World Cup PA Announcer Gives Us a Look at What Goes On Behind the Scenes | Chris Buccambuso

Chris, you've announced everything from SC Dallas to World Cup to NCAA.

Was there ever a moment during this last World Cup where you just stopped and thought, I'm actually here.

I'm actually doing this.

Wow, I can't believe I'm doing this.

yeah most definitely uh so go leading up to the first game the first game is always the scariest one because it's it's just the unknown um and so getting through all the pre-game the pre-game was was was uh we'd had six rehearsals leading up to the first game so i could have done the pre-game in my sleep but once you get to the point where you're doing the hype And then you are where the director is in your ear saying, all right, PA, stand by for starting lineups in three, two, one, go.

And you're doing, you know, the Netherlands and Japan, which are not the easiest names, obviously.

There's a lot of your you have the feeling that you're standing on the edge of a cliff and it's just like, all right, here we go.

Once I got done with that and once the game started, then it's 70,000 people in the stands chanting and just there being a certain electricity in the air where I had to just take my headphones off and just look at the crowd and go, wow, here I am.

Yeah, for sure.

I am really here.

I mean, goodness.

I mean, goodness.

Like, did you have to, like, learn all those names beforehand? Like, did you, like, go, like, on a month's quest to, like, pronounce all these names? Because, like, I know, like, I couldn't pronounce those, like, right on the spot.

Yeah, if someone just gave me a roster and said, here you go, then, yeah, that would be difficult.

But with all of the rosters, I had...

I had worked on getting phonetic spellings for each of the names and then FIFA provided, uh, for me, a, uh, audio file that had someone from the team actually reading the names.

And so I was able to sort of get a muscle memory, if you will, by looking at the names and, and, um, and developing habits for it.

But you can do that for days.

But again, that moment when the director's in your ear going, all right, are you ready? Three, two, one, go.

Everything just, you know, puckers.

And, you know, all you can think is take a deep breath and here we go.

Yeah, I can't imagine that pressure.

Chris, you've announced everything from SC Dallas to World Cup to NCAA.

Was there ever a moment during this last World Cup where you just stopped and thought, I'm actually here.

I'm actually doing this.

Wow, I can't believe I'm doing this.

yeah most definitely uh so go leading up to the first game the first game is always the scariest one because it's it's just the unknown um and so getting through all the pre-game the pre-game was was was uh we'd had six rehearsals leading up to the first game so i could have done the pre-game in my sleep but once you get to the point where you're doing the hype And then you are where the director is in your ear saying, all right, PA, stand by for starting lineups in three, two, one, go.

And you're doing, you know, the Netherlands and Japan, which are not the easiest names, obviously.

There's a lot of your you have the feeling that you're standing on the edge of a cliff and it's just like, all right, here we go.

Once I got done with that and once the game started, then it's 70,000 people in the stands chanting and just there being a certain electricity in the air where I had to just take my headphones off and just look at the crowd and go, wow, here I am.

Yeah, for sure.

I am really here.

I mean, goodness.

I mean, goodness.

Like, did you have to, like, learn all those names beforehand? Like, did you, like, go, like, on a month's quest to, like, pronounce all these names? Because, like, I know, like, I couldn't pronounce those, like, right on the spot.

Yeah, if someone just gave me a roster and said, here you go, then, yeah, that would be difficult.

But with all of the rosters, I had...

I had worked on getting phonetic spellings for each of the names and then FIFA provided, uh, for me, a, uh, audio file that had someone from the team actually reading the names.

And so I was able to sort of get a muscle memory, if you will, by looking at the names and, and, um, and developing habits for it.

But you can do that for days.

But again, that moment when the director's in your ear going, all right, are you ready? Three, two, one, go.

Everything just, you know, puckers.

And, you know, all you can think is take a deep breath and here we go.

Yeah, I can't imagine that pressure.