When East Meets West on the Hardcourt Sidelines

Title: When East Meets West on the Hardcourt Sidelines: A Comparative Discourse Analysis on the Play-by-Play Commentary Between ABC and Solar TV's Coverage of the 2010 NBA Finals and its Effect on Filipino Audiences' Reception

Abstract: This study compares the play-by-play commentary discourse on the 2010 NBA Finals by ABC’s Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy and Solar TV’s Alex Compton and Mico Halili. It discusses how the similarities and differences in the sports commentary affect Filipino audiences’ reception of the game. The extensive popularity of NBA in the Philippines, to the extent that local cable channels like Solar TV send Filipino delegates to the NBA Finals to cover the games live, has prompted the researcher to embark on the subject matter.

This study uses discourse analysis to extract meaningful information in the two commentaries, supplemented by a focus group discussion. Sports commentaries play a crucial role in the audiences’ interpretation of the game as sports commentators also exert their own meaning-making process in the narrative. Given that NBA is a foreign sporting league, this research analyzes how cultural differences affect the way Filipino commentators construct meaning around the narrative.

Keywords: Sports, Sports Commentary, NBA, 2010 NBA Finals, Lakers, Celtics, Philippine Sports, Discourse Analysis, Audience Reception

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Subject Index: English Language -- Discourse Analysis, Narrative -- Basketball -- United States