Durkin Going Downhill

[jballscalls]

See the great thing about race-calling and handicapping and horse racing in general, is that people have so many differing opinions. Vic Stauffer was one of the reasons i got into race calling. His American Oaks call in 2005 when Cesario won, literally made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. His passion, excitement, and love of the game came through in that call, and made me feel like maybe if someday I give someone that feeling, then i've done my job. Even with the occasional mistake i dont see how anyone couldnt like Tom Durkin, but there are probably people that hate him as a race caller. I know that throughout my career people will like and dislike my calls, and thats fine. I think as callers we do our best to be accurate and passionate at the same time. Just happens to be one of those jobs where people freely praise/criticize you on message boards! LOL