I have written on many occasions while posting videos with ABC sports commentator Jim McKay behind the mike….for he is without question this lil ole chiweenie Sportsphile’s favorite sportscaster of other sports than football, baseball, boxing and basketball…..for he brought the sports world more different sports from many more different places than any other sportscaster in sports history…..while he was “spanning the globe” for ABC’s Wide World of Sports from its inception in 1961 until he retired in 1987.
Jim McKay had the uncanny ability to make dang near every sport that he covered…..from gymnastics to figure skating to sumo wrestling to golf to horse racing, et al….seem to be a description of a “romantic adventure”….with his poetic delivery chocked full of elegance and eloquence…..as evidenced in this video herewith…..where McKay provides highlights of his memories of covering USA gymnastics and figure skating team’s exhibition events during the 1970’s and 1980’s in the Peoples Republic of China….at a time when sports were being used as a vehicle for developing positive relations with China after centuries of no shared relationships in sports.
My favorite part of this Jim McKay piece was when he hits a golf ball over The Great Wall of China….from an “unplayable lie” as he called it…..and then the final piece on figure skater Linda Fratianne…..while sharing a lollypop with a smal Chinese girl….LASTING MEMORIES…..just like ImaSportsphile.
