6.16 /// The Voices That Made Sport Magical

Some sports moments live in your head because of what happened. Others live there because of who told you it was happening. I’m chasing that second kind of memory, the voices that made darts feel like a Saturday night ritual and Formula One feel like pure theatre.

I look back at two broadcasting legends who, for me, represent peak sports commentary. Sid Waddell brought darts to life with warmth, razor timing, and lines so odd they were perfect, all delivered with the sense that he was a fan first and a commentator second. Then I move to Murray Walker, the BBC F1 voice whose intensity and unstoppable flow turned races into stories, plus those accidental “Murrayisms” that somehow made the drama even better.

Along the way, I dig into what modern sports punditry often gets wrong, forced conversation, endless filler, and the obsession with predictions or personalities over the action. I also talk about what good analysis actually looks like, where expertise supports the viewer instead of competing for attention, and why a bit of lightness matters when sport is meant to be entertainment.

If you miss that old-school feel, or you think today’s coverage can still learn a thing or two, have a listen and tell me who you think is carrying the torch now. Subscribe, share the show with a mate, and leave a review if you want more Infinite Prattle in your feed.

Transcript

elcome And Peak Commentary

Stephen 0:34

Hello, welcome back to Infinite Prattle. Today's episode, as I said in the intro, is I'm gonna is about, I should I say. Um a time when commentary on sports, in my opinion, was was peak. Um and I'm gonna I'm gonna hone out to uh honeout? Is that not even the right thing to say? I'm gonna um find some words to talk about uh to say. Oh my word, above. Um God. This episode started well, hasn't it? Let me put my teeth in. Um on today's episode, I'm gonna be uh focusing on two sports commentators from the world of darts and the world of F1 and motorsports. Now, when I say darts and motorsports, I'm hoping you already know who I'm going to mention because they for me um epitomise the commentary that I grew up with uh when I got into these sports and watching them at home with my parents and when I was a single guy basically um uh living on my own. So the first one I'm gonna be talking about is uh Sid Waddell, and the second guy I'm gonna be talking about is uh Murray Walker. I nearly said Bill Murray then. Um before we get into that, uh just a little request. If you like and subscribe, that'd be ace. Um two seconds for you makes a massive difference for me. And also, while while the video's going along, if you're watching on the on the YouTube, on the YouTube, you can tell when someone's getting older, I think, when they start putting that in front of stuff like I'm going to the Asda, uh, or I'm going to the I can't think of another example, but you know what I mean. Um anyway, yeah, but that makes a massive difference for the channel. Uh, and if you if you are listening on a podcast channel, go over to the YouTube if you want to see my face and interact a bit more. Uh there are also some vlogs over there as well uh that aren't on the podcast uh content on apps, it's only on YouTube. Um anyway, Sid Waddell. So Sid Waddell um is no longer with us, unfortunately. He passed away in 2012. Um he was a for me a broadcasting legend, dairy commentator uh in the world of darts. Uh I've got some information off Wikipedia, so again, if it's wrong, I apologize. Uh go and blame the people that contributed to Wikipedia. But he was born in 1940, passed away in 2012, and basically he was Sky's um darts commentator for about 17 years. Um he was into rugby in his younger life, uh, and an injury basically put him out of rugby. I think he was probably good enough to maybe potentially go into rugby uh as a career, uh, by by what uh Wikipedia kind of say. Um but he did he did he did a degree in modern history, which is something I wouldn't have thought about having read it. Uh and he was in the the University, uh Cambridge University's second team, um, but after after he after he got injured, he he he kind of basically got into darts. Uh so the injury must have been bad enough that he maybe couldn't play rugby. Um and I suppose the rest is history really. Uh he went he went on to um study politics and economics and such things, and then basically got into journalism and and TV and and local local news programmes basically. So um and I think a bit of acting as well from what I can gather. But anyway, I know from the world of darts, you probably do too. Um and yeah, he was just a fantastic commentator because he had so much, like Murray Walker, so much love for it, so much enthusiasm. Um I don't know, it just when you watched when you watched the darts, when he started commentating, like he was just he was just energetic. Um he used the tone of his voice very well, um, and he was funny as well. Some of his some of his things he came out with were just absolutely hilarious. Some of his some of his phrases that he came up with. Um I've got a couple, I found some on a on a quote called brainyquote.com, and these are apparently uh quotes from the British entertainer Sid Waddell. Um so I'm gonna read you some of the quotes. Um I mean I I I always remember one that was really famous. I I had the PDF darts game when I had my Xbox 360. Um don't buy darts games for games console or anything. They're they're shiny, they don't work properly. It's not anywhere like playing darts. I mean I know playing football on a console isn't, but at least you have some sort of control method for it. It's all just kind of luck when you're playing it on a console. Um, but he was the commentator on it, and it just made it so good. It was so, so good. Um, and I remember one of the things that the game said, which he said in real life, was uh, oh, it's a bag of bag of badges. Now, Sidwedell was from the northeast of of England, so from Wikipedia it says he was born in a place that me and Sarah actually really love. Says he was born in Olnwick. Now, Olnwick is a picturesque little town uh in Northumberland. So Sidwedell had the kind of Northumberland accent, so anyone from the UK uh it doesn't know what that sounds like, kind of like a biker grove Newcastle accent, but a little bit toned down. Um but yeah, he was that accent combined with some of the things he said was just superb. So a bag of a bag of badges, I don't know where that comes from, but I used to kill myself laughing while watching the darts, really into the game, but sometimes he'd say something, and it he would he would almost verbalise what you were thinking, and I think that's what a good commentator does. A commentator should be there to enhance the experience of watching that sport or watching that thing that you're watching. John Virgo was another one, he was extremely good while you were watching the snooker, he was an expert in that game, he played the game, and there was no superfluous talk, there was no talk without necessity, and even though Sid Waddell came out with these crazy sayings, his enthusiasm and relevance in the sport was second to none in my opinion. Um he was just such a he seemed such a nice guy as well, and I was actually quite upset when he passed away because um you you associate someone so much with with with one thing, and yeah, I think the Dart World got a little bit dimmer that day when he when he passed away. Um and I say I think a lot of modern commentators, I'm not saying they're bad, but they just have a different style. Um they almost I I feel like they're almost trying to prove their own knowledge by making predictions. It's a very big thing in American football, like they try and make predictions before the game, get everyone's get everyone's ideas and and predictions out there before the game to see if they're right, and then they boast about it, and it gets a bit annoying. But I think a lot of commentators commentators now they fill time with stuff that isn't necessary, they'll chat about themselves quite a lot. I find they'll if they are someone that's been in the sport, they'll use personal anecdotes, but it's not for the enhancement of that. John Virgo used to do that when he was when he was commentating on Snooker. We've just lost John Virgo, so I'm I'm gutted about that. I've been watching Big Break on on YouTube. Uh anyone in the UK more than likely knows what Big Break is, but for anyone that outside of the UK, um basically Big Break was a was a a game show uh based around the game of Snooker. And it sounds like it'd be terribly boring, but they they did a they they got the format perfectly right, and a famous snooker player used to come on every week, um, or three of them basically, it was three contestants, three snooker players, and they got whittled down to those one in the end, and they were paying for really good big prizes at the time. And um it was a great show, and I I was really sad because I've been watching that recently and remembering how great the show was and how great John Virgo was at commentary as well. And uh his style was he would he would call back to his own career, but he would say that it was it was more like drawing on knowledge of how to play the game rather than oh I had this bad experience once oh my god, oh this is how I got over it. It's like, well, I don't really care about you. You're kind of deflecting from the reason you're talking by talking about yourself, like talk about the technical side and tell me why this person's doing what they're doing. And modern modern commentary really, really pisses me off almost of the time. There's very few commentators that I I like. I think that um I think that uh oh god, what's his name now? I'm gonna have to I've got my little iPad here and I'm gonna have to um like Google his name because it's completely gone. Wayne Madell. Wayne Modell. Uh he's he's now a commentator for Sky. And I think he does a pretty good job. Maybe ITV as well, can't remember. But he does a pretty good job because he's kind of down to earth, very much like Sid Waddell. Sid Waddell was very much like uh the guy next door kind of thing. And Wayne comes across very much like that. You he kind of jokes about his own career when he when he mentions it because he wasn't he was successful, but he he never won massive huge championships or or um uh like anything super super big. Um he kind of hovered around just under the top flight, really. Uh I loved him. He his his his what his his nickname was Hawaii501, uh, and he used to wear big you know Hawaiian shirts and stuff, which I I I used to all the time to be fair. And I think we're gonna get back into that to be honest. Um he used to always wear Hawaiian shirts and uh yeah, what a character. And I think that's when it needs sometimes. You need to be a character, you need to be an expert and a character to kind of not piss people off. Um and I think for me, a lot a lot of uh commentators really and pundits as well, or group them all together. Commentators maybe not so much sometimes, but pundits in between um the commentary of the game, like when they go out to the studio and they're talking about it. Oh my god. And it's becoming more of a thing now as well, like during World Cups and stuff, they start the punditry like an hour before the game started. Like, why? Why are you doing that? It's it's very Americanized as well, to be fair, but normally before an NFL game, I will actually watch it because the punditry adds to the game, they'll be telling you facts and figures and and whatnot, and it does kind of enhance. I think a lot of the UK stuff is that it also seems it seems very forced conversation, and that's what I don't like about it. Um and the punditry, you know, a lot of the they seem to have the personality of a stick, some of them as well. I I really detest the NFL commentary and uh punditry in the UK. Uh when the Super Bowl's on, I always watch the American feed because I have the app to allow me to do that. I I have the zone and I I watch the American feed every single time. And there's quite a few UK channels now have the Super Bowl live and some games live as well. Sky shows some games, channel 5 shows some games, channel 4, BBC. Uh and they're all trying to get on the act of the of the NFL now. Uh but I always watch the the American streams, I never watch the British ones because 90% of the people that are talking about it are just really annoying. And they'll have sometimes old NFL stars, and they're the only ones I like because you're like, you know, you're coming from a place of playing it, and your punditry makes sense and you're not boring. Well, there's a guy for Sky, and oh my god, there's something about him. I'm sure he's a lovely guy, oh but he he aggravates the hell out of me. Um anyway, back to Sid. Yeah, so some of some of Sid's quotes, they're they're so they're so funny. So I'll read a few out, but if you if you go in this website, Brainy Quote, or just just Google, uh search, search the internet. Um I mean here's one. Uh he's about as he's he's he's about as predictable as a wasp on speed. I mean what the hell? That was like throwing three pickled onions into a thimble. Like, I don't know, I don't know whether these sayings are from Northumberland or whether he he sat and wrote them down or or they were or there were things he'd learnt through his life, but um look at that man go, it's like trying to stop a water buffalo with a pea shooter under the heart under that heart of stone beats the muscle of pure flint. Like he he he was just he was just hilarious. Anyway, watching it and there's a serious moment, he comes up with something like that. You can't help but laugh, and it added to the game for me. Um that's the greatest compact comeback since Lazarus. Um there's so many, and they're all hilarious. Um, yeah, so Sid Sid Rodell um very much missed in my eyes for for sports punditry and and commentary. Um was a huge contributor for me getting into the sport and liking the sport to be honest. And I think um I kind of phase out the commentary nowadays, I I don't really listen to it. Um it's it's it's it it yeah, it's it's just got boring for me. Um really. And I think that goes for for the same for uh good old Murray Walker. Uh again, unfortunately, not with us anymore, but he he was he was uh 97 when he passed. Um Sid Radell passed in 2012 as I say he was 72 when he passed. But Murray Walker was was 97 and he passed away uh in 2021. Um and again, as I was growing up, he was the voice of F1 and some other motorsports as well. He he covered uh the F1 on the BBC for like 20 years. He he he was from quite a humble upbringing, as I understand, and he was born in Hall Green in Birmingham. Um got into motorsport um but he also said stuff that would dubbed I'm not sure if I said had had this term for him, but Murray Walker had Murrayisms because he used to come out with stuff, and um and yeah, he he would get so intense, which added to the drama, it'd be like Sid Redell, like you know, Murray Walker would be would be so into it, his commentary was just flawless, he could constantly talk and talk and talk and never say anything you thought was unnecessary. Like his his voice, when it says on Wikipedia here, um his commentary voice has been likened to the s a screech that resembles a 500cc engine being revved up. Which you know what? I I kind of I kind of get it. Um because he used to kind of go, he'd start low and go no like that, and he it and he he'd kind of and then he'd go back down low and he could be really calm, and then but he'd shout down the microphone and many times I remember him commentating and apologizing to whoever's in the commentary box with him for like basically yelling down their ear. Um but that's where you I feel that's what you want from someone. You want someone that is passionate, you want someone that has been so involved with that sport for so long, it's in their soul. Um yeah, it's it it's such a lovely thing when you when you find someone um that that can do that and adds adds to the experience for you. Um and he he kind of he kind of was very much um a a staple growing up, and there's very famous and he he used to interview the the the the F1 drivers afterwards. I think one of the most famous things that Murray Walker did was uh Nigel Mansell had a had an off, I can't remember if it was in practice or a race, and he'd bumped his head quite badly and had quite a big, large, noticeable lump on his head. And uh Murray Walker walked up to interview him on on camera, and uh he said, Oh yes, I can see it right there. And he literally pokes him full in the in the bump, and Nigel Mansell like steps back, obviously vividly, like like clearly in pain. Uh and Murray Walker's like, Oh, I am sorry, like he just misjudges his depth depth perception and literally poked him in this big massive lump. But I think uh Nigel Manson couldn't even be angry at him, I think it was like just Murray Walker, isn't it? Like, you know, but um some of his quotes that were deemed as Murray's and was very much like very much like Sid Widell, although Sid Widell's were probably more comical, like Murray Walker's I remember, and I'll see if I'm if my memory serves because I've not looked at these quotes, I literally put it in. It's the same website, Brainy quote. Um my remembering of him was like weird sayings that were like sounded like they they couldn't be real, like you know, they couldn't be they sounded a bit wrong, really. You know, they weren't they sounded right when you said it, and then after when you thought about it, you were like, What the hell does that mean? And we used to compare it to my mum a little bit. My mum's Irish, I'm half Irish. Uh so she used to come out with the most ridiculous sayings sometimes, and we were like, That's you, mum. So a couple of his sayings are you can cut the tension with a cricket stump. If is a very long word in Formula One, in fact, if is F1 spelled backwards. There's nothing wrong with a car except that it's on fire. And I can imagine, I can imagine uh the the Citadel ones as well. I can imagine Murray Walker saying these, and it just you know, uh I can't believe what's happening happening visually in front of my eyes. Anything that happens in Grand Prix Racing, and it usually does. That's a very famous one that he said. Um I've just read this one. The lead car is unique, except for the one behind it is identical. And they're the things that he used to say, and but when you're watching it, like um, it's just hilarious, but the way that flowed out of him, the way that flowed out of him, like flawlessly just added to it, and I think that's why he kind of become like almost like a national hero to the UK and and Sidward L from a Darting perspective, like he was he was such held in such high regard in that industry and that sport and in in commentary. Um I mean this this other one here is is kind of like proving my point. Um these two actually, and now excuse me while I interrupt myself, that could apply to me, and that's history. I say history because it happened in the past. Oh god, like what a guy, what an absolute legend. Um he he commentated on F1 probably FO probably for like 25 years, um and yeah, enhanced the experience, like Sidwedell, like flawless flawless talkers, really flawless talkers. I aspire to be their level of of chatty uh intellectual quickness and um yeah, just just constant um banter, really. I suppose that's what it is when you're a commentator, it's constant banter associated with a thing that you're watching. Um yeah, both of them people amazing. There's there's a few others that I could go go go to, like John Virgo, and um I can't think of the guy at the top of my head that does does the football. But I think we've lost that in in sports nowadays. I think it's gone it's gone too much more of a a modern way of doing things. There has to be 20 people on stage now all having their opinions and which I've I've got no problem with people having an opinion and stuff like that, but I I don't know, the modern commentary just isn't the same for me. They don't it doesn't have the same hit, doesn't have the same oomph, and lightheartedness even everyone takes stuff too seriously. I think the only commentary that comes close to it nowadays is the British. Superbike commentary and the guys that commentate on there that they're in the sport, they're passionate about it, and they've done the sport. And I think they're the only ones that think in modern day for me, from the sports that I I watch, at least anyway, let me know if you know of another sport which this is true of, but it is British Superbikes, and I think that you know the commentary on that is pretty good. Um they they they take it seriously, they they're impassioned, uh, but it's also funny and they come up with funny things to say as well. Um scripted or not, I don't you know, it it's just funny. So yeah, so I that that's my little take on on Monday commentary. Um and just wanted to like kind of highlight the the heroes and legends that are Sidwedell and Murray Walker. Um we look we lost something great in both of them, and I don't think they managed to pass the torch to anyone, um, at least for as confidently as they they and effortlessly as they manage to to commentate on their uh sport of choice. Uh so I'm gonna leave it there. Let me know in the comments if there's anyone else that you you you think that is carrying the torch in that same way modern day sports uh in the present day, or anyone else with a different sport where you think they kind of ha have the same like kind of pedestal um platform that that that Murray Walker and and Sid kind of hold and haven't been replaced. Um you've never replaced them, but hopefully someone might mimic them in a in the way that it doesn't isn't annoying uh and bring back that kind of flair and style for it. Um yeah, I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Uh if you can give me a like and a subscribe, that'd be super super good. Um I hate saying it, but you know, algorithms. Um yeah, and just remember look after each other, take care of yourselves, and remember, keep on prattling.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Thanks for listening to Infinite Prattle with your host Steven.

Stephen 24:04

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SPEAKER_01 24:10

Thanks very much.