The Risks Paid Off For George D. Metellus

"Of any soccer broadcaster I take the most risk."

New England Revolution fans were treated to a truly sensational display of talent on Wednesday evening.

No, I am not talking about the product on the field in the club’s 1-0 win over Club Atlético Independiente. I am talking about commentator George D. Metellus’ performance in the booth.

Metellus has over 10 years of professional experience calling games. The University of Miami graduate got his first big break working at Gol TV. The broadcaster spent the majority of his career working with BeIn Sports where he called Ligue 1, Conmebol matches, and more.

Prior to his big break, Metellus served in the United States Air Force as an Arabic Crypto-Linguist. He also worked as a bank teller and front desk employee for a hotel while trying to land a broadcasting gig.

Metellus’ love for the game comes from his parents. The broadcaster was a first-generation American citizen born to Haitian parents. A passion for soccer was instilled in him from a young age.

“So the first sport that we followed and loved was soccer,” the broadcaster told The Blazing Musket. “So that's where it started. Me and my brother, we didn't play any other sport organized except soccer. I mean, the first athlete that my parents ever talked about was Pele. We’re big Brazil fans, most Haitians are Brazil fans. So Pele was like the number one.”

Fast forward to the present, Metellus is doing freelance work which involves his coverage of the Concacaf Champions Cup.

Throughout Wednesday’s match, numerous moments caught the attention of Revolution fans. Metellus’ pronunciation of Andrew Farrell, Dave Romney’s relation to Mitt Romney, and rapping ‘Still Tippin” when talking about DeJuan Jones.

When it comes to Farrell, Metellus genuinely thought his name was pronounced like the singer, songwriter, rapper, and producer who was a part of The Neptunes.

“Well, it's basically how I interpreted his name,” Metellus said. “When I saw the name on the sheet and researching, I figured that's how you pronounce it. Now, the producer from The Neptunes definitely was in my head, for sure. I thought it was Farrell. Maybe it's an accent because of living in the southern part of the United States, maybe that has something to do with it. I wasn't thinking Will Ferrell. I was thinking, you know, Pharrell from The Neptunes, you know. Farrell for me also is kind of like, you get lost in the woods for eight months and then you start walking around on all fours with oakmoss for drawers.

“And then I just kept going and throughout the course of the matchup probably slipped,” he continued. “I don't think it was intentional that I meant to say Farrell.”

Metellus does believe that his pronunciation can be used as a learning lesson for young broadcasters. The veteran match commentator believes its crucial to be consistent when working a match.

“One thing I've learned in broadcasting — and this is kind of a good piece of advice for broadcasters — is be consistent all the way through,” he stated. “Unless you're making an egregious mistake, you have to correct it. But if it's minor, or you say it one way, and somebody else says it differently, just stay consistent throughout.”

Metellus was also happy to hear that fans weren’t upset and actually enjoyed the pronunciation. He was even more pleased to see that Farrell was seemingly a fan as he posted a Pharrell gif on Twitter after the match.

“The main thing for me is I don't want to disrespect the players, because the last name is important, because that's your family name,” Metellus mentioned. “So as long as I didn't butcher it too bad and as long as he took it well, then I think I'm at peace with that.”

After that fans were stunned to find out that Dave Romney was related to former Republican Presidential candidate and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. The same can be said for Metellus and the author of this article.

The broadcaster’s instincts told him there was no way that the two could be related. In the middle of the broadcast he checked and came to the exact stunned realization that 99 percent of the viewing audience did. The two were somehow relatives.

“When I first saw the name, I thought, ‘okay man that sounds like Mitt Romney.’ I was like, ‘is he related to Mitt Romney?’ “My instinct was they're not related. That's just coincidence,” Metellus said. “And then during the game, I actually looked it up. I looked it up during the game, and it was like, ‘Oh, he is a distant relative of Mitt Romney’ and then that's when I made the correction.”

Metellus also showed off his rap skills during the match. The broadcaster rapped some lyrics from Mike Jones Still Tippin’ when talking about DeJuan Jones. The broadcaster told The Blazing Musket that the song is one of his favorites and he even listened to it before calling the game.

“I love that song. I do love that song. I have it downloaded so yeah I do love that song,” he said. “It's another thing that just popped in my head when I saw DeJuan Jones on the stat sheet as a starter. I said ‘Oh, DeJuan Jones, Mike Jones,’ but I couldn't get that syllable to flow right so I had to kind of twist it a little bit but that's what just popped in my head.

“I had listened to Still Tipping in my car on the way so that was fresh in my head and then I just couldn't remember the lyric right there and how to connect Dejuan Jones I should have said ‘Juan Jones Juan Jones, can’t clone me got a lot of haters and a lot of homies.’ I should have said that Juan Jones instead of DeJuan but it was a little sloppy there. That's why afterward I said my rapping sucks because it does.”

The great quips weren’t just limited to the Revs. The Vikings also got some love with Metellus mentioning on the broadcast that Ronaldo Dinolis wearing the No. 9 makes a lot of sense considering a Brazilian legend of a similar name wore the number and another player reminded him of a Mexican beer.

“But a lot of times, it's just something that when I see the name, it triggers something in my head,” the broadcaster explained. “You know, there was a guy on Independiente his name was Aimar Modelo. I saw Modelo, I’m thinking Modelo Especial the beer because I see all the commercials of the beer. Sometimes it's just something that pops in my head when I see the name that triggers something and then over the course of a two-hour match where there wasn't that much excitement or that much activity in terms of goalscoring chances you have a lull.”

Similar to the Still Tippin’ reference, Metellus mentioned the Boston-based film The Departed throughout the match. That is another favorite of his as he has seen the film numerous times.

“I've watched that movie like 15 times,” Metellus said. “My favorite scene in the movie is when Jack Nicholson when he gets shot by Matt Damon. Because just Jack Nicholson was such a bastard you know and his people, they threw Martin Sheen off the roof. Captain Queenan was the name of the character. They throw him off the roof. I was mad because I like Queenan. Then the way Matt Damon's character set up Jack Nicholson at the end and shot him in the bulldozer, and he's dead in the bulldozer right there. I think that was my favorite part but so many parts are good. But at the end, the rat running across after after Matt Damon had got shot, that was a cool scene. But I think the part where Jack Nicholson gets it at the end getting shot by the man that was his son, he thought of, Matt Damon's character, Sullivan as his son. That was pretty cool.”

Revolution fans got a look into Metellus when they watched their club open CCC play. They learned about his music and movie tastes along with getting a sense of his overall personality.

That’s not necessarily something you get when watching a soccer game. Some announcers focus on telling you the analytics or what you should think of a certain team. If you asked fans who they were, you couldn’t differentiate one announcer from another.

That isn’t Metellus’ style.

“Of any soccer broadcaster I take the most risk, because saying ‘Juan Jones you can't clone me.’ “I take those risks,” he said. “I'll do that. I'm a risk taker when it comes to soccer broadcasting because I don't know how people are going to react. They might like it, they might say it sucks. But you know, you put it out there and then let the world kind of decide.”

It can safely be said that the risks paid off for Metellus.