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Home > Archive > Lasik Eyes Surgery > June 2005 > Baseball's Dave Van Horne battling lasik aftereffects
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Baseball's Dave Van Horne battling lasik aftereffects
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| Sandy - LASIKdisaster.com - LASIKmemorial.com 2005-06-04, 8:54 am |
| Copyright 2005 Sun-Sentinel Company
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
May 28, 2005 Saturday Broward Metro Edition
HEADLINE: ERROR HAUNTS IN THE BOOTH
BYLINE: MIKE BERARDINO COMMENTARY
DATELINE: MIAMI GARDENS
BODY:
Josee Van Horne could hardly believe her ears. She had never heard her
husband talk this way before.
"Maybe," her disconsolate husband told her, "I should think about
hanging it up."
This was late in the afternoon of May 18. Dave Van Horne, calling from
Dodger Stadium, had just committed what he considered the most
"unforgivable mistake" of his long, distinguished broadcasting career.
That sixth-inning home run by Damion Easley? Van Horne, the Marlins'
lead radio voice since 2001 and a major league broadcaster for 37
seasons, had credited it to rookie Joe Dillon, batting one spot higher
in the order.
Not just at the crack of the bat, mind you, but almost all the way
around the bases. Gave him the full "Up, up and away!" treatment.
It wasn't until Easley rounded third that Van Horne, 65, realized his
error and felt his stomach turn.
He apologized to his radio audience. He explained he had been looking
up an obscure fact in the Dodgers' media guide, which years the
neighboring Angels had played home games there, and lost track of the
game.
And then he went on. You always move on.
But after the game, the mistake still gnawed at him like nothing else
ever had. It's not like Van Horne is some greenhorn. He became an
institution in Montreal during his 32 years as the Expos' voice. He
spent 10 years before calling games in the minors.
The man knows his stuff, as shown by his inclusion in the latest book
from baseball historian and former presidential speechwriter Curt
Smith. The book uses 10 separate criteria to rate the top 101 baseball
broadcasters of all time, television and radio, play by play and
analyst.
Van Horne ranked No. 44, just ahead of Skip Caray and 35 slots ahead of
former Marlins voice Joe Angel. Van Horne termed that honor "very
surprising and humbling."
The same words could be used to describe his gaffe in Los Angeles.
Some play-by-play guys prattle on incessantly and mess things up all
the time. Harry Caray made mistakes. Phil Rizzuto was a walking
blunder. Jerry Coleman in San Diego has made a career out of
malapropisms.
Van Horne is different. He isn't a babbler. His shtick is he has no
shtick. He's all about precision and information and respect for the
game.
So he listened closely as his wife talked him off the ledge.
"How many years have you been doing this?" Josee Van Horne asked as her
husband stood frozen in the outfield, briefcase by his feet, waiting to
board the bus. "And how many times has this happened? Doesn't everybody
make mistakes?"
They talked for about 45 minutes. Afterward, Van Horne felt better.
"Not a whole lot," he said, still beating himself up, "but a little
better."
This hasn't been the easiest year for Van Horne. A good friend, Blue
Jays broadcaster Tom Cheek, is battling brain cancer, and the two speak
often.
On a much smaller scale, Van Horne has dealt with health problems as
well. This spring, a dermatologist sliced open his right cheek to
remove a basal-cell skin cancer. A chunk of his right ear was used to
patch up the hole and a skin graft performed on the ear.
Additional growths on his left arm and right ankle had to be removed as
well, and Van Horne has become hypersensitive about sun exposure, even
wearing a shirt when taking his young daughter into the surf.
He's also battling the aftereffects of Lasik surgery performed on both
his eyes last August. Day games have become particularly challenging as
the glare can make it hard for Van Horne to pick up the flight of the
baseball.
Night games have been hard at times as well, the ball sometimes getting
lost in the lights just the way it might for an outfielder. As a
result, there have been some awkward pauses as he waits for an umpire's
signal or some other indication of the play's result.
Van Horne says the condition is improving but it's still a concern. He
goes back to see his eye surgeon in another month, and it's possible a
second procedure will be scheduled to fix the problem.
If so, Van Horne already has decided against having his eyes worked on
in-season again. This time he will wait until November, another World
Series run in mind.
His eye problems had nothing to do with the mistake in L.A., Van Horne
maintains, but it's easy to see how he might have been able to correct
himself sooner if not for the glare.
"Ironically, in that glare I found the ball OK," he said. "I knew
exactly where that ball was, but I didn't find the batter."
He smiled and shrugged. Batting practice was almost over, and there was
another game to call in a career that has seen thousands of them.
Time to move on.
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Oh please Sandy! Normally I'm sympathetic to the people in these
stories you post, but this guy truly sounds like he's obsessive
compulsive! Besides, he maintains that LASIK is the least of his
problems--it's the author that attributes any "glare" problems to him
(see below). Probably this is not the best article to support those
who've had LASIK complications. It just proves that some extreme
weirdos opt for the procedure. He seems to over-react to
everything--emotionally and physically.
> His eye problems had nothing to do with the mistake in L.A., Van Horne
> maintains, but it's easy to see how he might have been able to correct
> himself sooner if not for the glare.
--
~RT
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| Ragnar 2005-06-04, 11:52 am |
| Since RT covered this reply so well.. I won't bother to repeat what he
said.
What amazes me is that with all the millions of people having LASIK
done, Sandy can't come up with any good examples of lasik gone bad.
On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 14:11:57 GMT, RT <RTMD24@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote:
[vbcol=seagreen]
>
>Oh please Sandy! Normally I'm sympathetic to the people in these
>stories you post, but this guy truly sounds like he's obsessive
>compulsive! Besides, he maintains that LASIK is the least of his
>problems--it's the author that attributes any "glare" problems to him
>(see below). Probably this is not the best article to support those
>who've had LASIK complications. It just proves that some extreme
>weirdos opt for the procedure. He seems to over-react to
>everything--emotionally and physically.
>
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| Sandy - LASIKdisaster.com - LASIKmemorial.com 2005-06-04, 11:00 pm |
| Maybe you didn't read this part, RT:
He's also battling the aftereffects of Lasik surgery performed on both
his eyes last August. Day games have become particularly challenging as
the glare can make it hard for Van Horne to pick up the flight of the
baseball.
Night games have been hard at times as well, the ball sometimes getting
lost in the lights just the way it might for an outfielder. As a
result, there have been some awkward pauses as he waits for an umpire's
signal or some other indication of the play's result.
Van Horne says the condition is improving but it's still a concern. He
goes back to see his eye surgeon in another month, and it's possible a
second procedure will be scheduled to fix the problem.
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| serebel 2005-06-04, 11:00 pm |
| Knock it off Sandy, your hysterical schtick doesn't fly. Everyone sees
thru you.
SErebel
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| Ilana 2005-06-05, 10:53 pm |
| Sandy was just quoting, verbatim... a NEWS STORY. Where is the hysterical
schtick? Sorry, SErebel, people ARE damaged by LASIK, even prominent people
and you won't be able to cover it up no matter how hard to try. And the
namecalling stuff, in terms of discrediting a person... reflects most poorly
on yourself.
"serebel" <serebel@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1117939524.478205.223790@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Knock it off Sandy, your hysterical schtick doesn't fly. Everyone sees
> thru you.
>
> SErebel
>
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| serebel 2005-06-05, 10:53 pm |
| Yeah, The National Enquire has "news" stories too.
I never said people don't have bad outcomes. I just point out that
Sandy blows it all waaaaaaay out of proportion.
SErebel
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| Ragnar 2005-06-06, 8:57 am |
| Except that Sandy used her trick of using a misleading subject line
which completely misrepresents the content of the article quoted.
Nobody who has followed this group for any time is fooled by her
trash.
On Sun, 5 Jun 2005 19:19:28 -0400, "Ilana" <Ilana@aol_nospam.com>
wrote:
>Sandy was just quoting, verbatim... a NEWS STORY. Where is the hysterical
>schtick? Sorry, SErebel, people ARE damaged by LASIK, even prominent people
>and you won't be able to cover it up no matter how hard to try. And the
>namecalling stuff, in terms of discrediting a person... reflects most poorly
>on yourself.
>
>
>"serebel" <serebel@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:1117939524.478205.223790@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>
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