Commentator polarized
“In fact, no world breaks down for me”
13.09.2025 – 6:08 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The German basketball players are in the European Championship final. Right in the middle: commentator Frank Buschmann – different than usual.
The ridge between “Frank Buschmann at basketball on the microphone is always a festival” and “If you exhibit the sound, you can also endure Buschmann well” is narrow. The 60-year-old has been responsible for sports reporting for decades, commented on the usual emotionally, loud and direct. But not everyone likes that.
Buschmann is currently traveling at the European Casketball Championship in Latvia. While the German national team takes up the title (Sunday, from 8 p.m. in the T-Online Live Tickier), the RTL commentator polarizes. The criticism of his style is not new – but it stands out from the previous one. Because: Buschmann’s commentary style has changed. “A lot better than with football,” said an X-user. And for a simple reason.
“I actually did not consciously go down to this European Championship,” explains Buschmann in an interview with T-Online. “This is automatic because I no longer have this very close relationship.” What the native Bottroper says: Buschmann “roars” less, analyzes calmly and carefully-and nevertheless takes TV viewers emotionally.
“I also told me good people from my environment that they like it,” says Buschmann, who, despite enthusiasm, has now found a “healthy distance” to comment. “God that I would say that.” Buschmann commented from 1993 to 2013 games of the big basketball tournaments. It was not until nine years later that he found the German basketball players – and has been commenting for RTL ever since.
video | Basketball world champion Germany moves into the European Championship final
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The fact that he now reports more calmly is primarily due to one circumstance: “I no longer go into the games with the feeling of the past,” says Buschmann. He wishes the German basketball team, “that they win every game that they will become European champions. But: In fact, no world breaks down for me when they are not.” It used to be different.
Buschmann reveals: “Of course I know that I used to go out of the saddle. That was the enthusiasm of a somewhat younger colleague who was too close to the team.” In the meantime, this is impossible.
And so Buschmann maybe unconsciously took a step: “Maybe I just got more professional – and that in old age.”