Tom Durkin out

[sekrah]

http://blogs.courier-journal.com/racing/2011/04/26/durkin-steps-down-as-nbcs-triple-crown-announcer/

End of an era.  But he was clearly slipping the last couple years.  Hope he gets his health issues straightened out.

I imagine we\'ll see Trevor Denmen now.

[miff]

\"I imagine we\'ll see Trevor Denmen now\"


...he\'s over the top too!

[bstaubs22]

Give the gig to Mark Johnson. He\'s ready to step into the big time.

[SoCalMan2]

Yeah, I would say Mark Johnson is phenomenal.....I love listening to his calls.

[drbillym]

Would hope Durkin can be back in shape for Saratoga.  As for the triple crown, I love Vic Stauffer, especially when he\'s got a bet on one of the contenders coming down the stretch.  But as long as its not Mike Bataglia!

[toppled]

I\'d prefer if they just take the audio feed from the track so that we get to hear the same call as the one at the track.  In that case, Durkin would still be the caller of the Belmont.

[jack72906]

I would prefer Mark Johnson or Kurt Becker but at least it\'s not Trevor.

http://www.drf.com/news/larry-collmus-replace-tom-durkin-triple-crown-announcer

[SoCalMan2]

How does this decision get made?  I really don\'t know much about Collmus (for all I know, he is very good), but I guess I will learn.  It is very hard for me to imagine that he can come remotely close to what Mark Johnson does day in day out.  I would be curious to learn who made the decision and what went into it.

[alm]

Collmus is very, very good.  At that he is about half as good as Mark Johnson.

[Leamas57]

Maybe you already know about the race call that got him a lot of attention...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpSmprqptSk

Leamas

[TGJB]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinion/01sun4.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211

[Silver Charm]

Larry Collmus posted on his Facebook last evening at exactly 6:30PM.....\"One Week from Today, Right Now!\" So if anybody is thinking he isnt counting the days, hours minutes, etc...forget it.

Of course in my typical style I was the first to reply and said \"What??\"...Then I wished him luck

Irony of irony stories here. I was in the Race Callers Room on FOY Day to witness The Call of the 4th race. Shake hands take a picture or two and briefly chat. I mentioned the Derby to Collmus and he replied it had been 20 years since he had been would love to go back but it was because he was always working that day.

As we continued talking he said one moment I need to do something. He turned to the mike and said, \"stepping in to the winners circle is a blah, blah, blah horse trained by so-and-so and owned by Mr James Covello!

And I said to myself I know that guy......