Gus Johnson, who has stepped down from his controversial role as Fox’s No1 soccer announcer, had become a lightning rod for some simmering cultural tensions within the American game.  Wrapped up in the reactions to his tenure, and now departure, has been an ongoing anxiety about cultural authenticity within the sport, especially as it features in US broadcasting. Johnson’s was an unapologetically American voice; not only that, it was one that came from the broadcast conventions of other US sports, and tried to learn in public what it might take to be a credible American soccer announcer.  And yes, in this particular discussion about what gets lost in transatlantic translation, we’re talking about “soccer” (not “football”) and “announcers” (not “commentators”). Such caveats may be part of the problem.  When Johnson, a college football and basketball specialist known for his hyperbolic tendencies, was announced as Fox’s lead soccer voice, in 2011 and with the network’s long-term stint as World Cup 2018 rights holder in mind, it seemed either a perverse move or a bold step into a future where a confident and maturing American game would be described by voices steeped in American culture.  Yet even advocates for the latter position did not expect someone so clearly out of his depth to be placed straight on to the steepest of learning curves and quite so publicly. Many more saw someone new to the game setting back the case of experienced American announcers already working in the sport. Fox’s decision played right into the clichés about American announcers that sections of the British media (and culture) have always been happy to mock.  Johnson’s first game was a Champions League knockout game between Real Madrid and Manchester United, and his tin ear for the nuances of the game was apparent and alienating to those who had grown up with other voices.  Van Persie breaking to the footbaaaaaaall, and it’s headed up and in! Danny Welbeck!  That was how Johnson greeted his first goal – the first section was a description of a corner, though you’d never have known it if you weren’t versed in Gus-speak.  It set the tone for what was to follow, as Johnson struggled to find his feet. Reaction was almost universally negative and would continue to be so, with even the encouraging voices acknowledging his limitations while asking that he be given time.  Johnson covered two Champions League finals – the first saw him in a London pub, showing off his homework to a New York Times reporter. “I didn’t know a 4-4-2 from a 747 when I started this,” he said.  In fairness, in his attempt to appreciate the game and verse himself in it, Johnson’s sincerity was apparent. Speaking to Sports Illustrated on Monday, he said:  I’m a much better communicator because of this experience. I have more of a world view. I feel I’m able to better focus on the moments that mean the world to people because, I have seen more people in the world.  And Johnson did get better, though never to the extent that the criticism was likely to go away. The first impression stuck – that this was just a truly strange decision by Fox.  It’s also fair to say that Fox was being proactive in an area in which broadcasters have traditionally been cautious. And it’s reasonable to make a case that more US voices should feature in US soccer broadcasts, and that the lack of them in the very top positions reflects the “cultural cringe” that still prevails in US soccer circles, whereby everything European, and particularly English, apparently carries more natural authority.  ESPN’s Major League Soccer coverage is led by one Englishman, Adrian Healey, while NBC’s MLS coverage was led by another, Arlo White, who moved on to lead the network’s Premier League coverage league last year. NBC’s studio coverage of the EPL is anchored by an English broadcaster, Rebecca Lowe, with two English pundits, Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe.  There are Americans in the mix – White’s replacement as NBC MLS announcer, John Strong, was at Fox (covering the Europa League final as recently as last year) when Johnson was appointed, having cut his teeth as an announcer for the Portland Timbers. He is perhaps at the head of American voices coming up.  In general, Fox, ESPN and NBC have mixed the voices in their studios. A growing number of former MLS professionals have made credible transitions to become either colour analysts (Taylor Twellman at ESPN, Kyle Martino at NBC) or studio panelists such as Alexi Lalas at ESPN. (Lalas may divide popular opinion, but he does so from a position of authority within the US game, and with a self-conscious pride in his role as provocateur. But as yet the default setting for the tone of the game, as set by the play-by-play man, remains English.  Being from Belfast, having grown up in English football, and now making my living in American soccer, I have doubtless benefited at times from an assumed authority because of my (admittedly mangled) accent. But I’ve also, for example, seen American players of the most recent “graduating” generation, many of whom do not have anything like the financial security or ego of some of their English peers, seize the limited chances they get to have a voice, and develop as quick and humble studies in broadcasting. In doing so they could teach some of their routinely complacent, sofa-dwelling colleagues in English TV punditry a thing or two.  But even such limited career paths have not always been available for their lead-announcer equivalents, given the historic ecosystem of American broadcast sports, where broadcasters in local markets will often have moved from sport to sport, always with an assumed baseline of what an “American sports voice” and indeed what “American sports” is and is not. The sometimes dubious luxury of growing up in an environment where a single sport defines the dominant culture, and treating that as an obvious and unassailable fact, is alien to the likes of Gus Johnson.  The US broadcasting logic runs that the voice comes to the sport, while in England the sport and the voice are so deeply entwined that in some ways the voice is the sport. Therefore, any deviation from the recognisable is deemed inauthentic.  It comes back to that idea of “cultural cringe” – the term once coined by Clive James in describing Australian literary culture’s inferiority complex in relationship to the dominant British. It’s not a phenomenon I would associate with many spheres of US culture, let alone US sporting culture, but it’s definitely in the mix when describing some of the nerves that were touched by the Gus Johnson project.  While Johnson wasn’t the answer, the growing and consolidating broadcast culture around soccer in the US will hopefully start to develop those voices who do justice to both the sport and the soon to be multiple generations who will grow up watching it. Gus Johnson’s travails can then become a historical footnote, rather than a trend.
As the announcer ends a controversial (and loud) spell at the microphone, it’s time to combat a rare American cultural cringe