Should radios be on?
Duck football announcers improving,
although entertainment, humor lacking
By Blair Thompson
Of Ihf Emerald
The 1983 season has ushered in many changes
tor Oregon football.
There's been a new offense, an early season
victory, even a pair of pseudo-mascots holding
press conferences.
One change probably has eluded even the
most ardent Duck fans — a change in announcers
for Oregon football radio broadcasts.
While Bill Johnson and Al Winn are not
household names, theirs are the new voices of
Duck football, heard every Saturday on station
KUGN 590 AM.
Johnson is not completely new to Eugene, as
he teamed with Warren Swain last season as a col
or commentator.
But Swain left Oregon lor Drake University
after he and KUGN differed over his job
responsibilities.
"He (Swain) could only do play-by-play. He
was not a news-gathering type person," says Jim
Torrey of KUGN.
So off to Iowa went Swain, and promoted to
the play-by-play slot was Johnson.
Next came Winn, who worked with Johnson
at KXL Radio in Portland. The KMTR-TV sports an
chor was selected for the color spot.
Whether Duck listeners have been blessed or
hexed by this pairing is debatable so tar.
"Frankly, we were a bit concerned about the
quality of the first two games. It was not as good
as we would like it to be," says Torrey.
The duo has worked just four games, and
after the rocky first two, has begun to show signs
of improvemenl.
It is Winn who has been the weakest link bet
ween the two. His improvement is the key.
Color commentary is a difficult art and it is
helpful to possess either a keen sense ot humor,
insight into the sport, or both. Instead, Winn is
lacking in both.
Winn gives the listener a few interesting facts
and observations to chew on, but does little else
to satisfy a fan's appetite.
His attempts to make interesting comments
result in gems like, "it didn't really take them too
long to score."
On the other side of the booth, Johnson’s
play-by-play is solid, but he has yet to develop any
real style.
Once a style arrives, Johnson should be on his
way to brilliance, because he has escaped the
cheerleader trap that many college announcers
fall into.
That does not mean the Ducks aren’t first in
his heart.
Witness his comment during the San Jose
State game after Duck tailback Kevin Willhite was
booed: "The fans don't care for Kevin, but we
don't care for the fans."
On top of such choice remarks, two of the
most important broadcast qualities, entertain
ment and background information, are missing
from Johnson's and Winn's efforts.
The majority of the entertainment and the in
formation should come from Winn.
Before the voice of the Ducks can return to
full strength, an injection of both is needed.
Will that injection come about? Only time will
tell.
Sox nip Orioles,
LA decks Philly
From Associated Press Reports
LaMarr Hoyt won a duel of
finesse and precision with Scott
McGregor, pitching a five-hitter
that carried the visiting Chicago
White Sox to a 2-1 victory Wednes
day over the Baltimore Orioles in
game one of the American League
playoffs.
The meeting of these two pit
chers was billed as a matchup of a
master of control, Hoyt, and a
crafty, tricky veteran, McGregor.
The right-hander Hoyt, 24-10
and the winningest pitcher in
baseball the past two seasons,
won this time. He struck out only
four batters, but he walked not a
soul. He had walked only 31 bat
ters in 2602/i innings during the
regular season, and he was on his
form. He gave up three singles, to
Todd Cruz, Rick Dempsey and Cal
Ripken Jr., and two doubles — to
Ken Singleton and Dan Ford.
Left-hander McGregor, the
Orioles top winner this year with
an 18-7 record, had a slightly more
adventurous, 62/i-inning outing,
while benefitting from some good
defense. He escaped from peril in
the second inning, then stingily
gave up a run in the third.
Tom Paciorek, the White Sox's
36-year-old first baseman who hit
.400 against the Orioles this
season, got the game-winning RBI
with a single, and he scored an
unearned run in the sixth without
benefit of a hit.
In Los Angeles, Pedro Guerrero
drilled a two-out, two-run triple, in
the fifth inning, breaking a tie and
moving the Los Angeles Dodgers
to a 4-1 victory in Wednesday
night's second game of the Na
tional League Championship
Series.
The Los Angeles triumph tied
the best-of-five pennant playoff at
1-1. Game three is scheduled for
Friday in Philadelphia with
Charles Hudson starting for the
Phillies against the Dodgers' Bob
Welch.
Guerrero's shot rewarded the
pitching of Fernando Valenzuela,
who scattered seven hits before
Tom Niedenfuer took over in the
ninth. )ohn Denny, a 19-game win
ner during the regular season who
has not defeated the Dodgers
since 1978, was the loser.
Actually, Valenzuela got the
winning rally started, opening the
fifth with a drive that sent Garry
Maddox to the center field wall.
Maddox, who made a crucial error
in the fourth game of the 1978
playoff between these teams,
caught the ball for an instant but
then dropped it as he fell on the
warning track. Valenzuela steam
ed into third base on the error.
The Phillies won game one 1-0
on the strength of a first-inning
home run by Mike Schmidt and
the combined shutout pitching of
Steve Carlton and reliever Al
Holland.
Eugene Council for Human Rights in Latin America
and UofO Latin American Support Committee
&>/ieben&...
PATRicio
MANNS
IN CONCERT
Foremost Poet, Composer and Singer in Exile
10 Years of Cultural Resistance and Hope
Friday* October 7th • 8:00 pm
Beall Hall • UofO School of Music
18 th and Alder
General Admission $6.00 Students and Seniors $4.50
Co-Sponsor; EMU Cultural Forum
TICKET OUTLETS: EMU Mam Desk (UO). ECHRLA Off.ce (1236 Kinco.d),
Balladeer Records (5th St. Public Market) More info 484^5867