Sportscasters' mantra - don't praise 'em, haze 'em

Publication: Mooche News
BY The Mooche-2007-12-11

T his isn't about sports, it's about the people who bring it to you.

Coo Coo Ca-Choo Mrs. Robinson …

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio Curt Gowdy? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, woo woo woo…

Curt Gowdy was arguably the best sports broadcaster of all time. Gowdy was the lead play-by-play announcer for the NBC network for both AFL football (AFC from 1970 on) and Major League Baseball, but Gowdy also covered a wide range of sports, earning him the nickname of the "broadcaster of everything."

Gowdy's professionalism made the game that much more enjoyable when he was in the broadcast booth. All the legendary games he brought to us probably wouldn't have gotten the acclaim if it were not for his style and presence on the scene as a sportscaster.

Games like Super Bowl I, the AFL's infamous "Heidi" game of 1968, Franco Harris' "Immaculate Reception" of 1972, Clarence Davis' miraculous catch in a "sea of hands" from Oakland Raiders Quarterback Ken Stabler, to defeat the Miami Dolphins in the final seconds of a legendary 1974 AFC playoff game, and Hank Aaron's 715th home run in 1974.

As the guy in the booth, he had a way of making you feel as if you were there at the game. His style kept him from getting in the way of the game while keeping the audience engaged.

Through his succinct narration of the game, the audience felt they were being informed and listened to whatever he had to say.

When you tally up everything that Mr. Gowdy was as a sportscaster, you get the sum total of everything the sportscasters of today isn't. There are some woefully incompetent guys being put in the broadcast booth.

Their presence there has caused the game to lose a lot of the aura that creates the stuff legendary performances are made of. In other words, a bad announcer can pour cold water on a great game and cause it to lose it's ability to aw the audience.

Today's sportscasters are more concerned with politics rather than the events on the field. They see a play, think about it, then churn out a political statement about what just happened.

The sadness in this style of broadcasting is the lack of creative communication skills which is suppose to depict what is happening in the game in a way that woos the audience.

More often than not the sportscasters are getting in the way of the game and boring the audience with their spinmeister commentary. You get an idiot in the booth that can't keep up with the speed of the play-by-play and what does he do? He starts repeating himself to the point where he becomes ridiculously obnoxious.

The whole ex-jock in the booth thing has failed miserably. Being a good player doesn't automatically equate to being a good sportscaster. The politics surrounding professional sports are too intricate for the average ex-jock to phantom.

If you are going to play politics, then at least get some skillful polished politicians and groom them into sportscasters for the game's sake.

Trying to have four or five buffoons comment on one play is destroying the camaraderie of the broadcast experience for the average fan. Each play has now become a debate more or less because each commentator feel a need to offer a different view or comment on what just happened.

Some nut in the booth says one thing then the fat guy on the sideline who has commandeered a microphone starts bellowing out the first thing that comes to his mind, then all the inmates chime in by yelling at each other.

Race politics in play-by-play and color analysis is almost inextricable in the big three sports (baseball, basketball and football).

No matter how bungling and incompetent an idiot the networks put in the booth, they seem to always wind up in the same camp when it come to African American Athletes. Obviously there is more going on here than meets the eye.

Is there collusion going on among sports announcers or are they acting under the auspices of the networks, or even the leagues? If so, why, what is the point?

What or who is behind this will probably never be known, so this matter should best be handled in the same manner any racist act is handled and that is by shining light on the acts and those who ferment them.

Next time you are watching a game and can hear the announcers, listen closely to the commentary and see if there is a tendentious pattern to the remarks.

Here are some signs to take umbrage at that strongly indicate racist ambitions by the commentator: