Let's Go to the Videotape: All the Plays and Replays from My Life in Sports

by Warner Wolf, Larry Weisman

Overview

Anyone who follows sports knows that Warner Wolf has revolutionized that world with his famous catch phrases and irrepressible spirit. Now, in "Let's Go to the Videotape!" he shares over three decades worth of humorous and unusual anecdotes from a fascinating career, including: — opinions on sports rules — game strategies that make no sense — run-ins with the stars of sports and Hollywood — including Shaquille O'Neal, Joe DiMaggio, Robert Redford, and Robert Duvall — adventures and misadventures in the sports broadcasting game — and much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446525596
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	03/01/2000
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

Read an Excerpt

" Chapter 1MY MISSION STATEMENT M y philosophy on sportscasting isn't too complicated. In fact it's common sense. You have to be informative, you can't be silly, but you can be entertaining. I have always felt that television is an entertainment medium and sportscasting is part of that.

Face it. All the scores are the same. All the games are the same. Most of the stories on television are the same. The difference is how you present them. I have always tried to find some kind of humor in the story. Now there's a thin line here. It has to be natural and it can't be offensive. You can't just make fun of somebody just for the sake of doing that. It can come out cruel. The key is to be clever when you throw in the good line. You can't be malicious or have a vendetta against someone. You aim to be light but to the point. I picked this up from my parents. They were in vaudeville, show business folks, and we used to watch television and my father, especially, could find something funny in any show, even if it wasn't a comedy. That's how I grew up--there was always a light side of it.

Also, growing up in Washington, I read two sportswriters every day, both of them gone now. That was Morrie Siegel and Shirley Povich. Both great. They were marvelous writers who could always find some bit of satire or a humorous side of any sporting event. I remember Povich writing about the 1948 Senators and he described them this way: They can't field, they can't pitch, but they can't hit either. He also had that great line about Jim Brown, back when the Redskins were the last team in the NFL without a black player. He mentioned how Jim Brown integrated their end zone a couple of times by scoring two touchdowns. Plus the guys I hung around with all liked sports. We enjoyed it but didn't put life-or-death values on it. One day we're riding down Connecticut Avenue, and who comes out of a hotel? Bucky Harris, the Senators manager. So we yell to him, "Hey, Bucky, why didn't you bunt last night?" He just laughed, probably thought we were crazy kids.

Another time, after an expansion Senators game, standing outside of RKF Stadium, we saw Calvin Griffith, and this is after he moved the original Senators. We booed him, we razzed him, but it wasn't hateful.

That's where my philosophy comes from. I say what I think the fan is saying because I've been a fan and I'm still one today. If the New York Giants offense is horrible--and it is--I say, "You've heard of the prevent defense? The Giants are the only team in the league with a prevent offense." The fan relates to that. That's what he's saying.

Am I a journalist? Well, if your standard is Edward R. Murrow, no. If your standard is a person who communicates, yes, that's what I do and that's what I am--a communicator.

I am a writer. I've always written my own stuff on the air, every word I've ever said. When I started out, the longtime NBC sportscaster Jim Simpson gave me that advice when I was a young guy looking for a job. He said, "Always write your own stuff. People can tell when you're reading somebody else's work." I think that's the key to letting your personality come out on the air. What I do, I take notes, I write them and rewrite them, I refer to them, but I don't use a TelePrompTer. People like to feel they're being spoken to, not read to or lectured. I used to watch Vince Bagli on the Baltimore stations and he always seemed as if he was talking to each individual viewer. I use that style--talk to people and make it humorous.

Why is that important? Well, I've always looked at sports and the weather as the comic relief on the newscast because usually the content of the news is so horrible.

But you can't force it. If you're not funny, don't try to be funny. You have to be sure you never speak over the audience's head. Don't try to be smarter than they are. Keep it simple. Because you can turn an audience off very quickly if they think you are talking down to them or insulting their intelligence.

Now, I've always tried to find something funny every day in life, even under the worst circumstances. It comes naturallyto me. I think I was the first guy really using the videotape to what it is today. And I was the first guy to fool around with names like ESPN's Chris Berman does now.

We had a weatherman, Frank Field. I'd say, "You remember his brother, Ebbets." There was a goalie named Trevor Kidd--I'd say, "Save by Kidd, no relation to Billy The."

My point is, if you're going to be successful in this business, if you're going to last, you have to be different from the other guy.

The other thing, and I've been very fortunate with this, is that people have to like you. They have to like you. I guess the only exception to that was Howard Cosell. A lot of people didn't like him but they watched him. A lot of people watched him because they hated him. But that's the exception. It's a lot easier if they like you. I've been very lucky in that New Yorkers made me feel very welcome both times here, the first time and when I came back. I owe a lot to the New York sports fans. They've provided me with a livelihood. They're very show-business-oriented so you can throw in these little bits and it doesn't go over their heads.

I've found it's important to take your work seriously, but not to take yourself seriously. You can razz a ballplayer but you have to know where to draw the line. This is how he makes his living. You have to have a little respect for what he does.

My style hasn't changed much. I guess this is my formula. This is what works for me. If you've got a shtick, you should shtick to your shtick.

Copyright (c) 2000 by Warner Wolf"

"WARNER WOLF is now in his fifth decade in sports broadcasting. He is currently the sports anchor on WCBS-TV in New York and appears regularly on the Don Imus radio show.

LARRY WEISMAN covers pro football for USA TODAY and has written numerous sports magazines."

Table of Contents

1	My Mission Statement	1
2	Let's Go to the Videotape	5
3	On the Radio	9
4	No Big Deal	11
5	Moe, Larry, Curly and Me	12
6	Can't Go Home Again	14
7	Meeting the Presidents	22
8	Don't Look Now	24
9	Prophetic Words	26
10	The Imus Show	27
11	The Future Is Now	35
12	No Matinees	37
13	Brotherly Love	39
14	Early Riser	40
15	Give Me a Break	41
16	The Price of Fame	43
17	Hands of Stone	45
18	Warner the Jock	47
19	I'm Enshrined	50
20	A Living Lincoln Memorial	52
21	Serving Uncle	56
22	Memories	61
23	20/20 Vision	62
24	Leave Like Mike	64
25	Shaq	66
26	Wilted	68
27	Ladies' Man	70
28	Point, Mr. McEnroe	71
29	Honest to Pete	73
30	Loose Balls	75
31	A Day at the Races	77
32	The Sport of Kings	80
33	Soccer, or Goooooooooo Awaaaaayyyyyyy	81
34	Puck-Natious	83
35	Let's Win One	85
36	Hall of Records	89
37	Different Sounds for Different Sports	95
38	Pressing Issues	99
39	Tenpins	100
40	'98 Series Doesn't Rate	102
41	Yankee Doodlings	108
42	The Mets Blunder	110
43	The Chain of Command	112
44	The New George	116
45	Inflation	119
46	Tony, Tony, Tony	121
47	An Order of Ribbies and a Full Plate of Baseball	123
48	The Splendid Splinter	136
49	The Voice of the Fan	139
50	Medical Marvel	140
51	Billy Ball	142
52	Counting Pitches	147
53	The Cheap Save	149
54	Franchise Free Agency	152
55	Misnomers	155
56	Cliches	157
57	The Arthur Mercante Story, or Here's Thumbs in Your Eye	159
58	Decisions, Decisions	166
59	Don't Be Like Mike	169
60	Head Games	171
61	Gentlemen, Start Your Engines	173
62	Ballpark Blues	175
63	Dining Out	177
64	What's in a Name?	181
65	The Eye of the Beholder	186
66	Foreclosure	189
67	Poster Boys	190
68	Pete Rose	192
69	Dope Is for Dopes	194
70	Olympic Gold, Brought to You by...	196
71	No Way, NCAA	200
72	Hoop-LA	203
73	Toll Booths, Shooting One	205
74	The Large Apple	206
75	Tuna Town	209
76	Hall of Fame, or Hall of Shame?	212
77	My Most Memorable Football Game	214
78	America's Team	217
79	The Day I Sacked the Redskins Quarterback	221
80	OT	223
81	The Kneel Deal	224
82	Brown Power	226
83	The Man in the Middle	228
84	Hello, Allie	230
85	Men in Stripes	234
86	Just Pucker Up and Blow the Call	236
87	Hollywood Nights	238
88	Don't I Know You?	241
89	Midday Cowboy	243
90	Safari, So Goody	245
91	Hello, Jerry	247
92	Scene Stealers	248
93	Take My Comedian, Please	250
94	My Picks at the Flicks	252
95	Chopper Alert	257
96	All Sports, All the Time	259
97	Jocks in the Booth	262
98	Play-by-Play	265
99	The Art of Interviewing	268
100	Instant Access	270
101	Washington and New York--More Than Miles Apart	273
102	The Worst Rating Ever	275
103	Bill Comes Due	276
104	Good Taste	277
105	A Helping Hand	279
106	Ratings, Rantings, and Ravings	281
107	Open Mouth, Insert Foot	283
108	Our Way or the Highway	285
109	Marathon Men, Women and Children	286
110	Frank Field Saved from Choking	288
111	World Series Roundup	290
112	Points After	302

Editorial Reviews

Warner "Go to the Videotape" Wolf has long been a fixture on local television in both New York and Washington, D.C. Here, in no apparent order, the sportscaster and author of Gimme a Break reviews the highlights of his career and offers commentary on a variety of sporting events and personalities. Everyone knows who Wolf is--or at least he seems to think they should since he's been on radio or TV for more than 40 years. There was one brief stint in 1995 when he wasn't on the air anywhere until radio personality Don Imus hired him to substitute for the regular sports commentator. This fill-in stint eventually led to Wolf being rehired by WCBS-TV (for which Wolf thanks Imus profusely) as well as other career opportunities, including this book. The memoir itself is simply a compilation of Wolf-isms such as "I hate to say this but covering the 1998 World Series was a letdown. I was happy for the city of New York, the fans and the team, but as far as it being an exciting World Series... it just was not." Or "If any sports turns me off, it's auto racing. Never interested in it... If there's a machine involved, are you an athlete? Where's the sport in it?" Wolf isn't afraid to say what's on his mind, and his enthusiasm for sports and life is evident. However, a little literary Wolf goes a long way, and many of his fans will be satisfied watching him doing his sports report, rather than reading this erratic memoir. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

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