Yogi Bera - Its Like De Ja Vue All Over Again
VERO BEACH, FLORIDA – One of the absurd things virtually existence an elder statesman (i.east. old coot) in the sports columnist/ TV announcer biz is that, over time, y'all get to conduct a ton of interviews with prominent figures in the toy section of life.
And accumulate a lot of neat experiences.
So many that they frequently skid your mind.
Countless times, MAS has been watching TV and up pops a celeb jock, by or present, that he suddenly remembers interviewing.
At that point information technology actually hits MAS, a true sports lover, merely how lucky he is.
If MAS was your average adult fan (nothing wrong with that), he'd probable accept crossed paths with maybe one or two famous luminaries of the field, courtroom, ring or water ice in his lifetime.
And probably at an shorthand signing where he had to shell out beaucoup bucks and/or look in a line a mile long.
Fortunately, well-nigh of his interview remembrances are good ones.
Oh, there was the occasional John Thompson, the former Georgetown hoops motorbus or ex-Minnesota Twins skipper Tom Kelly, each of whom MAS institute to be, shall nosotros say, less than rational individuals.
Just over the years MAS has found that if he didn't act similar a jerk and asked sensible questions, well-nigh jocks and coaches were, at the very least, decent people when interviewed.
A few were SO prissy they left an even more indelible impression than the others, pleasant though they were.
One of these special individuals was the late Yogi Berra, the legendary New York Yankees dandy who passed away recently at the historic period of ninety.
MAS had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Berra as a fledgling TV sports announcer in Hawaii (more than on this interaction later).
When Yogi was still with us, seeing him in the news or on the tube made for a pleasant remember.
But on the occasion of Berra's passing, it prompted a bittersweet recollection.
When a famous sports person leaves us in that location are usually a whole bunch of platitudes accorded him or her.
In well-nigh cases, they are well-deserved.
All of united states of america, despite our shortcomings and mistakes in life, possess at to the lowest degree some good qualities worth recounting.
Whatever bad points are usually ignored, at least momentarily, out of respect for the recently departed.
Even so, the outpouring of love, respect and admiration for Berra, to MAS'south mind, reached a rarely matched level.
And, male child, was it ever well-deserved.
Former Yankee Don Mattingly, who as current skipper of the Los Angeles Dodgers has worn Berra's No. 8 in his honor for several years now, said information technology best: "You've never heard anyone say a bad give-and-take near Yogi."
In one case in awhile, a person is so across reproach that this will exist said near them.
Such a special person was Berra.
How tin MAS know for certain, since his coming together with Yogi lasted just twenty minutes and took identify 30 years agone?
If one is expert enough at reading people and has ample feel doing so, MAS believes it possible to render such a judgement.
Here's how it all went down at the Makaha golf grade on the island of Oahu, where Berra — a 10-time Earth Series champ and 18 times an American League All-Star as a Yankees backstop in the mid-20th century — was participating in a celebrity golf tournament.
MAS defenseless upwards with Berra exterior the golf order's one thousand clubhouse.
He immediately sensed a regular guy begetting in on Yogi when Berra offered in his inimitable, slightly gravelly voice: "Dis is a priddy posh place!"
"Yous evah play heah?"
"Not on my bacon," MAS replied, drawing a chortle from Yogi.
Nosotros and then strolled over to the putting green, exchanging light banter and and so held the interview there.
Yogi couldn't take been more than forthright on everything New York Yankees by and present (which at the time were the turbulent Steinbrenner years).
Or more thoughtful in his replies.
During our on-camera chat, Yogi inserted "David" into his answers numerous times. It'due south an former PR tactic that savvy interviewees pick up and utilise.
Inserting the name of the reporter personalizes the interview in such a style that the person answering the questions comes off as personable and more than likeable.
It too shows politeness and respect for the questioner — non to mention making the interviewer experience similar a million bucks.
MAS' first inclination was to think that Berra's actions were just that — a PR ploy.
By then, he had seen all forms of phony facades — reddish light nice guys (who are friendly only when the camera comes on), smoke blowers, fake jokesters, etc.
Allow's just say MAS has a pretty good congenital-in BS detector.
Merely he chop-chop sensed that, in Yogi's instance, information technology was the real thing. He was just beingness himself: thoughtful and classy.
After our chat and a firm handshake, Berra proceeded on to his circular of golf game.
And MAS was aflame like a nearby fluorescent bug zapper.
To this day, Yogi remains the most genuinely nice famous sports person MAS has ever interviewed.
And this is after working for three decades in Hawaii and Japan, which at the fourth dimension were regular stop-offs for all the bigname jocks and teams, passing through either on holiday or for regular season or All-Star contests.
Add to that four more than years and counting in stadiums and arenas on the U.S. mainland and we're talking a ton of highprofile MAS interviews.
That's how big an impression Yogi made.
Unfortunately, Yogi Berra will probably alive on in the minds of many younger fans non as the great actor and person he was, but every bit the guy who spewed malapropisms similar "It ain't over 'til it's over", "It's deja vu all over once again" and "When you come to the fork in the route, have it".
Some of the sayings attributed to him he never uttered. They were contrived.
But Yogi practiced-naturedly rolled with the punches and if he was dumb, he was impaired similar a fox.
He accepted credit for all of them, his or not, and became a national treasure.
Through it all, he was self-assured enough to know the REAL Yogi Berra and experience, as the current hip maxim goes, comfy in his own pare.
Just those who got to know Berra, whether on a long-term basis like Mattingly or through a brief come across like MAS, today remember a far more than substantial Yogi.
Spend x minutes with him and he made yous feel similar you'd known him your whole life.
When you met him, at once, you knew he was the real bargain. A salt-of-the-earth guy who treated everyone he met, no affair their lot in life, with the same with respect.
Today, yours truly is a piddling sadder but nevertheless remains a richer Human being About Sports for having met Yogi Berra.
We should ALL exist more than like Yogi was.
Contact Man About Sports at: davwigg@gmail.com
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Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2015/10/06/baseball/mlb/baseball-legend-berra-made-unforgettable-impression/
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