It’s a tough job to be an on-air personality. Radio and TV personas have to be on all the time. They are expected to be knowledgeable on a variety of topics, and more importantly, they are expected to enunciate clearly. Usually, on-air personalities are pretty good about staying professional, but occasionally, they are a garbled mess. Just listen to this recent Lou Holtz clip and try to figure out what the hell he’s attempting to say.
During a recent airing of College Football Scoreboard, Rece Davis brings up halftime, pointing at Lou Holtz who seems caught off guard. The older newscaster utters something that sounds like it might be about the rain and the cold. Maybe. Actually, we really have no idea what he’s talking about. He just as easily could be bringing up cold salami as he is football. He does seem to be pretty excited about it, though, throwing an arm up in the air to accentuate his gibberish point, which is probably the most Lou Holtz thing that's ever happened. No one changes pitches or manufactures excitement like the old coach.
Seriously, if you can decipher the former Notre Dame coaches’ phrase, you deserve a donut. I don’t know what to make of it. How Rece Davis even responds to the comment is beyond me. Maybe he can explain what the heck the other panelist was saying, or maybe he just plowed forward because pretending to know was less awkward than asking Holtz to translate himself.
It’s not like we can chalk this up to nerves, either. The man’s been a college football analyst for ESPN since 2005, so he’s had plenty of practice at talking while being taped. He’s also a regular on Hannity and has even lent his voice to a Discover Card commercial before. The man may be best known for his college football coaching career, but he’s no slouch on TV.
Maybe at some point in the future Holtz will come out to clarify exactly what he said during the recent broadcast, and maybe his flub will join the annals of TV personality fails for good. We’ll never forget you, Adele Dazeem, nor will we forget those who have inadvertently drawn dicks live on television. We certainly won’t forget all of the fallen newsanchors who have ever been fired for uttering profanity on TV because to paraphrase Chevy Chase, television is just more interesting when someone blows it.
You can catch Lou Holtz for the rest of the season on various college football programs. There's only a slim chance if you tune in you'll see another speech this incomprehensible, but given Lou's age and his accent, you'll probably hear at least a few more phrases that don't exactly define clarity.
