Peter Proudfoot’s dad was blind.
He loved his father.
His old man loved football.
Daniel saw the matches on his Nordmende radio. I say he saw the contests as all the action voiced by the commentators, was painted like portraits- on the contour of his mind. John Helm and Jimmy Hill brought the game to life for him. Their precise explanations of each cross, through ball, and shot kept him on the edge through the length of the duel.
Kevin Keegan was his favorite player, who played for his dearest team, Liverpool.
He watched the fixtures like a lunatic, and kept talking about them the whole week, till the next set of ties took place. The players were like gods to him. But the commentators were the real deities, as they were the ones who conveyed the spectacle. They were like Hermes, the messenger god. He felt each move and each feint explicated by them.
When he was not listening to or thinking about the ties, he was taking care of his only son. After his wife passed, he cooked, cleaned and washed for him. When Peter grew from a child to a boy, he wanted to share some of the residential duties.
But Daniel let him take up very few chores. He would not be treated like a disabled person. He always kept himself busy and made sure his son had all the time for his dreams.
Once, father and son went to watch/feel/listen a live fixture, at Anfield, Liverpool. As Peter viewed the match, he noticed the action communicated by the presenters over the shortwave was still lacking. The maneuver and the exploits could yet be better described.
He had found his dream: to be a football announcer.
Without telling Dan, he took up the role of a broadcaster for his school’s football events. He got to cover one event a month. Soon he gained some recognition and was signed up to analyze the district football tournaments.
In 2 years’ time, he became famous for his sleek and eloquent style. He was tabled job offers from Sky Sports, a TV channel, and Talksport, a radio station. He took the latter position without thinking twice.
It has been 10 years since. He is the voice of the English Premier League, not just the sports radio sphere, but the entirety of the top level of the country’s football framework. Most people prefer to listen to his punditry, compared to his counterparts on the telly. Some people switch the TV on, but keep it on mute and give their ears to his (radio) transmission.
Folks have gone nuts. Choosing radio over TV is crazy behavior.
All this because Peter loved his father so much.
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