The Monday Lineup: 7 ESPN moments from the weekend and for the week ahead PLUS: A Pasch-ion for play-by-play – from coast to coast

Brian Griese (l) and Dave Pasch. (Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)
Brian Griese (l) and Dave Pasch. (Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)

Before we get to some of what you may have missed over the weekend and what’s coming up from ESPN, a glimpse into Dave Pasch’s jam-packed week of assignments.:

What a relief this week will be for ESPN’s multi-sport workhorse, play-by-play man, Dave Pasch.

“Only 3 games this week,” he joked in a weekend email exchange with Front Row.

Pasch, is coming off a four-game, five-city week that saw him call an NCAA men’s basketball game (BYU/Stanford) with Seth Greenberg), an NBA contest (Knicks/Hawks with Hubie Brown), a college football matchup (Ohio St./Illinois with Brian Griese) and an NFL radio call for the Arizona Cardinals’ flagship station.

“It wasn’t the games, or the different sports, but the travel that was the most challenging aspect of the week,” said the 10-year ESPN veteran and Syracuse graduate. “Going from Phoenix to San Jose to Atlanta to Columbus (I made a pit stop to watch Ohio State practice) to Champaign (then flew out of Indianapolis) to Jacksonville, and then back to Phoenix on the Cardinals’ team plane.

“Last year, I had a similar week starting with a Tip-Off Marathon game in Spokane, then heading to NBA, college football, and NFL,” he said. “That previous experience helped me manage my prep time. I started prepping for my basketball games a week in advance, and even worked on future games on days when I already was calling a game. The biggest thing is not to get behind and have to end up cramming. Thankfully, I planned out my prep work pretty well.”

With an average of about six hours of sleep per night, Pasch isn’t afraid to admit he “tries to take a power nap in between meetings when I can.”

Sunday’s return to his Phoenix-area home was something Pasch started looking forward to almost immediately after leaving last Monday

“I look forward to kissing my wife of 17 years, Hallie, and three kids, Lexi 15, Zuzu 12, and Zeke 7!,” he said. “I love my job, but leaving my family for extended periods of time forces me to almost reintroduce myself to my loved ones. When I’m on the road, I’m still a pretty active husband and father.

“However, when I return from a long trip, diving back into their daily routines — while not being disruptive — is challenging,” Pasch said. “I say this in November, but come late July, after I’ve been home for two and a half-months straight, my wife might ask, ‘Don’t you have a game to do or something?'”

The most fun part for Pasch, is of course calling the games, being at the venues, and getting to work alongside different analysts with different styles/personalities.

“One of my favorite parts of the week was a scheduled 30 minute lunch meeting with Hubie Brown at the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta that went two hours,” Pasch said. “If it were up to me, I would have stayed four hours!

“Hubie is a Hall of Famer in so many respects,” he said. “He’s the best storyteller I’ve ever been around, and I could listen to him talk basketball all day.

“One other fun aspect of the week was calling the Ohio State game. It was the first time I’ve had a Buckeyes game since Urban Meyer became head coach. He was my broadcast partner two years ago when he worked at ESPN.”

As for the week ahead, Pasch will call Pacers/Knicks on Wednesday, then has Wisconsin at Minnesota on Saturday before Sunday’s Cardinals’ home game against the Colts.

“I’m looking forward to working my first game with [ESPN NBA analyst] Doug Collins on Wednesday,” Pasch said. “He’s one of the best analysts in the business, and is a great addition to ESPN/ABC.”

Onto the Lineup:

1. Jimmie Johnson won The Chase. So where’s he going on Tuesday? Disney? Almost. . .


2. Shelley Smith with a must-see feature.

3. Corso’s Trojan Magic continued Saturday and next week College GameDay heads to Stillwater for Baylor-Oklahoma State.

4. Olbermann continues to impress.

5. First, the game. . .

6. . . .Then the proposal.

7. A record was broken (a few times) during ESPN’s Friday telecast of Pistons-Kings.

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