Sunday, July 16, 2000
SPORTS ON TV-RADIO
Hall planning keeps Marty busy
By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Marty Brennaman is not big on scripts. When he¹s talking on the radio, it's off the top of his head. He opens his mouth and the words flow. It's the same way if he's addressing the local Kiwanis club.
But a week from today, Brennaman will give the speech of his life. That's the day he gets inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Brennaman doesn't just want to get this one right; he wants it perfect. You don't ad lib when that's the goal.
So he sat down at his computer over the All-Star break and spent 31Ž2 hours outlining what will be a 7 1Ž2-minute speech. He has rehearsed three times since.
"This is a different kind of speech," Brennaman said. "You can go about it two ways: You can thank people in a general way, or you can be specific. I wanted to single out the people who had something to do with getting me to Cooperstown."
Brennaman plans to savor the weekend. To that end, he asked John Allen if he could skip the Reds-Astros game from Houston Thursday.
"We weren't going to get back to Cincinnati until about 2 in the morning," Brennaman said. "Then I'd have to pack and leave in the morning. I didn't want to go into the weekend tired."
Chris Welsh, the analyst for Fox Sports Net, will do Thursday's game on the radio with Joe Nuxhall.
"Chris was going to be there anyway," Brennaman said. "So John said, ŒFine.' "
Brennaman will miss four games in all. That's nearly as many as he missed in his 27 years as the voice of the Reds.
He missed two games in 1981 with laryngitis, one each for the college graduation of daughter Dawn and son Thom, and one to take his youngest daughter, Ashley, to college.
Dan Hoard, the Channel 19 weekend anchor, will do the three-game Arizona series for Brennaman. Welsh will sit in for Nuxhall, who also will attend the ceremonies in Cooperstown on Saturday. Louisville announcer Jim Kelch will do Sunday's game.
MORE MARTY: Brennaman will tape a show for Fox Sport Net's Hardcore Baseball. Fellow Hall of Famers-to-be Sparky Anderson and Tony Perez also will be on.
UC UPDATE: Word is that Jim Kelly and Chuck Machock will be back as radio analysts for UC football and basketball, respectively. They'll join Hoard, the new play-by-play man.
That's a good move. Both have strong ties to the programs and know their sports.
ROCKIN' RADIO: A reader called in to give Marc Amazon a plug for some great radio Wednesday. It seems Amazon had rocker George Thorogood in the studio when Reds general manager Jim Bowden called in to talk about the Denny Neagle trade.
Bowden and Thorogood had met when Bowden was with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
So George, a big baseball fan, jumped in and pumped Bowden about the trade.
FOX REGIONAL: Fox Sports Net is already airing its Regional Sports Report in Denver. The show went from regional to national about eight minutes into the 30-minute broadcast.
Of course, there isn't a lot going on in Colorado sports once you get past the Rockies right now.
Hopefully, the Ohio version which debuts July 31, will be truly regional.
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