Doris Burke and Kevin Calabro

Announcing for games that aren’t exciting is one of the hardest things announcers have to deal with. How do they keep the audience from flipping the channel or changing the station?

Last night the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the Detroit Pistons. The Cavs have the best record in the Eastern Conference and the Pistons were one game above .500 entering last night’s game. Before watching the game I knew the Pistons had lost 5 in a row and knew it was going to be a rough game to watch.

I tuned in online at ESPN360.com and listened to Doris Burke and Kevin Calabro call the game. I focused mostly on Doris Burke and listened to everything she said attentively. As we know, there aren’t many female sports announcers. I was curious to hear her style and see how she announced compared to her partner. For one, her voice sounded great. She spoke with what I would say is a deeper voice than most women. We have learned that this is a good tactic for women to use. Along with her great tone of voice, Doris knew the game. From start to finish she knew background information on every player on the court. I thought it was very interesting that they had Calabro do play-by-play and had Burke on the color commentary. With that, I was very impressed with her knowledge about the players and about the game of basketball all together. You could clearly see that she did her homework on both teams.

As a team Calabro and Burke worked very well together. For the most part I was listening and not watching the game. Even so, I was still able to follow the game action and understand what was happening. What I enjoyed very much was the back-and-forth announcing they did. As soon as Calabro finished the play-by-play on one side of the court, Burke would follow with some history, a fun fact, or an update about the player or players involved. This is great for sports fan but also helpful for those who don’t know a lot about specific players.

The two announcers flowed very well together and it made for an enjoyable broadcast to listen and watch. Ironically, the broadcast got better when the Cavs started to pull away. Instead of constant play-by-play Calabro and Burke went back and forth with commentary and discussion. I was not bored once during the broadcast. Both announcers had me entertained and even laughing at some points. Although the margin of victory was large both announcers were lively throughout the broadcast and there was rarely a moment of silence.

The only thing I disliked about the broadcast was when the commentary started to become all about Lebron James. I feel that the Cavs are more than Lebron James. Yes, he is one of the best players in the league right now, but when you’re broadcasting a game there are 2 teams and many different players. It was Delonte West’s first game back after being injured. He had an incredible game and the focus was still Lebron.

Overall I really enjoyed watching a basketball game and actually paying close attention to the announcers. I have a new respect for Doris Burke and believe she is a very good sports announcer.