Thom Brennaman, welcome to the unemployment line

I was doing color for a college basketball broadcast years ago, and a guy on the team we were broadcasting was shooting his way out of a slump. I tried to say that he was righting the ship, but I got tongue tied and it came out as "getting his ship together," which of course sounded like you know what. My PxP guy gave me a look, and I blurted, "I said ship." Afterward, he was like, just let it go and don't correct yourself. I was doing the work for free just for fun, honestly, but I gained a pretty good appreciation of the work that goes into preparing for a broadcast. Made my own charts and everything. Also helped with my writing on the team, so that was good.

 

The flip side, of course is that for every Dale, Jr. there's a Kerry. For every Michael Douglas, there's an Eric Douglas. Expectations can be an awful burden, too.

 

I'm waiting for the @Batman version where Brennaman slurs just about every group in the course of a half-inning.

 

What Brennaman said was bad; he will probably be fired for what he said; people may debate if that penalty is too severe or not; I will abstain from participation in such a debate.

Can I just say that I am sorry that this happened in the first place and that the outcome here will likely take a competent broadcaster off the air.? Somehow, I cannot find a way to take any joy in the fact that this guy is about to lose his job.

 

I don't think any of us do.

Brenneman is a cautionary tale.

An apt reminder that Vin Scully was live on the radio for nearly 70 years and I don't know a single substantial thing about him. Not about his politics or his preferences or his dislikes, his weaknesses or his appetites, his prejudices or his fears or his enthusiasms.

That's how you do it.

 

At the same time, those jobs are absolute gold, and unless you screw up, pretty much a lifetime gig. There are scores of extremely competent play by play men and women out there in the minor leagues, who could be excellent, if given a chance. Many never ever get that chance.

 

People should keep their views to themselves.

 

Have never hear him call a baseball game, but have had him on many an NFL broadcast of the local team, and he is just brutal. So many missed calls on things that are so obvious viewed through the TV screen: first down yardage, in/out of bounds, obvious fumbles ("Smith runs for four yards, 3rd down upcoming"......and then five seconds later...."and they're saying it's a fumble"). He's got a great voice, but if this means I won't have to suffer through him in this fall's broadcasts, ok by me.

 

Why couldn't this have been Kevin Harlan?

 

Seems appropriate here. Very NSFW, though.

 

Early in my career, I accidently said bitch, turd and fuck on the air.

The first two were just cases of misspeaking, "Coming in off the (school's) bitch is quarterback so and so." "We'll be back for the turd quarter right after this."

The fuck was unusual. I'm 17 and had to sign-on the AM daytimer one Sunday morning. The FM was automated but I guess the FCC mandated somone had to be in the building overnight.

Well, the overnight kid went into the AM to practice DJ-ing sometime overnight. When he was done, he left the microphone on.

I come in just before 6 a.m., probably nursing a hangover, and turned the transmitter on. Sat down behind the board and tried to cue up a record. Didn't work because the microphone was now hot.

So, I broadcast to a small community just before the top-of-the-hour CBS News, "What the fuck? What the fuck is going on?" THEN, I noticed the problem. My heart felt like it had dropped into my nut sack. Got two calls. First was from an elderly lady ... "Liut, I know you didn't mean to say that. You didn't know you were on, did you?" The second, "Man, that's one hell of a way to wake a guy up in the morning!"

I wasn't fired and I don't even recall management talking to me about it. It was probably grateful for a kid who clearly was passionate about radio and was willing to come in on Sunday morning for minimum wage. Years later, I was told there was a whole bunch of discussion about it the following Monday.

I learned right then and there ... treat every microphone as if it's a loaded gun.

 

When sharing war stories, lest we forget this one from Bob Costas.