The Sounds of the Game

It is no secret that I enjoy sports. In my twenty-six years on this planet, I have been blessed with the ability to play hockey, soccer, and baseball at various levels. I take a great interest in those sports, and a few others to lesser degrees. With that interest comes being a fan-- and with that the viewing and listening to of games.

I grew up listening to Chicago Blackhawks hockey games-- road games on TV, home games on the radio (thank you very much, Bill Wirtz-- you cheap bastard). Until this past season the Blackhawks had a very unique broadcasting situation for the modern day. For their road games, the Blackhawks used to simulcast. This meant that you could heard Pat Foley call the games on both TV and radio. Being a radio broadcaster, Foley still had to be descriptive with his words, for those of us who couldn't see the game. There was no meaningless banter, just the game and information.

Broadcasts have gone to crap through ESPN and FOX. Nobody wants to listen to Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan relive their playing days... I take that back, Cincinnati Reds fans want to listen to Morgan (because well, all they have is their past), but still NOBODY wants to listen to McCarver.

Beyond that-- who the hell are Ken Rosenthal and Peter Gammons? Why do we care about money and personal issues with the players? These two guys are responsible for more rumours thatn anyone else, and it has created a monster within the game. The game is no longer about what is going on on the field to them.

It's almost as bad as when I had to listen to Harry Caray call Cubs games when I was little. Had it not been for the pictures, you wouldn't have a clue what is going on with the game, or that there was even a game being played.

So, let's return to when it was a game-- the way it is supposed to be, the game between the lines.

Twice this season I have had the experience of listening to a couple of the greats. Two guys, who home fans get to listen to everyday-- but being in Omaha, I miss out on. Vin Scully and Harry Kalas.

Thanks to Cox Communications free preview of MLB Extra Innings, I was able to listen to Vin Scully... though it happened purely by accident. I was tuning in to watch the Rockies (my second favourite NL team, for those of you who are about to say 'I thought you were a Cardinals fan'). They just happened to be in Los Angeles, where Vin Scully has been since 1958 (Scully actully began with the Dodgers in 1950, in Brooklyn-- meaning he's been with them since before my parents were born).

To my amazement, Scully was calling the game solo-- and he never ran out of things to say. OK, Joe Morgan never runs out of things to say... but you wish he would. Better yet about Scully, none of it was about trade rumours or contracts-- it was informational, historical. It was at that point that I realized that I had been missing out on something special.

Then tonight, ESPN was in Philadelphia, where Jon Miller (who I'd have more respect for if he wasn't teamed with Morgan for ESPN) had Kalas as a guest. Kalas has been with the Phillies since 1971 and broadcasting MLB since 1965. Kalas, like Scully, has a great voice-- never too excited, a sound for the ages.

What the world is missing out on, is the great voices of sports... the sounds of the game. I openly list my influences in broadcasting as Foley, Bob Uecker, and Jack Buck. I have since added Scully and Kalas to the list. Even more ironic, is that my dad says I'm missing out on the man Foley cites as his biggest influence-- Lloyd Pettit-- Dan Kelly and Foster Hewitt.

So as I venture into the real world, I can only hope that someday I will be as recognized as Scully, Kalas, Buck, Pettit, Hewitt, and Mike Emerick-- not Gary Thorne, Chris Berman, John Madden, or John Sterling.