Since the commentator comments seem to be front and center:
When I know the sport, I am just as happy without sportscasters comments.
In sports broadcasts from the US, like in football, basketball and baseball. Usually there are two commentators working as a team. You have the play by play announcer who calls out the action as it happens. And the the color commentator who gives more depth of knowledge.
Usually the play by play announcer does not need to have much more than a viewer’s knowledge and appreciation of the sport. But they have to know the names of the players to call things like, who has the ball. Or the amazing catch. Or the shot off the glass.
The color commentator is usually a guy with a deep understanding of the sport.
For instance, in football there was a long time where John Madden was the one of the most well known and liked sports commentators.
Examples of other great sports figures who went on to be famous color commentators are, Phil Rizutto, Bob Cousy (Koozie), Phil Simms, Troy Aikman, Joe Theismann etc.
Some of the color commentators would be very technical. Some would be sort of silly.
The ones who I liked best would be able to be technical when they wanted but would also be able to drift into being silly and having fun when it was clear that a game was no longer competitive.
Growing up watching sports with my father, he was always complaining about how bad the announcers were. It didn’t matter who they were. He didn’t like pretty much any of them. Any of them. Name one you think was great. I heard endless rants about what a lousy announcer the guy was.
The only announcer I can ever remember my father pretending he liked was Phil Simms. But I knew that was more because he liked the NY Giants and Simms had basically saved the team from years and decades of ineptitude. As an announcer he was kind of like listening to electronic announcements at an airport.
None of the guys my father hated were particularly bad. And the guy he claimed to like was, at best, kind of boring.
What am I saying with all this? The announcers aren’t really the problem. But it would be good if they could get one guy like Bobrow who makes things fun and one guy like Pruess who knows what he is talking about.
Without that, if the announcers bother you, then turn the sound down and watch the action.
We all know what is going on. The announcers aren’t really for most of the people who are posting here anyway.
I kind of like hearing announcers speaking in a language I don’t understand. You still can hear the raw emotion of the big points. The words don’t really matter so much.
Sent from The Subterranean Workshop by Telepathy
