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Operating as usual
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/john_andariese_dies.html
John Andariese, longtime New York Knicks broadcaster, died on March 12 at his home in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was 78.
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/Al_Mccoy_ring_of_honor.html
McCoy, who is in his 45th year as the radio voice of the Suns, will be inducted as the 15th member of the Suns "Ring of Honor" during a special halftime ceremony.
CBS Sports and Turner Sports revealed their announcing teams for the 2017 NCAA Tournament, which include some changes from last year's lineup.
Vin Scully, recently retired voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for 67 years, has been named as one of the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Other recipients include basketball Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as well as iconic actor Robert DeNiro and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen. Scully will receive his award, which is the highest civilian honor in the United States specifically given to individuals who made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors,” at the White House on November 22. The broadcasting legend is pictured here receiving the "Sportscaster of the Century" Award from ASA President Lou Schwartz at Dodger Stadium in 2000.
After a 108 year drought, the Chicago Cubs have finally won the World Series. The following is ASA member Joe Buck's call on Fox of this historical sports moment:
“Here’s the 0-1. This is going to be a tough play! Bryant! THE CUBS! WIN THE WORLD SERIES! Bryant makes the play! It’s over! And the Cubs have finally won it all, 8-7 in 10!”
On the radio side, Pat Hughes provided this description on 670 WSCR in Chicago:
“A little bouncer, slowly towards Bryant. He will glove it and throw to Rizzo! This game’s over, and the Chicago Cubs win the World Series! The Cubs come pouring out of the dugout, jumping up and down like a bunch of delirious 10-year-olds! The Cubs have done it! The longest drought in the history of American sports is over, and the celebration begins!”
Congratulations Chicago!
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/scully_enberg_stories.html
As the 2016 baseball regular season has come to an end, sadly, so too have the careers of broadcasting giants Vin Scully and Dick Enberg.
Longtime Houston Rockets broadcaster and ASA Lifetime member Bill Worrell will reduce his schedule to home games and selected road games on Root Sports Southwest this season. Radio broadcaster Craig Ackerman will assume TV play by play duties for most Rockets road games. Worrell is teamed with Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and fellow ASA member Matt Bullard.
It looks like the Dodgers will be headed to the post season, unfortunately, legendary announcer Vin Scully has said he won’t be calling any playoff games on the radio. The ASA Hall of Famer will say his goodbyes to the home crowd at Dodger Stadium on Sept 25th and his final game will be Oct. 2 against the Giants at AT&T Park. The team has been lobbying for Scully to continue to grace the airwaves into the playoffs but the season, his 67th , has been one long farewell tour and its probably starting to weigh on the 88-year old. After all, how many times can you say goodbye. Baseball won’t be the same without him. Here's a nice shot of Scully at the ASA Hall of Fame Dinner in 1992 with Yogi Berra, Jon Miller, Tommy Lasorda and Bob Costas.
Good Luck to Lifetime ASA Member Sean McDonough who is set to call his first Monday Night Football game, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Washington Redskins, tonight at 7:10 pm with partner Jon Gruden. McDonough is taking over the reins from fellow Lifetime member Mike Tirico, who is now with NBC.
Craig Sager, colorful NBA sideline reporter for TNT, received a rare third bone marrow transplant on August 31 as he continues to battle Leukemia. The lifetime ASA member, who announced in March that his cancer had returned, was forced to cancel his trip to the Rio Olympics. Sager, 65, has been remarkably upbeat since he was diagnosed with the disease in 2014. “Man, life is too beautiful, too wonderful, there’s just too many things,” Sager said. “It’s not just you. It’s your family and kids and all. Fight. Fight until the end. Fight as hard as you can.” Our thoughts and prayers are with him.
The Golden State Warriors are moving...to a different radio station. After 32 years on KNBR, the Warriors will have a new home on 95.7 "The Game" starting with the 2016-17 NBA season. Tim Roye, the team’s play-by-play man for 22 years, will be making the move. However, the status of analyst Tom Tolbert, who also hosts a talk show in KNBR, is uncertain. The recent knock on KNBR is that the Warriors games were sometimes bumped down the dial for Giants baseball. “The Game” will dedicate much more air time to the 2015 NBA Champs, including the playoffs, extended pre- and post-game coverage and special programming.
Mike Tirico will be doing football on NBC after all. The former ESPN “Monday Night Football” voice, who was scheduled to do the play-by-play on NBC’s Thursday Night Football package before the NFL decided they wanted Al Michaels to handle the call, has been given the assignment of host of “Sunday Night Football.” Bob Costas, who has been handling those duties, will now preside over the Thursday night telecasts.
Report: Al Michaels not Mike Tirico will call Thursday Night Football for NBC
When Mike Tirico was lured to NBC away from ESPN, the conventional wisdom was that he would call Thursday Night Football games with Cris Collinsworth while Al Michaels would continue to call Sunday Night Football. Well, that plan has apparently been kiboshed by the NFL, a.k.a. "The 800 lb. Gorilla."...
According to Brazilian authorities, U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte lied about being robbed at gunpoint last Sunday by men posing as police officers. It seems Lochte and two other U.S. swimmers were heading back to the Olympic Village after partying at Club France until the wee hours of the morning when they stopped at a gas station to use the restroom. Apparently the athletes damaged the restroom door and were detained by a security guard, who did brandish a gun. Lochte and the other swimmers eventually resolved the situation with the station manager and paid for the damages. Not sure why Lochte and company felt the need to fabricate this story, which garnered international attention and struck a major blow to Rio's already tarnished image as a high crime area. Olympic officials aren't making too much of the incident though, essentially chalking it up to "boys being boys."
U.S. women's soccer star Hope Solo was taken to task by former teammates and analysts Julie Foudy and Danielle Slaton for saying "we played a bunch of cowards" following the U.S. team's shocking loss to Sweden last Friday.
Foudy, now an ESPN analyst who played with Solo before retiring in 2004, had this to say:
“I shook my head. I thought, why is that necessary. There’s a long history and tradition with our national team of respecting others when you lose, so I don’t agree with it at all. I think it’s pretty obvious that Sweden took a tactic that most outmatched teams take in soccer, it’s been happening for centuries in fact.
“They played a lower defensive line, I wouldn’t even call it a bunker because they did come out, it wasn’t like they bunkered the entire game. To call them cowards for playing a tactically smart game is ridiculous and classless, and it really doesn’t represent the house that we built with the U.S. team.”
Danielle Slaton, who played for the U.S. team from 1999-2003 and is covering the Olympics in Rio, also came down on her former teammate.
“It’s ridiculous,” Slaton said. “It’s not cowardice, it’s discipline. They had a game plan and they stuck to it. I get that she’s frustrated, I get that that’s maybe not the result she wanted, but I disagree with her fully, wholeheartedly. Credit goes to Sweden, and quite frankly, Hope Solo needs to learn how to be a gracious loser.”
It was a tough day for Solo, who was unable to stop the penalty kicks that eventually gave Sweden the victory and sent the U.S. team home without reaching the finals for the first time since women's soccer became an Olympic sport in 1996.
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/john_saunders_dies.html
John Saunders, well known ESPN personality for 30 years, passed away today at the age of 61.
The chaos of the Olympics has arrived. Fortunately, we have Bob Costas.
The longtime NBC anchor brings his steadying touch to his 11th Games.
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/james_brown_rozelle_award.html
James Brown, longtime NFL studio host, will receive the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award
NFL analyst Tom Jackson has made the decision to retire from broadcasting, concluding a remarkable 29-year career at ESPN. A Hall of Fame broadcaster, Jackson joined the company in 1987 as one of ESPN’s first NFL analysts following an outstanding 14-year playing career with the Denver Broncos. He will work his final assignment this week (Aug. 6-7) at Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend in Canton, Ohio.
Charles Barkley, the outspoken basketball Hall of Famer and TNT announcer, will be getting his own show. Barkley will host "The Race Card,"an hour-long show featuring the NBA legend discussing “hot-button topics” with guests such as cultural leaders with varying viewpoints and perspectives. TNT released the following statement: “NBA legend and Inside the NBA analyst Charles Barkley has had enough. The America that he knew has lost its way, becoming mired in partisan politics, social divides and entrenched corporate interests. Now he hopes to get to the root of the problem in the new limited-run series, The Race Card." TNT has ordered six episodes of the show, with plans to launch in early 2017.
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/vin_scully_cleats.html
MLB Threatens to Fine Yasiel Puig for Wearing Vin Scully Cleats
The house cleaning continues at ESPN with word that longtime "Sunday NFL Countdown" analyst Tom Jackson will likely be leaving the network prior to the 2016 season. Jackson, 65, has been part of the "Coundtown " team alongside host Chris Berman since he arrived in Bristol in 1987. ESPN has already parted ways with Mike Ditka, Keyshawn Johnson and Chris Carter, replacing them with Charles Woodson, Matt Hasselback and Randy Moss. Berman's future at ESPN is unclear as well, as his contract expires in 2017 and there have been reports that the he will either retire or take a reduced role. The Boomer has been a fixture at ESPN since its inception in 1979.
Jerry Remy, Boston Red Sox TV analyst on NESN, was forced to leave Saturday's game against the Minnesota Twins in the second inning after he was hit in the head by a TV monitor that fell off the wall in the broadcast booth. Steve Lyons came on in relief of Remy and finished the game with play-by-play man Dave O'Brien. Thankfully, Remy did not sustain any serious injuries and was back in the booth on Sunday.
Received the following phone message in the ASA office this morning from legendary announcer Bob Wolff:
"What a thrill to receive this interview in the mail this morning. You did a magnificent job. It was a wonderful gift and I appreciate it tremendously. You and the ASA have always been so nice to me and I am really quite grateful."
If you haven't read the interview, here it is: http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/bob_wolff_interview.html
The following is an interview of broadcasting pioneer Bob Wolff conducted by ASA President Lou Schwartz
NBC announces Mike Tirico to host Open Championship, Olympics and call NFL Preseason
When NBC announced its record 170 announcers for the Rio Olympics, one name was noticeably absent. Mike Tirico. Well, we know now what he will be doing in Rio. He'll be one of the daytime hosts for NBC to be stationed at its Copacabana Beach set, almost in the same location where he was a host…
NBC announces most of its Olympic-record 170 commentators
It looks like NBC will be going big on August's Rio Olympics in a variety of ways, with over 6,700 hours of coverage and significant online programming to buttress its television feeds, and that extends to the announcing front. A NBC release from Monday cites their 170 commentators as "the most ever...
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/bob_wolff_interview.html
The following is an interview of broadcasting pioneer Bob Wolff conducted by ASA President Lou Schwartz
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/mike_crispino_interview.html
The following is an interview with veteran MSG Network announcer Mike Crispino conducted by ASA President Lou Schwartz
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/julianne_viani_interview.html
The following is an exclusive interview with Julianne Viani, New York Liberty analyst on the MSG Network, conducted by ASA President Lou Schwartz
Former Cleveland Cavaliers broadcaster Joe Tait enjoys his old team winning title as he battles...
Former Cleveland Cavaliers broadcaster Joe Tait has a greater appreciation for LeBron James and his leadership.
http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/muhammad_ali_pictures.html
All eyes were on Louisville, KY, today as the life of boxing legend Muhamamd Ali was celebrated during a Memorial Service at the KFC Yum! Center.
For the first time in his illustrious career, TNT reporter Craig Sager will be working the sidelines for an NBA Finals game. A Lifetime Member of ASA, Sager, will work Game 6 tonight in Cleveland with announcers Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson and Doris Burke. He was approached by TNT and ESPN executives about making the special appearance on the ESPN on ABC telecast and was thrilled to have the opportunity to fill out his resume which oddly enough doesn't include an NBA Championship game.
ESPN extends Dick Vitale through the 2018-19 season
ESPN has announced that 77 year old Dick Vitale has signed a new contract extension that will take him through the 2018-19 season. It adds one more year to his contact. It will take Vitale to his 40th season on the networks of ESPN. Vitale joined the Worldwide Leader in its very first year in 1979-8...
In somewhat of an unorthodox move, Annie Apple, mother of New York Giants first round draft pick Eli, has been hired by ESPN to contribute to its Sunday NFL coverage. Whether it will be a distraction for the rookie defensive back and/or the Giants remains to be seen.
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