Franques not letting emotions rule in finale
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Another number was pulled down from the stadium’s outfield deathwatch: one fewer game remaining at Alex Box.
In all the hubbub over the ballpark’s closing with this weekend’s Southeastern Conference series against Mississippi State beginning Friday night, LSU public address announcer Bill Franques had intended to research how many games he had called at The Box.
Nineteen seasons, five national championships, one live birth in the public address system cabinet — it had to be somewhere around 700, he figured.
But when a search of the media guide showed that the current game, an 11-2 rout of Nicholls State on April 15, made exactly 700, he dismissed it with a “how ‘bout that?” smirk and simply introduced the next batter.
Franques is just not a guy overcome by round numbers or sentiment.
“It’s been a privilege to work here,” is about as much as he is willing to gush, flipping through his three-ringer binder of promotions to announce.
If Franques outwardly appears unaffected by the stadium’s closing, it’s not because he won’t miss the place: his mind is a Google of fond memories for the old Alex Box.
He’s just trying to end his 19-year run at the stadium the same way he held it — like a professional.
Growing up a sports-crazed kid in Lafayette, his role models were broadcasters like Frank Fallon, who carried themselves and treated their sport with a dignity above what others might afford.
“I’d watch the Final Four and think ‘How awesome would it be to do what Frank Fallon does?’” Franques said. “They were so smooth, so distinguished — they brought an air of dignity to an event.
“I recognize that some people think I’m too strict, too formal, but I like to think I bring dignity and respect to the game.”
Franques wasn’t much older than the players on the field when the school hired the recent LSU grad to be the sports information department’s lead for baseball in 1989.
By then, the success of another somewhat recent hire, coach Skip Bertman, had ignited the program’s fan base.
The coach had inherited a team that had gone a ho-hum 100-95 in the previous four seasons and took it to two College World Series appearances in its next four.
Now, Bertman had ideas for building the program outside the foul lines.
One of the big ones was adding theme music as each batter stepped to the plate.
Franques admits he doesn’t know most of the music the players request, but he’s happy to oblige now that downloading and digital music have made the task easier.
In his earlier days, he hauled around a box of mix tapes to each game, swapping them in and out of an old deck head.
In its latter years, the sound system served as a maternity ward for stray cats (Note to stat followers: LSU is 1-0 in Super Regional Tournament games against Big XII opponents following the birth of kittens in the press box).
During the next several years, Bertman and Franques introduced other in-game and game-day promotions.
Now the Tiger game-day experience is an amalgam of Bertman’s ideas and where Franques ran with them.
Most of those ideas will be heading with Franques to the new Alex Box Stadium for the 2009 season.
There he’ll have a cozy indoor press box — no more lugging his equipment up and down stadium steps.
Still, he’ll miss sitting in the stands, the cheering fans below and chirping birds nesting above.
A few years ago, he had the opportunity to call a football game from inside the Tiger Stadium press box. It felt like watching a game on TV, he said.
Franques might not be very sentimental about leaving Alex Box, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t realize what he will be losing by moving indoors.
How memorable would a nonconference game from six years ago be if he hadn’t had to sit in a 15-degree wind chill to watch it?
What story would he have to tell if cats couldn’t get into his sound system?
“I think the whole program will benefit from the new stadium,” Franques said.
“But we’re certainly going to miss it here.”
In all the hubbub over the ballpark’s closing with this weekend’s Southeastern Conference series against Mississippi State beginning Friday night, LSU public address announcer Bill Franques had intended to research how many games he had called at The Box.
Nineteen seasons, five national championships, one live birth in the public address system cabinet — it had to be somewhere around 700, he figured.
But when a search of the media guide showed that the current game, an 11-2 rout of Nicholls State on April 15, made exactly 700, he dismissed it with a “how ‘bout that?” smirk and simply introduced the next batter.
Franques is just not a guy overcome by round numbers or sentiment.
“It’s been a privilege to work here,” is about as much as he is willing to gush, flipping through his three-ringer binder of promotions to announce.
If Franques outwardly appears unaffected by the stadium’s closing, it’s not because he won’t miss the place: his mind is a Google of fond memories for the old Alex Box.
He’s just trying to end his 19-year run at the stadium the same way he held it — like a professional.
Growing up a sports-crazed kid in Lafayette, his role models were broadcasters like Frank Fallon, who carried themselves and treated their sport with a dignity above what others might afford.
“I’d watch the Final Four and think ‘How awesome would it be to do what Frank Fallon does?’” Franques said. “They were so smooth, so distinguished — they brought an air of dignity to an event.
“I recognize that some people think I’m too strict, too formal, but I like to think I bring dignity and respect to the game.”
Franques wasn’t much older than the players on the field when the school hired the recent LSU grad to be the sports information department’s lead for baseball in 1989.
By then, the success of another somewhat recent hire, coach Skip Bertman, had ignited the program’s fan base.
The coach had inherited a team that had gone a ho-hum 100-95 in the previous four seasons and took it to two College World Series appearances in its next four.
Now, Bertman had ideas for building the program outside the foul lines.
One of the big ones was adding theme music as each batter stepped to the plate.
Franques admits he doesn’t know most of the music the players request, but he’s happy to oblige now that downloading and digital music have made the task easier.
In his earlier days, he hauled around a box of mix tapes to each game, swapping them in and out of an old deck head.
In its latter years, the sound system served as a maternity ward for stray cats (Note to stat followers: LSU is 1-0 in Super Regional Tournament games against Big XII opponents following the birth of kittens in the press box).
During the next several years, Bertman and Franques introduced other in-game and game-day promotions.
Now the Tiger game-day experience is an amalgam of Bertman’s ideas and where Franques ran with them.
Most of those ideas will be heading with Franques to the new Alex Box Stadium for the 2009 season.
There he’ll have a cozy indoor press box — no more lugging his equipment up and down stadium steps.
Still, he’ll miss sitting in the stands, the cheering fans below and chirping birds nesting above.
A few years ago, he had the opportunity to call a football game from inside the Tiger Stadium press box. It felt like watching a game on TV, he said.
Franques might not be very sentimental about leaving Alex Box, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t realize what he will be losing by moving indoors.
How memorable would a nonconference game from six years ago be if he hadn’t had to sit in a 15-degree wind chill to watch it?
What story would he have to tell if cats couldn’t get into his sound system?
“I think the whole program will benefit from the new stadium,” Franques said.
“But we’re certainly going to miss it here.”
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