During my usual check of soccer news and comment for the 6,235th time today, I came across a blog entry from a gentlemen (Dana Blankenhorn) espousing the virtues of Ray Hudson.
His general point, man-love for Hudson non-withstanding, is that American soccer needs a boisterous, passionate announcer who can convey sound analysis with excitement and flair, adding a dimension to the game that is currently lacking.
And I think I have to agree with him.
American sports, partly thanks to their long histories here, all have broadcasting personalities who have become larger-than-life. Millions of Americans tuned in during the early days of Monday Night Football just to listen to the controversial ramblings of Howard Cosell. Baseball fans will tell you that the voices of Mel Allen and Vin Scully (among others) just sound like they belong with the game, their vocalized imagery a treasure to be enjoyed whenever possible. Even our contemporary announcers can become icons; football commentator John Madden has transcended his sport to become a pop-culture phenomenon, while Joe Morgan engendered so much negative sentiment that he inspired one of the first well-known sports blogs.
How important to us are the personalities who present our sports? More often then not, we ignore announcers unless what they say is particularly pompous, patently incorrect or simply annoying. Those that are adept enough at what they do that they either strikingly frame the play on the field or add insightful viewpoints we as fans could not see ourselves can become, over time, identified with the sports the cover. This is particularly true for football and baseball, two passions woven into the American social fabric. Presenters of those sports become legendary in large part because what they cover has a significant influence on our collective cultural experience.
Soccer in America sits in the fully opposite position, as a sport with little historical relevance that may need unique and engaging television personalities to increase the game's profile. The status quo of staid, knowledgeable, yet uninspiring announcers does little to draw viewers to the game, although it is impossible to know how much of an impact they actually have. Our friend Dana Blankenhorn suggests that American soccer needs someone who is not only a knowledgeable expert, but who can also act as the vocal ambassador that the sport desperately needs. Dana's promoting of Ray Hudson for the job is specifically due to Ray's excitable nature; Hudson acting as the "Dick Vitale" of soccer could make the broadcasts worth watching (if they weren't already), and audio worth listening to.
Still, would it matter?
Would anyone other than dedicated MLS fans care?
Eric Wynalda crashed and burned with ESPN, and while his brash nature rubbed some fans the wrong way, it certainly made for more lively broadcasts. Unfortunately, Wynalda was never going to be the type of broadcaster who could cross over; there was simply nothing unique enough about him to appeal to anyone who was not already a passionate soccer supporter. It's conceivable that someone like Hudson could force his way into the non-soccer fan's awareness simply through the force of his personality and the nature of his commentary.
There is really no reason for ESPN to have not taken this step already.
So I'm with Dana; bring in Ray Hudson and give televised soccer in America a little bit of life.
Ending this abruptly: I'm actually going to go watch the Galaxy game.
