You ever watch those Giants post-game announcers and think, “Man, easy gig, just talking sports”? Yeah, I used to think that too. But it’s a bit more of a circus than you’d imagine from your couch.
There’s a whole crew, right? Not just the main guys at the desk. You got the folks on the field trying to grab a sweaty player for two coherent sentences. Then there are the “analysts” who pop in, sometimes they’re sharp, sometimes they’re just… there. And some guys just seem to be experts at filling dead air. It’s a mixed bag, really.
So, why do I sound like I’ve been backstage or something? Well, it’s a bit of a story.
A few years back, my old job in sales support just vanished. Poof. “Company downsizing,” they called it. Suddenly, I had all the time in the world and not much else. Bills were piling up, the kids needed stuff, and I was feeling pretty useless, to be honest. My wife was a saint, I tell ya.
To keep my mind from going totally blank, I started watching the Giants post-game shows. Like, really watching them. It wasn’t even always about the game itself. I got obsessed with how the announcers worked. Who stumbled over their words? Who asked the tough questions, and who just lobbed softballs? I even started taking notes, like a total weirdo. My son asked me if I was trying to become a sportscaster. Not quite, kiddo.
I’d jot down repeated phrases, who interrupted who, who seemed genuinely into it, and who looked like they were just reading a prompter. My little notebook was filled with this stuff. My wife would just shake her head, probably thought I was cracking up from the stress of job hunting.
Then, out of the blue, a buddy of mine who knew a guy, who knew another guy, called me up. Said there was some temporary work, transcribing audio for a small media outfit that covered local sports. Needed someone quick, didn’t pay a fortune, but hey, work was work. And guess what a ton of that audio was? Raw feeds from press conferences and, yup, some of the chatter from around the Giants post-game broadcasts. Stuff that never made it to air.
Man, that was an eye-opener. Hearing the producers in their ears, the fumbling for notes, the sometimes awkward silences before someone figured out what to say next, even the occasional salty comment when they thought the mics were cold. It was completely different from the polished stuff you see on TV. All my weird note-taking suddenly made a strange kind of sense. I could almost predict what they were going to cut or smooth over.
So now, when I see those Giants post-game announcers, I don’t just see some folks talking football. I see the whole dance. I notice the quick recoveries, the subtle cues, and who’s good at thinking on their feet when the unexpected happens. You get a different appreciation for it, knowing a little bit about the scramble behind the smiles.
That temp transcription gig, by the way, led to more regular work with that outfit, then a full-time thing doing something totally different, but still in media. Never went back to sales support. Funny how things turn out. And I still can’t help but dissect those post-game shows. Force of habit, I guess.
