Yesterday D. McNeil said that he would not miss K. "Hawk" Harrelson when he leaves the booth. As somebody who watches more White Stocking baseball than the average White Stocking fan, I couldn't agree more.
D. McNeil, there's a place for people like us:
http://www.heavethehawk.com/index.phpIn addition to the obvious annoyances ("YES", "Pick 'em up boys", "You gotta be bleeepin' me"... etc), these are other doosies that H. Harrelson spews on a nauseating basis:
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"If you're just tuning in...": First off, old man, NOBODY "tunes in" their television anymore and have not since the 1980s. The best is when he says it when it's the 1st or 2nd inning, when EVERYBODY has just "tuned in".
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"Outfield... for the most part spread out": His description of the outfield positioning comes 2 to 3 times per inning.... usually when he has nothing else to say and he's pretending to "announce". Of course they're SPREAD OUT, THEY'RE OUTFIELDERS... shouldn't we just assume that? Are you going to tell the viewers that the shortstop is "for the most part between 2nd & 3rd?... How about you tell us about the "least part" - maybe that's worth telling the viewer about?? Almost always it's followed by the camera behind homeplate that will scan the outfield from LF to RF - seeing this view is an extra kick in the seat.
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".... best I've ever seen": About once a week something happens that makes him proclaim somebody is the best he's ever seen at something. My favorite was when he said F. Thomas was "the best checker of a swinger that I have ever seen".
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A pitch that "catches the edge of the outside corner of the plate": This happens when there's a strike call on a White Stocking hitter and he's subtly arguing the umpire's call or when he believes a White Stocking pitcher threw a strike that was called a ball.
Here is a soundboard:
http://www.heavethehawk.com/Hawkisms.htmlDoes anybody have any others?
Linda S.