Mat Smith hails from the North side of Chicago, his avid fandom began courtside at games during the Air Jordan era; unsurprisingly he is a huge Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks & Cubs fan (sorry Rumblin’). Moving to Colorado in 1999, Mat played a number of varsity sports all the way up through high school including Basketball, Baseball & Tennis. He attended CU Basketball camps annually dating back to the days of Ricardo Patton while growing up in the area. He has always had a deep passion and familiarity for the program and the university. More of an over-achiever than most Allbuffs contributors, playing sports wasn’t enough for Mat in high school as he found his deep seeded passion for sports broadcasting at an early age. Mat began hosting the morning show on KGNU 88.5 FM/1390 AM several mornings a week at 4am before school starting at the beginning of his junior year and lasting 3 years before deciding to move on. The summer before his senior year, Mat became the first-ever high school intern at 104.3 The FAN & ESPN Radio 1600, working in the promotions department. While there he frequently contributed to several other Lincoln Financial Media stations including: KS 107.5 (where he worked directly with some of today’s most popular artists in the hip-hop industry), 98.5 KYGO, Cruisin’ Oldies AM 950. When he returned to school his senior year he continued to pursue his successes in the Broadcast Journalism industry by becoming the Public Address Announcer for Baseball and Basketball at Boulder High, while simultaneously serving as Editor-in-Chief of the school newspaper and hosting the school’s weekly news and announcement show. Not long after he started a sports podcast in his free time (From the Booth with Mat & Rob), which later became featured on iTunes. In 2010, Mat received the Daily Camera Award for Excellence in Journalism.
After graduation Mat took a semester off and then attended CU Denver. While in school he returned to 104.3 The FAN & ESPN Radio 1600 where he interned in the programming department, further cementing himself in the Denver sports media community.
In December of 2012, Mat began working for KVCU as the Voice of the Buffaloes for Radio 1190 doing Play-by-Play for CU Basketball, and this season will be doing the same for CU Football. Mat is now the Senior Sports Correspondent at KVCU and is also the Co-Host of News Underground M, W, F from 6-7pm MT. Outside of radio and print Mat is currently doing elite individual basketball training and has a true passion for coaching basketball and says might end up there one day. Mat’s work can also be found in professional voice-over work for commercials, telephone, business, promotions, online certification classes, and much more and is currently available for independent voice-over work for anyone that’s interested.
A little about Mat the fan:
NFL:
Chicago Bears – Growing up in the Windy City his fandom began at an early age.
Denver Broncos – Working at 104.3 The FAN, Mat had the opportunity of working at Broncos training camp at Dove Valley dating back to Jay Cutler’s somewhat brief tenure in Denver.
(“And wouldn’t you know it? Where’s the place the NFL’s most apathetic QB lands? Da Bears…at least this is his contract year.” – Mat)
Despite playing for a rival team, Randy Moss is his favorite player of all time.
NBA:
Chicago Bulls – Grew up during the Bulls championship runs and studies Phil Jackson and is one of his biggest influencers in the training he does.
Denver Nuggets – Has always been passionate about the Nuggets and looks forward to Brian Shaw’s plan of action for this upcoming season.
Michael Jordan trumps all for Mat.
MLB:
Chicago Cubs – If you’d ask Mat, he’ll be at the World Series in the next 10 years supporting the Cubs. But that’s if you ask Mat…
Colorado Rockies – Wouldn’t it be nice if we could put together a truly competitive baseball team around here? Colorado has great baseball fans…
Sammy Sosa (bleached skin, steroids and all) is Mat’s favorite baseball player of all time.
NHL
Chicago Blackhawks – CUP CHAMPS! To all the haters -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP5Yow0YGYE
Colorado Avalanche – Professional Colorado sports team that Mat likes the most, excited to see Tanguay back and looking forward to seeing McKinnon’s impact on the team.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST:
NCAA:
IF YOU HAVE TO ASK LOOK AT THE URL! ALL BUFFS, ALL THE TIME!
Beyond excited for the 2013-2014 University of Colorado Athletics Season!
Thrilled to be a member of the AllBuffs Team!
