Wish I'd written that - Rules for sports commentary

I was taught very early on that the picture is so powerful, you can’t hope to compete with it, all you can hope is to occasionally augment it, and add additional information and improve the overall viewing experience for the person at home watching the telecast."

- Jon Champion, British soccer commentator.  (H/T Awful Announcing)

And that, my friends, is why so many of us prefer English broadcasters when there's a choice.  God love America, but it seems as if American announcers always feel that the picture is nothing more than a distraction from whatever it is they happen to be talking about.

It also highlights why so many of the great American announcers of the past - Curt Gowdy, Chris Schenkel, Pat Summerall, Ray Scott - were great.  And why so many of them today (excepting, say, Mike Emrick) - are not.