FOXBOROUGH — Here in the realm of Boston sports, we have to consider ourselves pretty lucky. Not just in terms of championships won — surely, that quantity helps, and duck boat parades through ol' Scollay Square never grow old — but simply by the quality of voices, all who come across the airwaves like warm blankets to wrap us in the scenes surrounding Fenway, the Garden, or Gillette.
Whether it be the late Johnny Most, Curt Gowdy, Ken Coleman, Ned Martin, Fred Cusick, and Gil Santos in the past, to Joe Castiglione, Bob Socci, Jack Edwards, and Sean Grande today, Boston sports fans young and old have had the luxury of hearing some of the very best in their chosen game through their television or radio speakers.
Revolution supporters know this, too, seeing as they get to see and hear the knowledgeable voices of Brad Feldman and Paul Mariner every week on both NBC Sports Boston telecasts as well as WBZ-FM 98.5, which provides a radio simulcast.
The Feldman/Mariner pairing have been together since the beginning of the 2014 season, with Feldman taking over as the primary play-by-play duties in 2005. He had taken over for Adrian Healey, now with ESPN, with Feldman having freelanced for The Worldwide Leader since 2001, as well as doing Revs color for Healey.
In addition, Feldman is a supervising producer for Kraft Sports + Entertainment, formerly Kraft Sports Productions, which grants broadcasting rights to both entities.
“I really love my job,” Feldman said during a lengthy interview recently, “and I remain proud and thrilled, as if it’s my first year. But as you know, those two hours on Saturday are sort of the tip of the iceberg: I have my duties as a supervising producer, which I really enjoy. In terms of the game itself, it’s still the best two hours of the week for me, work-wise. The adrenaline of the live game is what you live for. It’s not being on the field, for sure, but the experience of being connected and describing the action for the viewers, interacting with Paul, interacting with the production team through the headset and the pictures they give us on the monitors.
“Synthesizing all that with the flow of the match, the sport I love and live for is really an unparalleled experience. I love the rhythm of it: I love the crowd noise of The Fort or the away supporters section, chanting and singing. I love seeing the reactions of the players and the coaching staff.”
In Feldman’s position as producer, he pulls the pre-match footage of the Revolution's opponents from Major League Soccer’s archives in Florida, pulling together those shots with graphics for the live broadcast.
But on top of that, he does numerous hours of film study on the week’s opponent, which includes the following:
- Watching the last six-to-eight weeks of an opponent’s condensed matches;
- Watch one-to-two complete games;
- If the opponent has a new player, he’ll watch 15-to-20 minutes of the most recent match;
- Review formation charts.
And if the opponent just happens to be on national television the previous week, he’ll watch that match live on TV.
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Any type of top list is subjective, but we asked Feldman what he believed are his top calls (he said he had anticipated the question), and he came up with these five:
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From his perch at Gillette Stadium at the top of the lower bowl, Feldman has seen plenty of action, and has seen not only the Revolution evolve, but also that of the league and the fan culture.
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We mention in the opening paragraph about the Boston announcing legends, like Most and Castiglione and Santos, names Feldman grew up listening to every night. And yes, Feldman, to his credit, belongs in the Pantheon of Boston sports announcers as being one of the comfortable voices we all know and love.