In which DCist talks to the people that help make the Black-and-Red one of the premier clubs in the North American soccer world.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to make the big call for your favorite team? To be able to scream and shout, just like you do from your couch? Well, look no further than Tony Limarzi. Limarzi — whom you can hear describing the action on WTOP-AM for every D.C. United match — is as big a United fan as you’ll ever meet, having followed the club since 1996. As such a fan, it’s no surprise that he’s provided some of the most memorable exclamations of joy in United’s history. In this installment of This Is Your D.C. United, we spoke with Limarzi before he called last night’s 2-2 draw with Chivas about his history with the Black-and-Red, his favorite calls, moments and players, RFK Stadium, and the future radio has in American soccer.

Just to start off, what do you think about the team so far this year? You’re someone that’s analyzing all of the games, do you think they’ve got the steam to keep their current form going for the rest of the season?

I think that the team has not really played that great yet. I think that as they move deeper into the season, they’re going to get better, be a lot sharper — and the good thing this year is that they’ve had some pretty good results, even though, by everyone’s admission, they haven’t really played that well consistently. It seems like when D.C. United struggles, they don’t play well and really get punished. Even though they’ve gotten punished a lot on their mistakes with other teams scoring, they still are doing okay in the standings. They’ve managed to save some points with the late game heroics, and you need to get as many points as possible even when you’re not playing well — and that is something that they’ve done very well this year.

As a radio guy, is there a guy for you that, when you look at the lineups, you say, “well, I’m going to be saying his name a lot tonight?”

Yeah, even when I was younger I was always focused on the attacking guys. I was talking with Luciano Emilio a couple of weeks ago, and he was saying that he feels really good this year. I think he was dealing with, not necessarily injury problems last year, but he really wasn’t 100%. There was just a lot of games. He had played a lot of minutes and got tired, and I think that had an effect on him. But this year, he has looked great. He’s been scoring a lot, and even when he doesn’t score, if you carefully watch him, he does so much work, opening up space for everyone else. You look back to the goals that Moreno scored against Dallas, and those plays are obviously great individual plays from Jaime [Moreno]. But there’s no way that without Emilio up there, that there would be that much space for Moreno. Emilio does so much, he scores in bunches. I think he’s going to get rolling again soon — I know he’s furious about not scoring in a couple games. [Eds. Note: Of course, after this interview, he did score last night.] But even when he’s not scoring, he’s doing so much for the team, that’s one of the main reasons that D.C.’s attack has been sharp this year. People say he’s a goalscorer, which he is, but, if you really watch him carefully, he does a lot more than that. He’s doing a lot of work up there, he’s putting in a lot of effort. And that’s really helping everybody else.

You’ve garnered a bit of press for “losing it” after big goals — specifically during the New York game this year and the Chicago game last year. When there’s a big time goal like that, is it just an instinctual thing, or is it more controlled? Are you out of your seat?

I started doing the radio in 2003 and I’ve been a D.C. United fan since 1996. So I grew up as a soccer fan in D.C., and when the team sort of appeared out of nowhere in some ways in ’96, it was my team, and I felt like I had been cheering for them my whole life. So I love them, and I root for them. It’s a real dream job. It’s not acting, I don’t practice any of that stuff. [laughing] All of the recognition that I get, I really owe to the players, because if it weren’t for their effort and fantastic finishes, there’s no way that I could be as excited about the game as I am. I love the guys so much and I love being a part of D.C. United — the passion that I have, sometimes it comes out in good ways.