“They were not just happy to be there,” said Dalen Cuff, who called Vermont’s 2-1 overtime victory over Marshall on ESPN2 last Monday night. “They felt like a team on a mission and they were. Their mind-set was, ‘We will be forgotten if we don’t win the whole thing.’ I think they were just very salient in the fact that if we win the whole thing, then we hit legendary status. And they were right.”
So when the Catamounts achieved what might have been a stunning outcome to just about everyone outside of their own locker room, prevailing on Max Kissel’s golden goal in the 95th minute, Cuff’s exceptional call included acknowledging the Catamounts’ own we’ve-got-this, no-glass-slipper-necessary mentality.
“Oh my gosh! They do it!” exclaimed Cuff as Kissel’s goal rolled toward the net. “Don’t call them Cinderella! You can call them national champs!”
Vermont’s victory and how it occurred made the Catamounts an instant social media sensation, and the buzz carried through much of the week. On Tuesday, the match drove conversation on such shows as ESPN’s “Around The Horn,” where host Tony Reali declared it the best sporting event of the year.
I told Cuff – whom locals may remember from his time at Comcast SportsNet New England nearly a decade ago — that watching the end of the championship match reminded me of what it felt like when Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary found Gerard Phelan to lift Boston College over Miami in November 1984.
“It’s funny you mention the Flutie thing,” said Cuff, who has called four NCAA men’s soccer finals for ESPN. “When I grew up, I had the VHS tape, ‘Great Sports Moments of the ‘80s.’ One of them was the Flutie play, with the radio call: ‘He did it! He did it! Flutie did it’!
“I never thought I’d be the voice of any type of unforgettable moment, especially since I started my career as an analyst.
“I’ve heard people like Al Michaels or Mike Tirico or Joe Buck talk about when you’re calling something that has a chance to be an incredible moment, or when you’re calling a championship, ‘Do you think about it in advance? Do you rehearse?’ The weird thing is, I don’t think you can in soccer, where one moment that can define the game can happen at any time.”
Cuff said he just instinctively went with what was already on his mind.
“And what was on my mind was that they found it practically offensive to be called Cinderella,” he said. “Their point of view was, ‘We’ve won more games than anybody in this tournament the last few years. We know we’re a small school from America East, but we’re not Cinderella.’
“So we mentioned that during the broadcast a couple of times, and so in the moment I communicated that they’ll never be considered Cinderella again. Just call them champs.”
Cuff acknowledged that he didn’t quite grasp how much the championship match and Vermont’s team was resonating with sports fans until the next day.
“I walked out of there in kind of a stupor,” he said. “Not that they won, but more like, ‘I can’t believe that happened.’ The way it went down. I was kind of dumbfounded for a couple of hours, and I don’t think I understood the response and how many people watched and appreciated what they’d seen. I realized Tuesday with all of the talk about the game and people texting me how much people gravitated toward this.”
The championship aired on ESPN2 in the spot in which the “ManningCast” would normally be on as the alternate broadcast of “Monday Night Football.” But there was no show last Monday.
“Shout out to the Manning brothers for taking the week off,” said Cuff with a laugh. “Thank you for that. I’m sure some people tuned in thinking the ‘ManningCast’ was on, stuck around, and got this unbelievable game.
“I do think where it’s on television matters. It was on ESPN2 for the first time since I’ve been calling it. I think random people stumbled across the game. I recognized that part instantly. When you walk into a bar, ESPN is likely on TV. ESPNU is not likely to be on. So the platform made a difference.”
…
Jim Donaldson, an important member of an outstanding Providence Journal sports section for nearly four decades, died Thursday morning at age 73. Donaldson never smoothed the edges of his opinions as a writer, particularly when it came to the Patriots, and was a friendly companion in the press box. I enjoyed his wry sense of humor as a frequent weekend host on WEEI back in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Even after his retirement in 2016, he remained an engaging — and opinionated, of course — presence on social media. I’ll miss hearing from him . . . Expect the Red Sox to announce their broadcast booths for both NESN and WEEI at Fenway Fest — an even kinder, gentler version of Winter Weekend, apparently on Saturday, Jan. 11. Dave O’Brien (NESN) and Will Flemming (WEEI) will remain in their play-by-play roles, but some other specifics are still being worked out.
Chad Finn can be reached at chad.finn@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeChadFinn.
