By Rick Stanton
I’m fairly sure every football geek in the Northwest will skewer me for this column, but I just can’t take it anymore. John “The Professor” Clayton, the man who knows all things NFL football, needs an intervention, or at least a public-speaking course. He’s become impossible to listen to on 710 ESPN Seattle radio.
He has more on-air verbal crutches than anyone I’ve ever listened to who’s supposed to be a broadcast professional. If it was just his too-frequent lapses into “uuuuuuhhhhhh” when he’s unsure what to say next, I might be able to tolerate him. But when you add liberal doses of “no doubt, I mean, and you know,” it takes insufferable to a new level.
Adding to the irritation is Clayton’s inability to finish a sentence or, in the middle of a sentence, simply change whatever point he’s trying to make. Think of it as verbal-conceptual whiplash or, for those who prefer a visual aid, think of my golf ball ricocheting like a pinball off the black lava at Mauna Lani.
And then there’s a thing called syntax, or the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences. This especially comes in handy when one actually does finish a sentence.
His employer needs to consider sending him to Toastmasters. And if they don’t want to pay for it (knowing Bonneville, they won’t), I’ve included a link to nine free ways to improve one’s speaking skills.
Please, please—make it stop! Clayton is a dumpster fire of an on-air professional.
P.S. Thank goodness for Seattle Mariners baseball on Saturday mornings! It forced the station to cut his show to an hour (8 to 9am) and limits the potential for Irish Menke (sp?) to call in and make matters worse.
https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/nine-places-to-learn-public-speaking-for-free.html
