Anyone who's followed the career of Brewers TV announcer Matt Vasgersian knows his star is rising. Turn on the television on any given day, and it's a good bet he's on the air. Whether it's calling a baseball game, broadcasting the Toughman competition alongside Lawrence Taylor, or starting Saturday, doing play-by-play with Jesse Ventura in the XFL, this year will be an active one for the California native.

And these are just the ongoing projects. He just wrapped up "Sports Geniuses," a cable TV game show. He was also star of a series of video game commercials for 989 Sports. He's also an aspiring musician and a regular on Dave and Carole's morning show on WKLH. In short, Matt's a pretty busy guy.

Last week, we caught up with Matt, who spends the Brewers off season at his home in Los Angeles, to discuss the new developments in the broadcaster's career. Here's what he had to say:

OMC: 2001 is shaping up to be the busiest year of your life.

MV: Yeah, it is. Between what's going on away from Milwaukee, and all the ceremony involving the opening of Miller Park, which remains the most exciting part of all this stuff, it's been busy. And it's going to be crazy. I don't know when I'm even going to fill out my tax return forms or get my hair cut.

OMC: How was training for the XFL?

MV: It's been unusual. Nobody's ever done this kind of broadcast before. It's truly a guerilla element for network television. Everything from the switching pace, to the director, to the producer in the truck, to my cadence on the air as an announcer, to the look of the thing. This is a completely different animal.

In my case, I'm not really trained in football broadcasting, per se. It's even a stretch for me, because as a football fan, you're used to absorbing football in a certain way. So it's really been hard to regear my style and really do what amounts to a sound-byte game. Whatever storytelling I'm doing has to be conveyed in quick-hit form. A line here, lay out for natural sound. A line here, lay out because they're using some kind of goofy camera angle with a microphone attached. There's all kinds of business to attend to on these telecasts. You have to make sure you're involving the sideline guys because they play a major role in these shows. (Fans will see) first-person point-of-view stuff from a camera that's mounted on a person's helmet or from a camera that's flying over the field. Or they'll see the action from a camera that's being operated by a guy standing right behind the line of scrimmage. The business end of the XFL broadcast is very busy.

OMC: Is this the next generation of broadcasting? Or is this an anomaly?

MV: No, I think that elements of this are really going to change the way sports are televised. Not to pat ourselves on the back, but I truly believe that a lot of this stuff is going to change not only the way football is broadcast, but the way basketball, baseball, rowing and tennis are broadcast. Nothing has changed in the last 25 years, with the exception of instant replay and really pedestrian stuff. Now there is a whole generation of kids between the ages of 6 and 15, who's only interpretation of a football game is how it plays out on Sega Genesis or Sony Playstation 2. They've never seen it on TV or in person, other than what they see in the video game. And what you see in that video game is an aerial shot of the gridiron with each team on either the top or the bottom of the screen. What the XFL is attempting to do is not to replicate a video game's style, but just change the way it's broadcast so you're hitting chords and familiarity points with different audiences, maybe younger or non-football audiences.

OMC: It's what Sega did for a hockey to people of our generation.

MV: Yeah, and there are certain elements to football that the sideline shot doesn't give you. From the sideline angle, you can't really see a run up the middle. You see a bunch of nonsense. You see a bunch of guys running around and falling down. You can't see a trap block, you can't see how a tackle will shift and his blocking assignment might be on the other side of the line. There's football strategy you just can't see with that older technology. I think people will accept this, once they get over the fact it's not standard football. Once they get past all the Vince McMahon and WWF stuff and pre-conceived notions that this is shtick, I think it's going to have an impact on the way things are done.

OMC: Since you've never done football before, you must have done a tremendous amount of homework to get up to speed.

MV: Yeah, I think having never actually called football is a saving grace, and part of the reason why I got hired for this. That's the genius, if you will, and the thought behind what's gone into this league. If they'd hired a guy that was a football broadcaster, he'd be going crazy right now. It's hard enough for me to re-train my storytelling skills. If Dick Enberg or John Madden tried to do this, they'd be pulling their hair out. It's really tough for me, because you're asked to lay out, more often than not, and let the game breathe. I've watched some of the televised scrimmages that we've done, and man, I've got a ways to go here. I'm doing traditional football style at times when I need to be laying out. And as you know, Andy, I'm a big fan of using movies lines and different kinds of stuff.

OMC: Yeah, I want to hear some "Blazing Saddles" stuff.

MV: You will, in week one, I guarantee you. I'm gonna cut it just short of some of the Cleavon Little stuff.

OMC: What's it like working with Jesse Ventura?

MV: He's good. He's a football guy. People expect him just to go up there and be a clown. But he knows football, I mean, he really does. And he's all over this. This is perfect for him. We're both learning this together, in terms of the nuances of football and not just the XFL.

OMC: Is he funny?

MV: He's more serious than he is funny, I've got to tell you. He's got a great sense of humor, as we all know. And he can be funny. But he's real serious about football.

OMC: I've got to ask you, Matt. How much WWF is in the XFL? Is this real football?

MV: Absolutely. You know, people who think you can script a football game are stupid. Ask Pete Rozelle how tough it is to script a game. You can't do it, you just can't do it. Those are people who don't know a thing about sports.

OMC: Now, you guys are going to be sitting in the stands?

MV: Yeah. That's gonna suck, I'll tell you right now.

OMC: So people are going to be dumping beers on you?

MV: There's some protection built in. We're not squeezed into seats 7 and 8. We actually have platform, but there's no protection from the elements.

OMC: It's probably pretty hard to talk when it's 20 below zero in Chicago.

MV: You know what? That's what they want. They want us to be chattering our teeth and bitching about how cold it is. And believe me, I'll give them that.

OMC: At least you get to play in Vegas.

MV: Yeah, a couple of games in Vegas and one in L.A.

OMC: Are you still doing the Sports Geniuses show?

MV: No, Sports Geniuses is dead.

OMC: How do you feel about that?

MV: I'm pissed! That was the most fun I've ever had working. Period. That show was a blast. We all admitted it was less than perfect. They brought in a couple people who really cared about the show, knocked heads and came up with some treatment changes. Everybody over there loved the changes we made, but they weren't willing to make a commitment to do a second season.

OMC: You're still doing the Toughman competitions on FX?

MV: Yes.

OMC: And most importantly, you're still doing the Brewers.

MV: Absolutely.

OMC: Can you juggle all of this?

MV: For now I can. Not forever. I wanted to tackle this XFL thing to see how far I can push it.

OMC: Is there overlap with the Brewers season?

MV: There's three weeks where I'm going to miss some weekend games. But it's not that bad.

OMC: Have the Brewers been supportive with your outside work?

MV: They've been great. I'm very grateful for that. The Brewers stuff remains the most important. It might seem like a line, but baseball is most important, and thus the Brewers are the most important part of my professional life.

OMC: Your star is rising, and anyone who has followed your career can see that. I read a quote about you from Bob Costas recently.

MV: That was pretty flattering. I don't even really know Bob, but I was really flattered by that. I'm still convinced they're warming up a seat for me at QVC.

OMC: Hey, whatever. Can we expect you to be with the Brewers for a while?

MV: I don't have any plans to leave there. None. I've never put myself on a timeline there. I'm very happy there. I can't envision a situation where I'd actively want to leave.

OMC: Are you looking forward to Miller Park?

MV: Way. Absolutely. It's going to make a world of difference. It's going to make our lives so much better, from fans to broadcasters to players.

OMC: Have you been in Milwaukee this winter?

MV: No, but I'm going to be up there in February.

OMC: How's life in California?

MV: Rainy right now. I haven't felt like I've been in sunny California at all because I've been so busy doing other stuff. I'm trying to get my personal life in order, paying bills, having fun seeing friends and hanging out. It's just been a grind.