During the very best Maryland sports moments, I am reminded of my youth, listening to Chuck Thompson broadcast Orioles and Colts games.
He is a folksy Baltimore legend and 1993 recipient of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting.
His tagline Ain’t the Beer Cold will stay with me forever signifying some of my favorite life moments.
Here’s his description of how he came up with the phrase from his autobiography (ht: Wikipedia):
For years in my game broadcasts I had used the expression, ‘Ain’t the beer cold!’ when things were going especially well for the home team. I got that phrase from Bob Robertson, a spotter who worked with me on Baltimore Colts football games (that were sponsored by the makers of National Beer). Eventually, I received lots of mail from people in the Carolinas, the area sometimes referred to as the Bible Belt. The listeners felt they shouldn’t have to put up with my ad libs about beer with all the beer advertisements they were already exposed to, and I thought they had a legitimate beef. So, I stopped using the line sometime in the 1970s.
Congrats to the Ravens on a brilliant post season and Super Bowl win. Somewhere, Chuck is toasting the occasion with a refreshing Natty Boh.