The Man, The Homer, The Swirsk

November 11, 2009

by Jeremy Visser… Sick, wick and nasty! The Bulls are in town tonight, and according to the Toronto Sun, the Raptors will be honouring Chuck Swirsky in a video tribute as part of the team’s 15th anniversary celebration. A nice gesture — after all, The Swirsk has been without question one of the city’s top basketball ambassadors.

Swirsky, also unquestionably one of the biggest homers in the history of broadcasting, joined the Raptors’ radio team in 1998 and moved to TV in 2001 before heading home to Chicago last summer. Anyway, no use giving him much of an introduction — if you’re from Toronto, you know the deal. I’m just using this as a lead-in to my cool Swirsky story of the day:

A couple years ago when I was in school, I had a radio story due the next day and really had no idea what to do. On the Raps website there was a link to Swirsky’s email, so I figured I’d send him a message asking if I could interview him for a bit of a Raptors update. I didn’t expect a response, but less than half an hour later I checked my phone and found a message from The Swirsk, asking to call him back. I did, and he did a five minute-or-so interview with me, just talking Raptors ball. Always a pleasure. Great guy, and got me out of a tight spot that day. Love The Swirsk!

With that, enjoy to Top 10 Swirsky-isms:

Owen Nolan: Hall of Fame Bound?

November 11, 2009