To answer this question: my main gig was the Champions Hockey League, and that isn't happening. I did that one season of KHL commentary, but I think DAZN has been using the generic English-language world feed KHL commentary emanating from Russia since then, on the basis that a) it's cheaper to just use that commentary rather than having to pay someone like me, and b) I think they've increasingly come to regard commentary as a commodity more than a skill, something that doesn't really add any value above and beyond the fact that it exists. That's certainly what I'm sensing regarding their FIBA basketball work: anyone with a functional ear and any basketball knowledge can tell that I'm a better commentator than most if not all of the regulars they trot out, but those regulars presumably have the advantage (in their eyes) of being basketball-focused and always available. I completely disagree with this position, of course, but what can you do? (DAZN may view someone like me as an asset when the KHL playoffs roll around, so I'm still hopeful I'll get some work on that front at some point - and it's not like beggars can be choosers - but it is what it is.)
Not sure if serious...but I have exchanged emails with the head of communications at the Danish Basketball Federation today, and he told me, "It was surely the biggest win in the history of our basketball program. We only have 15,000 active participants, from age 3 to 99, men and women, so getting this win was huge." I had contacted him and one of the assistant coaches on Thursday night because I had absolutely no idea what jersey numbers their players would be wearing (having only just found which players were in their final squad of 13 after Google Translating a couple of pages on the federation's website), and it's a good thing I did. Funnily enough, the Lithuanian squad had been reported in the press, so I'd thought I knew which players would be involved and what numbers they'd wear, but it turns out that three players not originally in the squad had been called up, and one of the players in the squad had switched his number around. So out of the four teams I called yesterday, amazingly enough it was only the Lithuanians that threw me off! (Luckily I'd researched 11 extra players in the Lithuanian squad just in case, and the three new additions to the squad were all amongst those 11.)
FWIW, "North Macedonia" is apparently the new name of the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (aka "FYROM"), or just "Macedonia" if you want to offend the Greeks who think that Macedonia is really a part of their country (which I think is why the name keeps changing). So not a super-new country as such.
Have to admit I didn't watch but my brother in law is a huge tennis fan. I told him you were calling them last night and he was like I've heard that voice before!
Oh man best of luck, on a good nights sleep I'd bungle Swiatek. Congrats on the FIBA quals too!
Which is why I write "EE-ga Shvi-ON-tek" on all of my prep sheets.
(I tend to assume I'm going to be tired and/or mentally frazzled when I read all of my notes!)
You know, it's actually quite possible that you'll hear my voice on a lot of the baseball and softball games broadcast in the US, on the basis that it's not likely to be a high-profile sport and I doubt NBC would have its own commentary team(s) covering all of games. I could be wrong about that - especially in the softball (which unlike the baseball will feature the best players in the world), and especially as the Final approaches - but the odds are pretty good.
The time I worked the Olympics for NBC (2008), they had one color person assigned to each sport, the softball person was Michele Smith.
Good to know - thanks. (I'd still suspect they still wouldn't be calling all of the games live with their own commentary teams, though.)
Thanks very much. One of the real joys of working as a commentator - in fact, perhaps *the* real joy - is that my work bestows real meaning for me on every game and match I call. All of them obviously matter to the participants and the fans who might want to watch them, and by becoming a part of them in some way, every point or goal scored matters to me, and thereby becomes really interesting to me. I can only wish all of the sport I watched had that sort of relevance and immediacy to me!
And a response from someone else:
And then a back-and-forth:
On the one hand...yay, someone likes me? And yes, I'm trying to speak my mind in an entertaining way and not be an empty vessel, so the vibe I'm going for is being transmitted to some people, at least. On the other hand: a) "unpolished" and "less PR-trained" are not adjectives and phrases I like. And b) more importantly, are these the kinds of fans - the people commentating in a Game Thread about WTA 250 tennis between low-ranked players on a Tuesday afternoon - that I should be trying to impress? At what point do I cross the line - or have I crossed the line - in potentially offending the people in charge of assigning me tennis gigs by being too free-wheeling behind the mic? Oh, and c) at what point is "willingness to speak my mind" actually "so tired that I've lost the ability to filter myself"? I think I'm very glad that two-day assignment is over.
FWIW, my WTA contact emailed me earlier today to offer me a couple of matches at Miami on March 23 - I said yes, but also used the opportunity to ask if my seeming demotion to "additional court" matches from the mostly "world feed" stuff I'd been doing last year was down to anything I'd said or done. Her response: "No worries at all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your commentary, we just haven’t had the chance to have you in Leeds this year yet." So that's a relief.
