In the play-by-play division of the Broadcasting Industry, women are still underrepresented in the booth. By extension, women of color are pretty much non-existent. Looking through the major sports networks and major sports teams, there are only a handful of ladies "on the call", and approximately none of them are non-white.
Renel Brooks-Moon
If you aren't a baseball fanatic, a Giants fan, or a Bay Area resident that likes old school urban music, then you probably aren't familiar with Renel Brooks-Moon. She is the public address announcer for the San Francisco Giants and has been since the opening of AT&T Park in 2000. She also is the host of Renel & Christie in the Morning on KISQ 98.1.
For one, I think she has a great voice that is made for play-by-play broadcasting. As a PA Announcer in Major League Baseball, she clearly has a deep knowledge of sport, considering she has had to call every Giants home game in this millennium. Outside of baseball, she's just a sports fan in general, so being called upon to do other sports wouldn't be a huge stretch for her either.
Her personality also shows not only in the enthusiasm of her calls at the park, but also when she does her radio show. Voice, personality, and knowledge: three key components for a good play-by-play announcer.
Here's a video of Mrs. Brooks-Moon being profiled by NBC Bay Area during last year's World Series run:
...and here's a video of her calling starting lineups for a recent Giants game:
Cari Champion
Cari Champion is the moderator of First Take on ESPN2. Anybody tasked with the job of wrangling that circus should be more than capable of following the action on the field. Before ESPN she did anchoring and reporting for the Tennis Channel as well as reporting for other entertainment outlets. She possesses a strong personality, a good sports accumen, and versatility through all of her anchoring and reporting roles. I think, with a little training, she would make a good play-by-play announcer.
You can catch Cari every weekday morning on ESPN2, so instead here's a reporting reel of her's I found on YouTube:
Ros Gold-Onwude
Ros Gold-Onwude is a former Stanford basketball player turned broadcaster. After just graduating in 2010, she has picked up a whole mess of gigs. This includes work for ESPN, the San Francisco 49ers, the New York Liberty, and even the D-League's Santa Cruz Warriors. She's done everything from reporting to hosting to game analysis. Why not add play-by-play to that resume?
Here's a demo reel of some work she did in 2012:
Cassidy Hubbarth
Cassidy Hubbarth is a studio anchor for ESPN. Her title is purposefully vague, as she may pop up on just about anyone's set from SportsCenter to SportsNation, depending on whatever show or segment her bosses need her to do. Before Bristol, she had gigs with Big Ten Network and Fox Sports South, among others. I think she has a strong voice for PxP as well as a great personality. The personality shows when she does stuff like SportsNation or SportsCenter. Doing things such as SportsCenter as well as her other jobs shows not only her versatility, but her knowledge of various sports. Seems like a winning combination to me.
Here's some clips of her hosting SportsNation alongside Christian Fauria:
Sage Steele
Sage Steele is a SportsCenter anchor, but has also done some studio hosting for events such as the NBA Finals and the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She also had done fill-in work on SportsNation and First Take. It's all those jobs, as well as her previous work at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and at the local level, that convinces me she'd be perfect for play-by-play. Admittedly, however, I am concerned about how excited she can get in those dramatic moments, regardless of the sport. While I don't doubt the passion would be there, she seems a bit more reserved compared to the other women I have brought up in this article. If she's able to get up for the big moments, then I think she'd be great on the call.
I couldn't find a compilation or demo reel of her work, so here's a video of her from her YouTube account. Apparently ABC approached about a sitcom about her at some point. I'm not sure if that's been shelved or if it's in the works or what, but here's her video explaining why a show like that would be a pretty cool idea. I feel like this video is a good way of showing a bit of her personality as well as her ability to talk off-the-cuff, as one tends to in play-by-play work:
Maria Taylor
If you're a football or volleyball fan, then you may have heard of Maria Taylor. She works for ESPN, mostly as a college football sideline reporter. However, she also does game analysis for their women's college basketball and volleyball coverage. I think her voice and knowledge of these sports would make her a valuable asset in the play-by-play booth.
Here's a demo reel of her recent work:
Honorable Mentions:
There were several more candidates that I thought about adding, but I'm a little more on the fence about them:
Now I don't see this as a huge conspiracy; I understand that since Gayle Sierens got the ball rolling in 1987 when she called an NFL game for NBC, it has been a slow process in having women move to the play-by-play position in the booth. While I can think of numerous women -regardless of race- that sports teams and networks should hand the headset over to, below I have come up with six minority women that I think would be great for the job (listed alphabetically).
Renel Brooks-Moon
If you aren't a baseball fanatic, a Giants fan, or a Bay Area resident that likes old school urban music, then you probably aren't familiar with Renel Brooks-Moon. She is the public address announcer for the San Francisco Giants and has been since the opening of AT&T Park in 2000. She also is the host of Renel & Christie in the Morning on KISQ 98.1.
For one, I think she has a great voice that is made for play-by-play broadcasting. As a PA Announcer in Major League Baseball, she clearly has a deep knowledge of sport, considering she has had to call every Giants home game in this millennium. Outside of baseball, she's just a sports fan in general, so being called upon to do other sports wouldn't be a huge stretch for her either.
Her personality also shows not only in the enthusiasm of her calls at the park, but also when she does her radio show. Voice, personality, and knowledge: three key components for a good play-by-play announcer.
Here's a video of Mrs. Brooks-Moon being profiled by NBC Bay Area during last year's World Series run:
...and here's a video of her calling starting lineups for a recent Giants game:
Cari Champion
Cari Champion is the moderator of First Take on ESPN2. Anybody tasked with the job of wrangling that circus should be more than capable of following the action on the field. Before ESPN she did anchoring and reporting for the Tennis Channel as well as reporting for other entertainment outlets. She possesses a strong personality, a good sports accumen, and versatility through all of her anchoring and reporting roles. I think, with a little training, she would make a good play-by-play announcer.
You can catch Cari every weekday morning on ESPN2, so instead here's a reporting reel of her's I found on YouTube:
Ros Gold-Onwude
Ros Gold-Onwude is a former Stanford basketball player turned broadcaster. After just graduating in 2010, she has picked up a whole mess of gigs. This includes work for ESPN, the San Francisco 49ers, the New York Liberty, and even the D-League's Santa Cruz Warriors. She's done everything from reporting to hosting to game analysis. Why not add play-by-play to that resume?
Here's a demo reel of some work she did in 2012:
Cassidy Hubbarth
Cassidy Hubbarth is a studio anchor for ESPN. Her title is purposefully vague, as she may pop up on just about anyone's set from SportsCenter to SportsNation, depending on whatever show or segment her bosses need her to do. Before Bristol, she had gigs with Big Ten Network and Fox Sports South, among others. I think she has a strong voice for PxP as well as a great personality. The personality shows when she does stuff like SportsNation or SportsCenter. Doing things such as SportsCenter as well as her other jobs shows not only her versatility, but her knowledge of various sports. Seems like a winning combination to me.
Here's some clips of her hosting SportsNation alongside Christian Fauria:
Sage Steele
Sage Steele is a SportsCenter anchor, but has also done some studio hosting for events such as the NBA Finals and the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She also had done fill-in work on SportsNation and First Take. It's all those jobs, as well as her previous work at Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and at the local level, that convinces me she'd be perfect for play-by-play. Admittedly, however, I am concerned about how excited she can get in those dramatic moments, regardless of the sport. While I don't doubt the passion would be there, she seems a bit more reserved compared to the other women I have brought up in this article. If she's able to get up for the big moments, then I think she'd be great on the call.
I couldn't find a compilation or demo reel of her work, so here's a video of her from her YouTube account. Apparently ABC approached about a sitcom about her at some point. I'm not sure if that's been shelved or if it's in the works or what, but here's her video explaining why a show like that would be a pretty cool idea. I feel like this video is a good way of showing a bit of her personality as well as her ability to talk off-the-cuff, as one tends to in play-by-play work:
Maria Taylor
If you're a football or volleyball fan, then you may have heard of Maria Taylor. She works for ESPN, mostly as a college football sideline reporter. However, she also does game analysis for their women's college basketball and volleyball coverage. I think her voice and knowledge of these sports would make her a valuable asset in the play-by-play booth.
Here's a demo reel of her recent work:
Honorable Mentions:
There were several more candidates that I thought about adding, but I'm a little more on the fence about them:
- For instance there's Jemele Hill, a renaissance women in her own right over at ESPN. She has a podcast, she does college football sideline reporting, she's done First Take and has been brought for commentary on numerous other ESPN platforms. While she's versatile and knowledgable of various sports, it's the voice that kind of keeps me at bay. I feel like she's better suited giving analysis.
- Prim Siripipat was also someone I considered, but in the clips of her I saw, she had a habit of stumbling over her words. This habit showed up in her days at CBS 4 Miami and even in a few ESPN clips. It makes me wonder how well she would keep up with the action during a game.
- Stephanie Ready is a sideline reporter and occasional analyst for the Charlotte Bobcats. She also worked for Turner Sports for a time, but they seem to have parted ways for now. I thought about her, but I couldn't find enough clips of her online to verify my intuition, so I thought it'd be better to leave her off for now.
- Lastly, there's LaChina Robinson, who has done her share of hosting, sideline reporting, and game analysis. I think it was her drawl that kept me from adding her to the main list. That's not necessarily fair to her, because I do like her work. But, hey, this is just a list. Nothing personal.
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