The beauty of baseball being long, sometimes slow and mundane, is that it allows broadcasters to riff about things other than the game.
Wednesday night, the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks were rooted in a close game. But the action wasn’t enough to keep Jon Miller from attempting to learn how to play Wordle, the online puzzle that quickly went viral after launching last October.
Nearly ten months after that launch, Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming was kind enough to explain the rather simple game with intense detail, as his 70-year-old broadcast partner seemed perplexed by the concept.
Dave Flemming spent an entire half inning explaining Wordle to Jon Miller.
Here are the highlights: pic.twitter.com/B4jtI33NWt
— KNBR (@KNBR) August 18, 2022
“You have to hit enter?” Miller asked during Flemming’s explanation which lasted nearly a half-inning. “Is it a good start, getting two of the letters?”
We never did learn if Miller completed the word, with the broadcaster expressing concern that he only had four hours left in the day to solve the puzzle.
“Isn’t the guy who invented it – his name – if it’s not Wordle, it’s something very close to that,” Flemming later shared. “So he invented a game based on his own name.”
The inventor of Wordle was Josh Wardle.
“Must’ve been a really interesting guy to know,” Miller said with a hint of sarcasm.
“And the New York Times paid him like 10 million bucks and he sold it to them,” Flemming added of Wardle’s Wordle, a fact that didn’t sit too well with Miller.
“So, it was about the money for him then,” Miller said with disappointment. “I see.”
Based on his level of enthusiasm, I’d be surprised if Miller is eager to play today’s word. The Giants ended up losing to Arizona 3-2, dropping them to one game below .500, which is a major disappointment after last season’s 107 wins. But the Giants inability to get into a playoff race this year should only increase the opportunities for more wholesome content out of their radio broadcast. Maybe Heardle is next for Miller.
[KNBR; Wordle photo from The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, via USA Today Sports]
