Announcer tip: If a player was in foster care, don’t say ‘nobody wanted him’

Here’s a strong candidate for “Freezing Cold Takes” from the college football world on Saturday, but not for the usual reasons. During the Eastern Kentucky vs. Kentucky game, announcer Pete Sousa ventured down the wrong path in telling the backstory of Wildcats running back Ray Davis, who is adopted. Sousa felt it was a good idea to mention Davis’ time as a highly coveted asset in the NCAA transfer portal. So far, so good. Until he contrasted it with Davis’ childhood.

“There is Ray Davis .... 9 months ago, when he jumped to the portal, everybody wanted him... 11 years ago, as a foster kid, really nobody wanted him. And now here he is, found some love, found football...”

Hearing that clip, it sounded like Sousa thought he had a good one and was doing Davis justice by getting his story out to the audience. It may have been well-intentioned, but as we know, it’s not always what you say, but how you say it. That story about Davis being a child in foster care is one we’ve heard before and could have been expressed in a less brutal manner.

Sousa didn’t say anything wrong, but his delivery was the definition of cold-blooded. While intentions were likely genuine, it came off as a jab at this young man who was having a great game in helping his team to a victory and improving to 2-0. Years ago, only a specific region of the country would’ve known about this type of gaffe initially. Now, with social media, every word we speak or write is scrutinized down to every letter and punctuation mark.

Surely, Pete Sousa will be more careful moving forward whenever it’s story time on a broadcast.