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Most people in Canada don’t take college football as seriously as their American counterparts, but there is at least one very notable exception in the form of the announcer who called a recent game between a couple of rival teams in Ontario.
On September 16th, around 8,000 spectators gathered at Richardson Stadium on the campus of Queen’s University to watch their squad face off against the Western University Mustangs. The home team was facing an uphill battle, as Western was ranked as the second-best team in the country and entered the contest with a spotless 3-0 record against the 1-1 Gaels.
It looked like Queen’s was on the verge of pulling off the upset toward the end of the back-and-forth contest, as the Gaels had a 27-25 lead with less than 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
However, Western had possession at midfield when Mustangs quarterback Evan Hillock turned the tides by connecting with Savaughn Magnaye-Jones on the 55-yard pass the wide receiver took into the end zone to give his team the lead and the 32-27 win.
As Awful Announcing notes, that development did not sit well with Jesse Bell, the Queen’s University radio announcer tasked with doing the play-by-play duties.
You may want to brace your ears before you watch the following clip, as Bell reacted to the completion with a dramatic “NOOOO!!!!!” before somehow managing to outdo himself with another outburst as Magnaye-Jones made his way toward the goal line.
.@CFRC should be funded for the next 3 years off the strength of this clip alone.
Iconic. Inspirational. No notes. pic.twitter.com/3VCgBpjnvz
— r/CFL on Reddit (@cfl_reddit) September 18, 2023
There are plenty of people out there who would prefer to see “homer” announcers like Bell take a more tempered and objective approach to calling games, but I honestly love hearing them broadcast their true emotions to the world while watching a moment like this unfold.
I couldn’t have told you a single thing about the matchup in question prior to watching this clip, but Bell’s reaction tells you everything you need to know about what was at stake, which (at least in my opinion) is the mark of a solid broadcaster.