Hawks play by play announcer is a real woman, cool…

[SoulfishHawk]

She's the announcer for three preseason games. She'll be fine.

Exactly. The crap that people get worked up over.........

She'll be doing pre season games while the rest of us will be watching the game at the stadium or from our couches. Give her a chance. And it's 3 practice games, meh.

 

[RiverDog]

Diversity hire. I'll give her a chance. It's preseason. Not even a game. Not even a real game. Preseason.

I don't think I'll enjoy listening to a shrill female voice, and, based on the limited basketball call samples I've heard, that's how she sounds to me. Now I do enjoy the professional announcer female voices that are often heard when listening to calls of mens and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, and women's soccer. Don't follow WNBA so no idea re women's basketball.

IMO Female announcers do deserve a chance to develop a style that appeals to NFL fans and find the niches they can do well in, and preseason is a reasonable time to experiment. I could see a female play-by-play announcer being OK, as long as she has good color announcer support, e.g., from a male former player, to explain the nuances of the game and a particular play from a position of expert personal knowledge.

Just NFL, please don't spring a bunch of crappy shrill female announcers on NFL fans for the sake of "diversity". Only promote the ones that are actually "good" and receive top marks in their developmental announcer experience.

I agree with this. From my POV, although it would take a lot of getting used to, I can see a female play-by-play announcer succeeding in the business. And who cares, it's just a preseason game.

But there's no way that a female will ever be able to succeed at color commentary unless they're able to play the sport themselves, as demonstrated by the various non player male color commentators discussed in this thread that have tried and failed to earn the respect of their audience.

As long as we're on the subject, back in the 70's and 80's, I used to listen to Seahawk games by muting the volume on the TV and turning on the radio broadcast. It was a lot better way to experience a game, especially for a novice, as the radio guys are much more descriptive than thei TV counterparts.

Additionally, the radio guys are local broadcasters that travel with the team from game-to-game, know how to correctly pronounce player names, know more details about them and the coaching staff, etc., and have a bit of a home bias, making it more exciting, like when Pete Gross in his high pitched voice would scream "Touchdown, Seahawks!"

The problem with doing that nowadays is that there is a huge time delay between the TV and radio signals, even for OTA TV feeds, with the radio feed being several full seconds ahead of the TV. There always was a slight difference, but not so much as to make it unwatchable.

 

[olyfan63]

I agree with this. From my POV, although it would take a lot of getting used to, I can see a female play-by-play announcer succeeding in the business. And who cares, it's just a preseason game.

But there's no way that a female will ever be able to succeed at color commentary unless they're able to play the sport themselves, as demonstrated by the various non player male color commentators discussed in this thread that have tried and failed to earn the respect of their audience.

As long as we're on the subject, back in the 70's and 80's, I used to listen to Seahawk games by muting the volume on the TV and turning on the radio broadcast. It was a lot better way to experience a game, especially for a novice, as the radio guys are much more descriptive than thei TV counterparts.

Additionally, the radio guys are local broadcasters that travel with the team from game-to-game, know how to correctly pronounce player names, know more details about them and the coaching staff, etc., and have a bit of a home bias, making it more exciting, like when Pete Gross in his high pitched voice would scream "Touchdown, Seahawks!"

The problem with doing that nowadays is that there is a huge time delay between the TV and radio signals, even for OTA TV feeds, with the radio feed being several full seconds ahead of the TV. There always was a slight difference, but not so much as to make it unwatchable.

Yup, I used to turn the TV volume down and listen to Pete Gross and the radio team back in the day.
So now, we need a TV delay control on our TVs (or PCs) to sync up the TV video with the radio broadcast!
There might even already be a Chrome browser add-on that does something like that.

 

[olyfan63]

Personally I don’t care if it’s a female voice or male, some voices just grate on a person’s nerves.
In that case I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to listen to that person during a football game that they want to enjoy.
I think in that case it’s a matter of tone/ sound and has nothing to do with the sex/gender of the voice.

Fran Drescher as the Nanny for instance, I hate/can’t stand the voice or laugh but it’s not because it’s female.
Gilbert Gottfried same thing, I would not listen to either voice calling a football game.

I completely understand why a person may not like a particular voice for football.

OMG, trying to imagine the horror of Gilbert Gottfried as a color announcer for football, it makes me shudder! Fingernails on a chalkboard!

 

[RiverDog]

Yup, I used to turn the TV volume down and listen to Pete Gross and the radio team back in the day.
So now, we need a TV delay control on our TVs (or PCs) to sync up the TV video with the radio broadcast!
There might even already be a Chrome browser add-on that does something like that.

I hadn't thought of that. Let me know if you devise a way to sync the radio and TV broadcasts.

It's actually a very good way for someone that is unfamiliar with the sport to learn the game. The radio description is much more detailed, and being able to see that description on TV would help the viewer understand what's going on.

For example, as the quarterback is calling out the signals, Pete Gross might say "and Largent is in motion left to right through the formation...." and you can actually see what it means for a man to be in motion.

The other difference is that on radio, once the offense and defense is ready for a play to begin, the color commentator clams up and lets the play-by-play announcer describe the entire play. With the exception of an "he's open!" or some type of exclamation, the play-by-play guy is uninterrupted from the time they break the huddle until the whistle blows. TV broadcasts are quite a bit different in that regard, and a lot more difficult to follow if you don't understand the game.