Thom Brennaman thought he was a little too negative, among other things, at the end of his tenure as the Cincinnati Reds play-by-play broadcaster. Brennaman was fired for using an anti-gay slur, which was picked up by a hot mic on a broadcast. And while he’s been given a second chance, he wants this time around to go a bit differently — in more ways than one.
Before he could be given the chance to call college football games for The CW this fall, Brennaman sought redemption. While this sparked a public debate about whether he deserved a second chance, it also saw those like Outsports’ Cyd Ziegler express enthusiasm for his return to national broadcasting.
With that, he’s talked about being “overwhelmed with gratitude” for being granted this second chance by The CW. But in being given a second chance, Brennaman wants to do things differently.
In a candid interview with John Kiesewetter on 91.7 WVXU, Brennaman, soon to turn 61, opened up about his time as the voice of the Reds broadcaster. He admitted that he’d been too negative and critical in his final year, not knowing that it would be the last time he would put on the headset for another four years.
“I think I became a little too negative on the team there towards the end (on Reds TV). I’ll be a more positive broadcaster,” he says. “I think my perspective is different. Maybe I lost along the way how fortunate I was to be in the positions I was in. And so I think I will certainly cherish that much, much more than perhaps I did back in 2020.”
Brennaman expounded on why his being too negative in his final season was ultimately a fair criticism—among many—of his tenure in the booth.
“I just used to get so frustrated because I was a Reds fan, and I really wanted them to do well,” he admitted. “I felt like there were some years when they had the talent to do well, and they just didn’t do it. I’d get frustrated just like a normal fan. The difference between me and them was that I was paid to talk about it on television. And so it came out, I think, at times (as) being negative. Whereas when I went to do an NFL game, or a college basketball or football game, I didn’t have a rooting interest in the game. I just did the game.”
So, how does that positivity come out?
“I’ll be a more positive broadcaster, finding the good rather than picking at the bad,” Brennaman continued. “I think that I’ll be different in that regard. I think what I’ve been through — and look, I didn’t lose a family member, I didn’t have my world fall apart and have to sell my house, I don’t have cancer — there are people who have real problems out there, compared to what I’ve gone through the last four years. And I wouldn’t for a second begin to compare that to people who are going through things like that. But it was tough.”
[WVXU]
