Radio guys

At 3:00 mark: "I'm out of words. I'm just gonna let it happen"

He lied.

 

I typed the above post before the last kickoff return. That was the most awesomest thing I have ever seen.

 

Ahh...radio guys. I haven't been working all that long, but I could write volumes about the annoyances.

But I have a new hatred for certain radio guys...a hatred that goes beyond the annoying homerish screamers in prep press boxes or the live update guys in college or pro settings.

I hate, more than all others, the radio guys who get into those major college and pro press boxes and DO NOTHING except eat free food, watch the game and try, barely, to contain their enthusiasm for the game happening on the field.

Exhibit 1A: I covered a game at a BCS conference school on Saturday. Next to me sat a guy who was credentialed with a radio station I did not recognize. He sat for the first quarter wearing a backwards baseball cap and hooded sweatshirt...both with the home team's logo displayed prominently. He chowed down his hot dog in the first quarter...openly cheering (though not loud enough to draw attention) any successful play for his team. This continued for most of the first half. Then, he moved down a few seats, scooped up a few of the complimentary programs and disappeared never to be seen again.

Curiously, I jotted down his name and affiliation...and Googled it today and found his staff bio. Yep, as you might suspect, he's a grad of the school represented on his sweatshirt and has a local sports talk show. Here's the kicker though....IT'S IN A DIFFERENT STATE. That's right, not city, not county...but state. He had to have made at least a 90 minute drive to "cover" a game that few in his market would care about.

Maybe I wouldn't have been so perturbed by this except for one more simple fact. His credential showed that he was approved for the entire season. Our newspaper, after not covering said BCS school for two years for a few different reasons, lost our yearly credential and we now have to apply every week and we are at the school's mercy. Meanwhile...Fanboilooser grad guy from a radio station no one has heard of in a different state gets season credentials.

 

Report the bastard. Let the credential gods know he's not there to cover anything so maybe they'll pull his credentials as well.

 

As a radio guy, I try to be the consummate professional and call an even-handed game. It's not that difficult.

It doesn't take a lot of rocket science to read the rosters before the game and highlight a couple of key players. I do about as little preparation as anyone and I can at least learn key players and have a cheat sheet with stats handy (my years as a print reporter also means I can keep my own stats and do pxp at the same time).

Just watch the game, know the players, NEVER announce numbers instead of names (stall if you have to while you're looking it up on the roster ... a tactic I use quite a bit), have some stats & stuff at your disposal, and announce the score at least once every 4-5 plays. That, and realize you're calling a game, not rooting for the home team. Announcing isn't rocket science, but some guys try to make it out to be.

I've heard some other guys who:
*-Spend every game as a 3-hour commentary on the officials, with a little bit of pxp mixed in. Same guy usually interviews the opposing coach and, if you listen to the conversation, is pretty much asking "so, before our great team kicks your @$$ tonight, why don't you tell me about the team you have and how it's going to get its @$$ kicked" ... and, FYI, the team in question is usually slightly better than .500, but not much).
*-You can go 30 minutes without ever knowing the score (some pros are terrible at this, too).
*-Look at everything through the home team's eyes. I was at a baseball game last year where a guy had a "1-and-3 count," because the announcer was giving the local team's perspective, and the local team was pitching. Therefore, "1-and-3." Uhhh ... doesn't work that way.
*-Use the Foster Hewitt approach -- only announce the players on your team, and when the other team has the ball, it's lots of color, the score, and "Tumbleweed Tech has the ball, there's a shot, rebound Adams, outlets to Brown, layup, and Local Central has a 27-10 lead."
*-Pxp guy to color guy (both of whom were in their 40s or older) after local school won a state championship: "Who do I need to talk to to get a championship ring. I want one for this."

Sometimes, stuff like phone line hum is unavoidable. You get stuck in these crappy remote press boxes and something can cause issues with the line. I have $2K worth of equipment, but if the problem is in the line, I can't fix it.

 

Radio play-by-play guy for the local high school here just resigned after 30 years of covering the teams. We ran a story in the paper because he was fairly well known and had an interesting falling out with the station. Dude did a regular broadcast of a football game a couple weeks ago, but the station didn't put it on the air -- and he didn't hear about it until two days later.

This was my favorite part of the story, courtesy of his color guy:

“I feel bad for him. He’s spent a long time at the job. He was great homer. He wanted our team to win."

 

My personal favorite is the local guy who talks about national sports like he has access to the team and players when all he does is read the newspaper. I've listened to one guy (in S.C.) for the last two month say the Mets would win the NL East because they had the talent, experience and heart over the Phillies. I wonder if he will bring that up today.

 

That's pretty much most local radio guys.

 

If you are in North Florida or Central Florida on a Sunday afternoon in the fall, listening to the announcing crew of the Jags or Bucs will make you want to drive into a swamp.

If you don't get disgusted by the uses of "we," you will by the alleged analysts who do nothing but sit there and scream, "Go! Go!" or "All riiiiiiiight!!" on a long play. I think it was the first game of the year, the Jags' crew was burying the team for 10 minutes straight as the team was trailing in the second half, and then, after Jax came up with an interception, it was an unbelievably good team that certainly would not surrender another yard for the rest of the year.

Unlistenable.

 

The Panthers crew is god-awful as well. Sorry, Sam.