[Podcast] Travis Demers on his new role as Trail Blazers’ play-by-play radio announcer

Travis Demers, the Portland Trail Blazers’ new radio play-by-play announcer, joined the podcast to talk about securing his dream job. How did he do it? Where did he learn his craft? He explains why he loves radio and how he plans to keep getting better. He shares highlights from some of the games he called last season and reveals if he his working on any catch phrases.

Then Tara and Dan discuss which Blazers (and former Blazers) showed up on the Sports Illustrated Top 100 players. Where does Nurkic rank among all of the centers in the league? Is number 32 really reflective of CJ McCollum’s true skills and ability? And finally, Lillard cracks the top ten. Will being ranked one spot below Paul George add more fuel to the fire?

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Highlights

1:15 What does it mean to be the next guy up in a line of highly esteemed broadcasters?

2:00 Where he came from and how he got here. Grew up wanting to be a play-by-play announcer. Grew up in New York State but first job was covering games in Astoria, Oregon.

5:15 How did he learn, develop and practice his craft?

8:00 How are TV and radio play-by-play different?

10:00 What has the transition been like into the role permanently?

12:00 Listening to games over again to try and get better.

16:40 What were some of the best moments/highlights of the season last year when he was filling in? The 4OT game.

18:15 Growing up in New York, what was it like to get to call a game in Madison Square Garden.

20:00 Catch phrases he is working on?

23:00 Debriefing the interview with Travis

28:20 Sports Illustrated Top 100 NBA Players.

32:30 Jusuf Nurkic at 78, how does that feel?

38:15 CJ McCollum at 32. Dan thinks that if McCollum was on his own team he would be ranked higher.

40:15 How are Stephan Curry and Klay Thompson different from Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.

44:30 Who is tougher to guard, Lillard or McCollum?

47:30 Damian Lillard #10: about bleepin’ time.

50:15 Thank you, Rob Mahoney, for putting Paul George over Lillard so Lillard has one more thing to overcome.

51:00 Should James Harden be so much higher than Lillard?

53:00 Anthony Davis and player portability.

56:00 Other former Blazers who made it onto the list. LaMarcus Aldridge stays incredibly consistent.

58:00 Is it weird that there are so few former Blazers on the list?

1:00 Who are the other Blazers who might work their way onto the Top 100 list by the end of the season?

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