Sportscasting's Worst Calls

Dumb Luck Pays Off In The Yankees Lockeroom

Broadcastingtutor@gmail.com (Joel Stern) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:41:00 +0000

The 1980's weren't pretty for the New York Yankees. It was the first decade since the 1910's they didn't win a World Series. The Dark Ages of Yankees baseball picked up where it left off in in the mid 1970's prior to the Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson regime. Bad trades and poor free agent signings (Steve Kemp, Ed Whitson, Ken Griffey and Roy Smalley to name a few) along with George Steinbrenner's 15 managerial changes made going to the "ball orchid in the South Bronx" as much fun as riding the subway with Bernie Goetz.

In mid-1990 a reporter friend of mine asked if I could cover the game for him and send the sound bites to his radio network. It was the first Yankees game I ever covered and I was learning the do's and don't's on the fly. The Yankees were well on their way to a 67-win season under Stump Merrill (that pretty much says it all- a team run by a guy nicknamed "Stump." What comes to mind? I think of the remains of a dead tree with no hope for life) and later by Bucky Dent.

The Yankees won big that night and Claudell Washington had three or four hits, drove in a few runs, so of course he was on my short list of interview subjects. When the cramped Yankees clubhouse opened I saw a bunch of players relaxing on couches and chairs, some playing cards, some eating, others heading to the shower. Washington was at the far side of the room and I noticed that he was sitting by himself with no reporter within 40 feet of him. I bolted from the pack of reporters, turned on my tape recorder and walked over to him. He gave me kind of a surprised look. I asked him four of five questions and he politely answered them all. I thanked him and walked back to Bob, my reporter friend who regularly covered most of the team's home games. Bob gave me a strange look.

"Did you just talk to Washington?"

"Yeah...why?"

Bob laughed. "Because he doesn't talk to the media."

I laughed back. "Well he just talked to me."

I let Bob dub the interview so he could feed the stations he was stringing for, and then headed back to the press room.

A lesson was learned that night even though it was through pure ignorance on my part. The old saying is true after all..."It never hurts to ask."

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A Horror Show at Madison Square Garden

Broadcastingtutor@gmail.com (Joel Stern) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:35:00 +0000

A Reporters Worst Nightmare...My Own at Least with the Late Great Herb Brooks

It came one night at Madison Square Garden during the 1983-84 season. Herb Brooks was the Rangers head coach. As you may recall, Herb coached the 1980 U.S. Men's Olympic Hockey Team to a tremendous upset victory over the Soviet Union en route to the gold medal at Lake Placid. He was in his third season as coach of the New York Rangers and was doing a good job turning a group of talented and semi-talented individuals into a team capable of upsetting the top teams in the NHL on any given night.

Now I can't tell you about his lockeroom demeanor, but I can tell you Herb was a very personable man off the ice. Sometimes on an off-night, he would go to an Islanders or Devils home game to scout the opposition on his own. And for whatever reason, he seemed to take a liking to me even though (he didn't know) during my free time I was a fan of the hated rival Islanders. We would often sit in the media room before the game and casually chat about hockey and other things.

On this night at the Garden, the Rangers offense couldn't get untracked. They lost a low scoring game and the team was in the middle of a scoring slump.

I was standing in front and to the right of Herb as he answered a reporter's question about the lack of offense (or OH-fense as he would pronounce it). He was giving his explanation in coach-speak...lots of technical x's and o's; good for newspaper reporters, very boring for radio listeners. He went on for a couple of minutes, and as he did my mind wandered on things like "will there be any food left in the press room when I go back for my coat," and "I hope I don't miss my train." As Herb finished, I figured I'd jump right in and ask him about the Rangers lack of offense.

"Herb, what about the lack of offense?"

Cackles, gaffaws, and laughter of all kinds erupted from the group of newspaper and television reporters seated behind us. Herb looked down at me, paused, and grabbed my thin leather tie (popular at the time) from the bottom and slowly rolled it up in his fist into a ball.

"What did I just finish saying?"

The laughter grew louder. I turned beet red. Herb smiled gently and let go of my tie. He could've screamed, thrown something, called me a name or embarrassed me in front of my peers in any number of ways. Instead, he paused and gave a shorter more radio-friendly answer. This on a night where his Rangers lost a tough one. I slithered out of the press conference with a wet shirt on a very cold night.

I learned a simple yet very important lesson that night- always listen to what the person you're interviewing is saying. And thanks Herb, wherever you are, for being a gentleman.

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Air It Out! The Worst Play-by-Play Blunders You Ever Heard

Broadcastingtutor@gmail.com (Joel Stern) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:26:00 +0000

It doesn't matter what your favorite sports is, we've all heard a sportscaster say something so ridiculous it will stay with us until the day we die (and maybe after that).

As a sports anchor on ESPN Radio and 1010WINS-AM in New York and during my play-by-play hockey career, I've certainly uttered my share. Now in all fairness, the blunder could be something that was blurted out in the heat of the moment, or it could've been caused by momentary brain failure, lack of preparation or simply the result of too much drink.

One recent beauty that sticks out in my mind was uttered by Dan Dierdorf on CBS during the New York Giants-Oakland Raiders game during week 5. Dierdorf, who I think is the NFL's best television color commentator because of his relevent insight and sound, was talking about Giants coach Tom Coughlin's kids, or grandkids, and then instead of saying "Tom", or "grandpa Tom," or "grandpa," or something like that, said "uncle Tom." I was facing away from the tv and practically snaped my neck when I heard it. To Dierdorf's credit, he didn't stumble and quickly recovered (unlike JaMarcus Russell in that 44-7 loss). The play-by-play announcer was cool too by not drawing attention to it.

What are some of your all-time favorites? It could be from a national broadcast or a local one- doesn't matter. A line that would make "Family Guy's" Peter Griffin sound like a Harvard professor.

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