Blog 5: The Top Sports Broadcasters, and Why You Hate Them

 Problogue: As you watch TV  football this fall, you'll inevitably be judging the broadcasters working the game.  I judge them too, but mostly on their technique in the booth.  I've studied different broadcasters for years, but I try to be objective because it's my business and I want to learn.  Here are some things I hope you'll consider while you judge broadcasters as a fan.  Also a few notes about who I consider the best broadcasters at the moment are, and some of the broadcasters that helped shape my career.

The top national play by play broadcasters often draw unfair criticism from fans.  I'm talking Al Michaels, Joe Buck, Mike Tirico, Mike Breen, Sean McDonough, and others you see on the big networks--you know, the ones you love to hate.

I evaluate announcer for their mechanics, which I've studied for a long, long time.  But fans, sometimes frustrated by the game outcome,  unreasonably bash these guys (and their broadcast companions) for their performance.

It's not fair.  

Generally, the criticism falls into these categories:

• "(Name) knows nothing about my team."
• "(Name) loves the other team."
• "(Name) hates my team."
  
• "(Name) is arrogant and full of himself."

Let me take you through this a little bit:

"(Name) knows nothing about my team."  As a fan, yes, you may actually know more than the national announcer about YOUR team...but the national announcer has to know both teams. and know them well.  Could you do that?  Would you spend the time and effort each week to learn just as much about the opponent as your team?  Do you pay as much attention year-round to other teams as you do your favorite team?  

Rhetorical question: Can you rattle off the depth chart of the opponent as easily as you rattle off your favorite team's starters and subs?

"(Name) loves the other team" or "(Name) hates my team."  Funny how this works: a play is made, success is experienced by one team over another. If it's not the fan's team that had success there is grumbling about how the announcer loves the other team and hates their team.  That's just the way it is: if your team makes more plays than the other team, they will receive more credit from the announcers, and if that team goes on to win (because they had more good plays, usually) the announcers will give that team credit for prevailing.  

Rhetorical question: What would you have them do instead?

Case Study: I live in the Kansas City area and would have loved to see the Royals win the 2014 World Series.  As it turned out, Madison Bumgarner had a series for the ages--some say the best pitching ever in a World Series--and the Royals lost in seven games.  Fans in Kansas City are still upset by Joe Buck's (see below) call of the series, even though Bumgarner was the most impactful player (MVP) making the the biggest difference (2-0 with a save and a 0.43 earned run average, with nine hits allowed, one run, one walk and 17 strikeouts in 21 innings) on baseball's biggest stage.

I'd like someone to objectively chart the number of positive and negative comments made by announcers toward each team during the course of a broadcast.  My thesis: the winning team would receive more kind words and praise than the losing team.  My comment: seems fair to me.

Not many people complain about announcers when their favorite team wins.

"(Name) is arrogant and full of himself." I say, well, they better be.  To a certain extent, at least.  

Hall of Fame third baseman Chipper Jones said professional athletes must possess "necessary  arrogance".  Perfect description for a broadcaster, also, so follow me on this:

It takes a bit of ego and confidence to talk into a NERF ball as a professional (for those who don't know, normally broadcast microphones have a wind screen--a NERF ball--on the end of them, although not many are purple).

Arrogance?  Ego?  Confidence?   All are necessary.

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Here are a few of my current top broadcasters, again based on the mechanics in the broadcasting they exhibit.

• Joe Buck. Criticized like no other, he understands what a TV announcer's job is: let the camera tells the story. He's there to tell you what you can't see well (like who has the ball).  And his work during the fall of both baseball and football?  Always solid and prepared for his many assignments.  And there's this:  Joe Buck has turned fan ridicule into a fun mockery.  I mean, what else can you do?  He has my respect for the way he's dealt with criticism...plus his obvious skills.
• Al Michaels/Cris Collinsworth.  Conversational style with a great mix of personal information about teams and players, and technical information about the game.  Never in a hurry, they get all their information in, plus a warm/calm presentation of the game.
• I don't listen to much baseball on the radio anymore, but the Royals Ryan Lefebvre deserves a lot of credit and I'm a fan.  Ever-fresh material, always in a good mood but never breathless over anything that's going on, give this guy credit for his day-to-day work  over 27 years with a team that's normally pretty bad.  Yet, the same professionalism every broadcast.

I need to drop one name in here that you might not know now, but he may very well be the next top network guy, should he choose to.  Joe Davis (left) is the man who replaced Vin Scully on Dodgers TV, but he's much more than that.  Catch him doing some college football or perhaps a MLB playoff game: he's solid mechanically, is personable without going over the top, and has a very calm presence.

And here are a few guys you may recognize, announcers who shaped my style and made me believe in  proper process and execution in sports broadcasting.

• Ken Coleman.  Wrote a book on sportsbroadcasting that I found as an elementary student  in Lorenzo, Nebraska in the early 1970s.  Loved it!  The charts, the prep work, the game itself...
• 
  Curt Gowdy (right).  Was the predecessor to Coleman with the Red Sox before he went national and was the 70's version of workhorse announcers in multiple sports.  Most people didn't know that he had a bad back, had to travel laying down in a station wagon to get to games, and often had to be carried up to the press box later in his career on a flat backboard.  The fact that nobody really knew about his physical condition is testament to Curt, who never got rattled on the air.
• Dick Enberg.  Along with Al McGuire and Billy Packer, was THE college basketball announcer as the NCAA tournament grew.  Also was an ever-present voice in multiple sports, and by reputation one of the nicest guys around.  I find myself using his iconic "Oh my!" expression from time to time, worry about people thinking I'm just ripping it off, and then realize that it's been so long since Dick was on the air that it's more a tribute than a steal.  First time I heard him: Notre Dame beats UCLA breaking the Bruins 88 game college win streak.
• Denny Matthews/Fred White.  I saw Royals Stadium, through these guys eyes, from 500 miles away before I ever saw it in person.  Thank you for that.  Fred died in 2014 but Denny persists as the reincarnation of  Al Davis (just kidding).  I still hear myself on rare occasions sounding a little bit like them, the first on-air influencers of my career.
• Skip Caray (below).  Son of Harry, father of Chip.  Atlanta Braves broadcaster during the rise of the SuperStation, WTBS.  Sarcastic, deadpan, knowledgeable, cranky at times, tremendous sense of humor and sense of timing.
  
  I was a fan because I thought we shared many similar personality traits.  I don't think he really got the acclaim he should have, but maybe because he was honest and didn't pull punches even toward his own teams.  Most don't realize he did NBA basketball and NFL and college football.  You'll hear him in the background on some old clips now and then. Note: If you've ever heard me at the end of a game say, "Totals and highlights in a moment," it's a deliberate tribute to Skip Caray, I think of him every time I use that phrase.