Booker Corrigan: The Lacrosse Announcer Who Recites Biggie Lyrics

It was a high school lacrosse playoff game in Baltimore, Maryland, this past May as The Boys’ Latin School played against McDonogh, tying up the game at 7-7 with only five minutes left to play. That's when Boys’ 6’8,” 280-pound junior Greg Pyke made his move and scored a huge goal.

Losing himself in the moment, overly-excited, play-by-play announcer Scott ‘Booker’ Corrigan responded by not only recounting what had just happened, but unexpectedly dropping a classic line from Notorious B.I.G.’s “Big Poppa” song right on the spot.

“Believe me sweetie, I got enough to feed the needy/No need to be greedy, mad friends with Benzes and C-notes by the layers…I love it when you call me Big Poppa!” Corrigan exclaimed in euphoria seconds after Pike’s clutch score.

“I don’t know what’s more impressive – that goal or that call by man Booker Corrigan,” his broadcast partner chimed in.

Soon after the video clip of Pyke’s goal and Corrigan’s call hit the net, it became a viral sensation with nearly 300,000 views to date on YouTube. Not to mention it brought joy to hip-hop fans, especially Biggie stans, who thoroughly appreciated Corrigan channeling the legendary rapper.

So, how did reciting Biggie lines inexplicably run through Corrigan’s head at that particular moment?

“Because (Pyke’s) so big and I probably have referred to him as Big Poppa once or twice in the year, it just literally popped into my head,” Corrigan, 45, tells XXL. “I didn’t know what line of that song (“Big Poppa”) I was going to use and all of a sudden it was just: “Believe me sweetie, I got enough to feed the needy/No need to be greedy. He and I are now joined at the hip, I guess forever.

“People will say in the comment section underneath on YouTube that [I] was just waiting to say that,” Corrigan adds. “But, you can’t. If you ever tried broadcasting lacrosse, you can’t sit there and be ready to spit something out.”

Corrigan, a former teacher and lacrosse coach of 20 years and the founder of his own sports broadcasting company, Kudda, believes that gone are the days when play-by-play announcers merely called the game safe. A fan of Parliament-Funkadelic, LL Cool J and Snoop Dogg, Corrigan has rapped during games before and will likely keep doing it again for the entertainment of his viewers.

“They want a lady in the street, but a freak in the bed,” he says. “They want the play-by-play guy to be more than just telling you that Timmy passed it to Billy. They want some movie lines, they want to see a defensive player make a great play and hear someone say (reciting Ludacris' lines off Usher's "Yeah"), 'I left the Jag, but I took the Rolls/If they ain’t cutting then I put ’em on foot patrol.' They want something else."

Believe me sweetie, Booker’s got enough to feed the needy . . . for many more lacrosse matches to come. —Mark Lelinwalla