Announcer Levine sets his sights on MLB Fan Cave
A Major League Baseball season consists of 2,430 t...
Levine is one of 52 finalists hoping to join the Major League Baseball Fan Cave. The Fan Cave, which debuted at the start of the 2011 MLB season, is located on 4th Street and Broadway in New York City. The building is home to a number of baseball fans who, after being selected, live together and watch every game of the season, from Opening Day to Game 162. The “cave dwellers” also welcome celebrity guests, host fan events, and maintain an online/social media presence to update everyone with a log of their experiences over the six-month season.
Levine explained why he was so motivated to join the all-baseball-all-the-time habitat. “I'm a huge baseball fan and was super envious of the Fan Cave dwellers last year,” he wrote. “Getting to watch the season in that MLB Fan Cave complex is an amazing experience and the best way to watch baseball.”
Levine has been a baseball fan since he was a kid. His team allegiances tie back to parental influence, as is so often the case. His father was a New York Mets fan, and Levine followed suit. Levine has fond memories of leaving school an hour early with his dad to get to Shea Stadium in time to watch batting practice. “Baseball has always been a major part of my life and continues to [be] until this day,” he wrote.
Levine's sporting interests expanded to include quidditch in 2010, during World Cup IV. He recalls traveling there to film a segment for a comedy website, as he is also a comedian. “I loved what I saw and signed up to volunteer,” he wrote. “I met with [IQA commissioner] Alex Benepe shortly after the World Cup and he mentioned that they had a tournament coming up and they needed an announcer.” Levine seized the opportunity and called the tournament, which took place at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. There, he recalls he “fell in love with announcing.” After some more experience, Levine, was named the IQA's Announcing Coordinator, a title he held until this year, when he was named Head Announcer.
In this role, Levine has been assigned the task of improving World Cup announcing to meet new, heightened standards. “My job is to work with the IQA to make announcing at quidditch matches more professional and entertaining,” he said. Here, his sports background comes in handy. Levine recalls the IQA calling for more sports-related announcing after World Cup V: “We changed the 'two comics announcing per game' policy to 'one comic and one play-by-play announcer per game,'” he remembered. “This will add a more professional athletic aspect to announcing without sacrificing the comedy elements [everyone] looks for at quidditch matches.”
Still, these new guidelines mean that Levine won't be able to replicate what he calls his favorite World Cup announcing memory to date: calling the championship game at World Cup V with comedian, actress, and Internet personality Grace Helbig. “It does not get better than that,” he stated.
Unsurprisingly, Levine exhibits a similar level of enthusiasm when it comes to the idea of joining the Fan Cave. “I love baseball, so getting to spend six months of doing nothing BUT baseball sounds awesome,” he wrote.
Readers can vote for Eitan here; voting ends February 13. Perhaps Levine's inclusion could help bridge the gap between quidditch and baseball fans. But if you ask him, Levine maintains that the two groups aren't all that different. “All fans of any sport need to have a love of the sport and a devotion to the team,” he wrote. “Quidditch and baseball fans are exactly the same in my book. I feel like the only main difference between quidditch matches and baseball games is that there are [fewer] people wearing robes and holding wands in the bleacher section of a baseball game.”
