Announcers don’t just sign up for an NFL gig to ride the coattails of a winning season.
They’re chasing a golden ticket to one of just 32 coveted spots, a chance to become a team’s voice.
Sure, being the radio voice of a perennial Super Bowl contender is undoubtedly an added bonus, but it’s only part of the equation. Becoming the soundtrack for any NFL franchise means sharing in its history, connecting with its fans and capturing every high and low along the way.
And it’s fair to say that Bob Socci, the New England Patriots radio play-by-play voice, has experienced all that and more in the past decade. He stepped into the fire and found himself amidst a Dynasty, calling four Super Bowls (three Super Bowl wins) in his first six seasons in the radio booth.
The last six seasons have been a tougher pill to swallow. No one will take up a collection for the Patriots, and possibly a few of Socci’s colleagues will play the world’s tiniest violin for him. Still, regardless of how you slice it, he’s lived two different eras as an announcer, seeing the beginning and the end of a dynasty happen right before his very eyes.
Curious about how a broadcaster like Socci could become used to calling so much success only to see the Patriots become one of the NFL worst franchises in a sheer matter of a few years, The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch spoke with New England’s radio voice since 2013.
The Patriots have posted a dismal 6-19 record over the last two seasons, including a 2-6 mark this year.
Yet, Socci remains optimistic, believing that tough times can bring out the best in announcers.
“I actually believe broadcasts are often performed better in the situations when the team isn’t winning, or it’s not as exciting,” Socci tells Deitsch. “I think that’s the true test of what we do as announcers. But there are more exciting plays when your team is winning and there are more thrilling finishes. Frankly, the last four seasons, there hasn’t been an abundance of offensive highlights or the dramatic endings, the football theater that you got when the Patriots were playing the (Denver) Broncos or Brady versus Peyton Manning.”
“You still have to call the play-by-play, obviously, because you’re on the radio, and you can’t take for granted that people are watching as they’re listening,” Socci explains. “I try to tend to the nuts and bolts of the broadcast, but it’s not the same. There’s not that hyper-focus on the formation, who’s in motion, etc.”
What Socci did take for granted, though, was the success in New England during the years Tom Brady was under center.
“I always do a lap around the field when I get to the stadium, thinking how lucky I am to be here,” the former voice of Navy Athletics says. “But I will tell you I took the success here for granted for the great years calling games with Tom Brady as the Pats quarterback. I don’t think there was a way to fully appreciate it then. But I certainly do now.”
Perhaps the tide will change soon, as Drake Maye may very well be a promising solution to the Patriots’ woes. But even then, Socci will continue to be the soundtrack for New England games, alongside Scott Zolak, trying to bring perspective to a fanbase that was so accustomed to being on top of the world for so long.
