March 16, 2023 • 28 mins
In this episode of the It's A Lot Y'all podcast we have Sean Heath, NBA PA Announcer for the Dallas Mavericks and on-camera talent for the Dallas Cowboys, as our special guest. We visit with Sean about what its like being an NBA PA Announcer and the crazy way he scored the gig. He also tells us how he comes up with some of his favorite signature sayings. Plus, we discuss some highlights of his career so far.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hello everybody.
Welcome to episode eight of the,it's a Lot y'all podcast.
I'm Allie d.
With me as always, producerNicole.
And we are so, so, so excitedabout today's episode because we
have an amazing guest joiningus.
It is going to be Sean Keith,the PA announcer for the Dallas
Mavericks and the in-stadium oncamera.
host for the Dallas Cowboys aswell.
(00:27):
And so we are really thrilledthat.
Carved out some time in hisschedule to talk to us, Yes.
We not only hear his voicethroughout the arena, but Sean
has such an important role andI'm so excited to ask him so
many questions and learn moreabout how he got started and
what he does.
Yeah.
His position is truly a really,really not only impactful one,
(00:50):
but a really difficult one.
So let's go ahead and dive rightin and talk to our friend Shawn.
All right, everybody.
We are so excited to have theSean Heath on the It's a lot
y'all podcast.
He is joining us now.
Welcome to the show, Sean.
Hi everybody, how are you?
Hey, so Sean Heath is the pa,the public address announcer for
(01:13):
the Dallas Mavericks and also,another.
stadium personality for theDallas Cowboys, which we can get
to as well.
But we have so much talk aboutwith you because we have like a
zillion questions.
We wanna know everything thereis to know about your job behind
the scenes, what goes on.
Cuz you actually have a superimportant job, not only what the
fans are seeing, but also us onthe production side because you
(01:35):
are like kind of a leader inthat.
And I don't even know if youknow that, but before we get
into all of that, you're puttinga lot of pressure on me right
now.
I did not.
Now I'm nervous.
I didn't realize my job was sucha big deal.
It is a big deal.
but before we get into that, Ijust wanna know, I mean, I know
this story, but tell us how yougot the job with the Dallas
Mavericks, cuz that's a greatstory.
Do you want the human version orthe Sean version?
(01:56):
Um, the Sean version.
Okay.
Why not?
So way back in 1966, I was bornand then fast forward, yada
yada, yada.
Boom.
I'm the mad pa guy.
Uh, no.
in like the summer of 2000.
The previous PA announcer,humble, Billy Hayes was leaving
and, the Maverick decided tohave open auditions.
(02:19):
I heard about it waiting in thecarpooling to pick my son up
from school.
and I called in 2 1 4 7 4 7mask.
And got scheduled and they heldthe auditions, like with one of
those six foot folding tablessitting on the floor of American
Airline Center because the starsweren't playing, so the ice
wasn't down, so it was down tothe cement.
Oh.
(02:40):
And they had us come in and Ithink like 60 people auditioned
live.
And I don't even, wow know, Idon't even know how many other
people send in videos andaudition and stuff around the
country.
I think the number's like closeto 200 something.
What was weird was, It was thetable, a microphone and some
script pages, starting a coupleof, so no vibes, like no Mavs
(03:00):
vibes, no noise in the stadiumexcept for over your left
shoulder.
So the giant jumbotron was aboutsix feet from the arena floor.
It was lowered damage, loweredworking on some issue with a
module or a panel or whatever.
And Mark Cuban was standing overthere talking to one of the
techs, cuz Mark's a tech nerd,right?
(03:21):
Yeah.
He probably had the solution soMark was over there talking and
they say, okay, go.
They're sitting like 40 feetaway.
You're almost in the center ofthe floor.
It's very lonely feeling.
Very folding people.
Tim and the microphone in somepages.
Yeah.
And Mark Cuban's right over yourshoulder.
So, being the clueless personthat I am, I just went in and
(03:42):
did it my way.
I did it how I would do it.
I had worked on microphone.
For 20 plus years, I startedworking as a DJ in nightclubs
when I was 16.
So I've been talking onmicrophones, big groups of
people forever.
I worked in musical theater fora couple years and, sung backup
harmonies for music artists.
Mm-hmm.
And so I've, I've been on amicrophone before.
(04:02):
But never exactly like that.
Like I think I announced, Iremembered announcing a high
school basketball game one timeback in the early eighties, And
so, they had the open auditions.
I did the starting lineups, andthen I asked, I said, hold on
just a second.
And then I did the startinglineups in Spanish.
Uh, and Oh, They narrowed itdown to 10.
They put up an online voting.
(04:24):
those of us who wereauditioning.
We didn't know.
They videoed our auditions andthen put them up on mavs.com and
people could go on the websiteand vote.
and then they narrowed it downto six of us.
There were three preseasongames.
And they let each of us do halfof a preseason game.
So I got to do the first half ofthe preseason game against the
Cavaliers, and that's whenLeBron and Shaquille O'Neal were
(04:45):
still there, but they were bothout because they had played the
night before.
Mm.
So I didn't get to it, and I'mlike, oh, that sucks.
So anyways, we did thepreseason.
It was really cool.
It was the first time I'd eversat in American Airlines Center
below the 300 s when I watchedMaps games.
Prior to that time, every game Iever saw, I was up in either
like three 10 or 3 0 6.
I'd never seen a Mavs game downin the lower bowl.
(05:08):
and I got to sit down in the onehundreds and watch a MA game.
Like this is the greatest thingever.
Even if I don't get the job, I'mlike, this is cool cuz I've been
a Mavs fan since day.
And so then they narrowed itdown to two of us after that and
Mark couldn't make a decision ordidn't wanna make a decision.
So then he decided, let's let eeach of these guys do a regular
(05:29):
season game, a full game.
Wow.
So the other guy was, MikeTaylor, who now I think is the
voice of the Texas Legends.
The He does, he does a lot ofother stuff around tattoo.
He's got an amazing voice,amazing Barone, really good
voice and.
So Michael did the first gameand I got to do the second game.
So November of 2009, the firstNBA A game I ever announced.
(05:51):
We were playing the Utah Jazz.
We were down 17 points, I think,in the third quarter.
And Dirk scored 29 points in thefourth quarter to set a
franchise record for points in aquarter.
We won the game.
That's the first NBA game I everannounced.
Chills.
And they still didn't make adecision, so Mark decided, well,
what we'll do is we'll have themalternate home games and have
(06:14):
them do five games each, whichthat pushed us into like
December, right?
Yeah.
The second game that I announcedwas against Houston and we were
down 16 points in the first halfand we ended up coming back and
winning that game and, oh, thisis great.
Guess who becomes the luckycharm?
(06:34):
Yeah.
So back and forth, back andforth.
but ultimately I got the job,and this is my 14th season.
and then like everything else Ido in Dallas, I wasn't going
after gigs in Dallas at the timebecause I was working as a
software engineer and acorporate trainer.
And then this Mavs opportunity,I'm like, yeah, cool.
I'll do that.
And then I, started to realize,hey, maybe I could do this.
(06:56):
Maybe this could be the thing Ido.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And.
You know, I know a person hereand then our good friend, DJ Wiz
Anthony Johnson.
Mm-hmm.
he was asked to fill in over atthe Cowboys on the East Plaza as
a DJ And it turns out one oftheir hosts needed to be
replaced.
So Anthony told the Cowboys,Hey, you should have Sean come
over.
So I went over and that's how Iwound up being with the Cowboys
(07:18):
and then started over there.
Years later.
I'm like, Ellie, you know, weneed to, I was desperate.
And I'm like, and I even told'em, I said, at the time, I
said, I can't imagine she hastime to come and do this.
She's so busy.
Cause you had just started yourclothing.
Yeah.
So you were really hardcore intol e d, enterprises.
Yeah.
And so you were, you were goingto all the trade shows and you
(07:39):
were really focused on themlike, right.
Anyway, she's gonna have time todo this plus, I was kind of
pushing you.
I'm like, when are you gonna doyour album?
When's another album coming out?
Yeah.
What's this?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so I love singing.
Yeah.
I didn't, I didn't think therewas any chance at all that you
would have time to do that.
And so I just hesitantly sentyou a text, Hey, any chance you
(08:00):
might be interested on doingthis thing?
Please.
Yeah.
And she said Yes.
And then I got to hang out withthe great Ali D for a couple
seasons.
It was a good.
And here we are.
Here.
We we're like full circle now inthe cold part of The's.
Funny.
I know.
It's so funny how it all, likeit's so crazy.
Works out with just networkingand people knowing each other
and kind of bringing everyoneon, you know?
(08:20):
Yeah.
It's amazing.
We meet so many great people inall the events we work.
it really is awesome.
And.
Sean is so friendly you justlove to talk to all the fans and
get to know them.
And that's a huge part of thewhole thing too, is just
treating all the fans.
This is a huge experience forthem and so it's important for
everybody on the entertainmentside to always understand that
and anytime we have aninteraction with them, like this
(08:41):
could be one of the their bestmemories.
And so you are very good at alsoperpetuating that thought.
But I do wanna go back to youworking the mic as the PA for
the Mavericks for a little bitmore because.
if the only basketball PA youhad done was in high school one
time, how the heck did you knowwhat you were doing when you
went into that first game?
Because your job, you guys, soyou understand, Sean is the
(09:05):
person communicating everything.
X As and O'S and basketballrelated, that goes on the court
to the 17,000 plus fans.
Mm-hmm.
in the arena and also to ourshow, which is going on at the
same time, our entertainmentside.
So to me it just seems so crazythat your first gig is like on
an NBA court.
(09:25):
You didn't do it in college.
It wasn't something that you haddone, a hundred times at that
point.
So how did you even know to saylike time out or number two,
right?
Like how'd you know all theintricacies of the position?
you know, I never really thoughtabout it like that, it's like
being a surgeon and being like,well, I've never really done the
surgery, but I gimme that havenseen, I'm gonna save a life.
(09:47):
So, you know, I have a headseton mm-hmm.
that I can hear.
I'll replay, game coordinatorCarla, and then back when, Steve
Letson was running everything,he would call the show kind of
from over my shoulder, nearpress row.
He's sitting down there makingsure everything's going.
Now, we have Jacob who does thatand does a spectacular job.
And then we have, Jonathan,cornucopia, His nickname.
(10:10):
we're trying to make it stick.
so we have Jonathan, wholiterally is calling the whole
show and he decides, Hey, thisis a hot time out.
And I hear all this chatter ofJonathan talking to the replay
room and Carlos saying, okay,Sean, go.
And so we used to do paperscripts.
Now we do.
I remember a show flow, right?
We do show flow.
So I have a, tablet in front ofme and it has the script on
there of what the read is forthe promo, the timeout, the ad,
(10:35):
the psa, whatever that.
But a lot of times it's just go,mm-hmm.
You know, the sandbox theory.
A lot of people don't know it bythat, but it's very simple.
Tell me the boundaries.
Who's the sponsor?
Right?
How long do I have?
What do you want me toaccomplish?
If you give me those parameters?
I don't need a script.
(10:56):
cuz I'm gonna ad lib and tweakand edit the script on the fly.
And I think everybody does that.
It's not, it's not somethingspecial or unique I don't think.
I'm just, I'm very comfortabledoing it.
And so if I know who the sponsoris, I know who the contestants
are, I know what the contest is.
I can just mix it up and goofaround.
It helps that when I'm throwingto contests that I'm throwing to
(11:18):
somebody who's one of my bestfriends in Ali e d.
Cause I can throw something andAllie listens to what I throw to
her, and then she plays off ofthat.
So, you know.
Mm-hmm.
and CNO does that too.
I can say something like, Allright.
You know who loves WhataburgerFlying fries, l e d, both the
fries, Yu and the game.
What's going on?
L e d.
(11:39):
And she will pick up, I gave hera lead in and she just knocks it
out of the part.
And so while I get to do thesetups for a lot of things like
that, when it's just me doingsomething.
I don't know, the startinglineups or you know, dance cam I
get the starting cue from CarlaGo and she syncs that up with
(12:01):
Jonathan, who is syncing up withDJ sippy playing the music and
they hit the music so I really.
Three jobs.
Yeah.
I was just sitting here thinkingI know like what you're
explaining, like you havemultiple jobs in your one job,
so Yeah, when I was asking myquestion, I forgot the whole
side of not only are you likecontrolling your payment, I know
the timeouts and all thepromotion side and the reads and
(12:24):
half.
Time and like this guy, when hesits down guys, he's not getting
up to use the bathroom for thewhole whole three hours.
He can't leave his microphoneSure.
well, so the three things that Ido, the three things that all P
announcers have to do,specifically I'll relate this to
the N B A, So you have tocommunicate the sponsor
information.
Mm-hmm.
because they paid so.
(12:45):
talk about sponsors and do theirpromos and their PSAs.
Then you have the internal.
Promotions, Mavs Camp Gem, theMark Cuban Foundation, the Mavs
Foundation community, right?
Yeah.
We have all that internal stuffthat it's super critical and
very important, right?
So you make sure that you getthose things in.
And then the other thing that Ido is strictly administrative.
(13:08):
Mm-hmm.
announcing the time.
Who the foul was on, what thefoul was, how many freak girls
are being shot, the plays beingreviewed for what So I'm a
representative for the Mavs andI'm the bridge between the Mavs.
Game presentation and thereferees.
Right.
So I have to hear what they say.
(13:28):
Correct.
And then communicate that in anon inciting way.
That's not exciting.
It's inciting.
I cannot.
Urged a crowd to express theirdissatisfaction with something
that has gone on rule wise, Andas a, you have be neutral fan.
You have to deliver in a neutraltone.
(13:48):
Anybody who knows me neutral isnot, I'm not a beige guy.
That's not one of my colors,right.
I'm a Mavs fan on a microphoneat a Mavs game, and that's the.
as a matter of fact, I've had areferee tell me in the last
couple of years, he came up tome after the starting lineups
(14:08):
and before I did the hype forthe tip, and he said, you're
like one of only two announcersin the NBA who seem to really
enjoy what you do.
My job is not to be impartial.
I don't see it as such becauseif it was to be impartial,
anybody would be sitting in thatseat, it wouldn't be me.
Mm-hmm.
the reason I'm in that seat isat least I hope it comes across
(14:29):
that I am as crazy a fan aboutthat team as anybody else in
that building, regardless ofwhere they're sitting,
regardless of who they are or ifthey own the team or not.
and so I want them to do well,and people who know me and know
my voice can hear when I'mdisappointed with the way the
score is going or when I'm veryexcited with the way the score
is going.
And I've always felt that inthis specific situation in Mavs
(14:53):
games.
I just happen to have themicrophone.
I'm the mask fan with themicrophone.
And to be fair, if I wasn'tsitting in that seat announcing
mass games, I'd still be in thebuilding.
I'd just be up in the 300 sthese are my guys, this is my
team.
I even say it.
I find myself falling into habitthe last couple of years of
saying right before tip when I'mdoing the little pret tip
height.
(15:14):
this is our house.
This is our team and this is ourtime, and I really think it's
always our time.
I always think we're gonna win,even doesn't matter who we're
playing.
I think what we can win thisgame.
so no experience doing N B Agames or professional sports for
that matter.
They give you a script, sothat's fine.
all I had to do was read check.
(15:35):
I got a headset, someone's gonnatell me when to go check.
Now the rules of the.
and announcing things properly.
I picked up from, the guys whowere sitting on either side of
me Your SCO table, there'sseveral people on your team so
that are helping you with thebasketball parts of it.
Yeah, right.
Immediately to my left was untilthis season, Tim and Man that he
(15:59):
knows everything, right?
He does SMU sports, SMUbasketball.
they've done high schoolfootball at at t Stadium.
they're the guys, and that's thescores table.
To my right is Greg, who runs anactual paper.
Book, and he writes down everyfree throw, every three pointer,
every missed free throw.
and then behind us is the statscrew, and They're the ones who
(16:21):
determined, was it a block, wasit a steal, was it a turnover,
was it an assist?
was it an actual rebound?
They're the people who areputting that into the system and
making sure it goes up on theboards, but they also create the
actual box scores.
So the little printed box scorethat shows their stats for every
player on both teams.
They're the ones who make surethat all the information on
there is correct because they'reresponsible for documenting the
(16:46):
history of that game that tookplace.
So it's kind of cool I get tosit in with some really talented
people.
it's so fun to get to work withthem it's a family.
Yeah.
it's amazing how being with theMavs, you know, and me, I've
been there 16 seasons, so just acouple more than you.
but we truly are, it's a familythere, so I know like we're all
excited to see each other everygame.
(17:07):
It's like, Showing up for aparty.
it's, we're gonna have, yes.
It's not like work.
It's not like work at all.
Mm-hmm.
It's the least work-like jobI've ever had.
Right.
and I love it.
you know as you were talkingabout, the stats crew
documenting the history of thegame and everything that's going
on.
I want you to tell me, what isone of the, I know you've had
(17:27):
some incredible moments in yourposition with the Mavs
championship games, Dirks, allthe stuff going on.
So do you have like a momentthat stands out in your career?
That was one of like the topmoments?
I know there's probably several,but what's something that jumps
into your.
Um, so for me, The first game Idid because I flew my mom down
(17:48):
from Little Rock Oh, to see thegame.
And my daughter was there,Josie, she was there and it was
her first basketball game.
Oh, so her first basketball gamewas that game.
Dirk and JJ were her favoriteplayers.
Oh, Dirk goes crazy in thefourth quarter and I was
announcing it, so that was herfirst N B A game, the first
amazing first snatch game.
(18:09):
So that, that night was prettycool.
Dirk's 30,000 point was cool.
That was a big deal.
Yeah.
Retirement he was building justto my right.
I got to see it.
Yeah.
That was, the retirement wassuper sad, but very awesome.
Yeah.
you know, I've had some of themoments that I remember the most
are.
They're not like momentous, butthey're moments that like, oh, I
(18:33):
really, I appreciate that, whatthat means.
Maybe not to anybody else, butto me.
Mm-hmm.
the other thing is in my firstcouple of seasons, I remember we
were playing Denver and KenyonMartin was still playing for
them.
Dallas.
legend Kenyon Martin, Andhalftime the players, you know,
when they come out to start thesecond half, they come out a
(18:57):
couple minutes early and theyget worn back up and stuff, and
I'm sitting there doingsomething and, and I see this
massive human being just kindalean down and sit on the edge of
the padded table right in front.
and he looks down and he goes,Hey man.
And I look up and it's KenonMartin, like Hey man.
And he goes, it's Kenya.
(19:18):
I'm like, yeah, I know KenyaMartin.
I know.
He goes, you call me Kenya onthe entire first half.
Oh no.
And I said, what?
No, I didn't.
and the guy working the book wasfilling out some stuff and he
goes, yep.
Didn't even look up.
He?
Yep.
Like, yeah, you did.
And I And cause Kenyon's name isspelled k e n y o n.
(19:41):
Kenyon.
Yeah.
I know his name is Kenyon.
He's from Dallas.
I'm a huge fan of Kenyon Martin.
and I just kenon, man, I am sosorry.
He's like, nah man, it's coolI'm like, oh, okay.
because I really have one job.
we've said earlier in thispodcast that I have three jobs.
I really have.
Say things correctly.
Correctly.
(20:01):
Get the players names right.
Get the ball kids names.
Right, exactly.
Get the Exactly game balldelivery name.
Right.
Get the names right, right,right.
I do wanna ask you though, beinga Mavs fan, how do you feel
about, for instance, when yousay like, And all the things
does that resonate with you,that fans take that home and do
you ever think about how coolthat is to kind of make a staple
(20:24):
or a slogan being in the Mavsworld, like for fans that just
all of a sudden are like, Luca,like every time you think Luca,
you just say it.
I don't think about it at thetime, and to be completely
honest, I'm not false modesty.
I don't really think that otherpeople think.
(20:45):
of me that way.
I really don't.
Yeah, I think they think a maskgame sounds the way a mask game
sounds and Oh, he was there too.
Mm-hmm.
I don't think about about itthat way.
Mm-hmm.
but I will say when.
Whenever anybody says JJ Bereand they go, JJ Bald And they do
that, that kind of ma thattickles me a little bit.
(21:06):
you're starting traditions, youknow?
Yeah.
Like people, it's a traditionand people know how that's gonna
get called and know that fromgoing to a Mavs game you're
gonna experience that.
I feel like you start traditionsin.
Well, that's very nice of you tosay, unless you hate the way
that I say it.
And then you dread the fact thatevery time you go to a match
game, no, it's gonna be me.
(21:27):
Is that guy still here?
Hey, what'd you say about Kyrie?
There was something funny yousaid last game.
We were like, that was silly.
Oh, did I say O Kai?
Goodness.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah, that was so good.
Christie The Usher and I werelike, oh my God.
Did he just say that right now?
That Well, cause here's thething, when, oh, Kai, we talked,
we talked about, trade deadline,right?
(21:49):
I'm very hesitant sometimes tothrow something out new for a
new guy during the middle of theseason, And so I don't really
workshop these things.
They pop into my head and I havethe button, I push the button on
the microphone and I yell it outin front of everybody and let's
see what happens.
right.
And so JJ.
(22:10):
That was what happened.
That's how JJ happened.
Mm-hmm.
um, the Dirk and the Luca, arekind of self-defense because I
have a v I'm a tenor.
I have a very high voice, andwhen I get excited, it gets even
higher, but it's very clear inthe upper end of my voice.
Mm-hmm.
and that can really be piercingand annoying to people.
(22:31):
Oh my God.
I know.
Because I have been told, solike the first game I ever did,
I knew that when I am loud andhigh notes, it's very clear and
very piercing.
So that's when the growl came inand I didn't do it on purpose,
it just happened.
I didn't even realize I wasdoing it for the first half of
(22:51):
the game.
And the guy that was working thebook said, what are you doing
with your voice?
I said, what are you talkingabout?
Yes.
And he goes, you're likegrowling everything.
I'm like, what?
And then I paid attention, like,oh crap, I am, and it just
happens.
I didn't even think about it.
And the reason I say thosethings is cause they amuse me.
It's about me so, so all of thedifferent things I have for Luca
(23:16):
or for whatever, those arethings that I'll think about and
I'll try'em out.
I have had players come up tome, a couple of times, very
rarely, but I've had a coupleplayers come up to me where I
would drop something, like I'dcome up with a nickname or
something and they would come upto me like, yeah, man, I'm not
feeling that.
I'm like that.
It doesn't, it doesn't hurt myfeelings.
Right.
It's your name if you don't wantthat nickname, that's cool.
(23:38):
So to back to Kai and Okai.
Goodness.
I'm very hesitant to just callhim Kai, because his name's
Kyrie but all the guys call himKai.
Mm-hmm.
And I guess I have Need to feelcool and feel like I'm in the
club.
So I started calling him Kai.
And so one thing that I do thatI've been told nobody else does
(24:00):
is when our players go to thefree throw line, I only say
their first name.
Hmm.
And with Kai now going to theline for two shots, Kai.
Wow.
I don't say his full name.
D.
But with Luca, he's the only onewho gets the real, like, I want
everybody to calm down.
Stop chanting, shooting freethrows.
Right.
Controlling the crowd line fortwo shots.
(24:28):
Yes, everybody, we love thatEverybody relax.
It's okay.
Right.
And, So with Kai, I could sayKai three.
Mm-hmm.
Irving, but eh, right.
I like, I like, I like Kai.
I think it fits.
It's very simple.
It's very clear.
But I think, people remember theway I.
(24:50):
Absolutely.
A couple different ways.
I said Dirk's name.
Yeah.
Where they remember some of thethings I've said about Luca.
And that's kind of neat.
Yeah.
It has a huge, but that's notwhy I do it.
Yeah.
It has a huge impact on the fansand actually also the history of
the game.
Mm-hmm.
like a lot of your other dadjokes have a big impact on.
On me, which is what I learnedwhen we started to work together
at the Dallas Cowboys.
(25:11):
I had no idea.
I just wanna apologizeretroactively, because I'm a
dad.
You're, you're, so I, and I'vesaid this before, I have been
extremely fortunate when I haveworked on stage to work with
some of the most talented womenin sports present.
You, I love that you, came struI did a couple, uh, cotton balls
(25:34):
with her.
and even my first year at theCowboys, I worked with, uh,
Kelsey Charles, And she's onstage with me.
Flawless.
Right?
Just flawless.
Now I'm in stadium and I'm onset with Shonda music.
Mm-hmm.
Music.
Mm-hmm.
It's, I, I mean the talentlevel.
I'm kind of nervous.
I'm like, are you sure you wannaput me with her?
Oh gosh.
(25:54):
so I've been very fortunate inthe women that I've been able to
co-host with.
you all have similarpersonalities in that no matter
what stupid thing I say, andNicole handled this too, as a
stage manager, no matter whatridiculous thing I say You're
like, no, that's Sean, whatever.
And it doesn't phase any of you.
Now.
You don't get flustered.
You're just like, yeah, but youare all able, because of your
(26:17):
personalities and your talentand your skillsets, you're all
able to just roll with it andgo, oh, I guess we're doing this
now.
Okay.
And you just jump in and playalong with it.
And it makes my.
Life, not just my job, not justmy career.
It makes my life so much nicerbecause oh, I get to develop
those relationships andfriendships with you.
Mm-hmm.
you get what's going on in here,as loud as noisy and crazy as it
(26:41):
can be in there.
You get it, you're like, oh, Isee what he's doing, and he just
go right along and you.
Keep me all of you, keep me fromlooking much more stupid than I
look.
Can you imagine if there wasnobody, if you weren't reigning
me in?
Can you imagine the insanitythat would be happening?
It'd be, it'd be crazy.
Hey, believe it or not, I, Ican't imagine it.
(27:02):
You know.
Yeah.
You've seen it.
I know.
I've seen it.
Sean, this is so exciting.
I feel like we could just talkforever and ever about all the
awesome things you do, cuzthere's just so many sides to
your job with the Mavs and alsowith cowboys.
And I just feel like the fansreally got a good insight on
what it's like to be behind themic in your shoes because it's
not just.
Saying, time out.
(27:23):
It's not just calling theplayers' names.
It's such a huge, huge part ofthe entire Mavs experience.
So thank you so much for joiningus on the, it's a lot y'all
podcast.
I can't believe the time is upand, we're so happy that you
were able to make it today.
Thanks again.
Uh, it's been my honor.
So we're just gonna go back andstart over and do everything
different again, right?
Yeah.
We're just gonna start thiswhole thing over again.
(27:45):
Okay, cool.
Great.
Ready?
Everybody.
One places people You nailed it.
All right.
Thanks again, Sean.
Thanks guys.
See you later.
Thank you so much, Sean Heathfor joining us on the It's a lot
y'all podcast.
Wow.
I learned a lot of stuff that Ididn't really realize goes on in
his job.
I know.
It was really great to have himon the show.
Yeah.
All right guys.
Don't forget, if you want toreach out to us, you can catch
(28:07):
us on all social media platformsat, it's a lot y'all.
If you're listening on Spotifyor Apple Podcast, please be sure
you subscribe.
We are so grateful that you'reon this journey with us.
Thanks a lot and we'll see younext time.
Bye-bye.
Hello everybody.
Welcome to episode eight of the,it's a Lot y'all podcast.
I'm Allie d.
With me as always, producerNicole.
And we are so, so, so excitedabout today's episode because we
have an amazing guest joiningus.
It is going to be Sean Keith,the PA announcer for the Dallas
Mavericks and the in-stadium oncamera.
host for the Dallas Cowboys aswell.
(00:27):
And so we are really thrilledthat.
Carved out some time in hisschedule to talk to us, Yes.
We not only hear his voicethroughout the arena, but Sean
has such an important role andI'm so excited to ask him so
many questions and learn moreabout how he got started and
what he does.
Yeah.
His position is truly a really,really not only impactful one,
(00:50):
but a really difficult one.
So let's go ahead and dive rightin and talk to our friend Shawn.
All right, everybody.
We are so excited to have theSean Heath on the It's a lot
y'all podcast.
He is joining us now.
Welcome to the show, Sean.
Hi everybody, how are you?
Hey, so Sean Heath is the pa,the public address announcer for
(01:13):
the Dallas Mavericks and also,another.
stadium personality for theDallas Cowboys, which we can get
to as well.
But we have so much talk aboutwith you because we have like a
zillion questions.
We wanna know everything thereis to know about your job behind
the scenes, what goes on.
Cuz you actually have a superimportant job, not only what the
fans are seeing, but also us onthe production side because you
(01:35):
are like kind of a leader inthat.
And I don't even know if youknow that, but before we get
into all of that, you're puttinga lot of pressure on me right
now.
I did not.
Now I'm nervous.
I didn't realize my job was sucha big deal.
It is a big deal.
but before we get into that, Ijust wanna know, I mean, I know
this story, but tell us how yougot the job with the Dallas
Mavericks, cuz that's a greatstory.
Do you want the human version orthe Sean version?
(01:56):
Um, the Sean version.
Okay.
Why not?
So way back in 1966, I was bornand then fast forward, yada
yada, yada.
Boom.
I'm the mad pa guy.
Uh, no.
in like the summer of 2000.
The previous PA announcer,humble, Billy Hayes was leaving
and, the Maverick decided tohave open auditions.
(02:19):
I heard about it waiting in thecarpooling to pick my son up
from school.
and I called in 2 1 4 7 4 7mask.
And got scheduled and they heldthe auditions, like with one of
those six foot folding tablessitting on the floor of American
Airline Center because the starsweren't playing, so the ice
wasn't down, so it was down tothe cement.
Oh.
(02:40):
And they had us come in and Ithink like 60 people auditioned
live.
And I don't even, wow know, Idon't even know how many other
people send in videos andaudition and stuff around the
country.
I think the number's like closeto 200 something.
What was weird was, It was thetable, a microphone and some
script pages, starting a coupleof, so no vibes, like no Mavs
(03:00):
vibes, no noise in the stadiumexcept for over your left
shoulder.
So the giant jumbotron was aboutsix feet from the arena floor.
It was lowered damage, loweredworking on some issue with a
module or a panel or whatever.
And Mark Cuban was standing overthere talking to one of the
techs, cuz Mark's a tech nerd,right?
(03:21):
Yeah.
He probably had the solution soMark was over there talking and
they say, okay, go.
They're sitting like 40 feetaway.
You're almost in the center ofthe floor.
It's very lonely feeling.
Very folding people.
Tim and the microphone in somepages.
Yeah.
And Mark Cuban's right over yourshoulder.
So, being the clueless personthat I am, I just went in and
(03:42):
did it my way.
I did it how I would do it.
I had worked on microphone.
For 20 plus years, I startedworking as a DJ in nightclubs
when I was 16.
So I've been talking onmicrophones, big groups of
people forever.
I worked in musical theater fora couple years and, sung backup
harmonies for music artists.
Mm-hmm.
And so I've, I've been on amicrophone before.
(04:02):
But never exactly like that.
Like I think I announced, Iremembered announcing a high
school basketball game one timeback in the early eighties, And
so, they had the open auditions.
I did the starting lineups, andthen I asked, I said, hold on
just a second.
And then I did the startinglineups in Spanish.
Uh, and Oh, They narrowed itdown to 10.
They put up an online voting.
(04:24):
those of us who wereauditioning.
We didn't know.
They videoed our auditions andthen put them up on mavs.com and
people could go on the websiteand vote.
and then they narrowed it downto six of us.
There were three preseasongames.
And they let each of us do halfof a preseason game.
So I got to do the first half ofthe preseason game against the
Cavaliers, and that's whenLeBron and Shaquille O'Neal were
(04:45):
still there, but they were bothout because they had played the
night before.
Mm.
So I didn't get to it, and I'mlike, oh, that sucks.
So anyways, we did thepreseason.
It was really cool.
It was the first time I'd eversat in American Airlines Center
below the 300 s when I watchedMaps games.
Prior to that time, every game Iever saw, I was up in either
like three 10 or 3 0 6.
I'd never seen a Mavs game downin the lower bowl.
(05:08):
and I got to sit down in the onehundreds and watch a MA game.
Like this is the greatest thingever.
Even if I don't get the job, I'mlike, this is cool cuz I've been
a Mavs fan since day.
And so then they narrowed itdown to two of us after that and
Mark couldn't make a decision ordidn't wanna make a decision.
So then he decided, let's let eeach of these guys do a regular
(05:29):
season game, a full game.
Wow.
So the other guy was, MikeTaylor, who now I think is the
voice of the Texas Legends.
The He does, he does a lot ofother stuff around tattoo.
He's got an amazing voice,amazing Barone, really good
voice and.
So Michael did the first gameand I got to do the second game.
So November of 2009, the firstNBA A game I ever announced.
(05:51):
We were playing the Utah Jazz.
We were down 17 points, I think,in the third quarter.
And Dirk scored 29 points in thefourth quarter to set a
franchise record for points in aquarter.
We won the game.
That's the first NBA game I everannounced.
Chills.
And they still didn't make adecision, so Mark decided, well,
what we'll do is we'll have themalternate home games and have
(06:14):
them do five games each, whichthat pushed us into like
December, right?
Yeah.
The second game that I announcedwas against Houston and we were
down 16 points in the first halfand we ended up coming back and
winning that game and, oh, thisis great.
Guess who becomes the luckycharm?
(06:34):
Yeah.
So back and forth, back andforth.
but ultimately I got the job,and this is my 14th season.
and then like everything else Ido in Dallas, I wasn't going
after gigs in Dallas at the timebecause I was working as a
software engineer and acorporate trainer.
And then this Mavs opportunity,I'm like, yeah, cool.
I'll do that.
And then I, started to realize,hey, maybe I could do this.
(06:56):
Maybe this could be the thing Ido.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And.
You know, I know a person hereand then our good friend, DJ Wiz
Anthony Johnson.
Mm-hmm.
he was asked to fill in over atthe Cowboys on the East Plaza as
a DJ And it turns out one oftheir hosts needed to be
replaced.
So Anthony told the Cowboys,Hey, you should have Sean come
over.
So I went over and that's how Iwound up being with the Cowboys
(07:18):
and then started over there.
Years later.
I'm like, Ellie, you know, weneed to, I was desperate.
And I'm like, and I even told'em, I said, at the time, I
said, I can't imagine she hastime to come and do this.
She's so busy.
Cause you had just started yourclothing.
Yeah.
So you were really hardcore intol e d, enterprises.
Yeah.
And so you were, you were goingto all the trade shows and you
(07:39):
were really focused on themlike, right.
Anyway, she's gonna have time todo this plus, I was kind of
pushing you.
I'm like, when are you gonna doyour album?
When's another album coming out?
Yeah.
What's this?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so I love singing.
Yeah.
I didn't, I didn't think therewas any chance at all that you
would have time to do that.
And so I just hesitantly sentyou a text, Hey, any chance you
(08:00):
might be interested on doingthis thing?
Please.
Yeah.
And she said Yes.
And then I got to hang out withthe great Ali D for a couple
seasons.
It was a good.
And here we are.
Here.
We we're like full circle now inthe cold part of The's.
Funny.
I know.
It's so funny how it all, likeit's so crazy.
Works out with just networkingand people knowing each other
and kind of bringing everyoneon, you know?
(08:20):
Yeah.
It's amazing.
We meet so many great people inall the events we work.
it really is awesome.
And.
Sean is so friendly you justlove to talk to all the fans and
get to know them.
And that's a huge part of thewhole thing too, is just
treating all the fans.
This is a huge experience forthem and so it's important for
everybody on the entertainmentside to always understand that
and anytime we have aninteraction with them, like this
(08:41):
could be one of the their bestmemories.
And so you are very good at alsoperpetuating that thought.
But I do wanna go back to youworking the mic as the PA for
the Mavericks for a little bitmore because.
if the only basketball PA youhad done was in high school one
time, how the heck did you knowwhat you were doing when you
went into that first game?
Because your job, you guys, soyou understand, Sean is the
(09:05):
person communicating everything.
X As and O'S and basketballrelated, that goes on the court
to the 17,000 plus fans.
Mm-hmm.
in the arena and also to ourshow, which is going on at the
same time, our entertainmentside.
So to me it just seems so crazythat your first gig is like on
an NBA court.
(09:25):
You didn't do it in college.
It wasn't something that you haddone, a hundred times at that
point.
So how did you even know to saylike time out or number two,
right?
Like how'd you know all theintricacies of the position?
you know, I never really thoughtabout it like that, it's like
being a surgeon and being like,well, I've never really done the
surgery, but I gimme that havenseen, I'm gonna save a life.
(09:47):
So, you know, I have a headseton mm-hmm.
that I can hear.
I'll replay, game coordinatorCarla, and then back when, Steve
Letson was running everything,he would call the show kind of
from over my shoulder, nearpress row.
He's sitting down there makingsure everything's going.
Now, we have Jacob who does thatand does a spectacular job.
And then we have, Jonathan,cornucopia, His nickname.
(10:10):
we're trying to make it stick.
so we have Jonathan, wholiterally is calling the whole
show and he decides, Hey, thisis a hot time out.
And I hear all this chatter ofJonathan talking to the replay
room and Carlos saying, okay,Sean, go.
And so we used to do paperscripts.
Now we do.
I remember a show flow, right?
We do show flow.
So I have a, tablet in front ofme and it has the script on
there of what the read is forthe promo, the timeout, the ad,
(10:35):
the psa, whatever that.
But a lot of times it's just go,mm-hmm.
You know, the sandbox theory.
A lot of people don't know it bythat, but it's very simple.
Tell me the boundaries.
Who's the sponsor?
Right?
How long do I have?
What do you want me toaccomplish?
If you give me those parameters?
I don't need a script.
(10:56):
cuz I'm gonna ad lib and tweakand edit the script on the fly.
And I think everybody does that.
It's not, it's not somethingspecial or unique I don't think.
I'm just, I'm very comfortabledoing it.
And so if I know who the sponsoris, I know who the contestants
are, I know what the contest is.
I can just mix it up and goofaround.
It helps that when I'm throwingto contests that I'm throwing to
(11:18):
somebody who's one of my bestfriends in Ali e d.
Cause I can throw something andAllie listens to what I throw to
her, and then she plays off ofthat.
So, you know.
Mm-hmm.
and CNO does that too.
I can say something like, Allright.
You know who loves WhataburgerFlying fries, l e d, both the
fries, Yu and the game.
What's going on?
L e d.
(11:39):
And she will pick up, I gave hera lead in and she just knocks it
out of the part.
And so while I get to do thesetups for a lot of things like
that, when it's just me doingsomething.
I don't know, the startinglineups or you know, dance cam I
get the starting cue from CarlaGo and she syncs that up with
(12:01):
Jonathan, who is syncing up withDJ sippy playing the music and
they hit the music so I really.
Three jobs.
Yeah.
I was just sitting here thinkingI know like what you're
explaining, like you havemultiple jobs in your one job,
so Yeah, when I was asking myquestion, I forgot the whole
side of not only are you likecontrolling your payment, I know
the timeouts and all thepromotion side and the reads and
(12:24):
half.
Time and like this guy, when hesits down guys, he's not getting
up to use the bathroom for thewhole whole three hours.
He can't leave his microphoneSure.
well, so the three things that Ido, the three things that all P
announcers have to do,specifically I'll relate this to
the N B A, So you have tocommunicate the sponsor
information.
Mm-hmm.
because they paid so.
(12:45):
talk about sponsors and do theirpromos and their PSAs.
Then you have the internal.
Promotions, Mavs Camp Gem, theMark Cuban Foundation, the Mavs
Foundation community, right?
Yeah.
We have all that internal stuffthat it's super critical and
very important, right?
So you make sure that you getthose things in.
And then the other thing that Ido is strictly administrative.
(13:08):
Mm-hmm.
announcing the time.
Who the foul was on, what thefoul was, how many freak girls
are being shot, the plays beingreviewed for what So I'm a
representative for the Mavs andI'm the bridge between the Mavs.
Game presentation and thereferees.
Right.
So I have to hear what they say.
(13:28):
Correct.
And then communicate that in anon inciting way.
That's not exciting.
It's inciting.
I cannot.
Urged a crowd to express theirdissatisfaction with something
that has gone on rule wise, Andas a, you have be neutral fan.
You have to deliver in a neutraltone.
(13:48):
Anybody who knows me neutral isnot, I'm not a beige guy.
That's not one of my colors,right.
I'm a Mavs fan on a microphoneat a Mavs game, and that's the.
as a matter of fact, I've had areferee tell me in the last
couple of years, he came up tome after the starting lineups
(14:08):
and before I did the hype forthe tip, and he said, you're
like one of only two announcersin the NBA who seem to really
enjoy what you do.
My job is not to be impartial.
I don't see it as such becauseif it was to be impartial,
anybody would be sitting in thatseat, it wouldn't be me.
Mm-hmm.
the reason I'm in that seat isat least I hope it comes across
(14:29):
that I am as crazy a fan aboutthat team as anybody else in
that building, regardless ofwhere they're sitting,
regardless of who they are or ifthey own the team or not.
and so I want them to do well,and people who know me and know
my voice can hear when I'mdisappointed with the way the
score is going or when I'm veryexcited with the way the score
is going.
And I've always felt that inthis specific situation in Mavs
(14:53):
games.
I just happen to have themicrophone.
I'm the mask fan with themicrophone.
And to be fair, if I wasn'tsitting in that seat announcing
mass games, I'd still be in thebuilding.
I'd just be up in the 300 sthese are my guys, this is my
team.
I even say it.
I find myself falling into habitthe last couple of years of
saying right before tip when I'mdoing the little pret tip
height.
(15:14):
this is our house.
This is our team and this is ourtime, and I really think it's
always our time.
I always think we're gonna win,even doesn't matter who we're
playing.
I think what we can win thisgame.
so no experience doing N B Agames or professional sports for
that matter.
They give you a script, sothat's fine.
all I had to do was read check.
(15:35):
I got a headset, someone's gonnatell me when to go check.
Now the rules of the.
and announcing things properly.
I picked up from, the guys whowere sitting on either side of
me Your SCO table, there'sseveral people on your team so
that are helping you with thebasketball parts of it.
Yeah, right.
Immediately to my left was untilthis season, Tim and Man that he
(15:59):
knows everything, right?
He does SMU sports, SMUbasketball.
they've done high schoolfootball at at t Stadium.
they're the guys, and that's thescores table.
To my right is Greg, who runs anactual paper.
Book, and he writes down everyfree throw, every three pointer,
every missed free throw.
and then behind us is the statscrew, and They're the ones who
(16:21):
determined, was it a block, wasit a steal, was it a turnover,
was it an assist?
was it an actual rebound?
They're the people who areputting that into the system and
making sure it goes up on theboards, but they also create the
actual box scores.
So the little printed box scorethat shows their stats for every
player on both teams.
They're the ones who make surethat all the information on
there is correct because they'reresponsible for documenting the
(16:46):
history of that game that tookplace.
So it's kind of cool I get tosit in with some really talented
people.
it's so fun to get to work withthem it's a family.
Yeah.
it's amazing how being with theMavs, you know, and me, I've
been there 16 seasons, so just acouple more than you.
but we truly are, it's a familythere, so I know like we're all
excited to see each other everygame.
(17:07):
It's like, Showing up for aparty.
it's, we're gonna have, yes.
It's not like work.
It's not like work at all.
Mm-hmm.
It's the least work-like jobI've ever had.
Right.
and I love it.
you know as you were talkingabout, the stats crew
documenting the history of thegame and everything that's going
on.
I want you to tell me, what isone of the, I know you've had
(17:27):
some incredible moments in yourposition with the Mavs
championship games, Dirks, allthe stuff going on.
So do you have like a momentthat stands out in your career?
That was one of like the topmoments?
I know there's probably several,but what's something that jumps
into your.
Um, so for me, The first game Idid because I flew my mom down
(17:48):
from Little Rock Oh, to see thegame.
And my daughter was there,Josie, she was there and it was
her first basketball game.
Oh, so her first basketball gamewas that game.
Dirk and JJ were her favoriteplayers.
Oh, Dirk goes crazy in thefourth quarter and I was
announcing it, so that was herfirst N B A game, the first
amazing first snatch game.
(18:09):
So that, that night was prettycool.
Dirk's 30,000 point was cool.
That was a big deal.
Yeah.
Retirement he was building justto my right.
I got to see it.
Yeah.
That was, the retirement wassuper sad, but very awesome.
Yeah.
you know, I've had some of themoments that I remember the most
are.
They're not like momentous, butthey're moments that like, oh, I
(18:33):
really, I appreciate that, whatthat means.
Maybe not to anybody else, butto me.
Mm-hmm.
the other thing is in my firstcouple of seasons, I remember we
were playing Denver and KenyonMartin was still playing for
them.
Dallas.
legend Kenyon Martin, Andhalftime the players, you know,
when they come out to start thesecond half, they come out a
(18:57):
couple minutes early and theyget worn back up and stuff, and
I'm sitting there doingsomething and, and I see this
massive human being just kindalean down and sit on the edge of
the padded table right in front.
and he looks down and he goes,Hey man.
And I look up and it's KenonMartin, like Hey man.
And he goes, it's Kenya.
(19:18):
I'm like, yeah, I know KenyaMartin.
I know.
He goes, you call me Kenya onthe entire first half.
Oh no.
And I said, what?
No, I didn't.
and the guy working the book wasfilling out some stuff and he
goes, yep.
Didn't even look up.
He?
Yep.
Like, yeah, you did.
And I And cause Kenyon's name isspelled k e n y o n.
(19:41):
Kenyon.
Yeah.
I know his name is Kenyon.
He's from Dallas.
I'm a huge fan of Kenyon Martin.
and I just kenon, man, I am sosorry.
He's like, nah man, it's coolI'm like, oh, okay.
because I really have one job.
we've said earlier in thispodcast that I have three jobs.
I really have.
Say things correctly.
Correctly.
(20:01):
Get the players names right.
Get the ball kids names.
Right, exactly.
Get the Exactly game balldelivery name.
Right.
Get the names right, right,right.
I do wanna ask you though, beinga Mavs fan, how do you feel
about, for instance, when yousay like, And all the things
does that resonate with you,that fans take that home and do
you ever think about how coolthat is to kind of make a staple
(20:24):
or a slogan being in the Mavsworld, like for fans that just
all of a sudden are like, Luca,like every time you think Luca,
you just say it.
I don't think about it at thetime, and to be completely
honest, I'm not false modesty.
I don't really think that otherpeople think.
(20:45):
of me that way.
I really don't.
Yeah, I think they think a maskgame sounds the way a mask game
sounds and Oh, he was there too.
Mm-hmm.
I don't think about about itthat way.
Mm-hmm.
but I will say when.
Whenever anybody says JJ Bereand they go, JJ Bald And they do
that, that kind of ma thattickles me a little bit.
(21:06):
you're starting traditions, youknow?
Yeah.
Like people, it's a traditionand people know how that's gonna
get called and know that fromgoing to a Mavs game you're
gonna experience that.
I feel like you start traditionsin.
Well, that's very nice of you tosay, unless you hate the way
that I say it.
And then you dread the fact thatevery time you go to a match
game, no, it's gonna be me.
(21:27):
Is that guy still here?
Hey, what'd you say about Kyrie?
There was something funny yousaid last game.
We were like, that was silly.
Oh, did I say O Kai?
Goodness.
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah, that was so good.
Christie The Usher and I werelike, oh my God.
Did he just say that right now?
That Well, cause here's thething, when, oh, Kai, we talked,
we talked about, trade deadline,right?
(21:49):
I'm very hesitant sometimes tothrow something out new for a
new guy during the middle of theseason, And so I don't really
workshop these things.
They pop into my head and I havethe button, I push the button on
the microphone and I yell it outin front of everybody and let's
see what happens.
right.
And so JJ.
(22:10):
That was what happened.
That's how JJ happened.
Mm-hmm.
um, the Dirk and the Luca, arekind of self-defense because I
have a v I'm a tenor.
I have a very high voice, andwhen I get excited, it gets even
higher, but it's very clear inthe upper end of my voice.
Mm-hmm.
and that can really be piercingand annoying to people.
(22:31):
Oh my God.
I know.
Because I have been told, solike the first game I ever did,
I knew that when I am loud andhigh notes, it's very clear and
very piercing.
So that's when the growl came inand I didn't do it on purpose,
it just happened.
I didn't even realize I wasdoing it for the first half of
(22:51):
the game.
And the guy that was working thebook said, what are you doing
with your voice?
I said, what are you talkingabout?
Yes.
And he goes, you're likegrowling everything.
I'm like, what?
And then I paid attention, like,oh crap, I am, and it just
happens.
I didn't even think about it.
And the reason I say thosethings is cause they amuse me.
It's about me so, so all of thedifferent things I have for Luca
(23:16):
or for whatever, those arethings that I'll think about and
I'll try'em out.
I have had players come up tome, a couple of times, very
rarely, but I've had a coupleplayers come up to me where I
would drop something, like I'dcome up with a nickname or
something and they would come upto me like, yeah, man, I'm not
feeling that.
I'm like that.
It doesn't, it doesn't hurt myfeelings.
Right.
It's your name if you don't wantthat nickname, that's cool.
(23:38):
So to back to Kai and Okai.
Goodness.
I'm very hesitant to just callhim Kai, because his name's
Kyrie but all the guys call himKai.
Mm-hmm.
And I guess I have Need to feelcool and feel like I'm in the
club.
So I started calling him Kai.
And so one thing that I do thatI've been told nobody else does
(24:00):
is when our players go to thefree throw line, I only say
their first name.
Hmm.
And with Kai now going to theline for two shots, Kai.
Wow.
I don't say his full name.
D.
But with Luca, he's the only onewho gets the real, like, I want
everybody to calm down.
Stop chanting, shooting freethrows.
Right.
Controlling the crowd line fortwo shots.
(24:28):
Yes, everybody, we love thatEverybody relax.
It's okay.
Right.
And, So with Kai, I could sayKai three.
Mm-hmm.
Irving, but eh, right.
I like, I like, I like Kai.
I think it fits.
It's very simple.
It's very clear.
But I think, people remember theway I.
(24:50):
Absolutely.
A couple different ways.
I said Dirk's name.
Yeah.
Where they remember some of thethings I've said about Luca.
And that's kind of neat.
Yeah.
It has a huge, but that's notwhy I do it.
Yeah.
It has a huge impact on the fansand actually also the history of
the game.
Mm-hmm.
like a lot of your other dadjokes have a big impact on.
On me, which is what I learnedwhen we started to work together
at the Dallas Cowboys.
(25:11):
I had no idea.
I just wanna apologizeretroactively, because I'm a
dad.
You're, you're, so I, and I'vesaid this before, I have been
extremely fortunate when I haveworked on stage to work with
some of the most talented womenin sports present.
You, I love that you, came struI did a couple, uh, cotton balls
(25:34):
with her.
and even my first year at theCowboys, I worked with, uh,
Kelsey Charles, And she's onstage with me.
Flawless.
Right?
Just flawless.
Now I'm in stadium and I'm onset with Shonda music.
Mm-hmm.
Music.
Mm-hmm.
It's, I, I mean the talentlevel.
I'm kind of nervous.
I'm like, are you sure you wannaput me with her?
Oh gosh.
(25:54):
so I've been very fortunate inthe women that I've been able to
co-host with.
you all have similarpersonalities in that no matter
what stupid thing I say, andNicole handled this too, as a
stage manager, no matter whatridiculous thing I say You're
like, no, that's Sean, whatever.
And it doesn't phase any of you.
Now.
You don't get flustered.
You're just like, yeah, but youare all able, because of your
(26:17):
personalities and your talentand your skillsets, you're all
able to just roll with it andgo, oh, I guess we're doing this
now.
Okay.
And you just jump in and playalong with it.
And it makes my.
Life, not just my job, not justmy career.
It makes my life so much nicerbecause oh, I get to develop
those relationships andfriendships with you.
Mm-hmm.
you get what's going on in here,as loud as noisy and crazy as it
(26:41):
can be in there.
You get it, you're like, oh, Isee what he's doing, and he just
go right along and you.
Keep me all of you, keep me fromlooking much more stupid than I
look.
Can you imagine if there wasnobody, if you weren't reigning
me in?
Can you imagine the insanitythat would be happening?
It'd be, it'd be crazy.
Hey, believe it or not, I, Ican't imagine it.
(27:02):
You know.
Yeah.
You've seen it.
I know.
I've seen it.
Sean, this is so exciting.
I feel like we could just talkforever and ever about all the
awesome things you do, cuzthere's just so many sides to
your job with the Mavs and alsowith cowboys.
And I just feel like the fansreally got a good insight on
what it's like to be behind themic in your shoes because it's
not just.
Saying, time out.
(27:23):
It's not just calling theplayers' names.
It's such a huge, huge part ofthe entire Mavs experience.
So thank you so much for joiningus on the, it's a lot y'all
podcast.
I can't believe the time is upand, we're so happy that you
were able to make it today.
Thanks again.
Uh, it's been my honor.
So we're just gonna go back andstart over and do everything
different again, right?
Yeah.
We're just gonna start thiswhole thing over again.
(27:45):
Okay, cool.
Great.
Ready?
Everybody.
One places people You nailed it.
All right.
Thanks again, Sean.
Thanks guys.
See you later.
Thank you so much, Sean Heathfor joining us on the It's a lot
y'all podcast.
Wow.
I learned a lot of stuff that Ididn't really realize goes on in
his job.
I know.
It was really great to have himon the show.
Yeah.
All right guys.
Don't forget, if you want toreach out to us, you can catch
(28:07):
us on all social media platformsat, it's a lot y'all.
If you're listening on Spotifyor Apple Podcast, please be sure
you subscribe.
We are so grateful that you'reon this journey with us.
Thanks a lot and we'll see younext time.
Bye-bye.
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