My understanding on some this, specifically NBC and Peacock has increased quite a bit as of late. Steve Schlanger is a considered by NBC to be a play by play announcer with a very wide range of experience and versatility. They can pretty much plug him into anything, any sport, and he'll do a "pretty passable" job. Versatilty is the key strength. I have a friend who knows him pretty well, and said that he's a good guy, easy to work with, the exact opposite of a diva, and "low maintenance." He'll just get it done. And evidently he's broadcast an enormous number of sports. Like 40? He likes the Olympic sports....skiing among them. And he's a quick study. He lives in the middle of the country and travel is easy. My source? College friend who's a former president of NBC sports.
Porino has carved out a decent niche with NBC as being versatile, but also quite expert in some sports. Obviously as am ex USST skier himself, he knows skiiing and he's pretty well connected, still. He gets much more in terms of backstories that Schlanger ever will. And he just knows the sport. Inside and out. At times, I'm not sure if he "presents" it as well as he could. I contrast him with Bode, who has like a few hours of "training," but is both really smart, insightful and so knowledgable. He has a knack of bringing up things, in skiing, that pretty knowledgeable fans appreciate. Porino is a real student and he's worked hard to learn about cycling for example. Is he a Bob Roll? Nope, but he's not bad. And while can't recall seeing him doing a lot of sports, guess he has and does. So he's a versatile guy with a ski racing background.
Now in the such a damn small world category, I just learned form one of my mid thirties kids that a friend, a former NCAA AA skier, who has worked at NBC for 10 years as a producer, the last six in NBC sports, joined the Peacock team and is going to be one of their exec producers. I believe that will include "owning" ski racing. Evidently NBC sees Peacock and streaming I general as big parts of their future {seems obvious} and that they realize that they need to invest in more talent both on and off camera. So....we'll see.
Once I learned how to navigate Peacock on our TV's, iPads, phones, I've been pretty happy with the ski coverage. No real complaints. Would I rather have Bode on air, or Ed Drake, etc.? Sure. Porino is not bad at all, and USST coaches do talk to him, which comes though at times.
Now that I have a better handle on the huge breadth of what they ask of Schlanger, I am 100% understanding of him. In any given year, he might be on an NFL sideline, doing NHL play by play, PGA events, Pro tennis...Track and field. Sounds like anything and everything. So.....good effort, Steve, on the ski stuff.
Season ends pretty darn soon!