Think before you speak

[OldRightHander]

This isn't strictly baseball, but sports related, so I guess I'll put it here. I'm talking about those instances where an announcer is trying to make a clever analogy and says something that is either plain stupid or downright inappropriate. Yesterday, I heard one that I thought was just a bit on the inappropriate side. It was during the Bengals game yesterday. The announcer was doing a promo for the 60 Minutes program and mentioned a segment they were going to do about a man who had been a captive in Iraq for 10 months and had been tortured. He then said that the Chicago QB had been through his own torture in the game. You know, I really don't think an athlete having a bad day can compare to whatever physical torture that fellow endured in Iraq. Perhaps we shouldn't expect too much out of sports announcers, but I would at least expect them to put just a small amount of thought into what they say. It's one thing to use the word "torture" when describing a poor performance, but to use that word right after talking about an incident of actual torture seems like really bad timing. Is it asking too much of sports announcers that they should think before they speak?

[Blimpie]

A good announcer knows that sometimes the best segues are the ones that are never used....

[KronoRed]

That's just bad...that's the kinda thing where you say it then wanna find a rock to hide under

[Roy Tucker]

Yeah, I heard that too. It was Randy Cross. I winced at the comment and had the exact thoughts you did. "Dude, do you realize what you just said?"

[Johnny Footstool]

Kind of like Wolf Blitzer's "They're so poor..." comment?

[Blimpie]

Kind of like Wolf Blitzer's "They're so poor..." comment?

I must have missed that one Footstool, what were the circumstances-if you recall?

[WMR]

Wolf Blitzer said, while watching some people in N.O. during the flood: "They are so poor, and so black..."

[TeamBoone]

Perhaps you should express your feelings to CBS. It prompt them to at least speak to Cross and fellow CBS announcers about such thoughtless words during a sports telecast.

If no one lets them know, they'll never know how much Americans don't appreciate such ridiculous comparisons and thoughtless comments by their employees on national TV (or any other time for that matter).

Thoughtless and stupid. I wouldn't be a bit surprised but what Chicago's QB would agree.

[Jaycint]

Yeah between the torture comment and his inability to conceal the fact that he was desperately pulling against the Bengals yesterday Cross had quite the stellar afternoon.

[Blimpie]

Wolf Blitzer said, while watching some people in N.O. during the flood: "They are so poor, and so black..."

Yikes....

[Johnny Footstool]

Yikes....

Yep. He said it live on the air. A friend told me about it, and I didn't believe it at first, but then I saw the video clip on the internet.

[SunDeck]

I usually feel bad for sports announcers who are expected to hawk crappy tv during a sporting event. It's always so forced. The best thing they can do is just read the copy and get on with the game, IMO.

[macro]

Announcers are in a tough position, because any misstep is going to be heard by millions of people and talked about. That being said, Randy Cross is a boob and a poor announcer, and made a huge mistake by saying that.