Broadcasters matter

 

My view at Brunswick (2019 photo)

My quiet Sunday...er...Easter Sunday had me working on tech stuff and other things around the house as I got ready to open the 2021 spring season.

I worked on integrating this app to that sick to that device to that wifi. 

And so on.

I set up ESPN on Roku as well as on a Fire Stick.

Oh, look, I thought, there's Pitt/Notre Dame college baseball. I'll use that to make sure things work. I've had an affection for Pitt ever since Dan Marino played football for the Panthers.

The view of Pitt's field came into play along with what it sounded like profanity almost as soon as I turned it on. 

"Hmm, must have been a hot mic," I mused out loud.

Thom Brennaman was nowhere to be found, 4-0 lead or otherwise.

No broadcaster would explain what happened. That's because there WAS no broadcaster. A game shown on the ESPN app was without an announcer.

How pathetic.

A throw was so wild the runner went to third (from first base). No idea who the error was on or who any of the players were. A senior named Nico Popa homered. I only know that because I saw he wore number one and I looked him up. The Panthers won, 3-2. At least that's what the graphic said.

This wasn't some high school who couldn't (or wouldn't) afford a voice. These were the Universities of Notre Dame and Pittsburgh. This was also the ACC and ESPN. Something tells me they could have ponied up some cash for someone to call the obviously one camera shoot. Hell, I could have tried to call it from here in New York and been better than silence.

There's this perverse thought that we piddly little broadcasters don't matter. We're replaceable and anyone can do it. We're not worth the money we get.

I've railed about this before. There are countless parents who think they can just grab a headset and start talking.

I used to think this way also. I used to think I did nothing special. Then I let someone try it while calling a game with me. I quickly learned I was wrong. Even then, those who think they can describe a game can't carry a broadcast and those are two very different things.

I've gone down this road so many times. There's no point.

Pitt and Notre Dame couldn't have found two kids to sit Charles L. Cost Field and describe this game? And, more to the point, call it radio style since it was a one-camera shoot?

Despite what everyone thinks, the video doesn't show everything. The good broadcaster -- TV or radio -- fills in those gaps. The camera doesn't catch every little element in the stands or around the field. That's where we come in.

Except none of that could be relayed on this announcerless mess.

I'm sure there's a reason. Maybe they couldn't find anyone on Easter. Maybe they didn't want to find anyone on Easter. Maybe they didn't want to pay anyone. 

Maybe they just didn't care and figured the viewer was lucky to have the video in the first place.

Thankfully, Brunswick isn't like that. They did their first three hockey games without me due to COVID. They were able to bring me to the rink in February. They said the response to my being there was great.

Later today, I'll get my first crack at Brunswick baseball. My first baseball call since Oct 3, 2020, when I called the Connecticut Little League championship.

Those good nerves will start to kick in. I'll get to the field, in need of lineups and maybe even rosters. I'll try the scorecard I devised last year and these are the final games before I decide if I like it enough for a 60-game season.

Even that matters. The scorebook. It's a personal preference and don't let anyone tell you differently. Many like the Bob Carpenter book, developed by the TV broadcaster for the Nationals. I've been aware of it for years and have never liked it. That doesn't mean it's not a good book. Far from it. It looks great but it doesn't suit my style personally.

Keeping a clean book that can be understood is its own art form. Keeping that and still calling a game? Well, it's not easy. 

I'll be doing at least a 60-game book for the Gades. That is if I don't also keep score for the 60 road games.

Oh, where was I? That's right, the broadcaster.

Look, I've tried in every way possible to explain our importance. It pains me when I see the craft minimized, regardless of how. It gets minimized by shoddy work or by simply not employing one.

The best of us are the ones who do just enough to be noticed without being flashy. At the end of the day, we do our job.

For me, that starts today because Brunswick puts a value on that.

My fellow voices roll their eyes when they hear that I call the game from right field. That's where the camera seems to best suited and I can get power from the scoreboard. Who cares? It beats NOT being there.

Try watching it without the description. It will make a huge difference.

Game time is 3:30.