Flanagan: Chiefs announcer says ‘homer’ not in his vocabulary
 

Chiefs announcer says ‘homer’ not in his vocabulary
By JEFFREY FLANAGAN
The Kansas City Star


There is one magic word that will set off Chiefs play-by-play announcer Mitch Holthus. It’s a moniker often given to team’s play-by-play announcers everywhere.

“If you really want to irritate me, call me a homer,” he said. “That will irritate me. The way I look at it is if you’re the voice of a team, you can’t be a homer because you’ll lose respect.

“You have to do your homework and give the game some perspective. To put it in a newspaper analogy, the play-by-play guy is doing the game story, the analyst is doing the column, and the sideline guy is doing the sidebar or the feature.

“I feel strongly that I present the games accurately, and I just do it from a Kansas City perspective. I do as much homework on the opponents as anyone. Take the other day for example: That game wasn’t just about Kansas City. That game also was about Carolina coming out with fire and dominating the line of scrimmage.”

The conversation of “homerism” came up after I asked Holthus how hard it was to be the “voice” of the team when it struggling this hard.

“There is work involved,” he said. “But if you’re in this business long enough, you will go through every situation.

“My days at Kansas State actually prepared me for this. Kansas State was at the time one of the worst (football programs) in the country.”

Holthus constantly has had to perform a juggling act this season: Keep enthusiasm up for the listeners and fans while still telling the ugly truth about how bad the Chiefs have played.

“You have to be realistic,” he said. “When it’s 34-0, there’s no way you sugarcoat it. Lenny (Dawson) and I do this, I think, Lenny more than me probably. You have to be accurate. That game was like going over a tire spike.”

Holthus, who is entering the Kansas Broadcasting Hall of Fame this Sunday, said he saw the Chiefs’ tough transition coming several years ago.

“I saw this coming as early as 2004,” he said. “There were years there where it was all about today at the exclusion of tomorrow. What I’ve learned about the NFL is you really can’t approach it that way. Ever.

“You remodel the house every year. New England proved that earlier this decade. But even they have got caught a little now.

“The situation here….draft picks were lost…it was all about today. Almost like the subprime mortgage thing. And now it’s about pulling out of that.”

MU’s offense

You can count CBS’ Trev Alberts among those in awe of the Missouri offense.

Alberts said of the Missouri-Oklahoma State matchup: “T. Boone Pickens has solutions to our energy needs, but no one has a solution for these two offenses. Missouri’s offense has been spectacular, Oklahoma State has been pretty good, but Missouri has not had a three-and-out the entire season.

“Think about that, they have not had a three-and-out offensively the entire season.”

MU has no 3 and outs because the Chiefs are like a black hole sucking them all up.

MU has no 3 and outs with Daniel at the helm.

Gabbert and Patton both have a couple, IIRC.

If you ever hear Mitch talk he's pretty much a homer.

ROFL

Charger announcers, now those guys are homers. San Diego's sports coverage is the reason why Charger fans are so stupid and naive. If you pay attention to any San Diego Sports journalists, you'd think players like Kasim Osgood are the second coming of christ, and Stephen Cooper is going to somehow fix the US economy with his amazing tackles.

Like the White Sox announcers?

No. No, he isn't.

I remember talking to Mitch before the Bears game last season. I sat in the media deck so I had a chance to talk to him and Lenny.

Mitch said that pretty much in practice this team goes over plays like twice and they move on......they get no reps and he says its silly to watch this team practice.

He says its like night and day from when DV was here.

Coincidence?????? I think not.

Mitch isn't a homer, he calls it as he sees it.

I'm not so sure about that, Mr. Mecca. He loves the team, but he actually pretty much calls a spade a spade. Of course Lenny calls a spade a "sonofabitchin' goddam shovel".

Although, I can see why you might think that way about Mitch. Compared to you, Satan's nephew Tommy The Soul Eater From Hell's Bonus Room is a homer.

FAX

ROFL

bull .......... he's a paid Chiefs employee

“You have to be realistic,” he said. “When it’s 34-0, there’s no way you sugarcoat it. Lenny (Dawson) and I do this, I think, Lenny more than me probably. You have to be accurate. That game was like sitting on a tire spike.”

fixed it!

I attended a lunch where Mitch spoke, and he was very vocal in opposition to several thing's KC was doing.

A homer would never admit that, especially publicly.

Pappa John's disagrees
or is that being a whore

see - Holthus, and those of us with any sense, saw this coming back in 2004

I don't want to trouble you unnecessarily, Mr. mikeyis4dcats, but could you be more specific as to the "several things" he mentioned?

FAX

Is he paid by the Chiefs or by the Chiefs radio network? Are they 2 different entities?

I don't think he is a homer. I think he has human feelings towards the guys he works closely and wishes they would do well. He says off the wall things like when he signed donnie edwards like how he was going to change one game this year. I don't think he is a homer though. I just don't think he is as vocal and hard on the chiefs as I would like him too be.

Bullshit. He's as much a homer as you are.

You mean he gets more excited about the Chiefs when they make plays in a game? What a homer.

I don't recall specifics, as it was early last season, but we were all surprised at how candid he was. I do recall him talking about what a baby LJ was being in pretty much those words.

it probably helped that the guy who arranged him to speak was a good buddy of his from Silver Lake, so we may have gotten a more candid presentation.

Okay, which one of you geniouses is Holthus?

Yes, he's a homer.

yeah, nobody here ever hears him talk.

contrarian douchebag know-it-all

i love mitch holthus. if you listen to sports broadcasters around the country (either tv or radio), it really doesn't get better than him. too bad i can never listen to him because i can't get the tv and radio to be on the same play at the same time.

Every time he's on the radio talking to Keitzman he says serious homer shit, cmon.

I think Mitch Holthus does a fantastic job. There is a reason I put the t.v. on mute and listen to his broadcast every game ... He's not just some fan calling the game, like he said, he works hard ... I'd rather listen to his enthusiasm instead of two CBS guys pounding on the woeful Chiefs. And like he said, Lenny brings in more of the real Chiefs Fan perspective ...

Like what?

He's on Des moines radio every Friday morning, and he's not remotely what I consider a homer.