Kraken TV Voice John Forslund Once Stood Up To Carolina Owner

"I am neither hired nor paid by the team."

A half-century ago, NHL play-by-play broadcasters for local teams routinely read disclaimers like this one. It provided listeners with assurance that there was a level of independence between the media outlet and the team being covered.

Never mind that it was mostly a charade. One NHL general manager of that era admitted if his team's broadcaster should prove too critical, said broadcaster would find himself sleeping with the fishes - at least metaphorically.

What brings this to mind is the shabby treatment this week of Baltimore Orioles baseball announcer Kevin Brown. For the seemingly innocuous comment that the Orioles had not played as well in the past as they were this year, he was suspended for several days. Media reports have pointed to Baltimore owner John Angelos as the too-easily-offended emperor.

Today, throughout sports, even the pretense of church-state separation in local TV and radio broadcasts has disappeared. Announcers ARE hired and paid by the clubs, and serve at their pleasure. How much latitude they're given varies, depending on each emperor's tolerance for fans being told his team has no clothes - or even had dressed poorly in previous seasons.

Don't believe for a second that Baltimore's bush-league tantrum doesn't happen elsewhere. Here's what Seattle Kraken TV voice John Forslund told me in a 2022 conversation:

"Dan Kelly was my idol when I was growing up," Forslund told me. "Jimmy Roberts, the coach in Springfield, organized a phone call for me to talk to Dan. Dan said, 'John, never sell a goal down. Never sell a big save down. Those are the great moments; those players and their families deserve your voice. Remember that. Don't be that dialed-down homer.' So I carry the energy of the game."

One night, Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos was listening to Forslund's call on the local Carolina telecast. "J.P. Dumont scored a goal for the Predators in Nashville. I called it and Mr. Karmanos was upset - he thought the Hurricanes had scored because my voice went up. We argued (later). It got to the point where I finally had to dig in and say, "Maybe you need to find another guy, because I'm not going to do it."

Forslund survived that tête-à-tête because he's widely acknowledged as one of the best in the business, and he was willing to put his job on the line to retain his integrity. 

The point is, he shouldn't have had to. While a portion of fans want speak-no-evil from their local announcers, most are savvy enough to handle, even appreciate, the truth. Besides, local announcers are skilled wordsmiths, able to relate unhappy facts while softening the blow.

There are good reasons to discipline a game announcer, like any other team employee. Just since April, 2022, hockey voices have been jettisoned for in-game slurs against Indigenous people, Jewish people, and Asian people. 

Big-name commentators - Don Cherry, Mike Milbury, Matthew Barnaby, Jeremy Roenick - have been fired for words or deeds deemed offensive, and which shone their employers in a bad light.

But bruising the tender sensibilities of sports emperors shouldn't be a suspendable offense. At an Orioles home game this week, fans broke into an extended "Free Kevin Brown" chant. 

Let's hope, in the unlikely event it should ever be necessary, truth-telling broadcasters like Seattle's Forslund can count on the same support.