Posted by Rich DeLeo
on 12/8/2003, 11:14 am
Board Administrator
This particular column won't land me any job auditions anytime soon with the PIAA, but it is clearly time for Jed (Mr. PIAA) Donohue to go. (I don't care if I spell his name right)! He is by far the worst play by play guy on television. After watching (suffering) through the two title games on Friday past, I was just laughing at the number of blunders that Jed and his two bumbling partners in the booth had. For example...I didn't know that the facemask penalty was only 15 yards. I guess the NFHS (National Federation of High Schools) recinded the 5 yard facemask penalty. Also, I wasn't aware that there was only a penalty for roughing the kicker. The running into the kicker penalty must have also been eliminated, but none of the officials were told about that one. And THE most glaring screw up this crew had, was during the Pine-Richland-Manheim Central contest. Jed proclaimed that the high school overtime procedure was "very similar to the college rule" where you must go for two points after a second overtime period fails to produce a winner. That one made me jump out of my seat! He even went as far to say that the Manheim kicker was out for his last attempt in the second overtime. Then just seconds later, the three stooges in the booth were informed by someone who actually knows the rules that you DO NOT have to go for two points after two overtimes. How can someone go on the air to a statewide audience so unprepared, and sound so ridiculous? And how many times did he give the wrong tackler or ballcarrier, despite the fact that some of the teams had the names of the players on their jerseys? The production of the games was pretty good, but those three are just laughable. I think I actually screamed at the TV more than laughed, because their mistakes were just so glaring. But this guy will keep on getting the mic for the PIAA, since he touts their greatness like no other. And if I had to hear how great the turf was one more time, I was going to puke. Yes, there is a new surface in Hershey, but anything would have been better than the mud that was present for the 2001 championships. Oh, I forgot, that wasn't mud! Remember the proclamation by Mr. Cashman that the field wasn't muddy that year. Again, laughable! We all know that there is turf at Hersheypark Stadium, but the point was driven home with such force as a message to the folks in Altoona that we will never get the football finals back. Well, we don't want them! We rolled out the red carpet for these people, and what did we get for our trouble, we got "the weather is worse in Altoona than Hershey". I guess that really wasn't snow in Hershey on Friday! We also got "the temperature is colder in Altoona than Hershey". I guess that really wasn't snow on Friday in Hershey, caused by cold temperatures and rain, which has a tendency to turn into snow. I guess the games from Saturday were postponed to Sunday because of sunny skies and warm temperatures forecast for Saturday in Hershey!! With the way this outfit puts on this football production, you would think they were also in charge of the BCS! As for the announcing on the football and basketball finals, nothing will change. So this column was a complete waste of time today!
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