For 21 years, Kevin Calabro delighted Northwest audiences with his work as play-by-play announcer for the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics. His signature catch-phrases ("Get on up for the down stroke!" or "Good golly, Miss Molly!"), inspired by 1970's funk and soul records, became synonymous with Sonics basketball and the city in general. However, when the basketball team relocated to Oklahoma City after the 2007-08 season, Calabro opted to stay in Seattle.
Soon afterwards, he reached an agreement to be the first voice of expansion Seattle Sounders FC. And while he definitely doesn't regret the decision to stay in the Emerald City, he's still finding his voice in soccer after spending the majority of his professional career calling basketball.
"It's been a great experience, no question about it," Calabro said. "I would love someday to get back into the NBA, but I don't know if that's ever going to happen.
"I'd like to get better at what I'm doing -- that's been a great challenge. I anticipate understanding the game better as I progress and doing a better job with the broadcast. I tell my wife if I do this right, this is a job I can do into my 70s."
Calabro's been impressed with the support Sounders FC has received from the local community. The Indiana native never played or followed soccer growing up, but he said he only has to look around his Redmond, Wash., home to see the importance soccer has in the region. Nearby Marymoor and Perrigo parks teem with soccer players on any given night, while his own children play as well.
With global companies like nearby Microsoft, the international composition of the area adds flavor to the soccer stew. Calabro was happy to see so many soccer players in the region become supporters at Sounders FC games -- so far, Seattle has averaged more than 29,000 fans per game at Qwest Field.
While that figure is tops in Major League Soccer, it still doesn't approach the attendance at venues in some other leagues, like the English Premier League. From a commentating standpoint, Calabro says the difference affects the way a game is announced.
"The English league can average upwards of 45,000 people in the stands, so there is a lot of sound that fills in around the broadcast," Calabro said. "English announcers really use sparse language to describe what is going on. It seems like the MLS folks use a little more commentary because you don't have that expansive crowd."
Calabro is still perfecting his technique as a soccer announcer. Save for watching some of those EPL games over the past year and calling the action with the sound down, the announcer had little experience broadcasting soccer before the 2009 season kicked off. In fact, Seattle's final preseason match against the Colorado Rapids was Calabro's only dry run before First Kick.
Additionally, Calabro mentions another wrinkle that makes it difficult to produce a quality broadcast.
"The other things fans need to be aware of in Seattle is that we're attempting to do a simulcast, which I don't know if anybody else (in MLS) is attempting to do," Calabro said.
Audio from Sounders FC games is broadcast on both radio and television -- a duality that makes it difficult for Calabro to find the happy medium, so to speak.
"We're trying to sort our way through that early on in the first couple games. I've been getting a lot of criticism for too much commentary, too much description," Calabro said. "So we laid back a little bit on the television side and then I was getting criticized because we weren't giving enough description on radio."
Issues aside, Calabro loves the job and has been impressed by a number of Sounders players, singling out Brad Evans and Freddie Ljungberg. Ljungberg's assist on Jaqua's goal against Columbus stands out as one of the highlights of the season so far.
"That pass that Ljungberg made to Jaqua ... that was fabulous," Calabro said. "What I've seen from Freddie -- I get it now. He still is fast and elusive and I think he'll only get better as the season goes on."
Additionally, the announcer believes Sounders FC have a real shot at making the playoffs.
"I think they can be a playoff team because first and foremost they have great goalkeeping and defensively they are very strong with [Tyrone] Marshall, [Jhon Kennedy] Hurtado, and [James] Riley," Calabro said. "They are really strong across the back."
Calabro said he doesn't regret his decision to leave the SuperSonics (now known as the Oklahoma City Thunder) to stay in the Emerald City.
"I'd have to say it's a good decision for me. I didn't know anybody in Oklahoma City -- nobody knew me out there," Calabro said. "I didn't have any ties to that town. Other than the NBA, there was no attraction for me to go out there."
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
