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Announcers Dolphin, Taylor, Morgan Say, Hey, Mistakes on Names Can Happen |
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RON MALY Vol 2, No. 8, You may recall that I wrote recently of the embarrassment TV announcer Fred White had after calling a basketball player by the wrong first name a number of times during the first half of the Iowa State-Kansas game. White kept calling Drew Gooden, a talented Kansas forward, by the name Dwight Gooden. Dwight Gooden was a well-known major league baseball pitcher. White felt so badly about calling Gooden—the Kansas version--by the wrong name that he apologized to him the next day. Getting first names—or last names, for that matter—screwed up is something every announcer and every sportswriter dreads. The only safety hatch a sportswriter has is that he or she is supposed to have a copy editor in the office who is reading through the story, and one responsibility that person has is to correct mistakes. Sometimes those corrections are made. The trouble is, sometimes they aren’t made. Radio and TV announcers don’t have the luxury of having someone correct mistakes when they’re doing live broadcasts. After reading of White’s problems with Gooden’s first name, Gary Dolphin e-mailed me. Dolphin is the outstanding play-by-play radio announcer for the University of Iowa football and men’s basketball broadcasts. "All the preparation in the world doesn’t totally make you ready for a live broadcast,’’ Dolphin said. "Fred White is the consummate professional. Even the best can make a mistake.’’ Dolphin went on to mention a couple of his own mix-ups with names. In his reference to White’s problems at Ames, Dolphin said, "It must be the name Dwight. "I had an Iowa football game in the 2001 season when Dallas Clark started to make a big splash with his ability to catch and run at his new tight end position. "I was so excited for Dallas that I probably called him Dwight Clark for at least a half. Not a bad comparison when it’s the former great wideout of the San Francisco 49ers.’’ Dolphin then brought up another situation in a Hawkeye football broadcast. "Matt Bowen intercepted a pass at Wisconsin a few years back and, as he was racing 70-some yards up the Camp Randall sideline I was bellowing, "Ryan Bowen with the pick!!!!’’’ he explained. "When we got back to Iowa City later that day, Ryan Bowen was walking off the Carver-Hawkeye Arena floor and told me, ‘Hey, thanks for the plug this afternoon.’ "I guess if there is anyone who could master several sports, it would be Ryan Bowen.’’ Ryan Bowen lettered as an Iowa basketball player from 1995 through 1998. "Yeah, we announcers get a little excited every now and then—and we don’t have the benefit of a proofreader,’’ Dolphin said. A fter hearing from Dolphin, I contacted Pete Taylor and Larry Morgan to see if they’d like to contribute to this "name’’ column. Dolphin, Taylor and Morgan are play-by-play announcers I regard as three of the best in the business.Taylor and Morgan were kind enough to also recall a few "name’’ mixups they’ve had over the years. Taylor, the longtime voice of Iowa State’s football and basketball teams, said, "I’m sure I’ve done it many times without even knowing it. "But one I do remember in particular is former Kansas State quarterback Michael Bishop. For some reason, I always wanted to call him Michael Wallace, and did so several times his first year. "I have no earthly idea why it was a problem, but it was. At least I don’t call the Iowa State quarterback Seneca Bishop.’’ The name of the Cyclones’ talented quarterback is Seneca Wallace. Before becoming an associate athletic director at Iowa State, Taylor was a TV sportscaster at KCCI in Des Moines, and maybe the name Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes’’ fame was stuck in his mind. Taylor said both he and veteran Iowa State radio analyst Eric Heft "both had problems with Mike and Cale Gundy. One was a quarterback at Oklahoma State, the other at Oklahoma several years later. It was difficult to keep the first names straight.’’ M organ also maintains a busy schedule behind the microphones. This winter, he’s doing a balancing act by doing TV play-by-play for a number of Iowa’s men’s basketball games, most of Drake’s women’s games and he also co-hosts a radio sports talk show in Des Moines.In the past, Morgan has done play-by-play for other teams—including the Drake men. "I think I once called Duez Henderson of Iowa by the first name Demetrius,’’ Morgan said. "Do you remember Demetrius from the Drake basketball days? And I’m still paranoid about doing it again.’’ Duez Henderson is a senior forward for the Hawkeyes this season. Demetrius Henderson played for Drake from the 1982-83 season through the 1985-86 season. He was a co-captain as a senior. "Remember Mon’ter Glasper, who played at Iowa?’’ Morgan asked. "Every year, before the season, I would go to him and check the pronunciation of his name. He always told me ‘Mon-tair.’ "However, everyone else from Coach Tom Davis on down would call him ‘Mon-tear’ (as in crying ‘tears’). "Sometimes you do it inadvertently….and never even realize you said it.’’ Another of Morgan’s play-by-play gigs has been the Boys’ State High School basketball tournament. "Because I am doing 10 teams in two days, there are very few names that I am familiar with,’’ he said. "There’s the additional pressure of knowing that this may be the only time the kid ever plays on TV, and that his family will keep the tape forever.’’ Morgan, by the way, said he "read about Fred White, too, and felt bad for him’’ regarding the Drew Gooden/Dwight Gooden situation. "In fact, on that particular name, I always have to think twice before I remember it’s Drew,’’ Morgan said. Maybe TV’s Murphy Could Provide Radio Kick till on the subject of radio and TV, Marty Tirrell thinks Keith Murphy of WHO-TV in Des Moines would make an excellent radio talk show personality.Tirrell is the former Des Moines talk show host who recently said the sports talk radio scene here is "drab’’ and needs "a swift kick in the ass.’’ He obviously thinks Murphy would provide some of that kick. "Keith Murphy is an awesome talent,’’ Tirrell said. "Will someone please put him on the radio regularly? He’d be a great talk-show host—even for an hour or two a week.’’ That said, I got hold of Murphy. How about what Tirrell said, Keith? "Right now, I’m usually on the radio once a week with Steve Deace (on KJJC),’’ he said. "It’s just an informal, unpaid deal where he calls and asks if I have some time. I enjoy it very much. I think Steve gets a kick out of seeing if he can make me uncomfortable—for example, ‘"College wrestling is not really a sport. Keith, tell everybody why.’) "We have fun. I also go on KXTK and KXNO when asked, but not as much as with wild man Deace.’’ Murphy said he "loves the freedom radio allows. On our TV sportscasts, we get three minutes and we’re done. Not a lot of time for opinions, rants and discussion. ‘Sound Off’ (the Sunday night show on WHO-TV) provides a nice forum for those things, but’s still only a half-hour. Plus, on the radio, I don’t have to shave and I can wear my hair like Marc Hansen.’ Murphy said he’s been at WHO-TV for 5 ½ years. Before that, he was at WOI-TV for six years. "My favorite moments at Channel 5 (WOI-TV) were the famous Maly/Walden verbal sparring matches. Great stuff! I can’t believe no one else ran those. Now, that was good TV.’’ Ah, yes, Maly and Walden. That’s Walden as in Jim Walden, the ex-Iowa State football coach. Those were the days. Such fun. Such theater. It’s just too bad the two of us didn’t get paid extra money for those—as Murphy calls ‘em—verbal sparring matches. I agree with Murphy—they were good TV. But that’s a subject for another day and another column. Murphy said the "Sound Off’’ TV show is the only one of its kind around here, and it’s been going for more than five years. "It has surpassed any expectations management ever had for a sports-based show,’’ he said. "We’re very fortunate in that nearly half the audience is female. That’s unheard of for a sports show. It must be Round Guy’s sex appeal. We keep trying to add things and freshen up ‘Sound Off’ as we go. "The sports look-alikes is a new feature and has really taken off—for example, ‘Tyray Pearson looks like Marion Jones’ or ‘Jess Settles looks like Lance Armstrong).’ ‘What’s Buggin’ Andy’ has also entertained and infuriated many, and it’s new—examples being ‘Cyclone home football uniforms look like giant pistachios, Iowa didn’t win the Big Ten title last season, and why does Steve Alford keep saying they did?)’ "My hope is we keep making ‘Sound Off’ informative and entertaining.’
Is Fox Network Saying Adios to the Wrong Guy?
I’m thinking the Fox TV network is putting the wrong guy out to pasture. It should be analyst John Madden, not play-by-play announcer Pat Summerall, who is being dumped. Madden showed how much he’s out of the loop by saying the New England Patriots were wrong in trying to get into field goal position on their final drive of the Super Bowl. Madden thought the Patriots should simply sit on the ball and wait for overtime. No wonder the guy is no longer coaching. What kind of message would a coach be sending to his players and fans by not trying to score on the final series? When a team is a 14-point underdog like the Patriots were, they’ve got to go for broke whenever they get the opportunity. Madden quickly tried to backtrack when he saw how well the Patriots moved downfield on the final series—getting the ball in position for the winning field goal. But he had already dug himself a hole he couldn’t escape. Speaking of the Super Bowl, Alive in Clive (Not His Real Name), my correspondent from--you guessed it—Clive, has surfaced again. "As has happened in the past, one of the teams in the Super Bowl did not come to play,’’ Alive in Clive (Not His Real Name) writes. "I don’t think Kurt Warner’s thumb would let him throw the big bomb. "His receivers did not help him, either. I know they took some hard hits. However, that is what they they are supposed to do, and hang onto the ball. Finally, you can not turn the ball over and win the game.’’ When Alive in Clive (Not His Real Name) says something, it must be true. [E-mail Ron Maly at malyr@juno.com] |