It will be a long off day for Phillies fans. They will be hoping the Phillies can now beat the odds and come back from being down 3 games to 2 and pull off what they all thought was an impossible dream of winning the World Series. The good news it’s a day we won’t have to listen to the never ending sound of John Smoltz’s voice. He has brought the art of color analysis to the breaking point. Not hearing him go on and on about the movement, direction, and thinking behind of every pitch by both the pitcher and the batter will be a close second to celebrating a Phillies championship. There is not a second of silence. Once the play by play guy, Joe Davis, and how is Joe Davis calling the World Series, stops talking, Smoltz starts talking about the last pitch and what he thinks the next pitch should be. The drone of his pitching philosophy is like the the sound of your neighbor’s lawn mower as your trying to watch the game.
How did we get here? It started with Monday Night Football and the birth of the three man booth. First, Keith Jackson, followed by Frank Gifford the second year, doing play by play and Howard Cosell and Don Meredith putting on a side show with some analysis thrown in. It was a hit and the three man booth became the standard. So, more guys in the booth obviously means more “analysis” or just cliched white noise of them often just stating the obvious to justify their expertise. Then came the age of John Madden. Madden was the larger than life Super Bowl winning coach who was unlike anything we heard before. He talked like the guy sitting next to us at the bar, but he actually knew what he was talking about. He would draw his analysis on the screen and throw in a “boom” when appropriate. He was teamed with the cool, calm and collected Pat Summerall one of the smoothest play by play guys ever. The perfect pair to take us through a Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately, those times have faded into the mist of a kinder gentler time. We are now in the age of Tony Romo. He was hired by CBS Sports in 2017 after he retired from the Dallas Cowboys to do analysis along side play by play man Jim Nance. We are now in the instant information digital age. We have to know things instantly. No dead air. Romo was praised for his ability to predict what plays the offense would run before they snapped the ball. Then he would have to talk about it after it happened and then predict the next play. Nance has to squeeze in the play by play and shut up so Romo can overload us with his ability to predict the future. This was such a hit, every color guy was trying to be Romo. It worked for Romo. CBS is paying him $18 million dollars a year to keep talking. This has brought us to John Smoltz, the Tony Romo of baseball.
Silence can really be golden. One of the most dramatic sports moments came when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run to break Babe Ruth’s record. Vin Scully was doing the game on national television from Atlanta. Once he called Aaron’s home run, he stopped talking for almost thirty seconds and let viewers watch Aaron circle the bases and listen to the cheers of the crowd. He then explained the historical significance of the home run. Not only in baseball, but the importance of the man, the time, and the place of the event. He knew when not to speak and let us watch the game.
I agree wholeheartedly, yet again. Analysts provide important information and context, but too much analysis begins to detract from enjoyment. Smoltz, and and his station bosses, need to arrive at a better balance to really leverage his expertise…see, I used the word leverage.
I agree but not completely. I like and respect John Smoltz and thought he brought a nuanced perspective to the game – knowledgeable with good insight into each game but yes just too much. It’s all about finding the right balance. Better than a Cosell who knew nothing about nothing!