Soccer play-by-play announcer famous for his extended call of any goal. Cantor stretches the word "goal" (or "gol" in Spanish) out to last as long as twenty to thirty seconds on any goal scored (except for non-deciding penalty kicks).

Cantor worked for Univision for nearly fifteen years as a soccer commentator. He gained fame in the United States in 1994, when, as the U.S. hosted the World Cup, bored channel surfers finally aware of the existence of soccer caught on to his excited calls of any goal, and a cult following quickly went nationwide. During the 1998 World Cup, ratings for Univision would spike whenever a goal was scored, as fans watching English-language telecasts on ABC or ESPN would switch over to hear Cantor's call.

NBC saw that this was good, and decided that the best way to increase ratings for 2000 Olympic soccer coverage on CNBC and MSNBC would be to hire Cantor. This job is his first English-language assignment, but he is fluent, having been educated at University of Southern California, and very knowledgeable about the game, which more than covers for any initial difficulties with his accent. His English delivery is not particularly smooth -- he tends to spit out phrases at a time, then think about what to say next, rather than slowing down his delivery to compensate -- but he has good insight and the occasional witty comment, advising viewers during a particularly ugly clock-killing exchange between Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly at the end of the women's semifinal, "Don't try this at home, kids."

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.