Ordway Interfering with Most's Color

1983-84 Boston Celtics
Record: 19-7
12/18/1983

Johnny Most is no longer Johnny Most.

His descriptions of Celtics games on WRKO are being detoured by the constant interruptions of analyst Glenn Ordway, depriving Most of his colorful style, which for his listeners has been a trade-off in return for enduring his bias. Most's legendary errors of commission in his prejudiced descriptions have been joined by more errors of ommission, as he wanders from the action occasionally to engage in a dialogue with Ordway.

Given Most's proven disdain for details, this is a dangerous trend. When the Knicks on Tuesday night took the ball inbounds, down a basket with 19 seconds to play, Most didn't report the action until after Ray Williams hit the tying basket with 13 seconds remaining. When Cedric Maxwell scored the winning basket on a goaltending call eight seconds later, the two announcers again neglected any real description. Not until the replay was shown on TV during the late sports reports did we discover that Gerald Henderson had made a nifty blind pass to Maxwell, or that the goaltending was indisputable.

The next night, neither described Larry Bird's winning shot with four seconds left against the Cavaliers. These are not nitpicks. Most and Ordway are violating a cardinal rule of play-by-play: to provide full clarity - after the fact, if necessary - on a game's truly big play. Yet, the disruption of Most's style was more evident last week in an area where he has always been untouchable, albeit unreliable: ascending to heights of outrage against the officials. The final minutes of the Knicks broadcast provided a doubly special opportunity, because of some questionable calls and the intense rivalry - usually played up by Most - between the Celtics and Knicks.

Most was rapidly warming to his assignment, giving promise of the entertainment that has been his trademark for 31 years, when Ordway took over the microphone and reinforced Most in merely humorous and sarcastic terms. Most never did get fully back on track. Ordway, naturally, viewed that circumstance differently. "The fact that I went wild added to John's credibility," he said, "because he does complain so much about the officials, but this time he was right."

Perhaps, but is there anyone left who is concerned about Most's credibility during his diatribes against officials? If that credibility was helped by interrupting Most, the price was too high for his listeners. Ordway says that he and Most discussed this season's approach, and agreed that the former would participate more than he had when they worked together during the first half of last season. Most suffered a stroke in February, after which Ordway took over play-by-play, then shared that role with the recovering Most during the playoffs.

Ordway is traveling full time with the Celtics this season, in part as a backup in case Most has a recurrence of voice or health problems. "My voice is as strong as ever," Most says. "I'm feeling fine, too. I'm just not a weightlifter any more." In addition to being a potential play-by-play backup, Ordway hosts the pregame, postgame and halftime shows that always were difficult for even the young and healthy Most. Ordway also keeps commercials on track and keeps updated statistics at Most's fingertips, tasks that also are probably beyond the latter now. Ordway also is a fount of information on rookies, having done tedious research.

The two insist the present formula is working well, allowing for the fact that each is an "aggressive" announcer, to use Ordway's description. Most describes each of them as "exuberant," while conceding the perils of sharing a microphone. "Everyone in this business is on an ego trip," he says. "You have to want to hear your own voice. So, occasionally one guy spills over onto another. But I'm the boss; I have the absolute last say." Ordway's role of amplifying Most's descriptions can be informative, and includes a strategy for Most to return to the mike. "I think air time is better used by me describing the basket just scored than John describing the ball being slowly dribbled up court," Ordway says.

It's a fine theory that doesn't work in practice, because Most too often ad-libs on what Ordway has just said, delaying the description of action leading to the next basket and sometimes even the basket itself. Yet, a larger loss is the steady sound of Most's voice, which so often included random humor and hyperbole. With Ordway on almost as much, Most no longer has such freedom to roam. There are no other local NBA broadcasts in which two announcers exchange the mike so frequently. This doesn't prove it's the wrong approach, but does suggest how difficult it is to accomplish in such a fast-moving sport. The answer is for Ordway to continue to work hard but resist speaking so frequently, no small task for an aggressive personality.