Journalism and Sportscasting: Then and Now

Dating back to the days of Red Barber on Brooklyn Dodgers baseball broadcasts, there have been ties between classic journalism and the art of sportscasting. Barber believed that journalistic integrity had to be kept in the broadcast booth. He criticized New York Giants announcer Russ Hodges for his famous "The Giants win the pennant!" call because it went beyond objective analysis. How he would hate today's sports broadcasts.

Sportscasting has deviated from "journalism" more as the decades have passed. The plain descriptions of action have been replaced with catchphrases and screaming in victory. It has progressed right alongside society as a whole. So we should look at some of the sportscasters of the past and present and see just how much they differ.

Vin Scully: Here's a man who has been doing this since the 1950s. He has maintained most of his old-school tendencies behind the microphone. On television, where images tell most of the story by themselves, he says as few words as he needs to. This works well for many fans who only want the game, not those who call it, shoved in their faces. He also very rarely, if ever, sounds partial towards one team or player, even on local broadcasts. Now that's dedication to the ways of times gone by.

Joe Buck: This guy calls the World Series and some Super Bowls. Yet seemingly millions of fans find him annoying and abrasive. He doesn't always have to talk, but he has shown some bias in favor of large-market teams and a tendency to just get lazy with his words. He is like a template out of Broadcasting 101, nothing original. Except for the original catchphrases he stole from his father.

Al Michaels: There are good reasons that this man got promoted to the top of ABC, and later NBC, sports. He knows what is going on at all times and has a good command of vocabulary. He knows when action calls for raised voices and when it calls for nothing, which comes naturally with his passion for sports. Best of all, he made John Madden's ramblings coherent.

Ken Harrelson: The Chicago White Sox play-by-play man shows that there is such a thing as too few words and too much local bias. He barely speaks when describing a play, especially when it goes against his team. He screams his voicebox dry everytime his team -- "the good guys" -- hits a home run. When the opposition does it, he just says "that ball hit hard" in a dry, monotone fashion as the home run flies over the wall. If you have ever heard him, you know about this. White Sox fans like him cheerleading for them, but nobody else can stand him.

Gene Deckerhoff: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Florida State Seminoles longtime radio commentator is a unique figure. He talks much more because he needs to paint the picture for the radio audience. He, too, is a homer for his teams, but at least he keeps the cheerleading in check and calls the action as he sees it, even if he does say it louder and prouder for his team. In local radio, this is perfectly acceptable. There are mixed public opinions on Deckerhoff. Some think he annoys people by talking too much during plays. Others love his enthusiasm. I personally like listening to him, but that may be due to his working for my favorite teams.

That's just a sample size of the sportscasters out there. There are some horrendous local guys (Houston Astros TV, I'm looking at you), while there are also more masters of the microphone such as Bob Costas. It's a mixed bag. You just have to hope the best voices are heard.