Awful Announcing
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{{Infobox website
| name = Awful Announcing
| logo = Awful Announcing.jpg
| logo_size = 200px
| logo_alt =
| logo_caption = The logo for Awful Announcing
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| url = {{URL|http://www.awfulannouncing.com}}
| commercial = Yes
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| language = English
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| owner = Ben Koo
| creators = Brian Powell
| editor =
| launch_date = 2006
| revenue =
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| current_status = Active
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}}
Awful Announcing (AA) is an American sports news website and blog.{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/13574930/espn-says-curt-schilling-appear-broadcasts-rest-season|title=Curt Schilling taken off ESPN baseball for rest of season|publisher=ESPN|date=September 3, 2015|accessdate=July 7, 2025}} Founded in 2006 by Brian Powell, the website focuses on sports media personalities, particularly broadcast announcers and television sportscasters.
History
A graduate of James Madison University (JMU), Brian Powell founded Awful Announcing in May 2006.{{cite web|url=https://awfulannouncing.com/about-awful-announcing|title=About Awful Announcing|work=Awful Announcing|accessdate=February 27, 2025}} Early in its history, Awful Announcing was a prominent outlet in the sports blogosphere.{{cite web|last=Brown|first=Larry|url=https://larrybrownsports.com/interviews/interview-with-awful-announcing/837|title=Interview with Awful Announcing|work=Larry Brown Sports|date=August 2, 2008|orig-date=August 14, 2007|accessdate=July 7, 2025}} Powell noted that Spencer Tillman was an early critic of his blog. Bloguin Network acquired Awful Announcing in 2010; later in 2015, Comeback Media was spun out of Bloguin, becoming AA's parent company. Ben Koo is the current owner of Awful Announcing.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.971thefan.com/episode/ben-koo-bkoo-owner-editor-awfulannouncing-8-10-22/|title=Ben Koo @bkoo (Owner/Editor @AwfulAnnouncing) 8-10-22|work=97.1 The Fan|date=August 10, 2022|accessdate=July 7, 2025}}
The website reports on news relating to sports announcing, broadcasting, and related media industry spaces.{{cite book|last1=King|first1=Andrew|last2=Ferree|first2=Ben|title=Friday Night Lies: The Bishop Sycamore Story|chapter=This Time, We're Going to Do It Right|isbn=978-1-63727-224-4|year=2022|publisher=Triumph Books|location=Chicago}}{{cite book|last=Clavio|first=Galen|title=Social Media and Sports|page=32|isbn=978-1-4925-9208-2|publisher=Human Kinetics|location=Champaign, Illinois|date=2021}} AA also conducts interviews with sports media executives.{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Chris|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2014/07/30/espns-monday-night-football-is-the-schoolyard-bully-to-nbcs-nhl-programming/|title=NBC Ducks Fight With Monday Night Football: 'You Don't Tug On Superman's Cape'|work=Forbes|date=July 30, 2014|accessdate=July 7, 2025}} Their sharing of announcing audio has been cited to increase awareness of situations, such as when they wrote about West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins using a homophobic slur in a radio interview in 2023.{{cite web|last=Thamel|first=Pete|url=https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/37595150/sources-bob-huggins-take-1m-salary-reduction-anti-gay-slur|title=Bob Huggins takes $1M salary reduction for anti-gay slur|publisher=ESPN|date=May 10, 2023|accessdate=July 7, 2025}}
Citation and reception
AA's reporting has been cited by sports media websites such as ESPN and Fox Sports,{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38153162/reports-orioles-broadcaster-kevin-brown-removed-reference-struggles-vs-rays|title=Reports: Orioles broadcaster Kevin Brown removed for reference to struggles vs. Rays|publisher=ESPN|date=August 7, 2023|accessdate=July 7, 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/chicago-white-sox-multiple-media-outlets-forget-2005-world-series-title|title=Chicago White Sox: Multiple Media Outlets Forget 2005 World Series Title|publisher=Fox Sports|date=June 30, 2017|accessdate=July 7, 2025}} as well as general news outlets like Forbes.{{cite web|last=Brown|first=Maury|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2017/07/11/nearly-9-million-watch-aaron-judge-win-mlb-home-run-derby-on-espn-up-55-from-2016/|title=Nearly 9 Million Watch Aaron Judge Win MLB Home Run Derby On ESPN, Up 55% From 2016|work=Forbes|date=July 11, 2017|accessdate=July 7, 2025}} ESPN has also issued statements via Awful Announcing.
Some sports announcers have commented on Awful Announcing. The book Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN (2011) quoted both Rece Davis and Bob Ley.{{cite book|last1=Shales|first1=Tom|last2=Miller|first2=James Andrew|title=Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|date=2011|isbn=9780316125765}} Davis stated that sports announcers who "fall into reading" blogs like Awful Announcing and get upset or try to explaint their mistakes pointed out by such blogs on-air "probably aren't doing [their] job as effectively as [they] ought to be". Meanwhile, Ley stated that he sometimes checks sports blogs like AA, as well as The Big Lead and Deadspin, likening visiting the blogs to "shopping in a discount store". Other sports media personalities have referenced Awful Announcing in their own writing, such as Bill Simmons in his Book of Basketball (2009) and Jemele Hill in her memoir, Uphill (2022).{{cite book|last=Simmons|first=Bill|author-link=Bill Simmons|date=2009|title=The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy|page=118|isbn=978-0-345-51176-8|publisher=ESPN Books}}{{cite book|last=Hill|first=Jemele|author-link=Jemele Hill|title=Uphill: A Memoir|date=2022|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|isbn=9781250624376}}