Extra Point
By Mike Fitzgerald
Friday, April 26, 1996
But I first watched professional sports on a black and white television set.
What I remember most, though, isn't so much the fuzzy or flipping picture - or the coat hanger that was used to improve reception.
It was the voices that came out of the old Motorola. Two stand out in particular: Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray.
Brickhouse did play-by-play for the Chicago Cubs for many, many years.
"Hey-Hey!" he would shout after a Cubs home run, usually off the bat of Ernie Banks or Billy Williams. If the Cubs won, he would say after the game: "Here are the happy totals."
And it was understood that the play-by-play guy was a fan rooting for the team. Yet Brickhouse was also an outstanding announcer with a deep, yet understandable, grasp of the language - along with the nuances of the game.
Caray was a St. Louis Cardinals play-by-play man for many years, but I started listening to him when he did the White Sox games on TV.
That was before he switched over to the Cubs - where he still leads the crowd in the singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch. Caray is without a doubt one of the most popular people in Chicago and deservedly so.
In fact, ESPN showed him the other night with his trademark fishing net, which he uses to try to snag any foul balls that sail back toward the announcer's booth. And "Holy Cow!" is his famous excitable call.
Caray is one of the last of the old characters who does major-league baseball. Ernie Harwell is another one.
With the flood of cable stations, though, and robot announcers that vary from game to game, these guys really stand out.
There is an announcer here in Hawaii who ranks right up there with the great ones.
Yes, Jim Leahey is one of my favorites for many of the same reasons that I remember and admire Brickhouse and Caray.
Leahey is colorful, funny and - most important - extremely knowledgeable.
Sure, there is sometimes a bit of bias for the University of Hawaii teams that he covers, but it's understandable. And he's not afraid to step on a coach's or administrator's toes on occasion, despite his station's silly "Home Team Five" signature.
What amazes me is how much Leahey knows about so many different sports. Doing UH football, basketball and baseball, it's almost expected.
But he also knows volleyball, softball and soccer, and takes just as much pride in doing those games, even if he is sitting in the rickety press box at the softball field or in even worse conditions doing soccer.
Obviously, Leahey does his homework and knows the teams and players inside out before the first ball is pitched or served, tipped off or kicked.
I don't know much about the upcoming TV bids for University of Hawaii sports. Some of the school's teams are so lousy, you wonder why anyone would want the rights. And not having to take the highest bidder seems odd - and also reminds me of the Chicago City Council for some reason.
But this I do know: Leahey should be doing Rainbows play-by-play.
He is a local legend, following in his father's footsteps, and he has certainly paid his dues - and then some - over the years.
UH officials will be looking long and hard at a TV war that seems to be shaping up between KFVE and Oceanic. Money, of course, is the main ingredient.
I just hope Jim Leahey survives. My guess is that he will.
He's one of the best in the business and it would be a terrible shame not to see and hear him doing such a wide array of sports - in such a professional and entertaining manner.