Names like John Madden, Dick Vitale, and Mike “Doc” Emerick are what come to mind when people talk about sportscasters. And how many times have you just wanted to scream at them for saying something stupid? For example, my Dad always likes to quote a game he remembers watching when Madden said, “Well, they have two choices. They can either run the ball, or pass it.” Gee, John, thanks for that wonderful insight.
Maybe it was me being tired of hearing stupid announcers, or tired of hearing people complain about stupid announcers, but in my junior year of high school I got an opportunity to do something about that. I became the color commentator for my high school’s football and basketball teams.
My first season on the football side, I only did home games. I don’t remember too much about that season because I was still trying to get comfortable with standing and talking for three hours. About an hour of that was setting up the equipment (cameras, computers, mics, cords) and the rest was trying not to screw up player’s names.
Then came basketball season. Anybody who has met me knows I’m an avid sports fan. By avid I mean, my ashes will be spread on either center ice at the Joe Lewis Arena or an end zone at Lambeau Field.
But basketball, to me, for many many years only existed in March. Leading up to my first basketball game (a game against our arch rivals, nonetheless), I watched six NBA and four college basketball games so I’d have something to talk about.
By the time football season started the following year, I had moved up in the ranks to the top of my game. I had a reserved weekly spot, where I hosted a sports talk show called “The Show.” Creative name, eh?
I woke up every Monday and began working on my outline for that Friday’s show. This usually meant neglecting my homework to watch whatever games I could. Tuesdays brought a fresh copy of “Sports Illustrated,” full of opinions and in depth stories-every scrap of information I could get my hands on.
And that was for the first two hours. The third, was reserved for talking about the upcoming game and the team as a whole. I interviewed coaches and players during the week as well, just adding my self-imposed work.
It wasn’t until the break between football and basketball that I realized just how much work I was really doing every single week. That got me thinking about the announcers like Madden and “Doc” and just how much they had to do to get to that level.
They had to start somewhere.
Granted Madden was a coach and player, who knew football inside and out, so what would ESPN have been thinking if they passed on him? But the fact was that there’s a lot of work that goes into those broadcasts. Maybe I’ve been too hard on them for saying the thoughtless or obvious.
Then again, at that level, somebody does need to tell them how dumb they look when they ask, “What does your team need to do to win this game?” The answer is simple: score more points.