The Chill w/ Geoff Arnold & Melanie Newman | Baltimore Orioles

The Chill w/ Geoff Arnold & Melanie Newman | Baltimore Orioles

hi I’m Jeff Arnold Orioles broadcaster i’m Melanie Newman and this is how we chill but this is how we chill but this is how we chill but this is how we show the chill presented by Daiko but this is how we chill you knew I was going to do it i really like though you went from very professional to this is how we chill all right do you want the first question or you want me to go um why don’t you go first ladies first all right what’s your most unforgettable call good or bad well I’d say it was probably the Adam Frasier double call remember you and I were doing that game and I remember very well yeah it was Pete Fairbanks on the mound and we’re like “This is going to be really tough.” And then Jorge Matteo pinch runs at first base and I blacked out i don’t really remember what was going on but you hit the button next to me after I got done you were like “You crushed that.” I’m like “Really i don’t know what I said.” But see that’s how I feel all the time people are like “Well what’ you do?” I’m like I don’t know yeah it happens all the time like cuz I think people think that like when we’re making a call that we have something planned a lot of times I don’t know what’s going to come out like do you know what’s going to come out no I never have it planned i don’t know call good or bad that’s most memorable and now I find it funny because once again I’m inflicted mela’s Mela is struggling with her voice i pushing through tradition my um my very first call with you in spring training and I wanted to come in i wanted to prep i wanted to do all this other stuff and instead they’re like “You’re going to talk to the media you’re going to do this you’re going to do this.” And we got in the booth and like you just rip it off and you’re like “Okay let’s go.” So it’s the first time I’ve ever officially in an Orioles capacity called a game i had no voice and I was just like “Thank God I’ve known Jeff at least for the Carolina League and all the time we shared together because Pat Valleica hit a home run to left and I barely squeaked out i mean squeakaked that he got the home run and I immediately hit my mute button so I could cough and you took the rest of the call as a good partner not not as well i mean I felt bad like it was just because I know you deal with allergies like I actually had allergies for the first time last year when we were playing Oakland and I listened back and I was like “All right my voice doesn’t sound that bad.” But as I was like calling the game I was like “It doesn’t feel too good.” So allergies are the absolute worst yeah no they’re they’re not great have you ever snuck in a word or phrase during a broadcast before you and I did that a lot i want to say 2021 i think I can’t remember now this is bad i can’t remember who would feed us the words some of them were easy to work in some of them were like goofy so you really had to pick your spots i remember like I won times said “Use the word caress.” And so I was like “That fast ball caresses the outside corner.” Yeah it was a weird one i didn’t I didn’t love that one um I can’t remember of course any of the words that we used right now but yeah we’ve definitely done that before i had I had players in the minor leagues like every now and then one would pop up and they’d be like “Hey get this in today.” And so we’d we’d just figure it out and half the time they’d have like a radio on in the dugout or something and Yeah yeah super califragilistic espialidocious you say it loud enough it’s sure to sound atrocious oh man you might even be a little precocious yeah I know I don’t think Would you describe me as precocious i don’t currently remember what it means so yeah I don’t think I do either precoious oh I spelled it right i’m so good exceptionally early in development or occurrence exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age you might be very precocious actually i take it definitely not i was definitely definitely not that i feel like you wore bow ties as an 8-year-old really yeah just like super proper i I got really uncomfortable as like a youngster like dressing up i don’t know why well you’re doing great thanks it’s what I tell myself every day i do like the Steuart Small look in the mirror in the morning i’m good enough i’m smart enough and gosh darn it people like me wish that’s what I’m gonna stick with good graph hey thanks what’s your next question well before we move on can we feed you guys words to put in for the next home stand absolutely we have slime tadpole Byzantine Empire hungry hungry hippo bamb ramona Rias has been fielding ground balls like a hungry hungry hippo on air i’m gonna I’m gonna crack i’m not going to be able to hold it together and Brad’s going to be like “What are you doing?” I’m gonna take Tadpole actually I I’m I think I’m gonna do Hungry Hungry Hippos like that’s too good i’m very excited for that oh I I can’t I can’t wait i actually said last night when the third base coach it wasn’t our player but third base coach for the other team puts the stops in up really late i said he was trying to stop and he looked like a Chevy Suburban trying to turn and stop all right question all right let’s let’s let’s hear let’s hear this huh do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions just ask Ben McDonald that question well that’s not really a ritual or superstition that’s No it’s just it’s just preparation i get really locked in before a game i don’t know why it’s like one of my greatest strengths it’s also drives Sean crazy none of us really know why yeah i I don’t know it’s just like just like that feeling like every every broadcast is like a test like every Have you ever had a player step up and you like didn’t know their ethnicity and like their greatgrandparents background there’s certain players that are are you aware of what page they’re in the book that exists over on Ellis Island because I feel like that’s your level of Yeah i I I’m I’m not as familiar with uh folks coming through Ellis Island and you know what their great great great grandparents were yeah but um I try to prepare a lot i don’t prepare as much as I think Brett Hollander says I prepare you prepare enough that if we had 162 games of only the Orioles and the Cardinals you would have information for all 162 games i try to be thorough i try to be thorough but you know what here’s the thing like do you know sometimes like why I prepare that way is because when the game is going on I don’t have to look down all that much i don’t like looking down when I broadcast i like looking at the person I’m broadcasting with so that way it’s just like that way it’s just like I’m paying attention to what you’re saying or what Brett’s saying or what Ben’s saying or what Palmer’s saying or whoever I’m working with and they can just go wherever they want to go and I’ll be like “Okay I remember from what I read about this and I can add something to this i don’t really know anything about this so I’m going to just let you take it and I’ll react to it this way.” But it just gives me a way where I I don’t have to look down at my notes cuz I mean like a game is kind of like an open book test in a way but yeah you shouldn’t be looking down at your notes all that often because you can miss a lot of stuff going on in the field so I don’t know that’s that’s the way that I do it but do you have any superstitions so I steal all the really nice hotel pins when we’re Oh I do that too i do that too so cuz they’re heavy and they’re metal they’re they write beautifully and they last forever so if we lose I will change out my pen the Venoi went 3 and 0 i got to use a new one today is that Is that Is that the pink pen is that a pink pen yeah if you have more of those I want them i don’t actually no so I changed pens when I was in college we had to eat gummy bears but only while our team was at bat not while they were on defense um and we ran out two years in a row at the final game uh at the Vanderbilt Regional because of course we always got Vandy as the host um and Troy got eliminated and for that I’m sorry that I didn’t buy enough gummy bears but yeah that’s a shame there’s this one hotel that we’ve stayed in in Kansas City and they have the best pens and I’ve stole like four or five of them i like you don’t name it because you’re like I stole four or five yeah i don’t want I don’t want any notes from security i leave a tip for housekeeping but I’m sure they have enough pens you don’t actually know what the best pen that I had do you remember when we did that um remember when you and I went with Ben to do the Philly cheese steakake thing yeah the cheese steak crawl the cheese steakake crawl we went to Gino’s it was the second place we went i don’t think Goss is my favorite cheese steak um but they but they gave me a pen and it was such a great pen and I lost it after like a day so I’m really like I was really bummed about that it’s upsetting should be better you can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes you can get what you need exactly let’s see another one from Melie what’s a behind the scenes part of your job fans would be surprised to know about i don’t know if there’s really a surprise part i always joke with you guys that like you just woke up and you picked an outfit and like good for you but like I have to go okay do I need to tan today where are my nails at do I have to curl my hair okay I have to put on makeup okay I have to mess with fake eyelashes like did I already wear this outfit cuz I’m going to get called out if I wear the same outfit twice weird stuff yeah that uh that you guys obviously don’t deal with which is why I like radio because I can just go radio casual no one’s gonna know if I’ve worn that outfit before it’s beautiful unless unless unless you just turn to me and say “Didn’t you wear that yesterday you bum?” No I appreciate that you guys can rewear stuff and like people don’t care cuz I’m envious um I would think it’s probably the fact that like especially with this different role is just how much go there is and a lot of it isn’t even for air so like I’ll I’ll try to get up in the morning breakfast go to the gym if I can get a protein shake on my on my drive-in then great but if not like it’s getting here you know like let’s say at two for a six game and going straight to Clubhouse for an hour trying to talk to guys and some of it is for air and some of it’s just like hey what are you watching on TV right now like are are you following the NBA at all tell me about that like how’s your wife again stuff we’re not going to talk about but it’s important to give players that human perspective and they don’t feel like every time I walk up it’s just that I want something from them and so going from clubhouse to batting practice for another hour because if there were guys that weren’t in clubhouse like that’s my chance then to also talk to them talk to coaches doing the pre-production meetings and then obviously you go on air and it’s just go from there because then it’s the pregame show it’s throwing it up and then getting down to the dugout or if we’re on the road I’m already in the dugout and trying to listen and balance okay is something I just heard is that appropriate for me to repeat on air is that something that I need to respectfully keep with the team so yeah there’s just a lot of little stuff that like we don’t ever use for air I guess would be like the biggest surprise but it’s important all the same and there’s sometimes I think there’s information too that we get that you look at it you’re reading it like we’ll read different types of stuff and sometimes I’ll read it be like I got to read that like two or three times to understand what it actually means and I get the gist of it and so sometimes when we’re on the air it’s like I’m not going to tell you where I read it i’m not going to give you all the stuff because sometimes like yeah I had to read that two or three times so it’s like but it’s important so it’s like I’ll just give you the gist and I’ll let you take my word for it and I think sometimes it’s like yeah it’s like this is I think we’re kind of we’re trying to bring joy to people we’re also trying to explain stuff it’s entertainment and education at the same time is what I always say and we’re we’re good at the entertainment part we are really good at the entertainment part you got it’s got to be fun like if you don’t have fun it’s a game it’s supposed to be fun if you don’t have fun at a baseball game I really don’t think you can have fun anywhere that’s some wisdom for the kids out there and by the way um because social media is the way it is would you like to tell everyone why the sunglasses because I’m under concussion problems i know that’s I know you were you’re like you’re playing you’re still playing hurt yesterday was the discovery that my short-term memory is not really great right now um what what did you forget no I do a lot of like I open my phone and I immediately don’t know why I opened it or like it it’s worse than like you walk into a different room and you don’t remember like it’s it’s instantaneous and today was the discovery that we don’t like light anymore so yeah we have all these beautiful lights in here so this can be aesthetic and um my eyeballs are not having it so I’m very chill today you are very true or you could just say it’s like you know what I wear glasses because I’m really I’m just that cool i I’ve never The coolest I’ve ever been in my life was that I returned the same night from getting hit by the ball that’s it i have never been the cool kid everybody’s coming up to you right i got a standing O at Fenway which is tough to do for anybody i felt sick um yeah I got literally and figuratively i got dapped up by the guys i was like “This might have been worth it for this one moment.” Not really there’s There’s one I’m not going to say who said it but there was one What if there was one person that said when they haven’t they you know you they were they were watching from their spot in the bullpen and they Keegan Akin this is so funny because we just talked about what I do before the game i walked in the next day i didn’t get one interview for in-game use or like even not an interview but just information right and uh Keegan who isn’t super chatty at least for us uh always nice comes up and just very loudly from across the class goes “I saw it all from the bullpin your shoes went up in the air.” I love that what advice Mel would you give to someone who wants to do what you do someday wear a helmet i I think you have to put social media aside which is so it’s so vastly different from when I got into the industry like I started I started really working in the sport when I was 15 mhm and we had YouTube like at best you didn’t have this iceberg view of like it’s glamorous it’s the highlight reel or anything else you really have to put everything aside and like be willing to work in places you haven’t been before like don’t like I I don’t want to go work in Montana i don’t want to work here like you have to be willing to pack up and and go where you’ve never been where you don’t know anybody you usually have to accept sometimes the job does doesn’t pay um you know sometimes it’s housing and food and that’s it and I I think the minute you accept to be where your feet are and you graciously accept the work and the grind you really appreciate it so much more i will always love my time in the minor leagues because I finally found a way to actually practice that and do it and there’s just there’s something gratifying in working that hard and and for such a limited audience and still giving players a chance to feel like they were recognized because not all of them make it to the big leagues very few of them make it to the big leagues but for a moment you have the capacity to make somebody feel like they matter and that’s going to stick with me 110% i I thought like I’m going to get a big league job when I’m 25 no I was on the doorsteps of 30 at that point and I’m glad I didn’t get it that young because I learned so much and you have to work multiple jobs to to figure it out i didn’t move out of my parents house until I was 29 and and again I will go on the back end now that they have social media you need to be willing to create your own stuff and put it out there but with quality um you know not not gimmicky stuff we see it all the time but actually put quality behind your work i kind of get annoyed by the gimmicky stuff where where it’s just like “Oh Mr engagement over there this is obviously just for clicks this is obviously and I I get so annoyed with that stuff cuz you’re like and it’s I think what’s tough is like when it’s somebody that like you know and you’re just like that’s not you like why you why you doing that?” Like I I think that you make a good point about the social media thing like I try and use it um everybody loves seeing Ben McDonald scare me and it’s really funny and so I I’ll put it up he’ll put it up and Yeah i just But that’s more of a reflection of your personality i think I think so too it’s like and I think that I think I’m good at being me like when like I’m like in the in these settings and I think like you can tell people who are not being themselves with baseball you’re doing so many games you kind of have to just be yourself because it’s going to come out anyways you’re going to slip up at some point so you always joke with me like if something goes on in the booth I just say it on air and you’re like Melany’s breaking the fourth wall yeah breaking the fourth wall yeah we’ve broken a lot of fourth walls like I think people kind of know us as a group as people and I think that’s like one of our strengths and people are just like you know what he’s an idiot but he’s our idiot and we’re just you know he’s exactly like us and that’s really like what we are like what what you see is what you get like if you see us at a bar like we’re going to be the same people i remember when Brett and I were at this holiday party for a friend i don’t think you were I think I don’t think you were there i think you might have been in Georgia at the time brett and I were talking we’re getting a drink at the bar we’re having like one of these exchanges like we typically have like the exchanges we have on the air that are exactly the same exchanges we have off the air and this guy looks at us and he’s just like “You guys are literally exactly the same.” And I’m like “You got it it’s Yeah nothing no frrills just us being us just us being us.” And I’d say like be yourself be yourself have fun you know and I like what you said about like where you go and visiting different places like you and I are both in Frisco Texas i don’t think you or I ever thought we were gonna work in Frisco Texas but it was a great place i lived in Winston Salem for a couple years i met friends there that I still talk to all the time and yeah just enjoy not the big cities are easy it’s like the remote nothingness that you have to be willing to take yeah plus they have sweet tea in Winston Salem it’s really good they have also um this fried chicken place is really good there’s a lot of good things about Winston Salem i don’t think I don’t know if people know that have you you’ve spent time at Winston Salem right i was in the Carolina i know but like all the all the different My favorite coffee shop is there camino Camino Coffee with their magic coffee have fun be yourself try hard do right by people but don’t be a tryhard yes don’t be don’t be don’t don’t be try too hard like just be you and that’s ultimately it’s got to be good enough there’s certain things I won’t do because it’s just not me that’s beautiful thank you thank you after all this is how we chill three times i think that’s it i think I think that’s all that’s what we ended i think that’s all thanks for watching everybody this is how we chill yeah yeah

Orioles broadcasters Geoff Arnold and Melanie Newman join this episode of The Chill presented by GEICO to discuss their most unforgettable calls, their baseball superstitions, advice for upcoming broadcasters, and more.

0:00 Intro
0:49 Most Unforgettable Calls
2:44 Sneaking Words Into Broadcasts
5:32 Pregame Rituals and Superstitions
9:15 Behind The Scenes
12:27 Concussion Protocol
14:26 Advice for Upcoming Broadcasters

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