# Biased commentary by commentators who were supposed to be neutral **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 7, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492 "2016-04-07T20:03:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/21 "2016-04-20T02:42:33Z")
And let’s not even start of John Madden’s adoration for Bret Favre and Tom Brady. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2016, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/22 "2016-04-20T03:01:32Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > And let’s not even start of John Madden’s adoration for Bret Favre and Tom Brady. Yeah, in college football, the commentators tend to get boners for certain players and not let up, even when the team is getting crushed. Case in point… Texas A&M vs. Arizona State this past season. The commentators would NOT shut up about Mike Bercovici, despite the game ending up in a 38-17 beating by A&M. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/23 "2016-04-21T04:43:04Z")
[quote=“Wallaby, post:19, topic:751492”] This is a famous one from English RL. The bias is probably deserved, but still it’s funny. [/QUOTE] I like this version better: :D ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/24 "2016-04-27T14:11:55Z")
IMO a teams own play by play/color team is OK to be biased. They’re paid by the team and listened to by fans. So, local broadcasts will nearly always be biased. I also think the Olympics have a hint of this, being as we’re Americans (most of us, anyway) watching an American broadcast. They’re going to Homer for the USA But,. I do think we do a pretty good job of being realistic. They’ll cover the Americans in sports we don’t traditionally do very well, but definitely let you know who the real players are… and pretty typically with a healthy dose of respect. If we were to create some massive upset, you bet there would be some excitement! What bothers me are national media types or national broadcasts… where the announcers ignore the play on the field in favor of talking points about their favorite team or player. Peter Kings absolute sexcapades with Tom Brady, or Maddens ball washing of Favre for example. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/25 "2016-04-27T15:32:34Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Tommy Heinsohn commenting on any Celtic game. Especially the classic Laker v Celtic series. But he’s the Celtics announcer: he’s supposed to be biased (and I’d expect the Lakers announcer to be just as biased the other way). It’s not like Tommy never admits the other team made a good play, or that a Celtic didn’t. I think once he even grudgingly admitted that a call against the Celtics was correct. > [@ekedolphin](#): > > Bill Walton. Before Game 6 of the 2000 NBA Finals, Lakers vs. Pacers: “This is all about the coronation of the Lakers.” As I recall, he even had a victory cigar ready and everything! You know, what popped into my mind when I read the OP was listening to Bill Walton announce a game where one of the players (a low minutes sub IIRC, so not very involved, but still present) was Luke Walton. The only way you could have noticed they were related was when one of the other commentators brought it up. Bill said “I couldn’t be prouder”, then went on neutrally commenting on the game. I was kind of impressed. I’m not sure whether Bill spent half an hour before the game in a room somewhere jumping up and down and yelling “That’s my boy! Look! That’s my son!” just to get it all out of his system, or seeing your son be not quite as accomplished as you\* makes it easier to be chill about it. - I suspect that inch-for-inch, Luke was actually a better ballplayer than his dad, but as they say, you can’t learn height. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/26 "2016-04-27T15:55:07Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Tommy Heinsohn commenting on any Celtic game. Especially the classic Laker v Celtic series. Heinsohn has nothing on Johnny Most. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/27 "2016-04-27T16:07:04Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > But he’s the Celtics announcer: he’s supposed to be biased (and I’d expect the Lakers announcer to be just as biased the other way). It’s not like Tommy never admits the other team made a good play, or that a Celtic didn’t. I think once he even grudgingly admitted that a call against the Celtics was correct. > > You know, what popped into my mind when I read the OP was listening to Bill Walton announce a game where one of the players (a low minutes sub IIRC, so not very involved, but still present) was Luke Walton. The only way you could have noticed they were related was when one of the other commentators brought it up. Bill said “I couldn’t be prouder”, then went on neutrally commenting on the game. I was kind of impressed. > > I’m not sure whether Bill spent half an hour before the game in a room somewhere jumping up and down and yelling “That’s my boy! Look! That’s my son!” just to get it all out of his system, or seeing your son be not quite as accomplished as you\* makes it easier to be chill about it. > > - I suspect that inch-for-inch, Luke was actually a better ballplayer than his dad, but as they say, you can’t learn height. Heinsohn was on the national network broadcast during the NBA Finals. He wasn’t supposed to be a Celtic homer. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/28 "2016-04-27T22:43:12Z")
Eh, you hire Larry Munson to cover the Sugar Bowl you should have a good idea what you’re going to get if Georgia makes the game. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/29 "2016-04-28T01:20:16Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > A similar thing happened to Ned Jarrett when he called his son Dale winning the same race. I recall the other announcer telling him to “call it like a father” when he tried to hide his excitement. Ned Jarrett later apologized to Dale Earnhardt who finished second, who told him to forget it, he had kids too. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492/30 "2016-04-28T21:03:49Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Al Michaels calling the “Miracle at Lake Placid” medals-round game between the US and the Soviet Union on 22 Feb 1980. Of course, it was such an upset, it would have been inhuman to have not gotten excited by that game, as long as your nation wasn’t on the losing end of it. > > And the “biased” bit was really just the very ending, if I recall correctly. I was kind of young, and frankly too excited about the game myself to notice Michaels’ lack of neutrality. I disagree. He called the game in front of him and there was nothing particularly pro-American about it. Given the circumstances it was a miracle that they one but I bet he would have said the same thing too if a US’s arch-rival like Afghanistan beat them in basketball. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biased-commentary-by-commentators-who-were-supposed-to-be-neutral/751492.md?page=1)