home castin' (hom kas'-tin) noun. Describes the obviously biased and sometimes frighteningly irrational commentary provided by local broadcasters.

Usage example: Johnny Most was to home castin' what Gary Busey is to, well, everything crazy.

Word history: This term -- which was partially inspired / derived from home cookin' -- was coined last week by BadDave. We were watching a Bulls game and Chicago play-by-play man Neil Funk made a couple pretty funny comments (things along the lines of "Oh, now, that was a travel!), and BadDave finally turned to me and said, "Hooooome castin'." Just like that, a new WotD was born.

The late Johnny Most was the great grandpappy of home castin'. Back in the day, there was nothing quite like listening to Most lay absolute waste to a Celtics opponent. And in Most's eyes, the officials were included in the long list of "Celtics opponent." In fact, everybody not wearing green and white was The Enemy. Jack McCallum's book, Unfinished Business, has some great Johnny stories and describes how a bumpy cab ride or lousy room service on the road would cause him to vomit hate onto whomever his beloved Celtics were playing on a given night.

Here's some classic Most for you:




Tommy Heinsohn, himself a former Celtic turned Celtics broadcaster, followed in Most's footsteps. I've already covered Heinsohn's insanity -- If you're wondering whether Tommy would skin you alive, eat your insides, and then wear your skin as a tuxedo to his daugther's wedding, the answer is "yes" -- but here's some video:





Lest you think that the insanity is limited to Boston-based broadcasters, here's a mini-meltdown from Matt Bullard:


Another great Bullard moment: tea bags always make you feel better!

Since Neil Funk helped inspire this word, here's some video of him and Stacey King providing a nice little scouting report on Kwame Brown:


Home castin' isn't limited to the booth, either. Watch these Cleveland newscasters freak out after a LeBron James buzzer beater:


Update! Because Basketbawful reader JustinS brought him up, here's Portland's color guy, Mike Rice, screaming directly at an official to check the replay:


Here's another great Rice moment: "Turn down the commercials too, you asshole!"

Update! From Basketbawful reader Viscant: "My favorite homecasting of the year involves the Bucks broadcaster with an audible 'MISS IT!' and then begging the refs to check the replay. Good for a laugh."

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21 Comments:
Anonymous Lucas said...
When will your next installment of 30 reasons be ready? It's a nice break from the monotony.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
The next installment was supposed to be ready today, but the Western Conference proved a little tougher to encapsulate. It should be ready Monday.

Anonymous JustinS said...
One of the best things about the NBA League Pass is that it gives us an opportunity to see that other broadcasters are even worse than our home team's.

Denver's guys aren't great, either. And, yes, the Celts guys are god awful. But our (Portland's) Mike Rice has to be near the top of the, uh, bottom. Wish they'd have ditched him during the Jail Blazer purge.

On the flip side, Phoenix has some pretty good ones and Utah's Craig Bolerjack is one of the best.

Blogger David Landon said...
So, Stacey King is basically criticizing Kwame Brown for being exactly like him.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Boom Baby!

Blogger Basketbawful said...
But our (Portland's) Mike Rice has to be near the top of the, uh, bottom. Wish they'd have ditched him during the Jail Blazer purge.

Huh. That's funny. This post has been updated...

So, Stacey King is basically criticizing Kwame Brown for being exactly like him.

Heh, yep.

Boom Baby!

You know, YouTube didn't have a lot of Slick Leonard going batshit, which is too bad, because he was a classic. Ditto for Johnny "Red" Kerr. A few years ago, I watched a classic duel between Michael Jordan and Dominque Wilkins. Wilkins won the duel (50+ points to 40+ points for MJ) and the game, but afterwards Kerr said something like, "Well, I hope Dominique enjoys winning the statistical battle, because he's not going to win many playoff games."

Ouch. True, but ouch.

Blogger Unknown said...
Mike Rice is the tits. Especially when the Blazers play the Celtics, because their fans always come flooding over to the Blazer forums to bitch. I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.

Anonymous Axe Head said...
Listening to Heinsohn (and his ilk) is a grievous insult to my intelligence.

Blogger Sos said...
As a lifelong C's fan, I just watched the first Tommy Heinsohn clip and thought to myself, "that's not bad, it's just Tommy being Tommy".

PS-captcha=tyrin. Take that as you will.

Blogger Viscant said...
My favorite homecasting of the year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57yR0MphgwU
Involves the Bucks broadcaster with an audible "MISS IT!" and then begging the refs to check the replay. Good for a laugh.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
That LBJ buzzer beater was game two of the Magic series last year -- the entire city of Cleveland freaked out for good reason.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Viscant -- Post updated.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Stacey King is awful. During the two Wolves/Bulls games he was ripping on everything about the Wolves including their mascot.

Um, we already suck. We know this. Do you think your fan base is so insecure that you must grind the lowly Wolves into the dirt to make the middle-of-the-road Bulls look somehow on a higher plane?

Blogger Unknown said...
Hey! thats my bullard tbag video! I just got linked on a major website on the internets!! I'm moving up in the world.

Blogger chris said...
Anonymous: "middle of the road" is pretty generous for the post-Salmons heifers.

Quinton: When you share the same first name as someone on the lacktion ledger, it stands to reason that sooner or later, your contributions to Basketbawful will be noted. :D

Bawful: If I only had specific clips of Grant "Peaches" Napear failing at life...obviously the folks at Royalty have tracked his turribleness for a lot longer, but hearing him go "THANK HEAVENS FOR TYREKE EVANS!" every other night is painful (it was awesome the first few times, but now worn out).

Blogger Dylan said...
Walt Clyde Frasier is by far the best. Nothing beats postin' and toastin', swishin' and dishin', shakin' and bakin'. He's the only reason to watch Knick games at this point.

Anonymous Sorbo said...
Tommy wants to be stroked?! Now I see how he calms down when he's mad. I wonder if that would work on the Hulk?

Anonymous Hajt said...
Mike Rice is, I believe, the only announcer to get ejected from the game by the refs.

Check it out here:
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=28801

Blogger Mintz... said...
Bawful, hope you were watching the Purdue game... What a finish! I'm amazed that the Boilermakers have made it this far without Hummel.
Kramer was fantastic at the end.

Thoughts?

Anonymous StottsEra said...
im partial to this guy
clicky

Blogger evan said...
Nothing like Matty Goukas decimating everything about every opponent the Magic face. I envision him mixing his Gatorade powder with vinegar before each game to get the right levels of acid in his brain and GI tract.