As I'm in the throes of moving house, I've been driving rather a lot, often accompanied by Radio 5 Live, which means that rather than seeing the athletics on TV or catching up with the highlights I've been hearing it on the radio, a rather unfamiliar experience. I just happened to be in the car during the men's 100m final, listening to Steve Backley predict a false start literally moments before it happened, and the shocked disbelief in the voices of Darren Campbell and the other commentators when it did happen. The race itself felt almost an anticlimax, as I am sure it did in any other medium. By contrast, Dai Greene's gold in the 400 hurdles was an unexpected triumph, and there was a palpable sense of mounting excitement as he stormed through to win, with Tasha Danvers jumping up and down (so the presenter said) back home in the 5 live studio. Anyway, it got me thinking about sport on the radio, what works and what doesn't work so well.
I've long been a TMS fan, and cricket is probably the most radio-friendly sport there is. Lots of slow periods in between when the commentators can chat and take the mick out of each other, or talk about cake, or respond to viewers' texts, emails and twitter messages. More importantly, though, the intricacy of cricket terminology means that every ball can be described accurately, often with nuances that are missed live and hard to spot on the TV without the aid of expert commentary (e.g. swing or spin, whether the batsman was late on the shot). There's a reason why those TMS earpieces at cricket grounds sell very well. Cricket on the radio works because it's possible to commentate in such a way that the listener can visualise every shot in vivid detail, and get a sense of the tension, drama and atmosphere of the game.
I was also pleasantly surprised at how enthralling tennis commentary was, again on occasions when I was driving and had no other way of watching Wimbledon, though I was constantly frustrated by it as I didn't feel as able to visualise what was going on. I did notice, though, that there were nuances in the radio commentary that I wouldn't have necessarily got as a TV viewer, notably the explanation of the different spins that Nadal put on the ball in successive shots.
I would never normally think of listening to sport on the radio, apart from TMS, and I'm still not sold on it for sports like rugby, but after all this driving around I will definitely be doing so more often. Which sports work for you on the radio? Are there any that you watch on TV with the sound off?
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