In the nearly two decades McGinnis has been calling Sixers games, there’s been exactly one thrilling season. Sportswriter Peter King once said Emrick was to hockey what Jack Buck was to baseball. But Emrick’s style and his “Scooooore!” calls were so synonymous with the game that he was the first media member inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame. (Indeed, Emrick was eventually let go to give Hart his job back.) His encyclopedic knowledge of the game, creative vocabulary (players “sashayed” passes were “shillelaghed”) and recall of obscure facts made him seem like a buttoned-up professor in contrast with Hart’s emotional delivery.
#76ERS PLAY BY PLAY COMMENTATOR TV#
“Doc” had an impossible act to follow, taking over the Flyers’ TV duties from then-living-legend Gene Hart. These broadcasters will likely never know you, but they’re part of your family for the big game and your co-pilot on long drives home. What makes a broadcaster special is more than the ability to interpret the infield fly rule or describe the action it’s the weird, deeply personal one-sided relationships that fans develop with him over time. To rank them, I’ve looked at three categories: voice (smooth delivery, unmistakable sound), calls (moments that will live in Philly sports history), and general awesomeness (would you want to have a beer or play a round of golf with this guy?). Which makes this the perfect time to recognize the local TV and radio play-by-play men and color analysts who’ve made our best sports memories better and helped us survive the lean years. With the window now officially closed on the Phillies’ ’08 championship era, and with no basketball, hockey or meaningful football till the fall, it feels like we’re all stuck in a hot car on the Philadelphia sports highway - going nowhere and not happy about it. Jamie Moyer? I think he may have a future on NPR.) (Google “Matt Stairs Wing Bowl” for proof of a far more entertaining guy than you’ve heard so far. Or the current Phillies television crew, who should begin each inning with a narcolepsy warning. Like former Sixers color man Eric Snow, who was so dull he once apparently put himself to sleep. It was often better than what you’d see with your own eyes.īy contrast, a lousy broadcaster can ruin the experience. You can still hear his voice, like that of a grandfather or dad who told stories that held you rapt, or a friend who could talk sports for hours: “Struck’im ouuuuut!” During that long drought between 19, when the Fightins mostly stunk like a Vet Stadium bathroom, you tuned in not just for baseball, but for a version of the game as described by Harry.
As the heat and my stress level rose, Harry Kalas turned my sweatbox-on-wheels into a Buddhist monastery where baseball was peace and Harry the K’s play-by-play was a Zen koan. Music was the soundtrack for the ride to the Shore Sundays were for the Phillies, and for Harry. It’s a safe bet I was dehydrated, from the sun or booze or both.įar more important to me than a cool blast of air was my radio. The air conditioner in my black 1994 Chevy Cavalier was broken. Sundays meant the dreaded trip home, and the worst stretch was usually where the Garden State Parkway meets the Atlantic City Expressway. Seaside Heights, Ocean City, Sea Isle, Avalon, Wildwood - I’ve slept on porches and tight couches and in sheets decorated with conch shells.
Dating back to high school, on most weekends in the summer I’d drive to the Jersey Shore and relax with friends and family who owned or rented houses there (see: mooching). MASTERS OF THE MIC: From left, Kalas, Hart, Reese, Andersen, Ashburn and Franzke.
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