Tales from the college football headset (including Frank And Shane)

Hey OP

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This really speaks to me. We had to use corded headsets in the Orange Bowl when playing Miami, because of how close the stadium is the airport.

I always had Bud's line. It's like reeling in a fish. It gets interesting when you have no more cord to give. You have to yell it at the coach, and usually it's in the heat of the moment.

A couple times Bud got pissed because he had no more cord left, and I had to grab him by his belt, so he wouldn't rip the headset out.

I totally disagree with Shane on this one though. I loved it. I always had the most fun when it was a corded headset game. You are in on the action even more then you usually are.

Almost every veteran coach expressed great appreciation for technological advances in headset-ology. Shane Beamer spent his adolescence spooling headset cords on the Hokies' sideline, and when his dad took his off to ream out refs or a player, he always handed it to his son, who held it patiently (and definitely did not tell his mom what Dad said to the poor official).

In fact, the idea of tangled cords and rampaging coaches so daunted the younger Beamer that he would practice in the family garage before games, running around with an extension cord, plugging it in and out of outlets and trying not to be a trip hazard. "I still have nightmares about getting the cords tangled up with the chain crew on the sideline," he says.

That word "nightmare" comes up a lot with coaches, who tell tales of snapped wires, trips and falls, and other sideline mayhem. Our favorite from the pre-wireless era, from Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson: "You had times at the end of the game, you would have this incredible knot that there's no way in 100 years you could re-create. At first, you can go from the 30 to the 30, and by the end of the game you can only go 5 yards.