ever steep back be like whoa that’s crazy I can’t believe that I’m there now I really luckily uh I don’t know I I don’t even remember who like their name but um I had a speech therapist in second grade and I had a pretty bad stutter and I don’t know what they had me I it’s like a blank now that you you asked me because like I don’t remember how they got me through it um and then I was able to get past it at a at a fairly young age um which I’m I’m I’m grateful for it was uh but I’m so grateful for that person um at that that age of my life to be able to whether it was like a nerves thing or just being too excitable or something I don’t know why sometimes though it’ll still come back you know like I’ll start to say something then I’ll like trip on it over and over and over again and and thankfully it hasn’t happened at a winter Rock game yet but uh it may and if it does I just got to pause and then go again you know because you know when it’s live it’s just it is what it is and you can you know you only got that that one shot is all in the present you can just stop and read you know and just make sure you get the message out there to everybody totally that’s I know for me like my I I can sympathize with the the being made fun of and all that for your speech impediment because as a person with the last name of Whit my speech impediment was with ch’s uh sh’s J’s and G’s I would speak out of my cheeks so you would hear a large airf flow so like even it was like mortifying to me like if I ever had to say my full name and I don’t I I like I went through speech therapy at school and they had me doing weird things where I’m like talking out of straws to like try to fix the breathing or whatever the muscles in my mouth to retrain them and I went through that I I want to say I didn’t get it corrected until about like halfway through seventh grade and there are still times where and I can sympathize with the it’ll still happen where it’s like I find myself if I talk really quickly it’ll come back and like I got to catch myself on that kind of stuff so it’s and and every time it does like I know it’s one of those things where it’s like I notice it in my head a hell of a lot more than anybody else that’s listening me notices but I am always so paranoid about like my gosh I just did this did they catch that did they like hopefully they didn’t notice this right well it’s interesting too to like think about how we make so actually first of all like does anyone else have any additional thoughts on Bill Walton inter Michael’s Point there’s so much good work out there to read yeah go ahead I have one thing I just wanted to share um you guys might be familiar with this but have you can you have you looked at his line from the game six where we won the finals lately I know I have at some point in time in my life but I cannot say that I’ve done it recently in which I could recite anything well that would be amazing if that were the case but um uh I was just glancing through it and first of all you know we we were down 02 and we came back to win it with four straight but so Bill Walton had 20 points eight blocks seven assists 23 boards three being offensive going eight for 15 from the field in 42 minutes but like that is just massive nearly a quadruple double uh just him doing everything to Will that team to Victory that’s amazing in modern day NBA terms that would lead ESPN and Sports Center if yokich did that for like a week and a half straight yeah if if anyone hasn’t done this yet because I didn’t do this until a couple years ago go back and look at Bill Walton Clips he is such an interesting player such a unique player and his ability for example to like not just rebound but as he’s coming down with the ball to then pivot and like look down court and these like crosscourt passes was such a huge part of how the Blazers played um and influenced them later coaches influenced Rick Adelman influenced Terry stots like that a lot of that was coming from Bill Walton and just like such an incredible passer and just just a really really unique player one more thing particularly you should look at and it’s like you know thinking about peoples whose careers in basketball were cut short due to injury um I think it was the the 86 season with the Celtics where he won Sixth Man of the Year and the Celtics won the title that year some of the clips of him playing with Larry Bird and this is now Bill Walton you know older so many injuries thought his career was over a story famous about the Celtics red arbach had to like overrule the Doctor Who basically was saying this dude cannot be medically cleared to play and red arbach turns to Bill Walton like can you play he’s like yeah coach I can play he’s like I will [ __ ] clear him something like that to watch him play in that diminished physical state with someone like Larry Bird was mindblowing and like the connection that he had with Larry Bird and how much respect bird had for Walton as someone who’s a little bit older than bird and so that was someone who bird actually looked up to um during Walton’s playing days in UCLA and then with the Blazers but like just such an interesting career just basketball let alone the man Bill Walton yeah I don’t know go to YouTube look it up kids when I was first explained Bill Walton because as somebody born in ‘ 86 I you know didn’t see a lot of his stuff live I had to appreciate him through the the followup and the lore and things that I learned after the fact but when I was first getting into basketball uh the way it was described to me is that Bill Walton was the original arvita sabonis MH that’s kind of like how he played through his career and like you know arvas when his time in Portland I mean it was injury riddled like he had already gone through his Prime and you know for as great as he was we saw him what he was but yeah uh Walton like after after that Championship run that it was just his body was so run down and and whatnot so it is it is weird to think in terms of like the Blazers lore like we always talk about like the Brandon Roy like when will Brandon Roy be welcomed back into to all this but to think about the fact that bill Walton literally sued the team like lost suits all of that stuff and yet I told a story to open up this podcast about him standing on stage for a jersey announcement in which he biked down to it like that that kind of stuff is just fascinating to me yeah and to again to Michael’s point about all the good work that is coming out and some of it is just stuff that’s being shared that has been done before but this article from Jason Qui in the athletic that ran yesterday that I think was an update of an article he or or some number of Articles he had already written about but it’s about Walton’s return to Portland in 2009 and the quote from Walton about you know I’m here to try to make amends for the mistakes and errors of the past I regret that I wasn’t a better person I regret that I got hurt I regret the circumstances in which I left the Portland Trailblazers I wish I could do things over but just like this guy like and I mean honestly like if you’re like a franchise level player you’re an MVP and you feel as though your injury has been mismanaged by the team who wants you to play because you’re really really good can we really blame him for feeling a certain way about how his injury was managed and again like we don’t know the details we’re never going to really know all the details and it was the 70s and times were different but like I just I mean I don’t know just interesting person that sentence makes me sad that he felt the need I if it is a full direct quote I haven’t read this piece from from quick but if it is a full direct quote of the you know I I apologize for being hurt like that did that’s hard that that that hits on the heartstrings yeah he he had another quote about that I don’t have it in front of me but he talked about he just wishes he could play more and the more he tried to play more minutes and the next team could have been even better and like he was grinding his bones into dust in his feet and it just it’s it is heartbreaking um but one thing going back to your point about how like he has that tricky relationship with the team from suing them but also he was so he’s just so engaging and and like able to connect with all the fans I think that is that makes a lot of sense for him because from everything you hear he just he loves people he loves connecting with people he has tons of friends like living in his house and like he’ll he’ll just help people whenever he can but also as an activist like he also will stand up for what is right and and he he must have believed they really messed with him from a from medical perspective doesn’t surprise me at all then that he were was to sue them because he wants he wanted the right thing to take place which was for them to you know um make that right well in his activist standpoint he he probably wasn’t and I don’t mean to like speak for him I’m I’m only making my my best guesstimation here but like it it’s one of those things where I need to stand up for what I feel was a wrong for me so that it’s not a wrong for all the players that follow me it’s a good point and yeah I mean he was arrested in 197 protesting the Vietnam War and I mean one more quote from him and I’m cheating because I do have the article up but again from Jason Quick’s article um Walton says protesting is what gets things done the drive for positive change requires action the forces of evil don’t just change their ways and he’s right things don’t just magically change and like Walton was willing to put his body on the line to do that uh you know in protests of the war um and then like as a player clearly played beyond the limits of his body and wanted to win and so I mean even just like seeing some retrospectives about his title with the Celtics is just I mean how cathartic must that have felt to come back win Sixth Man of the Year someone who used to be an MVP now can barely even move playing with one of the greatest ever in Larry Bird winning a title there really cool stuff so like yeah um you know rest best quote tweets I think one of the best quote tweets I think I saw of the photo of him getting arrested was it was him standing by the bus and you can’t tell that he has the cuffs on his hands but there’s a guy that’s easily 2 feet shorter than him standing next to him where the cops are literally putting the cuffs on him at the time and and the the caption from the news article was like when Bill Walton was arrested and somebody just quot tweeted and said well who’s the tall guy cuz you couldn’t see Bill Walton being the actual one being arrested just a very short curly haired man next to him oh that’s funny Larry Bird though had to be that was that there had never been two big men that were that good at passing that good at playmaking on the same team up until that point I’m pretty sure totally and like and again like come on jenz go back and learn about your basketball Elders watch the footage of Walton and bird and some of the passes they’re making to each other with other I mean it’s just it’s Sublime and you do like you just with all of these players who get hurt too you wonder what could have been had he stayed healthy right like I mean and about the Blazers I mean God we could talk about this this could be the whole episode down that rabbit hole don’t do it just to say I’m going to do it because he won regular season MVP the year after they won the title A team that was arguably better than the year before they were on track to be the best team in the NBA they probably would have repeated I mean nothing’s guaranteed right and like his injury proves that but it’s just it’s just unreal like you know such a cool like uh just an interesting archetyp archetype for a basketball player um you know a good human being and just an interesting guy um anything else on bill before we I know two of us have little glasses of various drinks that so we’ll just uh you know moment silence raise a glass for Walton oh there we go all three that’s to you Bill I I thank you Bill Michael so I want to hear just just that mug right there can you just hold it back up to the camera um what oh yeah okay 8990 yeah that’s the stuff that’s the stuff that’s basically that’s the season that I got invested oh heck yeah finals roster look at that that’s the season you got invested that’s the season ier yeah man I remember potty trained That season I was three listen you don’t have to point out that you’re younger than me all right um no yeah it’s uh I I I distinctly remember my dad uh whose shirt I’m wearing today I don’t know like I just I’m pulling stuff out of the closet um but uh him watching the game and me being like oh what’s that like is like a five-year-old and that that’s how I got hooked bouncy ball balls bouncing around um all right Michael uh first of all well not first of all I guess we’ve talked for a bit but again thank you for joining us I want to ask you some questions about you because okay uh I am really really really interested in I mean you don’t have to give your your life story but like being the PA announcer for the Portland Winterhawks and like um you know something that requires a you know a technical ability that that very very few people have the ability to not only see stuff and process what’s happening and then to be able to share it in a way that like resonates with people literally resonates throughout an entire building in this case Memorial colle see him where the Winterhawks play their home games um how is it that you got your start in you know using your voice to do stuff like where did that start for you was it like when you were a kid did you want to be a voice actor I me I’m just curious like where did where did this start well I was always doing skits on like cassette tapes with my friends and we play all it just be all Improv and we play like different characters and we doing different voices I never really thought to myself like um oh I want to do this this is the thing I it was just something fun that was really we’d be CRA making ourselves crack up and doing that U then I got into theater in college and then also got into music and so I was in a band uh pretty much in some version of a band from probably gez for probably the last 20 or 30 years except the last 10 I’m only in one like once or twice a year with my uncle which is awesome and really fun um as the singer of that band well we all sing so it’s a pretty large band and we all like I’ll sing his Originals I’ll sing my originals and uh he’s also like a magician on the guitar um and so he can just like yeah it’s really incredible to get to play music with him um but so I then doing my music and singing and stuff and at at times would like announce things from the stage while I’m singing at some point in jobs and and such I would end up like leading company meetings and like mcing for things and doing that this gu really good at that get him to do it yeah and and I do remember in in college remember thinking because theater is very timec consuming like if you’re going to be in a play you got to like get I mean it’s it’s a amazing process to go through but it also it might not blend that well with like trying to like also have a lot of other interests so I thought oh I want to do voiceover acting and so I started looking do it then actually the first job I ever applied for out of college was Portland Trailblazer PA announcer I didn’t get that job because the one and only Mark Mason did and so when he’s when was that 96 96 oh wow oh my gosh I sent in my tape my little tape with the demo reel there I was doing like Kenny Anderson and um I think rashed Wallace and um and they sent me a rejection letter to Michael Bur and I was like that’s not actually my name maybe maybe the real acceptance like the congratulations letter is like in the mail and some poor Michael burlers they they didn’t get it but poor Michael burlers but I’m gonna get the but um no it was obviously the the right man won that that gig as as we all know because he’s he’s so good um but yeah and then just time went by and uh I got involved in voiceover um lessons and and learning more about that and um one thing just if anyone’s interested in it it’s a ton of acting so a lot of you got to keep your acting shops chops High even if you’re reading like an ad for something you’re you’re speaking to an audience you’re trying to sell that product and um and people can have really amazing voices but if they can’t communicate if they can’t if they can’t share like a create a shared experience with the listener um it’s just going to kind of fall flat and you probably hear those on the radio sometimes how do you take me into process of that specifically a little bit how is it that you connect with the listeners when you are doing something like an adre what is it that’s going through your mind like how are you putting yourself in a place that you’re like yes like what’s going to come out I know that my head’s in the right space to to like do something that’s going to connect with people in some meaningful way the key is to figure out who the audience really is and then you are speaking directly to to that audience and so for some like a like a beer commercial or something you’re you’re going to be talking to a good friend of yours in a bar and just make it really casual and then for some like a medical device read uh you might be very seriously like reading these or or or sharing these benefits of this device or this medication for future patients who really need it um or if it’s more for the you know the medical side of things it might be more of a just a technical read but um one thing they really they really Hammer home and all the classes and such is just you got to have a a audience like you have to have that intention and that audience in your mind and so bringing this now to the Winterhawks like yeah how where is yeah where’s your mindset when you’re doing that like like how like and also like I sorry I’m stacking questions but like this isn’t like 30 seconds I mean you are there you’re locked in for the whole game and like I imagine it takes some amount of like discipline but like yeah how are you putting yourself in that mindset to to do what you need to do to do your job well in that oh it’s just so fun and exciting to be there it’s pretty easy to get into that mindset um yeah it’s so yeah we’re there doors open an hour before puck drop an hour and a half before puck drop in some cases in the playoffs and Reed started about 15 minutes after that but we’re there way before that for the the pregame meetings to go over everything that’s happening all the events and all those sorts of things just cuz we’re we’re there’s a whole game Ops Team I’m just one small small piece of it and so um it’s yeah it’s like it’s a couple hours before the game and then um afterwards of course staying for all the postgame reads and three stars of the game and stuff like that so it is you’re you’re really focused when you’re when you’re there for the game um in any of these capacities but it is just such a blast the thing the things I try to do I guess it is kind of an intention I I came up with this almost immediately and it it really felt true to me and I’ve kept it going is I want the players to feel like rock stars I want our guys to feel just you know loved and to get the you know I want them to to hear just the the best Renditions of their celebrations when it’s goals and things like that I want I want to make them feel awesome I want our fans to enjoy a really great show and I want the opposing players to feel respected so well I’m not going to like give them a humongous celebratory read when they score I am going to make sure I pronounce her name right I am going to make sure that I you know I I go through and um I because this is this is somebody who’s like playing at the highest level at his age in hockey and deserves to have a really you know like he deserves to have his his name pronounced correctly he’s spent his whole life being going playing hockey like in all over the place getting driven around by his parents um I want them to feel respected and and um and have that good experience when they’re here in Portland yeah all right so like we’re talking about you know intention setting and preparation and you know thinking about who is it that you’re speaking to and what you want people to feel but there’s another part of your job which is the technical ability to say words in certain ways now I want to share something really quick and then ask you a question and then I know Ryan I’ve been taking a lot of airspace so I’ll step aside after this question but um you know Cassie and I my wife and I have been taking singing lessons for the first time together which has been incredible and I’ve been learning so much about how your posture your breathing the openness of your mouth where your tongue is and your cheeks and the difference between an an a and an e and like how you pronounce different words and um how much stress or or stress that you’re not feeling as you’re producing sounds um plays into singing effectively and the same thing I just started taking sax lessons and a lot of that stuff applies there too wow is there anything you’re not currently taking a class for you’re woodworking you’re singing is there salsa some Fox some Fox Trot or anything in here twep there’s no dancing um yeah we we’re we’re yeah it’s been a really interesting time for us and very very cool we’re we’re Super Lucky um but I wanted to ask you Michael because your job requires a certain amount of like um stamina V local stamina and I imagine that that requires preparation for the technical ability to produce sound so can you walk us through what is it that you do on the regular to make sure that when the puck drops that your voice is ready to perform I mean you got the mindset you know who you’re talking to what you want people to feel what do you do to prepare your voice to be able to do what you do well it’s really important I come in doing some kind of warm-up so like I might just be singing something like mellow in the car just doing like scales you know like M was going through there I will after I warm up I’ll actually start just doing my actual reads of the intros like the players coming in the most uh probably taxing read is the welcome to the ice your Portland Winter Hawks and uh that will only really happens one time so doing that into the whole player intros that’s where like you just really want to set the tone with the excitement and get everything really rocking um and then yeah but there are times there are times even like near the end of the game there’s like a lot of reads in a row and a lot of stuff is happening there might be a huge brawl so there’s a lot of penalties and then goals after that and then three stars I realized like wow my vocal cords they’re getting a little tired I I’m not going to go up here on this read I’m going to do it all down here because I feel it I’m like I I it’s probably better just to like not not go where it you know is feeling a little bit tired um and to be honest like I I am always trying I’m thinking it actually might be a good idea to add a little bit to my warm-ups and my vocal strengthening work so I’m actually going to be doing some research myself on more to do uh to to help with that athletes they’re just not on the ice they’re behind a mic true no I mean it’s yeah I mean like again as an amateur uh I definitely feel it too if I have been singing for too long or if I’m straining myself yeah it can be it can be rough I am forgetting like one of the more fun things though um one thing you also have to do though because Beyond just the the volume and the tone and everything is you have to be able to pronounce all these things that often times you’re reading for the first time and you got to get right through it during the break during the timeout so from various acting classes over the years uh I’ve just sort of kept a collection of tongue twisters that are really good to be able to just kind of work on and get them going oh every time I hear people like do any of those I’m always like nope nope I would NE nope that’s why my acting career that I never tried to start that’s why it failed okay I was wondering though if either you’d want to I I’ll read I’ll list one off and then uh maybe we can why not yeah I’ll Jo I’ll I’ll play our reindeer games okay the first one normally is a I we got to remember it exactly which wrist watches are Swiss wrist watches um which wrist watches are Swiss wrist watches which wrist watches are Swiss wi B no see there we go see I’m I’m out find a new podcast host Brandon I’m out I can’t do it that was pretty good Ryan I give you full credit especially for trying and also you’re being put exactly on the spot so it’s it’s and I’ve done this hundreds of times um so let’s see this one’s kind of a three-parter um you know New York you need New York you know you need unique New York you know you New York you need New York you know you need unique New York whoa all right you know New York you need New York you know you need unique Youk no that’s pretty good though yeah pretty good for some reason it’s like the last two words of all these I’m just like nope my brain my brain’s done I’ve been I’ve made those exact same like those exact same different sounds you make a said I’ve done that exact same thing like various times trying to do it like um so one more kind of standard one and then a surprise one that I encountered during a game which is kind of funny but this one’s weird cuz these two words are incredibly simple and they don’t seem like they’d throw you but if you were to say toy and boats in Rapid ass session three times toy boats toy boats toy boats toy boats it’s harder than it seems toy boats toy boats Toof you just kind of slip you like slip off the ice confidence toy boats toy boats toy boats toy boats there it is nice Ryan let’s go I got one I got one all right so oh go ahead sorry I was sometimes they hit you by surprise so in game two of the first round against Victoria and there was there’s a penalty and so I get all the stuff from the office officials and it’s all come in in the headset and then there’s a there’s a way that you know you just read all the penalties and and score and goals and things like there’s a there’s a standard way to do that and so I get all the the different pieces of information to do it and so the read goes uh Victoria penalty at 237 in the second period on number 22 taten trenck 2 minutes for tripping and I’m like after I do I’m like oh God cuz then you got to reverse it that’s two minutes for tripping on number 22 taten Tren Becky at 237 in the second period and just everything and then everyone on the headsets as soon as I get through it once I hear people go oh God what is I would be so scared to do that that’s the thing where I would get lost and like I I just know this from my dayto day like for me I have my headphones in all day I’m I’m a commercial construction for so like people try to or I have to talk to people all day but I I listen to podcasts and audiobooks I can’t do music at work anymore I’ve I’ve long ago decided that I can’t get through my workday in three and a half minute increments of songs so it’s there’s nothing better than like hey I’ve just like killed like four chapters in a book and I’m most of the way through my workday just listening to stuff but so when people talk to I could never do the whole I have somebody in my ear while I’m trying to say something else and they’re feeding me information it is is really a challenge at times um but it has to take place that way cuz there might be a change to the like second half of the read while I’m reading it and so I’ll be going God when they come in really calmly like now Michael this is GNA actually be this not this and I’ll be so my eyes are reading what I’m reading or I’m still reading what I just read and then I’m glancing down and then I can’t I can’t confirm that I heard them because I’m I’m in the middle of a read but it works it it works and uh it is um yeah it it’s just it sometimes so when it is a challenge is when we’re all having a conversation about something that’s kind of funny and then I gotta go on and do a read and everyone else keeps the conversation going they’re like I’ll be like doing what’s supposed to be just like a regular you know announcement of something or or welcoming everyone and then someone might say something and I might almost like burst out laughing and so like I’ll be doing my best like it just adds some joy to my read a little bit but I can’t just full on bur out laughing that would be bad yeah so on all this do you have like a in all your time of doing this a a a call or a moment in a game in which you were you know describing everything that’s going on but basically like a favorite call or most memorable call yeah I would say definitely and it’s just such a unique uh thing to have happened so we had three 20-year-olds on the team this year who had been with the Winterhawks for their whole wh careers uh they came up from the developmental leagues and all came on as as I believe 15y olds to the Hawks and so they’re you know racking up career stats their whole time and so as far as Milestones go we knew that Gabe Clon was approaching his 200th Career Point and James Stefon was approaching his 100th career goal which are both giant Milestones to achieve and they achieved those goals on the same goal G assisted James on his 100th goal so that that that assist was Gage 200th point and so not only like I would have all the potential Milestones like ready like so I knew what was maybe about to happen or or maybe this goal this person needs four goals to reach this Milestone it’s probably unlikely but in this case they were like gonna they could have happened one at a time or whatever but having them happen right at once and I turned and look down game Ops row and Katie the director who’s awesome she just kind of looks at me and I was like here we go and so I the goal read but also then had to share the Milestone and my favorite part about it is the players are down they celebrating and then the fans hear that and they just go nuts for the players and that was just really special um so yeah that was definitely the most memorable read that is amazing uh I have one very quirky question and is it uh do do all only one quirky question Ryan really well it’s the quirkiest one I can think of and it justes back to my love of 1080 the fan and I just want to know if you have ever had a conversation with Jason sagard who of um I’m I’m not he is the voice of the Hillsboro Hops well sorry he is the game game Ops announcer of the Hillsboro Hops and he is one of the people that I think besides hearing your voice um I think has the most unique announcers voice and I this just makes me want to know is there an announcer Olympics is is there a your position Olympics where there there’s some sort of like get together and everybody sees if they can have a best call and if not how can I put one together between like you Jason sagard and Mark Mason we gotta get Kevin flinking there as well from Thor Thorn stimers ah true true true and how far south do we want to go do we want to get uh do we do we want to get uh Coralis do we want to get the beavers in on this or my Oregon Ducks I mean those are some very you know well storied and qualified PA announcers as well so um Prett awesome goldner I think we need to look into this I think we need I think we need like oics the person who comes up with the good idea no person who comes up with a good idea has to execute the good idea so I can’t wait for you Ryan singularly Alone by yourself to organize all of this I’m sure you’ll have no problem doing it Mr goldner I have told you numerous times the amount of things and connections that I have been able to make over my 10 years behind a mic I could probably get this thing set up in like a year just if if I have to find the time in my regularly regular day but I can do it and to be fair I me there are like there are like auctioneers competitions and like in some parts of the Midwest there’s like husband calling competitions I don’t know if either one of you two have seen that in particular it’s like I’ve seen that and I’m very concerned it’s I need more information on what that is it’s like the housewife standing on the porch to like call the husband in off the farm it’s like who does that better oh wow yeah that’s necessary calling people in for dinner or whatever it it’s just it’s very funny um well before we break for well before we end the episode before we permanently break this I would be remiss because our podcast is called we like the Blazers and we did talk about B Walton but we need to talk just a splash of convers about the current modern day Blazers the Blazers find themselves okay listen buddy listen pal we have a weekly podcast okay we have to take it seriously real quick before we get into the Blazers I just want to apologize for my uh Timberwolves and five take I never said that delete the audio oh ouch you weren’t alone you weren’t alone I had I had huge expectations of there for them my aoo has turned into an aoo um I mine’s turned into it just a slight whimper somebody stepped on myw and by the way like is it so horrible that I kind of like Luka donic like I feel like everyone horrible all of the really good at basketball he’s so good the Dallas Mavericks are the the the chick that has thought that this is going to sound so demeaning I but I have no better way to describe it but the girl who has always thought they were the hottest [ __ ] in school that then like suddenly had like a grow up or a glow up moment you talk about like the Mavericks or Luka I’m saying I like Luca personifies the Mavericks and by the way the Kyrie the Kyrie bearing like everybody hated him when he was on insufferable teams but now that he’s on a likable Mark Cuban team we’re just going to forgive no I can’t I can’t I’m out the maveri so much all right listen pal you’ve said so much go ahead brief only briefly first of all Luca donic is really good at basketball and super fun to watch I don’t care what team he’s playing for he also he he is very very good and has been since he’s he he was a teenager at performing on the highest stage isn’t that what we want as NBA fans to see players the best players performing on the brightest highest stage possible second point to KY diva is whatever I wish he wouldn’t complain to the ref as much as he does but leaving that aside second of all Kyrie aside that yeah we are gonna aside that because Running Out of Time second of all Kyrie Irving yeah he was insufferable he was annoying why because he acted like a [ __ ] and like now that he has not acted like a [ __ ] it makes more sense that people are focusing more on his basketball because he’s not being a distraction talking about this that and the other probably told him to shut the f up it doesn’t mean that he’s still for doing it so like I’m not saying that I’m not saying I’m a Kyrie Irving fan Mike sorry Michael where are you in all of this the Luca warsing in the background battles like yeah pick aside here Michael with him a brief aside is listening to your podcast for a while now like I I was thinking about today I’m like how do how am I going to fit into to like their back and forth when they’re actually going at like and I just learned I’m not you guys smile and look pretty does smile and have the best hair in background you are now the best hair on this podcast outside of you know Golder I don’t know Prett hair um I don’t know I trust everybody that looks like every great rock band lead singer that I’ve ever you guys both there I just froze for a second what did you just say I said I hair compliments I I trust anybody that looks like the lead singer of every rock band that I’ve ever loved oh my gosh well thank you um I uh I just want to say I have been really annoyed by Luca for a long time but he is just a killer like he can just like when he gets it my friend texts him he’s like oh Luka’s gonna drain this three and I was like no they’re gonna throw a lob to Lively or to or to um shoot I’m Lo I’m Don a blank on the the other Center Gafford but um then uh then he goes and he nails that three and I’m like no he traveled he moved his foot a little but then I rewatch it I’m like no he didn’t even travel he just nailed a three with gobear reaching out you know like his Big Arm coming oh man never give up on your convictions he always traveled I think KY is to Brandon’s Point Kyrie like he has he’s he’s cleaned it up like he’s it’s all basketball now and he can he does these things that I used to really be excited about when he would be doing them to beat the Golden State Warriors in the in the playoffs with LeBron and so that’s kind of nice to watch but really Dallas Mavericks come for me comes down to Derrick Jones Jr I want him to score as many points as possible get as many Steals and I just I really enjoyed his time as a Blazer shout out to airplane mode um and by the way like this is a conversation from another day I love that Derrick Jones Jr has like found himself you know he’s gonna he’s gonna be a free agent he was a minimum signing but this narrative that boy Terry STS really misused him and boy the Blazers really missed he has gotten better as a player okay he has he’s gotten better the stats show it the it test proves it he’s accepted his role like Terry St introduced him Terry STS introduced him to what he could be as a role player and I don’t think he was as as willing to accept that role as he is now and we’re seeing him flourish once he’s now come to that realization of here’s who I can be he’s also better at shooting and it turns out no matter how versatile you are on defense you need to be able to produce points as well so like again like all and listen all credit to Derrick Jones because he has put in the work and he’s earned it um okay before we break before we leave before we end before we say I know it’s weird because we’re not coming back we’re leaving after this Michael the Blazers they have several lottery picks they have several second round picks they have some decisions to make in the offseason they’re a team very firmly in a rebuild whether they keep all of their veterans or whether they trade everybody I’m just curious for you what is it that you are like not even looking forward to but maybe more of like what is your feeling about this team um and are you excited for the upcoming season and and are you are you looking forward to the draft are you looking forward to the offseason like where is your head at uh as a Blazers fan with where this team is right now well we’re in a tight spot um we tightest yeah it’s not great even the fact that we can’t even draft all our use all our draft picks without moving players off the roster like it is so tricky I like as far as the draft goes I I’m of the best player available belief but like filtering out short guards like no most of the best players available are all point guards or short guards yeah no like like a Wings siiz guard but not I don’t want any any small undersized guards who especially like are struggling on defense or potentially can’t shoot like if another pure playmaking guard would be I don’t think that would be good um but I yeah it’s just one question I was thinking like do we just want to get more like the use the the example of tuman Kamara then my thought was can you have too many tumis like is it is it like can you just make a team of them no such thing as t t tonis to many T no so that would Bey there we go another tongue twister I got so and so I just don’t like for me the draft will be super interesting because I’m just super curious what is Cronin gonna do to to make his way out of this uh he’s shown like he understands how you know like the the way you know using caps space and everything like what he’s he’s good at at you doing all that to to free up dollars for our salary cap and things in the past but now we’re at this Strange point with all these kind of contracts that are are hard like it’s going to be hard to move some of these guys for anything um that that would help us really so I’m I’m just really interested to see how it goes down um and I don’t really know I don’t have huge suggestions because I don’t know what people would accept I’m personally that uh Anthony Simons and DeAndre Aton cannot both stay on the roster come next year okay I think anth if you had okay good I that was gonna be my followup of that if you had to pick a lane which one would it be that you would stick with so you’d stick with da over over ant well from the perspective of we’re staying with Scoot and samon’s knly playing point guard he doesn’t do as well at two guard he’s not a defensive minded two guard and scoots undersized at point guard it just is it leads us to our our two guard rotation and then where Shaden sharp and all that too it just Anthony doesn’t really fit and I love Anthony I don’t want him to go anywhere um I met him actually in Minnesota I went on a I followed the Blazers around for four games back in 2018 and I met him at the hotel because everyone else went out but he wasn’t old enough to go out and so we had it for a little bit I told him how it was kind of awesome I told him how I was following the team around and then I actually [Music] [Music] impact your answer oh I don’t think Dame leaving the makeway for scoot impacts my answer um they’re so different it’s it’s kind of remarkable the the thing that gave me and I’m not coming up this completely on my own I’ve read you know a bunch of Articles and things that have been published but one thing that that came uh to mind that gave me like maybe realize scoot has a a long he has a Runway of getting better is that he can make his own shot like he gets to his and gets his shots and um he’s going to become better at making them like he’s going to improve at making shots his his three-point shooting will get better as well uh his his seeing the floor will improve as well and I think also if we put more three-point Shooters around him because he didn’t have that many for very much of the Season that will also be helpful to trying kind of open that floor for him because he he the middle is clogged so often with him out there like and his his bread and butter is getting in just driving and he still had some pretty sweet drives but um it was it wasn’t it wasn’t set up really for him to thrive and I think that he has he still has a ceiling I think much higher than what we saw this year cool yeah no I’m with you on that and mean there were there were games where he had like he had Oodles of potential assists which are passes that if the shot had gone down would have been an assist um but to your point he just didn’t have the shooters around him um anything else from either one of you two before we adjourn for today that we want to cover if if topit is there draft him trade scoot but H that’s oh that’s take for episode huge move that’s fair I mean I I will just say like I’m I’m stoked for the draft I do think Cronin needs to make some series of moves I’m interested and excited to see what they are uh Michael if people wanted to reach out to you and bother you on social media for whatever reason or do you know like reach out to you for advice in the work that you do or whatever just connect them How would how would people connect with you so you can find me in bcim uh on Twitter for uh my blazer Persona and takes and random amings about things and if you want to be up to date on what’s Happening from a Winterhawks perspective I’m on Winterhawks _ PA nice yeah cool well Michael I appreciate you uh it was really fun chatting with you here it was fun chatting with you in person and I can’t wait to do it again um but that is all we have for today I appreciate you all listening if you want to reach out to us you can always do that at we likethe blazers.com you can find me at goldner PDX you can find him at D Ryan and find Michael at berous corm that is it for now until next time appreciate you all and go Blazers go Blazers go Blazers sh [Music]
Ep. 91 – We are beyond blessed to be joined by the Portland Winterhawks PA Announcer, one Mr. Michael Burles! He loans his golden baritone to help us discuss the sudden and shocking passing of Portland Trail Blazer great Bill Walton, as well as discuss the secret sauce behind hyping up an arena full of rabid hockey fans, the Blazers’ upcoming draft, whether it’s okay to root for Luka Doncic, and more!
Find us at WeLikeTheBlazers.com, on “Twitter” at @LikeTheBlazers, and ALL podcast and streaming apps. We Like the Blazers is a proud member of the Rogue Media Network and the Blazer’s Edge Family of podcasts, which includes Trail Daddy with Dave Deckard and Rip City Roundtable with Cory Dickman.
