Why Scripting Play-by-Play Is Bad, by Yankees Announcer John Sterling
When I first started getting exposed to announcers for different teams via satellite radio and mlb.com I actually liked Yankees radio voice John Sterling. I thought his catch phrases were clever and that his shtick set him apart. But the more I heard him the more I realized that his obsession with signature calls detracted from his ability to give a good play-by-play account of the game. Witness his call from Tuesday night on a Hideki Matsui home run:
That’s where the call of the game is becoming more about the announcer than the action and that’s a problem. I like when people let words come to them naturally in an unscripted manor so that the emotion of the exact moment can properly be described as it feels, not as how it should be felt. But anyway, keep up the good work, Johnny. And maybe stay away from the pressbox spread too.
(via Deadspin)
