Defending the announcers

[Jimgolf]

It seems to me that the general tenor of this board is that people who are not officials have no business criticizing officials because they are not qualified since they have never officiated.

Yet posters on tbis board frequently complain about announcers, even though I haven't heard of any posters being professional announcers.

You have no idea how much work goes into being a television color commentator for a major sporting event. First, they must study the six words you cannot say on television. Second, they spend upwards of an hour getting their hair sprayed. (There should be a medical study investigating the link between hair spray and forgetting basketball rules.) Thurd, they get pounded with pancake makeup.

You have no idea.

Walk a mile in their patent leather shoes before you complain.

[Nevadaref]

Well they have plenty of time to do all of that because they don't spend any reading the rules!

[ChrisSportsFan]

Originally posted by Jimgolf
Thurd

Fowrth, I think they'd rather say the popular thing and go with the general public.

[Mark Padgett]

As someone who has been both a sports announcer (radio) and an official, I can tell you that being an official is 1,000,000,000,000,000000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times harder.

[tjones1]

Originally posted by Jimgolf
First, they must study the six words you cannot say on television.

I thought there were seven.

[Tar Heel]

Hi Mark,

Boy, some of you have been on this board since the days of the old discussion board software... many, many years.

I spent two years as a PbP color announcer for the Fresno State women's broadcasts, and they truly do not know the rules. Many times I had to interject and remind my partner about such things as "They don't shoot player control fouls..." and explain the seldom-seen Balk in foul shooting (intentionally faking the foul shot to induce a lane violation). They are basically fans with a microphone, nothing else. They never study the rules; I gave our association's 50-question-test to my partner once and he failed with flying colors. Sad, but true. What was worse was he could have cared less.

Phil

[BktBallRef]

Originally posted by Jimgolf
It seems to me that the general tenor of this board is that people who are not officials have no business criticizing officials because they are not qualified since they have never officiated.

Yet posters on tbis board frequently complain about announcers, even though I haven't heard of any posters being professional announcers.

I disagree.

We criticize their rules knowledge and their criticism of officials making incorrect calls when the calls are actually correct.

We don't criticize how they talk, their knowledge of the teams, their preparation or their ability to talk to millions of viewers without appearing nervous or scared. I could never do that.

So chill.

[johnny1784]

Originally posted by Jimgolf
It seems to me that the general tenor of this board is that people who are not officials have no business criticizing officials because they are not qualified since they have never officiated.

Yet posters on tbis board frequently complain about announcers, even though I haven't heard of any posters being professional announcers.

You have no idea how much work goes into being a television color commentator for a major sporting event. First, they must study the six words you cannot say on television. Second, they spend upwards of an hour getting their hair sprayed. (There should be a medical study investigating the link between hair spray and forgetting basketball rules.) Thurd, they get pounded with pancake makeup.

You have no idea.

Walk a mile in their patent leather shoes before you complain.
;)

On a lighter note, I enjoy listening to CBS' basketball game announcers Verne and Bill.

[Mark Padgett]

I was doing a play-by-play of a HS football game with another guy from the station who supposedly knew about the game. One team had just scored to take a four point lead with less than two minutes to go in the game. My partner said on the air that he was sure they were going to take an on-side kick. I asked him why they should do this if they were in the lead? He thought for a moment and then just shrugged. Too bad we were on radio. It would have been really funny if fans were able to see that.

Believe me, every announcer has almost as many stories to tell as officials.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Jimgolf
It seems to me that the general tenor of this board is that people who are not officials have no business criticizing officials because they are not qualified since they have never officiated.

Yet posters on tbis board frequently complain about announcers, even though I haven't heard of any posters being professional announcers.

Jim -- In general, I agree with your philosophy. But I also know stupidity when I hear it and those guys today were unbelievably stupid. Just a few minor examples:

"What they should do is double team every one except Davis..." That's , let's see, 8 players on the floor?!?

"lackadaisical" pronounced as "laxadaisical". This is incredibly uneducated. Anyone who uses language for a living should be able to pronounce words like this correctly.

ditto for "prophesizing" instead of the correct "prophesying".

And then mis-pronouncing players names, the one I noticed today was "Obazuki" and "Ozbee-uki" and "Ozuki" for"Ozbuiki".

These kinds of "small" errors add up to a huge flop, in my opinion. Obviously, CBS doesn't agree. But I certainly can criticize these kinds of lapses, even though I've never been a sports announcer.

[TriggerMN]

Well, sometimes it's difficult to pronouce odd names correctly, or names you do not usually come across in everyday life. How many other people do we know named Juulie, spelled with 2 u's?

[canuckrefguy]

Originally posted by rainmaker

Jim -- In general, I agree with your philosophy. But I also know stupidity when I hear it and those guys today were unbelievably stupid. Just a few minor examples:

"What they should do is double team every one except Davis..." That's , let's see, 8 players on the floor?!?

"lackadaisical" pronounced as "laxadaisical". This is incredibly uneducated. Anyone who uses language for a living should be able to pronounce words like this correctly.

ditto for "prophesizing" instead of the correct "prophesying".

And then mis-pronouncing players names, the one I noticed today was "Obazuki" and "Ozbee-uki" and "Ozuki" for"Ozbuiki".

These kinds of "small" errors add up to a huge flop, in my opinion. Obviously, CBS doesn't agree. But I certainly can criticize these kinds of lapses, even though I've never been a sports announcer.

While it's crucial for announcers not to mispronounce players' names, some of those other ones are the equivalent of a sports announcer coming to one of your games and picking apart your signals, mechanics, and the way you run.

AND....talking at the fast rate that sports announcers do, I'd really like to see someone use perfect pronunciation with the word "lackadaisical"

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by TriggerMN
Well, sometimes it's difficult to pronouce odd names correctly, or names you do not usually come across in everyday life. How many other people do we know named Juulie, spelled with 2 u's?

Well, sure, if it's you or me. But the guy is getting paid zillions of dollars to say the name a zillion times (not my name, the player's). He jolly well ought to get it right. I think it's offensive that he can't. And if he can't say it correctly because there's something physically wrong with his speaking equipment, then he ought to pronounce it wrong the same way over and over, rather than trying it several different ways as an experiment.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by canuckrefguy

While it's crucial for announcers not to mispronounce players' names, some of those other ones are the equivalent of a sports announcer coming to one of your games and picking apart your signals, mechanics, and the way you run.

AND....talking at the fast rate that sports announcers do, I'd really like to see someone use perfect pronunciation with the word "lackadaisical"

There are lots and lots and lots of people who speak in public and speak very well and pronounce things correctly day after day after day after day. "Lackadaisical" isn't any more difficult than "laxadaisical" if you know in your head how to pronounce it and want to do it right. That's why I say it's uneducated. The guy doesn't even speak English well. If you want to compare it to signals, and the way I run, I will too. I've seen refs held back pretty severely because their signals and the way they ran looked weird, or were not proper. When Howard Cosell said things strangely, it was personality and it was criticized, but it wasn't because he was unconcerned about proper English. When whoever it was today says, "prophesizing" I think he may not have even graduated from high school.


And how he can get away with saying that the coach should double team everyone but Davis is beyond me. Don't viewers hear how bafflingly goofy that is?

[canuckrefguy]

I see your point about officials being held back because of signals, etc....but my point is that it's not a sports announcer who's judging them or holding them back.

I can see how it'd be possible to double-team everyone except Davis....the double-team is shifting....but Davis is "left alone"....it would be impossible to "double team everyone except Davis" ALL AT ONCE, but that's not what the announcer said...