George Blaha Q&A: Origin of ‘Count that baby and a foul!’, more Pistons moments

https://theathletic.com/1685590/2020/03/20/george-blaha-qa-origin-of-count-that-baby-and-a-foul-more-pistons-moments/

Feb 28, 2017; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Radio and television commentator George Blaha smiles before the game between the Detroit Pistons and the Portland Trail Blazers at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Pistons won 120-113 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

By James L. Edwards III

Mar 20, 2020

If you don’t know George Blaha, then you don’t know Pistons basketball.

Since 1976, through radio or television airwaves, Blaha and his distinct voice have narrated the franchise’s every step. The soon-to-be 75-year-old, who is the play-by-play commentator for Fox Sports Detroit, has been and continues to be synonymous with the Pistons.

Blaha is the creator of some unique catch phrases: “Count that baby and a foul!” “The long gun!” “Off the high glass!” He’s carved out his own lane in NBA broadcast history.

Earlier this week, Blaha spoke with The Athletic and discussed several topics, including his start in the business, the origins behind some of his most famous sayings and his favorite moments in Detroit basketball history.

(Editor’s note: This transcript has been edited for both clarity and length.)

You’ve been synonymous with the Pistons for over 40 years. How did you get the job to be the play-by-play voice? Additionally, did you always envision this as a lifetime gig?

I really did see it as a lifetime job. I wanted to be the voice of a pro sports team in a hardworking town. It could have been baseball or basketball, but as baseball changed a little bit, I didn’t follow it quite as much. Basketball hit center stage for me. I love the game. I knew that I wouldn’t be bored doing every game, every play, every cut, every pass and every shot all season long. I haven’t been. I’ve been very, very lucky that way.

In terms of how I got the job, I started out doing a few games for free in the thumb area of Michigan. After that, I got a job at WABJ in Adrian, Michigan, as the sports director and assistant news director. I covered everything from the county commission meeting about whose cows could cross the road, to some of the crime stuff in that town. I also got to do play-by-play for football, and that was a great start for me. I later moved up to Lansing and stayed on the news side. You had to have a day job in order to do play-by-play. My goal was always just to do play-by-play, but for the most part, you couldn’t get a job like that until you’re directly affiliated with a pro sports team. There were a few bridges to cross between the time I started and now. I learned a lot. I was the news director at WJIM in Lansing, and we won some awards. I had eight people working with me. In the meantime, I did some high school basketball and Michigan State football.

One of the guys I met along the way, Tom Campbell, who later worked at WJR, told Frank Beckmann at WJR that he had this buddy who was a sports expert of sorts and aspiring, young play-by-play guy. Frank told him the only job we had open was Detroit Pistons basketball. When he told me that, I thought, “This is like a dream.” I sent him some tape, but the tape was from a high school game. I had only done college football, not college basketball. It was the Class B state championship game from 1975: Holt vs. Muskegon Heights. WJR liked it and said that, right now, it was the best tape they’ve gotten and that I had a good chance to get the job. I always felt like I was the leader in the clubhouse with a lot of people still on the course. It took the rest of the summer and into the fall before it was finally official.

Did the Pistons have to approve it?

They did. I had to go to Ann Arbor and tape myself doing play-by-play for an intrasquad scrimmage during training camp. Herb Tyner, who was one of Bill Davidson’s investors, I believe, was put in charge of the tape, and he thought it was good enough and gave me the thumbs up. Next thing I know, I’m doing NBA basketball.

One of many things that stick out to me about you is that with players who had good nicknames, you rarely ever called them by their real name on the air. For example, you almost always called Richard Hamilton “Rip.” I feel that was/is unique. Why was that?

I didn’t do it consciously. When I saw the guy, I thought “Rip.” I don’t think that would fly if you were doing national games, but if you’re doing games for your team, your town, Michigan and the Midwest, those people knew Richard Hamilton as “Rip.” So, there were a number of guys who I referred to by their nicknames. For the most part, I would refer to guys by the names I would call them. If I saw Isiah Thomas on the bus, I’d say, “Hey, what’s up, Isiah?” I’m going to call him that on the floor, too.

You’ve seen the best and worst of the franchise. What was more surprising to you: the falloff after the “Bad Boys” era, or the 2004 championship?

I felt there was going to be a decline near the bottom of the league after the “Bad Boys” because they were so good and around for so long. (Former executive) Jack McCloskey, who we should really talk about at some point, was an absolute genius putting that roster together. Also, he was loyal to those guys. He didn’t want to break up that team if he didn’t have to. Those guys dominated the league in one way or another for quite some time. When those guys all got to a certain age, there was always going to be a significant drop. It’s happened to the Lakers, the Celtics and the Bulls, obviously. It wasn’t a surprise to me.

What was done by Joe Dumars (to create the 2004 championship team) was a superb job. He plucked a bunch of different guys who weren’t necessarily household names and put them together, and as Rasheed Wallace said, they were the “Best 5 Alive.” They fit together like your favorite glove in your hand. They were amazing. I don’t know that anyone before Joe did what Joe did to put that team together. You didn’t have an unlimited stash of cash to spend, and you didn’t have two or three superstars.

The Pistons honored Blaha in 2017 for his 40 years of work. (Carlos Osorio / Associated Press)

Today, I’m sure there isn’t much of a challenge for you to do play-by-play. But I’m curious what you felt were challenges early on in your career?

This game is so fast compared to any other version of basketball, especially if you, like I did, moved from high school basketball to the NBA. You better be brief and get all the details in if you’re doing radio. It isn’t easy. That’s why some of the slang words I use were born. They seemed to fit the bill and I didn’t have to use a lot of verbiage to fulfill my descriptions. That’s the biggest challenge to me.

What you don’t ever want to do is get so far behind that you lose a possession. It can happen. You just, frankly, can’t let it happen. The people who let it happen, well, probably didn’t stick around long.

I’m glad you brought up your “slang.” That’s where I wanted to go next. Do you remember when you first used “Count that baby and a foul!” or how it came about?

I wish I did. I wish I could tell you that. I was going to say, “Count it and a foul!”, but it was such an emphatic shot that was made — and I can’t remember who made it or where it was because there are a lot of snowy nights in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., that run together — but when it came out, I liked that. I thought “baby” made it more emphatic than “Count it and a foul!” The nice thing is, I didn’t have to copy anyone to do it.

In the streets, do you get that hollered at you the most?

Absolutely. There are some other things, but that’s what people seem to remember the most.

“Long gun!” and “Off the high glass!” are things synonymous with your broadcasting. Did those just manifest naturally, too?

Certainly “Off the high glass!” did. With “Long gun!” I was trying to think of something that made sense for a long shot. This came about even before the 3-point line. When I first started, there was no 3-point line in the NBA. I thought about “Long gun!” before I used it. I didn’t think about “Off the high glass!” until it happened. That was another quick way to say something. You didn’t want it to get away from you.

Aside from the championships and big playoff games, what random regular-season game sticks out to you as a favorite to call?

There are a couple of games. Certainly, the first game I was ever privileged to call was the Pistons vs. Washington Bullets in 1976 at Cobo Arena. When I saw Bob Lanier and Wes Unseld come out for the opening tip, I realized that this was a long ways away from high school basketball. This is a man’s league. The game itself was like a blur. I was living in suburban Lansing at the time, and after the game I got in my car and thought I was driving home, but I ended up in Grosse Pointe. I was still up there in the clouds somewhere. Instead of it taking 90 minutes to get home, it took almost three hours once I realized I went the wrong way.

The David Thompson 73-point game at Cobo against the Pistons is another. If I’m not mistaken, that might have been the last regular-season game there before the Pistons moved. It was amazing to see what David T. did that day. After that, someone woke up George Gervin from his nap in New Orleans, where the Spurs were playing, and he said, “Seventy-three for David T.? Wowee!”

Lastly, almost any game involving Bob Lanier in his prime was hard to forget. There was a game in Portland against the Trail Blazers. It was Bob Lanier vs. Bill Walton, both of whom were in their primes. Those guys get their share of accolades, and they’re Hall of Famers, but I think they’re both better than people remember them being. I know the Pistons lost on a last-second miss. Bob probably scored 28-30 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks. Walton had, like, 15 points, but he grabbed close to 30 rebounds with about 10 assists and as many blocks. It was just a standoff. Two great players doing what they do.

Last year, the season Blake Griffin had, where does that stack up for you in regards to individual performances in a Pistons jersey?

I thought it was fabulous. We saw Blake when he was the greatest athlete in the league and a very good player, but last season … maybe he lost a little bit of his lift, but his game was so much more polished. He’s a sharp guy, so he’s a cerebral player. When you have all that skill and all that strength, plus being cerebral, you’re almost impossible to stop. That’s what he was last year. I was very impressed.

Lastly, all these years later, what keeps you doing this?

Frankly, I think it’s the game itself. Everything else, it’s not a chore, but you pack up, you travel, go here and there, come home in the middle of the night … none of those things are bad, but what I love is finally sitting down and starting the game. I do my homework and I’m ready to go. I’m like everyone else: I didn’t like homework in school, but this kind of homework is not really work to me. I like to be on top of it if I can, in regards to who the players are, what they’ve done recently, their backgrounds. Once that game starts, that’s what I’m there for. That’s what I always wanted to do. How could I be so lucky to do for a living exactly what I wanted to do?

Now, one thing I did do is follow my dream and never gave up. If there’s any youngster reading this, don’t give up. Keep working. That’s all.

(Top photo: Raj Mehta / USA Today)