Way too often, proverbial molehills are made into mountains in this era of social media vitriol. Rage overrides reason as nothing more than an honest mistake fuels the fires for those who can’t wait for the next opportunity to leap for the jugular.
Fortunately, a simple slip of the tongue last weekend by Cardinals television play-by-play broadcaster Chip Caray was handled as such by his bosses — a mere misspoken word, with the parties moving on.
Caray was calling the Cards’ game Saturday against Cincinnati on FanDuel Sports Network when he read a promotional announcement for the team’s upcoming “Disability Pride Night” event that included a description of the caps that will be given to those who purchase a special ticket. The hats include the disability pride flag and while discussing that Caray mispronounced “flag” — which came out as a rhyming homophobic slur — before immediately correcting himself. That was followed by about 30 seconds of silence from the booth before analyst Brad Thompson commented about a pitch.
People are also reading…
Was it awkward? Sure. Was it bad? Not great. Was it intentional? Come on now. Was it worthy of a reprimand — or something stronger? No.
Nonetheless, the gaffe quickly made the rounds on social media — of course — and on various blogs and websites. It had became a story that was addressed on the Post-Dispatch’s website (STLtoday.com), which in my opinion was handled in a straightforward manner with the headline of: “’Unintentional’ use of an offensive word leads to lengthy pause on Cardinals broadcast.”
But restraint wasn’t the case on some other platforms, leading Sports Illustrated sports media critic that he was “infuriated” that the story even drew attention. He was particularly irked about one of the headlines: “.”
Traina wrote of what he considered to be the thought process in coming up with that one: “In other words, ‘something happened accidentally, and a guy made a truly honest mistake, but if we put ‘homophobic slur’ in a headline, people will click the story.’ ...
“Trying to use the accidental slip of the tongue regarding a homophobic slur to get (online) engagement is the real problem with this whole saga. Not Caray’s flub.”
An announcer on a recent NBA Finals radio broadcast referred to a hyperbaric chamber as a “hydraulic” one before quickly correcting himself. This of course isn’t an offensive word, but it vividly illustrates how easy it is to have a mispronunciation when someone is uttering millions of words on the air over the course of a sports season.
The Cardinals’ TV announcers are employed by FanDuel Sports Network owner Main Street Sports Group, with significant input from the team. Management on the TV side has declined comment, but a Cardinals spokesperson addressed the issue to the Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold at the time:
“It was an unintentional misspeak while reading a promo, and he immediately corrected himself. His integrity throughout a long career speaks to his character. While unintentional and no offense was intended, it’s unfortunate, and we apologize to anyone who was offended.
“Knowing Chip, I am sure he is as upset as anyone.”
Hallelujah!
Sometimes discipline — as strong as termination — is deserved for on-air conduct. But this wasn’t one of those cases, not even in the same stratosphere. Common sense prevailed, which unfortunately isn’t always the case in these super-sensitive times.
3 games, 3 channels
Are you planning to watch the Cardinals play in Cleveland this weekend? If so, get ready to play the channel-changing game.
Three games. Three different telecasters. Three different starting times.
The series opener will be the club’s third appearance this season on the Apple TV+ package that exclusively streams games on Friday night, and this one starts at 6:10 p.m. An Apple TV+ subscription costs $9.99 per month, although is offered to new customers. The announcers assigned to the game are Wayne Randazzo (play-by-play), Dontrelle Willis (analysis) and Heidi Watney (reporter).
On Saturday, it’s over to FanDuel Sports Midwest — the team’s primary local TV outlet — for the 3:10 p.m. start. Caray and Thompson are to be in the booth, with Jim Hayes reporting.
The game the next day switches to Roku, which exclusively streams MLB contests on Sundays, and it’s an early start: 11:10 a.m. (all ӣƵ times). Roku uses broadcasters from the teams playing in the game, and this time has the Cardinals’ Thompson as the analyst working with the Guardians’ Tom Hamilton (play-by-play) and Andre Knott (reporter). There is no charge to stream that coverage.
NBA dunks NHL again in STL
In what has become an annual event in ӣƵ barring unusual circumstances, the recent NBA Finals more than doubled the Stanley Cup Final in television viewership. This despite the market not having an NBA team since the 1967-68 season, the same one in which the NHL’s Blues began play.
Nielsen, which tracks viewership, reports that 3.5% of the market tuned in on average to Oklahoma City’s victory in seven games over Indiana for the basketball title, whereas the figure was 1.7% for Florida’s six-game conquest of Edmonton for the hockey crown.
The Cup Final was shown on cable (TNT, TruTV) while the NBA series appeared over the air — on ABC (KDNL, Channel 30 locally). That gave basketball an advantage because broadcast TV generally outdraws cable. But that setup is a rarity, and the NBA has dominated the NHL in each league’s championship round for years in terms of ӣƵ TV audience sizes. In records dating to 2010 and excluding the COVID seasons (2020, 2021) when the games were played later in the year, the only time the NHL came out on top in STL was 2019 — the year the Blues won the Cup.
NHL vs. NBA championship series ratings
Game-by-game television ratings in ӣƵ for the championship series in the NHL and NBA, per Nielsen, with the rating being the percent of the market tuning in to TNT and TruTV for hockey, KDNL (Channel 30) for basketball.
Game | NHL | NBA |
---|---|---|
Game 1 | 1.8 | 3.3 |
Game 2 | 1.6 | 3.3 |
Game 3 | 1.4 | 3.4 |
Game 4 | 1.7 | 2.9 |
Game 5 | 1.9 | 3.2 |
Game 6 | 1.8 | 3.0 |
Game 7 | --- | 5.5 |
Average | 1.7 | 3.5 |
ӣƵ Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol speaks with the media on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, after a loss to the Cubs at Busch Stadium in ӣƵ. (Video by Ethan Erickson, Post-Dispatch)