The Worst of PA Announcing

Yep, I knew I'd have to do an entry sooner or later, sure that's the title of this Blog..."The Best and Worst of PA Announcing" It's inevitable, sooner or later it has to happen, I'm actually surprised I haven't had more of these type of entries...maybe I'm protecting our announcing family too much.

I've had a sympathetic attitude towards Joe Buck this year. The Fox Network's lead baseball and football TV play by play announcer has been battling a nasty vocal cord infection so bad that, the first time I heard him this year, I didn't recognize who I was listening to. He has since recovered enough to to keep working most Saturdays on FOX for the 2011 baseball season.

Let's get to the matter at hand shall we? How would you like to be a team pa announcer and know that the MLB All Star game is coming to your home stadium, the club YOU announce for. Then, how would you feel days before the game when the network comes in and informs your game ops people that TV will handle the player introductions, AGAIN?! It happens frequently and other than the team's hometown fans the casual viewer has no idea that the local PA person has been yanked out of his chair and replaced by that night's play by play network announcer.

It happened again last night during the 2011 MLB All Star game in Arizona at Chase Field, home of the National League's Arizona Diamondbacks...I'm not sure who the PA is for the D-Backs but buddy, I am so sorry they didn't use you for the player introductions. Joe Buck butchered the announcements and read this from the Mlive.com's Ian Casselberry:

Despite that, Tigers fans would get to see all five of their guys during the pregame introductions. For many watchers (I'll include myself in this group), this is the best part of the All-Star Game. The game itself can be hit or miss, with memorable highlights often a rarity. But you'll always get to see the players representing your team and city — even if it's just the obligatory spot that every team gets — when the camera follows the All-Star reserves down the first or third base line and introduces them to the rest of the country.

That is, unless the public address announcer screws up the introduction.

The look on Cabrera's face says it all, really.

Somehow (maybe a mix-up of paperwork, distraction, or some other unknown reason), FOX announcer Joe Buck skipped from the Cleveland Indians right to the Seattle Mariners on the American League roster. That led to the embarrassing visual of Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera — one of the best players in baseball — tipping his cap to the crowd as Buck announced, "From the Seattle Mariners, Felix Hernandez."

"What is happening? Who did he just call me? King Felix isn't to my left, he isn't to my right. He's further down the line! You just skipped over six teams! I'm embarrassed for both of us, Joe Buck! That kind of gaffe deserves some applause!"

Unfortunately, Buck wasn't quite done screwing up his introduction of the Tigers' All-Star contingent. Perhaps still disoriented from a bonehead error made in front of a capacity crowd at Chase Field and national TV audience on FOX, Buck seemed to almost forget introducing Valverde. He said "and" before saying Verlander's name, implying that he was the last of the Tigers to be introduced. Nope, he had one more, which he quickly remembered. read the whole story click here

This practice of replacing the regular team PA Announcer with "the network guy" has to stop. Please someone use an ounce of common sense, sometimes it's even a once in a lifetime opportunity for a local, regional guy/gal to jump on the national stage and show his/her chops. Let us have our moment in the Sun, just once?

Kevin Kelleher