By Oliver Tse
Email: workingnow88@workingnow88.com
Twitter: @workingnow88
Published on June 11, 2019
LOS ANGELES – Prior to the coverage of the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 on FOX Sports (U.S.), I had the opportunity to re-connect with FOX Sports Executive Producer of World Cup Soccer David Neal via email after I noticed that he had read one of my WorldSoccerTalk.com articles and implemented my idea of testing former U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder and Bundesliga “Bad Boy” Jermaine Jones as a studio pundit. Neal had previously communicated with me once in 1999, when he was the Coordinating Producer of NBC Olympics.
In one email, I suggested to Neal to “Worship at the Church of What’s Working Now” by assigning one of the rising stars in his stable, FOX Sports’ #1 women’s soccer match analyst/co-commentator Aly Wagner…
…to call a men’s UEFA Europa League match airing on pay TV network FS2 (formerly FOX Sports 2) sometime during the Autumn of 2017 to see how she would perform and how viewers would react.
Neal came up with a better idea: he made a line-up change 72 hours prior to the Chile vs Cameroon Confederations Cup match by canceling the assignment of former US Men’s National Team goalkeeper Brad Friedel so that Neal could send Wagner to the booth to call the match with play-by-play commentator John Paul “JP” DellaCamera:
Wagner would perform impressively over 3 Confederations Cup matches and she would earn the historic assignment of being the first woman in the English-speaking world to call a Men’s World Cup match on television when she and Scottish play-by-play commentator Derek Rae called the Morocco vs Iran FIFA Men’s World Cup 2018 match “off tube” from the FOX Network Center in Los Angeles on June 15, 2018.
In another email, I alerted Neal to the YouTube account of Chicago-based multi-sports play-by-play commentator Lisa Byington, who has called numerous men’s and women’s college sports events, mostly for FOX Sports-operated pay TV service Big Ten Network (BTN) for most of the past decade.
Even though Byington’s best work has been in basketball…
…she also has experience calling National Women’s Professional League (NWSL) soccer matches as well as Big Ten Conference women’s college soccer matches since 2011…
Based on information available to him, Neal made what I believed was the correct decision by selecting Byington as the #4 play-by-play commentator for FOX Sports’ coverage of FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.
Neal would assign Byington to the FOX Network Center in the Century City district of Los Angeles to call Women’s World Cup matches “off tube” (off monitor) with former U.S. Women’s National Team member Cat Whitehill as the match analyst/co-commentator.
Byington has a lot to gain and a lot to lose during FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019, as there is seemingly no limit to what big assignments she could ultimately earn at FOX Sports now that FOX Sports executive Mark Silverman, who first hired Byington to work at BTN, is now also in charge of FS1 and FS2.
Despite having zero experience calling men’s soccer at any level, FOX Sports executives selected Byington to call play-by-play of an MLS match in August 2017 with Danielle Slaton as the match analyst. Byington, Slaton and sideline reporter Katie Witham would form the first all-women broadcast team to call a men’s professional team sports event on site from a stadium on U.S. English-language sports television.
Furthermore, Silverman had assigned Byington to call play-by-play of several American college football games on BTN in 2017 and 2018.
With the idea of an all-women broadcast team to call the Final Match of FIFA Men’s World Cup having already been implemented in July 2018 by both FOX Sports Brasil and Televisa Deportes of Mexico…
…one would expect the idea to be implemented by a U.S. sports television entity for Men’s World Cup by 2026 when the final match will be played in the U.S., as well as the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl, perhaps as soon as Super Bowl LIV in February 2020 to be televised by FOX Sports, presumably with Byington as the play-by-play commentator, on an alternative broadcast on a pay TV network (either FS1 or FS2) to complement the traditional all-male broadcast booth of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on over-the-air FOX broadcast network.
However, all play-by-play announcers have egos and they can be stubborn by refusing to correct flaws.
Byington’s stubbornness would manifest itself when she called the Germany vs China Women’s World Cup match on June 8, as she used an American soccer coaching jargon “the 18” to refer to the penalty area when she called the only goal of the match by Germany midfielder Guilia Gwinn:
The most-respected U.S.-born English-language soccer TV play-by-play announcers past and present such as John Strong, Jenn Hildreth (for women’s matches), and Bob Ley (who called soccer play-by-play for ESPN from FIFA Men’s World Cup USA 1994 until the U.S. Men’s National Team vs Iran friendly in January 2000) do NOT use American soccer coaching jargon in their broadcasts.
Highlights from the opening match of the USA vs Denmark FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 1999 from Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on June 19, 1999 as broadcast across the U.S. on free-to-air terrestrial broadcast television network American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Play-by-play commentator: Bob Ley (USA). Match analyst/co-commentator: Wendy Gebauer (USA). Video courtesy FIFA/ESPN, Inc.
Why not? Because they know that Internet trolls and professional comedians are specifically looking to mock and lampoon any soccer play-by-play announcer who uses American soccer coaching jargon. The comedy sketch Boston Goals on Sky Sports UK’s Soccer AM from 2002-2007 is one such example:
The Boston Goals comedy sketch from Soccer AM which aired on Sky Sports UK on May 12, 2007, one week after Boston United FC was relegated from “Division 4” English Football League 2 to non-league status. Video courtesy English Football League (EFL)/British Sky Broadcasting.
One could argue that what constitutes “proper” terminology on English-language soccer television is a subjective opinion. Also, some soccer TV talent, notably FOX Sports studio pundit Alexi Lalas, can get away with using American soccer coaching jargon such as “up top” to refer to forwards instead of more superior British term “up front” because Lalas is wearing the “black hat” and his job is to provoke reactions from viewers.
Video never lies, and the clock always tells the truth
Byington would have the luck of having to call the most difficult goal of Women’s World Cup 2019 so far, the second goal by Brazilian forward Cristiane during the Brazil vs Jamaica match on Sunday, June 9, 2019.
Byington’s lack of international soccer play-by-play experience at the World Cup level would manifest itself, as her flaws and her insufficient preparation would become evident.
When compared OBJECTIVELY to 4 other play-by-play TV commentators around the world who called the same match, 3 of whom were also calling the match “off tube”, Byington’s call was by far the WORST of the 5.
Not only did lack of depth perception due to the TV image having been compressed to 2 dimensions caused Byington to miscall the goal as a save:
“…Andressa…wide open…Cristiane…a save by Plummer at the goal line!”
Byington was too busy delivering a scripted “catch phase”:
“…Oh, goodness! The defensive plays…”
…before someone (either Whitehill or the producer/director in the control room) alerted Byington that she had missed the referee’s goal signal (by pointing at the center circle for the kickoff) 3 seconds after the ball had crossed the goal line.
11 seconds would elapse after the ball had crossed the goal line before Byington would acknowledge the goal:
“…They’re going to award Brazil. They said it crossed the goal line…”
Byington did one of the many bad things that FOX Sports play-by-play commentator Gus Johnson did during his failed experiment as a soccer play-by-play commentator in 2013-2014: she placed too much emphasis on delivering catch phases and signature calls to the point where she forgot to pay attention to important details on the field such as the referee’s goal signal.
To be fair, none of the other 4 play-by-play commentators were certain that the ball had crossed the goal line. Furthermore, 2 of the play-by-play commentators would also miscall the goal in real time. However, these 4 play-by-play commentators all acknowledged the goal within 3 seconds of the referee’s goal signal, but Byington did not.
Let’s study how each of these 4 play-by-play commentators kept themselves out of serious trouble:
British commentator Steve Wilson of Host Broadcast Services (HBS), a.k.a. “the world feed”, was the only English-language TV commentator at the stadium in Grenoble. Wilson’s broadcast was routed straight though to viewers of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom and The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada, among other broadcasters.
Wilson was at the stadium so he had the benefit of depth perception. Even though Wilson wasn’t 100% sure that the ball has crossed the goal line, he thought he saw the ball crossed the goal line and he used filler words to buy himself 3 seconds of time before he saw the referee’s goal signal:
“…Andressaaaaaa…Tap in is it?…Looks like it crossed the line…Goal is given…”
Peruvian commentator Sammy Sadovnik of U.S. Spanish-language sports television entity Telemundo Deportes, despite having to call the match “off tube” from Miami, called the goal correctly by using a common technique: he dragged out the last syllable of the term el centro (translation: the cross) to buy himself 3 seconds of time. As soon as Sadovnik saw the referee’s goal signal, he began the traditional Latin American long goal call:
“…el centroooooooooooo ¡GOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! …”
Commentator Claudia Neumann of German free-to-air terrestrial broadcast television network Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) who, like Byington, began calling play-by-play commentary at the beginning of the decade, incorrectly said the ball did not cross the goal line when she called the match “off tube” from Mainz:
“…auf die line…vor die line…” (Translation: “…on the line…in front of the line…”)
…before she saw the referee’s goal signal 3 seconds after the ball had crossed the goal line and changed her call within 3 seconds after she saw the referee’s goal signal.
“…Sie gibt das tor…” (Translation: “…She gave the goal …”)
Commentator Claudine Douville of Canadian French-language pay TV sports network Le Réseau des Sports (RDS), who began calling international soccer play-by-play commentary during UEFA Euro 1992 and has called more soccer matches (both men and women) and National Hockey League (NHL) games on TV (usually “off tube” from Montréal) than all the other women in the world combined, also miscalled the goal before correcting herself within 3 seconds of seeing the referee’s goal signal.
“…oui, le but…” (Translation: “…yes, the goal …”)
You’re only as good as your last broadcast
When I had the opportunity to speak with current BT Sport (U.K.) Head of Content Simon Green in December 1997 when he was based in Los Angeles and was the founding General Manager of U.S. English-language soccer-centric pay-TV network FOX Sports World (which was rebranded FOX Soccer Channel in 2005 before going out of business in August 2013), Green advised me to stay away from sports broadcasting as a career because “You’re only as good as your last broadcast” as one major miscall can end a broadcaster’s play-by-play career.
Looking back nearly 22 years later, I could not thank Simon Green enough for meeting with me in his office without an appointment and advising me to stay away from sports broadcasting as a career.
While Lisa Byington’s miscall of the second Brazil goal on June 9 was not serious enough to prevent her from ever calling another international soccer match again, how she reacts to tough, constructive criticism (hint: blocking tough but constructive critics from viewing her Twitter account is NOT going to make her a better play-by-play commentator) and what she does after meeting with FOX Sports executives to review the error and to implement corrective action, would determine whether her career would resume an upward trajectory or would be derailed due to carelessness in addition to ego and stubbornness.
Stay tuned to workingnow88.com to “Byington Goals” Part II, as Byington will face more intense scrutiny from tough critics, Internet trolls, and comedians when she calls the Germany vs Spain Women’s World Cup match on Wednesday June 12, which will air on the over-the-air FOX broadcast network with twice the anticipated audience compared to the matches that aired on FS1 over the past weekend.
