HOUSTON – Now that we are a few weeks into football and baseball is still around, I was thinking about things we hear on radio and tv we never heard just a few years ago.
"Here's Craig with sports" is one we aren't hearing but that is O.K. I AM THINKING more along the lines of "He runs a 4.39876" "The previous play is under review". " That brings out the punter. He is a 37 year old from New Caldonia with 3 years of eligibilty left". "althleticism". "conclusive video evidence". " concussion protocol".
I once told a rookie broadcaster to keep it simple. If you have to look up words in the dictionary (OK, another word we don't hear) your audience might not know the meaning either. Some 2 hours later that rookie was on a talk show and was asked why he wasn't at a game. He said "the absence of my presence?" So much for my advice. I would have said "I wasn't there, etc". But that is just me. Dizzy Dean murdered English but we knew what he meant. Swing and a miss might come out "Unbutton that shirt and take a big rip".
I just thought of another thing we treasure. Wildcard. We sure hope to hear that around here but it looks shaky. I just thought of more. We never used to hear the folllowing..."CUBS WIN and clinch the central." My dad would have loved that. Now they'll trot out the billly goat and here we go again.