# Ted Williams (homeless guy with golden radio voice) thread
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 6, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646 "2011-01-06T19:27:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/1 "2011-01-06T19:27:17Z")
By now you’ve probably seen it but just in case.
[The basic story & YouTube video](http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Homeless+radio+announcer+Williams+becomes+star+after+video+goes+viral/4064331/story.html)
[His Wiki entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Williams_(announcer))
[Here’s him on the Today Show.](http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40944077/ns/today-today_people/)
Only thing to say is “MAN OH MAN, I hope this guy holds it together”. I hope he stays off drugs which is gonna be hard when he’s gone in a week from homeless to guest of honor on The Today Show and fielding hundreds of offers and tons of money being waved, but I really really hope he makes it. We almost need him to make it.
And of course the best of all possible worlds: he’ll marry Susan Boyle.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/2 "2011-01-06T19:29:18Z")
He’s perfect for being Cleveland’s new star. I hope he takes the job the Cavaliers offered him.
That’s a “Decision” we can get behind.
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/3 "2011-01-06T19:49:02Z")
It’s all over the news up here. We’re getting hourly updates. The Cavs have lost 18 out of their last 19; I’m just waiting for him to say “I’ll pass, thanks.”
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/4 "2011-01-06T20:09:08Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#):
>
> It’s all over the news up here. We’re getting hourly updates. The Cavs have lost 18 out of their last 19; I’m just waiting for him to say “I’ll pass, thanks.”
Maybe he’ll be the new voice of The Miami Heat.
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### Author:  [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/5 "2011-01-06T20:29:55Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> I hope he stays off drugs which is gonna be hard when he’s gone in a week from homeless to guest of honor on The Today Show and fielding hundreds of offers and tons of money being waved, but I really really hope he makes it. We almost need him to make it.
Yeah, that’s the kind of thing that can really get to someone’s head, but I’m hopeful that having already been through that cycle, he knows how bad it can get.
I can’t help but think of all the other people that aren’t getting the support Ted is, but even so, this is such a great story to set the tone for 2011.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/6 "2011-01-06T20:48:21Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#):
>
> It’s all over the news up here. We’re getting hourly updates. The Cavs have lost 18 out of their last 19; I’m just waiting for him to say “I’ll pass, thanks.”
That would be the greatest dissing of all time.
I’m guessing that’s the one he’ll take since it comes with an apartment. He can set up a small studio and do freelance work via email. I hope he rakes in all he can for now and pays back his ex-wives for child support (he has 9 kids).
What gives hope is that unlike most viral video stars he actually has talent and long term employment possibilities.
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/7 "2011-01-06T20:51:09Z")
Something just seems off about all of it.
If it’s true, good for him, but what about the personable homeless guy living in the van down by the river. (No, not that one, the other one…)
No life changing break for him?
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### Author:  [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/8 "2011-01-06T20:55:02Z")
I thought Ted Williams was a baseball player. I haven’t played the you-tube bit - I just read about it a few minutes ago on CNN’s website.
What’s so special about this guy?
StG
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/9 "2011-01-06T21:23:42Z")
[QUOTE=Casey1505]
Something just seems off about all of it.
If it’s true, good for him, but what about the personable homeless guy living in the van down by the river. (No, not that one, the other one…)
No life changing break for him?
[/QUOTE]
Well, at any given time there are enough homeless people in America to populate a good sized city. They can’t _all_ have viral videos. And voice acting is a bonafide talent.
> [@StGermain](#):
>
> I thought Ted Williams was a baseball player. I haven’t played the you-tube bit - I just read about it a few minutes ago on CNN’s website.
>
> What’s so special about this guy?
>
> StG
That’s what the video is for. Short version though: he looks like the mutual half-brother to Obama and Lurch and sounds like Shadoe Stevens.
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### Author:  [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/10 "2011-01-06T21:29:10Z")
It would seem like the drugs should have taken a toll on his voice. He sort of sounds like people sound if they are talking with cigarette smoke in their lungs, slightly muffled- though just barely. It makes me wonder what he sounded like at his prime.
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### Author:  [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/11 "2011-01-06T22:44:20Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> Short version though: he looks like the mutual half-brother to Obama and Lurch and sounds like Shadoe Stevens.
Was thinking Tim Meadows…
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### Author:  [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/12 "2011-01-06T23:21:33Z")
> [@Casey1505](#):
>
> Something just seems off about all of it.
>
> If it’s true, good for him, but what about the personable homeless guy living in the van down by the river. (No, not that one, the other one…)
>
> No life changing break for him?
Homeless guy without that kind of talent has it rough. Those are good people too, but we can’t afford to prop them all up. Homeless guy with phenomenal talent will hopefully prop himself up. I think he will make it. The cavaliers or whomever should watch him like a hawk, because publicity would not be good if he were allowed to fall back down.
---
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/13 "2011-01-07T00:21:45Z")
I hope they make sure he has a AA Sponsor. Handing this guy a huge wad of cash could really mess him up. I hope the press backs off a bit. Give him some room to adjust to his new life.
I’d like to see him make it. It’s a once in a life opportunity to start over. I hope he makes the most of it.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/14 "2011-01-07T00:37:25Z")
I dunno. My BS meter is going off on this one. Was he really homeless? Or is this a publicity/marketing stunt perpetrated by those he has signed contracts with?
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### Author:  [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/15 "2011-01-07T00:49:11Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I hope they make sure he has a AA Sponsor. Handing this guy a huge wad of cash could really mess him up.
He says he has been clean and sober for over two years, yet it looks like he has been arrested several times in that time frame, as recently as last May.
I hope he has a good support network as well, because if he is still struggling, having access to a fat pile of money would certainly be a temptation that would push many newly sober (or semi-sober) over the edge…
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/16 "2011-01-07T02:22:08Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> I hope they make sure he has a AA Sponsor. Handing this guy a huge wad of cash could really mess him up. I hope the press backs off a bit. Give him some room to adjust to his new life.
>
> I’d like to see him make it. It’s a once in a life opportunity to start over. I hope he makes the most of it.
He said on The Today Show that they had sent him to see a therapist, which if so is something I’m glad of since you don’t usually think of TV shows being that thoughtful.
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#):
>
> He says he has been clean and sober for over two years, yet it looks like he has been arrested several times in that time frame, as recently as last May.
TSM: [Meet the Felon With the Golden Voice](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/meet-felon-golden-voice)
They asked him about this on TDS and he didn’t deny it at all. He said that he often stole to support his drug habit and he’s been arrested for vagrancy, which is essentially what the incident last summer was about. A storeowner complained that he’d seen this guy urinate in front of the store and change his clothes outside and panhandle, and while I can 100% understand why a business owner wouldn’t want that in front of his store it doesn’t in and of itself make Williams a bad sort, just desperate.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/17 "2011-01-07T03:01:55Z")
Rachael Maddow announced that he has been hired by MSNBC, and he will will be interviewed by Lawrence O’Donnell.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/18 "2011-01-07T03:11:55Z")
Ooooh you know who this guy is? [Bubbles](http://www.elizabethcrane.com/blog/uploaded_images/ep51_bubbles_506_06-717484.jpg) from The Wire. Everyone loves Bubbles!
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/19 "2011-01-07T04:45:56Z")
The public vagrancy charges aren’t that bad. He lives outside, pees in the bushes, and changes clothes. It’s annoying to the property owners, but not unusual. Homeless people often live in the shadows of commercial property.
At least he doesn’t have any violent crimes on his record.
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> He said on The Today Show that they had sent him to see a therapist, which if so is something I’m glad of since you don’t usually think of TV shows being that thoughtful.
>
> TSM: [Meet the Felon With the Golden Voice](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/meet-felon-golden-voice)
>
> They asked him about this on TDS and he didn’t deny it at all. He said that he often stole to support his drug habit and he’s been arrested for vagrancy, which is essentially what the incident last summer was about. A storeowner complained that he’d seen this guy urinate in front of the store and change his clothes outside and panhandle, and while I can 100% understand why a business owner wouldn’t want that in front of his store it doesn’t in and of itself make Williams a bad sort, just desperate.
---
### Author:  [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-williams-homeless-guy-with-golden-radio-voice-thread/566646/20 "2011-01-07T05:03:26Z")
I love this story. If he is a phony/publicity stunt/something bad happens I will be sorely disappointed.
edit: but if it is a publicity stunt it is a really good one. gotta buy some Kraft now
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