Your assignment is simple…show up at the game, talk about what’s going on with the person sitting next to you, get excited and when it’s all over, go to the bank and deposit a check!….How could this not be the best gig in sports journalism?
The answer? – it is!….It’s play by play and any sports journalist has done it at one point or another…whether it’s playing in the driveway (“time running down, 3 seconds, 2, 1, he shoots – it’s good!…it’s good!!)… on the diamond, (“there’s a long drive to deep center!) or the 18th green (“it’s in the hole!), we’ve imagined ourselves the voices of some announcer trumpeting our own winning accomplishment…
And really, you’re gonna pay me to do it?…You can’t be serious…My first on air job included doing play by play for the Malden High School football games for the princely sum of $10 a game (1972 Waltham vs Malden, future all pro Fred Smerlas starting for the Hawks) and when i saw my name on a check from Malden Cablevision I thought I had made the big time…
So when Jeff Mannix and Chris Sedenka visited the Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar Series recently we got to revel in their passion…Here are guys living the dream…Getting to sit court/rinkside and describing the action while fans listen in…
So what makes a good play by play call?….”Essentially you’re writing a book with your voice, said Sedenka, and that’s something that appeals to me the most”…Mannix often relies on his listeners for feedback, “the best compliment I can get is when someone says you made me feel like I was in the arena, if I haven’t done that, I’ve failed my listener”…
Both Mannix and Sedenka stressed preparation as they key to doing the job well, a job, for young play by play announcers that might include selling tickets and in the case of ESPN Radio’s Ryen Rusillo, even being the mascot for the Trenton Thunder…
Thankfully i never had to do either in that first stop…I was the post game cable “wrapper” returning all the mic and monitor wires to the “Rocket Remote” truck…A skill I learned, that to this day, i’m proud of, a skill I passed along to my son who put it to practice while working the B-U hockey and basketball games…stop by I’ll teach you!
We all have our own favorites, announcers and calls…It’s one of those great debates that makes for long hours of conversation and reminiscing…I could fill this column with list after list…
“Do you believe in miracles?” and “Havlicek stole the ball!” come to mind but indulge me a few others:
Start with Howard Cosell’s call back in 1973…..
Boxing not your thing?….how about some local N-B-A action?
For Emily Tillo –
Pretty Good indeed!…
And finally, one simple word is sometimes all it takes…
Now it’s your turn…post your favorite and let the argument begin!
18 Comments
Timmy Lagos posted on March 20, 2016 at 7:35 pm
Whenever someone asks me what my major is, whether that be a friend from back home or someone here at BU and I tell them it’s sports broadcasting, they always tell me what an exciting and fun career that sounds like. So to say I agree with play-by-play being the best gig in sports journalism would be an understatement. I already watch and talk about sports everyday as it is. But to get paid to do that? I think that would be difficult for any sports fan to pass up. It all comes back to Professor Shorr saying “You’ll never work a day in your life.” I truly believe that. There may be some rough times, but to get paid to do what you love doesn’t feel too much like work to me.
As far as the seminar with Jeff and Chris, there were a few big themes I took out of what they said.
The first thing I took away that wasn’t really a theme as much as something that I could relate to was how they started out. Jeff talked about playing floor hockey in his house and pretending to announce the game while he played. I feel as though that’s how a lot of play-by-play announcers start out. I remember when I was young and I would go to my older brother’s little league games and I would sit in the stands and keep the stats of both teams and do my own version of announcing the game. Many of the parents sitting around myself and my family would always tell me and my parents I had a future in sports and I guess they were right. I guess this also shows that if you truly want to do something, that passion and interest in it will be with you from a young age.
Something else I took away was when Jeff and Chris talked about the difference between calling a game for T.V. and calling a game for the radio. The obvious difference is when calling a game for T.V., your fans and listeners can see what you see. So you need to be careful to not make a mistake on a number of a player, a player’s name, a call by the referee, etc. or the audience will call you out on that. On radio, if you make a mistake no one will know, although you should still correct yourself. But that’s a double-edged sword. It’s more difficult to paint that picture of the game when the audience doesn’t have a visual. So I guess you can say there’s positives and negatives to your audience having or not having the visual of the game in front of them.
Jeff and Chris also touched on the topic of objectivity in the broadcast, something that seems to come up every week in these seminars, no matter who the guest is. I think Jeff gave the perfect response when he said just call what you see and don’t get personal with it. Look I get it. When you cover a team for as long as some of these guys in the play-by-play business have, you’re bound to develop a relationship with the team that could sometimes cloud your objectivity. It’s only natural. You’re around the same people everyday and you get to know everyone. But as a journalist, you just can’t let that turn you into a “homer” or “that guy” that everyone knows when they listen to your broadcast, all they are going to hear about is the team you cover. There needs to be a balance. As Jeff said, he isn’t looking for a chance to be critical, but if his team does something wrong such as a dirty hit, he’ll call them out for it, even though it’s the team he covers. That’s how to do it.
One last thing I wanted to touch on again isn’t a theme that they talked about, but it’s their passion for their job. I believe it was Vanessa who pointed out how enthusiastic and passionate they were about what they do and it’s true. You could see it in the way they walked into the room, the way they seemed to be excited to answer every question, and just their general demeanor. That’s how you are going to succeed in this business and in any business really. You have to love what you do. These guys obviously do and it shows through the success they’ve had over the years. Like Chris said, “the easiest part of the job is doing the job.” Sounds like the right mindset to me.
It’s not going to be easy. You are going to have to miss a lot of things that you may not want to miss such as birthdays and holidays in order to go cover a game. But if you want to do this job, and you’re passionate about it, that’s what you have to do. I think it will be worth it.
As far as my favorite call goes, I’m going to get a lot of flak for this one around these parts, but nothing else but this comes to mind when someone asks me one of my favorite sports moments (even though I don’t like that it has to be Joe Buck making the call, but that’s a conversation for another day). The great Aaron Boone sending the Yankees to the 2003 World Series. “Boone, the hero in Game 7”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLY16wmHdUk
Vanessa de Beaumont posted on March 21, 2016 at 12:35 am
When you love your job, it shows.
The kind of passion Jeff Mannix and Chris Sedenka have for play-by-play does not merely show, however. It radiates.
“It’s always been a part of me,” beamed Sedenka, relaying his obsession with sports radio and early vocal talent discovery.
Mannix conveyed a similar sentiment while reminiscing on his time spent at his grandmother’s house, doing much of what Professor Shorr described – playing sports and practicing the call.
Becoming the literal storyteller for the events one loves is undoubtedly a dream. Yes, the word is overused and has become trite, but there is simply no other way to describe it. As Sedenka put it, he’s being “paid to watch a basketball game.”
But despite the sought-after nature of this employment, I can’t help but be impressed. Prior to their arrival, I mentioned such to classmate Alex Smith (who, ironically, knows a thing or two about play-by-play).
I, myself, have always relied on written word. I, corny as it may be, regard the pen as my sword. Faced with a situation in which the words would have to be spoken simultaneously to their composition, I feel they might fail me. Both men agreed that they have developed the ability to let the occasional stutter or blip pass without mention. The amount that would fall from mine, and the subsequent wrath I would unleash upon myself in response would be insurmountable. I can’t convey the respect I have for the profession enough.
Yet Mannix brushed off the awe bestowed upon hockey play-by-play, and he even conceded that radio, because of its singularly auditory nature, can cover up mistakes.
Which isn’t to say that either professional allows for them. In the interest of accuracy, they acknowledged that, given the appropriate time, they would correct their work.
It’s all part of “painting the visual picture” as Mannix described it.
Sedenka’s take fell along the lines of “telling a visual story for someone who can’t get to a TV.” He then went on to distinguish the role of commentating the two mediums by explaining that in TV, broadcasters “are helping to set the scene, but radio is telling the whole scene.”
It’s a point that stood out to me.
Obviously, any television play-by-play is, relative to radio, acting in a more supportive role. Whereas an airwave listener is entirely reliant on the narrative for understanding, TV provides context via visual representation as well.
With all due respect to Sedenka (who is undoubtedly in a position of greater knowledge and experience in this field than I), however, I believe that TV broadcasts do more than simply aid storytelling.
Of all the courses my peer, the aforementioned Smith, may have been thinking of when discussing the Boston University classes that failed to further his pursuits, COM 101 may be the most poignant example. In this case, however, it is proving to be helpful.
While taking the class, I distinctly remember discussing the dominance of the auditory senses while consuming visual media such as TV. Despite the “vision” component of “television,” hearing programming is still more critical than viewing it. Take, for example, muting a game versus leaving it on while attending to something else (and therefore having it out of sight). For the majority of the population, the greatest level of understanding of the game’s events will come from the latter – listening to it alone.
How many times have television calls created a whole different echelon of importance for a play? As evidenced by the mere fact that any sports fan can immediately call to mind a standout commentating moment – more than one can count. And how did we all come to know so much about the games and players we love (particularly when, like Mannix and Sedenka, many of us were not the most talented of athletes)? If not for play-by-play, my own understanding would be profoundly shallower.
Perhaps most poignant an example is my inability to watch games called by certain broadcasters. Were they really to be relegated to an assistance role, I probably would hardly notice.
In this sense, I compare play-by-play in a TV broadcast to a co-star as opposed to supporting actor whereas radio is, naturally, a one-man show.
And clearly, it’s a task that both guests, literal one-man shows, relish. Despite the discussion of time wasted on sports talk radio, the long hours of separation from friends and family, the less-than-glamorous tasks completed before landing their current work, and the inevitably low wages, there was never any qualification from either party that the gigs they held were anything short of their dream jobs.
As they stated multiple times, it was what they were meant to do, what they always wanted to do. Simply put, it was refreshing – a wonderful mix of journalistic professionalism (for a variety of reasons including the ones discussed by classmate Timmy Lagos) and unburdened enthusiasm.
On camera or off of it, over the airwaves or in the press conference, narrating or writing; there can’t be a better combination of attributes.
…
As for my favorite call, I think it’s one that many here in Beantown will recognize. There’s nothing quite like Kevin Harlan’s passionate “LeBron James, with no regard for human life!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beCxSqSXGDY
Jake De Vries posted on March 21, 2016 at 11:39 am
Great call, Timmy. As a Yankees fan myself, the call that replays in my head over and over is that of Derek Jeter’s 3000th hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5MJDtsBHwA
I don’t even like the call that much. I always thought “history with an exclamation point” was about the most cliche and lame thing that Michael Kay could have said. But you can’t argue with his genuine excitement and thrill of being the guy to call such a historic moment.
Just to prove that I’m not a crazy biased Yankees fan, I’m going to put this one up too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNt3UuDTBz8
Luis Gonzalez walking off in the 2001 World Series… This moment just about ruined my childhood. But boy oh boy did Tim McCarver write the future or what? Have you ever heard a call BEFORE the play quite like that? For as much hate as McCarver received throughout his career, he ought to be remembered forever for that call alone.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2013/oct/26/tim-mccarver-world-series-2013
That’s the link to an interesting summary about McCarver’s career, which brings me to my first point. Our guests talked about how difficult it is to call a baseball game due to all the dead time. Hockey and basketball are far more free flowing because there is always something to call. Chris mentioned how much he respects Gary Thorne for being able to call both baseball and hockey.
This makes the criticism of McCarver (and plenty of other baseball broadcasters) interesting to me. Much of his criticism relates to stating the obvious, and taking his opinions too far. But aren’t opinionated broadcasters exactly what baseball needs? We talk all the time about baseball being boring and losing its fan base. The broadcaster is tasked with calling a three hour game when there’s only 15 some-odd minutes of actual game being played. The game needs opinionated, maybe even controversial, personalities calling the game to keep millions of fans from changing the channel when there’s no one on base in the top of the 5th.
For as boring of a sport as baseball can be, I have to admit that it provides for the best call in all of sports… the home run. And who does it better than Chris Berman? “Back back back back back waaaaaaayyyy back!”
I think Jeff and Chris gave us some great advice for those of us that end up doing play-by-play at any point in our careers. And as they pointed out, if you’re the Director of Communications with a team, you may have no choice but to call the games. They advised us to build a rapport with the color commentator and to call plays the way you see them, and never go out of the way to get personal with a player or a coach. These tips come back to themes we’ve heard every seminar. Prepare yourself by doing your homework, both on the teams you’re covering and on your partner, and be fair and objective. Do both those things and have a little fun, and PBP will be a blast.
Alex/Alex/Zach posted on March 21, 2016 at 12:02 pm
Listen to The Shorr Report Episode 6 here: https://soundcloud.com/user-872962998/the-shorr-report-episode-6
And here are some extra pieces of amazing commentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gq0obYuAbc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciFK6smUTAg
Emily Tillo posted on March 21, 2016 at 4:41 pm
It is the third round of the 2001 Players Championship. Tiger Woods is 9-under for the tournament, three shots back from the leader.
He has a 60-foot, double-breaking putt on hole 17—the infamous island green—for birdie.
As Tiger lines up his putt, NBC announcer and former professional golfer Gary Koch says to his broadcast partner Johnny Miller, “Johnny, I have seen a number of players putt from the back part of this green, and the results have not been good.”
Johnny responds, “It seems like when Tiger gets engaged in something really difficult, he usually does extra good, and he should be pretty engaged here.
Tiger addresses the ball while his caddie, Steve Williams, tends the flag. He takes two looks at his line, then makes his stroke.
The rest of what transpired on that green—though it may speak for itself, as some fans will argue—will never be forgotten, thanks to three powerful and memorable words that came out of Koch’s mouth.
Gary Koch: “Johnny, that’s better than most.”
The ball tracks closer to the hole.
Johnny Miller: “How about in?”
The ball scratches the right edge of the cup and drops in.
Gary Koch: “Better than most…better than most!”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi4y8BxCmlI)
Actions may speak louder than words, as the saying goes, but words—I’ve come to realize—help make actions truly unforgettable.
Tiger’s putt wasn’t to win the tournament (although he did go on to win), nor was it even on the final round of the tournament. But, because of Gary Koch’s perfect choice of words as a play-by-play announcer, Tiger’s putt will go down in history.
Perhaps that is why, in last week’s seminar, play-by-play announcers Chris Sedenka and Jeff Mannix implied that their jobs were better than most.
They don’t just describe history being made—they help make history.
If it weren’t for play-by-play announcers, sports fans’ (whether they’re tuning in via radio or TV) experiences would be, well, very bland. How else would listeners or viewers be able to understand, for example, the severity of slope on a green, the atmosphere in an arena, or the scene unfolding on the ice during a power play?
In an age where multi-tasking has become a norm, then I believe the role of a play-by-play announcer becomes even more significant. We’re driving to work and letting our minds wander as we tune into a game on the radio, or we’re watching a game on TV as we scroll through our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds.
Fans’ attention spans are so tiny, it’s no wonder SVP of SportsCenter Rob King mentioned when paid us a visit a few weeks ago that even adult swimming and minecraft can be considered threats to ESPN. “It’s about attention for your time. We are really about moving emotion. That is our [ESPN’s] job.”
“Moving emotion.” That’s it. Emotion is exactly what distinguishes a good play-by-play announcer from one that is “better than most.” Emotion is what makes a play memorable. Emotion is what keeps sports fans coming back.
The easy part of doing play-by-play, as Sedenka mentioned, is showing up, as Timmy recalled in his post. Yes, it’s a necessity, especially for radio announcers, to help listeners understand who passed the puck/ball to who, who made the interception, who blocked the shot, etc. Those are the facts that cannot be ignored.
The hard part, however, is, as Jeff put it, making the listener “feel like [they] were in the arena.” This requires practice, personal research, and, above all, passion.
Passion can’t be faked. And Sedenka and Mannix sure don’t fake it. Koch sure didn’t fake it, either.
So, what causes us, as viewers, to shift our eyes from our phones to the game unfolding on the TV or to shift our train of thought from the bumper sticker on the car in front of us to the game on the radio? Play-by-play announcers. Vanessa alluded to this in her post when she mentioned how, because of play-by-play, her understanding of sports is so much richer. I completely agree.
Fans have play-by-play announcers to thank for enriching our sport-watching experiences, for making us realize that it’s ok to scream in the car after an amazing play, and for helping us believe in miracles.
Even athletes must thank play-by-play announcers for helping them mentally prepare for pressure-filled moments. There isn’t a day that goes by when I’m not saying to myself as I hit a putt on the practice green, “Tillo has this putt to win the tournament. She lines up the putt, takes one look at the hole, and strokes it perfectly. And it’s in the hole!!”
Andrew Battifarano/Judy Cohen/Sarah Kirkpatrick posted on March 21, 2016 at 6:52 pm
Listen to the return episode of Smooth JAS! https://soundcloud.com/andrew-battifarano/smooth-jas-episode-4
julie aiello posted on March 22, 2016 at 9:50 am
Although I wasn’t able to be in class for the play by play announcers Jeff Mannix and Chris Sedenka’s visit, from what my classmates have been saying, the two panelists had no lack of passion for their jobs.
Two of my favorite play by pay announcers are Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper who announce for the San Francisco Giants. They’re a colorful duo who Bay Area fans adore for their commentary on every aspect of the game.
Some gems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP9nLPAUN4Q&ebc=ANyPxKrIJAw2wM8bOb7ljcQ-N-oxUB5277B4k36Wd3LiqJSgFY1yG0bX8ueXywAeyWuBQ9Qsxh2q9uIH8Njn5RC6rI8ZwKyfGQ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBEnapLaLM0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jdOCQG1Mfs
Even hearing Kruk and Kuip, as they’re affectionately known as in the Bay Area, announce games now takes me back to warm summer days when it was so hot outside I didn’t even care that the Giants were continuing their losing streak, I’d stay in the cool, air-conditioned house and listen to Kruk and Kuip as they referred to the Giants games as “torture” for fans. The play by play announcers remind me of crisp fall nights when I used to stay awake longer than my parents just to watch the extra innings, only to relay back to them what happened when they finally woke up. Kruk and Kuip are almost a soundtrack to my adolescence, and any time I get to hear them announce, I am reminded of why I like them in the first place: they’re honest and opinionated.
Like Jake said, opinionated broadcasters might just be what baseball needs to maintain (and even grow) its fan base. Kruk and Kuip met in the 1980s when they both played for the Giants. The two became inseparable since and their friendship is well documented in this ESPN article: http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11617731/the-giant-friendship-san-francisco-giants-announcers-mike-krukow-duane-kuiper.
Kruk, as the article mentions, is battling a muscle disorder that weakens his arms and legs. The 64-year-old lives across the street from AT&T park but has to get a ride in a golf cart to the broadcast booth. His body is beginning to fail him, and he doesn’t know how or when he will lose his physical abilities. But you’d never know if you didn’t search out that information. To me, that is the sign of incredibly professional broadcasters. Neither Kruk nor his closest friend, Kuip, are bringing up Kruk’s battle during games or appearances because the job is not about them. They both are truly invested in the Giants and keep their personal lives out of their commentary, which can be tough when you’re broadcasting a game like baseball which has so much dead time. Instead, they fill that time with humor, poking fun at fans, players, umpires. They keep the fans engaged in a way they also enjoy.
Form what I’ve heard, Jeff Mannix and Chris Sedenka seem to really enjoy their jobs. Not only is it obvious (in television broadcast specifically) when an announcer makes a mistake or hasn’t done their homework, but it’s also obvious when an announcer loves his or her job. The passion shows in the commentary made, in the amount of preparation done, and in the announcer’s tone of voice. Kruk and Kuip, and I am sure Mannix and Sedenka, have a passion for the game and the job that listeners can easily pick up on.
Rachel Blauner posted on March 22, 2016 at 11:32 am
As Professor Shorr said, sometimes it only takes one word.
In our last seminar, Jeff Mannix and Chris Sedenka showed their love for their play-by-play professions. This was one of the first times this semester that I truly saw the enthusiasm for their jobs out of the speakers. They lived and breathed play-by-play. This eternal love for what they do makes me think that it is possible to find a job you truly love in the sports journalism world.
Kind of off topic, but when we were listening to them talk about their experiences and what they loved, all I kept thinking about was soccer announcers.
“GOOAALLLLLLLLLL” kept replaying in my head thinking about every soccer game I’ve ever watched. Soccer announces truly only have to say one word in that moment: goal.
Here are some of the best soccer announcer reactions I’ve heard, even if they aren’t in English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvnydzZXBEI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyIZXXLAJ8E
When I was little, I would shoot around in my backyard and yell out, “Three, two… ONE!” Shoot the ball and scream,” GOAL!!!!” And run around flying like an airplane. I would picture playing in a huge stadium with thousands of fans and sports announcers calling out my every move.
Listening to Jeff and Chris brought back so many memories, whether it was watching the U.S. Women’s National Team win the World Cup this past summer, or watching the Patriot’s win the XLIX Super Bowl with my dad. I vividly remember the the announcers making me feel like I was at the game- they made me feel every emotion, every play.
That’s what makes doing play-by-play so fun and exciting. You get to bring the listeners into the game. You get to tell them the story. As Emily said, without sports announcers, fans would get the bland version of games. They would not get all of the emotion that goes along with games that makes sports great.
But, as Jeff and Chris said, which I think is extremely important, is that you have to love it to do it, because the pay may not be too great initially. I’ve always believed that you should do a job because you love it, not because of how much you make.
They made another good point that it is imperative to have support at home. They have to travel, they are at games until late at night, and they may have crazy hours. That is why it is so important to truly think about what kind of lifestyle you want before picking a profession. Our professors always tell us that with journalism and broadcast, you could potentially move all over the country. For Jeff and Chris, they both have families that are extremely supportive of what they do, and that makes doing their job even more enjoyable. But, Jeff and Chris both talked about getting burnt out, having to chose a different job or less hours.
This led me to think that you are never stuck in the profession that you chose. They both love doing play-by-play and always will, but can also try other things, other paths. I learned that you can start something, love it, but eventually want to go down a road you haven’t yet, and that’s OK.
Taylor DiChello posted on March 22, 2016 at 8:24 pm
The popular word of this week’s post is passion.
And there certainly is no lack of it in play-by-play, no matter the sport.
A play-by-play announcer can bring an already exciting game to the next level.
They bring the game to people who can’t be at it, and in turn provide memories for not only the listeners, but the people around the listeners as well.
I remember all too well the days before my grandparents had a real television (they were a little behind on the times, ok?) my grandfather would have all of his friends over to listen to the soccer game in Italy. When Napoli was playing, the radio was on, and everyone else’s mouths were shut. The next 90 minutes while I was eating my cereal at the table were Italian men shouting at the radio and shoving each other to get as close to the radio as they could. If Napoli won, everyone stayed for coffee and lunch. If they lost, everyone would leave the house, slam the door, and not utter a single word as they left.
Thinking back, it wasn’t the real game they were after. It was the play-by-play announcer giving them the dirty details of every play. They wanted to hear the GOOALLL!!! and feel like they were back home in Italy watching the game for real.
For Nonno, the play-by-play announcer didn’t bring him a sport, it brought him home.
I connect to that same feeling every time I watch the Red Sox play. It was at home that I would have to listen to Joe Castiglione call the “swing and a miss!” as I fell asleep on the way home in my carseat. Being away from home in Boston, the sound of Castiglione’s voice puts me right back in that carseat watching my dad drive and yell when something he doesn’t like happen.
For Chris Sedenka and Jeff Mannix, the play-by-play box is their home. They’ve trained for their sports like well-seasoned athletes train: in their living rooms using golf clubs as hockey sticks and announcing the plays as they reenact them.
Jeff says his job is complete when he’s painted the visual picture. Chris says that play-by-play was his first love and that the easiest part of the job is showing up.
Don’t we all want a job that we look forward to everyday? They don’t do it for the money, they do it for the love of the game and that’s what makes a good play-by-play caller.
Natalie Robson posted on March 22, 2016 at 10:14 pm
I definitely agree with Taylor that this week’s word was passion. I think it was really exciting and refreshing to hear Chris and Jeff talk about their jobs with as much sparkle in their eye as a kid on Christmas.
I think it was particularly important hearing Chris talk about getting burned out. I think there is definitely a fine line between just having a rough day and knowing when you need to make a change—and I honestly thought it was really brave of him to take notice in his life and realize something isn’t working. Clearly, this brought him to where he is now; and realistically he admitted that he’s not making that much money—but the excitement he said he had going into work every day definitely outweighs that. I think this is hugely important. One thing I have definitely learned throughout this semester is that you are aware of who is really happy with what they are doing—and I think this definitely translates into how successful they are when it comes to their job.
I think it was also important that we also clarified what the job encapsulates as a whole—you aren’t just doing play-by-play. In Jeff’s case at one point in his career he was the damn mascot—and I truly believe that he was willing to set that aside to do what he loves.
I also agree with what Taylor said at the end of her post—“Don’t we all want a job that we look forward to everyday? They don’t do it for the money, they do it for the love of the game and that’s what makes a good play-by-play caller.” This is such a great ideal to try to hold out on throughout a career. I think that oftentimes it is so easy to get caught up in doing things and going to work because it is what we are supposed to do—I think this is such an important thing to keep in mind moving forward. Be true to yourself and what you want to get out of this career path, or what we don’t get out of it. Now is the time to try a lot of stuff and listen to what a lot of people have to say. As Professor Shorr always says, it beats working for a living.
Haley K. King posted on March 22, 2016 at 11:39 pm
Play-By-Play
If I had a captivating voice, a deep enough knowledge to analyze a full sporting event, and was the slightest bit entertaining, I would undoubtedly consider exploring a career in play-by-play.
Alas, I don’t have the skills required to be a broadcast journalist, and I certainly don’t have a “face for radio.”
That being said, I commend anyone who decides to pursue the career path and am insanely jealous. I know how rewarding it can be getting to watch a sport you love while entertaining fans and getting paid for it. There’s nothing quite like it.
Coming from a baseball loving family, I have always found the iconic spats between Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy comical. But living in New York at the time, also experienced other’s discontent with their broadcasts—for they would, more often than not, get sidetracked on some absurd topic and go off on tangents. But Red Sox Nation loved it. That just seems to be the nature of baseball play-by-play. You get paid the big bucks to sit in the booth and “shoot the shit” for hours on end in between baseball’s slow moving balls and strikes.
Being able to entertain fans on air for upwards of four hours at a time, for 160 games throughout the year is an art form.
What I enjoyed most about the seminar was that both Jeff Mannix and Chris Sedenka genuinely love their professions and it showed—I mean, it’s hard not to, right?
Jeff knew from a young age that play-by-play was his calling—growing up playing hockey in his family living room with miniature golf clubs while broadcasting his actions simultaneously. Chris on the other hand took a more roundabout path to the profession, and found himself working the morning news shift at 4 a.m., sports updates later that morning, and the afternoon show all in one day before making his way into play-by-play.
Both Chris and Jeff stressed the importance of painting the verbal picture for their listeners, and how they aim to make the listeners feel as though they were in the arena watching the game. They also stressed the importance of letting go of all self doubt and accept the fact that you will make mistakes on air, every day. You just need to learn to own your mistakes and be human—radio personalities are real people, and should show personalities, flaws and all. That’s often times half their charm.
I also learned that play-by-play isn’t necessarily all “fun and games.” Frequently, announcers will need to write press releases, create media kits, compile stats, cover sales responsibilities, write their own game notes, etc.
Oh, and you miss out on a lot of things in your real life due to work. One of the small sacrifices I guess.
Beats working for a living.
Anna Padilla posted on March 23, 2016 at 9:00 am
They are the sounds clips that give you goose bumps. They are the calls that producers put on the open of Super Bowls, championships and Olympics. These moments of sport greatness or defeat captured have to be captured with simple words but must illicit great emotion.
I think that as sports young children, young sports fans, we might even fall in love with these sounds before we fall in love with the sport and the players. You don’t need to understand all the rules, know all the player’s names or the team stats. All you have to do is listen to the play by play and hope that the person hired for the job will paint you a thrilling and truthful picture.
I think before last week I thought a little less about the seriousness of play by play. This most likely comes from watching to many ESPN and CBS called games where the play by play announcers are insipid, dumb or just annoying. Like many other parts of the mass sports media, whatever is happening to with the extreme capitalism and popularity in this realm is diluting artistry and passion. And it shows.
But Jeff Mannix and Chris Sedenka are proudly not part of this realm. They take their job as serious as anyone. They also seem to understand their understated but profound contract they have with their listeners. They made it very clear that it is their duty to paint the best and most accurate picture for anyone trying to see the game through Jeff Mannix and Chris Sedenka.
Nostalgically, I love this. Hopefully these men’s passion and thrill take them further up the ladder. More of them less of play by play people, who I won’t name, that make you want to throw your shoe at the T.V. and turn the sound off indefinitely. Play by play is not there to fill space or cause controversy. I think it is supposed to be simple and pure. The fact Sedenka thinks that he can “fail” his listener is great. Because in his profession listeners are failed most of the time.
Dave Logan, the radio play by play for the Denver Broncos, is the man that we turn on in the car when we have to go to the grocery store during halftime or when we have to drive to the airport during the 4th quarter. Like most major cities his voice and personality is a staple now to the team and Denver. Yet unlike most T.V. play by play personalities and like Mannix and Sedenka, he stays true to the call and the game and the fru-fru of sports media. This is my recent favorite call…http://www.denverbroncos.com/multimedia/videos/KOA-radio-call-of-game-winning-touchdown/1f273d60-2169-4c11-9287-18e5a405f47b….
Justin Akiva posted on March 23, 2016 at 10:59 am
“I couldn’t hit the three pointer and stopped pretending I was a good athlete,” said Chris Sedenka of the Maine Red Claws. This was the first thing that stuck with me when Chris was speaking because I have felt similarly at one point in my life. Like Sedenka, I felt that I needed a way to reach the court without actually having to play on it. I like to think I am an average basketball player, but the whole reason I continued to pursue my dream was because I knew that even though I couldn’t be the one making the buckets, I could still be happy just being around the game.
When Sedenka and Jeff Mannix, of the Portland Pirates, explained that they still loved their respective sports as much even though they weren’t playing them, I felt a renewed hope and even more excited to be interning for the NBA this year. Their happiness and passion for their jobs were so prominent and proved Professor Shorr’s point, “it beats working for a living.” Having a job and working with people who love to be around the game makes the job all the more fun. It is almost unreal to me that it can even be a possibility. The reason I say this is because it really hit me at the beginning of last year when I started directing basketball games for Boston University. It hit me like a ton of bricks and made me realize I need to graduate and pursue my dream right now.
Similarly to Sedenka and Mannix, I want to be that close to the game and let my passion for the game fuel me. Luckily, I have been able to get that experience by directing the BU basketball games. When directing, I feel like I am doing everything I have ever wanted to do in life. I am working with film, watching basketball, directing the game, and at some points I even catch myself coaching the players out there (even though they can’t hear me). Directing has given me the opportunity to do everything I love and the opportunity to write my own story every game like Sedenka and Mannix.
They related their play-by-play experiences as writing a story and I completely understood them. It is such an amazing experience when you are out there controlling everything the viewer sees and doesn’t see. It’s as if you are writing a story and when you make a mistake, it just sits in the back of your head and you can’t forget about it. You are so strung up about it that you want to go back and fix it, and when you are giving a play-by-play you can at least tell the audience you had a minor hiccup, but with directing you can’t go back. So you just have to hope your audience won’t hate you for it and the rest of the game looks great. Having worked with play-by-play guys and writing my own stories through directing, I completely got where these guys were coming from. The minor hiccups are always going to happen, so even when you make them, at the end of the day the experience is still so great that it beats working for a living.
I do not mean to go off track, but I feel at this point I need to mention something. This class is everything I thought it was going to be. Week after week, I am learning something new that has made a huge impact on my career and my directing. These guys helped me learn how the play-by-play people that I work with think. Sedenka and Mannix have not only gave me a renewed hope, but they showed me how I can work with and build better relationships with the play by play commentators and how they are thinking during the game. Now I won’t just be directing to write my own story, but also to help the play-by-play guys write their own story, which will probably help both of us out. And of course they have not been the only guys to do that. Hearing from the players at the beginning of the semester was also a huge benefit. It could definitely help me with my directing on how I portray these players, but most importantly it gives me the skill to talk with any future broadcasters or play-by-play people. They may not want to hear it from me, but I can give them advice on how players might take things and how we can portray them in a better way. And it doesn’t stop there. Each of these seminars has definitely made a big impact on how I think and how I will portray my production work in the future. I am learning the other sides of the game and that is exactly why I took this class.
Now to get back on topic. My favorite play-by-play call could be any of Mike Breen’s, the NBA on ABC play-by-play sports commentator. I can’t even count the amount of times I have tried to mimic his signature, “Bang.” However, if I had to choose any two, it would probably be the back-to-back threes Carmelo Anthony hit against the Chicago Bulls in 2012 at Madison Square Garden and the Kobe Bryant buzzer beater against the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2006 playoffs. I have always been a huge fan of Breen and these calls were definitely the ones that stuck in my head, even though they were against two of my favorite teams at those times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcN-YQNjy_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK8asU1kuFM&t=1m53s
Gabbie Chartier posted on March 23, 2016 at 11:13 am
“You’ll never have a flawless broadcast,” said Chris Sedenka. I think we all sighed in relief at that moment.
As Professor Shorr said, and many would agree, play-by-play announcing is the best gig in sports journalism… or so it seems. Chris and Jeff Mannix clearly love their jobs reporting for the Maine Red Claws and Portland Pirates, but they made sure to remind us how much off a grind it is, especially starting out. Sure, you get to watch games from the best seat in the house, but getting to that point is extremely difficult. As Chris said, we will most likely have to start off doing morning news at 4am just to get exposure, or as Jeff said, doing high school women’s volleyball games.
Something that has always struck me about play-by-play announcers is how much work they have to do in preparation for a single game. Andrew asked in class how much time it takes them to prepare and both men replied a couple hours before the game. I think this work is extremely overlooked in play-by-play announcing. To be sitting at a game and report on what is happening live for both teams and accurately takes a great amount of skill. I did the rinkside reporting for BU hockey home games this season and there would be times I was up in the press box watching the game and just completely blanked on who a specific player was on the BU team, let alone the away team…
In the D leagues, Chris and Jeff pointed out that a lot of the times it is only one announcer calling games without a color commentator. This means not only do they have to know every player and be able to identify them instantly, but random facts about these players to recall during dead time. I think someone who does this well (sometimes in an annoying way…) is Pierre McGuire, who many people joke that he has an encyclopedia for a brain. While, yes, it’s possible he is just naturally more gifted in retaining information about players, that guy undoubtedly is dedicated to his job. I was told by somebody that met him that he said he starts preparing information for his color commentary during “Inside the Glass” two or three days in advance. I’m not sure about anyone else, but when my parents head off to work, they sure haven’t been doing outside homework for two or three days just to prepare for that one day of work. Play-by-play announcing is a tremendous amount of legwork at any level.
The role of soccer commentators, mostly from Spanish-speaking countries, is one that I’ve always found interesting. Rachel said that during the seminar, she kept thinking about the classic “GOAAAAAALLLLLLL,” and so did I. My mom is from Panama and I remember being little and visiting Panama and all my relatives would be watching soccer games. (in Spanish, of course) I had never really watched professional soccer before, but I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the announcers’ lively reactions to just about everything. It made care. It made me get fired up about a team I had never heard of before and a sport I barely had watched. These commentators become part of the game and how they tell the story can make the audience feel as pumped up as if they were there.
One of my favorite examples of this is is a video of a Spanish-speaking broadcaster calling the Florida Panthers vs. Minnesota Wild game from two months ago. This was a regular game from early January, and Jagr is the first to draw blood (his 734th career goal) for the Panthers heading into the first intermission. Seems fairly routine. But watch how this announcer reacts…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMsMRlD9-7o
The liveliness that this announcer brings to Jagr’s goal is undeniable and personally I can’t help but smile every time I watch it. Getting people to care, getting people excited, and seeming like you’re happy to be there are all crucial to play-by-play announcing. If you as the announcer can’t muster any excitement for what’s going on, then don’t expect the fans to.
At the end of the seminar, Jeff and Chris spoke to women in play-by-play or color commentating. While they did admit it’s a male-dominated profession, they do think women are becoming more and more interested and common in the field. I was watching a Red Sox spring training game the other day that was being broadcasted by ESPN. They had Jessica Mendoza color commentating, who is ESPN’s first female commentator for the MLB. I thought she was great and offered useful insight, sometimes more useful than what her male counterparts were saying.
Like Jeff and Chris said, either you can do it or you can’t. And if you can do it, someone will hire you. Gender aside, you need to be able to call the games accurately and get fans pumped up about a team, which are both the difficulties and appeal of play-by-play announcing.
Dakota Woodworth posted on March 23, 2016 at 11:55 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXsIJCcnCFg
One of my favorites… “Can you believe this?!” Game 7, 3-goal comeback.
You can’t fake reactions like that – and you shouldn’t have to – I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t get excited and expressive after a play like that. I remember jumping up on the couch and screaming so loudly that I didn’t notice my dad had fainted from standing up too fast. You can’t make that stuff up.
This weeks panel wasn’t the first time that both guests said they had their dream job, but it was the first time that I believed both of them. I could picture Jeff Mannix as a kid, running around the house using a plastic golf club as a hockey stick and narrating his own games. But what I liked the most was that the kid who loved to do his own play-by-play for sports he was passionate about as a kid was sitting in front of us and talking about how he gets to do just that – every day.
It’s pretty rare that you hear stories about people ending up being exactly what they’ve always wanted to be – there are always bumps in the road and events in life that can change someone’s mind about what they want to be or different opportunities that come around. But when you have people like Chris Sedenka and Jeff Mannix, it’s no surprise that they ended up exactly where they always wanted to be.
I’ll use the word that everyone’s already used this week: passion. When you’re that passionate about something, you just don’t let yourself get deterred or beaten down. And that’s why they made it.
I had never thought about play-by-play as storytelling, really. I just sort of thought that it was the basic game relayed over radio, but after hearing Mannix and Sedenka speak last week, I understand and value the storytelling aspect so much more. And seeing their very real passion for not only their job but the sport they’re assigned to makes play-by-play seem so genuine, even when listening to the calls of a Bruins game 7 from 2013.
Stephanie Tran posted on March 23, 2016 at 11:55 am
“Back to Foulke, Red Sox fans have longed to hear it…the Boston Red Sox are World Champions…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBFjmtLgSI
This is the first call that I distinctly remember growing up. It was a school night and I’m pretty sure my dad told me a few times to go to bed already, but I begged him to let me watch the game until the final out.
I never looked at play-by-play announcers as such a critical part to a sports team or a broadcast because I’ve always been focused on the team that’s playing. After this week’s sports seminar, I realized that play-by-play announcers are like the “beating hearts” of all sports teams and sports fans. They are there are there on the front lines to bring you the in-game experience. They illustrate and emotionalize the highs and lows of the game that the audience may not get to experience. Their job is important to radio and television because without them how would any fan without tickets hear or watch the game?
It’s a real skill for announcers to be able to paint a picture to the audience.
“Essentially you’re writing a book with your voice and that’s something that appeals to me the most,” said Sedenka.
I wholeheartedly respect what Chris Sedenka and Jeff Mannix can do day in and day out. However, I know play-by-play announcing is not a profession for me. I don’t think I possess that eloquent skill of illustrating to the audience what I am seeing. I think it’s a skill that takes years to perfect, but Mannix and Sedenka have it pretty down.
It’s amazing how many games these announcers have to call during a season. Sometimes it can be a grind, but if you love it that much it won’t feel like work. Like Vanessa mentioned, you can just tell from these guys that they are so passionate about what they do. Yeah, it’s not that much of an income, but that doesn’t matter in comparison to what they are doing to serve the audience.
“There are days when I don’t want to go into work,” says Mannix
That’s life right? These guys seemed happy and passionate about what they are doing. Compared to our beat reporter guests, Chris and Jeff had a swing to their step and were positive about what their job entailed.
These guys have been dreaming about play-by-play announcing since they could remember and now they are. There’s not stopping or quitting. Announcers have to start strong and finish stronger.
Doyle Somerby posted on March 23, 2016 at 11:55 am
Being a diehard Red Soxs fan it is tough to admit that one of the calls that in ingrained in my mind’ is unfortunately Aaron Boone’s walk off homer in 2003. Jake, Timmy you guys enjoyed your year and I enjoyed mine the following season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBFjmtLgSI
“Back to Foulke… The Red Sox’s Fans have longed to hear it, the Boston Red Sox’s are World Champions” It might not be the best one liner in sports history nor does it have the positive tone and excited voice that soccer announcers have, however, all that matters is, the Red Sox’s were champions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oo0d3ezUEY
Taking a step back, the reason I grew up wanting to be a play by play announcer or commentate in between periods at hockey games is because of Stuart Scott. This tribute right above is full of great quotes that he said while I ate breakfast every morning with my eyes glued on sport center. Obviously it is not in the heat of the moment, but “BOOYAH” will forever be engrained in my head. There was something about Stuart Scott that made him special. He made commentating and reporting fun and vibrant, and I was only 8 at the time.
Moving away from Stuart Scott and into the line of work I would love to do, Jeff and Chris both had one thing that I had not heard yet in the seminars. Excitement and passion. These guys wake up everyday excited to get to the arena, and do you blame them?
I had an interesting phone call about three days after our class and I was talking to the guy that runs the player development for the New York Islanders and we were talking about school at BU. He asked me what I was studying and what I wanted to do when hockey came to an end and I told him play by play or commentating. This guy was a fighter in the NHL and did not attend college because he was major junior hockey player in the WHL. Hockey was his life and he had not prepared for anything else. The interesting part about the talk was that when he finished playing he took some classes through the players association and tried broadcasting. He lasted a few days before he took a job in the front office of the Islanders. Funny thing is he really enjoyed being on air and had a lot of fun, but the one thing that people don’t understand is the time on air is the fun part of the job. People do not realize the work and dedication that it took all day to prepare for games. He recalled sitting in the stands of the arena watching both teams pregame skate while taking notes, then he went to the locker room and talked to the players and then went back upstairs to study and get ready for the game. Jeff and Chris loved their job so much that I did not take a negative (if you want to call it that) away from the seminar, however, this guy wanted me to understand the commitment needed to be successful.
Moral of the story is, if sports is your life, this job is for you. He did not enjoy how much of the day commentating took up, but plenty of people, including myself, would throughly enjoy spending hours around a rink learning details and stories of a players life. I have grown to be a rink rat, and hopefully I can play the game of hockey for a while after school but if not, I have fallen in love with the idea behind commentary. Spending countless hours in a rink, around the athletes and sharing fun stories about the guys, while painting a picture for the audience that is not able to watch it.
Personally, I believe Jeff’s job can be more difficult and I forget if professor Shorr or or Chris eluded to it, but hockey players come from all walks of life. Learning information about players and where they come from is a serious part of the job and it is difficult with how diverse the game of hockey is. I also think that it is probably easier to stay objective and not be biased when you are with a minor league team. That is not knocking them by any means but, when players are up and down constantly or only around for a brief stint it is easier to not have a biased opinion because you do not know them well and your expectations of a player sent down is higher than that or a player that is an AHL or D league mainstay.
Jeff and Chris did a great job giving the class a glimpse of the energy, passion, and commitment for the job.
Dakota Randall posted on March 24, 2016 at 12:28 am
At this point I would sound like a broken record if I harped on the passion that Jeff and Chris so clearly have for their jobs. These guys totally love what they do, and it was refreshing that, for the most part, they didn’t offer the same aggressive cautionary tales that many of our guests have this semester. The love their job, the know it, they know we know it, and they know we’re all jealous.
However I, like Natalie, couldn’t help but take notice when Chris talked about how much burnout he experienced. Whenever I think about how great life must be for a play-by-play broadcaster that travels with the team all season, I always wonder what type of toll that must take on a family. Especially when it’s for a major professional franchise that may take extended road trips to cities much further away than a typical minor league team would travel.
It’s pretty tough to find any job, no matter how awesome it is, that doesn’t come with his fair share of sacrifices. At the end of the day though, you could do much worse, as far as business trips go.
Also, come on, Haley! Don’t sell yourself short. Outside of Scully, Michaels, or Buck, there aren’t too many people that you can say were born with the ability to do this job in their sleep. With the proper amount of training, dedication, passion, and confidence, you can accomplish anything you want, including play-by-play.
It’s tough for me to write from much experience about play-by-play, because I have almost none, but I think basic principles of hard work and sacrifice apply to any job. Obviously, it helps to be born with some golden pipes, but not sounding like Vin Scully doesn’t automatically dig your broadcasting grave.
I found Chris and Jeff’s responses to my question about Jack-Edwards’ style of over-the-top broadcasting, and whether or not they admire it.
Aside from acknowledging the entertainment value that is present at times, they both didn’t seem to be the biggest of fans.
I don’t think you have to sound like Jack Edwards, nor am I that big of a fan either.
But it begs the question, what do you have to do to get, and keep, the jobs you want in broadcasting? Obviously there are plenty of examples of broadcasters who haven’t acted like Jack does, but is acting like a homer-driven lunatic (albeit an effective one) an effective recipe for standing out of the back and getting the jobs you want?
I don’t know the answer to that question, but for people I KNOW work hard and love what they do, like Alex Smith, I sure hope the answer is no.
As for my personal preference, I fall somewhere in the middle, and suspect most do as well. For me the perfect example is Gus Johnson. Gus is well-known for is RIDICULOUS calls of march madness games. He infuses his legitimate, informative broadcasting, with an entertaining and hysterical personality that is all his own. There’s tons of great Gus Johnson clips on the internet, but here’s a good compilation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPgStjLh9BY
I also think the mark of a truly great broadcaster, is there ability to remain poised enough in a seminal moment to describe the play, but to also allow their excitement to shine through, and make the moment memorable for those only fortunate enough to listen in. One of my favorite examples is Dave O’Brien’s call of David Ortiz’s grand slam against the Tigers in the 2013 ALCS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DciKvgbqyTM
Lastly, in a seminal moment, another effective method can be to ere more towards subdued, and to truly let the tone of your voice tell the story. In Joe Buck’s call of David Oritz’s game winning single in the 04’ ALCS, you could clearly hear his excitement and recognition of the moment. However, to me, you can also hear a tone that suggests “This is big, but don’t get ahead of yourself, we still got more ball to play.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu-m2CYHW4Y
It wasn’t obvious, it was subtle, but undeniably effective. To me, that is one of the hallmarks have a truly great, seasoned broadcaster.