re: Good Piece on Gus Johnson's Struggles w/ Announcing Games

quote:

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This Ian Darke call of Abby Wambach’s equalizer against Brazil in the World Cup is also terrific. Darke’s bit is to mirror the anxiety of the viewer. (It’s not homerism, exactly, but he never forgets that he’s calling a U.S. game for an American audience.) You hear the urgency in his voice when he says, “Lloyd’s got to get this pass off,” and he clues you in to what’s going on off-screen when he tells you everyone’s bombing forward. Then the cross comes in, Wambach snaps her neck, and Darke goes crazy. It’s a crescendo of emotion: tension, then free, thundering release. This is what Gus Johnson could be, at his best.

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I couldn't agree with this more.

Darke's call on the Donovan goal against Algeria was so perfectly paced. The terse, hopeful snippets of "Distribution. Brilliant" all the way to the flowery "You could not write a script like this" as the dog pile occurs.... The most brilliant description of a sporting event I've ever heard.