An Interesting Theory on Roller Derby Announcing

This was taken from the Voices of Reason announcer google group. I thought it was interesting enough to share.  I am not really thrilled about the theory, but it speaks volumes about the growth of roller derby and the amazing people behind the scenes.  It's important to ask hard questions like these because one day, there might just be a moment when we have to make the call. Personally, I don't want to give up my mid-jam panty jokes or tormenting Joe Baggadonuts.

Hi Mouths,

 

I had a friend this weekend propose something interesting about the whole "roller derby is the only sport with live play by play" thing.  In his (not so humble, and potentially threatening our jobs) opinion, jams should be silent save the short explanation of a few complicated things (such as, not lead jammer due to which penalty, what made a hit a major that sent the offender to the box etc) with recap of the jam happening in the 30 second reset.  (With the game clock stopping for that 30 seconds, but that's probably another hair to split later.)  His main premise being that we allow people to "get" the game by watching it, and to fill in more information in the in between times. 

 

I'm sure there are opinions a plenty...do you all see this kind of shift to a more "professional sports" kind of recapping as some teams start amping the competitive level? 

*insert some kind of innuendous joke here, I'm too damn tired this morning to do so*

~MizzC

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I think you have a good point, at least regarding on-site announcing over the PA. Most sports on TV, including Olympic hockey and many other Olympic sports I've been watching this week have play-by-play calls (even curling!).

On-site sound systems tend to be difficult to understand even when the crowd is quiet. Once they start cheering, the PA system usually becomes so much white noise. On a video broadcast with dedicated audio channels for the announcers that diminish or cancel out crowd noise, that is not an issue.

Also on video broadcasts, the camera is not always pointing at the right thing or just has a bad angle, so the play-by-play bridges the gaps. And even if the video is good, it may be far enough away to make it difficult to distinguish skaters.

I've been gradually coming to the same conclusion myself, that the PA announcers should dial back the play-by-play because once the crowd noise picks up, they can't understand you anyway, if they can hear you at all.

Anyway, I was planning on testing these theories at WWS, since all my calls are PA. For WWS, there is one announcer pool strictly for PA, while DNN has procured a completely separate announcer pool for its own broadcasts.

 - Bulldog ;]

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I can't help but weigh-in on this.  It's my personal opinion is that
the announces themselves are quietly (sorta) becoming an attraction in
and of themselves.  I think the wild, raucous announcers are part of
derby's charm.  I say this with all possible humility, but I know that
I am trying to be as entertaining and engaging with the public as
possible when I'm on the floor with the mic, and I think that is
itself a draw for the attendees. Think of Jimmy Fallon's character in
Whip-It.  And I know a lot of you guys out there are developing a
gimmick of your own, whether it's costumes or character styles, and I
think this is great.  Sure, we never, *never* want to take any of the
glory or attention away from the skaters, but I think if we can help
bring in people, or better yet, help develop committed fans, then we
are in a very real way, helping the girls.

But I digress.  I know this is a thread specifically about the
play-by-play, and to address that issue specifically I think the
energy announcers pour into the jams can only add to the excitement.
Derby is by no means a sterile sport, and it does not deserve a
sterile 'explanation'.  When a jammer breaks through the pack, we get
the crowd to their feet.  When a blocker takes someone down, we get
the crowd to cheer.  I think this is a good thing.  Though I agree the
crowd is not always 'listening' to us, they certainly respond to the
dynamics of our presentation.  We're like the bass player of the derby
(those of you who are musicians should know what I mean...).  And I
think derby's stubborn refusal of traditional sports convention is
exactly why it's becoming so popular.  I think baseball and
basketball, even at the pro level, are boring as hell.  Whereas I
think two absolutely unknown teams playing an unknown sport in a dirty
warehouse on the wrong side of the tracks is the biggest breath of
fresh air US sports has ever seen.  And, like it or not Mizz C's
friend, we announcers are a huge part of that.

My $.02

-Buster Hymen
Fairbanks Rollergirls
www.FBXRG.com

 **

I was going to write a response, but my points ended up being so close to Buster's, I just thought I'd keep it brief and put in a crony-istic "YEA! What BUSTER said!"

I think that, at least in the more local levels of roller derby the announcer is an important part of the package. It's Do It Youself here, and the fact that an announcer can act as a bridge between the fans and the team is important. The fans can't pick up magazines and read about these girls, they can't check the internet and find out what their local rollers are up to when they're not skating a home bout, or decide from outside articles who their favorite local skaters are.  The announcer ads flavor to the bouts, explaining not only what's going on on the rink, but explaining the context of the team and the game in relation to the local community and the local fans.

Big Daddy Voodoo
http://littlecityrollergirls.com
Johnson City, TN

This message endorsed by the JCOAIT (Johnson City Only Announcer In Town!)

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Great Points, BVD!  If I could take the baton and run even farther with it... announcers carry a much heavier load on the homefield than just the jobs when the whistle blows.  Responsibilities include teching out the audio board, wrangling talent for halftime shows, keeping folks aware of scheduling, acting as a lost and found location for goods or wayward children, answering the 1000s of questions the DJs usually have, keeping the crowd occupied through any lengthy delays before the bout and lets not forget acting as a host for sponsor giveaways and/or gameshow type stuff.  Even if jam for jam style announcer becomes a hated commodity on the track at home, the announcer has too many jobs to be a relic of the past.
-Corndog

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Mizz C-

With all sincerity, tell your friend he/she's a dumb ass. Derby is
definitely not the only sport to have play-by-play announcers. They
ALL do. The dynamic may be different depending on the sport's needs,
venue, and coverage but, they all have them. And to simply let the
fans "get" the game on their own and hopefully be able to shed enough
light on the last jam in 30 sec excerpts to both educate them and take
care of the many sponsor plugs is just silly. Why make the fans sit in
confusion for 2 minutes just to be more confused with a 30 sec "wrap-
up" of what just happened that they don't understand? I definitely
agree that announcing is headed towards a "less is more" philosophy
and, I love it that way. That being said, you still need a little more
"hands on" approach to play-by-play announcing in derby. Even though
our fans are becoming more and more educated on how the game is played
and more familiar with the rules the game is played by, it is still
without a doubt necessary for a more labor intensive calling of the
game to exist. Not to mention the fact that 99% of us definitely add
to the already entertaining atmosphere with what we say and how we
choose to say it.

Dump "tell me to shut up and see what happens" Truck

Update on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 5:26PM by Big Daddy Voodoo

When I talk about scaling back, I'm thinking more of strategically timed calling, as opposed to a general reduction. I have what may be a bad habit, which is when the crowd starts to get louder and crazier, I speak louder to remain audible. (I never "yell" into the mic. Ask me sometime to show you what it sounds like when I YELL, and you'll see what I mean.)

However, when that happens, my call is probably either being drowned out by the crowd, or worse, is overpowering the crowd (since I have the PA on my side) and may actually be diminishing their excitement because it reduces their ability to feed off of each other, like an anti-climax. To top it off, in those situations, the crowd is probably not really interested in my description. So I'm thinking the right strategy is to back off a little, just simple, short, focused details when the crowd is going nuts, then do a very brief synopsis when things settle down again, for people who might not understand what just happened. Also, the same type of simple, short, focused details when the action is just routine. Save the heavy stuff for when the jam is starting to heat up, but hasn't caught fire yet.

Another issue for me is that I find every jam interesting from first whistle to last, even blow-outs, so I have a bad habit of getting enthusiastic even when the jam is really merely lukewarm (in the grand scale of things) and I'll find my voice taking on that urgency, even though the crowd might not be all that into it. That probably tends to take a little bit away from the really great jams, since there isn't as much of a difference in my energy level as there could be.

This is all stuff I'm working on in my own play-by-play and that's what I mean by scaling back. YMMV, as always.

But play-by-play ain't going anywhere. Not as long as we have fucking all-stars like Rocker Boy,  Dumptruck,  Duane Cunningham and a whole bunch of others that I could name. Play-by-play is here to stay.

Bulldog

Comments

[Adam Vollrath]

I don' t think you could take any of the glory or attention away from the skaters if you tried.