What has happened to TV sports announcers?

[Brad K]

I haven't watched all that much televised sports over the last 10 or 15 years. Mostly just the world series and super bowl and I usually have something else going on as my teams aren't there.

And so perhaps it's more noticeable to me, but why can't these announcers ever shut up? I'm watching the Steeler at Ravens and I turned off the sound. There is absolutely no dead time. The guys on this game are as bad as the clowns on the 2022 world series.

Information on the screen has improved (applause) so much I don't need announcers.

[pilight]

I agree. I usually watch with the sound off. Today's announcers don't know how to let a game breathe.

[Westheim]

I feel like part of the problem is that there is no *announcer* anymore. There's a whole horde of them. (There's this opening sequence to the baseball game in The Naked Gun, where I swear they announce seven people sitting in a long row, but I can't find the clip on Youtube - anyway, we're getting there!) And as soon as one finishes his paragraph, the next one has the uncontrollable urge to leap in and try and make his salary worthwhile.

I miss Vin Scully.

This was notable to me at the last World Cup, where the German broadcast for the first time (as far as I recall at least) used pairs of commentators for at least some of the games (not all, many were still solo), and the color guy can never shut up there either. I don't watch soccerball between "big tournaments", so this might have crept in a while ago.

[David Watts]

Don't forget the wonderful "he said" reports given by the gob of makeup they call a sideline reporter. When Shuffle butt Jones came to the sideline, he took off his gloves and looked at his teammates and he said, we should try and win this game. Then he said, I will try harder and so should you and you and you. Then he said if we try hard we will have a better chance to win and then he said, that's what I shall do and asked his teammates if they would too. All of this gets spewed without the gob taking a breath.

3 man booths are a sure sign of incoming noise.

Hockey may have the best broadcasts, simply due to the lack of down time for the hairhats to spew gas.

I often wonder if talk radio and pre-game shows are to blame. All too often the actual game takes a backseat to 2 or 3 guys feeding the audience their opinions on all things sports.

[pilight]

Analytics doesn't help. Giving the gasbags a whole slew of additional metrics that they only half comprehend adds to the pollution.

[Brad K]

The trivial records they talk about. Like that is only the third touchdown pass in NFL history of over 40 yards in the air in the opening drive of the third quarter witnessed by a fan 65 years old or older accompanied by a parent.

[Bluenoser]

It's what has turned me off from watching sports on TV - Over analysis, over hype, over blown coverage of minute and insignificant details. Over kill of everything.

I'm old fashioned I guess, I just want to watch the game.

[Cap]

They must be getting paid by the word. They never shut up. In a sport like boxing which used to be happy with one guy calling the fight now they have three plus a fourth, usually a female, who provides info no one cares about. They have the same person during baseball games giving up-close and personal stuff between innings. It gets so bad I wish there was an option to just turn off the blabbermouths.

Cap

[BaseballMan]

I really hate when the announcer will say Theres a flag on the play. Looks like its holding on the offense in the backfield as the receiver is wide open and about to catch a deep pass. I know the play wont count and will be called back but let the play finish. Stop telling me outcomes ahead of time.
Idk but its like going to see a movie you've been waiting to see only for
someone to tell you the ending before you walk in the theater.

I think announcers would be better if they treated the game like they were watching it with us instead of like you are telling someone about a game the next day.

Sometimes i wonder if there should be an option for what level of fan you are.
Like if you are very knowledgeable about the game and only need expert like Scully to provide input here and there or if you know nothing about say baseball and you need a Joe Morgan to dumb down everything and explain it for you.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I feel like part of the problem is that there is no *announcer* anymore. There's a whole horde of them. (There's this opening sequence to the baseball game in The Naked Gun, where I swear they announce seven people sitting in a long row, but I can't find the clip on Youtube - anyway, we're getting there!) And as soon as one finishes his paragraph, the next one has the uncontrollable urge to leap in and try and make his salary worthwhile.

I miss Vin Scully.

This was notable to me at the last World Cup, where the German broadcast for the first time (as far as I recall at least) used pairs of commentators for at least some of the games (not all, many were still solo), and the color guy can never shut up there either. I don't watch soccerball between "big tournaments", so this might have crept in a while ago.

In German football, the solo commentary booth is still far and away more common than a multi person booth.

I say it at a few previous big tournaments. It really depended on the broadcaster.

Here in Switzerland, it is much the same. Football, hockey and basketball all get solo commentators for the most part.

It has become more common to bring in a guest for at least some of the match. But that is also not overwhelmingly common.

[rudel.dietrich]

I am going to go in a slightly different direction. When I watch North American sports, I do not so much mind the amount of talking. And for the most part I enjoy the national broadcasts in most sports.

However, the local/regional broadcast teams have gotten so much worse.
I do not so much mind the blatant homerism, but not keeping up with the sport in general and having no sense of what else is happening the sport/league is really irritating.

[pilight]

Scully wasn't an expert because he was never a player

[monkeyman576]

I actually like the Mariners announcers for the most part. I must be in the minority. Kraken announcers are pretty ok too.

[BaseballMan]

Originally Posted by pilight

Scully wasn't an expert because he was never a player

Never said he was an expert at coaching or playing the game.
I was talking about his expertise as an announcer.
Joe Morgan was one of the greatest players but not as great as an announcer.
Why would someone have to be a player to be an expert in baseball?
It could help sure but i dont think it disqualifies someone as much as their knowledge on the subject would.
It might leave some gms out.
Some players have become gms and managers and were terrible.
If you spent over 60 years being involved with the game on a daily basis i think you could qualify as an expert on the subject.

[mytreds]

I agree, modern announcers are generally bad. They care about hearing themselves talk. Or they are nepotistic hires like Joe Buck.

[Syd Thrift]

I feel like people don’t remember how awful some guys used to be. Ugh, who was the longtime Royals guy, Herk Robinson? I remember he was really bad. I do like the Mariners corps although there too I have to admit that Rick Rizzs has never been my favorite. Niehaus of course had a way of making a bad team fun to listen to but Dave Niehaus has been dead for more than a decade now. In general though baseball has always been a little “let’s just yak about random stuff for a bit”. And as for the crying about statistics, back in the 70s and 80s they were always quoting stats at you. They were brain dead stats like “batting average vs left handed pitching on Tuesday nights” but I’m not at all sure there’s more of it. At least when guys talk about exit velocity or swing rate or whatever, these are numbers that have an actual bearing on the game.

[Brad K]

John Smoltz and whoever the other guy was with him doing the 2022 world series are the worst. First time I ever shut off the volume. I didn't give the guys on the Steelers - Ravens game as much time. I wonder if I'll be able to keep the volume up on Sunday's Steelers game.

How announcing should be... look at the comments made by Curt Gowdy and Al Derogatis during the Immaculate Reception and it's replays. The number one play in NFL history. They didn't get all over the play with babble, even in the replays. Show me a modern broadcasting team that could have done that!

[thehef]

Whether he was doing Dodger games solo - on tv or radio - or national TV telecasts with a partner such as Joe Garagiola, Scully knew what to say and when to say it, and when to let the moment breath. Not that there weren't other great ones, but he was the best.

[BaseballMan]

I liked monday night football when it had Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith.
You had Frank to give you play by play, Howard to give you stats and Meredith for entertainment and storytelling.
Then Dan Dierdorf came along to tell you right before kickoff that your team had absolutely no shot at winning the game no matter which team you picked.

[Brad K]

"Look Howard, he's saying 'we're number one'" - Don Meridith