With the MLB season in full swing everyday, it’s probably not hard to make a simple mistake on television while reporting or analyzing. It’s highly plausible that it happens more often than it’s actually mentioned. In some cases, you may even see or hear mistakes when the analyst is trying to make a joke.
That’s what happened to St. Louis Cardinals analyst Al “The Mad Hungarian” Hrabosky following the team’s loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. While attempting to reference the Cowboy hat being worn by Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas, in an ultimate goof, Hrabosky mentioned adult film star Ron Jeremy.
Miles Mikolas 🤠 pic.twitter.com/nZoyZIIQ6L
— cardinalsgifs (@cardinalsgifs) July 24, 2022
Hrabosky meant to reference Ron Burgundy, the character played by movie star Will Ferrell in the hit series “Anchorman.” While it was a great moment of comic relief for many watching, the overall joke was an epic failure.
Cardinals analyst Al Hrabosky is the latest to confuse Ron Burgundy with Ron Jeremy.
"Who was it that wore the cowboy hat with Ron Jeremy?"
Bally Sports' Alexa Datt couldn't hold back her laughter. 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/as2fcOhC60
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 24, 2022
Jeremy’s line of work isn’t the only reason that the joke wasn’t a good look. With the porn legend currently facing more than 30 sex crime charges, including at least a dozen counts of forcible rape, using his name in a light-hearted joke during a baseball game in this world of judgmental zombies isn’t going to go over too well.
Hrabosky Isn’t The First Sports Media Personality To Confuse The Two
In 2014, legendary play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson mixed the two “Rons,” up himself as he made the call during a Big 12 football game.
Gus Johnson outdoes himself, confuses Ron Burgundy w/ Ron Jeremy: http://t.co/q5OFvuTHtQ Vine: https://t.co/mzUD11ton4
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) November 9, 2014
Johnson quickly responded with “oops,” before silence fell over the announcing booth.
So, Hrabosky isn’t the first to make that mistake, but at that time, Jeremy also wasn’t facing these lewd and heinous allegations either. Either way it was a harmless mistake in both instances, but now it’s receiving more publicity because of those aforementioned allegations pending against Jeremy.
Announcing Gaffes Are A Part Of The Job
If you’re lucky enough to be in the business long enough it’s a real possibility that you’ll make a blunder on air. Who can forget former Fox turned ESPN play-by-play guy Joe Buck announcing, then U.S. Open winner Brooks Koepka’s girlfriend Jena Sims, as his ex-Becky Edwards.
Or you could’ve been former Celtics legend and play-by-play announcer Tommy Heinsohn, who gave us way too much information as he described Celtics player Aaron Baynes.
“I took a look at Baynes in the shower. He looks like all of Australia. He is really put together.”
Can we say awkward? Sure can. Hrabosky may not live this down for a while, but people have short memories and he’ll recover.
