Posted on 09/25/2012 6:15:09 PM PDT by Beave Meister
If you're wondering what's going on in the American League Central pennant race over the next week, all you need to do is tune into a Chicago White Sox telecast and listen for the voice of the team's play-by-play man, Ken "Hawk" Harrelson.
Harrelson is, to put it diplomatically, a bit of a "homer." In other words, he's unapologetic about his devotion to the White Sox, the team he routinely calls "the good guys." According to one measure, Harrelson and his booth partner, Steve Stone, make more nakedly biased statements during a single game than every other TV broadcast team in the American League combined.
"Let's just say that if we're losing, you're going to know it," Harrelson said in a recent interview. "I won't sound happy."
The conventional wisdom in sports is that TV announcers should strive to call the game straight down the middle. It's a philosophy that's been embraced over the years by most of the famous baseball voices.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
You always knew Harry was into the sauce when he started saying players’ names backwards.
LaRussa was a prick, Bonilla was overrated, and you are upset over who knows what? Did the White Sox beat your team, recently?
hehe
LaRussa is a prick, but he’s a winner, unlike Hawk.
Bonilla: averaged 22 HRs and batted .279 over 16 seasons vs. Jose DeLeon, 9W-23L in 2 years with the White Sox.
Harrelson: Merits an unflattering story in WSJ.
I rest my case.
I want my guy to be a “homer”. I’m a Diamondbacks fan and I love Darrin Sutton and Mark Grace. They are homers in every sense of the word.
I’m not sure if you are even in the proper courtroom. We’re talking about broadcasters. How are LaRussa and Bonilla doing in that regard?
Besides, if you are claiming that there is any announcer who is a more disgusting “homer” than the nefarious Vin Scully...then all I can say is http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/believe.wav
The Yankee radio announcer John Sterling, famous for just making up the game as he goes along. Known to shout “going going caught by the shortstop behind second base”
All the announcers I listened to for the Packers growing up during the Packer’s glory years like Ray Scott and ex-Packer great Tony Canadeo were solidly in the Packer camp. Ditto for the MILWAUKEE!!! Braves announcers Earl Gillespie and Blaine Walsh.
While Ledford certainly wanted Kentucky to win, he was a tremendously knowledgeable announcer and called the game fairly. I used to listen to Wildcat games when I was a teen from my bedroom in Wisconsin during the Riley-Dampier years. When they had Riley jump ball at 6’3 and Thad Jaracz was the center at 6’5. Interestingly enough, I just read a book about Kelly Coleman where Ledford is mentioned.
Yeah, gotta agree with the premise of the article — hometown announcers should be biased in favor of the hometown team. It’s their job to rally support and interest in the team, and not just to do play-by-play or game commentary.
Let ‘em act like fans, it makes the game far more interesting.
I expect the home announcers to be biased in baseball. I’ve never listened to this duo, but I expect Mario Impemba and Rod Allen to be very skewed. Sometimes I am angry that they are not biased enough! ;-)
Now, when they get pre-empted for a national spot, I expect the Fox or ESPN announcers to be unbiased.
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