He will be...

[rocky roccocco]

Even an announcer as accomplished as Sean McDonough uses what I call the "predictive" tense. The Predictive Tense is when an announcer predicts what will happen, such as..."he will make the catch", usually as or after the play has happened. It is simply wrong, grammatically incorrect. And, if the unthinkable happens (player drops fly ball, or whatever) it ends up making the announcer look foolish. I am astounded by so many good, even great announcers do this. Tonight, as it appeared Carson Wentz would be sacked by the Redskins, McDonough said "Wentz will be........." and before he could say "sacked", Wentz bolted out of the pack, and in a wonderful recovery, McDonough said "......escaping...to the 35!!" Still, why use that tense, when "Wentz is", or "Wentz was" would work. I broke the habit a few years back, but once in a while still slip up. But so many still use the Predictive Tense, far to often for me.

[Jon Chelesnik]

I have the same beef, only I call it the future tense. Play-by-play is now -- not in the past and not in the future.

[Bill Czaja]

The primary difference between print and any form of broadcast media is that virtually 100 percent of the time, broadcasting uses present-tense verbs.

NY Times: The NY Knicks were eliminated from the playoffs.
WNYC: The NY Knicks are once again out of playoff contention.