To me Jim McKay will always be the voice of "Wide World of Sports." Through the years he was a part of how I vicariously experienced, as his voice-over said every week, "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat."But I will also never forget in 1972 when he informed America of the fate of the 11 Israeli athletes taken hostage in Munich during the Olympics, "They're all gone," McKay said, quietly, calmly, sadly. You could hear the loss in his voice; you could hear the finality of it as well.
It was a remarkable, told to us by a man who most likely never thought he would be the relater of such tragic news. After all, he was just a sportscaster. That got me thinking back to another sportscaster who was the messenger of tragic news during a broadcast of Monday Night Football on December 8, 1980.
Howard Cosell: Yes, we have to say it, remember this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy, confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City. John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the west side of New York City, the most famous perhaps of all of the Beatles. Shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital; dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that news flash, which in duty-bound, we have to tell you.
Maybe these "sportscasters" end up in these historic roles because we as a nation spend so much time doing the vicarious thrill-of-victory thing that it almost becomes inevitable that important news will be disbursed though these less than journalists. Then again, who knows more about tragedy than those who weekly cover the "agony of defeat?"
1 comment:
There was a good obit in last week's Sports Illustrated. Apparently hed' been swimming, and wore the wet trunks during that broadcast. There was a good line about him being able to make log rolling as engaging as the Olympics. He will be missed.
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