The Siren Song of Soccer

A Chorus of ‘Goooooool’

By FERNANDA SANTOS, NYT, JUNE 19, 2014

RIO DE JANEIRO — Having caught his first big break on radio 50 years ago, José Carlos Araújo, who had honed his sportscasting skills by calling button soccer games in a neighbor’s backyard, figured he would have to tame his changing voice to avoid losing his pitch halfway through the effusively long cries of “goooooool” that are the hallmark and necessity of a Brazilian play-by-play announcer’s routine.

One colleague, a veteran of the airwaves, suggested he take up smoking. But Araújo, 17 at the time, had another idea: He hired a woman who taught German through music on national public radio to teach him how to sing.

“When it comes to narrating a goal in soccer,” said Araújo, of Rádio Transamérica, one of the grandfathers of sports radio broadcasting here, “there’s a big dose of artistry involved.”

(More here.)