The article deals with the features of spoken language in the written discourse of live text commentary, a modern genre of online journalism. After locating the new genre at the intersection of spoken live commentary, computer-mediated communication and everyday conversation, it identifies some of the features conveying spokenness on the phonological/graphological, lexical, syntactic and pragmatic levels. Based on data from recent sports reports, the article argues that orality represents an unstated norm in the interactive subtype of LTC found, for instance, in the online British newspaper the Guardian. Spoken features and the pseudo-conversational structure of the reports are devices whereby the authors of the texts create a sense of immediacy in their reports, on the one hand, and construct and enhance the illusion of an interpersonal speech event, on the other. The linguistic characteristics of LTC, which reflect the hybrid nature of the genre, can be seen as serving the purpose of social bonding within the virtual group of readers.