Don't stress over stats

[Jon Chelesnik]

Young play-by-play broadcasters shouldn't worry about keeping stats. The more games you do, the more the action slows down for you -- just like it does for the players. Once the game is sufficiently slow, you'll find you have sufficient time to keep simple stats. Until then, don't even try. It will detract from your primary responsibility of calling the action.

[Bill Czaja]

Jon, would you say that advice would vary with the sport? I've always kept a scorebook for baseball. I would be lost without it.

[ssteve]

Jon, would you say that advice would vary with the sport? I've always kept a scorebook for baseball. I would be lost without it.
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 2:40 pm

My guess is it's everything BUT a baseball scorebook. There usually is time for that and as long as keeping it doesn't keep you from speaking with clarity and accurately. Think Jon's point is more to the football and basketball guys who don't have access to live stats and are trying to keep them and speak simultaneously.

HOWEVER, a big baseball tip (even though we are in off-season), I've heard many amateur baseball broadcasters try to do the end of inning recap while counting runs, hits, and errors on the fly. It can really sound bad and amateurish. Unless I know the runs, hits, errors, and men left right off hand, I don't do it. There are a lot of ways to get around it like just giving runs and mentioning the big hi to the inning. Example: So South scores 4 in the inning with the Smith home run accounting for 3. And we'll go to the fifth tied at 5." Much smoother than "they scored 4 runs on (pause while you count the hits) 4 hits". You get the idea..

[Bob Rotruck]

Saying "runs, hits, errors" might feel like it's the standard thing you HAVE to do after every half-inning...but definitely should not do it unless you are rock-solid ready-to-not-stumble through it. And just saying it every single time gets monotonous "no runs, no hits, no errors." It doesn't need to be mandatory every half-inning. Very much agree it sounds amateur'ish when it's done poorly...or just too much. Sometimes it can even be done somewhat well and still sound like it doesn't really belong.

Can't imagine not keeping a stat-sheet for basketball either if you don't have a monitor. I always did even in my first game broadcasts. Mostly because I thought you kind of had to I suppose. And then later I added a second-sheet to track scoring runs ("8-0 run in the last 3 minutes") especially when I had the advantage of a monitor keeping the points/rebounds/assists for me.
Maybe I was okay with keeping a sheet even in my first ever hoops broadcasts just because I was nerdy enough to want to always keep a scoresheet in the stands when I was a kid...so it was more second-nature for me perhaps. But I guess Jon is correct that you should skip it IF it's too much to handle and that's probably a worthwhile beginners' tip.

Definitely have to keep a sheet in baseball though. You need to know the lineup, etc. Whether to keep track of all the pitches or not vs. just doing a bare-bones scoresheet of lineup and at-bat results is up to the individual. But there is just no way you can't keep a sheet in baseball unless somehow you are provided with a screen that is giving you that stuff.


A more modern piece of advice somewhat similar in regards to the "avoid the extra distractions" topic is something which I observed an intern of mine doing...even after I told him to knock it off:
Get your nose out of your laptop screen and your freaking phone.
If you are looking at twitter or your texts at any point in the game then you are not properly focusing on what you are saying.
If your board-op is communicating with you via text regarding the connection or volume or something then obviously that is important. Same if you are using twitter to get scores from around the league which we sometimes do but that can be done between innings of course. If you are texting your friend or Dad in-between pitches that you agree that the team isn't playing well (or, even worse, topics not even related to the game) then you are not focusing on your broadcast or what element you want to discuss next.
Same if you are just watching the score of another game on twitter more for your own entertainment just because you got bored with the game that is right in front of you that is 9-1 in the 6th inning.

I never really thought it should be necessary that in order to broadcast a game you have to actually kind of focus on that game. It is so plainly obvious. But it's a new world full of distractions and A.D.D. type fidgeting and some people have a tough time breaking away from that stuff and just concentrating on their own broadcast.

[KCooper]

Following up on what Steve and Bob said about runs-hits-errors recaps after half innings: You're right, it's not mandatory.

If you want to do it, go ahead, especially after you get the hang of it. If you don't want to do it, that's fine, too. It's all about your style and comfort level. I'll do it when I can, but not all the time.
Most end-of-inning recaps are pretty routine. But sometimes they just can't be done -- too much happened to get the numbers in order, the spot break comes up in a hurry, or both.

While I'm rolling, allow me to chime in on Bob's other point.
It boggles me to see broadcasters with their noses buried in their phones or tablets while the game is going on. A couple seasons back, a newcomer was assigned to shadow me, to "watch and learn" what goes into calling a game. Much of the watching and learning, however, involved tweeting or texting information that had nothing to do with the game. (So it was no surprise to learn later that he sought a career outside of broadcasting.)
Texts and social media definitely have their place. But unless you're adept enough to multitask on the air without missing a beat, that place is during a break or after the game. It's an acquired skill.

End of rant.

[Bob Rotruck]

I should qualify all of that stuff somewhat. I'm not the most focused guy out there and am about as ADD fidgety as it gets I think. I also have to update our social media during our games which is usually me typing as fast as I can at a commercial break. I dislike it and it isn't ideal.
Really wish I didn't have to do that because it is such a significant distraction...even during breaks when I would rather be thinking of my next converation topic. But I've gotten ok at it. For anyone new though, avoid at all costs and definitely don't "LOL" your friends' funny facebook pics in between pitches.

[KCooper]

Amen, Bob.

[Bill Czaja]

Jon, would you say that advice would vary with the sport? I've always kept a scorebook for baseball. I would be lost without it.
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 2:40 pm

My guess is it's everything BUT a baseball scorebook. There usually is time for that and as long as keeping it doesn't keep you from speaking with clarity and accurately. Think Jon's point is more to the football and basketball guys who don't have access to live stats and are trying to keep them and speak simultaneously.

HOWEVER, a big baseball tip (even though we are in off-season), I've heard many amateur baseball broadcasters try to do the end of inning recap while counting runs, hits, and errors on the fly. It can really sound bad and amateurish. Unless I know the runs, hits, errors, and men left right off hand, I don't do it. There are a lot of ways to get around it like just giving runs and mentioning the big hi to the inning. Example: So South scores 4 in the inning with the Smith home run accounting for 3. And we'll go to the fifth tied at 5." Much smoother than "they scored 4 runs on (pause while you count the hits) 4 hits". You get the idea..

Agreed. I like to do it, but I always told my interns that if it was a screwy inning, or for some other reason they wouldn't feel comfortable with the delivery, to just skip it. I have heard a few big-league guys just do runs and hits on a regular basis. I keep my errors for the inning lightly drawn on my scorebook in a prisoner fashion (if you catch my meaning).
Something that brings to mind is other counting stats that can hurt your broadcast if you try to add this up while on the air. I use the same method to keep track of starting pitchers' strikeouts and walks, LOB and, if it seems like it will be important by the end of the game, LOB-RISP. I also keep a simple inning-by-inning scoreboard:
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-total
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-total

All the inning sum and counting stats stuff I do in the white space on my stat sheets, which I tape down.

Nothing world-changing here, but for some of the younger guys, maybe something they haven't tried yet. YMMV.

[Jon Chelesnik]

Great comments by everyone. I should be clear -- my suggestion was for folks who are just starting out in play-by-play; they're in the first several games of their careers. Also, I had football and basketball in mind when I wrote the post. Baseball moves slowly enough that even beginners should be able to keep a score book.

[Brady Stiff]

I keep simple stats for both football and basketball

Football: Rushing yards, receiving yards, and the quarterbacks comp/att and yards.

Basketball: Points, personal fouls, team fouls, and timeouts. I'd like to do rebounds too if I had a partner, but I don't for basketball.

[VoiceofPanthers]

Speaking as a high school student who broadcasts high school games, I agree with nearly everything said to this point. I called all my high school's football games this fall by myself on the local public access channel, and I didn't even try with stats. I would run at half time and pick up the half time stats from the statistician but outside of mentioning them early in the 3rd quarter, I didn't bother trying to keep stats. I might mention previous game stats if they were relevant early on but for me as a young broadcaster, I found it was much easier to focus on the mechanics of calling a good game rather than dividing my attention. I also did twitter updates from the games which was very difficult to do. I would have preferred not to do the twitter updates but I received such a positive response from the updates I felt obligated to keep updating. Baseball I have always kept a score book. Lucky enough to this year get a Carpenter book which I found very helpful to me during the broadcast. I write down all the stats and anecdotes I might use during the game, which is extremely helpful to me. The speed of the game is the biggest factor. When I first started broadcasting, the games, especially football and basketball, would feel like a NASCAR race. Now they have at least slowed down to a track race. With basketball coming up, last year I didn't keep stats. This year I think I will try to do points and fouls. But outside of baseball for a very young broadcaster I would suggest forgetting about stats. Once you have at least some experience, the games will slow down, and you can begin to keep stats. When you first start and the games are moving very quickly, its better to focus on your mechanics.

[Marky]

Back to baseball, I always felt the big thing ending an inning was saying how many runs were scored. That's what people care about. "Three runs on three hits" is generic. "Three runs score on Robinson Cano's 3-run homer" - I told you what happened.

The other thing that I try to do, although it can be lengthy, but I think it is even more important than giving hits and errors are the three hitters coming up in the next inning. If you're calling something other than a major league game there is a good chance these players are anonymous- so I like to say something along the lines of "Coming up it will be 8-9-1, Freeman, Dullnig and Murray, when we return."

[jaymurry]

What helped me early in my career was focusing on a star player or two, and keeping their stats throughout the game. After the first year or two, my brain was able to add other players to the stats keeping mix, and eventually I was able to work up to keeping the offensive stats in football and basketball.

It helped that I kept stats while playing solitaire versions of SI football and baseball as a boy, and serving as a statistician among my duties as a high school basketball team manager (aka water boy). Those things helped speed up the stats-keeping curve during my broadcasts.

And, if you are doing PBP solo, don't be afraid to take a moment of silence to log a stat. Let the crowd noise carry the broadcast for a moment while you jot down the result of the last play. Not every nanosecond needs to be filled with the spoken voice.

[ssteve]

And, if you are doing PBP solo, don't be afraid to take a moment of silence to log a stat. Let the crowd noise carry the broadcast for a moment while you jot down the result of the last play. Not every nanosecond needs to be filled with the spoken voice.

Beautiful. I will also mark my scorebook just after the big hit ends and feel like I SHOULD stop talking - even though it's radio that's ok! The crowd applauding is a nice thing for the audience to hear as well, and gives the solo announcer a perfect chance to mark the play down in his book! I can't wait for baseball!