# Sports Announcers: WTF did you just say??? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 19, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592 "2009-04-19T03:54:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/21 "2009-04-21T16:20:14Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > Still remember when my Seahawks put 45 points on Minnesota…in the FIRST HALF in 2002. Shaun Alexander set an NFL record with 5 TDs in the first half. They get back from the halftime show and Mike Patrick says: > > [QUOTE=Mike Patrick] > In case you missed it, The Seahawks won the coin toss and elected to kick the living bejeezus out of the Vikings. [/quote] That’s not a WTF, that’s really funny. The “monkey” thing did a some damage to Cosell’s career due to accusations of racism, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/22 "2009-04-21T17:01:49Z")
> [@glee](#): > > As you chaps know, cricket is played on this side of the pond. > One popular cricket commentator was Brian Johnston, a thoroughly pleasant chap. Indeed, and although it is uncertain as to whether he actually said it, he is also famous for “[the bowler’s Holding the batsman’s Willey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Johnston#Incidents_and_gaffes)”. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/23 "2009-04-21T19:03:56Z")
Dan Dierdorf: “Well folks, stranger things have happened…but none stranger than this!” Me: “…so, stranger things _haven’t_ happened.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/24 "2009-04-21T22:09:26Z")
[quote=“Marley23, post:21, topic:493592”] > [@Morbo](#): > > Dan Dierdorf: “Well folks, stranger things have happened…but none stranger than this!” > > Me: “…so, stranger things _haven’t_ happened.” :smack: My friend had business in the MNF press box once many years ago, when Al, Mike and Dan were doing the show. He said that the second the cameras flicked off, Dierdorf went to the craft services table and started shoving hot dogs in his mouth as fast as he could grab them. 15 years later and I can’t hear the guy’s name without conjuring that image. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/25 "2009-04-21T23:25:20Z")
Don’t remember who it was, but while watching college football circa 1978, someone connected to one of the team’s was visiting the booth. The announcers asked him to do a bit of announcing. This guy’s team had the ball. It went something like this — “So & so fades back to pass, . . . " [ball is intercepted] " . . . aw, shit!” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/26 "2009-04-22T00:46:51Z")
Murray Walker was the voice of motorsport on the BBC for… 40 years? Anyway, he was like John Madden only [all the time.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnXDEw3gqhk&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/27 "2009-04-22T17:10:35Z")
When Barry Bonds hit #714 (one of the milestones), the giants’ Kruk & Kuip were calling the game and were understandably pretty excited. A few minutes after the HR, Krukow tells Kuiper, “I’m still tingling, partner!” :facepalm: > [@Morbo](#): > > Dan Dierdorf: “Well folks, stranger things have happened…but none stranger than this!” > > Me: “…so, stranger things _haven’t_ happened.” :smack: TV commercial: “Up to 30% off, or more!” Me: Wait, what? > [@RickJay](#): > > “What people don’t understand is that who’s your daddy is a hip hop phrase, and so what Pedro Martinez was trying to say, when he said that, was not that, he was trying to say it, that, you know, it’s a hip hop phrase, and so it doesn’t mean what people thinks it means, it means what Pedro meant, which was not that, but what he meant.” This is my impression of Joe Morgan. That is, what I’m doing now is an impression of Joe Morgan. I’m adopting the mannerisms and style of speech of Joe Morgan for purposes of entertainment. Because an impression is just that, adopting the mannerisms and speech patterns of someone in a potentially comical way. See, when somebody acts like someone else, so as to amuse those around them, they’re doing an impression. Because that’s what an impression is- it’s when somebody acts like somebody else. For amusement. The amusement of doing an impression. Which is adopting another person’s mannerisms and speech. Ususally done in an attempt to entertain others. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/28 "2009-04-22T17:15:10Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > TV commercial: “Up to 30% off, or more!” > Me: Wait, what? That crap sets my teeth on edge. It’s the verbal equivalent of the area play in baseball. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/29 "2009-04-22T18:58:33Z")
I’ve been watching hockey on RDS, mostly because “c’est le but!” it way more fun to say than “score!” I have a habit (annoying to my husband) of taking what the announcers say in French and directly translating them into English. Oftentimes there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with the French phrase, but the translations come out funny. The only one I can recall at the moment, though, is the comment that Mats Sundin was “expected to stimulate the Sedin twins”, and he’s succeeded. Last night, during one of the games (I’m tempted to say Ducks/Sharks?) there was a goal, and on the next play or two a shot towards the goal resulted in the puck finding its way into the back of a player’s pants. RDS gets the feed from another network, and when the network cut to a replay of the goal, the announcers very quickly switched from saying that the puck was in the guy’s pants to talking about how the player had sneaked the puck into the back door (to score). That is equally funny in both languages, actually. ---
**Author:** ![mikeargo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@mikeargo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeargo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/30 "2009-04-22T23:08:25Z")
In the midst of the torrid 1978 pennant race between the Red Sox and the Yankees, the Pope passed away, prompting the legendary Gil Santos to say in a teaser for the late evening newscast: “Pope dead, Sox still alive. Details at eleven!” ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/31 "2009-04-23T03:01:28Z")
Pretty much half the stuff coming out of Mike Goldberg’s mouth when he’s doing commentary for the UFC. I think Fred Willard used him as inspiration for his turn as the clueless commentator in “Best In Show”. [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mike\_Goldberg](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mike_Goldberg) ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/32 "2009-04-23T03:29:27Z")
> [@mikeargo](#): > > In the midst of the torrid 1978 pennant race between the Red Sox and the Yankees, the Pope passed away, prompting the legendary Gil Santos to say in a teaser for the late evening newscast: “Pope dead, Sox still alive. Details at eleven!” That reminds me . . . after that night’s Yankee game, announcer Phil Rizzuto again mentioned the Pope’s passing and said something like, “That’s the kind of thing that can put a damper on even a Yankee win.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/33 "2009-04-23T04:05:53Z")
> [@glee](#): > > A fellow commentator remarks to Johnston that Botham didn’t ‘get his leg over’\*, all would have been well. > And now [listen to the clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967DpAEKcmQ)… > > \*does this have sexual connotations in the US, like it does here? No, but if you watch the comedies on the BBC-A, you’d know what it meant. I was half-listening to a baseball game on Saturday, and couldn’t understand half of what the announcer was talking about. Someone was “dealing” on the field and the pitcher had already “punched out” two players? Okay… ---
**Author:** ![mikeargo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@mikeargo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikeargo)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/34 "2009-04-23T22:59:32Z")
> [@mikeargo](#): > > In the midst of the torrid 1978 pennant race between the Red Sox and the Yankees, the Pope passed away, prompting the legendary Gil Santos to say in a teaser for the late evening newscast: “Pope dead, Sox still alive. Details at eleven!” Correction: I’ve been informed that it was not Gil Santos, but Charles LaQuidara. Sorry, Gil. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/35 "2009-04-24T02:47:26Z")
SJ vs. ANA tonight SJ McGowan takes a shot on goal. (18:24) Announcer (?) says “He drops it, he spanks it, and he misses!” :smack::dubious:😕 ---
**Author:** ![A\_Spoonful\_of\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@A\_Spoonful\_of\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Spoonful_of_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/36 "2009-04-24T05:12:32Z")
From Madden. Pre-recorded, mind you, on his video game. “…that’s why 80% of the game is half mental”. That’s why you’re a legend, Johnny boy. I can’t remember which year. Gun to head, I’d say '07. Then I’d wonder why you would immediately resort to such a drastic interrogation method for something so mundane and I probably wouldn’t let you come over to play video games anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/37 "2009-04-24T05:29:20Z")
You must be half mental if you don’t realize that this equals 40%. Which with 40% of trying and 40% of effort would be a big BAM! TOUGH ACTIN’ TINACTIN! Now get on that blocking dummy, Dummy! ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/38 "2009-04-24T12:10:37Z")
> [@A\_Spoonful\_of\_Awesome](#): > > From Madden. Pre-recorded, mind you, on his video game. > > “…that’s why 80% of the game is half mental”. > > That’s why you’re a legend, Johnny boy. > > I can’t remember which year. Gun to head, I’d say '07. Then I’d wonder why you would immediately resort to such a drastic interrogation method for something so mundane and I probably wouldn’t let you come over to play video games anymore. That was no doubt an intentional thing since it’s a takeoff of an infamous Yogi Berra quote. (Though I belive in Yogi’s case he said 90%.) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_in\_NYC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a698b9/32.png) [@Jim\_in\_NYC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_in_NYC)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/39 "2009-06-27T17:14:01Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > Still remember when my Seahawks put 45 points on Minnesota…in the FIRST HALF in 2002. Shaun Alexander set an NFL record with 5 TDs in the first half. They get back from the halftime show and Mike Patrick says: > > LOL. I think I watched that no less than 20 times. 😃 What’s really funny is that the bulk of those points came in the last 5 minutes of the first half. Up until Alexander caught that 80-yard bomb, the game was pretty close. After that, Minnesota fumbled two kickoffs in a row and gave Seattle ridiculously short fields to work with. Then Culpepper threw that interception…and the rest is history. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592/40 "2009-06-27T23:05:19Z")
[I’m not a big Gay guy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RXaERVhNuU). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sports-announcers-wtf-did-you-just-say/493592.md?page=3)