Sadak, Carlson And Two McCarthys

TigerBlog awoke Saturday morning to the news that John Sadak had, to quote his tweet: "had an accident running and suffered breaks in my elbows." 

The good news is that Sadak said he would be sidelined only for a few days and in fact should return tomorrow. Sadak, by the way, is in his first year as the Cincinnati Reds' play-by-play voice.

Sadak has, by everything TB has seen, gotten great reviews in his debut season in the Major Leagues. TB is now rooting for the Reds because of Sadak, who used to be the voice of Princeton men's and women's basketball. 

There was other news Saturday morning as well. Patrick McCarthy was making his Major League debut.

No, not as a player. Turns out the market for 6-5 submarining righthanders isn't quite what it used to be.

Patrick was making his debut as the Philadelphia Phillies TV voice. He was replacing his father Tom, who usually does the Phils games but who was instead doing an NFL preseason game for his other gig on CBS.

The McCarthy name is another one that is very familiar one to Princeton fans. Both of them have a lot of experience broadcasting Tiger games, particularly football and men's basketball. 

Tom, as you probably remember, was the men's basketball play-by-play man when Princeton defeated UCLA in the 1996 NCAA tournament. Patrick has been involved with Princeton Athletics much more recently, and he was doing Princeton games while he was still finishing up at TCNJ.

These days, Patrick is the voice of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate. It seems somewhat logical that the call up to replace the Major League broadcaster would go to the Triple-A guy, right? 

Patrick is not getting ahead because he is Tom's son. He's getting ahead because he's a great broadcaster. That much was clear to TB from Day 1.

And so it was that Saturday night, TB tuned into the game between the Phillies and the San Diego Padres to see how Patrick would do. TB was actually nervous beforehand; he can't imagine how Tom was feeling. 

Patrick's Major League announcing career began with a lead-off home run by the Phils' Odubel Herrera. There have been 130 Major League player who have homered in their first career at-bats. How many broadcasters have there been whose first Major League game started with a lead-off home run?

Not surprisingly, Patrick was great. He did what his father suggested he do, which was be himself and not try to imitate anyone else. 

Patrick did the game with Tom's regular broadcast partner Ruben Amaro Jr., who joined a very small club of people who have been a broadcast partner of both the McCarthy father and son. TB is the charter member of that club.

The NFL game that Tom McCarthy went to was the Giants-Browns game in Cleveland. This could have been a Princeton vs. Princeton matchup between Giants' offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and Cleveland tight end Stephen Carlson, except for the fact that Carlson suffered a season-ending knee injury last week against Jacksonville.

Carlson is one of the great success stories from Princeton football. He wasn't a top recruit, and he hardly saw the field his first two seasons. Through sheer hard work and effort, he made himself into one of the best wide receivers Princeton has ever had and a regular in the end zone on the receiving end of TD passes.

His senior year was the 10-0 2018 season. After that, he built on that hard work to make himself into an NFL level tight end after being an undrafted free agent with the Browns.

He made himself into a key member of a team that has gone from struggling each year to a Super Bowl contender. He could block and catch passes, and he was extraordinarily valuable the last two years on special teams. 

As you probably remember, he recovered onsides kicks last year on back-to-back Sundays against the Steelers, on the final day of the regular season to clinch a playoff spot and then in a win in the opening round of the playoffs. He caught his first NFL touchdown pass as a rookie.

Now his third season is over just as it was about to start and just as he had really established himself as a key member of the team. If his track record is any indication, then you haven't heard the last of Stephen Carlson as an NFL player. 

If he doesn't make it back, it won't be because he didn't make the necessary effort. 

The same applies to Patrick McCarthy after his two days in the Majors.