9781422285299

Sports Broadcasting

C areers O ff the F ield

C areers O ff the F ield

Analytics: Sports Stats and More Coaching & Scouting Health Careers in Sports Sports Agent Sports Arena & Event Management Sports Broadcasting Sports Marketing Sports Media Relations Sportswriting and Sports Photography Working in College Sports

Sports Broadcasting By John Walters

C areers O ff the F ield

Mason Crest 450 Parkway Drive, Suite D

Broomall, PA 19008 www.masoncrest.com

© 2016 by Mason Crest, an imprint of National Highlights, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3264-4 Hardback ISBN: 978-1-4222-3271-2 EBook ISBN: 978-1-4222-8529-9

First printing 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Produced by Shoreline Publishing Group LLC Santa Barbara, California Editorial Director: James Buckley Jr. Designer: Bill Madrid Production: Sandy Gordon www.shorelinepublishing.com

Cover photo: Mike Weyerhaeuser/Actionplus/Newscom Cover: Pitcher Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers is interviewed on the field by a cable television reporter. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Walters, John (John Andrew) Sports broadcasting / by John Walters. pages cm. -- (Careers off the field) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4222-3271-2 (hardback : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-4222-3264- 4 (series : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-4222-8529-9 (ebook) 1. Television broadcasting of sports--Juvenile literature. 2. Radio broadcasting of sports--Juvenile literature. 3. Sportscasters--Juvenile literature. 4. Sports journalism--Juvenile literature. I. Title. GV742.3.W357 2016 070.4’49796--dc23 2015011890

Foreword …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….… 6 Introduction …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….… 8 Chapter 1: Getting Started …….…….…….…….…….…… 14 Chapter 2: Hard at Work …….…….…….…….…….…….…… 28 Chapter 3: Realities of the Workplace ……. 38 Chapter 4: The Nitty-Gritty …….…….…….…….……. 50 Find Out More …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…… 62 Series Glossary …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….……. 63 About the Author …….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…….…… 64 C ontents Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowl- edge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connect- ed to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Key Icons to Look For

Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented here.

Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains termi- nology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s abil- ity to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

Foreword By Al Ferrer

So you want to work in sports? Good luck! You’ve taken a great first step by picking up this volume of CAREERS OFF THE FIELD. I’ve been around sports professionally—on and off the field, in the front office, and in the classroom—for more than 35 years. My students have gone on to work in all the major sports leagues and for university athletic programs. They’ve become agents, writers, coaches, and broadcasters. They were just where you are now, and the lessons they learned can help you succeed. One of the most important things to remember when looking for a job in sports is that being a sports fan is not enough. If you get an interview with a team, and your first sentence is “I’m your biggest fan,” that’s a kiss of death. They don’t want fans, they want pros. Show your experience, show what you know, show how you can contribute. Another big no-no is to say, “I’ll do anything.” That makes you a non- professional or a wanna-be. You have to do the research and find out what area is best for your personality and your skills. This book series will be a vital tool for you to do that research, to find out what areas in sports are out there, what kind of people work in them, and where you would best fit in.

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C areers O ff the F ield • Sports Broadcasting

That leads to my third point: Know yourself. Look carefully at your interests and skills. You need to understand what you’re good at and how you like to work. If you get energy from being around people, then you don’t want to be in a room with a computer because you’ll go nuts. You want to be in the action, around people, so you might look at sales or marketing or media relations or being an agent. If you’re more comfortable being by yourself, then you look at analysis, research, perhaps the numbers side of scouting or recruiting. You have to know yourself. You also have to manage your expectations. There is a lot of money in sports, but unless you are a star athlete, you probably won’t be making much in your early years. I’m not trying to be negative, but I want to be realistic. I’ve loved every minute of my life in sports. If you have a passion for sports and you can bring professionalism and quality work—and you understand your expectations—you can have a great career. Just like the athletes we admire, though, you have to prepare, you have to work hard, and you have to never, ever quit.

Series consultant Al Ferrer founded the sports management program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, after an award-winning career as a Division I baseball coach. Along with his work as a professor, Ferrer is an advisor to pro and college teams, athletes, and sports businesses.

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Introduction

Words to Understand depth charts: a listing of football team positions, noting the starters and backups at each position IFB: Interruptible Foldback (or Feedback)—a device that lets TV producers talk into the ear of on-air broadcasters

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C areers O ff the F ield • Sports Broadcasting

It’s Saturday, and while most of the country has the day off, Charles Davis (left) rises at dawn. Today, Davis wakes up in Eugene, Oregon, where the biggest college football game of the day, Michigan State at Oregon, will kick off this afternoon. As half of FOX Sports’ lead college football broadcast team, Davis and his partner, Gus Johnson, will be calling today’s action from Autzen Stadium. “Everyone has his own routine on game day,” says Davis, 50, “and I certainly have mine. It begins with waking up early.” Davis works as a color analyst, while Johnson does play-by- play. You might think of it this way: Johnson’s job is to drive the tour bus, and Davis’ job is to point out the sights and inform the passengers about what they are seeing. For Davis, who played safety at the University of Tennessee, it is a labor of love. “I love to talk about college football,” he says. Davis starts this day as he does every game day—by reading a packet of notes. The packet, which is about 15 pages long, is filled with notes and reminders that Davis has compiled. None of the information is specific to today’s game. “For example,” says Davis, “I have a line from The Jungle Book . It reads, ‘The strength of the wolf is the pack, the strength of the pack is the wolf.’”

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I ntroduction

Davis also keeps a list of synonyms for commonly usedwords so that, as he says, “I don’t say ‘great’ twenty times per game.” After that ritual is completed, Davis hits the gym to release some anxiety. Then he returns to his hotel room and reads newspaper articles and online stories related to today’s game between the Spartans and Ducks. He watches ESPN’s popular Saturday morning college football show, College GameDay . Mostly, he tries to relax. “Calling a game is a little like taking a test,” says Davis— and he has been studying all week. During the week, he has watched tapes of both teams, listened to press conferences, and spoken with both head coaches. By game day, he knows that it is too late to cram. Another part of Davis’ routine is a conversation with Rob Reichley, who is a producer at RayCom Sports. “We don’t work together, but Rob is a good friend and one of my true mentors in the business,” says Davis. “This is part of the routine.” Davis then puts on his suit and heads over to the stadium. He arrives at least three hours before kickoff for every game. Upon arrival, he makes a beeline directly to the production truck, where the show’s producer, director, and technical crew will work the game. The truck is located just outside the stadium.

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The people in the truck perform vital jobs, but without fan­ fare. They are like the stage crew of a theatrical production. Davis visits them to let them know he appreciates the work they do. “I’m trying to be a man of the people,” says Davis. “The more I can show them that I’m on their team, the more they’ll be on my team once we hit the air.” Next stop? Upstairs to

the broadcast booth, where Davis lays out the tools of his trade: laminated depth charts that include a note of interest about “ninety- five percent of the players.” Davis also has compiled a list of about three dozen “story lines,” or points that he hopes to make during the game if there is time. He distributes the list to all of his teammates in the truck and to his partner, Johnson.

Charles Davis (left) and Gus Johnson are a team for FOX Sports, just like the college football teams they cover.

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“After that’s done, I like toheaddown to thefieldand just get a sense of it,” says Davis. It’s still 90 minutes before kickoff, and the stadium is relatively empty. Davis knows better than to approach head coaches in these moments, as they are intensely focused on preparing for the game. However, he finds that assistant coaches and other team officials are happy to chat. The information he gathers will help him in his job. “I don’t ask them any questions about the game,” says Davis. “The funny thing is, if I don’t ask them about the game plan, then they’ll tell me.” Davis is highly personable and has a good sense of humor, which helps him to navigate such situations. An assistant coach approaches and asks him to “say something good about me today.” “What if your running back fumbles five times?” asks Davis with a smile. “What should I say then?” It’s time to head back upstairs to the booth, which is located in the press box area. Davis and Johnson do what are known as “pregame hits,” video segments in which they converse with FOX’s studio hosts on air. They run through their pregame opening as a rehearsal, discussing topics they’ve agreed upon the night before. Then, as Davis says, “It’s time for kickoff, and let the fun begin.”

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Davis, like most football announcers, stands throughout the game. He finds that it helps him to maintain his energy level. He wears an earpiece, known in the business as an IFB (Interruptible Foldback), so that the producer in the truck and sometimes a few other people may converse with him. The fewer voices in his ear, Davis finds, the better. As Johnsondescribes the action on eachplay, Davis provides information on players, such as Heisman Trophy candidate Marcus Mariota of Oregon. His task is to inform viewers while making it also sound conversational. Davis also has to be aware of when the drama of the game takes precedence. “Somebody once advised me,” he says, “that the first three quarters are for storytelling and the last quarter is for coaching. In the fourth quarter, my job is to help viewers understand what both teams need to do, or are trying to do, in order to win.” On this September day, the Ducks prevail. Davis takes the IFB out of his ear and loosens his tie. There’s another game next Saturday, but for the next few hours, he can relax.

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Words to Understand articulately: spoken clearly

assess: examine evidence to make a decision or come to a conclusion investigative reporter: a journalist who focuses on large stories with many parts, interviews, or areas of interest mimicking: copying

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