Mater Dei, the top-ranked high school football team in the country, put a beatdown on Corona Centennial at home during its season-opener on Friday. However, the Monarchs will be fined $600 for streaming the game independently and the team’s public address announcer was caught cussing at a player on the live stream.
The unfortunate series of events that could’ve been avoided if the school had followed the rules!
High schools sports in the Golden State are governed by the California Interscholastic Federation. It has a media rights deal with the NFHS Network. NFHS had exclusive rights to the top-20 matchup in Santa Ana.
Mater Dei either did not care about the agreement or was unaware of the deal and chose to provide an independent live stream. Approximately 1,000 people watched the free stream at any given moment, which undercut the paid stream from NFHS. As a result, the CIF will fine the school $600. No big deal.
Here is where is the humorous hot mic blunder comes into the equation.
The Monarchs’ live stream was broadcast from the same press box as the on-site P.A. announcer. He was not on the stream. His audio was separate from the broadcast team.
But there was some overlap!
As noted by Terek Fattal of SBLive Sports, the school’s live feed picked up an awkward moment during the second quarter. The P.A. announcer was caught yelling “turnaround!!!!!!” at a defensive player from inside the press box. It was heard up loud and clear on the stream.
After (unknowingly) getting caught on the hot mic, he announced the result of the play into the stadium microphone.
Pass intended for #11, Tyler George. Incomplete. Penalty markers down.
And then it got awkward. The P.A. announcer criticized the defensive back for committing pass interference. His comments did not ring out on the in-stadium speaker system but they did make it to air on Mater Dei’s live broadcast.
Turn around, you dumba–! Read his eyes!
About 20 seconds later, the hot mic picked up the P.A. announcer doubling down.
I don’t know why I’m calling a 16-year-old a dumba–. Kind of redundant…
… more a–hat.
OOPS!
The public address announcer had no idea he could be heard on the high school football live stream at the time. He certainly does now!