Dave O'Brien is an American sportscaster who currently broadcasts various events for ESPN television and Westwood One radio. The Quincy, Massachusetts native now joins Joe Castiglione on Boston Red Sox radio broadcasts. American Sportscasters A sportscaster, sports announcer, or sports commentator is a type of journalist on radio or television who specializes in reporting or commenting on sports events. ... {{Infobox Network | network_name = ESPN| network_logo = | country =  United States| network_type = Cable Television Network| available = National| owner = The Walt Disney Company (80%) Hearst Corporation (20%)| key_people = George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN, Inc. ... Westwood One, Inc. ...   Settled: 1625 â€“ Incorporated: 1792 Zip Code(s): 02169, 02170, 02171 â€“ Area Code(s): 617 / 857 Official website: http://ci. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... Major league affiliations American League (1901–present) East Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 1, 4, 8, 9, 27, 42 Name Boston Red Sox (1908–present) Boston Americans (1901-1907) Ballpark Fenway Park (1912–present) Huntington Avenue Baseball Grounds (1901-1911) Major league titles World Series titles (6) 2004...

O'Brien has called play-by-play for ESPN since 2002, handling MLB, the NBA, college basketball, and soccer (including Major League Soccer's MLS Primetime Thursday and United States men's national soccer team telecasts). He had previously been the voice of the Florida Marlins from the team's inaugural year in 1993 through 2001, and has provided commentary for MLB's international coverage of the World Series since 2004. O'Brien was television voice of the New York Mets on WPIX-TV from 2003 through 2005. He won the Achievements in Radio (A.I.R.) award for Best Play-by-Play for his call of Mark McGwire's 59th home run in 1998. [1] Play-by-play, in broadcasting, is a North American term and means the reporting of a sporting event with a voiceover describing the details of the action of the game in progress. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... “NBA” redirects here. ... College basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. // The game of basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith in 1891. ... Football is a ball game played between two teams of eleven players, each attempting to win by scoring more goals than their opponent. ... Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada. ... MLS Thursday Primetime will be a weekly presentation of Major League Soccer games on ESPN2 starting in 2007. ... First international Unofficial: USA 0 - 1 Canada (Newark, NJ, USA; November 28, 1885) Official: Sweden 2 - 3 USA (Stockholm, Sweden; August 20, 1916) Biggest win USA 8 - 1 Cayman Islands (Mission Viejo, CA, USA; November 14, 1993) USA 7 - 0 El Salvador (Los Angeles, CA, USA; December 5, 1993) USA... Major league affiliations National League (1993–present) East Division (1993–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 5, 42 Name Florida Marlins (1993–present) Ballpark Dolphin Stadium (1993–present) a. ... For other events named World Series, see World Series (disambiguation). ... The following are the baseball events of the year 2004 throughout the world. ... For the current season, see 2007 New York Mets season. ... WPIX (WB 11) is a television station in New York City. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This year in baseball 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 Events January-March January 5 - Don Sutton, a 324-game winner is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his fifth try. ...

Before his work with the Marlins, O'Brien was the radio play-by-play man for the Atlanta Braves. He also called college football and basketball games for Georgia and Miami from 1987-1992, garnering the Georgia Associated Press' "Best Sports Play-by-Play" accolade in 1988 and 1991. [2] This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A college football game between Colorado State University and the Air Force Academy. ... College basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. // The game of basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith in 1891. ... The University of Miami (also known as UM or just The U) is a private university founded in 1925 with its main campus in the city of Coral Gables in metropolitan Miami, Florida, in the United States. ... The Associated Press, or AP, is an American news agency, the worlds largest such organization. ...

Prior to the 2005 season, O'Brien was denied permission by ESPN to join the Chicago Cubs' broadcast team. [3] [4] The following are the baseball events of the year 2005 throughout the world. ... Major league affiliations National League (1876–present) Central Division (1994–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 10, 14, 23, 26, 42 Name Chicago Cubs (1902–present) Chicago Orphans (1898-1901) Chicago Colts (1890-1897) Chicago White Stockings (1870-1889) (a. ...

World Cup broadcast criticism

O'Brien teamed up with former U.S. national soccer team captain Marcelo Balboa for the 2006 World Cup as the play-by play man on the ESPN and ABC Sports' primary announcing team. O'Brien and Balboa called the most prominent games of the tournament, with their commentary generating controversy for several reasons: First international Unofficial: USA 0 - 1 Canada (Newark, NJ, USA; November 28, 1885) Official: Sweden 2 - 3 USA (Stockholm, Sweden; August 20, 1916) Biggest win USA 8 - 1 Cayman Islands (Mission Viejo, CA, USA; November 14, 1993) USA 7 - 0 El Salvador (Los Angeles, CA, USA; December 5, 1993) USA... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Qualifying countries The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th staging of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international association football world championship tournament. ... [1] ABC Sports is a division of ABC, responsible for the televising of many sports events on the network. ...

• With little experience in calling soccer games, O'Brien allegedly made many basic errors, such as getting player names wrong. O'Brien responded that he is not a "traditional soccer guy," but insisted he had spent several months preparing for the tournament, including attending many games in Europe, but his preparation did not show or he focused on the wrong things. [5]
• O'Brien expressed a desire to do more storytelling: "There is a style I think Americans are used to," including the offering of human interest stories (á la the Olympics) in an effort to draw the interest of the casual viewer. However, he was accused of overemphasizing some of these at the expense of the games themselves. For example, during the June 11 group stage match between Mexico and Iran on ABC, he repeatedly referred to controversial Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments on the Holocaust, and later wondered how Iranian soccer players felt about playing in close proximity to the podium Hitler used to give speeches in Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg). [6]

ESPN and ABC stated that their broadcast strategy was intended, in voice and style, to target the vast majority of Americans who do not follow the sport on a regular basis.[7] Others place the blame at Balboa's feet, saying that he was not a good choice as color analyst, while O'Brien improved with each game. Football is a ball game played between two teams of eleven players, each attempting to win by scoring more goals than their opponent. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ...   (Persian: ‎ ​, IPA: ), transcribed into English as Mahmud or Mahmood, Ahmadinezhad, Ahmadi-Nejad, Ahmadi Nejad, Ahmady Nejad) (born October 28, 1956) is the current president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. ... ... Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg, Polish: Norymberga) is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. ...

Trivia

• O'Brien attended Syracuse University.
• He is the featured voice in the 3DO video game High Heat Baseball for Playstation 2. [8]
• After a goal is scored in soccer, he usually refers to it as "It's in the back of the net!"

Syracuse University (SU) is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York. ... The 3DO Company (formerly THDO on the NASDAQ stock exchange), also known as 3DO, was founded in 1991 under the name SMSG, Inc. ... High Heat Major League Baseball 2003 was the last of a successful series of baseball computer games, released on Xbox, PlayStation 2, PC, and Game Boy Advance. ... The PlayStation 2 , abbreviated PS2) is Sonys second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. ...

References

• USA Today article in which O'Brien answers criticism
• Slate.com article