The analysts, play-by-play commentators and sideline reporters you see covering an MLS match have typically worked long hours over many years, sometimes even decades, to reach that point. They’ve paid their dues, and along the way they have acquired a number of successful habits and tricks of the trade that have helped them reach the top.
MLSsoccer.com asked more than two dozen current and former MLS broadcasters to share the tactics, routines and reminders they use to perform at high levels on game day. Here are some of the best and most widely used.
Do your homework
Over and over again, our subjects emphasized the paramount importance of research.
“I over-prepare, absolutely over-prepare all the time,” said TSN veteran Luke Wileman. “And it's because I then feel much more comfortable in doing the game.”
In one sense commentators are like college students, taking a final exam every week. What are the stories and personalities involved in this match? What background and context needs to be delivered to the audience? And what tidbits can you use to help tell the tale?
“When I talk to my broadcasting classes about it,” said Sporting KC play-by-play man Nate Bukaty, “I describe prepping for a game as very much like studying for an essay exam at the end of a semester in college, where let’s say you’ve got a book that’s 1,000 pages that you've been studying all semester. You have to know all the material in that book, but you're only going to get three questions and you don't know which part of the book those three questions are going to come from. You have to know all the material, even though you're not going to use 95 percent of it.”
FOX lead play-by-play announcer John Strong in action during a match. | FOX Sports
Those that cover the same team week in, week out have the benefit of focusing on the home team above all, while national broadcasters have to stay current on different clubs from game to game — “it's my job to be an expert in both teams,” said FOX's John Strong (above) — albeit usually with the aid of additional resources like researchers. "Everyone seeks out both public information and inside access via pregame interviews and media availabilities.”
Murphy’s Law applies here, too.
“As a play-by-play guy, you can't be caught in a position where somebody comes into the game, he's played two minutes all season and there's hardly anything to say about him, but all of a sudden he comes in and for whatever reason is the central part of something important that happens,” said FC Dallas and Dallas Mavericks play-by-play voice Mark Followill. “You want to be able to tell your viewer or your listener who that person is, and why it's a big story that he’s done whatever it is that he's done.”
…but don’t try too hard
As diligently as you may have labored in your preparation, as many incisive facts and figures as you’ve compiled, when and how to deploy them – or save them – is even more important.
“Say less. Don't say anything that you're not 100 percent sure of,” advised Max Bretos, who admits that he didn’t always do this early in his career. “Don't feel like you have to use everything that you've come up with, even if it's a great stat – ‘Oh, I can't wait to use this’ – if the right opportunity doesn't come up, don't force it. I’ve forced things in the past and you know it right away.”
To use some straightforward phrasing from Glenn Davis: “You don't get paid by the word.”
Boards & more: Processing and accessing info
“You have to find your own way of condensing what can be a huge amount of information down into a manageable format to bring to the game, to the booth,” said Adrian Healey. “You don't want to be reading through wads of paper looking for that stat.”
“Boards” are the industry shorthand for traditional broadcaster notes — “basically just a cheat sheet,” said Chicago play-by-play man Tyler Terens — often arranged in the shape of a tactical layout on an oversized notepad or envelope for quick reference in the run of play, especially if jersey numbers are hard to pick out from a distance.
“My boards have sort of evolved over time, it's a bit of a hybrid of the more American-style spotting board and sort of the more English-style sticker system,” revealed Strong. “I have a manila folder in front of me and I've got both teams laid out, stickers for each player, and I have it somewhat formationally.”
Many broadcasters still handwrite theirs, often in their own particular lingo: “Jon [Champion]'s notes, you can read,” dished ESPN's Taylor Twellman. “Ian [Darke]’s like a mad scientist, he's got 19 different colors on his notes. Nobody in their right mind could ever read what he's reading.”
Others prefer to print them out on nametag-like adhesives and move them around as needed.
“I keep folders, dossiers on every team, just little mini thumbnail bios,” said New England Revolution play-by-play mainstay Brad Feldman. “Whatever will fit on a mailing label in 14-point type, that's as much information as I put down on each player for my formation charts, because I really just want a prompt to tell a story or a key stat or two on a guy.”
Longtime Montreal Impact TV voice Frederic Lord aims to get the whole crew on the same page in terms of big-picture themes and narratives.
“I studied literature as well and a big part of storytelling is, two or three days prior to the game I always pick three themes and send it to the rest of the crew, and tell them that we're going to plan everything around those three themes,” he explained. “So the staff knows where to focus, same thing on the analysts … Those three things are guiding lodestars for our broadcast.”
Find a routine that works
Many talking heads settle into the same sort of rituals that the athletes are known to adopt.
“I do the same thing as you would as a player,” said Glenn Davis, himself a former pro. “Eat at a certain time, exercise at a certain time, take a little bit of an afternoon nap. Normally, I go to the same coffee shop every time before the game to grab a coffee on the way to the stadium.”
Most prefer to arrive long before kickoff.
“There's nothing worse than chasing your tail, for whatever reason, and getting to the ground late,” said ESPN's Jon Champion. “That's one thing I've had to get used to in the United States, because usually we get picked up and perhaps we're at the stadium an hour and three quarters before the game. I was used to being there three and a half, four hours before in England, certainly in the Premier League.”
Said noted “early bird” Joe Tutino: “I get there real early. I mean, for a 7:30 game, I am probably walking into my booth at 4:00, no later. I just feel like I have to have the day come to me.”
That said, game days can be marathons, especially if it’s a nighttime kickoff – and in North America's wildly varying climates and seasons, those nights can run far beyond the usual two hours scheduled.
“Being able to adapt is important, because you never know if a game is finishing up on time, especially down here in the South, where we do get bad weather,” said Poppy Miller, a commentator with USL Championship club Charleston Battery and occasional MLS contributor.
Several mentioned the throat-soothing old remedy of hot water with lemon and perhaps honey as part of their arsenal. Amazingly, living legend JP Dellacamera says he has never missed a broadcast due to illness, and he credits simple but diligent habits.
“People make fun of what I eat, because I don't go for fancy stuff the night before a game, or spicy stuff or things like that,” he said. “I try to eat healthy, I try to exercise, wear scarves in the winter, protect your voice. First sign of a cold, take something, don’t wait until something happens. Knock on wood, it's worked for me. But I think no matter how well you take care of yourself, you still have to be lucky.”
Put yourself in the right mindspace
Emotional and psychological balance is essential for a good call, and different broadcasters take different tacks to get there, be it exercise, extra research or a glass of wine the night before the game.
“If you haven't had the opportunity to do the level of preparation you want, you just feel that little bit off it,” said Wileman. “And it's not something that people at home would be able to tell, but you know yourself whether you're in a rhythm. And for me that rhythm comes from preparing and that when I turn up at the stadium, I know that I am probably one of the few people in the stadium who knows everything there is to know about every single player that's playing in that game.”
Twellman credits industry legends like Mike Tirico, Bob Ley and Sean McDonough for helping him learn similar lessons.
“They're never scrambling on gameday. And it was obvious,” Twellman said. “Their prep has already lined themselves up for the moment; on the gamedays they never struggled.”
Mexican by birth, Univision’s Raul Guzman grew up in that nation’s tradition of charismatic, enthusiastic TV calls but seeks to remain grounded in the heat of the action.
“It's not a secret that we Latinos on play-by-play, we are very excited dudes,” he said with a laugh. “I think the key for us is to be excited and passionate enough, but not too loud. Because if you are too loud, you can overreact.”
TUDN's Raul Guzman (foreground) with colleagues Diego Balado and Jose Luis Lopez Salido | USA Today Sports Images
Hone your craft and learn from peers
Based on the widespread sentiments of our group, experience is an excellent teacher and the growth process never stops.
“When I was just trying to find my way and figure out what works for me, I would get on the phone and I talked to so many other sports broadcasters, whether they were female or male, and I wanted to know how they did things and what worked for them,” related FOX sideline reporter Katie Witham, who keeps a notebook handy any time sports of any kind is on TV at home so she can jot down a “cheat sheet” of new approaches that work for others.
“You kind of get stuck on certain [verbal] crutches, so instead of like falling back to your crutch, why don’t you think about it in this direction?”
Whether it’s because they’re climbing the ladder or perhaps hustling on multiple gigs to make ends meet, many learn the trade in other sports, or via other specialties like writing and radio. Early in his TV career, Twellman spent several months on a daily televised sports-talk program on a regional network, a baptism by fire that fast-tracked him on the fundamentals of the medium.
“I was doing 10 to 12 shows a week, and honestly that was more helpful than any broadcasting 101 class I would’ve ever taken in college. To do live television when you've never done it before, and you're hosting and you're looking at rundowns and you're doing traffic,” he explained. “What you need to do, and how you need to form an opinion, and how you talk with someone talking in your ear. It just was so valuable.”
Former MLS star forward Taylor Twellman (center), flanked by ESPN colleagues Ian Darke and ex-MLSer Alejandro Moreno.
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