Q: If Phil Mushnick and Fran Healy were to battle with axes, who would be the winner?
A: The sports fans of New York City.
From Mushnick in today’s NY Post.
While we bust Fran Healy’s chops in this column, Tuesday night on MSG Network the veteran baseball broadcaster and ex-major league catcher, all kidding aside, made broadcasting history. He provided the worst on-air misread of an in-game happenstance, ever.
Pedro Martinez, pitching at home, had a no-hitter through 61/3innings when Chris Burke, a relatively anonymous Astros’ rookie from Louisville, hit a home run.
As Burke circled the bases, the crowd at Shea began to applaud. That applause grew to a loud, standing ovation. Healy heard it, saw it, then said:
“Chris Burke is getting a nice ovation from the crowd. They’re playing away, and he gets a nice hand.”
In Latin, the phrase is res ipsa loquitur, meaning: no further explanation is needed; it speaks for itself.
I dunno, perhaps Healy has a more sophisticated sense of humor than we noticed previously?
I give Healy credit for very little, but I thought he was joking when he said that. Of course, I also thought he was joking when he misidentified Derrek Lee as Derek Bell, just for the sake of talking about how “ironic” it was that Heath Bell was facing his mustachioed, melanin-enhanced counterpart. Considering how often Mets broadcast booth lifer (and Civil War vet) Ralph Kiner is demonstrably more alert and in-tune with the game than Francis, I don’t know that he deserves credit for intentional humor, though.