Do NFL game-analysts have people "guiding" their commentary (1 Viewer)

[mr. furley]

anyone else catch this?

once in a while Pitts would do the play-by-play call, there would be a pregnant pause, followed by Donahue's analysis/commentary on the play.

only, sometimes you could hear another voice in the background saying things like "talk about the d-line play here", followed by Donahue saying "you're going to want to watch the outstanding d-line work on this play."

it happened at least a half-dozen times that i heard. is that what's being piped in to their headphones? do they have spotters working the game to help? or is this something unique to Terry Donahue?

 

[Doctor Detroit]

anyone else catch this?once in a while Pitts would do the play-by-play call, there would be a pregnant pause, followed by Donahue's analysis/commentary on the play. only, sometimes you could hear another voice in the background saying things like "talk about the d-line play here", followed by Donahue saying "you're going to want to watch the outstanding d-line work on this play."it happened at least a half-dozen times that i heard. is that what's being piped in to their headphones? do they have spotters working the game to help? or is this something unique to Terry Donahue?

Most likely the producer. Could be a spotter or stat guy but most likely it's the producer. Producer also talk to directors who talk back to the producer but more than not don't communicate directly with the "talent." Producer is a ##### of a job BTW.

 

[ffchamp1]

anyone else catch this?once in a while Pitts would do the play-by-play call, there would be a pregnant pause, followed by Donahue's analysis/commentary on the play. only, sometimes you could hear another voice in the background saying things like "talk about the d-line play here", followed by Donahue saying "you're going to want to watch the outstanding d-line work on this play."it happened at least a half-dozen times that i heard. is that what's being piped in to their headphones? do they have spotters working the game to help? or is this something unique to Terry Donahue?

Most likely the producer. Could be a spotter or stat guy but most likely it's the producer. Producer also talk to directors who talk back to the producer but more than not don't communicate directly with the "talent." Producer is a ##### of a job BTW.

If not the producer than probably a "spotter"John Robinson the former Rams and SC coach does this for Madden

 

[massraider]

only, sometimes you could hear another voice in the background saying things like "talk about the d-line play here", followed by Donahue saying "you're going to want to watch the outstanding d-line work on this play."it happened at least a half-dozen times that i heard. is that what's being piped in to their headphones? do they have spotters working the game to help? or is this something unique to Terry Donahue?

That's hilarious. I remember watching bad wrestling in the 80's, and you could hear the wrestlers telling each other what they were gonna do.I have a feeling that the guys in their ears know what replays they have. Remember in the Broncos/Pats game, Madden showed the replays from the Champ Bailey cam they had? Well, there wasn't much to those replays, it was Champ following Troy Brown off the line, as Brown did some half-hearted patterns. But I guess the director had the footage, and they intended to use it, one way of the other. I'm guessing the director knows what replays they'll show, and let's the color guys know it. I bet it's pretty standard. Donahue might want to go on and on about a block by the RG, but if they're showing a WR running a pattern, he has to talk about that.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

anyone else catch this?once in a while Pitts would do the play-by-play call, there would be a pregnant pause, followed by Donahue's analysis/commentary on the play. only, sometimes you could hear another voice in the background saying things like "talk about the d-line play here", followed by Donahue saying "you're going to want to watch the outstanding d-line work on this play."it happened at least a half-dozen times that i heard. is that what's being piped in to their headphones? do they have spotters working the game to help? or is this something unique to Terry Donahue?

Most likely the producer. Could be a spotter or stat guy but most likely it's the producer. Producer also talk to directors who talk back to the producer but more than not don't communicate directly with the "talent." Producer is a ##### of a job BTW.

If not the producer than probably a "spotter"John Robinson the former Rams and SC coach does this for Madden

No kidding? Nice tidbit.

 

[mr. furley]

huh

interesting

at first i thought it was a way of helping the new guy (Donahue) to not make too many mistakes.

so it was just a sound-issue then..

 

[Aaronstory]

To get a good feel of what it's like, watch 'Broadcast News' with William Hurt and Holly Hunter. It's not a sports show, but the scene where Hurt gets his first anchor spot is pretty much what it's like all the time in the booth of a football broadcast. Except, they're talking about football, not war...

eta - spelling

 

[GregR_2]

Considering how often they have just the right replay ready for what the announcer is talking about... or have a telling statistic ready to pop up, there has to be some communication going on. Since the announcer can't be the one telling the rest of the team where he's going next, it would make sense it would be the other way around for stuff they work up in advance.

 

[Davej626]

If not the producer than probably a "spotter"John Robinson the former Rams and SC coach does this for Madden

You mean Madden can't remember "Bam! Tough acting Tanactin!" himself?

 

[ShadowMaster]

In TV Broadcasting......

a SPOTTER is a person who watches the crowd for interesting things for the camera to focus on and what not. Spotters find the guys with the cooky costumes, the sexy cheerleaders, and stuff like that.

the COLOR ANALYST is the guy who adds his opinion to what your watching. If people feed him information, they would be production assistants - not spotters. Now I expect that they are given the player names and those historical tidbits and auch, but I expect them to give their own expert analysis of what they see during the game. Thet is why they are there, because they are experts of the game (I KNOW MANY DO NOT EARN IT IN THE BOOTH - LETS NOT GO THERE!).

If someone is feeding the guys his lines, then I'd expect them to be replaced soon. If you can hear the production staff in the back-ground - I'd think someone may be working on E! channel next week instead of the NFL game.

 

[ffchamp1]

anyone else catch this?

once in a while Pitts would do the play-by-play call, there would be a pregnant pause, followed by Donahue's analysis/commentary on the play.

only, sometimes you could hear another voice in the background saying things like "talk about the d-line play here", followed by Donahue saying "you're going to want to watch the outstanding d-line work on this play."

it happened at least a half-dozen times that i heard. is that what's being piped in to their headphones? do they have spotters working the game to help? or is this something unique to Terry Donahue?

Most likely the producer. Could be a spotter or stat guy but most likely it's the producer. Producer also talk to directors who talk back to the producer but more than not don't communicate directly with the "talent." Producer is a ##### of a job BTW.

If not the producer than probably a "spotter"John Robinson the former Rams and SC coach does this for Madden

Robinson Is Madden's Eye in the SkyLarry Stewart

September 15, 2006

John Madden has a high-profile personal spotter working for him in the "NBC Sunday Night Football" booth — lifelong friend John Robinson, the former USC and Los Angeles Rams coach.

Madden and Robinson have been friends since they were fifth graders at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Daly City, Calif.

Robinson, the Oakland Raiders' backfield coach in 1975 when Madden was the head coach, left the Raiders to become the head coach at USC in 1976.

Now they are working together again.

Robinson, 71, has been out of coaching since his final season at Nevada Las Vegas in 2004.

"He has been active in football all his life," Madden said Thursday, "and we were trying to figure out a way for him to stay in it and do something together. I suggested he come to our games and we could watch film together. Then I thought, 'Why not have him up in the booth?' "

Robinson says he is not a spotter in the traditional sense. Spotters generally help announcers identify such things as who ran the ball and who made the tackle.

"I guess you'd call me a football spotter," Robinson said from his home in Carlsbad. "If, say, I see a team is bringing in a nickel defense, I'll hand John a note."

A nickel defense, used in passing situations, is one with five defensive backs.

Robinson also works for Larry Kahn's Sports USA radio network as a game commentator, but this season he will do only college games.

 

[cowboyz]

was john robinson the guy, madden said runs a blog?

 

[massraider]

In TV Broadcasting......a SPOTTER is a person who watches the crowd for interesting things for the camera to focus on and what not. Spotters find the guys with the cooky costumes, the sexy cheerleaders, and stuff like that.

To quote Deuce Bigalow:I'm gonna kill my guidance counselor.

 

[BoulderBob]

Most of the new guys, who probably don't belong behind the mike, have these guys telling them what to say, hence one of the main reasons why I mute 95% of NCAA/NFL announcers.

 

[Cecil Lammey]

Yes. There's always someone in their ear feeding them stats, tidbits, etc. Most of the stuff we know by heart they need to be told.

 

[BGP]

I wonder if they do this for radio broadcasts, since there's no need to coordinate with video. Obviously they have to coordinate in terms of cutting to commercial or a guest here or there. This could be why game calls on the radio seem to be superior, if so.

 

[BGP]

Yes. There's always someone in their ear feeding them stats, tidbits, etc. Most of the stuff we know by heart they need to be told.

Yah, that's true with most things. Its a job to them, not a passion.