What the Madison Mallards public address announcer does

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: MON., AUG 3, 2009 - 5:42 PM : What I do: Madison Mallards public address announcer : Name: Aaron Sims : Occupation: Public address announcer for the Madison Mallards at Warner Park, 2920 N. Sherman Ave. : Web: www.mallardsbaseball.com : Age: 36 : Years on the job: 5 : I call the play-by-play action at the Madison Mallards games. : A lot of my job involves making wise cracks on people in the stands. I�m making fun of them good-naturedly. : I�m like a master of ceremonies; I have to keep the show going. Much of what I say is ad-libbed, so I have to be able to think fast. : I can tell if I�m putting on a good show if people are laughing. I especially want to make the guy who plays the music and the guy who plays the organ during the game laugh. : I wanted to be a stand-up comedian, but now I can sit down to be funny. : It�s a great job because I get to meet so many rising young college-age people who play in the Northwoods League. They come from all over the country and I enjoy watching them as they improve their skills. They are scouted by the major leagues and often during the season, we�ll lose players because they�ve been chosen to play with a national team. : Two hours before the game, I get the lineups of the Mallards and the opposing team. I get the correct pronunciations of the players and other people whose names I have to announce for birthdays, anniversaries, bachelor/bachelorette parties and engagements. I go over the scripts, which are written by Mike Then, director of marketing and corporate services. Each game has special events and I have to know what�s going on so that I can announce it during the game. : I attended Winona State University in Minnesota with a major in broadcasting and a minor in English. I worked as a radio announcer for 10 years playing music, announcing games and reading advertising for a Madison radio station. In 2001, I attended a Mallards press conference and met Vern Stenman, the general manager. He hired me to be the radio announcer in 2004. In 2005-06, I was the public address announcer at the Duck Pond and on radio. For the past two seasons, I�ve done just the PA in the park. I also do radio play-by-play for the Milwaukee Admirals hockey team, so I�m busy year round. : What I Do invites people to tell in their own words what they do to earn a living. The column runs every Tuesday. To suggest someone to feature, contact Jill Carlson at jillcarlson1957@gmail.com. : (WSJ)

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