Thom Brennaman, welcome to the unemployment line

I will offer this qualifier: Brennaman deserves to get fired and will get fired. I can't go as far to say he "rightly deserves to see his career end." I'm not saying that consequence isn't appropriate for his actions, but I think people should be afforded the opportunity to reform their long-held beliefs on these sensitive topics -- however racist or homophobic or sexist they may be. It's become very clear how deep-seeded and generational these issues are in society. To be clear, I'm not condoning his actions ... and that opportunity should not come while broadcasting the Reds or while employed by FOX.

 

he may soon be working alongside someone who is arguably the most accomplished sports journalist in america

 

Completely off-topic but perhaps an apt comparison.

People who make a difficult job look easy and impress the crap out of me? Brick layers, stone masons, plasterers, dry wall installers, mechanics, truck drivers, to name only a few. There's an art to doing that well, and doing it well usually takes an apprenticeship and years of experience.

 

He was very lucky to get the chance to even address the issue, let alone make any kind of argument in his defense or drop the line about “hopefully people will see that” or whatever. Can’t imagine many broadcasters would after something like that. Doesn’t bode well that he was already making himself the victim and he hadn’t even started his “suspension.”

That said, I couldn’t help but laugh at the home run in the middle of it.

 

Years and years ago I did a taped sports segment for a weekly show on a 250-watt daytimer — after it had powered down to 5 watts post-sunset. We might have had four listeners. I wrote out the script. I messed up all the time. That's when I found out I wasn't as good as I thought it was.

What struck me was the tone Brennaman used. He sounded angry when he said "fag city." This wasn't a throwaway line where he was trying to be funny — or maybe it was, and he's an angry SOB. I'm sure stories will start trickling out if that's the case.

 

I've been doing college football radio for more than 20 years and high school football PA for a long time, too. There is a reason when we go to break, I flip my headset mic up. Doing PA, in between plays I drop my mic down to my side. The school has offered to get me one I don't have to hold and stays hot, but I just decline.
I wouldn't accidentally say super bad, but the fact that I've never gotten busted saying "Where we eating after the game?" "Where did they get this guy?" "We suck." "How much beer is in the cooler for the ride home?" is pretty remarkable.
One of my funniest flubs wasn't over a mic but in the classroom. I was honestly in front of a room full of kids (fortunately I teach seniors) and meant to say "I've been fussing all morning." I got a frog in my throat at just the wrong time and said "I've been fucking all morning." I just kept right on like nothing had happened.

 

If you don’t say those kinds of things, generally speaking, you won’t say those kinds of things in front of a hot mic.

 

You and I largely agree. As I said, broadcasting is hard to do well. And like anything else it rewards practice and a devotion to craft.

But in absolute terms - in the "grand scheme" - it's much harder to pull a 10-hour shift in a steel mill or a 24-hour rotation as an emergency room resident than it is to sit in a chair and speak. Even if that chair is in the broadcast booth behind home plate.

 

And this is why he has to be fired.

Not for what he said, however abhorrent. But because he can't be trusted around a microphone. He failed the performer's prime directive: every mic everywhere is live all the time.

Again, I understand the ramifications of his lineage and the devotion - and economics - of the local audience, but I'm not sure there's any way to finesse this.

 

Stuff hapens.

One of my biggest PA gaffes: Was working for the ECHL Raleigh IceCaps. One time got in the middle of "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere come the IceCaps!" and had to cough, and it came out "IceCraps" instead. Completely Fruedian slip. Thankfully, the PA system at Dorton Arena was terrible and most fans weren't paying that close attention. Although I did had one or two come up after the game and say "IceCraps?" Yep.

 

There's a huge advantage to having the last name of a famous broadcaster, or anyone in your respective field. Doors open for you that wouldn't if your name was Rockefeller, Roosevelt, Jones, Smith or Aumann. But there's additional pressure, as well.

Skip Caray and Wes Durham are two examples of guys who are excellent talents in their own right and should have gotten to where they are, no matter what their fathers did for a living. I'll reserve my opinion of Chip for another time.

I do and don't envy Michael Andretti, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Petty or Dale Jarrett, and yet they were able to carve out their own identities as well.