INDIANAPOLIS – We’re going one-on-one with the man whose voice you’ve probably listened to on game day.
Colts’ fans tune in to hear Matt Taylor’s radio play-by-play each week. But there’s much more to the job than you think. So, we went to get a behind-the-scenes look, at what it takes to be “The Voice of the Colts.”
You could say Taylor’s office has quite the view.
“Sometimes you really do have to take a step back,” said Taylor, “You’re like – holy smokes – how lucky am I to be able to do this?”
It’s a dream that started when Taylor was just your typical, sports loving kid here in Indy.
“I was that kid growing up that would turn the TV down and call games. I would do the play-by-play myself in the living room,” said Taylor, “I grew up playing sports. My favorite sport growing up was football. I played high school football. I played college football. I have always been in love with the sport.”
It takes a lot of hard work and homework to be “The Voice of the Colts.”
“It’s the opposite of just showing up and grippin’ and rippin’ it,” said Taylor. He calls it a 3-hour game of chess in your brain.
“The game is happening so quickly, and you have so much to compartmentalize,” he explained. “Just with our broadcast on Sundays you have a sideline reporter in your ear, you have a statistician in your ear, you have your color analyst that you’re on the air with, you have a producer in your ear telling you things that are going on back in the studio.”
Imagine all of that, while making sure the listeners can follow along. He calls the game, based on how he would want to listen to it.
“When you watch a game on TV what do you have at all times? You’ve got the box, the time, the score, who’s got the ball, where they are at on the field, down and distance. If you listen to me – hopefully you get annoyed at how often I’m giving you the score,” said Taylor.
In his seventh year as the voice of the Colts, Taylor understands the responsibility. Giving Indy fans, the game-day experience, even if, they can’t see the field.
“You owe it to the Colts, and you owe it to the thousands of people that are listening to you on gameday,” said Taylor.
If you follow along with Taylor’s social media, he posts here where you can listen along on game day.
