From the Desk of the GM - June 8, 2009

“Welcome back Ron”

For those of you who attended the past three games, you would have heard two different voices on the PA, neither of which was our regular PA guy Ron Arnst. Due to a death in the family, Ron was away for the weekend and thus, Jonathan Green and I had to pinch hit on the mic. Jonathan has done this gig a number of times and he does a very good job filling in on those rare occasions when Ron is away. Jonathan did the Friday and Sunday games and I made my debut on the mic Saturday night. Having been with the organization for more than 15 years now, it was something I had never done. Everyone in the office thought it was quite hilarious that my one and only time doing the announcing, I got a 12 inning game.

My personal evaluation of the job I did was “adequate”. I got all the reads in, announced all the players and my voice only cracked a few times. However, as anyone who was at the game on Saturday can attest to, just reading a script and announcing player’s names properly, does not a good PA announcer make.

I have always had a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for the job Ron does. He doesn’t just do a great job one or two nights a year, he does and has done the job 50 or so games a year for the last 15 years. However, once I was the one announcing 100 batters, multiple prize draws, between inning promos, etc., that level of respect went to a whole new level. Without a doubt, Ron is simply the best at what he does and the Goldeyes organization is very fortunate to have him as our guy. As Ron himself would tell you, he enjoys being here every bit as much as we as an organization, and the fans who attend the games, enjoy having him here.

Whether you are at the games listening to Ron over the loudspeakers or tuning in Paul Edmonds on your radio on 1290 CFRW, you can do so knowing that these two guys have announced close to 1,800 Goldeyes games combined. You can almost hear the experience every time they speak.

So, if you attended your first Goldeyes game ever on Saturday night, I apologize for the amateur act you were subjected to on the mic. Not to fear though, Ron will be back Monday night, and all will be right at the ballpark again.

We missed you Ronnie, see you tonight!

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Until next time…