Sportscaster

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A sportscaster, sports announcer, or sports commentator is a type of journalist on radio or television who specializes in reporting or commenting on sports events. Sportscasting is often done live, "in real-time". In British English the terms sportscaster and sports announcer are not used; the usual terms are commentator, sports presenter and sports broadcaster.

Sportscaster is also primarily an American English term for sportsreader – someone who reads sports news.

Sportscasters can be defined into two broad categories, those who used to play or coach the sport being televised, and those who have made their entire career as purely a television or radio voice. The former are valued for the insights and explanations that they may give of the game because of their experience as a player or coach. They are usually called color commentators. The latter are valued for their articulateness and ability to quickly call play-by-play and describe the events of the game. They will also often ask questions of the former player or coach to give them a topic for analysis. They are usually called play-by-play announcers. The most common format for a television broadcast is to have one of each type. An example is NBC Sunday Night Football, which is called by John Madden, a former head coach, and Al Michaels, a professional announcer. Another difference between the two types is that color commentators will almost always announce only the sport they come from, while play-by-play announcers may have careers in which they call several different sports at one time or another. Besides football, Al Michaels has called NBA basketball for ABC, Cincinnati Reds baseball, and ice hockey in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. Additionally, some sportscasters give comments on recent games and players after the game itself. They will somethimes add humor to their reports.

These distinctions are not set in stone, however, and some sportscasters blur the line between them. Bob Uecker, for example, had a career in Major League Baseball as a catcher, and started his career as a color commentator offering humorous anecdotes of his playing days. He gradually took on more play-by-play duties as well, and for many years he has been the primary play-by-play radio announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers.