SPORTS ON NY RADIO by David Halberstam; Encarta Dictionary

Tue Sep 21 18:22:11 UTC 1999

If it was Spanish, he heard an "H" sound--not hard "G."
----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis R. Preston <preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: SPORTS ON NY RADIO by David Halberstam; Encarta Dictionary


> Hmmmm! Whose Spanish was Halberstam listening to when he heard "hard _G_"
> in "Los Angeles"?
>
> dInIs
>
> >SPORTS ON NEW YORK RADIO:
> >A PLAY-BY-PLAY HISTORY
> >By David J. Halberstam
> >(Halberstam was the radio announcer of the Miami Heat and has long worked
St.
> >John's college basketball in the New York area--ed)
> >Masters Press, NTC/Contemporary Publishing group, 1999
> >424 pages hardcover, $24.95
> >
> >Pg. VI  Red was Red (Barber--ed.).  He insisted upon pronouncing _Los
> >Angeles_ with a hard _G_, the Hispanic way.  ("Los Angeles" is not in
> >DARE--ed.)
> >
> >Pg. 21  (Sam--ed.) Taub was the first to incorporate the lingo of the
fight
> >scribes and the pugilists themselves.  "The third man in the ring."  "He
> >crowned him into the ropes."  "He lunges out with a long right high to
his
> >head."  Some also credit Taub with the phrase "an overhand right
uppercut."
> >Others attribute it to McNamee.
> >
> >Pg. 39  He (Bill Munday) used descriptions never heard before, referring
to
> >the end zone as the "land of milk and honey" or "the promised land,"
phrases
> >still popular today.
> >
> >Pg. 65  Yet it was that very first night that he (Foster Hewitt on March
23,
> >1923--ed.) blurted out in his falsetto, "he shoots, he scores."  It would
> >turn out to be the legend's trademark call forever. (...)  New York's
first
> >true basketball broadcaster, Marty Glickman, has said that the geography
> >Hewitt gave hockey on radio offered great illumination on his approach to
the
> >game on the hardwood.  Terms such as "along the boards," "crosses the
blue
> >line," or "moves it into the Leafs' zone," all had basketball equivalents
> >that helped steer Glickman in developing the nomenclature for his
> >groundbreaking basketball work.
> >
> >Pg. 79 (Marv--ed.) Albert's patented line in hockey usually followed a
flurry
> >and a great save by the goalie.  With typical Albert flair, it was "stick
> >save and a beauty!"
> >
> >Pg. 107 (Les--ed.) Keiter's stock line for most touchdown runs was "5,"
> >pause, "4," pause, "3," pause, "2," pause, "1," pause, "touchdown!"
THose
> >last five yards took forever to let Keiter squeeze every last second of
drama
> >from it.  Another Keiterism was, "He zigged when he should have zagged.
And
> >he zagged when he should have zigged."
> >
> >Pg. 110  If Mel Allen's classic home-run description was "going, going,
> >gone," Marty's (Glickman--ed.) field-goal call was his stamp on the
> >broadcast.  "It's high enough, it's deep enough, it's through there, it's
> >through there!"
> >
> >Pg. 202  Keiter created a whole vocabulary for basketball.  Briefly, they
are:
> >_Tickling the twine_.....Marty Glickman's version of "swish," no iron
> >_Ring-tailed howitzer_..an off-balance last-second shot
> >_The arithmetic reads_..the score of the game
> >_In the air...in the bucket_..a shot launched that was good
> >_In-again-out-again-Finnegan_..a shot that agonizingly falls out after
it's
> >halfway in
> >
> >Pg. 220  The one basketball line he (John Sterling--ed.) used was "bull's
> >eye."  Jim karvellas must have bristled when he heard it.  Sterling
traced
> >his roots through Baltimore, where he did some color for Jim on Bullets
> >broadcasts.  Karvo was the first to popularize "bull's eye."
> >
> >Pg. 230  The profile also raved about his (Arch McDonald's--ed.) colorful
> >descriptions: "two dead birds" for a double play or "ducks on the pond"
for
> >base runners.
> >
> >Pg. 232  Red (Barber--ed.) introduced his New York constituency to
homespun
> >Southern idioms never heard before in the big metropolis.  _Newsweek_
printed
> >just a few of them in 1945:
> >_Sitting in the catbird seat_.......everything is going your way
> >_I'll be a suck-egg mule_...........Red is pretty concerned
> >_A can 'a corn_........................an easy-to-catch fly ball
> >_F.O.B_...................................the bases are full of Brooklyns
> >_The bottom of the pickle vat_....the Bums are in bad trouble
> >
> >Pg. 243  Vin's (Sully--ed.) occasional home run call "forget it" was born
in
> >Brooklyn.  "I picked up 'forget it' from the players themselves around
the
> >batting cage.  If a guy gets what they judge to be a base hit, he gets
> >another chance.  Naturally, there's a lot of arguing as to whether it
would
> >have been a hit since there are no infielders during batting practice.
But
> >when it's a home run, they just say, 'forget it.'"  The signature caught
on.
> >Bert Lee would imitate his "forget it" call on pre- and postgame shows
over
> >WMGM.  (Could this be the birth of FORGEDDABOUTIT?--ed.)
> >
> >Pg. 246  It was (Arch--ed.) McDonald, the true original "voice of the
> >Yankees," who dubbed Joe DiMaggio the "Yankee Clipper," not Mel Allen.
He
> >also came up with other catchy phrases such as "right down Broadway" (a
pitch
> >right over the plate) and "the ducks are on the pond" (men on base).
> >
> >Pg. 251  "'How about that!' originated in 1949 just after Joe DiMaggio
missed
> >65 games.  When he came back he hit four home runs in three days.  Fans
were
> >(Pg. 252) hysterical and I couldn't help showing enthusiasm as they began
to
> >climb.  It was during those excitingh afternoons that I would cry, 'How
about
> >that!'"  He elaborated, "I did this without the slightest premeditiation.
It
> >was just a natural impulse."
> >     The other (Mel--ed.) Allen expression, "going, going, gone," also
> >emerged naturally.  In 1946, when a ball kept carrying at Yankee Stadium,
"I
> >just kept saying, it's going, going, as the ball sailed out of sight."
> >
> >Pg. 261  ...(Jerry--ed.) Coleman's exclamation "Oh, Doctor" didn't seem
to
> >ruffle partner Barber, who made it famous long before Jerry ever put on
> >big-league cleats.
> >
> >Pg. 272  The games were on WABC and there were those who felt his (Frank
> >Messer-ed.) home-run call was a reach, "A. B. C. you later!"
> >
> >Pg. 287 It was the year (1954--ed.) that (Ross--ed.) Hodges authored his
> >home-run call, "bye-bye baby."  The signature call later became quite
popular
> >in San Francisci.  "It's a battle cry which any western follower of the
> >Giants instantly recognizes and now we even have a song based on it,"
Hodges
> >said in his 1963 book, _My Giants_.  "But New Yorkers never adopted it.
To
> >them, it was just another pet expression by a sports announcer."
> >
> >(Halberstam doesn't mention the New Jersey Nets' Bill Raftery, who uses
"kiss
> >off the glass" and "send it in!"  In the last chapter, Halberstam
mentions
> >his own fate.  The player John Crotty attended the University of
Virginia,
> >which was founded by Thomas Jefferson.  Halberstam said that "Jefferson
would
> >have been proud of that pass by Crotty.  Basketball wasn't invented at
the
> >time of President Jefferson but those slaves on his farm, I'm sure they
would
> >have made good basketball players."  Halberstam apologized for the
comment,
> >but was fined $2,500 and later fired.  On Pg. 337:  "Unfortunately,
there's a
> >double standard set for radio broadcasters.  Talk-show hosts get away
with
> >virtually any flagrant remark and it's just brushed off as shock radio.
Yet
> >should a play-by-play person digress in an untraditional manner it's
decried
> >as having gone above the line.")
> >
> >Pg. 353 _TEN MOST POPULAR PHRASES_
> >_Author_                                                   _Phrase_
> >Mel Allen............."It's going, going, gone!" signature home-run call
> >Marv Albert.........."Yesss!" for a made Knicks basket
> >Mel Allen............."How about that!" anything astonishing
> >Phil Rizzuto........."Holy Cow!" anything from Roger Maris's 61st home
run to
> >traffic on the George Washington Bridge
> >Marty Glickman...."Swish!" a shot that went right through the cords
without
> >hitting iron
> >Bob Murphy........."We'll be back with the happy recap" going into a
> >commercial break after a Mets win
> >Marty Glickman...."It's good...like Nedicks!" a basket by the home team
> >(Nedick's sponsored broadcasts)
> >Marty Glickman...."It's high enough, it's deep enough, it's through
there!" a
> >made field goal on the gridiron
> >Les Keiter............"In again, out again, finningan (sic)" a shot on
the
> >hardwood that pin-balled in and out
> >Marv Albert.........."Kick save and a beauty!" great save by the goalie
in
> >hockey
> >
> >
> >
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
> >---------------------------------------------
> >110%
> >
> >    As expected, I found it in an article about Pete Rose, "Will Pete
Rose
> >Ever Grow Up?", ESQUIRE, October 1974, pg. 211, col. 1:
> >
> >     Pete Rose rarely does anything half-ass.  As he puts it, he always
gives
> >"one hundred ten percent."
> >
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
> >---------------------------------------------
> >ENCARTA DICTIONARY
> >
> >     Two books by Allan Metcalf are on the shelves of the local Border's
> >bookstore: AMERICA IN SO MANY WORDS (paperback edition) and, if I
remember
> >the title correctly, THE WORLD IN SO MANY WORDS.
> >     NEW YORK: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY should be out in a week or two.
Ric
> >Burns got a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities for his
> >documentary, but the grant luckily doesn't require him to respond to
humans.
> >     The ENCARTA WORLD ENGLISH DICTIONARY is out.  Anne Soukhanov and
John
> >Ayto and Sol Steinmetz (and Lynne Murphy?) are associated with the
project,
> >but it's astonishingly weak on Americanisms and etymology.  Bill Gates is
> >almost a trillionaire, I've never made a single penny, yet I have to
endure
> >this:
> >
> >BIG APPLE _n._  informal name for New York City (From APPLE, used by jazz
> >musicians to mean "job," and the fact that New York was the most
sought-after
> >place to have a job or engagement)
>
> Dennis R. Preston
> Professor of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics and Languages
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
> preston at pilot.msu.edu
> Office: (517)353-0740
> Fax: (517)432-2736