Lift’s Blog

This week LIFTgear teams up with The Brooklyn Cyclones, a Class A affiliate of the New York Mets. I was asked to do color commentary during the broadcast for The Brooklyn Paper.com and let me tell you it is not as easy as it look. First I do not know any of the players, or any stats, and… not that much about baseball in general. All I know is ‘Catch Phrase’! All the great ones have them. Phil Rizzuto (New York Yankees) had ‘Holy Cow’, Jon Davidson (New York Rangers) ‘Whooo Baby!’ and Tony Tirado (Univision Scoccer) Goooooooooooooooooooool! What would be mine? I searched the internet and watched games it seemed all was taken. I tried out my home run calls and family and friends. “See Ya!”, that was taken…by who? “It is faaarrr it is…GONE!” Ron Sterling?!? No wonder that sounded familiar. “BOOM” curse you Playstation Madden 96. It seemed all was lost, everything was gone, used up, people knew how it was done.

That is when I realized, I needed to use my own sayings but through my years I have stolen just about every saying and voice from TV and Movies. I pick on my Brazilian wife by using Fabbienna’s voice in ‘Pulp Fiction’, “Who’s Chopper is this”. In the sixth grade I stole a Jerry Seinfeld skit (before he was famous) to make girls laugh,”Why do they call it a hamburger, it’s not made of ham” and to this day when someone says to me “I don’t know” I say “third Base” classic Abbot and Costello. I needed something personal. My Jack Laroux/Christina phony phone call ” I love home runs more, no, I love homeruns more, no, I love home runs more,etc…” No, that could not work. Oh! How about my impersonation of my brother Ross. “Asshole it’s a home run, asshole” Not PC enough. Maybe my ‘Don Diego’, hummmm,only if the hitter is 19.

I got it! A voice for one of my closest and oldest friends Marc ‘Gator’ Logan. Over the years he has had a few voices. When he was eight we called him Marc ‘marbles’ and used a groggily voice for his prepubescent stage. His voice then changed at 13 and we went with a more ethnic slur with slight marbles in the mouth. Over the years the voice has changed to sound nothing like him, but somehow, everyone knows that it is him. The voice has gotten higher reflecting his giant heart and childlike Innocents that is unmistakably Gator. Their is one saying that has been used over and over in my impersonation of him. One saying that I used to show his care free approach to life and would sum up how I felt about Catch phrases.

YOU KNOW HOW IT IS!!!