Lost his Fastball

[Silver Charm]

Have always enjoyed Tom Durkin over his career, but like a Singer who cant carry a note Durkin cant call a pitched voice tight race anymore. His voice just gives out on him. Should bow out gracefully.

Great Career for a Great Announcer. But its time....

[Boscar Obarra]

Rather hear a senile Durkin than a perfectly sound Battaglia any day.

[sighthound]

True.  I can\'t listen to him any more.  Time to say goodbye to remember a good career.

[Boscar Obarra]

wow, cmon guys, while I admit he\'s not what he used to be , he\'s still in the top 5% of race callers.

[sighthound]

He\'s pretty sloppy today.  I like Durkin, I don\'t like seeing him fall off his best.

[Silver Charm]

When you have regressed into becoming the 3rd best Race Announcer NYRA has its time to step aside gracefully....

[colin12]

I love Durkin and he is still better than most. Someday you guys will be old too

[toppled]

I can\'t find anything on the Internet confirming it, but I heard somewhere that Durkin will retire at the conclusion of his current contract right after that year\'s Saratoga meet.  I think the year is 2014.  
I live in the Albany area and heard it during this year\'s meet on either a local station or the OTB network.

[Silver Charm]

His eyes havent betrayed him like they did Pat Summerall and Dick Enberg late in their careers. Its his voice. He can not carry a note anymore!

Marshall Cassidy who almost said nothing when calling NYRA races with a \"Their Off\" and a 30 second mute for those standing in OTB began to sound good again last Saturday as Durkin lost his tune multiple times in late stretch.....

[Boscar Obarra]

There\'s a lot of trouble in the world, and this stuff about Durkin not being 35 years old and at the peak of his powers is about 34,000th on my list of things to worry about.

 Glad your lists are so short this one floated to the top!

[richiebee]

If that is the way you feel why was yours the first response on this thread?

[richiebee]

colin12 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I love Durkin and he is still better than most.
> Someday you guys will be old too

Colin:

I am old, and have had to admit that there are some things that I can not
do as well as I was when I was young.

When Tom Durkin was first hired by NYRA his tone and timbre, his dignified
race calls, were such that one could believe that he had been hired from the
Phipps\' staff at one of their Long Island mansions. Other than his \"And the
turf is firm\" intonation he was relatively schtick free. As time went on, he
seemed more intent on screaming his calls during big races and trying to
squeeze in some contrived catch phrase. It seems like the screaming has taken
its toll, and as Silver pointed out, the pipes are shot.

Durkin fired the first shot across his own bow by resigning as the voice of
the Kentucky Derby and Preakness on the network telecasts.

There is the potential for a brave new racino funds fueled NYRA in the near
future. Lets start by having a grand retirement party for Hayward, Campo and
Durkin. Lets have a racing program which encourages, but does not emphasize,
state bred racing. Lets quit paying lip service to the medication issue and
begin to punish the multiple offenders.

That\'s just a start.

[Boscar Obarra]

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If that is the way you feel why was yours the
> first response on this thread?

Being independently wealthy, I have  a lot of spare time.

[P-Dub]

Well if that were true, you should have better things to do.

[Boscar Obarra]

Nasty crowd here, must have lost a few photos this weekend.

 Here, in your spare time .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Durkin