Compare the 2 Jim H's

WWL was playing a montage this morning of Jim Henderson's greatest calls through the years, and it got me thinking about how the Saints' Jim H stacks up to the Tigers Jim H.

Both handle the play by play aspect of the game exceedingly well. Henderson is more prone to over the top hyperbole than Hawthorne.

Hawthorne has an air of haughtiness that suggests that his colleagues should only be heard when absolutely necessary. By contrast, everyone knows that Hokie is more idiot than side kick, yet Henderson doesn't allow the intelligence gap to affect how they work.

I think what it boils down to is who delivers the best during those moments that are so completely unexpected yet that impact the game and how it is perceived.

Clearly, Hawthorne's best moment came on the Warren Morris home run. He nailed it, and that call is probably his signature moment. But before we get to the Bluegrass Miracle debacle, ask yourself what other Hawthorne calls you would say come instantly to mind. There are several, but if you're like me, you have to think awhile. Marcus Spears INT ag/ the Sooners in the '03 NCG comes to mind, but unless you cue it up, can you rememebr what Hawthorne said? Same for any of the other more recent signature moments -- Mauck to Green in '03, Flynn to Byrd in '07, Cedrick Donaldson ag/ the Crocs in 1997, etc.

Now maybe it's an unfair comparison, because we've all listened to Henderson a million times in the last 2 weeks, but even before then, if you were to be asked about Henderson, it doesn't take long for "Hakeem drops the ball!" to come to mind, or "Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!" or "Devery Henderson can do the back stroke into the endzone!"

Henderson is not perfect. On Tracy Porter's INT return for the clinching SB points, twice he declared that Porter had gone 70 yards, when in fact, it was 74. But he immediately made up for that gaffe by declaring that, "He did it to Farve, and now he's done it to Manning!"

And so compare Jim Henderson's resume' to Jim Hawthorne, and when you further factor in what should have been the coup de grace of Hawthorne's call career, "Jack Hunt! Jack Hunt!" instead became his albatross.

CONCLUSION -- not only is Jim Hawthorne not in Jim Henderson's league, Hawthorne can't wipe the dog shite from Henderson's shoes.