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Ken LaVicka Waited For His Elite Eight Moment…Then The Internet Went Out

“It crossed my mind that, after 17 years of doing this, this is the ultimate moment and it’s not even going to happen. It was a stomach churning, awful low point feeling.”

Tyler McComas

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17.9 seconds flash across the scoreboard and ribbon boards in Madison Square Garden as FAU’s Michael Forrest headed to the free throw line with his team up a point. It’s Saturday Night in the East Regional Final with a trip to the Final Four on the line and FAU was just seconds away from doing the unthinkable. The college basketball world stood still. Things were about to stand still for Owls radio voice Ken LaVicka, too.

The first attempt from Forrest went in easily, barely even touching the rim. The second attempt was just as smooth. 17.9 seconds is left with FAU up three on Kansas State. Everyone in The Garden is on their feet as K-State brings the ball up the floor on the next possession.

Everyone, except for one person. Instead of being glued to the final seconds like everyone else in the building, LaVicka is frantically searching for an ethernet cord underneath his seat on press row. 

Full panic mode had set in for LaVicka. He’s off the air because all of the internet has gone out in his row of media seating. He’s scrambling to find a way, any way, back on the air. Amidst digging through wires from the TBS television broadcast, he hears a loud cheer from underneath the table on press row. K-State just made a layup. The score is 77-76 with 8.6 seconds left. A sinking feeling then overcomes LaVicka which he’ll never forget.

“It crossed my mind that, after 17 years of doing this, this is the ultimate moment and it’s not even going to happen,” LaVicka said. “It was a stomach churning, awful low point feeling.”

Just when that feeling was settling in, Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang called a timeout immediately after the made layup. It couldn’t have come at a better time for LaVicka. The situation allowed him to mentally reset for a second and figure out another option to get back on the air. 

“It was only 45 seconds where the game was stopped at that point, but that gave me enough time to think ‘Wait a minute, we’re in a big arena, there’s no way the second or third row of this media setup is being fed by the same internet source that this first row is’,” LaVicka said. “The problem was, as I started to grab for the ethernet cord above me on the second row behind me, there’s no way there was enough slack to reach my equipment.”

At this point, LaVicka is calling the game from his cell phone. He tried this last resort option when the problems initially began, but his in-studio producer didn’t know the phone number for the call-in line. He’s an employee at the radio station, but not during live weekday programming, more weekends and after hours. Not being able to immediately call in was the moment the full-on panic set in for LaVicka.  

But after finally getting the call-in number a few minutes later, LaVicka stood there with his phone in one hand explaining the technical difficulties and updating the game to the best of his abilities and holding the Comrex in the other hand. All the while, his headset is still on. It’s complete broadcasting chaos. 

The ethernet cord he finds on the table behind him is taped to the table. Maybe he doesn’t realize it in that instance, but if this cord also doesn’t work, there’s a high likelihood his call of FAU reaching the Final Four will be from his cell phone. 

“I’m ripping and ripping and ripping,” said LaVicka. “I finally got it loose and I have the Comrex in my arm. I turn around, plug it in, and sure enough I see the green and yellow flashing lights and there’s internet connection. It was a wave of relief and also a bit of urgency, like ‘Alright, let’s go’.

“I sort of tried, in the most professional way possible, just making up broadcast terms and saying, if we could have the main feed on the FAU Basketball Radio Network from Learfield. I don’t know what that means, I’m just making it up to make it sound as professional as possible, so I can avoid saying ‘Turn the phone down and turn me back up’!”

LaVicka was connected and back on the air. His heart was racing because he just pulled off a massive hail mary. Everything sounds good and clear, but there’s another problem. LaVicka couldn’t bring the equipment back to his spot on press row, because there wasn’t enough length on the ethernet cord. 

That’s when a teammate of his at ESPN West Palm stepped in. Along with calling games at FAU, LaVicka hosts Ken LaVicka Live from noon to 2 PM every weekday on the station. His partner on the show is Theo Dorsey, who was also at Madison Square Garden covering the game for a local TV station in West Palm Beach. 

Dorsey saw LaVicka scrambling to get back on the air and offered his assistance to help in any way he could. LaVicka just didn’t initially see any way his ESPN West Palm partner could help. That was until LaVicka found an ethernet connection that worked. This was Dorsey’s chance. When his partner needed help more than ever, he held the Comrex in place so LaVicka could walk back to his seat and call the final seconds of the game.

“I said ‘Don’t move this or wiggle the cords’, because I didn’t know how good our connection was,” said LaVicka. “He was cradling that thing like a baby.”

LaVicka got back on the air and was situated in time to call the ensuing possession after the Kansas State timeout. FAU hit another pair of free throws to go up by three with 6.9 seconds left. After KSU couldn’t get a shot off on its final possession, LaVicka gave the call he’d been waiting 17 years for.

“Florida Atlantic! Florida Atlantic is going to the Final Four! One of the most improbable stories in college basketball history has just played out in New York City! Houston you have a problem. Florida Atlantic is coming to town looking for a trophy!”

It was clear, itt was concise, it was perfect. Amidst the craziest and most stressful moment of his broadcast career, LaVicka was able to deliver the call of a lifetime just a few seconds later.

There’s something to be said for how he handled that moment. Not only his ability to get back on the air, but to compose himself enough to deliver the call that college basketball fans will never forget. Making all of that happen just might be a bigger Cinderella story than FAU reaching the Final Four. 

“As much as I didn’t want to, I went back and listened to the final four game minutes and I was off the air for a total of about three and a half minutes but missed about 12 seconds of actual game time,” said LaVicka. “It was 18 and six-tenths of a second. I will have looking at the scoreboard etched into my brain for the rest of eternity.”

LaVicka has a few people to thank for their assistance, either directly or indirectly, for his completion of a broadcasting hail mary. There’s Matt Norlander and Andy Katz, who were both sitting next to LaVicka on press row and let him try their ethernet cord, unfortunately to no success. There’s Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang who indirectly helped by taking a timeout, which allowed LaVicka to collect his thoughts and find a solution. 

There’s also his producer, who isn’t a full-time employee at the flagship, who notified LaVicka he was initially off the air. And then there’s Dorsey, who held the Comrex so his colleague could be in a position to make the best final call possible. 

“I told him that night I owe him the expensive steakhouse dinner,” laughed LaVicka. “I felt bad because the whole time he was asking what he could do to help and I’m like ‘Buddy, there’s nothing you can do’. But then he definitely came in handy and allowed me to turn around and do the call.”

It’s a moment the two will never forget and the fact they do a radio show together at ESPN West Palm is poetic. It’s a story that’s gone viral and it absolutely made the radio show on Monday when the duo was back on the air together for the first time. 

“We did the first half hour on it,” said LaVicka. 

Media requests have flooded LaVicka’s inbox since Saturday night to talk about the moment. Sure, LaVicka is proud he found a way back on the air and delivered the final call, but not so much for himself. He believes FAU and its fans deserved that moment. In fact, he feels even a little embarrassed for being such a big part of what happened in the Elite Eight. 

“I want to emphasize, I feel so unbelievably silly for being a part of this Final Four story with FAU,” LaVicka said. “I know FAU fans appreciate I’ve been there for a long time, my passion for the school and how I call games, because I like to think it’s very elite level for a school like Florida Atlantic, at least in its basketball history. Now I’ve sort of become a side story. I don’t love it because I don’t want to take away from what actually matters here.”

This story relates to so many play-by-play broadcasters, regardless of status. Just about every broadcaster, if not every single one, has dealt with in-game issues that knocked them off the air. It’s the single-most stressful thing that can happen doing play-by-play. This was far from the first time LaVicka experienced a situation like this. The only thing that makes this case unique, was because of the timing of the incident. 

“In the broadcast realm, so many can relate to what I’ve gone through before,” said LaVicka. “But this happens at UTSA, or East Tennessee State, it never happens at Madison Square Garden in the final moments of the Elite Eight. If this happened at the 12:05 mark of the first half, who cares. The fact it happened with 18 seconds left and FAU up 1, I can’t believe how terrible the timing was.”

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How to Help Your Clients with Low Website Conversions

Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

Jeff Caves

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Graphic for how to increase website conversions
Credit: WPDesigner.Biz

Are your clients dealing with low website conversions? Whenever a marketing campaign is run, and the goal is to convert website visitors into leads, the temptation is to blame low traffic, amongst other issues, for low form fills or appointments being generated.  Just spend more money, you may think! Sometimes, you must look at at least four other potential issues to tackle poor conversion rates. Here are some actionable steps using the IT services industry to increase website conversions.

IT Solutions specializes in providing products, services, or solutions related to technology, particularly in areas such as software development, hardware sales, IT consulting, cybersecurity, cloud computing, networking, and digital transformations. They faced challenges with their website conversions. Despite driving substantial traffic through Google Ads and other SEO tactics, they struggled to convert website visitors into form fills for appointment requests. A 2% to 5% conversion rate could be considered reasonable. Of course, conversion rates can vary based on various factors, such as the competitiveness of the local market, the quality of the website (and radio stations help most to fix that) and its user experience, the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and the reputation and offerings of the IT solutions business. Focusing on improving the quality of leads and providing exceptional customer service can be just as crucial as achieving high conversion rates. Don’t blame EVERYTHING on the marketing tactics! 

The Diagnosis

Upon thorough analysis, several critical issues were identified with IT Solutions’ website:

1. High Bounce Rate: Nobody was checking out the business. If 70% or more of website visitors only visit the landing page, that is an issue.  It could be slow loading times, irrelevant content, poor user experience, or unclear calls-to-action that prevent them from wanting to know more about IT Solutions. You can check the bounce rate on the Google Analytics page for the website in the left-hand sidebar, click on “Behavior” to expand the menu, then click on “Site Content,” and finally, click on “Landing Pages.” You’ll see a list of landing pages and their respective bounce rates.

2. Complex Navigation: It was hard to move around the website to find relevant information about IT services, and it was unclear who they were initiating contact with and for what purpose.

3. Unclear Calls-to-Action (CTAs): The website lacked clear and compelling CTAs guiding visitors toward requesting an appointment. Simply stating “click here for an appointment” is like asking for a meeting whenever or without establishing value. Here are 28 CTAs for free.

4. Lengthy Forms: The appointment forms were long, without qualifying information, and requested excessive information upfront, deterring potential leads from completing them.

Action Plan

1. Optimize Landing Pages:

   – Redo high-traffic landing pages with clear messaging and compelling CTAs.

   – Showcase IT Solutions’ services as benefits, making it easier for users to request appointments, thereby increasing user engagement and conversions.

2. Simplify Navigation:

   – Reorganize the menu and add more action-oriented links.

   – Provide additional options for users to access relevant information, such as “Get a free IT Solutions 15-point checkup NOW” and “Take this 5-question survey to diagnose your IT issues,” motivating them to book appointments.

3. Enhance CTAs:

   – Utilize concise and persuasive messaging throughout the website.

   – Encourage visitors to take action, whether requesting a free download about “5 things you can do to solve your IT issues on your own” or “get a free pizza for booking an appointment.”

4. Improve the Form Fill:

   – Add a further line about the number of employees who qualify for incoming leads.

   – Highlight the value of leads based on company size, prioritizing forms with higher potential impact.

Review landing pages, navigation, CTAs, and form experience to address website conversion issues. Don’t assume there isn’t enough traffic; focus on optimizing user engagement once visitors arrive on the site.

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‘NHL on TNT’ Gives Hockey Fans the ‘NBA on TNT’ Treatment

Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

John Molori

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NHL on TNT studio

Let’s play a little word association, sports media style. If I say TNT, what is your response? Chances are it will be a three-letter abbreviation of your own, namely, NBA. Over the years, TNT has built a reputation as arguably the premiere network to telecast the National Basketball Association.

The NBA on TNT pregame and halftime shows have become the gold standard with stars like Ernie Johnson, Jr., Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal. Still, it’s not just this quartet of roundball royalty that has fortified TNT’s hoops coverage.

The rep was also built on tremendous play-by-play announcers like Bob Neal and Kevin Harlan, color analysts like Doug Collins and Reggie Miller, and courtside reporters like the late Craig Sager and current sideline star Allie LaForce.

Indeed, TNT and the NBA have become synonymous, but I have some news for you. This network is not just about professional basketball. This past week I went off the grid with TNT looking at their in-game and studio coverage of the NHL.

On March 24, the NHL on TNT provided coverage of the Pittsburgh Penguins at Colorado Avalanche matchup. Kenny Albert did play-by-play with Eddie Olczyk on color. Albert is not as noted as his legendary broadcasting father Marv Albert, but he has certainly staked his claim as one of the best in the business – able to cross over to multiple sports with equal aplomb.

Hockey is a strong suit for Albert. His rat-tat-tat, drama-building style draws viewers in and keeps us on the edge of our seats. Similarly, Olczyk is one of the top four or five NHL game analysts in the business. His style is understated, providing calm and clear analysis of key plays. They work really well together.

Albert eschews any kind of hackneyed and trite catch phrases for his goal calls. An emphatic, “He shoots and scores!” is plenty enough.

Hockey is a different beast when it comes to play-by-play. Unlike basketball, baseball, football, or even soccer and tennis, there is a minimum of breaks in the action. With hockey, a play-by-play announcer has to know the names of the players like he or she knows her kids’ names.

To me, it is the hardest sport for play-by-play and equally difficult for a color analyst. In basketball, after a team scores, the play-by-play announcer will keep silent and give the color analyst time to talk until the play crosses center court. In baseball and football, there is ample room for commentary.

Hockey does not offer such space, but Olczyk gets the most out of the minimal amount of time. Watching Albert and Olczyk call a hockey game is like watching Picasso paint and da Vinci sculpt. They are masters of their respective crafts.

Coming back from a break in the game, Albert and Olczyk provided on air commentary and then tossed to ice level reporter Brian Boucher who has grown into a tremendous asset to the TNT broadcasts. Boucher provided real talk about Colorado’s objectives of staying on top of their division and vying for the top seed in the Western Conference.

The Penguins, squarely in a rebuilding year having dumped talent at the NHL trade deadline, surprisingly jumped out to a 2–0 lead in this game, and the TNT between periods studio crew was all over it. The excellent Liam McHugh hosted alongside Colby Armstrong, Anson Carter, and Keith Yandle.

Armstrong was especially entertaining. With Pittsburgh outshooting the Avs 16-4, Armstrong noted that it’s the best he’s seen Pittsburgh play in a long time. His reasoning was that teams get geared up for playing Colorado even if it’s out of fear. Great stuff.

Both teams tallied two goals in the second period giving Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead heading into the final frame. When Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon set up Jonathan Drouin for a goal to make it 4-3, Albert and Olczyk showed their strengths.

Albert called the pass from MacKinnon and one-timer goal from Drouin, and immediately noted that MacKinnon now had a point in all 34 of Colorado’s home games this season. On the goal replay, Olczyk showed how the play developed pointing out how McKinnon allowed Pittsburgh’s Evgenii Malkin to come in close before making the past to Drouin.

The TNT production team then showed a graphic displaying that McKinnon is now second all-time in longest home points streaks trailing only Wayne Gretzky. This was a sublime sequence of symmetry between talent and technicians like a songwriter, musician, and singer creating beautiful music.

What was supposed to be a blowout win for Colorado had now become a hockey barn burner, and the TNT crew was up to the task. Every goal and key play was followed up with replays from multiple angles showing the genesis of the action.

TNT has certainly taken to the velocity of the hockey broadcast with movement that challenges directors, graphics professionals, and videographers.

When there were breaks in this non-stop action, Olczyk was at his best. No hockey analyst draws on his experience as a player and explains that experience better to viewers. The TNT broadcast also lets Boucher freewheel and join in the flow of discussion without having to be introduced.

TNT does not merely rely on the traditional wide shot of the entire rink. We see close-up shots of each goaltender after a great save and the sweat of players on the bench or in the penalty box.

When McKinnon tied the game at 4-4 with 4:38 left in the third period, we got a series of tremendous crowd shots showing the Colorado fans going absolutely berserk. The sage Albert and Olczyk wisely remained quiet for several seconds, letting the cheers do the talking.

When Drouin scored the game winner at 4:06 of overtime, Albert exercised controlled enthusiasm, raising his voice on the call of the goal, but not becoming the show and overshadowing the play itself. He is definitely in the mold of Dan Kelly, Gary Thorne, and Sean McDonough, announcers who enhance but do not supersede the game.

Putting a cherry on top of this hockey Sunday, TNT showed a graphic that the Avalanche now led the NHL in comeback wins this season with 25 and that they were riding a 9-game winning streak. In analyzing the goal, Olczyk opined that the altitude of playing in Colorado was prevalent as the Penguins seemed to tire as the game progressed – really interesting insight.

In the postgame show, Anson Carter made a great point that the chemistry between Drouin and MacKinnon stems from the fact that they have been playing together going back to junior hockey. McKinnon joined in from the arena for a postgame interview. The analysts asked solid questions and even did a funny MVP chant together as the interview ended.

The NHL on TNT takes no back seat to its elder NBA sister. The broadcast provides viewers with flash, dash, and serious hockey talk from every angle – in studio, from the broadcast booth, and on the ice.

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Kim Mulkey Now Has Everyone Anticipating Washington Post Story

I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it.

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photo of LSU women's college basketball coach Kim Mulkey
Credit: Dailymail.co.uk

The Washington Post, you might’ve heard, has a story coming out about controversial LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey. The reason you might’ve heard is because Kim Mulkey told you. The Tigers coach read a fiery prepared statement just before her team started the Women’s NCAA Tournament. In the statement, Mulkey threatened to sue The Post for defamation before the first word was even published.

Now, I’ve never run a public relations firm but that did not seem like a good idea. The Washington Post story on Mulkey is one of the bigger stories in sports right now and nobody even knows what’s in it. The reason the story, apparently unflattering to Mulkey, is even on anyone’s radar screen is Mulkey herself.

It all started with an innocuous social media post by Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde right in the middle of the most anticipated two days in sports, the NCAA Tournament Round of 64. On his X account, Forde posted: “Hearing some buzz about a big Washington Post story in the works on LSU women’s hoops coach Kim Mulkey, potentially next week. Wagons being circled, etc.”

You know what generally will go unnoticed at 4:00 on the first Friday of the NCAA Tournament? A post on X about a women’s basketball coach. But don’t tell Mulkey, she saw Forde’s post and decided to fight fire with nuclear weaponry. The result: the average person like me now is really interested in what has Mulkey so incensed. By “average person like me” I mean that I can’t imagine what headline, under normal circumstances, the Washington Post would have to put on a Kim Mulkey story to make me want to read it. Maybe:

“LSU Women’s Coach Discovers Ark of the Covenant”

Or:

“Mulkey Reveals True JFK Assassin(s)”

Perhaps:

“Famed Women’s Basketball Coach Reveals the Mystery Behind Slow Drivers in the Left Lane”

Literally any of those catch my attention more than whatever will likely be the Washington Post headline about Mulkey. But now Mulkey is “Mad as Hell and is not going to take this anymore” so I now have an interest I would never before have had in this story. It has been fascinating to watch the online speculation about the subject of the article and all we really know, as of now, is that it will be written by Kent Babb. This is a dream come true for Babb; he writes an article that is, presumably, not flattering about Kim Mulkey and, before it is even published, she gives the article the greatest commercial anyone could give it. Babb couldn’t have entered into a business agreement with Mulkey and had this turn out better for him.

For those who don’t follow Babb, he is a former NFL reporter who now is an award-winning writer for the Washington Post. In his 14 years with The Post, he has written sports features and authored a couple of books. One of those sports features stories was a deep dive into what he viewed as a large inequity in the level of pay for LSU head football coach Brian Kelly and his LSU players. It is this piece Mulkey described as a “hit piece” and, based on that piece, referred to Babb as a “sleazy reporter.” Babb, and many others, resented the fact his story was labeled as a hit piece. In fact, Babb essentially confirmed he was the author Mulkey was referencing when he shared the original article on X with the comment: “Hit piece?”

Whether a printed piece or a recorded interview, I can’t imagine a better promotion for it than the subject of the interview threatening a libel/slander lawsuit, especially before it is even released. That simply screams “This piece is salacious!!” Also, libel and slander suits get settled all the time, right? Of course they don’t, they seem to never even get filed. That little thing called discovery is a scary thing for most public figures.

The NCAA Tournament has been very entertaining, and I think the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight will be terrific. For only the fifth time ever, the top two seeds have advanced to the third round which sets up for a remarkable weekend. For me, I guess it will now include a Washington Post article, not a sentence I’d normally say.

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