Tall Midget wrote:
There are somewhat lengthy time segments on this show--periods of two to five minutes--where I could swear Hampton isn't speaking English. The problem isn't just his stuttering and stammering--it's basic syntax. He is putting words together in an order that makes the words themselves incomprehensible.
Has Hampton ever addressed the difficulties he has with his speech, or has it ever been mentioned in an article? I know I've heard guys like Adrian Peterson (ours, not the good one...
) Ron Harper, Bob Love, and more recently Darren Sproles talk about their stuttering or I've read an article about them that mentioned it, but I don't ever recall hearing anything about Hampton's obvious difficulties. That makes me wonder if he was ever diagnosed or was referred to a speech pathologist when he was in school, or if his difficulties are symptomatic of a different problem.
I stutter, and based on my experiences I'll give my opinion on what is likely happening. People who stutter often use word substitution to replace a word on which they know they'll block or anticipate they'll block on with a word they can more easily say. For various reasons, such as depth of vocabulary or the severity their stuttering, word substitution can either make someone appear more fluent or it can make them sound disjointed, which I think is what you're referring to in Hampton's case. It's generally a bad, albeit understandable habit and can result in using a word or combination of words that are contextually or syntactically...odd.
Some people are so good at avoidance and word substitution that their stuttering is often imperceptible, even to other people who stutter who can usually sense subtle differences in speech or breathing patterns. Although the severity of their stuttering is usually relatively mild, they experience the same stress and anxiety as people who stutter more overtly, and sometimes more, because they're so afraid of being "found out."
Danimal is obviously not one of these people. I rarely listen to he and Holmes, but when he was part of WGN's Bears coverage I would hear him all the time and it would sometimes make me uncomfortable. Mainly because I would empathize with his struggles to the point where
I would get uncomfortable listening. Maybe I would be less uncomfortable if it was simply acknowledged in some capacity so it wouldn't be the elephant in the room when everyone is thinking "Why is someone who has such difficulty speaking on the radio?"
FWIW, suggesting that all he or anyone else needs to do is slow down, think about what they want to say, etc., does not help. While stress and anxiety can exacerbate the severity of stuttering for some people, it's a neurological issue. The speech centers in the brain work differently, neurons fire differently, and current research suggests a link to the production of dopamine. If simply slowing down eradicates the problem, the problem may be some minor disfluency -- but isn't stuttering.
This isn't all directed at you, btw, TM. I don't want you to think I'm yelling at or lecturing you. While I did want to address the portion I quoted, the rest are just general comments I figured I'd eventually make when Hampton got the full-time gig on 'SCR.
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