Yesterday, I pulled the curtain back and revealed my MMA back story. Today, we move on to discuss what commentary should be and why I decided to nail Goldberg to the cross.
I hate somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of sports commentary. I hate hearing about David Eckstein’s "grittiness." I hate hearing that Brett Favre "is just having fun out there." I hate hearing about how the old timers played for the love of the game, how you could rely on the players being "pure".
It’s all a bunch of ignorant, romanticized bullshit.
I understand that commentating is not an easy gig. A commentator needs to be articulate, able to think quickly, and possess a reasonably deep knowledge of the sport you cover. Still the ultimate goal is very simple:
Commentary, at its core, should provide a narrative to the story of the contest being played out in front of you.
It doesn’t need to be loud and in your face, nor does it need to be a constant string of hyperbole to prop up a poor event. A commentator’s words, his pitch, the inflection of his voice should match the rhythm of what takes place in front of him (or her). All of which Goldie fails at.
The reason I chose Sack Mike Goldberg are twofold. First, someone already registered FireMikeGoldberg.com and I was not about to spend any money prying it away. (I think SackMikeGoldberg.com has a fine ring to it in anyway.) Second, Mike represents the largest MMA organization in the world, an organization which should employ upper echelon talent in all facets of operation.
Mike certainly isn’t the worst commentator in all of MMA, and I’m not even sure he’s the worst of all the major play-by-play guys (I think Kenny Rice takes that award). It’s the constant exposure of two to three shows a month combined with his almost total ineptness with regards to MMA as a sport that makes him de facto public enemy numero uno. (See how many languages I used there?)
Tomorrow I’ll complete dissect Mike’s commentating game and Thursday will go over all the other aspects of MMA coverage that we like to bag on. I’m not sure what I’m planning for Friday. Maybe a post on the future of advanced statistical analysis in MMA? Thoughts?
Why Sack Mike Goldberg? Pt. II
Yesterday, I pulled the curtain back and revealed my MMA back story. Today, we move on to discuss what commentary should be and why I decided to nail Goldberg to the cross.
I hate somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% of sports commentary. I hate hearing about David Eckstein’s "grittiness." I hate hearing that Brett Favre "is just having fun out there." I hate hearing about how the old timers played for the love of the game, how you could rely on the players being "pure".
It’s all a bunch of ignorant, romanticized bullshit.
I understand that commentating is not an easy gig. A commentator needs to be articulate, able to think quickly, and possess a reasonably deep knowledge of the sport you cover. Still the ultimate goal is very simple:
Commentary, at its core, should provide a narrative to the story of the contest being played out in front of you.
It doesn’t need to be loud and in your face, nor does it need to be a constant string of hyperbole to prop up a poor event. A commentator’s words, his pitch, the inflection of his voice should match the rhythm of what takes place in front of him (or her). All of which Goldie fails at.
The reason I chose Sack Mike Goldberg are twofold. First, someone already registered FireMikeGoldberg.com and I was not about to spend any money prying it away. (I think SackMikeGoldberg.com has a fine ring to it in anyway.) Second, Mike represents the largest MMA organization in the world, an organization which should employ upper echelon talent in all facets of operation.
Mike certainly isn’t the worst commentator in all of MMA, and I’m not even sure he’s the worst of all the major play-by-play guys (I think Kenny Rice takes that award). It’s the constant exposure of two to three shows a month combined with his almost total ineptness with regards to MMA as a sport that makes him de facto public enemy numero uno. (See how many languages I used there?)
Tomorrow I’ll complete dissect Mike’s commentating game and Thursday will go over all the other aspects of MMA coverage that we like to bag on. I’m not sure what I’m planning for Friday. Maybe a post on the future of advanced statistical analysis in MMA? Thoughts?