Sports commentator

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Play-by-play announcer
)
One of television’s most respected journalists, Al Michaels has covered more major sports events than any sportscaster, including 20 years as the play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football. He is the only commentator to call the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and host the Stanley Cup Final for network television.
American commentator Vin Scully is widely considered to be one of the greatest broadcasters in baseball history.

In

voiceover
, with images of the contest shown on viewers' screens and sounds of the action and spectators heard in the background. Television commentators are rarely shown on screen during an event, though some networks choose to feature their announcers on camera either before or after the contest or briefly during breaks in the action.

Types of commentators

Main/play-by-play commentator

The main commentator, also called the play-by-play commentator or announcer in North America, blow-by-blow in combat sports coverage, lap-by-lap for motorsports coverage, or

ball-by-ball for cricket coverage,[1] is the primary speaker on the broadcast. Broadcasters in this role are adept at being articulate and carry an ability to describe each play or event of an often-fast-moving sporting event. The play-by-play announcer is meant to convey the event as it is carried out. Because of their skill level, commentators like Al Michaels, Brian Anderson, Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Jim Nantz, and Joe Buck in the U.S, David Coleman in the UK, and Bruce McAvaney in Australia may have careers in which they call several different sports at one time or another. Other main commentators may, however, only call one sport (Joe Rogan for example announces only one sport which is Mixed Martial Arts, specifically the UFC organization and Peter Drury for the Premier League
Football Association). The vast majority of play-by-play announcers are male; female play-by-play announcers had not seen sustained employment until the 21st century.

Radio and television play-by-play techniques involve slightly different approaches; radio broadcasts typically require the play-by-play host to say more to verbally convey the on-field activity that cannot be seen by the radio audience. It is unusual to have radio and television broadcasts share the same play-by-play commentator for the same event, except in cases of low production budgets or when a broadcaster is particularly renowned (Rick Jeanneret's hockey telecasts, for example, were simulcast on radio and television from 1997 until his 2022 retirement).

Analyst/color commentator

Main article: Color commentator

The analyst or color commentator provides expert analysis and background information, such as statistics, strategy on the teams and athletes, and occasionally anecdotes or light humor. They are usually former athletes or coaches in their respective sports, although there are some exceptions.

The term "color" refers to levity and insight provided by the analyst. The most common format for a sports broadcast is to have an analyst/color commentator work alongside the main/play-by-play announcer.[2][3][4] An example is NBC Sunday Night Football in the United States, which is called by color commentator Cris Collinsworth, a former NFL receiver, and play-by-play commentator Mike Tirico, a professional announcer. In the United Kingdom, however, there is a much less distinct division between play-by-play and color commentary, although two-man commentary teams usually feature an enthusiast with formal journalistic training but little or no competitive experience leading the commentary, and an expert former (or current) competitor following up with analysis or summary. There are however exceptions to this—most of the United Kingdom's leading cricket and snooker commentators are former professionals in their sports, while the former Formula One racing commentator Murray Walker had no formal journalistic training and only limited racing experience of his own (he had come from an advertising background and his initial hiring was more of a comic double act than a traditional sports commentary pairing). In the United States, Pat Summerall, a former professional kicker, spent most of his broadcasting career as a play-by-play announcer. Comedian Dennis Miller's short-lived run as part of the Monday Night Football booth in 2001 caused what Miller himself described as a "maelstrom" of perplexed reviews.[5]

Although the combination of a play-by-play announcer and color commentator is now considered the standard, it was much more common for a broadcast to have only one play-by-play announcer working alone. Vin Scully, longtime announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was one of the few examples of this practice lasting into the 21st century until he retired in 2016. The three-person booth is a format used on Monday Night Football, in which there are two color commentators, usually one being a former player or coach and the other being an outsider, such as a journalist (Howard Cosell was one long-running example) or a comedian (such as the before mentioned Dennis Miller).

Sideline reporter

A sideline reporter assists a sports broadcasting crew with

2020 incarnations of the XFL
featured sideline reporters in a much more prominent role.

In motorsports, it is typical for there to be multiple pit reporters, covering the event from along the pit road. Their responsibilities include covering breaking news trackside, probing crew chiefs and other team leaders about strategy, and commentating on pit stops from along the pit wall. On occasion in motorsport, the reporter on the sideline is an understudy to the lead commentator, as Fox NASCAR has used this tactic numerous times based on the career of Cup lead Mike Joy, a former pit reporter. Those who made the switch included Steve Byrnes (Truck Series, 2014), Vince Welch (Truck Series since late 2015), and Adam Alexander (who did Cup for Fox-produced TNT broadcasts from 2010–14, Xfinity on Fox since 2015) did the same too.

Sports presenter/studio host

In British sports broadcasting, the presenter of a sports broadcast is usually distinct from the commentator, and often based in a remote broadcast television studio away from the sports venue. In North America, the on-air personality based in the studio is called the studio host. During their shows, the presenter/studio host may be joined by additional analysts or pundits, especially when showing highlights of various other matches (e.g. in 1985, Jim Nantz was the studio host for The Prudential College Football Report in Studio 43 in New York for CBS Sports, and during his four-year tenure there [1985 through 1988 college football seasons], he had Pat Haden [in 1985] and Ara Parseghian [in 1987 and 1988] as his co-hosts/pundits).

Other roles

Various sports may have different commentator roles to cover situations unique to that sport. In the 2010s, as popularized by Fox,

referees.[6][7]

Sportscaster

In

sports talk show host or a newscaster
covering sports news.

Esports

In video games, and particularly esports, commentators are often called shout-casters; this term is derived from Shoutcast, an internet audio streaming plugin and protocol associated with the Winamp media player.[8] They are also sometimes referred to as simply casters.[9][10]

United States

Michael Kay, Ken Singleton, and Paul O'Neill serve as the announcers for most of the Yankee games on YES
See also: American Sportscasters Association and National Sports Media Association

While sports broadcasts took place from 1912, Florent Gibson of the

Pittsburgh Post newspaper broadcast the first sports commentary in April 1921, covering the fight between Johnny Ray and Johnny "Hutch" Dundee at the Motor Square Garden, Pittsburgh.[11]

One of the highest-paid sportscasters in the United States is Tony Romo, a former NFL quarterback and professional golfer who serves as lead color analyst for the NFL on CBS; Romo earns $17,000,000 per year for his contributions to the network.[12]

Jim Rome being the highest paid sports Broadcasters in The United States, making over 30,000,000 per year, Jim also has his own Sports talk show called The Jim Rome Show syndicated by CBS Sports Radio.[13]

Women

In 1975, the National Hockey League (NHL) made headlines when two coaches of the

NHL All-Star Game in Montreal allowed Robin Herman (The New York Times) and Marcelle St. Cyr (CKLM radio in Montreal) access into the men's locker room. Both were believed to have been the first women ever allowed to enter a professional men's locker room to conduct a post-game interview.[14] Sport organizations began to follow in the NHL's footsteps and allowed for other female sportswriters to be given the same access as men sportswriters.[15]

It was not until the year 1977 when

Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn and other officials chose to discriminate against her based on her sex. Knowing that this would put Sports Illustrated in a disadvantage from other publishers, Time Inc. and Ludtke filed a lawsuit against Kuhn.[15]

The lawsuit was taken to the United States District Court in 1978 where Judge

14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. The court ruled that the Yankees organization devise a plan to protect the players of their privacy while female sportswriters conducted interviews, suggesting the use of towels.[16]

After the access of allowing women in was put into effect, the Yankees organization allowed reporters to spend ten minutes interviewing players and was then asked to leave and wait. Male reporters were unhappy with this and blamed the women from keeping them out and not being able to do their job.[16]

In 1990, the issue made its way back into the headlines when Lisa Olson made a public statement revealing that players from the New England Patriots had exposed themselves while interviews were being conducted. This prompted other female reporters who had been harassed to come forward. Their credibility was undermined by accusations that female interviewers appeared as being "too friendly" or conversing too long with players as though they were flirting. Thus, the issue of sexism was still present, despite the equal access to men's locker rooms.[15]

In professional wrestling

Professional wrestling commentators John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Michael Cole, and Jerry "The King" Lawler

Though not always the case, in professional wrestling, the color commentator is usually a "heel sympathizer" (or a supporter of the "bad guys") as opposed to the play-by-play announcer, who is more or less the "voice of the fans" as well as "babyface sympathizers" (or supporters of the "good guys"). Though both are supposed to show neutral stance while announcing, the color commentators (especially when they support heels) are usually more blatant about their stance than the play-by-play announcers. Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan pioneered the "heel sympathizer" for color commentary in wrestling.[17] Jerry "The King" Lawler later made a successful transition into the role, though Lawler has since shown more sympathy for faces (partially due to being over with fans after nearly forty years in wrestling).[18]

Teddy Long, and other WWE Hall of Famers like Jerry "The King" Lawler and "Good Old J.R." Jim Ross). However, on the September 10, 2012 episode of WWE Raw, Lawler suffered a legitimate on-air heart attack during the broadcast. Cole provided updates on Lawler's condition throughout the episode for television viewers, and Cole received praise for how he handled the emergency in a classy and professional manner. He also began favoring face wrestlers and received cheers from WWE fans. Michael Cole successfully cemented his face turn when he hugged Jerry Lawler in the ring when Lawler returned to his commentator duties on the November 12, 2012 episode of Raw.[20]

In some cases, commentators are also active managers for wrestlers, usually following continuity as heels. Former Extreme Championship Wrestling color commentator Cyrus was known for having dual roles as a heel manager and a somewhat neutral commentator. Acting as a commentator has also been used to keep injured wrestlers in the public eye while recuperating. Special guest color commentators serve two purposes: the primary is usually to place them in position to interfere with the match they are calling, the second is to provide promoters with the opportunity to determine if this performer can speak well extemporaneously.

See also

References

  1. ^ "The birth of ball-by-ball commentary". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  2. ^ Mueller, Ken (May 2, 2012). "Color Commentary and Play by Play: A Well-Rounded Approach to Facebook". Inkling Media. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014.
  3. ^ "How to Become a Color Consultant". Career Trend. Retrieved 10 May 2019.
  4. ^ "The Top Three Keys for Becoming a Color Commentator | Sportsideo.com member John Lund". Archived from the original on 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
  5. ^ "Hiring of Dennis Miller Sends Shockwaves Through Industry". Street & Smith's Sports Business Daily. December 21, 2005. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017.
  6. ^ McCarthy, Michael (2016-09-06). "Fox NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira is lethal 'weapon' rival networks don't have". Sporting News. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  7. ^ Raissman, Bob (2017-12-23). "Tony Romo shows he has much to learn after clueless Steelers call". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  8. ^ Hill, Nathan (December 7, 2017). "The Overwatch Videogame League Aims to Become the New NFL". Wired. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  9. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (2019-09-16). "Esports pro tries — and fails — to play in Auto Chess and Hearthstone events at the same time". Polygon. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  10. ^ Smith, Quintin (2012-10-14). "So You Wanna Be a Caster - part one". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  11. ISBN 1-58261-498-9
    .
  12. ^ Florio, Mike (February 29, 2020). "Tony Romo stays with CBS, at $17 million per year".
  13. ^ "Top 10 Highest Paid Sports Broadcasters". www.rookieroad.com. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  14. ^ Zinser, Lynn (January 21, 2010). "The First Woman Through the Locker Room Door, 35 Years Ago".
  15. ^ a b c Rothman, Lily (October 5, 2015). "This Is Why Female Sportswriters Can Go in Men's Locker Rooms". Time.
  16. ^ a b Woulfe, Molly (September 18, 1988). "Suit won entry to locker room". Chicago Tribune.
  17. ^ "The Summer of Savage: Inside the Macho Man's explosive run to the top of WWE, 30 years later". CBSSports.com. 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  18. ^ Jenkins, H. (2018-10-07). "Jerry Lawler Tells Incredible Story Of How He Became A WWE Color Commentator". Ringside News. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  19. ^ Davis, Christopher (2023-07-29). "5 Best Years Of Randy Savage's Wrestling Career (& 5 Worst Years)". TheSportster. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  20. ^ Dickinson, Martin James (2022-03-11). "An Honest Look At Michael Cole's Time As WWE's Lead Announcer". TheSportster. Retrieved 2024-02-20.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to sports commentators.
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