Lorna Smith on Scott Howard

Loran SmithCollege play-by-play announcers are generally homers for good reason. Their employer, at least indirectly, is the school which they represent.

Even so, many of those on the outside are not philosophically comfortable with blatant “homerism,” such as that of the late Larry Munson who arrived in Athens far from being a homer. He later learned, however, that his popularity was based on his overt passion for the team.

When Verne Lundquist first heard Munson while driving to the Atlanta airport from an afternoon Alabama game in Tuscaloosa, he was appalled at Munson’s frequent use of “we” on the broadcast of a Georgia night game. However, when Lundquist was the radio play-by-play voice…