Dear Television Sports Personalities,

Let me begin this letter by stating the ever-important fact that I do not hate you. I am not angry with you in any way, and I do not dislike what you bring to the world of sports. I appreciate the effort you put into each and every broadcast, and I would much rather listen to your voice than the alternative of a silence. The reason I am writing this letter is only to express some annoyances that I have grown tired of over a lifetime of watching sports.

One of my complaints is the overuse of certain words or phrases during the duration of a television broadcast. No matter what sport you are watching, it is nearly impossible to go throughout an entire broadcast without hearing the word, "physicality." At first I had concerns that this was even a word. After further investigation though, I found that it was in fact legitimate. Still, this does not give you a free pass to use this term any time you are describing a specifically strong, or tough individual. In my mind, it shows lack of a strong vocabulary if you must re-use the same word. Another very overused term is "bigs", when describing the post players for a basketball team. While post players do tend to be big, and thus it is a good way to describe someone of taller stature, it is much overused. My final complaint about overused words, is when sports personalities use the word "parody." You don't need to mention that there is parody in college basketball every time a 12 seed beats a 5 seed. There is no need to state the fact that on any given day, anybody can beat anybody in Major League

Baseball. It's time to find a new talking point I would like to conclude this letter with one final suggestion for everyone out there with a microphone in front of them. Put a cork in it. Believe it or not, it's OK to close your mouth from time to time. Not everything that happens during the course of a game warrants a 10-minute lesson. We, as viewers, know a little bit about the sport we are watching. Therefore, I already know what constitutes a traveling violation. I don't need the dimensions of the strike zone pointed out every time the pitcher throws a ball. Don't feel obligated to explain the pro's and con's of a Tampa 2 defense 12 times a game. I have an idea, maybe let the play-by-play guy do his job a little bit. Let him get a word in every 5th play.

Now I don't mean to condemn all sports personalities in this letter. There are some of you that I feel are doing a very good job. For instance, Jay Bilas of ESPN is one of the better basketball annalists in my opinion. He knows how to compliment the play-by-play announcer just enough so that you are aware of his presence, but he isn't in your ear the whole entire time. He walks the line between basketball knowledge, and basketball arrogance perfectly. Another shining example of commentating is Chris Collinsworth. While many people out there will disagree with this statement, I feel he does a great job of tying personal experience into the events that are taking place on the field. I suggest that the majority of you sports personalities out there that this letter is aimed at, watch a game with either of them. You just might learn a thing or two about how to call a game.

Sincerely,

Louis