As described in a previous post, the Wizards held tryouts for the position of in-game public address announcer at the Verizon Center on Monday night. Prior, 220 applicants where whittled down to 50 invitees … around 31 showed up. That was narrowed done to 16 hopefuls who were further narrowed down to five. More due diligence was performed, but by the night’s end, the team still had not decided who would serve as pre-game hype man for Gilbert Arenas, John Wall, Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee & Co.

Shortly before 1 pm on Tuesday afternoon it was announced that Ralph Wesley will be the voice of Wizards games — Wesley was my personal favorite after the round of 16 (and the round of five). There were a lot of great voices, but the best, most unique one prevailed. Below you’ll find a recap of the night in photos, followed by video of Wesley’s winning performance at the bottom. Enjoy.

Senior Director of Game Operations Danny Zollars (splendid name BTW) calls out the audition numbers of the 16 who’ve made it to the next round.

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The public address announcer sits in the background, yet courtside. He goes relatively unknown, but he’s kind of a big deal. He is what Ron Burgundy is to parties, bringing life to the arena. This is dedicated to the under-appreciated PA announcer guy.

When Ted Leonsis holds open tryouts for the voice that could be bellowing John Wall’s name for the next 10 years, cuing mad cheering and perhaps some tea-kettle dancing, it’s more than worth taking the stroll from work to the Verizon Center to check it out.

Over 200 applied but only 50 were invited to boom their pipes alongside the freshly painted (cured) Georgetown and Wizards basketball floors. As I arrived for the main event, that number had been narrowed done to 16. The mic was then cut on and the sound system turned up. The audition provided a good sample of general game announcements (fouls, scoring plays and PSAs), an ad-lib to Kiss Cam B-roll, and finally, lineup introductions.

The original plan was to pick a single winner from the 16 performances, but it was clearly much too hard to distinguish one voice from the crowd. Five stood out to Leonsis and his decision makers, so they were asked to do the lineup again … but with more energy, more uniqueness. Below you’ll find a brief profile of each, along with video of their final lineup announcement and an interview.

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