Hawaii men’s volleyball: Lewis apologizes for broadcaster’s comments disparaging “Rainbow Warriors” nickname
An exciting top-five men’s volleyball matchup between Hawaii and Lewis — eventually won in four sets by the No. 1 Rainbow Warriors — took an interesting turn between the first and second sets on Friday at Romeoville, Ill.
With the Flyers taking a 1-0 set lead — the first set taken from UH all season — the Lewis student broadcasting team, apparently not realizing its microphones were still hot, went on a questionable tangent, led by the play-by-play man.
He said: “I can’t believe they’re called the Rainbow Warriors, to be honest. That’s the worst name I’ve ever heard of any team, in the history of human existence.”
@LewisMVBall thanks for the live stream…
Oh btw, maybe next time learn how to pronounce someone’s name. And don’t forget to know if the mic is hot… pic.twitter.com/fiBSdoA3ov
— Keegan Ohta (@ClutchKeyGG) January 18, 2020
Lewis athletics apologized on Twitter after the match.
2/2 and reminded them that even though they were on break on the radio side that there microphones were still hot. This a learning experience for our students. Please accept our sincere apologies for this unfortunate incident.
— Lewis Athletics ✈️ (@LewisFlyers) January 18, 2020
UPDATE: The student broadcasters themselves apologized during Lewis’ match on Saturday.
Here is the video of the apology from our student broadcasters that aired during our broadcast this evening with Penn State. @HawaiiMensVB @HawaiiAthletics @LewisMVBall pic.twitter.com/63CZd3XRZX
— Lewis Athletics ✈️ (@LewisFlyers) January 19, 2020
Some fans took to social media to express their displeasure.
Don’t follow an apology with an excuse. Students shouldn’t have said that in the first place. If they aspire to be media members in the future they need to understand they are no longer fans and disrespecting the opposing team is unacceptable.
— Flashy (@flashdash007) January 18, 2020
UPDATE: The Lewis men’s volleyball team’s Twitter account also offered an olive branch.
This was an unfortunate mistake and we're sorry that this ruined a great match between two very good programs. We realize we can offer apologies for what occurred and realize that it'll never be enough. We meant no disrespect to your team or fanbase.
— Lewis Men's V-Ball (@LewisMVBall) January 18, 2020
The broadcast itself was benign (and even sometimes entertaining) otherwise, with some mispronunciations of “Parapunov” and other Rainbow Warriors.
The tenor of the broadcast was more subdued over the final three sets, but that likely had more to do with UH swinging a mid-match turnaround and taking each of those frames with some clutch performances from Rado Parapunov, Chaz Galloway, Patrick Gasman, Brett Sheward and others.
yes, I heard those two announcers making those disparaging comments about calling the team rainbow warriors. it was during a time out but the camera was still running and focused on them. it was really uncouth these two birds saying those things. and sure glad that Hawaii beat the hell out of their team.
It is a rather unusual name! It has lost a ton of momentum since it was revitalized under Ben Jay! June Jones had it right by labeling it Warriors and the Wahine- Rainbow Wahine! With that being the case it should be Rainbow Kane 😂
The livestream called into question Lewis’ bonafides as an institution of higher education.
As an aside, it must be so awesome to live in Romeoville, IL .
I watched the broadcast, but muted the audio. It’s normal for me whenever the broadcast announcers aren’t very good. In any case, the “Rainbow Warriors” were entertaining even without the audio.
Is that the extent of the disparaging remarks? Why even apologize for that. There are lots of dumb team nicknames, if which Rainbow Warriors definitely is. Great volleyball team though
Caption of comment from Lewis Athletics…”the radio side that there microphones were still hot.” Guess they also need to boost their grammar skills when they wrote “there” when it should be “their” in the above sentence.
I’m wondering what kind of discipline Lewis will be handing out to the two announcers. I think that those two should apologize if they really want to be professional. I’m not saying that the apology will make everything right, but it’s the right thing for those two to do IMHO.
The announcers were sloppy from start to finish. How hard is it to ask a UH representative how to pronounce the players names prior to the match? The hot mic incident revealed the commentator’s intellect and character.
It was just one of the two announcers.
Thank you Brian for posting in a new story. May have been missed on our VolleyShots.
I’m sure Lewis will speak to the young aspiring broadcasters. Comments were inappropriate, for sure, and they’ll learn. have heard much much worse from veteran announcers who have also been biased. I think Hawaii is spoiled with many broadcast professionals who are objective.
Full disclosure: my son is the broadcaster for UH volleyball but as I told Tiff Wells last night that when we listened to him while he was broadcasting matches for Pepperdine when getting his degree, he remained an objective journalist even when he was a student. It is possible. The two Lewis students will learn from this.
Very unprofessional and embarrassing for Lewis. Is he related to Donald Trump, cause it sure sounds like it.
I was truly getting annoyed at how they were mispronouncing Rado’s last name over and over again. They would say it three different ways in a span of three sentences, with one of them saying it differently three times in a row.
It is always best to curtail one’s thoughts of a negative nature otherwise when you vocalize it, the sting of your words cannot be retrieved. The commentators have a long way to go in their training before they can be fluent in choice of words. The conversation was not too fluent, but grasping for the appropriate word at times.
8. You are right about talking to a UH representative prior to the match.
Anyone who’s ever attended a UH volleyball match at the Stan Sheriff Center and arrived early might notice that Kanoa Leahey, Chris McLachlin and Tiff Wells go over to the visiting team’s head coach prior to the start of a match and “talk story”. During that time they probably ask for pronunciations of any names they might be unsure of. I’m told the p.a. announcer also goes over to the other team to go over pronunciations of names and hometowns for the opening introductions. This should be standard procedure for any sports announcer.
These kids aren’t Trump supporters. But they will need to do better if they want to be successful in sports announcing. Also, #VoteBlue.
The announcers made a huge mistake, but making amends and learning to be better prepared for a broadcast will help them in their careers. Easy peasy to bash them, but I would like to see these two young men grow up and contribute great things. No doxxing or canceling necessary.
By the way, vote however you want, because I respect most your right to vote.