Right?

[ssteve]

Does anyone else find it odd when announcers ask “right” in mid-sentence and then just keep on taking? Doris Burke does this often and Cara Lawson as well. They aren’t alone. I had a color guy I worked with do that and I felt very uncomfortable. I didn’t know if I was supposed to say “yes” or “no” or nothing at all. To me, it’s a very odd to hear out of nowhere in mid-sentence. Wondering if anyone else has heard this or thought much of it.

[RadioPat1982]

Could you give a full example?

I am imagining a possible rhetorical question when you describe this. Is that the case? Something like:

Color commentator:
Wow! This guy can really pass the ball right?!? What a pass between two defenders.

[ssteve]

I’ve not noticed it when analyzing a highlight but more during general announcer conversation while the ball is in play.

For example, maybe they are talking about a teams recent lack of rebounding. Announcer might say “well, rebounding is all about effort right? So coach is challenging his team to give home more effort in all phases. And rebounding becomes apart of that.” I think Cara Lawson is doing UCONN and Louisville on ESPN2 tonight. She does it a LOT. And I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I don’t know. It just seems like an odd way to speak and wondering if anyone else has noticed it or what they think. It seems mostly northeastern and California announcers donit most. But that could just be me.

[Bob Rotruck]

Guilty as charged. Although I do games solo.
It's a rhetorical thing and I never thought much of it and it certainly doesn't stick out to me. Just seems conversational. However, an area blog that covers our team had one writer who made one or two joking comments in reference to me saying "right" at the end of a sentence. Wasn't terribly aware I was doing that very much. I have since been significantly more conscious and aware of that. Still occasionally do it but not nearly as much after it was pointed out to me.

I used to have a color guy who was a former player who used to say that fairly frequently but I never thought anything of it. He was quite good and conversational and was excited about the point he was making.

"This is an important faceoff, isn't it? So in this situation you want your best guy... "
"This is an important faceoff, right? So in this situation you want your best guy... "

I don't really see a difference between the two and I think both are fine. Economizing words by eliminating the rhetorical word or phrase at the end would probably be an improvement but I also don't think it's that big a deal especially if the end result sounds more conversational.

[ssteve]

Good stuff Bob. Again, I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing anyway. Just something I’m not used to. But when Doris or Cara Lawson do a game (both who I think are REALLY good), you hear it a lot and it just seems odd is all.

[RadioPat1982]

I thought you may have been describing more of a rhetorical thing and it sounds like that is the case. I dont think this is weird unless maybe they are waiting for a reply or something.

You hear this mostly out of both color analyst and solo play by play broadcasters. As Bob mentioned it's conversational. Though the thought of being solo and asking yourself a rhetorical questions seems odd, but happens all the time

People can write what they want but there is an art to the solo call. The best in the business can hold conversations with themselves for hours without anyone really feeling odd listening to it.

[Bob Rotruck]

Thinking back to my color guy of a few years ago. He was actually more likely to say, "You know what I mean?" as opposed to "Right?"

"He's a pretty good player who knows how to get in there...you know what I mean? He plays hard and he's usually in the right places..."

He's not literally asking if I am comprehending his statement. Just rhetorical and conversational. I always felt he sounded pretty natural and I consider him one of the best analysts I have ever worked with. "You know what I mean" in the middle of his point also basically meant that he had some amount of excitement or passion in the topic he was talking about....even though listeners weren't directly picking up on that distinction nor was he intentionally using that phrase to tell the world he was excited about the topic.

But, the more I think about it, that was thrown in there when he was emphatic about his point. Sometimes about a cheap shot or scrum that didn't result in the other guys defending their teammates. "Why aren't they getting in there too? They're big guys..right?! They're the one's who have to defend their teammates when it gets chippy like this, you know what I mean?!!?"