American Football
I like pro football. Used to watch it with my old man. It was a father/son thing and when I got older and began to travel a bit, I would always bring my dad a team jacket if I happened to be in a franchise city. By the time he died, he had maybe a dozen jackets including one from his beloved San Francisco 49ers. After he died, his grandkids raided his closet, and they were scattered to the four winds. I’m a big fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and have been so since 1987 when they drafted Christian Okoye a/k/a The Nigerian Nightmare from Azuza Pacific college.
Sundays are for God and gridiron in my retirement. On this particular Sunday morning, I decided that I would listen to the Eagles/Jaguars game on the way to church. The game was being played in London on Sunday afternoon which made it a 7:30 AM game here in New Mexico. If things worked out right, I’d be able to listen to a little bit of the first quarter on the radio, go to mass and be out in time to catch most of the last quarter of the game on the way home. I tuned into our local NFL affiliate, the Sports Animal, a radio station I had worked for as a producer, to catch the end of the first quarter, but something was not right. The play-by-play announcer was distinctly British.
Now, I love British TV. From the Pythons to Dr. Who the Graham Norton Show. I’m a big fan, but somehow, having a play-by-play guy calling snaps, passes and first downs seemed weird. The NFL has been playing regular season games in London Town since 2007 when the Giants beat the Dolphins in front of 80,000 plus fans at Wembley Stadium. It has been successful in expanding the NFL brand globally, bringing in new fans, selling more merch and the fans in the UK seem to really like it. Hurrah and good for them, but for me, it’s messing with my mind.
Longtime British broadcaster Oliver Wilson was the play-by-play announcer, and he did an excellent job. He has been calling NFL games in the UK for the European audience since 2018 and has been a fan of the game since 1999. He’s not a rookie and this is his second time calling the action on American radio. He uses American vernacular that we are used to, commenting how a running back might get ‘stuffed’ or ‘crushed’ at the line of scrimmage. He referred to one quarterback as a ‘gunslinger’ and described the style of play as ‘smashmouth football’, but it’s not that. It’s his pronunciation.
It was ‘smaahsh-mouth fut-bowl’. Other words come out sounding the same. The quarterback would complete a ‘pah-ss.’ “That’s the end of the ‘hahfff’.” The ball was placed on the 40 ‘Yaahd’ line.” Worst of all, Wilson kept referring to the Jaguars using the very British pronunciation ‘Jag-yoo-ahrs’. I recognize that the English began building and selling the Jaguar motorcar in in England in 1945, but this is an American team with an American pronunciation. JAG-WAR.
I tried to get past it. I really did, but there was this clash between Wilson’s accented play-by-play and color man Mike Mayock’s distinctly American presentation. I found it difficult having to adjust my ears to listen to one accent and then switch back to the other accent. It was distracting.
I go to a church that is across town even though there is a church less than a half mile away from me. Why? Because the priest there pronounces the word ‘grant’ as ‘graahnt’ in a pretentious manner. “Oh, Lord, ‘grahnt’ us peace.” It bugs.
I don’t listen to the NFL on radio much unless I’m on the road. I’ve produced hundreds of NFL games on radio and they were always exciting and I was always in awe of anyone who could call a game with such precision, and I do stand in awe of Oliver Wilson. He’s very good at what he does, but I felt as if I were watching a BBC mystery without closed captioning. The last time I felt this strongly about change in the NFL was when they put the nets up to catch the footballs after the field goal and extra point attempts.
Don’t even get me started on that.
Copyright 2026 by Jose Antonio Ponce