How Hard Is It To Get A Name Right?

Why can't people who are getting paid a lot of money while broadcasting an event world-wide get something as simple as the players' names correct?

I ask this after sitting in on a broadcast where the lead play-by-play man screwed up several names and after watching Team USA softball down Venezuela 11-0 in their first game at the Olympics.

Yes Joe Castellano, I'm talking about you. You messed up EVERY name on Venezuela my friend. You are the host of MLB Live Late Edition on XM Radio, you have been around baseball most of your life and you toiled in the minors for a VERY long time. You have also called the College World Series, three Triple-A All-Star Games, the Junior League World Series on ESPN and a host of other sports. You should be better prepared going into a game than you were in this debut.

You butchered the names of every player on Venezuela and how do I know? Because I asked each one how to say their name when they played against the Washington Glory the last two seasons. The best name on the team, at least in my opinion, is Denissee Fuenmayor. You pronounced it DUH-neece fwen-MAY-or. It's DEN-ee-say fwen-may-YORE. Yusmary Perez is yoose-MAH-rhee, not YOUS-mary. Zuleyma Cirimeli, ha ha ha. Wow, you butchered this one too!!!

Anyway, the reason I'm singling out Joe here is because it leads me into other broadcasters I've heard lately that don't do any prep and it shows.

Bernie Guenther does some sports on Fox Sports Net, nice voice and all, but he really should ask people how to say their names. When you're doing a broadcast of an NPF game, there are going to be people watching that know the players. So when you call Veronica Wootson and say it "WUT-sun" instead of "WOOT-son", it sounds bad. Especially after the PA announcer just got it right. You referred to LaDonia Hughes as "luh-DOAN-yuh". I can personally tell you, it's "luh-DON-yuh". There is another broadcaster in the NPF that gets these names wrong too.

I can understand someone getting a roster late that has some strange names, but I made it a concerted effort to seek out the translater to get the names right. I did it with China, Chinese Taipei and Venezuela. I do it before every game with every coach (unless I already know the players playing).

Joe Castellano, I'm greatly disappointed. NBC, how much lower can you get?