Sports broadcasting is an art. You have the ability to communicate live events to the masses in real-time….or maybe say something brutally offensive to either never be heard from again or be known as “that broadcaster”!
These are the announcers we could consider as degenerates, bad announcers, or misfits of the sports broadcasting world. They end up on the “island of misfit announcers” wondering when their next, potentially non-existent opportunity will come to announce again.Who is on this island you ask? Let’s take a look at some of the premiere individuals who ended up here and why.
THOM BRENNAMAN
You can’t make this stuff up. Last I heard he actually had a gig announcing baseball in Puerto Rico or something. Sounds fun! Watch the video to hear exactly what he said including the awkward apology.“I think of myself as a man of faith as here’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos. It will be a home run. And so that will make it a four-nothing ball game…I don’t know if I will be putting on a headset again.”
– Thom Brennaman
BRIAN KINCHEN
Most don’t know or even remember Former NFL tight end and long snapper, Brian Kinchen. That’s because his career as a color commentator for ESPNU was short-lived for good reason. He is known for the “4th Down & 9” bit, which was the exact line said by play-by-play guy, Clay Matvick (Minnesota, shout out!) after Kinchen’s awkward dialogue about catching the football during a live broadcast. For some reason, Kinchen wanted to go on about how the hands are “tender” and meant to “caress.” That in itself was creepy, but what he said in addition to this was just the cherry on top to get this guy suspended. Hear for yourself:
The funniest thing about this whole video may be the awkward pause and then the “4th down and 9” from Matvick. Pure hilarity! Surprisingly, he was only suspended from his duties as a color commentator, but I don’t think he ever saw the light of day again in terms of announcing college football.
MIKE MILBURY
I liked Mike! Had your typical Canadian-Esque, hockey accent when breaking down hockey games, but unfortunately, he had to go and say something stupid live on-air. He said, “Not even any woman here to disrupt your concentration” in reference to the NHL bubble in August 2020. Even if his comment was taken out of context, just don’t bring up genders or anything involving that on live television in this day and age. Just stay away from it. Don’t bring it up. You will get fired no matter how severe it is:
BERT BLYLEVEN
We all know who he is and you probably know why he is on this list. But here’s a little reminder if you don’t: “Oh, we’re live! I didn’t know that!” This classic line will forever go down as one of the best one-liners in sports broadcasting lore. I think this competes with Bill O’Reilly’s “We’ll do it live! Fuck it!” bit. When you drop F-Bombs on live television and get away with it (for the most part), you’ve made it. You can probably retire:
“I just fucked it up!”: Broadcasting at its finest! Bert was only suspended two games and continued broadcasting for practically 14 years until his final game in 2020. But in recent seasons he called fewer and fewer games until he was done for good. Maybe it had something to do with this, and the curse of this incident had a delayed effect on his career. All I know is Blyleven will not only be known as a Hall of Fame pitcher but as a broadcaster who swore on live television. Not necessarily a bad thing.
CHRIS “BOOMER” BERMAN
You may be thinking, what the hell is Boomer doing on this list? He never said anything offensive, never got fired or anything like that. He just brought pure entertainment to the viewers. On-air, yes. But behind the scenes, believe it or not, Boomer had a bit of a potty mouth. He looooooooved dropping F-Bombs as if he was financially obligated to do so (Maybe he was):
What a dude! This actually seems very fitting for a high-energy guy like Boomer. I’m glad it was at least documented behind the scenes for our viewing pleasure. Let’s be honest, this probably just boosts Boomer’s legendary status as a sports broadcaster, but he had to be on this list for bad behavior. If you are a professional broadcaster dropping as many F-bombs as Boomer, you may be a misfit, a legendary misfit!
There are definitely more announcers and broadcasters even beyond sports that could be placed on this mythical island of misfits *cough* Bill O’Reilly *cough*. But all five of these individuals are arguably the kings of misfit island.
Remember sports broadcasting is an art! And these broadcasters are just providing us some class-A entertainment.
Who else should be on this list?
The best damn Journalist to ever do it, until I’m not!