And That's another Golden Gopher First Down / Dave Lee retirement

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Schnauzer

Schnauzer

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Dave Lee is retiring from WCCO at the end of this week. As a week-long buildup to his retirement there has been a lineup of special guests calling in to wish him well, and lots of memories shared from his 30+ years at the fading neighbor. One memory that was shared today was from his time as the Gopher Football PA announcer back in the Metrodome days. He recalled the darkest moment was having to give the announcement of the final score to the game that Northwestern stormed back and won on the last play.

He also talked about how he was in a meeting with the U AD and others where the agenda item was how to use the PA announcements to involve the crowd and he suggested something that was adopted and is still in use today: "And that's another Golden Gopher ____________!" He said as it was agreed upon, they involved the band because they knew it wouldn't stick if it didn't get their buy-in.

So, as I remember all the complaints about his days as the Gopher Football radio play by play guy, and also recall how the first down announcement is a polarizing discussion topic here on Gopherhole... I figured for those of you that had complaints about the first down announcement AND Lee's radio play by play - well - you have hit the lottery for one stop shopping where you can direct your frustration.
 

Always prefer the radio calls over TV when the two streams align. Doesn't happen very often but I always check.

Dave Lee was just fine.
 

Lee was fine, but Grimm is a huge upgrade. I don't begrudge Lee for anything...he was a great representative of the program and a seemingly nice guy, but he just didn't have the proper skillset to call fast-moving action in a compelling way.
 

Isn't Dave Lee the announcer for the Tommies...
All I know is he's entirely boring. I'm pretty sure he retired many years ago and just kept getting a paycheck.
 

My biggest gripe of Dave Lee is simply his lack of giving context.

even listening to a Tommie game today. You can listen to the game for 15 minutes and you don’t know who is winning or how much time is on the clock.
 



Good guy from all accounts. Not a good announcer if you want to know what's going on in the game or what the score is (though better than Gladden on sharing the score).

Time to sell your stock in Country Hearth Bread.

Go Dave Lee!!
 

Shama chimes in:

It’s farewell week for WCCO Radio’s Dave Lee who is leaving the station after 30 years to retire. Lee has spent 29 of those years hosting his popular morning show, rising early in the morning to be at the station by 3:45 a.m. Asked about retirement plans, Lee quipped, “Use the summer to sleep past three in the morning.”

Lee was the radio play-by-play voice of Gophers football for 10 years and basketball for five. He had to give up basketball sooner than he wanted because his absence from the morning show impacted listening audience and potential advertising revenues. Lee told Sports Headliners he will continue play-by-play TV for the state football and basketball tournaments, and is considering other freelance opportunities.

Lee, 67, has been named Minnesota Sportscaster of the Year six times. A North Dakota native, he has been working at some job since he was 12. “I’ve never not worked,” Lee said as he thought what retirement might be like.


Go Gophers!!
 

MGGopher said:
Lee was fine, but Grimm is a huge upgrade. I don't begrudge Lee for anything...he was a great representative of the program and a seemingly nice guy, but he just didn't have the proper skillset to call fast-moving action in a compelling way.
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Part of the problem for Lee was he came after the GOAT Ray Christensen, so no matter what he did it was going to seem like a massive downgrade.

Agree that Grimm is an upgrade over Lee but I wasn't nearly as offended by Dave's calls as some on here seem to have been over the years.
 





Spaulding!No! said:
D Lee did almost zero prep for gopher football games and it showed. Not professional.
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You are completely wrong. He had zero support from his station like spotters and game day support. Dave did what he could with contact with the staff during the week and the night before games.
 

Watched a telecast once where the lines from the spotters were down for a few minutes. Not pretty...
 





BleedGopher said:
Good guy from all accounts. Not a good announcer if you want to know what's going on in the game or what the score is (though better than Gladden on sharing the score).

Time to sell your stock in Country Hearth Bread.

Go Dave Lee!!
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I am not sure Gladden ever knows the score or number of outs, no chance he would reveal it to listeners if he did know.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
D Lee did almost zero prep for gopher football games and it showed. Not professional.
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My thoughts exactly, it always showed through in the radio broadcast how little time he spent preparing off the game notes, or how dull his radio calls were.
 



I will fully admit that part of my dislike for Lee's calling of a game stemmed from that he was Ray's replacement. Ray was a part of my childhood; driving to football or hockey games & hearing Ray call the action while riding in my dad's big blue Oldsmobile, whether it be football or basketball. Such a part of my life & a huge part in me becoming a Gopher fan.

I always said that he was great at announcing public & parochial school closings & 2 hour delays.....but football was just not there, regardless of how good of a guy he was. My favorite was in 2008 when the Gophers were playing Indiana.....Weber under pressure escaped the pocket, rolled out & hit Tow-Arnett with a pass that put the Gophers down inside the 10 Remarkable play. Lee's call: "Weber to pass, rolls right, he's got a man."

That he won MN sportscaster of the year 6 times shows even more about the field. And for the record, I don't hate all announcers. I'm very happy with Grimm.....I hope Cory Provus calls Twins games on the radio until he dies....the 1 or 2 T-Wolves games that I watch a year, I seem to enjoy what they do.
 



Grimm is okay, but he would take a big step forward if he would quit whining about the referees.
 



Spaulding!No! said:
Football on the radio is a crafted art and when done well, is a thing of beauty. ‘Moving left to right on yer dial’. Lee was bad from day one.
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Yep. And I generally like him, and he seems like a super great human being. But he was just bad as a play by play guy.

One of the best things to happen to Gopher football in recent years was the move to KFAN. Everything about the presentation is just so much more professional.
 

I thought Lee basically did a lousy job as Gopher football broadcaster. Seemed like he paid more attention to the sponsor crap and peddling stuff than he did to what was actually happening in the game. Still, nobody was as bad as Steve Cannon was trying to do Gopher hockey. Often it would be, "And number 12 goes into the corner," or "What a great check by number 3."
 

MNVCGUY said:
Part of the problem for Lee was he came after the GOAT Ray Christensen, so no matter what he did it was going to seem like a massive downgrade.

Agree that Grimm is an upgrade over Lee but I wasn't nearly as offended by Dave's calls as some on here seem to have been over the years.
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No doubt, following Ray was a tough act.
 

Schnauzer said:
Dave Lee is retiring from WCCO at the end of this week. As a week-long buildup to his retirement there has been a lineup of special guests calling in to wish him well, and lots of memories shared from his 30+ years at the fading neighbor. One memory that was shared today was from his time as the Gopher Football PA announcer back in the Metrodome days. He recalled the darkest moment was having to give the announcement of the final score to the game that Northwestern stormed back and won on the last play.

He also talked about how he was in a meeting with the U AD and others where the agenda item was how to use the PA announcements to involve the crowd and he suggested something that was adopted and is still in use today: "And that's another Golden Gopher ____________!" He said as it was agreed upon, they involved the band because they knew it wouldn't stick if it didn't get their buy-in.

So, as I remember all the complaints about his days as the Gopher Football radio play by play guy, and also recall how the first down announcement is a polarizing discussion topic here on Gopherhole... I figured for those of you that had complaints about the first down announcement AND Lee's radio play by play - well - you have hit the lottery for one stop shopping where you can direct your frustration.
Click to expand...
I KNEW IT. That incompetent cornball Lee would come up w/ something as stupid and aggravating as the "another first down" crap. Can you image Alabama doing that?
 


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