Lundquist’s Ones Do Not Add Up

During the Alabama/LSU game on Saturday, CBS play by play man Verne Lundquist erroneously announced that Oregon, one of four unbeaten teams that has a realistic title shot (Ohio State is ineligible and Louisville is just not going to be considered), had won its game (vs USC) by one point. Oregon, in fact won by 11 points as a seven point favorite. The margin of victory certainly means something in the voting and computer rankings which may well determine the title game matchup.

Lundquist’s mistake with a “one” involved, recalls a far greater mistake he made during an NBA telecast for CBS circa 1990. He said “we all remember where we were when Bobby Thomson hit his pennant winning home run in 1952.” Of course, the famous home run was hit in 1951. The certainty with which Lundquist said 1952 was scary. Is any sense of history required for these network announcers who make far more than teachers, city workers and nurses combined? Imagine if a teacher got up and said Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1493 and truly believed it as Lundquist did in his “cocksure” manner concerning the year of Thomson’s pennant winning home run. School principals would not have been as kind as the media critics and network executives, who allow this erosion of standards.

Verne Lundquist