Through their 2007 run, the Jayhawks are starting to garner a lot of attention from national media. But respect is a different story. The team still struggles to get analysts to take them seriously. They won't even do enough homework to come up with a decent 30-second segment, much less get the players' names right.
Here are some of the annoying Jayhawk butcherings that I've heard so far this season. Most of them have come from the last two games, which were on ESPN and ESPN2:
Todd Reesing was called Todd Ressing.
Dexton Fields was called Dexter Fields (all throughout the game).
Brandon McAnderson was called Brandon McClinton (apparently a cross-breed between the running back and defensive lineman).
As a broadcaster it's your job to get the information right. Whether it's on College Gameday or the live play-by-play, broadcasters need to know how to say the names, even if they obviously don't like the teams they're discussing.
I'm pretty sure that when announcers covered Ben Roethlisberger's games at Miami (OH) they didn't foul up his name consistently. So why can't they get the names of a top ten team down?
Apparently the answer is nobody gives a damn.
But that's OK. I won't have to listen to the dumb play-by-play men talking about Todd Ressing passing to Dexter Fields, or the running attack of Brandon McClinton when the Jayhawks win a BCS bowl. I'll be in the stands instead.
