Come this fall on The CW, there’s a good chance we could hear Thom Brennaman talking about a deep dive, not off the bat of Nicholas Castellanos, but rather from Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos.
On a more serious note, Brennaman is returning to sports broadcasting. Four years after a highly publicized incident in which he dropped a homophobic slur on a hot mic, which cost him his jobs with the Cincinnati Reds and Fox Sports, he’s secured a position with The CW to call college football games.
Brennaman has since apologized and sought redemption, sparking a public debate about whether he deserved a second chance. But that’s also seen those like Outsports’ Cyd Ziegler express enthusiasm for his return to national broadcasting.
In a candid conversation with Barrett Media’s Derek Futterman, Brennaman revealed the challenges he faced after losing his job. He described the process of accepting the consequences, making amends and exploring potential paths forward for his career.
“There are no words to describe it,” Brennaman told BSM. “Not only was I mortified because of the word and because of knowing that I’ve hurt some people here – a lot of people here – with this, [but] that it was also going to be, at the same time, probably a bumpy road ahead for me personally for sure.”
One potential path forward has been realized with his new gig at The CW, in which Brennaman expressed his overwhelming gratitude for the network’s decision to give him a second chance.
“I said to them, ‘I hope and pray that this will be the last company I ever work for,’ because I can’t be more grateful to a group of people than I am to the people at CW for giving me this opportunity,” Brennaman said. “I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude that there was somebody out there, somebody’s out there that were willing to say, ‘Okay, you know, this guy – he’s not a perfect guy. He’s not a perfect announcer.’ I don’t know who is a perfect guy or a perfect announcer – I haven’t met him. ‘But you know what? This is a decision we’re making, and here we go.’”
Brennaman will be joined in the broadcast booth this fall by color commentator Max Browne and sideline reporter Treavor Scales. He anticipates a dynamic partnership with his colleagues and praised the overall production team for their talent and teamwork.
While he’s focused on his new role, Brennaman hasn’t ruled out a potential return to baseball broadcasting in the future. Sure, there remain the challenges of regaining the trust of fans and teams, but he remains hopeful that opportunities may arise.
Ultimately, he understands that the decision to hire him again is for somebody else to decide — not him.
“Again, it boils down to the same thing – the same thing being, ‘Why would we hire this guy when…?’” Brennaman said. “So, the only difference is now – and some could argue it’s a significant difference – is, ‘Once one person hires Thom Brennaman, does that mean it’s okay now for me to hire Thom Brennaman?’ and that’s for somebody else to decide. That’s not for me to decide.”
[BSM]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.