00:00 I am very, very sorry, and I beg for your forgiveness.
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 times sports
00:09 announcers bombed so hard they ruined their careers.
00:12 You know, I created my own, you know, my own ending.
00:16 For this list, we'll be looking at incidents in which sports announcers, commentators,
00:20 and analysts chose the wrong words and lost their jobs as a result.
00:23 What do you make of their words?
00:24 Should they have been fired?
00:25 Let us know in the comments below.
00:28 10. Steve Lyons makes racial remarks
00:30 Steve Lyons played baseball throughout the '80s and early '90s, primarily with the Boston
00:34 Red Sox.
00:35 Following his retirement from the sport, Lyons became a professional broadcaster for Fox
00:39 Sports.
00:40 However, his association with the business came to an end in 2006, when he made some
00:44 racially insensitive comments during Game 3 of the ALCS.
00:46 It's funny, they're loose, oblong, some espanol there, and I'm still looking for my wallet.
00:53 I don't understand them, and I don't want to sit close to them now.
00:59 The remarks were aimed toward his Spanish broadcasting partner, Lou Piniella.
01:03 Piniella came to Lyons' defense and claimed that he was just joking around, but that didn't
01:06 matter, as Fox took umbrage with the incident and fired Lyons.
01:09 9. Jim Carter and Steve Shaw laugh at overweight players
01:13 Jim Carter and Steve Shaw were local radio broadcasters who called Maine High School
01:17 basketball for "W-H-O-U-F-M."
01:19 But their careers came to an end thanks to a hot mic.
01:22 Not realizing that they could be heard, Carter and Shaw called two of the players extremely
01:25 overweight and said that it was awful.
01:30 They could also be heard laughing at the players' ill-fitting uniforms.
01:32 The backlash started immediately, with the owner of the station receiving phone calls
01:36 from offended listeners.
01:37 I think anger is probably the reaction that everybody had when they saw and heard what
01:43 had happened.
01:44 The two broadcasters were promptly fired, and Shaw was removed from the Maine Basketball
01:47 Hall of Fame.
01:48 8.
01:49 Mark Martello compares the team to Antifa
01:51 Mark Martello was doing the play-by-play for a college basketball game between Montana
01:55 and Portland State.
01:56 As indicated by his commentary, he clearly didn't have respect for Portland, whether
02:00 that be the team or the city.
02:01 "Portland's not much different, I don't think, these days, but all the way out to
02:02 Portland, a long way to go."
02:06 First he compared the city to Southside Chicago, which has a negative reputation for its crime.
02:11 He then claims that
02:12 "Portland's like Antifa after a riot."
02:14 because they got away with illegal infractions.
02:16 Antifa is an American left-wing political movement that has been known to use violent
02:20 tactics.
02:21 And to no one's surprise, Martello was fired for his remarks.
02:24 7.
02:25 Michael Goldberg's infamous NFL debut
02:27 Many know this play-by-play commentator for his work with the UFC.
02:30 In 2014, he made his NFL broadcasting debut with Fox, and to say it did not go well is
02:35 an understatement.
02:36 "The intended receiver was Gordon Tate, but good coverage on the play."
02:40 From start to finish, Goldberg was botching calls left and right.
02:42 "Welcome back to Minneapolis, third and 17, fourth and five, pardon me, with 157 on the
02:50 clock."
02:51 The press took notice and voiced their opinions on social media, which Goldberg did not take
02:54 too kindly to and responded, let's just say, "not in kind."
02:58 This and his performance at calling the game resulted in him getting the boot.
03:01 It was Goldberg's first and last broadcasting assignment with the NFL.
03:04 "Do I wish I could have that back?
03:06 Absolutely."
03:07 6.
03:08 Jimmy the Greek shares his racist beliefs
03:09 Jimmy the Greek was the popular stage name of Jimmy Schneider, who helped promote illegal
03:13 gambling in the sport of football.
03:15 Schneider was a Las Vegas bookmaker who would often appear on CBS's The NFL Today to predict
03:20 the scores of upcoming games.
03:21 Other bookmakers would then use his predictions to help calculate the odds of the games.
03:25 On January 15, 1988, Schneider was interviewed by WRC-TV and shared a number of racist opinions.
03:31 The comments drew great criticism.
03:33 "Now I'm not being derogatory about it, but that's all that's left for 'em."
03:37 Schneider expressed remorse for what he did, but the damage was already done, and the popular
03:41 bookie was fired from the NFL Today, after over a decade on the show.
03:44 "It goes without saying that his comments do not reflect in any way the thinking or
03:49 attitude of the rest of us here at CBS Sports.
03:52 While we deplore the incident this weekend, we are saddened that our 12-year association
03:57 with Jimmy had to end this way."
03:59 5.
04:00 Tom Brenneman is replaced mid-game
04:02 Another day, another victim of a hot mic.
04:04 Shortly before the inning began of an MLB game, Cincinnati Reds baseball commentator
04:08 Tom Brenneman could be heard making an extremely homophobic remark about an unidentified city
04:13 and using an offensive slur.
04:14 "I made a comment earlier tonight that I guess went out over the air that I am deeply ashamed
04:22 of.
04:23 If I have hurt anyone out there, I can't tell you how much I say from the bottom of my heart,
04:29 I'm so very, very sorry."
04:31 He proceeded to apologize on air, but his apology was interrupted by a home run.
04:35 In a fantastic bit of cosmic justice, the ball landed right next to a sign that read
04:39 "Judgment Free Zone."
04:40 Brenneman was pulled from the broadcast mid-game and suspended.
04:43 The Reds later told Brenneman that he would not be returning, prompted his resignation.
04:47 "I embarrass myself and I hurt a lot of people."
04:51 4.
04:52 Mark Lye doesn't like female sports
04:54 Once a professional golfer, Mark Lye was hired by Sirius XM in 2015 to host a pregame show
04:59 called The Scorecard.
05:00 He stayed with the popular radio broadcaster until 2022, when he made some inflammatory
05:04 remarks about female sports.
05:06 First he went after the Ladies Professional Golf Association, stating that "you couldn't
05:10 pay me to watch it."
05:12 He then targeted women's basketball and made an even worse comment about what he would
05:15 rather do than watch it.
05:16 Lye was immediately fired by Sirius after the comments were made, but he continued to
05:20 defend his beliefs on Twitter.
05:22 3.
05:23 Howard Cosell goes too far
05:24 Howard Cosell was a very popular but divisive broadcaster known for his antagonistic and
05:28 obnoxious personality.
05:30 In 1970, Cosell was hired by ABC to call games for Monday Night Football.
05:34 But on September 5, 1983, Cosell tipped over the line from enjoyably haughty to outright
05:38 cruel.
05:39 During a game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, Cosell insulted African-American
05:44 player Alvin Garrett.
05:45 "I swear to God, when he said that, I almost died.
05:48 Because the vultures who really did not like Howard Cosell, they were there, and they were
05:54 out of their trees in an instant."
05:56 "Now he's being labeled a racist for using a remark that he often used with his own grandkids."
06:02 Cosell asserted that the comment was referencing Garrett's height, not his race.
06:06 Regardless, the comment was considered offensive, and Cosell left Monday Night Football following
06:09 the controversy.
06:10 2.
06:11 Glenn Kuiper supposedly misspeaks
06:13 Glenn Kuiper started working as the play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Athletics in 2006,
06:17 and he remained with the team until May 5, 2023.
06:20 On that day, Kuiper was in Kansas City and had visited their Negro League's baseball
06:24 museum earlier in the day.
06:25 He was discussing his visit on air when he dropped the n-word.
06:28 Kuiper claims that he didn't, and that his pronunciation of "Negro" was simply misheard.
06:32 "I just wanted to apologize if it sounded different than I meant it to be said.
06:39 I just wanted to apologize for that."
06:43 Others say there's no way that this was the case, and that Kuiper clearly and intentionally
06:46 uttered the racist slur.
06:48 Whatever the case, the incident cost Kuiper his job, as he was fired from the organization
06:51 following an investigation.
06:53 "It's a painful lesson for all of us.
06:56 It also lets us know, again, in this crazy world, particularly this crazy world of social
07:02 media that we live in now, a simple mistake can be compounded in such a way."
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07:23 1.
07:24 Rush Limbaugh's comments on Donovan McNabb
07:27 Prominent political commentator Rush Limbaugh was known for his nationally syndicated and
07:31 incredibly popular radio show.
07:32 But did you know that he once worked as a sports commentator for ESPN?
07:36 Limbaugh covered the NFL, but his stint didn't last long.
07:39 He came under fire for criticizing star Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, insinuating that
07:43 he was overrated by the media because of his race.
07:45 "I think there was a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for
07:50 the performance of this team that he really didn't deserve."
07:52 Limbaugh let the controversy stew for three days before stepping down from ESPN, citing
07:57 his concern for the network and its advertisers.
07:59 His career in sports broadcasting lasted only a few weeks.
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