Re: Trevor Denman (689 Views)
Posted by:
Millennium3 (IP Logged)
Date: November 06, 2006 09:35AM
Denman & Durkin suffer from the same disease: Race Caller Delusions of Grandeur Syndrome. Common among race caller megalomaniacs, it makes them "script" their race calls days or weeks ahead of the actual running of the race itself. Race Caller Delusions of Grandeur Syndrome is more than reliance on a bank of commonly used phrases - it rests on the idea that the race caller is THE most important thing about any horse race. Who knew John Gaines had it in mind to create the Breeders Cup primarily as a showcase for egomaniacal race callers???
"D & D" are profoundly aware of the air time big races & their endless replays get. So they decide in advance how THEY think THEY should sound, so viewers will talk about nothing but THE RACE CALL. The reason Chic Anderson's call of the 1973 Belomont Stakes stands out is because it WASN'T scripted. It was organic. He was as awestruck as everbody watching it and that's what came through in his call that day. These two "best announcers" (and that's really debateable) want the recognition of a call like Anderson's but miss the point on why it was great.
Denman screwed up because the races weren't run according to the script he laid out in his head weeks beforehand. And he came off looking like a hack becasue of it. Durkin has suffered form this too, many times. I've actually heard that Durkin literally writes down the phrase he's going to say at a given point in a prticular race (exactly like a hackneyed playwright trying to "direct his play from the page"), regardless of whether it's appropriate. He & Denman never want us to forget: the horse race is really all about their race calls (i.e., them).
M3