A Sportscaster’s Challenge
by Oliver Carlos
Twenty years ago, I used to appear weekly on television as a news reporter. But that was on cable television. My debut on national television was just recently, on February 2, 2019 to be exact. I appeared as an analyst on the broadcast panel of the Community Basketball Association (CBA Pilipinas). The two games for that day were aired on IBC-13.
CBA Pilipinas is a league founded by actor-director Carlo Maceda. It featured city-based and province-based teams composed of home-grown talents. The purpose of CBA is to provide these players a platform to showcase their basketball talents. There are many unheralded local cagers who are not yet in the big leagues, and CBA wanted to give them the break they needed. Many of the players I covered were really talented, they were just waiting to be discovered. Height-wise, the CBA players were big. No player was shorter than me, while the tallest one I saw was 6 feet 5 inches. I believe they can make it to the pros, just they needed some exposure to be noticed by scouts.
I envy the guys playing on the court. When I was their age, there was no CBA yet. I had no other avenue to make it to the PBA except thru the varsity route. That’s how the PBA stars in the 1980s and 1990s got discovered. Most of them were UAAP or NCAA players, who later got drafted in the PBA. A few were varsity players in the Visayan universities. Meanwhile, there were a few varsity players in the CBA, but most of them were not. If only CBA existed in the 1980s, maybe I would have a chance to showcase what I’ve got on national television, and hopefully get promoted to the big league. But anyway, I just had to be happy with my lot. So here I am, still in the game, but as a sportscaster.
Before I got into this, I took up and completed a sportscasting course a few months earlier. We were taught so many dos and don’ts of the profession. One lesson I remember is that sportscasters must always be careful with what they would say on the microphone. We must not be tactless, but instead be always gracious with our words, specially when referring to people.
There’s this story of one pro sportscaster who got axed because he gave harsh words to describe a certain player. Even if a player committed a mistake, the sportscasters must not humiliate him further with hurtful negative words. It takes a lot of wisdom and creativity to effectively play with words on a sports broadcast.
Even when talking to our co-panel members, we should also be choosy and cordial with our words. The bottom line is, we must build each other up- the players, and the sportscasters alike. We’re together to help each other out in trying to reach our dreams, and to shine to the world watching us.
In the next months that followed, I slowly got into the groove of things, thanks to my colleagues’ support. I got to experience being partnered with different commentators or anchors, not only in the CBA but also in other leagues. Every time was a fresh learning experience. Each one of them had their own style and personality that I needed to mesh with mine. They’re all good and talented- Ernest Hernandez, Pep Fernandez, Ryan Pajaro, Jordan Samar, Mike Perez, and Christopher Juliano. Like the players, I believe these fellows, with their immense talent and skills, will soon be on a bigger stage in sportscasting.
Sadly, the pandemic has halted or slowed down the local leagues. But I am hopeful things will soon return to where we left off. Over-all, this brief sportscasting experience reminded me of a bible verse, Colossians 4:6 (MSG):
“Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.”
With or without the microphone, on cam or off cam, whoever we are talking to, we must be dispensers of kind words. We must be generous to others, in all aspects, more so in speech. By doing so, we become instruments of God in his work of establishing the career of another person.
This life principle applies not only to media people, but to everybody as well. Teachers, parents, office workers, bosses, entrepreneurs, people in authority, and everyone else must speak graciously to one another. If we do so, what a beautiful world we would have!
