I might Know That Voice Anyplace: My Favourite NPR Commentaries

Frank Deford is without doubt one of the most beloved sports activities commentators in America. A contributing author to
Sports activities Illustrated for greater than fifty years, he’s additionally a longtime correspondent on
Actual Sports activities with Bryant Gumbel. As of late, Deford is maybe greatest identified for his weekly commentaries on NPR’s
Morning Version. Starting in 1980, Deford has recorded over 1,600 of them, and in
I’d Know That Voice Anyplace he brings collectively the perfect, creating a captivating, insightful, and wide-ranging take a look at athletes and the world of sports activities.

In
I’d Know That Voice Anyplace, Deford discusses every part from intercourse scandals and steroids to People’ perennial nostalgia for Joe DiMaggio and why, in a tradition dominated by movie star, sport is the one area on earth the place recognition and excellence thrive in tandem. He considers the similarities between Babe Ruth and Winnie the Pooh, why soccer reminds him of Venice, and the way the Olympics are like Groundhog Day—or like an impartial film stuffed with overseas actors you’ve by no means heard of. He considers the prevalence of dishonest within the classroom amongst student-athletes and why educational whistle-blowers are castigated as tattletales, pens a one-size-fits-all sports activities film script, and even delivers Tremendous Bowl protection within the type of a Shakespearean sonnet. This page-turning compendium of Deford’s witty and frank items covers greater than thirty years of sports activities historical past whereas showcasing the huge vary of Deford’s pursuits and opinions, together with his ideas on the NCAA (a shameless autocracy, the place faculty gamers are primarily indentured servants), why homosexual athletes “play straight” (extra for worry of their viewers than their colleagues), and why he’s apprehensive about dwelling in an financial system that’s so dominated by golfers.

A rollicking sampler of certainly one of NPR’s hottest segments,
I’d Know That Voice Anyplace is ideal for sports activities fans—in addition to sports activities skeptics—and a must-read for any Frank Deford fan.