Only one voice has been there when the Philadelphia Soul has taken the field in it's now 11th year history
and that honour goes to Vinnie "The
Crumb" Caligiuri.
Vinnie's roll doesn't stop at just being the team's
announcer. Soul Chief Operating Officer John
Adams goes on to state, "Vinnie is the Voice Of The Soul. The
game experience centre’s around him. He gets the crowd into the game, gets them
on their feet, cheering & screaming. Nobody does it like him and I myself
can't imagine a Soul game without Connie being there behind the mic".
Vinnie states "It's my job to get everyone pumped up
and as fans we owe it to our players to be rooting for them, no matter what the
score may be at any point in the game".
Vinnie's very first game as a public announcer for the Soul
was on February 8th 2004, when the Soul took the field for their first home game,
against the New Orleans VooDoo. He had had no prior experience as an
announcer and at first didn't do well, saying that “the first game
I realized there was way more to this than I ever imagined but got through
it." There was a learning
curve during that 1st season while everyone was figuring out their roles but
once all was sorted out, Vinnie knew he found what his role would be and that
was to get the crowd into the games and keep them there.
Caligiuri had been bouncing around various radio stations,
being on 97.5The Fanatic, WMMR, &
WYSP.
In the 10 seasons the Soul have played in Philadelphia,
there has been a lot of player changes, a few different coaches at the helm and
ownership has changed hands but the one constant has been Vinnie, manning the
PA announcer position since day one and he is getting better at it with every
passing game.
"To me, there's nothing
better than strapping on the headset and testing the mic."
Caligiuri stated.
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