ZCZC
BSP-01
health-virus-Sport
Rubber bones and road crossing: Commentators get creative during lockdown
LONDON, April 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Dogs chasing rubber bones,
“competitive” road crossing and the thrills of grilled chicken have become the
new currency for sports commentators looking to entertain fans during the
coronavirus lockdown.
With virtually no sport being played anywhere in the world due to the
pandemic, under-employed TV pundits are keeping the sporting public amused with
social media commentary on the more mundane aspects of life.
BBC commentator Andrew Cotter has worked at the Olympics and Wimbledon, but
during the health crisis he has kept his voice in action by focusing on his two
labradors, Olive and Mabel.
Cotter took to Twitter to share a commentary on his dogs as they munched
from separate food bowls — “Olive, focused, relentless, tasting. Nothing left
but the bowl to lick now. Great rivals but great friends. You see the swapping
of bowls there at the end.”
His post of the eating contest has been viewed by more than 10 million
people and was retweeted by Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds.
A follow-up effort featuring the dogs fighting over an orange rubber bone
— “So into the final minute and Olive in possession, but this is where Mabel
is strong, chasing the game, using that intensity” — has been watched 18.4
million times.
“It just shows how much we are all missing sport and what we term ‘normal
life’. We absolutely take it for granted and we are at last realising that,”
Cotter said.
Freelance rugby commentator Nick Heath, who usually works for the BBC and
Sky, has gone viral with his hilarious “life commentaries” while sport is on
hold.
Filming people going about their business in south London, Heath gives the
run-of-the-mill activities a tongue-in-cheek sports flavour.
His many comedic gems include people crossing the road to his excitable
voiceover — “Crossroad dash, light turns to red, we wait for the beeps, there
they are.
“Now then, JD Sports man, he’s got a decent start, leggings on the outside.
Oh! JD Sports a bit distracted over the shoulder, and leggings is going to get
there. She does it again, three titles in three days. Off past Vegas Gold for
the lap of honour. Victorious!”
– ‘Two flies on a wall’ –
Heath also muses on competitive vegetable-buying in a market, an
“international 4×4 pushchair formation final” as mothers wheel their babies
through a park and a “spaniel speedway” commentary that was so popular he has
started a website to sell T-shirts with the slogan on.
His ironic take is inspired by British commentating icons, as well as
television character Alan Partridge.
Heath, whose Twitter following is now more than 126,000, told AFP: “It’s
been much more popular than I expected. I was just doing the parody voice I
used when I was writing some comedy a few years ago.
“There’s some Brian Moore, Barry Davies, a couple of dollops of Partridge.
I saw my character as someone who could make two flies on a wall sound
interesting.”
Heath and Cotter are not alone among the commentating fraternity in turning
to people’s daily routines to provide light relief during the lockdown.
In the United States, Fox Sports commentator Joe Buck was working on the
Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers just weeks
before the virus took hold.
But now Buck, one of America’s most celebrated announcers, is asking his
268,000 Twitter followers to send him short videos for him to add mock
commentary.
One of Buck’s most popular is a clip of chicken wings being grilled while
he says: “Look at this. They were already hot coming out. They’re back on the
grill.
“The sauce is inside the bowl. Reaching back in. Wanting more. They keep
coming out of that bowl. How many can you give us, Andrew? Unbelievable.”
Summing up the desire for levity at such a worrying time, Buck told the
Washington Post: “I didn’t know that it would take off. That’s where we are. I
think people are starved for something along these lines.”
BSS/AFP/MMA/1035HRS