Colts radio announcer Bob Lamey had an odd way to sum up the ending of Sunday’s win over the Chargers.
“The Colts win it, 26-22. The game is finally f--king over. Colts win, 26-22, their first win of the season,” Lamey said on the air, not seeming to care that he was uttering one of George Carlin’s seven dirty words.
Afterward, Lamey regretted it.
“I keep thinking, ‘This is not me.’ My wife was saying, ‘Bob, you don’t say that.’ But I did and I feel absolutely awful about it,” Lamey told Bob Kravitz of WTHR. “I take it very hard because it hurts my reputation, the reputation of the Colts and if there were kids listening, I mean, it’s just awful.”
So why did Lamey, a longtime broadcasting veteran, say something on the air that everyone knows you’re not allowed to say on the air? He says he can’t explain it, didn’t realize he was doing it and doesn’t remember it.
“After the game, [Colts PR man] Matt Conti told me about it, and I was shocked,” Lamey said. “Then I listened to it, and it was kind of garbled – but yeah, I said it. The tape doesn’t lie. I just wish I remember having said it.”
The Colts own their local broadcast rights and license them to radio stations, and Lamey works for the Colts, not the stations that broadcast the games. The Colts say they forgive Lamey.
“Bob Lamey is not only a legendary broadcaster, but also a passionate and loyal Colts fan,” the team said in a statement. “Nevertheless, even in the heat of the moment, profanity has no place in Colts broadcasting. Bob has expressed extreme regret for his mistake during yesterday’s broadcast. We have accepted his sincere apology, and forgiven him for his misstep. We hope our fans will do the same and enjoy ‘The Voice of the Colts’ for many more broadcasts.”
One misstep should certainly not negate a long career, but it does deserve further exploration. If the 77-year-old Lamey truly didn’t realize he said the F-word on the air, and truly doesn’t remember saying the F-word on the air, he’d be wise to get a medical checkup. An on-air F-bomb from a professional with decades of experience is less offensive than alarming.