David Sims (born February 14, 1953) is an American sportscaster. He currently is the television

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

commentator for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

. Sims was the 2018, 2019 and 2020 National Sports Media Association's Washington state Sportscaster of the Year. He is in his 16th season as the co-host (with

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five nati ...

) of ''Basketball and Beyond with Coach K'' on

Sirius XM Satellite Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius ...

. In 2009 Sims was also the television play-by-play host for the UFL on Versus.

Biography

Sims grew up in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and attended Bethany College in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, where he played one year of varsity football, finishing third in kickoff returns in the

Presidents' Athletic Conference The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Of its 11 current member schools, all private, liberal arts institutions of higher learning, nine are located in Western Pennsylvania. ...

, and

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

for the Bison baseball team (in Division III) and majored in mass communications. He began his career as a sportswriter for the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...

''. In the early 1980s he was a sports reporter for the short lived "

Satellite News Channel Satellite News Channel (SNC) was an American short-lived news-based cable television channel that was operated as a joint venture between the ABC Video Enterprises division of American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (a.k.a. ABC) and the Group ...

". Moving to radio, Sims became the host of WNBC's ''SportsNight'' (1986–1988) (replacing Jack Spector), a five-hour nightly sports call-in show that was a precursor to the all-sports talk format of

WFAN WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...

. He was hired by Michael Weisman as a reporter covering

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its ...

' telecast of the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

. He went on to cohost the midday show with Ed Coleman on

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

's Sports Radio 66 WFAN, Sept. 1989-Feb. 1993. He then became a weekend sports anchor at

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station W ...

(1995–1998) and also was a radio host for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

(1986–1993). Sims' play-by-play announcing career began (1990–1992) as the radio voice of

Temple Owls football The Temple Owls football team represents Temple University in the sport of college football. The Temple Owls compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). They play thei ...

in the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. Moving to TV, Sims was the TV Voice of the Big East Conference football game of the week (1993–1994) and then again (1998–2007). In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, Sims joined

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

as a play-by-play announcer for

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

, and added

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. He primarily called Big East contests on the

ESPN Plus ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, in partnership with ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Com ...

regional network. He continues to broadcast college basketball games for FOX and

FS1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...

beginning in 2016. Sims was the #2 broadcaster for

NFL on Westwood One Sports ''The NFL on Westwood One Sports'' is the branding for Cumulus Broadcasting subsidiary Westwood One's radio coverage of the National Football League. These games are distributed throughout the United States and Canada (the latter through TSN Rad ...

's Sunday afternoon doubleheader before taking the permanent play-by-play position on ''Sunday Night Football''. He replaced

Joel Meyers Joel Meyers is an American sportscaster who is the play-by-play announcer of the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also is the lead host of "Above the Rim", which airs weekdays from 10am-1pm ET on SiriusXM ...

on the ''Sunday Night Football'' game in 2006. Sims worked "Sunday Night Football" games from 2006 to 2012. From 2013 to 2014, Sims returned to Sunday Afternoon NFL action while working with former NFL quarterback Mark Malone. In addition to ''Sunday Night Football'', Sims also called college basketball for Westwood One (1998–2014) with his most notable call to date being the George Mason-UConn regional final in 2006 (where #11 seed George Mason upset top-seed Connecticut to become the second #11 seed in history to reach the Final Four). While working in other sports, he occasionally provided

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

play-by-play for

(1993–1994) and did an internet radio show for MLB.com (1999–2000). In , he took the opportunity to return to baseball full-time as part of the

television broadcast. One of the few African-American broadcasters in the history of the sport, he is also perhaps the only one of that group not to have played in the major leagues. His broadcast partner is former Mariners 3B

Mike Blowers Michael Roy Blowers (; born April 24, 1965) is a German-born American former Major League Baseball player, a third baseman and first baseman for the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Oakland Athletics. Since 2007 ...

. Sims was the broadcaster on Fox on April 21, 2012, describing

Philip Humber's perfect game Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners by retiring all 27 batters he faced on Saturday, April 21, 2012, as the White Sox defeated the Mariners 4–0. It was the 21st perfect game in Major L ...

. However, the game was broadcast in its entirety only in the Chicago and Seattle markets, because the rest of the country heard

Joe Buck Joseph Francis Buck (born April 25, 1969) is an American sportscaster. The son of sportscaster Jack Buck, he worked for Fox Sports from its 1994 inception through 2022, including roles as lead play-by-play announcer for the network's Nation ...

and

Tim McCarver James Timothy McCarver (born October 16, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to , most prominently as a member of the St. Louis Cardina ...

call a game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Because the game was broadcast on FOX in both markets, Sims had to call the game from a neutral standpoint as a broadcaster and not as the usual Mariners broadcaster, even though his team lost to a perfect game. Just four months after calling Philip Humber's perfect game, Félix Hernández threw the first perfect game in Mariners' history. Sims called the game for Root Sports in Seattle. This is the first time that one broadcaster has called two perfect games in the same Major League Baseball season.

Notable catchphrases

Sims is noted for using the following

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

s on Mariner broadcasts: *"Giddy up! Baby! Giddy up!"- used on exciting plays and also used on balls that may go over the fence for a home run. *"Bye-Bye!" - Home Run. *"Boomstick Baby!"- used whenever

Nelson Cruz Nelson Ramón Cruz Martínez Jr. (born July 1, 1980) is a Dominican-American professional baseball designated hitter and right fielder who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas ...

hit a home run. *"Holy Mackerel"/"How about that?"- used for exciting plays. *”Bro-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-ther.” - used after a particularly dispiriting loss or play. *”Hey Now!”- used after exciting game changing plays. Sims is a staunch believer in letting his audience know when a pitcher is working on a no-hitter. "I have to tell the audience what’s going on…if a guy’s throwing a no-no, I have to report it."

References

External links

*
DingoTalk interview with Carlo Guadagnino
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Dave Living people 1953 births African-American sports journalists American sports journalists American radio sports announcers American television sports announcers Bethany College (West Virginia) alumni Bethany Bison baseball players Bethany Bison football players College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters National Football League announcers United Football League broadcasters Television anchors from New York City Television personalities from Philadelphia Seattle Mariners announcers Tampa Bay Buccaneers announcers Temple Owls football announcers New York Knicks announcers National Basketball Association broadcasters Sportswriters from New York (state) Sportswriters from Pennsylvania 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people