The Case Against Skip

ESPN has often had trouble creating A.M. programming for it's sister station, ESPN2. I remember the days of morning exercise sessions, and later Cold Pizza, which has been repackaged and called First Take.

First Take as a show, is compelling enough. The interviews are usually interesting and the hosts Jay Crawford and Dana Jacobson work well in their spots and are pleasant enough for the morning. The biggest eye/ear sore in the First Take lineup is the loudly irritating and useless segment 1st and 10 (a failed holdover from Cold Pizza, minus the good-natured humor of Woody Paige).

1st and 10 is a segment that pits Cold Pizza and First Take regular Skip Bayless against a "guest" debater, which more often than not is someone of the opposite sex/race (this often plays out for plenty of uncomfortable, subtle, racism/sexism as Skip routinely takes the majority/white male side of the argument).

(It should be noted that this post is not trying to accuse Skip Bayless of being a racist or a sexist, it is impossible to know if his views expressed on the show are actually his or just an attempt to create conflict and create the segment more watchable.)

There is a term in the radio for the way Skip acts on a regular basis...it is simply called playing radio. This is done essentially to anger listeners into calling in and voicing their disagreement, all the while increasing the entertainment value for the listener. In radio this works when used sparingly because if the listener is in a constant state of being pissed off he or she will eventually just find something else to listen to.

Playing radio does not work on TV, as much as Skip would like. He just ends up arguing with the same three people every week with the same broken record arguments. Pardon the Interruption works because it is a unique idea handled by two level-headed and intelligent personalities that DEBATE both sides of an argument rather than an emotionally-charged squabble.

Luckily for Skip, there isn't too much concern for ratings on a midday sports-show segment, so his job is pretty much secure as long as he doesn't do anything stupid outside of the studio. The rest of us will just have to continue taking Tylenol or watching ESPNEWS run over and over and over...

The men on the other side of the radio.

It's something all sports fans will deal with in their lives. Their favorite sportscaster will retire, or worse, pass on. Often times a radio or TV announcer can become more to a fan than the actual team. The reasons for this are simple: players change, coaches change, management changes, stadiums and even team colors and logos will change, but often times the voice telling the stories of a favorite team will remain the same.

For Cubs fans nation wide, Harry Caray was the most integral part of the hard-luck team.

It is like a continuous book-on-tape with the same narrator. Football fans will spend every fall weekend afternoon tuned in to hear the tales of battle of their favorite team. Baseball fans, probably the passionate about their announcers, will have every day of summer and more narrated by a familiar voice (162 days is nearly a half a year). Even basketball and hockey fans will invite their long time friends on the TV or radio to their home over 80 times a year.

For a life long Atlanta sports fan, the intimacy of the fan/sportscaster relationship is at the forefront of my mind this week. It was one week ago last year that long time Braves announcer Skip Caray died before he could join the team for a West coast road trip. For the first 23+ years of my life, my family had invited a man into our home, car and living room 162 times a year. Next to my immediate family or close friends, I knew no voice better.

Later that year Skip's long time partner Pete Van Wieren announced his retirement. Shortly thereafter, voice of the Dogs Larry Munson decided to call it quits as well. It was as if the door to the past, my childhood even, wasn't being closed...it was slammed. I still recall falling asleep to Steve Holman calling the Hawks as Mookie Blalock would dump it into Mutombo down low, and now have to wonder how much longer he can go?

Munson decided to light a cigar on his stellar career last fall.

Phillies fans mourned the passing of Harry Kalas nationally and I could understand what they were going through. Every team in every market will have to go through it eventually, it is just something the sports fan cannot avoid.

It is a Catch-22, really. We loathe new voices and amatuers who don't know how to tell us the story of the game how we know it is supposed to be told. But we also dread the day that the voice we have become so accustomed to must move on, whether it be by choice or act of God.

Who are some of your favorite/memorable sportscaster and their stories?