Bad boys on the court, questionable calls by officials, and even fans causing trouble
on the field. These are just some of the things that made sports announcers lose it on live TV.
Chicago Cubs fans have been throwing back home run balls from the opposite team since 1969.
Basically, the tradition is a way for Cubs fans to express
their unhappiness about the other squad homering.
But the tradition irks some people,
like Cincinnati Reds announcer Marty Brennaman, who blasted the ritual in April 2008.
It wasn't just because fans threw the Reds' home run balls back onto the field;
at one point, they threw a bunch of commemorative baseballs that were given to them before the game.
So, imagine seeing a bunch of white balls coming from everywhere like a hailstorm.
"This is the kind of thing, quite honestly, right now,
that makes you want to see the Chicago Cubs team lose."
Brennaman also took a shot at Cubs fan in general, adding,
"Far and away the most obnoxious fans in baseball
in this league are those who follow this team right here."
It's safe to say that Cubs fans won't forget Brennaman's fiery comments anytime soon. While the
announcer was okay with a more temperate display of the ritual, all those balls were just too much.
It's never okay for a football player to tackle another by leading with their helmet,
and it's illegal in most leagues since the move can cause serious injury. So, that's
presumably why the former announcer for Florida Atlantic University's football team, Dave LaMont,
completely lost it when FAU's quarterback took such a hit in 2010 while facing Arkansas State.
"He is defenseless. He's defenseless. Don't you understand? Throw a flag!"
If Lamont stopped there, he'd still be able to make this list based on the octave in
which he expressed his unhappiness. But the angry announcer was far from done,
and he eventually started threatening his colleagues in the press box.
"That's a flag and I'll fight any one of you if you want it.
That's what I, that's the mood I'm in at the moment."
LaMont later apologized,
telling The Palm Beach Post he was just "passionate about" FAU's football program.
When Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed failed to get a hobbling runner out,
announcer Steve Berthiaume was not pleased about it. Brewers' Daniel Vogelbach was hurt while
rounding third base and heading to home plate, which was enough to confuse Ahmed into inaction.
"Get it in. Get it in. Throw the ball. Oh my goodness."
The question is, though, why didn't Ahmed throw the ball to home plate? Because if you look at the
play, he glanced over at third and must have seen Vogelbach moving slowly. But after the game, the
shortstop said he did all he could, according to a tweet sent by Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy.
"You try to be ready for everything... But I've never once taken a cut & relay and practiced
for the guy pulling his hammy & being 30 ft outside the baseline. It's just never
happened. So I'm just going to laugh about it. There's nothing I could have done differently."
In the late 1980s, the Detroit Pistons weren't called "The Bad Boys" for nothing. That's because
team members like Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, and Bill Laimbeer ushered in a style of play that was
incredibly physical. Some loved the Pistons' knock-em-to-the-ground defensive approach,
but others couldn't stand it, like Johnny Most, the Boston Celtics' radio announcer. During
a game between the Celtics and the Pistons, after Laimbeer committed a foul, Most lost it.
"They have been called a dirty ballclub and I can see why."
"The yellow gutless way they do things here."
Sadly, Most passed away due to heart failure in 1993,
but he undoubtedly left an indelible mark on the game of basketball.
Are some judges in professional boxing corrupt? Teddy Atlas thinks so, which he said in 2017
after the fight ended in a draw. Atlas was so disgusted at the decision — or lack thereof — that
he talked about walking away from boxing after dedicating 40 years of his life to the sport.
"40 years, I'm a lifer. Where am I going to go? I've got nowhere to go.
But if I did I'd get the hell out of it. I'd get the hell out of it."
The second time he lost it was during an ESPN broadcast while
discussing the decision with fellow sports analyst Stephen A. Smith,
shouting about the corruption and lack of oversight in boxing.
"In Wall Street, there's corruption, but there's oversight. There's no oversight!"
"Calm down."
Atlas continued, citing specific examples of foul
play by the heads of the sport before turning on Smith himself.
"And you're trying to twist it around and be real quick on your words.
Stop that crap. Stop it. Stop it."
One could say that Atlas' rant will forever be
remembered, and he'll always be applauded for expressing himself with such passion.
Sometimes in baseball, when a pitcher hits a batter, the pitcher on the batter's team will
hit someone in retaliation. That's exactly what umpire Mark Wegner thought former Chicago White
Sox pitcher José Quintana did when he beamed a Tampa Bay Rays hitter in the leg.
The thing is, when most pitchers hit someone in retaliation,
it's around the upper body, not on their leg. In all likelihood,
Quintana didn't mean to hit the batter, even though his teammate was hit earlier in the game.
But, the White Sox's announcer Ken "Hawk" Harrelson ripped the umpire for his call.
"What are you doing? He threw him out of the ballgame? You gotta be beepin' me!
What in the hell are you doing?"
But Hawk wasn't done protesting.
"You gotta be kidding me. That is so bad, that is absolutely brutal."
Empowered by a stadium full of booing fans, Hawk continued to tear into the umpire.
"Here's an umpire in the American League that knows nothing about the game of baseball."
Harrelson then suggested Wegner be suspended
and sent back to umpire school before being reinstated. Ouch!
It's not only play-by-play people and sports analysts who've lost it on-air;
sportscasters are also guilty of losing their cool. Take Gary Radnich, who used to be the sports
guy at KRON 4 in the Bay Area before retiring. In 2016, after his colleague Catherine Heenan
broke the news about LeBron James being in the film "Space Jam," Radnich instantly got upset.
"Have you ever and I'm gonna say this with a smile have you ever heard me say,
right before you came on, 'There's an irrigation problem in Gilroy?"
And he just kept going, talking over Heenan, who's only crime was reading her script.
"You ever heard me say oh it's warm weather today? Never. I stay in my lane."
Radnich continued to express frustration at his colleague, while also saying it was
"Hard to be mad at Catherine though. She's a good friend of my mom's."
But based on his reaction, it didn't look all that difficult for him to get upset at Heenan,
who seemed to take his comments in stride.
The U.S. men's national soccer team was seriously struggling during the World Cup qualification in
2017, and retired soccer pro Alexi Lalas just couldn't take it. He waited until halftime of a
match between the Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles Galaxy to let his feelings be known. Lalas called
people out directly, publicly giving them a verbal spanking while throwing in a bit of sarcasm.
"Tim Howard. Tim, the Belgium game ended three years ago; we need you to save the ball now.
Geoff Cameron, clean it up or let's get someone who will."
He even scolded mild-mannered Michael Bradley.
"The U.S. does not need you to be zen, the U.S. needs you to play better."
And finally Lalas dropped a tactical nuke on the whole team.
"So what are you guys gonna do? Are you gonna continue to be a bunch of soft,
underperforming, tattooed millionaires."
Some of the players responded, like Bradley, who told Sportsnet,
"The lion doesn't care about the opinion of the sheep."
Howard shot back as well and told Sports Illustrated that Lalas was
just "an average player" and "a failed GM." Man, what drama back then, right?
In a 2013 game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota's Kevin Love
was obviously fouled by Dallas player Shawn Marion while shooting from the corner. But for some
reason, the referees didn't call it. Minnesota was down by two at that point with just three seconds
left, and Love could have tied the game with free throws if the foul was called. Minnesota ended up
losing the game 100-98, and the flub angered their announcer, Alan Horton, who screamed into his mic,
"Oh, that's a foul!"
Horton had more to say during the slow motion replay of the foul.
"Brutal! David Guthrie is right there. He didn't have the guts to call it."
Eventually, the NBA sided with Love and Horton,
admitting the refs botched things up by not blowing their whistle. Former NBA
president of basketball operations, Rod Thorn said of the incident,
"Through postgame video review, we have determined that Love was fouled on the right arm by Marion."
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