(Excerpts) Interview with Mariners Broadcaster, Dave Sims.

Byline: Maury Brown 

The following are excerpts from the Dave Sims interview that can be seen here in its entirety on The Biz of Football (http://bizoffootball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=542:an-interview-with-westwood-one-and-mariners-broadcaster-dave-sims&catid=35:interviews&Itemid=65)

"This is what I do." -- Dave Sims

Dave Sims answers the phone on a rare off day for the veteran play-by-play man, which is only really half true. Having called the first Sunday night NFL game of the 2009 season from Lambeau Field between the Bears and Packers, he has traveled back Monday afternoon to his home away from home, an apartment in Seattle (his residency with his wife is in New York). Sims, who not only calls games nationally for Westwood One for the NFL, but also for the Seattle Mariners, is a man constantly on the move as MLB season winds down, and the NFL season kicks off. "Travel day" to Sims is an "off day."

But then it seems Sims has always been on the move when it comes to covering sports. With an off day, what is Sims doing? Kicking back having dinner while watching the Patriots and the Bills play on Monday Night Football. As the interview winds its way through, with both interviewer and interviewee watching the game while talking about sports, you truly get the sense that while Sims sees broadcasting as work, it is something that is a burning passion for the man; he loves what he does.

Sims, currently one of only four African American MLB broadcasters, grew up in Philadelphia, and eventually attended Bethany College in West Virginia. He played baseball as a catcher, while majoring in mass communications. As discussed in the following interview, Sims also has a background as a sportswriter including time with the Philadelphia Inquirer and New York Daily News, something he still leans on.

Starting in the '80s, Sims earned his stripes by doing WNBC's "SportsNight", a five-hour sports talk show well before sports talk was a staple of programming dial.

In the '90s, he went on to co-host the midday show with Ed Coleman on New York's Sports Radio 66 WFAN, followed by the weekend sports anchor spot at WCBS-TV in New York.

In 1991, Sims joined ESPN as a play-by-play announcer for college basketball, and added college football in 1998. He primarily called Big East contests on the ESPN Plus regional network. His most notable call being the George Mason-UConn regional final in 2006 where #11 seed George Mason upset top-seed Connecticut to become the second #11 seed in history to reach the Final Four.

He has since done stints with ESPN (MLB play-by-play), and internet radio (MLB.com).

The following interview delves into prepping for the NFL season; Jay Cutler's Week One wipeout, missing out on Ichiro's 200th hit, a milestone he has now done nine times -- a record; whether watching NFL games on a rare off night is work or play; his interest in left-leaning politics; how his diverse background in different sports lends itself to being influenced by the likes of Bill Campbell and Curt Gowdy; what do broadcasters do to kill time in a rain delay; how his print background serves him well in the broadcasting sphere, what sport he would choose if he could only cover one, and; much, much more.

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