Announcer Speak
 

A couple from this past weekend that I found cute. Both were from Tennessee games...yes I'm a fan boy for UT but I digress.

#1: Tennessee Women vs Baylor. About 3 minutes in, Baylor player is called for a travel. Color commentator says..."I think they missed that call. All she did was a jump stop and then pivot."

#2: Tennessee Men vs. Michigan State. Late in the game, Michigan State player slides in front of a Tennessee player for a screen and creams him. Talking head exclaims,"what a screen!" This is about the time they hit the whistle and send it the other way.

And yes, even as a fan boy, I have no doubt the call at the end of the UT/Michigan State game was a foul. That was way to easy of a call.

Nothing like a little affirmation that the correct call as made.

The worst was a week ago, I don't remember which game. A1 dribbles down around the arc, then cuts toward the basket. Just outside the key, he starts to plow a stationary B1, but then pulls back at the last minute. Creates some contact, B1 falls backward. IMO it could have been PC, but refs no-call. A1 starts to cut around, then loses the ball, B2 picks it up, action runs the other way.

Announcers called it a flop. Then, "when the dribbler creates contact like that, the refs have got to call that flop. It's gotta be a block. [Any second year ref would know there was no block there it was either PC or nothing]. Look how that flop created an advantage for B. A bobbled that ball and lost it just because of that flop. The refs really handed B that easy layup at the other end. That's just a really bad call, because...." yadda, yadda, yadda.

They replayed it about 19 times from 5 different angles showing how the "flop" clearly created the advantage for B. No mention of what A might have accomplished if he hand't run the guy, er, I mean, almost run the guy down.

My favorite one this season is from one of the NCAA men's games (forget which one, and who the announcers were):

(TWEET!)
Play-by-play: "...and he's called for a reach-in foul."
(The two announcers review the replay.)
Color: "Well, he definitely reached in, but he didn't touch him."

I do a little announcing on the side. Sometime I wonder if I should do a clinic for announcers when I get a few more years under my belt.

I might need to see the play again as I only saw it once, during halftime highlights of the Duke game, but I didn't think that was a foul on Tennessee at the end of the game.

Look to me that the UT player's elbow hit the ball during his block attempt.

I agree. Looked unusual, but clean. L called across the paint. I don't know if the C had anything or not. (You know what they say about calling across the paint).

I saw the same thing, the L looked straightlined to me; but maybe he saw something on the backside.
I am, however, trying to imagine the uproar if this call hadn't been made. ESPN guy (not sure who) stated (paraphrasing), "you hate to see the officials determine the outcome like this, but it's clearly a foul." :rolleyes:

There was a lot worse passed on during the game.

Talked to a friend of mine this morning. Told him I thought it was pretty clean, actually. He said, "but the defense got beat badly and it looked like a foul -- they're going to call that." And he's not an official.

Rich...I'll agree that the amount of contact wasn't great, but I agree with your friend, it looked like a foul. Even Bruce Pearl, who regularly rips on the stripes, made no excuses. He said they didn't get back and gave Michigan State to easy of a path to the basket. Oh well. Still a great run by UT. Happy to see my team do well for a change. Very strange year when the Men do better than the Women:eek:

I didn't look at the play a lot, but the guy that jumped didn't seem to hit him even though it looked bad. However, the player on the back side seemed to body him up and take a couple of steps with his hands straight up. It would be easier to see that from the L than the other player's actions.

Personally, I thought the foul was from behind. And if it wasn't, I don't know how the L sees the foul on the defender in front -- it's across the lane and facing the C.

No complaints as a Tennessee fanboy, though, regardless. They had their chances.

Yet, that (the player in front) is who the L called it on....not the player he could see.

If a announcer makes a comment and there is no one around to hear it.......are they still wrong?:rolleyes:

Hearing Kevin Harlan screech "AND HE'S CALLED FOR THE REACH IN FOUL" and "THEY GOT HIM FOR GOING OVER THE BACK" is like finger nails on a chalk board.

May not be the play you recall, but it sounds very similar. I wish that I could remember the exact game, but the announcer was definitely Len Elmore, so I can determine at which site it was played. The post player on the block bumped into the defender who went down, then the offensive player tried to make a move into the lane and lost the ball. The result was a scrum on the floor and a held ball. Len babbled about it being a flop and needing to be penalized. I actually thought that it was a PC foul.