Howard David Howard David Blog January 18, 2009 Go into any bookstore, whether it's Borders, Barnes and Noble or Walden Books and you'll find instructional manuals like, "Golf For Dummies", Math For Dummies", "Poker for Dummies", you name it. I'd like to offer a new book called, "Sportscasting for Dummies". Here's the introduction for you young broadcasters and old alike. 1) STOP SHOUTING 2) Loud is not necessarily better, it's just loud. 3) Every second on the air doesn't have to be accounted for, let the show breathe. Network broadcasters, you don't need rehearsed ad-libs to grab the attention of the media columnists around the country. Team broadcasters, homerism is understood but there's a better way to do it, and it doesn't include cheerleading on the air. We know you want your team to win but out and out screaming is a turn off and un-professional. Pro Football Pre-Game shows..... This is an illustration in utilizing as many people as you have under contract to shoe-horn every note and nugget in a half-hour. I'd rather hear Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth discuss a game during halftime or pre-game than 10 different guys getting their 15 seconds of fame. ESPN's Sunday Countdown is for the real Football fan and well done as long as they assign Screamin A Smith to babysit Bernie Madoff and restrict Skip Bayless to critiquing 3 Stooges movies. CBS and Fox are terrific in their Pre-Game product. As to who has more listeners is debatable. The one thing about my profession is that it is subjective, not an opportunity to debate who is louder. If you would like to comment on this blog, please email Howard David at howarddavidh3@yahoo.com. Howard David is a veteran NFL and NBA play-by-play announcer. He can be heard on Sirius NFL Radio channel 124. This blog is written exclusively for ussportspages.com Archives: January 18, 2009