Larry Brown Sports

We have a section here at LBS called “crazy fans” where we write about people so passionate about their teams that they lose perspective of normalcy. For instance, there was that Arizona Cardinals fan who got a tattoo on his butt for tickets to the NFC Championship Game. Or there was this Packers fan who let his toes freeze off to watch Green Bay play. Most of these incidents center around fans of a team, but I believe we have our first example of someone so passionate about a radio show that he ended up in this category.

On Thursday, a caller named “Smokey” called Paul Finebaum’s radio show despite having a heart attack. I was alerted to this insanity by SI reporter Andy Staples who tweeted out the news via Dennis Dodd, and of course I had to check into the show to hear it myself. Sure enough, Smokey put a nurse on to confirm he was in the hospital. Worst part of all, Finebaum kept the guy on hold for 15 minutes because he had no idea the guy was actually having a heart attack. Listen to this classic audio:

[audio:http://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/finebaum-heart-attack1.mp3|titles=finebaum-heart-attack]

That’s how you know you’ve truly arrived as a radio program. You don’t have a following until your callers dial you up from the ER, you know?

Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of Vin Scully calling Dodgers games — a truly remarkable feat. Several people wrote tributes to Vin including Tony Jackson at ESPNLA, Eric Stephen at TrueBlueLA, and the Associated Press. All of those were lovely tributes to one of my favorite broadcasters of all-time. But there was one tribute that topped them all and it came from Jimmy Traina at SI Hot Clicks. Jimmy linked to an audio clip of Jon Miller (another one of my favorite broadcasters) doing an impression of Vin Scully in both Japanese and Spanish. I hadn’t heard these clips in over five years and there’s just as funny now as they were then. Check em out and skip ahead to the 1:30 mark:

For important background on the impressions, Miller is not mocking Scully; he’s explaining that broadcasters abroad tried to mimic Scully and he was replicating those calls. Well, that’s the background unless I’m falling for a joke. Speaking of jokes, my man Eddie Garcia at FOX Sports Radio told me a classic Jon Miller story. Apparently Miller was down by the boardwalk in Venice, CA and went up to a hamburger stand by the beach. Miller asked the worker if they had any veggie burgers. After Miller received the perplexed look he wanted, Jon went on to order a double cheeseburger. Classic Miller.

Sources:
Alyssa Milano Talks Dodgers, Sixty for Scully [SI Extra Mustard Hot Clicks]

Imagine my surprise when ESPN analyst, Merril Hoge, was signing off from the fantasy football show on Sunday, and let this slip out. Call it Freudian? I don’t know. I’ll let you decide for yourself:

I just can’t even imagine what it was like on set for Schwab and Matthew Barry. There’s no way you didn’t hear that one. Impressively, Hoge just kept rolling along like nothing had happened, didn’t even stop to correct himself.

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Last night I was watching the Angels/A's game when a rather dubious exchange took place between Angels broadcasters Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler. They were promoting The Simpsons Movie which led Physioc to mention donuts. The donuts mention led Phys to mention brownies.

It was an awful lead in by Physioc, and Hudler fell right into the trap. Now, before you play the audio, consider this: Hudler was arrested at the Kansas City International Airport back in 2003 for marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia. OK, now play the audio and enjoy a nice laugh.

MP3 File

I noted recently that Joe Morgan was caught making a mistake (also known as a lie) while telling a story on Sunday Night Baseball. He said that he helped the Phillies continue their notable 10 game losing streak with an RBI single in his major league debut back in 1964. Problem was, Morgan made his debut in 1963, and he never even had an RBI in 1964. So Joe was wrong on both accounts, trying to place himself into a situation that he clearly was not a part of.

Well, Phil Musnick in the NY Post noted that Morgan was expected to make a correction on his next broadcast of Sunday Night Baseball. That night came, and Joe acknowledged his mistake. Kind of. Jon Miller had to lead Joe through the entire event, with Morgan just giving one-word answers the entire time. You could really tell how much Morgan hated doing it. Listen to the audio right here (mp3).

Joe Morgan on LBS:
Joe Morgan Audio Apology
Joe Morgan is Officially Full of Crap

Joe Morgan was led by Jon Miller to issue a correction for a story he told on Sunday Night Baseball that was incorrect. Here's the correction to it.

MP3 File

The audio from Gary Sheffield's interview on HBO's Real Sports with Andrea Kremer. Amongst the highlights:

- Sheffield can't avoid controversy
- Yankees treat black and white players differently
- Joe Torre called him out
- Sheffield took the cream and the clear
- Sheffield is not a steroid user
- Steroids are only injected in the butt
- He was controlled by Barry Bonds

It was quite a well-done interview on all ends. I really enjoy Sheffield for speaking his mind and providing entertainment. One thing though, just because he did not know what he was taking does not absolve him from having used steroids while under Barry's watch — just like it doesn't absolve Barry. You have to be careful about the products you put in your body and the people with whom you surround yourself.

Letting Bonds control him was one of Sheffield's biggest mistakes. Overall, it was an excellent interview.

MP3 File