Episode 228 - Gumbeaux Boudreaux

Bryce Boudreaux is the on-field emcee for McNeese State and the Lake Charles Gumbeaux Gators. He also hosts wrestling, MMA and combat sports events. Bryce shares his background and how he got the gig for the Gumbeaux Gators. He shares his dream wrestling matchup to announce and his Proffitt & Loss.

Make sure to follow Bryce and the Gumbeaux Gators online.

Bryce Boudreaux -

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryce_boudreaux/ (@Bryce_Boudreaux)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bryce.j.boudreaux

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bryce_boudreaux_announcer

Lake Charles Gumbeaux Gators -

Website: https://www.gumbeauxgators.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gumbeauxgators/ (@GumbeauxGators)

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/gumbeauxgators (@GumbeauxGators)

Earned Fun Average -
 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earnedfunavg/ (@EarnedFunAvg)

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/earnedfunavg/ (@EarnedFunAvg)

Blue Sky: https://www.bsky.app/profile/earnedfunavg.bsky.social  (@EarnedFunAvg.bsky.social)

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@earnedfunavg (@EarnedFunAvg)


Curved Brim Media -

Website: https://www.curvedbrimmedia.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curvedbrimmedia/ (@CurvedBrimMedia)

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CurvedBrim/ (@CurvedBrim)

Transcript

0:17

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Earned Fun Average podcast. I'm your host, Eric Prophet, coming to you from Wichita, Kansas, and with me, as always, I have Johnny Bowen. Super excited to quote the great Ric Flair, "I'm having a hard time keeping these alligators down." Lake Charles Gumbo Gators super fan, our guest tonight. I'm super excited. And of course, coming tonight from the Bayou Broadcast Center in downtown Calhoun City, Mississippi. Downtown. Well, let's change it up a little bit. How about you introduce our guest? Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together. I have dubbed this man the best, and the facts don't lie. The best on-field emcee in all of baseball. Ladies and gentlemen, from my Lake Charles Gumbo Gators, Bryce Boudreaux That's the best introduction I think I've ever gotten. Like, I've had a lot of people introduce me. Nobody has ever called me the best. It's always just like, "This guy's an announcer. He does something with a microphone. There it is." I'm floored. I don't know if we can go any further. Like, that was amazing. In all of baseball. And there's a lot of baseball out there, so. Lots of it. I appreciate that. Johnny, Eric, thank you guys for having me. I'm a longtime fan ever since, uh, ever since you guys inter- uh, think y'all inter- y'all interviewed Aaron Cossette- Mm-hmm and Sam Moore a long time ago. Yeah. Yep. And, uh, I listen to those. Any sort of podcasting or any media that the Gumbo Gators did, I, I had my ear on it. So, uh, appreciate you guys having me on, man. I'm, I'm thrilled to be here and, uh, talk a little Gumbo Gators baseball with you guys in a, in a very light hot part of the season. I'm glad that Johnny took over for that. I, I try to be nice and kind, but I don't know I could've given you that introduction, so I'm glad Johnny- took it over there for you. But Bryce, one of the segments we do to kind of kick off, and, uh, we all kind of have similar looking hats here, but, uh, would you mind describing what hat you're wearing today? Sure. this is the, uh, just basic, you know, Gumbo Gators logo. It's an all green hat. Mm-hmm. It's like a Richardson. You got the mesh back there. It's all green. if you come to a Gumbo Gators game, you'll see me wearing this hat most of the time. Uh, my other hat is actually... I had the, the purple and white one that you're wearing, Eric. I had one just like that, I wore it once and I gave it to a friend. And, uh, but this is mine. We have a bunch of other hats on sale, but, uh, I like wearing this one. fun fact, if the weather's bad, I normally, uh, don't do anything with my hair, 'cause I have a lot of hair and I gotta put gel in it and stuff. Thousand people are looking at me, so I gotta look nice and presentable. Whenever the weather's bad, I'll just throw this ball cap on, but I'll flip it backwards just like that. Speaking of the opposite of a lot of hair, Mr. Bolan- uh, and speaking also of, having a lot of Gumbo Gators hats, which of your 97 do you have on today, Mr. Bolan? Yes. Back at the team store, they asked me to bring my stuff there to, for, you know, to put on the racks. That's how many. Wow. No, I'm just kidding. That's an interesting question, Eric. I don't know- I wanna say seven. I, this is the third one in 2026. I got this one when it became available. Ronnie previewed this on our podcast. This is such a great hat. I had to go the new on-field fitted, which I wore to the games a couple weeks ago at the time that, of this, uh, of recording. This is so great. I love the black. Ronnie previewed that on our podcast, about tweaking the logo and the black outline versus the yellow. And then the hat I'm wearing tonight was picked up on Bowlen's To The Bayou, Back to the Bayou, beautiful Joe Miller Ballpark, at the merchandise stand, picked out by Melinda Bowlen, AKA the CEO of Bowlen Enterprises, Bryce. this was her favorite of the ones available. She said, "You, you kinda got all those." I saw the camo one. She's, "Oh, I like that." So I'm wearing a little camo Gumbo Gators hat. It fits fantastic. made by OC Outdoor Cap Company. It is a great looking hat. And so yeah, it's just, Eric, it's just the third one in 2026, sir. I, I mean, But the Gumbo Gators have been around a few years though, so. Yeah. It's only three years, man. I can't, I didn't know we had this many hats. I tell you what, it's, it's very interesting you mention this because the other day, whenever I get to the ballpark and, like I, I'm at work. Like, uh, it's rare whenever I get to walk around and see all the other stuff that we do, and I just had an opportunity to do that. I went to the merchandise stand and I'm like, "Look at all of these hats. How come no one told me we had all of these hats?" And they were like, "Well, we sell them every night." I'm like, "Yeah, but I never come here. I never come to the merchandise stand." And like, if I see the camo hat, I'm like, "I gotta get me a hat." But I like the hats, guys. Rocking it. Yep. And as Bryce mentioned, my hat is the, purple with the Gumbo Gator on it. It's got the white, trucker essentially. I believe it's from the game, if I'm not mistaken. but yeah, it's the purple with the white, mesh back to it. So all three of us rocking the Gumbo Gators. And Mr. Bowlen, one other thing. I know our listeners can't see it, but what about your jersey? Man, you think it's hot outside? Not as hot as this jersey is. Wow. it is, last year's. It's got the t- number 25 on the back. yeah, I was telling Eric a few minutes ago, uh, before we started rolling that I packed this jersey but purchased one of the Fourth of July shirts, you know, to wear on the fourth that the team was selling. So this one's still in the suitcase. You gotta wear Late Chuck, right, Bryce? I mean, you gotta. Mm-hmm. The two j- And these, both of them are great, right? But that Late Chuck is just It was funny. That first game we were there I was sitting with Donnie Martin, Cash Martin's grandfather And we're sitting there at the bench, and we literally, Bryce, were dressed alike. Oh, wow. If you Probably didn't know it 'cause you were busy, but like- Yeah Donnie and Johnny were dressed alike. That Donnie and Johnny. The Donnie and Johnny- Donnie Martin were dressed alike in the Lake Chuck jerseys and the fitted, uh, on-field caps. Nice. Donnie Martin, wow. Yeah, Cash Martin, man, he's doing pretty good. He's been a great addition. Started with us last season, and here he is again this season. Uh, his grandfather is always at the games, Donnie. yeah, Cash, love him. And I love those City Connect uniforms, those Lake Chucks. It's unfortunate they'll never wear them again, but, there was a lot that went into making those uniforms, and I was selected to be on the, uh, on the group that made the decisions on what to, what to do with them and what not to do, and there was a lot of details that we put into those uniforms, some things that didn't make the cut. if I'm not mistaken, on the tag at the bottom, like the warning label or whatever it's called at the bottom of the, of the jersey, you see the cross pistols. Oh, yeah. And then you see the year, I believe it's the year that Lake Charles was founded. I think that was one of my additions. also, I don't know if it made it to the, replicas, but on the numbers you can look and you could literally see the map of Lake Charles, like the street map of Lake Charles is, is ingrained in the numbers. the green was actually supposed to be the same green that the iconic Capital One Tower that was sadly demolished, think two years ago now. that Capital One Tower was a distinct, like a teal green, and that was gonna be the green on the, on the jersey. Unfortunately, n- not everybody voted yes on that one, but I thought that would've been perfect. That would've just been icing on the cake. But, uh, yeah, you never know. Whenever we'll do another, uh, City Connect jerseys. I know Abilene has, like, 30 different nicknames and City Connects, and it's, it's just ridiculous. There are 85 jerseys. There are 85 different nicknames. Pick a name, pick a gimmick. The Abilene Prairie Dogs and the, uh, what Yeah Just play baseball, dude. It's over. You know, stop forfeiting your games. Whoa. Oh, oh, oh, hey, now. Whoa, whoa. Bang. Russ, I did wanna ask, so obviously you mentioned that you're an on-field MC for the Gumbo Gators, so, kind of what got you into that? Had you been doing any other o- uh, on-field or other MC work or kinda where, what led you up to... A little, I guess, a little background on yourself, if you don't mind. So that's a, that's a great question. I guess you can go back. I mean, I've been an announcer in the world of combat sports. I started out as a wrestling announcer, in 2018, and, uh, actually before that, my first actual announcing gig, I volunteered as an announcer for the LHSA, Louisiana, uh, State High, High School Athletic Association Softball State Championships, which were right down the road in Sulphur, Louisiana. I was a sophomore in high school, and I was a great announcer, but I didn't know what I was doing. I was just making their names sound like I was announcing a WWE superstar, but I just, the game and me just didn't act well together. fast-forward throughout being a wrestling announcer- COVID killed everybody's career, and it was going to kill my career, but Louisiana shut down and everybody else was open for business, like Mississippi and Texas. So I started going on the road, networking, doing more and more shows, doing more and more wrestling to where if a wrestling promotion needed an announcer, they called yours truly. And through networking and shaking hands, I got myself on national television in Dallas, Texas, working for a company called SWE, which is now defunct. and then from there I got a television deal with a company, basically being their, uh, digital talent, onscreen host. It was, uh, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, which was reformatted for the Gulf Coast region. And then from that I got hired to go and announce in Atlanta, Georgia live on television from Center Stage Atlanta, Georgia where WCW used to do their Saturday night wrestling taping. So, I did a lot with the world of wrestling, and I felt like I hit my mountaintop. And whenever that happened, the world of mixed martial arts came a-calling and I started getting really big MMA show bookings and getting really good paydays. And, uh, it started to pay off for me a little bit, and I started getting booked in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi even more, even more. You fast-forward a little bit more and we are getting towards the year of, I believe, 2023. And, post-COVID, COVID killed a lot of the sports leagues out there. A lot of these major sports leagues that were really big are now defunct. Sports teams no longer exist. COVID killed all that. Well, it's 2023, things are kind of on the come-up. You see these sports leagues coming back and, and things are looking up and up for all these different sports leagues, all these experimental football leagues, and one league that was gonna come back and be bigger than better was going to be the Arena Football League. And a lot of people might know, but back in the day in Lake Charles, Louisiana, here's a little education here, Lake Charles, Louisiana, whenever arena football was hot, hot, we had an arena football team whenever I was a kid called the Landsharks. The Landsharks folded, and then after the Landsharks we got the Swashbucklers, and they were cool. I mean, they were cooler than cool. Mascot's a pirate or a swashbuckler, and their, their colors were black and purple. And it, it was something that was just- it was, it was just really cool. Like, everybody else had, like, the Tigers, the Cardinals, and we had the Swashbucklers, and, like, skeletons hanging with bandanas and swords, and pirates swinging from the ceiling. It was, it was wild. But I was such a fan of that. I mean, I'm getting goosebumps talking about it, 'cause I remember being a kid in the, uh, in the civic center watching that with my dad. And, you know, they had their own cheerleaders, and it was awesome. It was a cool local thing. And even before that in the '90s, we had the Ice Pirates. It was a l- the, the h- the hockey team where all these Canadians came down and started playing hockey in Lake Charles, and people loved it. And after the Swashbucklers kinda ran its course, then they just folded. And I forget what year it was. I wanna say it was 2010, sometime after that. It just folded, and that was the last time Lake Charles had an actual sports team. There was a rumor back to 2023, the Arena Football League is announcing their return, and they have selected Louisiana as one of its new markets, and that they're, they come up with the team, the Louisiana Voodoo, which if you all remember, the New Orleans Voodoo was a prominent team in the AFL back in the day. Well, the r- the league had folded, the team had folded. Now the league's coming back. They're gonna be called the Louisiana Voodoo, and then it leaks out that Louisiana Voodoo will play its home games in Lake Charles, Louisiana. What? So I'm like- I gotta go be a part of that. So I know a lot of people. I hit up Visit Lake Charles. I know Eric Zartler, who, matter of fact, Eric was the guy that got me the job with the state championships back in the day. Eric, what's to do with the Voodoo?" He's like, "Hey, man, I'll put you in for it." You know, "Hey, look, I'd love to be an announcer. I'd love to be on the microphone some way, somehow." "Gotcha. We'll, we'll let you know." Cool, cool, cool. Well, around that same time, it's ironic, but there's a rumbling of a, collegiate wood bat team coming to Lake Charles that would be playing in the same league as the Baton Rouge Rougarou called Lake Charles Gumbo Gators. And that was a partnership with Visit Lake Charles and all of that. And I don't know if y'all know, but the whole reason why we've got a baseball team is because Eric Zartler and Sam Moore from Visit Lake Charles went on and they they presented an idea to the owner of the Baton Rouge Rougarou, Ronnie Rantz, to have a neutral site game in Lake Charles against a Texas team, have a weekend series against a Texas team at Joe Miller Ballpark and have a neutral site game, and it would hopefully attract more fans to be fans of the Baton Rouge Rougarou. And Ronnie said, "I got one better. How about we just give you a team? The team, the league needs more teams. how about we give you a team?" And then that's whenever the Lake Charles Gumbo Gators, the idea first came from. So Lake Charles Gumbo Gators, 2023 or whatever, the idea's being kicked around. They do a press conference. So I'm like, look at this. Lake Charles is not only getting arena football, but we're getting collegiate wood bat baseball. And fast-forward, the arena football team announces that they're only gonna have six home games, half of which are gonna be played at the Civics Center, the other half are gonna be played in a rodeo barn next to a casino. And then all of a sudden they realize, oh, wait, the arena football league never even paid a deposit on an arena, and Lake Charles is literally funding their dream of having an arena football team. Lake Charles was getting screwed over, and the, the arena football league was literally just throwing darts at a board. Like, "We're gonna go here. We're gonna go here. Okay." And they didn't know what they were doing, and you had a lot of local people that were, that were running on their hearts, basically just like, "Hey, we want a team, so let's make it work." They weren't getting paid. Nobody was getting paid. The whole thing was a flop, and it's what could have been, 'cause their uniforms kind of looked like the Saints, so they were, like, black and tan with that cool logo. Lil Wayne, the rapper, was supposed to be an owner of the team, whi- which was gonna be revealed at their first home game. That never even happened. And the whole thing flopped, and I'm like, great. I had an opportunity with a legit sports team on a legit level to be their host in the arena, and now it's gone. But wait, there's the Gumbo Gators. Hey, let's see. I mean, why not? So I hit up Visit Lake Charles, and, uh, they're like, "We're gonna put you in touch with the guy that's gonna be the general manager." And I get a call one day from Sam Moore, who I'd never met at the time, and he was just like, Yeah, you wanna be the on-field host? Okay, yeah, all right, man. Cool. All right. Uh, all right, sounds good." And he just, he didn't even know what an on-field host was, you know? And he, so I'm like, okay, I guess I'm a part of this thing. And so fast-forward, a couple months, and it's May of 2024, and the season starts in June of 2024, and it's told to me that we're gonna have a social at a local, uh, golf-themed bar restaurant, and I'm invited, so I go, and that's whenever I met all the brass behind the team, and I just showed up just to kind of see what it was all about. And, like, Sam Moore recognized me. He's like, "Hey, whoa, this is the guy that's gonna be the host of the team. Y'all make some noise for him." And I'm like, "Hey, everybody," and that was my introduction, and I'm like, I don't even know what I'm getting myself into. And, uh, fast-forward, first night on the job, our opening night, walked out there in front of, uh, the largest crowd that had ever been at Joemama Ball Park, and, uh, the mayor threw out the first pitch, and I'm like, "I don't think this is going anywhere. This is not gonna be a flash in the pan. Gumbo Gators are here to stay." And, uh, that was my first night on the job, and here we are, two years later, three years later now? So yeah, year three of the Gumbo Gators in 2026. yeah, it's been a fun ride. And I'm sorry if that was a little lengthy, but that's the story. Uh, well, I wanted to tell a quick story, that Rice was a part of, and I think I told this last year from Bowlings to the Bayou- You, we're talking tonight not only to the best on-field MC in the business, we are talking tonight, Eric Prophet, to the man who first uttered the term super fan and Johnny Bowlen together. Wow. you pr- I'm sure you don't remember this. So I'm in the stands, my wife went to go get me a hamburger, okay? Aaron, I see Aaron come up to you pregame and whisper something in your ear. And you, you announce that I was there, that we had Gumbo Gator super fan, Johnny Bowlen from Mississippi. So you, sir, And I've been, Eric, how long have I identified myself? A little over a year now, right? A year? Mm-hmm. Ev- I think I forgot one time to say it, but every podcast we've done for roughly a year, I identify myself as late Charles Gumbo Gator super fan. And you, you sir, are the first one, first one ever- My wife to this day said, "I can't believe his name was on the..." Like, I'm, I'm just getting him a burger and a bottle of water and I hear your name over the PA and they're calling you super fan. you sir, were part of personal bowling baseball history. I'm sure you don't remember that. That was a quick, just a quick moment, uh, a year ago. Bryce, I wanted to, uh, to ask you, about your involvement at McNeese State. What, what all do you do at McNeese? That's a great question. A- and by the way, yeah, I remember that. I remember that very well because Aaron was like, "Hey, Johnny Bolin is here. He's, he's like a really big fan of ours and he's from Mississippi." And I don't know, I mean, to me, if you're coming all the way from Mississippi to watch the Gumbo Gators play and you have no connection to the team, like you don't have any family members playing for the team, you must be a fan and you've gotta be a super fan. So that's just- But that- You know you used the term first time it ever, ever had been. Yeah. I wear it as a badge of honor to be called. It was mentioned again this year, over the PA. Um- Yeah Sam Moore, I wanna think, but what the announcer said, that sounds like what Sam may have come up with. I, I don't know who was responsible for that. And, and, and Bryce, I didn't know whether to stand up. So I'm in the VIP. I'm in one, you know, under the tent, right? I mean, I- Yeah I'm at a table and I'm wolfing- Yeah hamburger down. And then they, th- then that's over the PA. I'm like, do I stand? Cause people started clapping. Yeah. I about went verklempt there. I like... Is somebody cutting onions? You know, I was so... It got to me. I was like, didn't see that coming. Didn't know that w- that was coming this year. But, uh, yeah, again, like I, I easily get sidetracked. Could you share what you do at McNeese State? Yeah. Huh, where did that all start with McNeese? it was softball. It was softball a few years back. I think it might have been 2021, '22, something like that. I filled in for a buddy of mine that was the PA announcer. He need, they needed a fill-in. The, he was like, "Well, Bryce might know what he's doing, so let me get Bryce over here." And Patrick Fry was his name. Shout out to Patrick. but I filled in for him, and they were like, This guy's good." and I didn't even try. I just, just went out there and just did my thing, and they, they really liked me. I just made things a little bit more exciting. You know? I just, I just kind of just went out there and just, you know, hyped up the team a little bit more and than, you know, I guess maybe what they were used to or whatever, and they really gravitated towards me. So much so, they literally gave me the job as the PA announcer for the softball team, which I didn't have that on my bingo card. And ironically, who was the head coach of the softball team? James Landreaux, our head coach of the Gumbo Gators right now. So it's crazy how the worlds are intertwined, but Lake Charles is a big small town, and everybody knows everybody. And, uh, yeah, so I was the voice of the McNeese Cowgirl Softball. Ultimately, my schedule just got to be way too crazy. I was booked almost every weekend, uh, announcing fights all over the, uh, all over the Gulf Coast, and I ju- I just couldn't do it every weekend. So basically, my job as the PA announcer for softball turned into, here and there filling in to, you know, once in a blue moon coming up there and, and announcing softball. I, I really enjoyed my time announcing for McNeese Softball, I really did, but unfortunately it just, could not be available every other night to go do it. Uh, my schedule was very, very busy, and they had a lot of games and, um, and that was that. They just needed somebody more dependable, and they couldn't, you know, rely on me one night, then someone else the other night. So fast-forward a little bit, I'm still in the McNeese system, and, there was a guy that was running the McNeese, fan engagement marketing position, and which is basically, like, operations of anything to do with the marketing and, and literally the fan engagement. You know, everything from the music they play during the games to the graphics to the content posted to everything, all the entertainment, whatever. he reached out and was like, "Hey man, we need, we need somebody to come and fill in... uh, not fill in, but to, uh, basically take over the reins for, Buddy Russ Conrad." Russ Conrad passed away. Uh, Russ Conrad was a local DJ. He passed away from, uh, his, his battle with cancer. Uh, and he was just... everybody loved him. He was a great man, and just a good, good, s- good dude. He passes away, and McNeese didn't have an on, on-court host, and, McNeese is now bringing in Will Wade as its head coach, and this is like nuclear news, right? This is big. This is ESPN stuff, big stuff, and everybody's talking about it. Dick Vitale was like, "Ah, blah, blah," whatever Dick Vitale says. but Will Wade's coming in, so they're like, "We need somebody to really knock 'em back, you know? We need somebody to really hype up this arena. Can you think you can do it?" "Yes, I can." So, I have the job, the job is mine, and two days before the season starts, I am told, "Hey, unfortunately, someone else, uh, has now gotten the job. thanks for being in- interested." I'm like, Then why did you tell me to... I literally reserved all these dates." So whatever. Fast forward, the person that was doing the job, I guess they didn't exactly, I guess he didn't wanna do it anymore, whatever. Following season, they basically tell me like, "Hey, we, we need someone to, to, to be the host, and, uh, they're saying we need to get you. do you want the job?" And I'm like, "Absolutely." So this is year two of Will Wade, and, uh, I am now the on-court host for the Cowboys. And had a great time doing it, man. arguably the greatest year in the history of McNeese State Cowboy basketball. We, we, we are conference champions, just a juggernaut of a ball team, there for all the moments, rocking the arena every night. The arena is deafening, it was just such an awesome time. McNeese, as you know, conference champions, goes to March Madness, upsets Clemson, the only Cinderella team in 2024 or wh- whatever year that was, I forget now. No, it's 2025. I can't believe I drew a blank there. Yeah, they upset Clemson, then, then they lost to Purdue. But, uh, yeah, Amir Orokon was the biggest thing in, in ba- basketball and like now, I don't know why, but like the country is just being haters now. I don't know why they don't like Amir. Amir's awesome. But, uh, yeah, man, it was a big, big fun stuff, and then last season too, same thing. Aaron Costet now gets the job as my boss at McNeese, Well, you know I gotta have you." I'm like, "I'm in, dude. Let's do it." And, uh, they had me for every home game, and that was just so much fun. it was, it was the best times, and now I can't go anywhere in public without people coming up to me and they're like, "Aren't you the guy that..." Yep, that's me. That's me. it's awesome. Like I literally, you know, I go to the grocery store and I'm like looking at, I don't know, produce or something, and some, some kid comes up and they're like, "Aren't you the basketball guy?" Yep. Waiting in line at a restaurant to get a table, "Hey, aren't you the guy on the microphone at McNeese games?" Sure am. Yep. So And I love it. I love anytime people wanna come and, and talk to me and talk whatever they wanna talk about and they recognize me, absolutely. hey, man, they're fans, and I, I love them. Without fans, there is no job, so gotta have fans. And, uh, I love the fans, man. That's what it's all about. That's awesome. If somebody was visiting Lake Charles for the first time- what would you tell them to do? You are If they said, "Hey, Bryce, w- we're gonna spend a couple days in Lake Charles," you're gonna be the tourism director for Lake Charles, what would you recommend them do in their time in Lake Charles? L- Lake Charles's motto is it's, it's Louisiana's playground, and that's so much more than just go to the casino. I mean, we have casinos, and they're awesome, and you feel like you're in Vegas, and it's cool. But it's playground, too, because of it's Louisiana sportsman's paradise. If you wanna go, it's got some of the best golf courses in the country and best hunting and fishing and anything to do with, water, unbelievable. But go to the casinos. Go check 'em out. Go see what they bring to the table. Experience that world. And then if you feel adven- adventurous, got a vehicle, I'd recommend, grabbing some boudin somewhere, you know, a couple links of boudin, maybe some cracklins and a, and a Coke or two, uh, your beverage of choice, and hit the road. And, and go down south, especially at this time of the year, and you see on the levees or, or, like, the, on the ditches along the highway, there's alligators everywhere, and it feels like you're in a different world, and you're literally 30 minutes from where we play ball, at Joe Miller Ballpark. It's truly fascinating. Go get a taste of it. You come back to Lake Charles. There's so many great restaurants that we have here. go experience it all. We have a lot of great restaurants. And hey, if you're here in the summertime, most likely we're playing ball at Joe Miller Ballpark. Come see your Gumbo Gators, man. That's what it's all about. Yeah, we, we have a, you know, people always say there's nothing to do in Lake Charles. There's nothing to do in Lake Charles. People that live here say that. But yet we have some of the best tourism in the entire state, so something's bringing people here. and look, it's a gum- it's a Louisiana gumbo of humanity. There's so much going on here, whether it's playing in the casinos or playing outside, uh, hunting and fishing or getting on a boat and taking a, taking a joyride through the actual lake of Lake Charles to the Gulf of Mexico. Got a lot going on. And you got your Gumbo Gators, too. we love it. You know, we, two years in a row have gotten to be there. And, I described it to Eric last year, smaller, cleaner New Orleans. The architecture and the old, you know- Downtown, yeah. But you got all the great food. You know, like you're talking about, the food there is this year I discovered crawfish balls in Scott, Louisiana at Karstner's Oh, yeah and life-changing I, I love crawfish any way it's served to me, those crawfish balls were magic. my wife and I think about that food all year. Like, it's just, I'm glad my doctor doesn't listen to this podcast. we confiscated a few big pies. We brought some- Mm prayed beans. I mean, it, it just everything. I, and she, a bunch of spices and rice and I mean, just all, all that good stuff. What's your favorite part as the best MC in the business? What, what gets you excited the most when you show up at the ballpark each night? Hearing, hearing the pop of the crowd is always the best. You know, literally just saying like, "Ladies and gentlemen," like in the whole crowd, you know, they start making noise, you know? you can literally control them. Like, you can put them right here in the palm of your hand. You can move them up here, you can put them over here. You tell them what to say. You get them to cheer, you get them to boo. We don't really get them to boo, but we get them to cheer, and it's always the pop of the crowd. And then also it's just, if you love sports and you love rallying behind a team, that's wearing your hometown on their uniforms, it's cool. that's, I guess, what keeps me coming back. Seeing everybody is, is also fun. Um, showing our interns that are going to school for mass communications, giving them the pointers of, what that job includes and, uh, that's also really fun, too. But yeah, I, I love sports and I love whenever it's competitive. And let me just tell you, if you don't already know, the Texas Collegiate League is so competitive anything can happen in this league is mind-blowing. We were number one in the, in the league last week, going into last week. At the end of the week, we dropped down to, like, tied for fourth place, and then now we're back up to third place. And with a win tonight would make us, put us back in second place. Hopefully we win tonight. I think the game's going on, yeah, at 7:57. So the game's been going on for about an hour. I don't know what the score is right now, but, uh, we'll find out here in a sec. But, um, anything can happen in this league. It's crazy. Well, in the first half of the season, Acadiana was number two in the league. Second half, Acadiana is garbage. They're all the way at the bottom next to Sherman. anything can happen in this league. It's very unpredictable. It's a great level of baseball. It's really good. It is. Really talented kids out there. Very, very, good. You know, and that, brief, it was kind of funny to me, we watched three different teams from Texas in three nights Between going to Acadiana that, our second night in Lafayette, they play Victoria. So I saw San Antonio that doesn't play in San Antonio. Well- Razzos Alley Bombers. Yeah. Get your, get the bluebirds ready for those bombers. but yeah, three d- three of the Texas team in three nights in a row. So that was kinda neat to see a different way the, way the schedule- Yeah get to see three teams. A wrestling question now. I grew up, 'cause I'm old, I'm a WTBS, as I mentioned it a minute ago, Nature Boy, Dusty Rhodes, Four Horsemen. That's my childhood era of In Alabama, of course, they say rasslin', right? Rasslin', you know. Rasslin'. We used to have, uh, on Saturday mornings growing up, Continental Wrestling, from Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, you know. Mm-hmm. That's where I think Arn Anderson got, had some time there. Sid, Vicious wrestled there. You know, great lineage of Continental, and I think they were affiliated with Memphis territory. So my wrestling question is, dead or alive, what would be your dream match to call? Ooh. now, I have been a, a commentator in the world of wrestling. I could definitely call a match. but I was mainly a wrestling announcer regardless. Give me Terry Funk versus Dusty Rhodes Somewhere in Texas, like a coliseum somewhere in Texas, because those are two Texas guys. Or this is the Mack Daddy Junkyard Dog versus Andre the Giant in the Superdome. Oh. Whenever Mid-South was hot, and I don't know if we ever even got to see that match, but I mean, can you imagine Andre the Giant, the top heel, and he's, he's this French guy in New Orleans and like, it's like the Louisiana homecoming, but they hate him because it's JYD, and New Orleans is like his unofficial hometown, and that whole crowd in the Dome is going crazy for JYD. That would be wild, and that would be unreal to call. But, um, yeah It'd be big I will tell you from, from growing up, the greatest match I ever saw, the one I enjoyed the most, WrestleMania III, the Macho Madness and Ricky Steamboat. Whoa. And- Pretty good match is a, to me, all-time match-up. Yeah they quote, "Did wanna outdo Andre and Hulk," wink. And like that was the most incred- the three matches in '89 was amazing. and that, that was some- uh, you can tell I'm a Steamboat guy. You know, one of, one of, one of my fav- I love Dusty. I was, as a fat kid, I loved Dusty. Like, now this guy is a world champion. He's fat like I am. You know? Like, he didn't have the greatest body, right? You know, just this big guy, but just so athletic, lethal on the microphone. Yeah. Unbelievable promos, just like Flair, unbelievable with promos. Flair road was, was classic. Like I said, that was my era of really, watching, wrestling. When- years ago and back to the '90s when I played church basketball, you ever heard, and this is gonna be talking about obscure wrestlers, Mike Jackson from Alabama, Action Mike Jackson. Action- He's the world's oldest professional wrestler. He's still wrestling. He would, he would officiate church basketball games. Wow. And there was a guy I won- you know, that went to high s- he's a little bit older than me, and he said during the game we were playing them, he goes, "Mike, you know that wrestling's fake?" And without missing a beat, he said, "That check isn't." That's a great response. It's, I- I'm shocked he just said that. I mean- can you imagine being in your, I forget, he's almost 80. If not, he is 80. He's, he's up there, and he's still wrestling. Action Mike Jackson. Yeah, he, uh- He can still walk the ropes. He introduced me to Hector Guerrero of the Guerrero brothers. Wow. You know, he came, I was a youth minister at the time, and he ca- and this is '90s, and so these guys are wrestle- you know, this is Attitude Era, NWO, like it's, I mean, these, these teenage boys, youth group love wrestling. And Hector had just got off national TV, so they knew him And, and he came and spoke, and man, he was fantastic. Him and Mike, Mike called me so long ago. They were doing a local fundraiser show, and he was gonna wrestle one of the old rock and roll RPMs, whose bellies hung over their tights and still had the '80s, you know, gimmick and gear. I don't even know who those are. nothing, it- I thought, "This is, this is so much fun," in a high school gym. And Mike comes out, course he's got on... They, his, his company had bought the old AWA World Championship Belt. Wow. So that was their company belt, so he was the champ. He came out to sweet home Alabama and the people went crazy. Then the guy, the RPM had talked trash about the school and, I remember he said to the crowd, If they were gonna put an enema in Alabama, they'd do it in Pleasant Grove." And the crowd just... you know, we were in Pleasant Grove and I laughed. I mean, he got the crowd in a fever pitch. Oh my God, that's amazing. Mike comes out there and he's doing his thing. Course wins, you know, and everything, but, um- those would be some, some great, uh, would be some, some great matchup W- was Wildcat Wendell Cooley wrestling at that time? He's an Alabama guy. I used to watch him on Continental growing up. Wow. Wildcat Wendell Cooley. Yeah, man, he's a big d- he was a big deal in Alabama. I think he retired, he was a big deal out there. They loved him. He'd come out to, uh, Heaven Ain't a Lot Like Dixie. That was- his Wildcat song. Yeah. Yeah. He'd been coming out to that since the song was written. That's what they always said. like I say, grew up with my wife, grew up watching, you know, Melinda grew up watching Continental on... Her grandmother loved it, you know, back in the day would watch, you know, watch wrestling and I would watch old, uh, World Class on ESPN, the early days of ESPN. They would show World Class Championship wrestling from Dallas, you know, the Von Erichs and the, Freebirds. What a classic feud. What a great storytelling. Those were just great matches back in the '80s. Like I said, it was, it was really... I can't tell you since, uh, the last time I watched any professional wrestling, but as a kid and a teenager, I, you know, I, I, I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Make sure you tune in next week to the Earned Fun Average wrestling podcast. Bryce, well, I wanted to wrap up here real quick, so I don't have a great introduction like Johnny and didn't have a awesome, uh, wrestling question, to finish it up there. But one of the segments we do is called The Profit and the Loss, and, you know, your time either with McNeese or the Gumbo Gators and wrestling, any, uh, profit or gain you can think of? just like with any sport, in, in any job, in any career, whatever you wanna, if you're a chef, you're a magician, you're a tennis player, you're a quarterback, baseball player, or a host like me, or even if you're a comedian- the best thing for you to get better is reps and practice. And people think that I look in the mirror, and I've never looked in the mirror and recited anything in my life. Like, that's a common misconception. Some people it works for, it never worked for me. Never worked with, you know, reciting my lines. That never really worked for me either. what works is reps and being in front of a crowd and, and owning your craft, and that's what I would do. And getting these opportunities is just another way to do that. I've had a lot of that... N- I don't really disclose this, but I have had a lot of conversations with a lot of major companies and, uh, hey, you know, it, it happens. You know? They, they see that and they know. you know, they, they've even mentioned like, "Hey, look, you're doing a lot of work, and we can see it." So that's the thing. It's a lot of reps, and also especially with, with Gumbo Gators being in my hometown and doing this in my hometown, a lot of people like to frown about, "Oh, you can't, you know, leave your hometown." I'm like, Dude, what else am I gonna do on a Tuesday night?" Fly across the country and go work some- Like, no, I, I'm... This is home. This is where I live. I'd love to go work somewheres else, but hey, look, meaning like if I had a bigger opportunity, but this is Lake Charles. This is home. It'd kill me if someone else was doing this job other than me. You know, I'm gonna keep doing it as long as I'm allowed to, basically. another good thing that I get out of this is, like I said, we have a lot of mass comm students that work with us, a lot of, students at McNeese and other colleges that are trying to, whenever they graduate, hopefully get a job in the world of sports, broadcasting, news, something like that, radio, hosting, interviewing, reporting, announcing, whatever you wanna call it. And there's nobody in our, realm that's there to kinda give them... tell them, "Hey, look, this is how it's done." but I'm there. And, you know, we do our post-game interviews. I'm kind of producing those and giving our interviewers pointers, "Hey, this is what you need to do. Don't do this too much. Work on this." look, I'm no mass comm professor, but I've done more in the world of mass communication than, than most, you know? And hell, I don't even have a degree, yeah, it's, uh, it's fun. I love teaching people, and I love, uh, being there for people that, you know, don't have someone to give them advice whenever they're totally clueless of whatever. "Am I doing this right? Do I..." that's good stuff. Any, uh, specific instance of a loss, maybe a, a moment? Obviously, you talked about kinda 2020 and how stuff kinda went away for a little bit, but, uh, any particular loss you can think of? I mean, it... some things I can't really, uh, actually, like, actually something just happened, uh, literally just a few days ago that I actually legally cannot discuss, but, uh, it was a job that I was gonna get and unfortunately, didn't happen. But, just not right now. Down the road you never know what can happen. but COVID definitely did, not only to my career, but a lot of other people's careers and even a lot more. But just talking about careers, I had a lot of stuff lined up and COVID happened, and it was just like, great, you know, at the time I was gonna be working for a lot of these big promotions and I had something lined up with, one of the biggest wrestling companies in the world doing a tryout for them. They were... I was talking to people there, and unfortunately COVID happened and that killed everything. But out of that, a whole nother world opened up with mixed martial arts and legit combat sports and, and big paydays and that sort of thing. So, I was always ready, I was always available, and I was always doing my thing, and, uh, that's what I do. I just do this and I have fun doing it, and that's all I can do. I appreciate you sharing all that with us. So if anybody, wanted to go out and kind of follow your work, are they able to follow you online? And then also, do you know where everybody can follow the Gumbo Gators online? you can follow the Lake Charles Gumbo Gators, uh, Lake Charles Gumbo Gators or Gumbo Gators. They're all across social media. They're on TikTok, Instagram, and on Facebook. I am Bryce Boudreaux. I'm very easy to find. I'm literally on and Facebook, I think that's pretty much it. That's all I'm on. Uh, I have a TikTok that I don't hardly use, and I have a Twitter that I don't use. Oh, I have a YouTube channel, too, if you wanna go watch me, but yeah, we're having fun. It's a, it's a hot part of the season, like I said. The season is almost over. Just, it just started the other day, and now it's already almost over. We literally have less than two weeks, and it's, it's over with and done. Uh, so keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer, and hopefully we make the playoffs. it is very likely. Look, like straight up, it is very likely that we could definitely get in. We just have to play our butts off these next few nights and get some Ws, and hopefully the, uh, rest of the league starts losing, and we can get in there. And, uh, hopefully for the second time in Gumbo Gators history, within its three years of existence, be playoff eligible. We'll see what happens. That'd be awesome. Well, really appreciate your time today. I know Johnny and I had a lot of fun having you on. And, uh, make sure you guys go out there as well. Follow us online. We're Earn Fun Average. Average is AVG, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads. And one more time, really appreciate it. Thank you so much, Bryce. You got it. Thank you guys for having me on. America, lower your standards. Average is what these two guys do best.