North Carolina football/hoops announcer Jones Angell above worked as an analyst for ESPN’s coverage of Saturday’s NCAA baseball tournament clash between Towson State and the Tar Heels. While the Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik gives ESPN credit for giving college baseball so much exposure, he’s quick to call Angell “a homer”, and “too much to bear”. Based on the testimony below, Zurawik might be correct.
Angell described the performance by North Carolina’s starting pitcher, Kent Emanuel as “magnificent” at one point. Granted it was before the big left hander gave up the last four runs that chased him from the mound, but even then, he was nowhere near “magnificent.”
And if Angell had told me one more time how Tar Heels first baseman Cody Stubbs “smoked” and “scalded” the ball he hit for a home run off Towson starter Brandon Gonnella, I was certain my head would have exploded.
In fact, the only thing that kept it from exploding was the last time Angell said “smoked,” Manuel, perhaps trying to mitigate the boosterism in the booth, came back by saying, “How about Gonella keeping Towson in the game?”
Manuel also went out of his way to give credit to Towson for getting to the “magnificent” Emanuel the third time through the order.
But Angell never stopped being in high homer mode. You could hear the joy in his voice when a Tar Heels double play killed a late inning Tigers rally. And, really, Towson fans shouldn’t have to deal with that on the top sports channel in the nation.