The Thrill of Victory

You know, there comes several points in ones life where it finally dawns on you that you are getting old. Last week was one of them. You see, one of the voices of my childhood, Jim McKay, passed away at age 86. I always tell people that there are certain things, certain music and certain visuals that when they pop up, you can always remember something about the first time you noticed them.

The Agony of Defeat...

Jim McKay was one of the pioneers of sports broadcasting. By the time he had reached his 80’s, he wasn’t doing much broadcasting - but man, that voice; it always snapped me to attention.

McKay was the front man back in the day when ABC did the Olympics regularly, or for those of you who can remember the 70’s - When the Munich Olympic Terrorist incident happened, it wasn’t a news reporter who reported on it, it was the voice.

I can still to this day hear his voice over to begin ABC’s Wide World of Sports. The soaring trumpet music and the words, “The Thrill of Victory, and the Agony of Defeat. Bringing you the Constant Variety of Sports.” If ever someone will be remembered for a tagline, that was his.

Bringing You the Constant Variety of Sports...

Remember what I said earlier about identifying things with certain times in your life? Here’s what I think of when I hear his catchphrase: I’m 7 to 10 years old, sitting in the kitchen of our family house in Hollywood, Florida. My mother is there, asking me what TV dinner that I wanted and I would always respond “salisbury steak,” with tater tots I might add.

I don’t know why that stands out, but that was the point in my life where I began to discover the whole Sports thing. I can still visualize the Russian powerhouse Vasily Alexiev (I probably butchered the spelling), lifting untold amounts of weight. I can remember Franz Klammer, steaming downhill on his skis. And most of all I can remember thinking to myself, "this is so cool...sports from everywhere."

Thanks...

I think I can speak for all of us here at the OSG when I say “Thank You” to Jim McKay. Thank you for being the voice of reason, thank you for being the voice of knowledge and thank you for making us all what we are - complete and total Sports Geeks.

--Phil Cantor

“The time has come, my song is over, thought I’d something more to say” Time (Pink Floyd)