The Voice of the CrossFit Games
Editor’s Note: Sean Woodland announced earlier this week that he had been informed he would not be asked to call the 2024 CrossFit Games. We reached out to his long-time friend and co-host, Tommy Marquez, for his thoughts and reflections on Woodland’s influence. Here’s what he had to say.
Every sport has its legendary voice; the conduit between athlete and fan.
- Names like Vin Scully, Pat Summerall, and Jack Buck are thrown as all-time great announcers because their words amplified the highs and lows that sports bring us.
Sean Woodland is that voice for the CrossFit Games, and it’s no mistake that the sport’s massive growth, along with what many view as the sport’s best years, coincided with Sean’s direct involvement.
If you think of your favorite Games moment, odds are it’s Sean’s voice that you hear serving it to you on a platter of golden vocal cords.
To celebrate his birthday this year, Lauren Kalil, the third member of our Talking Elite Fitness team, and I reminisced about some of our favorites.
- But, it would be a travesty to sum up his importance to just those moments.
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He made our CrossFit Games broadcasts network-worthy for ESPN and CBS as the guiding voice on air. He wrote hundreds if not thousands of scripts and recorded voice-overs for countless videos that motivated and inspired us.
He hosted live studio shows and produced network television episodes that ran and streamed in almost every country on this planet.
- He did all of this and more with a level of professionalism and kindness that exemplified the spirit of CrossFit at its core.
But perhaps his greatest accomplishment is the sphere of influence he has cultivated through his selflessness over the years as a leader for all of us hoping to become media professionals.
Every single broadcaster who has graced CrossFit’s channels during the last 12 Games seasons has been helped by Sean Woodland at some point.
- If this were professional football, his coaching tree would just be every coach in the NFL. No joke.
The sad reality is that our sport doesn’t have many opportunities to get quality reps on the broadcast side in the first place, but that never stopped Sean from investing time and energy into others.
I had zero professional experience being on camera as a sportscaster, but Sean was one of the few who believed in my ideas, and he was the first person to raise his hand to shoot test episodes of the CrossFit Games Update Show (RIP) and nerdy stats segments I pitched to get more reps in front of the camera.
- A few years later, he advocated for me to get a shot at being on the ESPN broadcast for a segment and for me to get a chance as one of the lead analysts on the CBS desk in Madison after being passed over for the same role a year prior.
He helped blaze an amazing path but always made sure there was room for more to join.
I’ve been fortunate to share countless memories with Sean over the years, but I wanted to share a few of my favorites.
Sunday in the “Boneyard”
During Regionals, we’d be doing anywhere from eight to 12 live show hits a day as the hub for all the simultaneous streams.
- For some hits, we’d have 10-12 minutes tops to write, produce, and build a live show reacting to what just happened before going on air.
At the CrossFit HQ media office in Scotts Valley, most of the building had been taken over by CrossFit as of 2016. But there was one corner that hadn’t been remodeled yet and where everyone tossed their unwanted desks and office equipment in.
We called it the “boneyard.”
The office boneyard was also the halfway point between the studio downstairs and the control room upstairs, so it became our de facto production meeting spot for efficiency’s sake during those tight livestream windows.
- The photo above was taken by Will Duncan, our office tech lead and a talented photographer in his own right. It took place on the last Sunday of Regionals after nearly 100 shows, and we were just in the zone cranking out live coverage.
It’s Sean, Pat Sherwood, me, and our producer, Charlie Dube. Something about this photo captured the simplistic magic of that time: A team of passionate people working long hours while hyper-focused on a single, shared goal.
Time Spent With Good Company Is Time Well Spent
The nature of live production is that for all the excitement that comes with being on air, there’s way more downtime spent tethered to a desk or booth just waiting on a highlight package or a graphic to get edited before running through our normal prep.
- These hurry-up-and-wait moments at the desk are some of my fondest memories as we tried to fill the time with any manner of jokes, stories, and discussions.
There were moments when we were so delusional and punchy from the sheer volume of work that we would just burst into tears laughing at the dumbest things.
Pat Sherwood had a knack for triggering these bouts with his wit, but the photo below certainly captured the feeling of these moments.
Some friends just hanging out, talking (elite) fitness, and laughing our asses off while the poor crew in the control room has to listen to us.
“I’m Just Resting My Eyes”
Sean was definitely one of the “Dads” of our Games media team, even though he wouldn’t become a father until after we got let go in 2018.
He had this knack for inconspicuously fending off a nap attack around 2 or 3 p.m., which was often during a post-lunch production meeting or while waiting for a sound check.
Classic Dad move.
One person on our team wondered if it was a time-zone-dependent phenomenon, and I soon discovered it wasn’t. Do not get it twisted, however: Sean could go from asleep to introducing our next live segment seamlessly in a matter of minutes.
The photo on the couch was Sean “just resting his eyes” in our recently remodeled office area during regionals (which stood where the boneyard used to be). The second photo was at the 18.1 Open Live Announcement in Brazil, my first time doing color commentary.
- I was super nervous and the place was a sold-out crowd with fans lined up around the block hours before show time.
But during checks for the booth around 3 p.m., Sean’s sleep system defied the odds and kicked in despite the time change. That sense of normalcy actually helped shake my nerves.
Sean was the steady hand that helped navigate our team through our most stressful moments, even if it meant checking his eyelids for holes during a few quiet moments.
It’s worth mentioning that none of these moments involve Sean doing what he’s best known for: using his voice that comes in like rolling thunder to call live action at the CrossFit Games.
While Sean’s talents are made for the big stage and the big moment, it was always the unseen smaller moments like this that best highlighted his character, personality, and work ethic, which benefited so many.
His legendary calls were simply the potent distillate of tens of thousands of hours spent in service of others.
That’s why he’s “The Voice” of the CrossFit Games.
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- UPDATE: 2024 CrossFit Games Prize Purse Details Revealed, No Increase From 2023 for Elites
Featured image: Will Duncan (@willduncanphoto / Instagram)