Public Address Announcing and the Misguided Notions of Sportsmanship

A couple notes before I get too involved in this. This is a topic I've been intending to write a post about for several months now. It's a bit of an old story, but by the time I found out that these rules in question were brought up, they were already in effect, so I decided to wait until the approach of this season to actually write my thoughts.

A more important warning: this post may get a little charged. I will get up on my soapbox a little bit today, because I feel strongly about some of these things. I'd also like to note that all thoughts below, unless otherwise expressly stated, are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employers.

Very early on during my time writing Confessions of a Sportscaster, I did a little introductory post on the concept of public address. By and large, I stand by my every statement made four years ago in that post. As I've gotten more experience, there are some things that may need to be adjusted with it, but the spirit of it remains the same and probably always will.

Last season at North Central, I would take a fair number of pregame pictures for Facebook and Twitter as a general "Go Cardinals, beat [opponent]!" post. There was one where I made the comment about yelling "THREEEEEEEEEEE!" a lot. My aunt in North Dakota told me about rules there saying that announcers couldn't comment on any points or fouls. I expressed the sentiment that this was dumb. Turns out, it's not North Dakota's fault.

Somewhere later along the line, I found a blog post by Jarrod Wronski, an announcer and official from the Washington, DC area talking about rule changes instituted by the National Federation of State High School Associations. State associations like the IHSA end up falling in line with what the NFHS says, and apparently North Dakota did the same.

Wronski made some valuable points, and there is one I especially want to echo. Public address announcing is not play-by-play. I have done both. They are not remotely the same. Anyone who does play-by-play in a public address setting needs to be removed from the mic until they learn the difference.

That said, I did find the official memo from the NFHS regarding announcer responsibilities for basketball. Their list of things that may be announced is all spot on, but many things they restrict are either ambiguous or stupid. Here are some of their restricted things:

• Number of points a player scored (Fair, since that takes time and isn't super important to do your job. During halftime, this should be okay.)
• Number of fouls on a player (Dumb. A good announcer knows how to keep track of these things, and it provides a valuable service not only to the fans, but to the teams as well. I also double check on foul counts with the official scorer as games go on, so I make sure I have the right information. Any competent announcer would do the same.)
• Number of team fouls (Again, dumb. This information is on the scoreboard and can easily be confirmed with the official scorer, and is also valuable for the teams and fans.)
• Number of time outs remaining (Kind of dumb. I typically don't announce time outs remaining, but it can be valuable considering that coaches constantly come to the table to confirm how many they have left.)
• Time remaining in a quarter/game (Depends on the circumstance. I typically announce where there's either one or two minutes left in the half, primarily as a courtesy to the teams. This actually drew the ire of someone who works for the CCIW at one point last season, who told me that it's against the rules even though in college, it isn't. At the next home game, he came up to me before the game and reminded me. I asked him where the rule was, and he said it was a rule. I did it anyway with the backing of NCC's athletic administration, and it wasn't brought up again. Anyway, as long as you limit it to one situation a half like that, it's fine.)
• Type of foul or violation (I'm not a huge fan of this rule, partially because it's so broad. I don't announce the exact foul call, i.e. reach, push, body, etc. For actual turnover violations, I do. In the grand scheme of things, there's no difference between a travel, three second call, or any other violation, but for people unfamiliar with officials' signals or who missed exactly what happened, it's important.)
• Emphatic 2 or 3 point field goal (Wholeheartedly disagree because I am a homer. There's some logistical reasons too, mainly in the event that it's a close call and the officials are signaling more than normal to the table where I want to make sure I clarify it correctly. But mostly I wholeheartedly disagree because I am a homer.)

From there, they make a list of responsibilities for the announcer. Weirdly, they prohibit announcements "while the ball is live", which is incredibly ambiguous and by the letter of the law, wouldn't allow announcements of scoring players until a timeout. On a less ambiguous note, this is especially important with free throws, and I feel it's important not to talk over a player going into their shooting motion (I have done this on accident a couple times, and I always feel bad when I do, for either side).

On the whole though, this regulation makes the job incredibly difficult, especially in a fast-paced game like the North Central women play all the time. It just wouldn't work. I also echo Wronski's point that it makes the announcer sound like an amateur. Now, the NFHS also recommends announcers be trained and that officials instruct announcers pre-game. It gets everyone on the same page, and makes sure that the announcer is competent.

Now, here's the general point that gets me upset.

"The announcer’s role does not include 'cheering the home team on' or otherwise

inciting the crowd. Doing so is common at other levels of athletic events. But high

school athletics is different because sports are educationally based."

I'll touch on the "education" aspect in a second. For me, I'm not 100 percent sure what the meaning of this is. If they are talking about announcers leading chants, I wholeheartedly agree. That's not the role of a public address announcer, and if you need to use your announcer to get fans into the game, something is wrong. Now, if you're going beyond that scope and trying to legislate inflection and enthusiasm, that's where I have a problem.

The main issue I have is that I fail to see how showing excitement for the home team as an announcer diminishes education. To me (and some coaches I have talked to), this rule on the whole is hiding political correctness behind the guise of "education". NCAA Division III basketball is about love of the game, but the student-athletes at this level are truly students first and athletes second. Yet the NCAA does not limit "cheering the home team on" except during the NCAA Tournament, which makes perfect sense. If it's not a problem in college when academics are prioritized, why is it an issue in high school? I think it's more about not hurting players' feelings than "education".

I talked with another coach recently about this sort of issue. Part of the draw of analysts to road wins is just that: road games are supposed to be hard. I don't advocate hostility, but home crowds should be loud and supportive of their teams. Then when you get back home, you get that same benefit. An announcer can be a part of that. I can help build the atmosphere around a game and rally support for the home team. That doesn't make me unprofessional. It makes me passionate about my team. As long as you are respectful of the visiting team, the officials, and fans, it does not make you a poor sport.

Let's go back to 1996 because I love this.

Ray Clay is one of the main reasons why I keep coming back to the microphone every winter. I remain convinced that he was worth 10 points before every game at the United Center during the apex Jordan years. It's clear he's "cheering the home team on", and doing so while not disrespecting the Sonics. While, granted, this is the NBA and thus not "educationally based", it shows that there's nothing wrong with being a bit of a homer. I stand by the aforementioned limits: be respectful of the everyone, don't lead the crowd in chants, and don't step on any plays. If you follow those rules, prepare yourself before every game, and know how the sport as a whole operates, you're going to be fine whether you're the most neutral announcer ever or a blatant homer.

Things like these asinine rule changes make me glad I left high school announcing when I did, even though it had nothing to do with announcing rule changes. I would not be able to follow my calling doing games at Aurora Christian now. Instead, I'm in the perfect system for my passions with a school that appreciates the work, an administration whose main concern is making sure I don't destroy my vocal cords too early in a game or season, but most importantly, a head coach and team that love the job I do and the support that I bring them on the mic several nights a year.

If the day comes where I work an NCAA Tournament game, I will be neutral. That is the NCAA rule, and I respect it. Until that day comes, however, I will continue to yell "THREEEEEEEEE!" at the top of my lungs, and I refuse to apologize for it.