Archive for March 2nd, 2008
Female Color Commentary
I really wanted to watch the Nuggets/Rockets game on ESPN Sunday Night Basketball. The Nuggets are a half-game behind Golden State, they’re facing a crippled Rockets team who just lost their starting center and replaced him with 41-year-old Dikembe “Who Wants To Sex” Mutumbo. I’m not a commentary snob. I’m not the guy who hates every commentator on Earth. Fun game: next time someone says “X and Y are the worst commentators in the world” ask them who’s the best team they can name. Almost without fail, they won’t have an answer.
I rarely notice commentary. During the Nuggets/Rockets game, I did. I only did because Doris Burke was on color commentary. I believe that she’s the only female color commentator (other than Suzyn Waldman, who I hate… but I hate her for different reasons… only some of which are her fault). I ignored her for about the first few minutes of the first quarter until the following line:
“The best way for them to prevent transition scoring is to make their jump shots.”
Really? The way to stop a team from scoring in transition is to stop the opportunity to score in transition, thus allowing your team to get back on defense? The worst part: if this woman is a color commentator in men’s sports - she’s the absolute best they have to offer. The absolute best they have to offer STILL offers senseless observations and the same cliches. I was treated to “he’s a lunch-pail type player” and “Iverson’s the type of guy who never wants to leave the court.”
I have no real point or finish to this so I’ll leave you with a quote I heard: “I don’t really want a woman in the booth unless she looks and sounds like John Madden.”