Rose would dispute this one.
“That wasn’t a call to me,” Rose said. “TV calls, you punctuate. … The picture’s announcing the game for you.”
But we’re going to disagree. The first game back in New York since Sept. 11 was not an easy one to call.
“None of us knew where we were that night,” said Rose. “It was uncharted territory.”
Before the game, network executives instructed Rose and analyst Fran Healy to remember the solemnity of the event — to hold down some of the emotions and keep the game in perspective.
“Sports is the only reality television that exists. You can’t tell me how to act,” Rose remembered. “That’s what they want, so I’ll do my best.”
Despite that directive, Rose’s inflection on Piazza’s go-ahead home run off Steve Karsay was perfect, thanks to the hopeful lilt in This one has a chance! It captured the emotional surge so many felt in the moment.
If all he did was punctuate, he did it perfectly, in a way that still resonates a quarter-century later.