Andrew Gonzalez
Prof. Ernay
St. John’s University
2/12/13

The Super Bowl is a football game in which the best team in each conference plays for a chance to be called the best in the NFL. Super Bowl XLVII was certainly played by two great teams. However, it wasn’t just 49ers and the Ravens that people wanted to watch. In fact, this was the first time that two brothers took the field as opposing coaches. Jim and John Harbaugh are two brothers that had one goal that day. Make sure the other team, and the other brother, doesn’t go home with that trophy. On a different note, the Super Bowl would not be anything without the broadcasting that took place. Without the help of CBS T.V., Dial-Global, Niners Radio, and Ravens Radio, we would not be able to tune in to our “favorite time of year”. When watching the first video, I noticed that the Phil Simms doesn’t do anything wrong. He says not only everything that he needs to say, but everything he should say. Although Simms did well, I thought there were a few things that Jim Nantz did wrong. During one play, the ball is snapped to Kaepernick, and he is left many openings to run for the first down. Nantz says, “He’s gonna’ take off for the first down.” As people who not only have knowledge of football, but also those who are watching the game on television, we assume the quarterback starts off with the ball. However, how would someone who isn’t watching the game, know that Kaepernick was the player who ran for the first down? If I were listening to the radio, I would have assumed that he pitched it to the running back, who then ran for the first down. It was not until after they stated that it was Kaepernick that listeners would know who ACTUALLY ran for the first down. Another thing, that Nantz does wrong, is when he calls a player by his number instead of his name. As sports fans, we all should know that a broadcaster should NEVER refer to a player by his number. What about those who don’t know players by numbers? What about listeners who can’t SEE who’s on the field? This doesn’t help at all. Later in the game, he says, “Coach Harbaugh calls a timeout.” Which Harbaugh are we talking about? Both Jim and John Harbaugh are on the field. So letting us know that “Coach Harbaugh” called a timeout, wouldn’t give us a good idea for those who are just tuning in at this time.

When tuning into Dial-Global, I noticed that Kevin Harlan and Boomer Esiason didn’t do much wrong at all. I enjoyed listening to them because I could actually see what was going on without watching the game. As a broadcaster, your job is to give your audience a picture in words. Boomer and Harlan certainly accomplished that feat. When I turned around and listened to the audio instead of watching the video, I still knew what was going on at all times. This was because Boomer and Harlan gave every detail, play by play. However, there was one incident in when Harlan gave too much detail. Harlan states the color of the uniforms the 49ers were wearing that night. As I was watching the game, it was relevant to me because I could see for myself what color uniforms they were wearing. However, when I listened to just the audio, it threw me off because I couldn’t see what uniforms they were wearing, making it unimportant and irrelevant to anything I’d like to know. Other than that Boomer and Harlan called a great game and I’ll look forward to listening to them for