Opinion: Vin Scully should have called the inauguration

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The great Dodger play caller Vin Scully once said, ‘To this day, what I’ve always tried to do is call the play as quickly as I can, and then shut up, not only for the benefit of the listener but for my own joy of hearing the crowd roar.’ Too bad the folks anchoring CNN’s coverage of President Obama’s inauguration (I’m still getting used to omitting the ‘-elect’) apparently didn’t get Scully’s memo.

I’ll acknowledge that covering a baseball game and anchoring one of the most important moments in American history are markedly different tasks. But some of the interruptions by the ubiquitous CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer ranged from completely unnecessary to downright baffling. My favorite ill-advised interjection came when cellist Yo Yo Ma and violinist Itzhak Perlman were in the middle of a stirring arrangement of an American classic, ‘Simple Gifts.’ Blitzer, apparently mistaking the string performance by A-list musicians during one of the more inspiring moments in American history for dead air, interrupted with a short observation that I don’t quite remember because my immediate reaction was to shout ‘shut up’ at the TV screen.

Then there was the moment when George W. Bush’s helicopter lifted off from the Capitol grounds with the Obamas and Bidens respectfully gazing at the ex-president’s departure. Any CNN viewer could hear and see the crowd assembled at the National Mall brim with excitement -- but you had to strain to listen to the history-witnessing masses thanks to the CNN’s crew gabbling on about (I kid you not) how many hundreds of millions of people around the world are watching their coverage (as opposed to the that little inaugural sideshow behind them) and how they couldn’t help but feel they had a big role to play in capital-H History.

Anyhow, the inauguration itself looked like a pretty awe-inspiring event. I’m 27 years old, so I came into my own under the presidencies of Bill Clinton and the second Bush. Clinton is undeniably intelligent and a fine speaker, but his public appeals to Americans felt as if we were getting schmoozed by a crafty pol. As for Bush, well, there was some personal satisfaction in occasionally feeling smarter than the most powerful person on Earth. With Obama, we have a leader who is intelligent, articulate and gives the impression that the words he speaks so earnestly are his. I disagree with him on a few issues (especially when it comes to the economy), but I feel like I finally get in when people a generation or two above me speak about being inspired by an American president.