The Autumn wind is a Raider, pillaging just for fun.
Those are the first words that popped into my head this weekend as the New York heat wave ended, and Week 1 of Pre-Season Football commenced.
The football gods must’ve spoken for all of us fed up with blistering temperatures, because it’s not the heat that gets you, it’s the humidity.
Back to the football gods though, more specifically, the guy that was dubbed, “The Voice of God.”
John Facenda’s golden voice has become synonymous with football. Through Ed Sabol; the creator of NFL Films, Facenda found his footing doing voice-over work for the iconic video archive company.
His most famous line reading goes back to the first line in this piece, The Autumn Wind. If you're my age or older I’d bet my life you know it, and if you’re younger then me, I’d wager you’ve heard it before, and just didn’t know who the guy with the magical voice was.
The pigskin poem was written by Ed Sabol’s kid, Steve Sabol, who again, depending on how old you are, you may or may not recognize…one thing is one hundred and ten percent certain though, these guys loved the game of football.
Speaking of games, there’s a few that Facenda didn’t get a chance to play, see, or possibly narrate.
His name is Andrew Anthony, better known as the EA Sports voice-over guy.
I used to be a big video game guy back in the day. My go-to’s were FIFA and Madden, but somewhere along the line the games became too hard and I had less time to devote to the sticks.
Anthony’s been around essentially the whole time though, as his voice has stuck with Electronic Arts since ‘92 or ‘93.
If you could win the Powerball with randomly selected numbers, or be paid handsomely for over 30 years, as EA Sports uses your voice to say two sentences, what would you pick?
No more fantasies or virtual realties, let’s get back to the real football.
This is Pat Summerall. He’s a legend in the game, and his voice paired perfectly with someone else’s you know, and that The Encyclopedia has touched on before, here.
You can almost hear this picture. This is football royalty, and Pat Summerall was just that. The fifth pro kicker to feature in The Encyclopedia, behind Justin Tucker, Matt Prater, Ray Guy, and Scott Norwood.
He played 10 years in the Pro’s, and won a championship in ‘52 with the Lions. Not to turn it into a comparison, but Madden never made an NFL roster, and yet he was always viewed as the football guy’s-football guy out of the two.
Being overlooked is something I’m familiar with. I think it’s time we start giving Summerall a little more credit for his voice, I know John Madden would’ve wanted it that way.
Three voices that play in the background to the soundtrack of your football life. Today everybody has a voice, but not everybody’s voice resonates. In voice-over work or writing, sheer unadulterated talent is cut from the same cloth. So, what do you hear, or what will you read, when that cloth is discontinued.
