Re: Celts TV announcers

[opi@unesco.org]

Jim Meninno wrote:

> >From: "Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>
> >
> >Item #1
> >...How long can it be before Tommy starts to sound like Elmer Fudd?
>
> I don't think it is any accident that Tommy's new found objectivity
> coincides with Cousy's near absence from the airwaves.  I think they were
> playing good cop/bad cop before.  I think that either Tommy has conciously
> taken it upon himself to, or perhaps FSNE has suggested that he might be a
> little more critical in his commentary.
>
> >Item #2
> >For those of you who DO get the local TV broadcast, is my wife the only one
> >who has taken to referring to Mike Gorman as "Smithers"?
>
> Tommy: "He travelled!"
> Mike: "He really did."
> Tommy: "That was an AWFUL call!"
> Mike: "It reheheally was."
>
> Has anyone noticed Gorman's pronunciation of the word "alright"?  "Ahhight,
> it's time for the opening tap."  It wouldn't bother me so much if he didn't
> say it a hundred times a game.

Hi Jim and Tom. This is a amusing thread. In fairness, though, I think Mike
Gorman can be excused for not being very vocal or opinionated when broadcasting
alongside guys with larger-than-life basketball resumes like Heinsohn and Couz.
As opinionated as I am, I'd probably totally clam up in that situation too or do
my best Homer Simpson imitation ("Doh!!!" or "Mmmm, beer").

Actually, I find the whole Fox Sports lineup (Eric Freed, Willie May and that
chunky halftime and pregame guy) kind of endearing. You could do worse. At least
they come across as likeable people. The Lakers had this announcer named Chick
Hearn who was insufferable (I used to hear his broadcasts on the US Armed Forces
Radio when I lived in Japan). He had one of those slick, used-car salesman-type
voices and he had this one recurring habit - following a good play by a Laker
player he'd say something like "for all you kids out there, this is how you
should run a good screen & roll". It was so pompous and so moot (as if any kid
listening to the radio could possibly learn a thing from it). When the Celts won
the 1984 Game 7 (remember how the Boston fans crowded to the edge of the court,
then flooded out at the buzzer?), Chick Hearn started ranting into the mike
about how the Boston fans were trampling on and "assaulting" the Lakers players
and coaches. That was the gist of his whole post-game wrap-up....no other media
source I saw confirmed any kind of "assault" on the Lakers (because it didn't
happen....that wasn't what the celebrating Celts fans were remotely interested
in doing).

Joe

****