Sportscasters

Who are the best sportscasters of all time? Watching sports is not always just about the players playing a game on the field. There can often be larger overarching narratives to sports that some describe as the game within the game. It's up to the sportscasters, announcers and commentators to bring backstory to sports and fill fans in on what's been happening behind the scenes. Sportscasters add the necessary subtext and texture to watching sports that makes games even more enjoyable to watch. So, who is the best Sportscasters of all time? Which famous sportscasters do you love to watch?

sportscasters

When it comes to the best sportscasters, Scott Van Pelt, Chris Berman, and Stephen A. Smith are a few of the best in the business However, the best NFL announcers like Joe Buck of ESPN, Cris Collinsworth of NBC, and Jim Nantz are all great current NFL commentators.

The American Sportscasters Association (ASA) is dedicated to promoting, supporting and enhancing the work of our member sportscasters. In addition, we are a resource of information and guidance for those interested in becoming a sportscaster.

The current crop of seven sportscasters arrived over the past 18 months. They range in age from 26 to 38. They are all white. Four are male. Three are female. They each have brought with them enthusiasm and the eagerness to learn.

"We used to travel on weekends and cover the Noles, Gators, Canes, Bucs and Dolphins aggressively. Before I had left Waterman, we had stopped covering all of that. Essentially, what had happened, was ESPN had ruined the local sportscasters and local sports on television, because news directors started thinking, 'We don't need to do sports. ESPN can do it for us.'

But the incident also drew attention to another aspect of the sexism that women who are sportscasters confront regularly: that of the carefully constructed, perfectly feminine, never-too-threatening image that seems to be such a requirement of the job.

Sportswriters and sportscasters provide insightful commentary to the world of sports. They can provide live running commentary, play-by-play action, post-game assessments, and critiques of sports and their participants.

Many sportscasters and sportswriters are retired athletes themselves, such as Canada's Mark Tewksbury providing commentary on swimming for the CBC, or the UK's Gareth Thomas on rugby. The majority tend to be gay males. However, there is a surprising number of transgender individuals in the profession, including the UK's Nicky Bandini of the Guardian newspaper and Americans Christina Kahrl of ESPN and Mike Penner of the Las Angeles Times.

A 2019 study of LGBTQ sports media personalities (see Further Research below) found that, of all participants in the study who were out to colleagues, almost all were unconditionally accepted when doing so. This shows the power of acceptance of sexual diversity within the sports profession and is encouraging for a trend to more out sportswriters and sportscasters.

Mowins is a glowing sign of progress and has been tapped to call at least three more NFL games in 2017 for CBS, but female announcers still face challenges from network executives in a male dominated landscape. A full-time play-by-play gig is the next major step for female sportscasters. On this front, Sierens sees an opportunity for a long-term shift if those male suits are willing to break traditional stereotypical ranks.