In a move even more controversial and audacious than that of LeBron James, longtime Yankee public address announcer Bob Sheppard, well-known as “The Voice of God,” abruptly announced his departure from the New York Yankees today, in order to literally become “The Voice of God.”
Sheppard, who had been with the Yankees since 1951, stated he wanted “to play in a more favored location than even New York or South Beach, and with an even better supporting cast, God and the Angels.”
In an apparent bid to outdo the LeBron circus, Sheppard by-passed both ESPN and the Yankees’ own network, YES, and made the announcement directly from the heavens.
Hell, otherwise known as Cleveland, Ohio, expressed angry disappointment that Sheppard failed to keep an alleged promise to join the Cavaliers, with its owner vowing to get even. But Sheppard, ever the class gentlemen, still promised to announce Hell’s proprietor, as “Now ratting, Lucifer … No. 666.”
But the biggest loser was the Yankee organization itself, which issued a statement from its majority owner, George Steinbrenner, asserting that “after all these years, we had expected Mr. Sheppard to forego heaven in favor of spending his eternity in Monument Park.”
Sheppard also put aside concerns that he was joining a team that wouldn’t be considered his own, emphasizing that he could now not only do voice-overs for the Almighty himself, but might even be afforded the chance to control the outcome of sporting events, instead of just announcing them.
Refusing to comment on this development was Morgan Freeman, who was still expected to retain his claim to be the “Face of God.”
But despite mixed public reaction over Bob Sheppard’s latest career move, there seemed to be near universal disappointment that he didn’t take Jim Gray along with him.
