If Joe Davis isn’t on the call for Game 3 of the ALCS on Fox this week, Kevin Burkhardt, Derek Jeter, A-Rod and David Ortiz are blaming the turkey.
Monday was Thanksgiving in Canada, and the MLB on Fox broadcast booth was in Toronto for Game 2 of the ALCS between the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners. Naturally, Davis and John Smoltz had to celebrate with a turkey in the booth.
“Call a championship series game and carve a turkey at the same time,” Davis said as he held up his carving knife and fork for the camera.
Joe Davis isn’t the only announcer who can call some of the biggest MLB and NFL games, but he might be the only one who can do it while carving a turkey. And not only did Davis manage to perfectly weave carving a turkey with calling the game, but he also gave a bit of a teaching lesson on how to cut the bird. Don’t just cut singular pieces off the turkey, slide the knife down the center to separate the breast from the bone. Once you have the breast meat off the bird, slice it against the grain, cutting through those muscle fibers so the turkey is tender.
But during the postgame show, Burkhardt, A-Rod, Jeter and Big Papi were nervous for Davis, fearing the play-by-play voice should be bracing for food poisoning after noticing the turkey looked a little pink. Maybe it was just the lighting, because David didn’t seem as concerned as Burkhardt.
“That turkey looks a little pink to me,” Burkhardt said as everyone on set agreed it looked undercooked. “Joe Davis, best of luck. You did a great job with the game, I just hope the tum tum is okay in a couple of hours, boy.”
But if there’s a play-by-play voice we can trust to recognize whether a turkey is done or not, it’s Davis. Joe Buck could never. We all saw Buck attempt to roll a burrito on Good Morning America over the summer. But Davis has posted several videos of himself cooking and grilling meats on social media. And he seems to know what he’s doing. Smoltz, meanwhile, looked like someone who probably butchers their Thanksgiving turkey with an electric knife as he stared at Davis in awe of what his colleague was doing.
On the off chance that the turkey was undercooked and happened to contain salmonella or any bacteria, Davis and Smoltz at least have one day to recover, with the ALCS resuming for Game 3 in Seattle Wednesday night. But in Joe Davis we trust.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com