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The 'Color' Guy Analyzes Devil Rays Games
Aired July 24, 2003 - 15:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, he sits beside the play-by-play guide and analyzes the game. Sports broadcasters would call him the "color" guy.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And despite a little disadvantage, you're going to hear about, he sees the color vividly, as CNN's John Zarrella reports from St. Petersburg, Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (vice-over): Two hours before every home game, you'll find Enrique Oliu on the field.
ENRIQUE OLIU, WAMA BASEBALL ANNOUNCER: Were you surprised you didn't play left field?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, my shoulder hurt.
OLIU: OK. I was just wondering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't throw.
ZARRELLA: Oliu loves baseball, and his appetite for detail is insatiable.
OLIU: In the big picture, was it just, like, another strikeout or was it a big deal?
ZARRELLA: Yet the Spanish language radio announcer for Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays has never seen a home run or a play at the plate. Oliu has been blind since birth.
But Enrique scoffs at the notion that he is sightless.
OLIU: You don't have to use your pupils to see. See, I can see. I always say that I can see because if sight is perception, I can see as well as the next guy.
ZARRELLA: During the broadcast, Oliu's wife, Debra (ph), sits to his right. His partner, play-by-play man Danny Martinez (ph), sits to his left. Periodically Debra will whisper to him players' statistics from the media guide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1.567 ERA.
OLIU: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 33 1/3 innings, 40 hits.
ZARRELLA: But Oliu takes the facts and analyzes the game he can't see.
OLIU (through translator): Right now I think they've got to attack the defense.
ZARRELLA (on camera): The players say they respect Enrique because he knows the game, and he knows its history. But, they say, they don't cut him any slack or treat him any differently just because he's blind.
(voice-over): Yet they marvel at what he sees without seeing.
AL MARTIN, RAYS OUTFIELDER: The other night he says, "Hey this one pitcher, he didn't have that good a curve bawl, did he?" And I'm sitting there going, how did you know that? You know, I guess he really listens to how the batters are swinging and, you know, the pitcher stats. So, I mean, he's pretty good.
ZARRELLA: Oliu's blindness may be an advantage on radio. In a medium where only words can paint the picture, Enrique Oliu can see perfectly.
John Zarrella, CNN, St. Petersburg, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 24, 2003 - 15:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, he sits beside the play-by-play guide and analyzes the game. Sports broadcasters would call him the "color" guy.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And despite a little disadvantage, you're going to hear about, he sees the color vividly, as CNN's John Zarrella reports from St. Petersburg, Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (vice-over): Two hours before every home game, you'll find Enrique Oliu on the field.
ENRIQUE OLIU, WAMA BASEBALL ANNOUNCER: Were you surprised you didn't play left field?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, my shoulder hurt.
OLIU: OK. I was just wondering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't throw.
ZARRELLA: Oliu loves baseball, and his appetite for detail is insatiable.
OLIU: In the big picture, was it just, like, another strikeout or was it a big deal?
ZARRELLA: Yet the Spanish language radio announcer for Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays has never seen a home run or a play at the plate. Oliu has been blind since birth.
But Enrique scoffs at the notion that he is sightless.
OLIU: You don't have to use your pupils to see. See, I can see. I always say that I can see because if sight is perception, I can see as well as the next guy.
ZARRELLA: During the broadcast, Oliu's wife, Debra (ph), sits to his right. His partner, play-by-play man Danny Martinez (ph), sits to his left. Periodically Debra will whisper to him players' statistics from the media guide.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1.567 ERA.
OLIU: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 33 1/3 innings, 40 hits.
ZARRELLA: But Oliu takes the facts and analyzes the game he can't see.
OLIU (through translator): Right now I think they've got to attack the defense.
ZARRELLA (on camera): The players say they respect Enrique because he knows the game, and he knows its history. But, they say, they don't cut him any slack or treat him any differently just because he's blind.
(voice-over): Yet they marvel at what he sees without seeing.
AL MARTIN, RAYS OUTFIELDER: The other night he says, "Hey this one pitcher, he didn't have that good a curve bawl, did he?" And I'm sitting there going, how did you know that? You know, I guess he really listens to how the batters are swinging and, you know, the pitcher stats. So, I mean, he's pretty good.
ZARRELLA: Oliu's blindness may be an advantage on radio. In a medium where only words can paint the picture, Enrique Oliu can see perfectly.
John Zarrella, CNN, St. Petersburg, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
