Bob Wischusen and Dave Pasch are two of the most reputable and football-busy play-by-play announcers. They also don’t have regular school football concerts for ESPN, but they’re the radio voices of two NFL teams.
Last Sunday, they sat thousands of miles away, no one around them applauded or booed them, as they sought to paint a symbol for their listeners, even if they were handcuffed and with plastic utensils.
Wischusen was at the Jets’ educational facility in New Jersey while the team was playing in Buffalo. Pasch was in a transmission booth, he was at Cardinals State Farm Stadium while Arizona was in San Francisco.
The coronavirus pandemic and NFL protocols to save you from infections that have been so effective have led the team’s 32 radio groups to adapt, a large majority of those groups have made or will make their broadcasts remotely.
Not everything: the Chicago band was in Detroit for the opening; Tennessee will be with the Titans on the road for now; New Orleans will be with the Saints, but not on the team’s cards.
Being on hand to describe the action of football is essential because, unlike other sports, TV broadcasts do not show all players at the same time. advertisers – can’t see.
“It’s almost a control through the fire, ” said Wischusen. These are bad cases for everyone and they did their best to set it up.
“I’d say the one game that’s likely to suspend television and not miss out on amazing things is basketball,” adds Wischusen, one of ESPN’s most level-headed school basketball advertisers.
“Almost everyone is on screen all the time. You may miss the facial reaction of a player or coach who yells at a player or officer. “
Wischusen points out that baseball can also be tricky when the camera is on the ball on a base strike and not on runners or other fielders, but soccer, with 22 men on the field, many of whom work on other directions, presents a wonderful challenge.
“If a quarterback throws a deep ball, when I’m in the stadium, my eyes leave the ball and quickly pass it through the field,” he said. being intercepted, is the receiver covered? Now, when I call him on a monitor, all I can see is a bullet flying through the air. When the Jets got Jamison Crowder’s TD, halfway through the call, I was a little dazed. “Wow, there’s no Buffalo Bills between him and the finish area. “I was hoping a Bills player would come and attack him. I don’t know if it’s a general bombardment. I don’t see any deep security.
“When I’m here, I can see everything, and I’ve called a million games, so you know what to expect and anticipate. When you are off a monitor, you are absolutely indebted to the plans selected through the director. And you have no idea what you’d instinctively know.
Another challenge to solve when transmitted remotely is sound. Audio from a TV screen does not sync perfectly with the radio side. No stadium enthusiasts and with a fake sound that’s pumped, well, it’s like a tap dance in symphonic music for play-by-play guys.
Radio announcers also play with the genuine noise of the crowd in general circumstances, but are now forced to get excited even with false cheers that slightly disturb the genuine sounds of silence.
“You almost have to contribute your own energy, like the players,” Pasch says. “Normally, at a big NFL game, school game or playoff game, you feed on the excitement of the crowd. “
Pasch and analyst Ron Wolfley were very excited when the Cardinals returned to beat the NFC’s protective champions.
“I can only believe what it would be like to walk with Ron and I in the cockpit,” Pasch said. “We were screaming and going crazy and there was no one else there. In fact, you realize when you take off your helmet. “
For all the obstacles, there is this reality: radio broadcasts will have to be precise, full of life and for those who cannot watch matches, or for which – and there are many – that local advertisers prefer to national advertisers on television.
It’s about being a pro.
“We miss enthusiasts extraordinarily and everyone who covers the games needs you to know,” Wischusen said. “They elevate the atmosphere by 50 stories when they’re there.
“Not being in the stadium, well, that will update being there, and it can’t. “
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David Brandt, editor of AP Sports, contributed.
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