Life is like a baseball game. When you think a fastball is coming, You gotta be ready to hit the curve.
-- Jaja Q
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| | Jonny Gould
(1742 total words in this text)
(3165 Reads) 
In 1997 Tommy Boyd decided to go AWOL. Eight years later and I still thank him every day of my life. I thank him for hating baseball (he often referred to it as "glorified rounders"), and I thank him for going sick with some mystery ailment one night before a show, that was so bad he couldn't ever go on air again. I'm also thankful that he made a full recovery and is sticking to the day job!
And that, quite simply, is how my love-affair with baseball began. Now I know this may come as somewhat of a surprise to many of you, but I didn't know a great deal about baseball when I started! The fact that I survived, especially considering that I was only 3 years into my presenting career, was almost entirely down to the ability and generosity of a certain Todd Macklin. Toddo/Toddmeister/Mooseman or just simply God - take your pick - educated this enthusiastic fool in the ways and wants of Major League Baseball. As my parents often said: "Get a good education son and the rest will take care of itself!" How right they were and for the best of educations I will always be thankful to Canada's premier couch-potato who's knowledge of North American sport proved so entertaining and insightful.
It's amazing to think that we are now in our 8th season and I have over 400 shows under my belt. It wasn't just the biggest break in my career, it was also the defining moment of my career. Allow me to explain.
In 1979 I graduated from Epsom College with three highly unsatisfactory A levels in Economics, History and English. Unsatisfactory solely because of my inner belief that I could do everything from school plays to captaining the college's cricket team, and still do myself justice in my exams. I was wrong. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say that my grades were not what I was predicted or what I was happy with.
Amazingly I still got into Durham University - someone had conned them into thinking I was a top sportsman. Now let's put this into perspective. Among others I shared my time at Durham University with England rugby's Mark Bailey, England cricket's Simon Hughes (now the pundit on Channel 4's award winning cricket show) and the year I left, a certain Will Carling landed on campus with rather a big thud. So take it as read that my lack of real sporting ability soon became apparent to all.
But a great time was still had and somehow I graduated with a solid drinking-man's 2-2 Single Honours Politics degree. This set me up perfectly for real life. Since I was 11 years old, I had dreamt of being a professional actor. So I applied for Drama School. Now I'll admit I was attracted to the idea of another year plus of student life, but what really appealed was the rumour that actresses were all very attractive and very horny. Now on the assumption that most actors were gay, then that put me — a red-blooded heterosexual - very much in the driving seat. Perhaps this lack of focus and genuine ambition goes some way towards explaining just how spectacularly unsuccessful my acting career proved to be. I made my film debut in the epic movie "Sheena - Queen of the Jungle." The magazine Time Out described it as, and I quote: "The worst film in cinematography history!" Now I know this will be residing somewhere in most of your video collections, but, for the sake of the few of you that don't have a copy, here's a brief synopsis. Sheena - aka Tanya Roberts - strode purposefully around the African jungle clad in very little as a sort of female Tarzan. She rode a zebra bareback - actually it wasn't a zebra it was a horse painted black and white. I know this because my friend painted the horse - unfortunately she didn't use the right sort of paint so filming was brought to a close every time it rained because the paint ran! Anyway, I was cast as a mean and nasty mercenary. Hopefully the quality of the casting is already offering a hint to the quality of the film. All I had to do was run down a hill fleeing from a band of marauding Masai warriors. Now for those of you that have ever been to Kenya you will know these boys are pretty frightening in real life. Tall, covered in war-paint and armed to the back-teeth in rubber spears, they were a fearsome sight. Now I can only assume that they had all studied at the Nairobi branch of the Method Actors Drama School, because these boys took their roles very seriously. As I ran down the hill literally running for my life, I fell in a ditch and was promptly stabbed up the arse by at least a hundred rubber spears. Not surprisingly my twitching performance never survived the editing process - mind you I'm not sure Sir John Gielgud could have coped with the acting demands of playing dead whilst having a large number of rubber spears stuck up his rear end ....on the other hand!!??
So there you have it. I wasn't good enough for the worst film ever! Mind you I didn't take the hint, and continued to run up debt and wait on tables for another 10 years. And the sum total of my acting career? My only lead in Macbeth in a 3-month tour of Japan, veteran of 17 different restaurant jobs, security guard at the Earls Court Boat Show (the year we lost an outboard motor that would have required four grown men to lift it!), three stints as a motorbike dispatch rider, 23 houses painted to varying degrees, and a Summer stint in Swanage of a sexually provocative production of Captain Pugwash which was a profit share that produced a weekly income of on average £16:36p!
So when the chance to start in television came along I not surprisingly leapt at it. Cable 17 TV (Telewest's live and exclusive news channel for cable viewers in the London Boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, Merton, Kingston and Richmond) was my introduction to the big time. My best mate Jonathan Maitland (of House of Horrors, Man in the Van, Tonight with Trevor McDonald and Watchdog fame) made the introduction in September 1994. By 1995 I was the full-time sports presenter for Cable 17 Sport producing three live shows per week. They were heady days. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, our working week was at times over 70 hours, for a relative pittance .....and we all loved every minute. In May 1996 I left to turn freelance and started working on the sports desk for London Tonight on ITV with Alistar Stewart and Mary Nightingale. I'll never forget my first ever stint of presenting the sport. It all went swimmingly well until the end when the director asked me to keep my handback, at the end of the sport bulletin, to an absolute minimum, as they were very tight for time.
"Is that OK Gouldie?" he asked. "No probs!" I replied and on cue promptly said:
"That's the sport. Short and sweet - just like you Mary!"
Alistar roared but Mary glared:
"Not so much of the short thank you very much Jonny!" she said.
I'm not sure she was too happy, and on my way back to the studio at least three members of staff all commented: "P45 in the post Gouldie!"
But I lasted another 7 years and only recently left as the programme is now made by ITN, and I was offered the chance to present a new gameshow on Five TV called Memory Bank. It goes out daily at 1:30pm and I present Monday to Friday every other week. So now I not only have the legs of Bruce Forsyth - but his job as well.
Does life get any better than this? Certainly not now that the baseball season has begun as well. And talk about double whammy. Not only is David (Lengel) back for another season as my co-presenter - this is no mean feat as he's presently working for ESPN in America so he has to commute over 7000 miles per show - but JC (Josh Chetwynd) is also back covering Sprng Training and the World Series and maybe even some surprise guest appearances later in the year. They are both so different as partners but both equally cherished. Presenting this show is first and foremost fun. If it wasn't it wouldn't work and so sharing the MLB hotseats with a couple of good mates is vital. one is Mr. Considered one is Mr. Angry. one loves Bobby Valentine one hates him. They are so different but yet so alike. At the end of the day they love the game and they love the show and that is what comes across every day on every broadcast.
And that just leaves Erik, our producer. How many people do you know who would turn up at the Five TV studios for over a year for no money? But just to help out because they loved the show, and they loved the sports (MLB, NHL and NFL). Because that's what Erik did. He was around for so long that after a while we all assumed that he belonged. Then inevitably one day someone offered him a job and now he's the head honcho for both MLB and NHL. Best of all he is the greatest guy and the greatest friend.
That's what I love about baseball, and that's what I love about the show. It's a family affair and we want this website to be another extension of that family. So why not join us all for this season and let's talk baseball.
Questionaire:
Name: Jonathan Michael Gould
Nickname: Gouldie/JG/Jonny-Still-Hair.
Age: 42
Better Half: The gorgeous Rachel.
Children: Max (8), Jack (6) and Tommy (1).
Best Characteristic: Enthusiasm.
Worst Characteristic: Too tidy (includes colour co-ordinated hangers!)
Favourite Sports: Baseball, Rugby Union, Cricket and Golf.
Favourite Baseball Team: Atlanta Braves.
Favourite Baseball Player: Chipper Jones (the Hooters King!).
Favourite Ever Baseball Player: Lou Gehrig
Favourite NHL Team: Boston Bruins.
Favourite NFL Team: Washington Redskins.
Favourite other teams: Surrey CCC (Cricket).
Chelsea FC (Footy).
Bath RFC (Rugby Union).
Greatest Ever Sportsman: Mohammed Ali.
Pet Hate in Sport: Rudeness and arrogance. (Just because you're famous and earn a fortune does not give you the right to disrespect anyone.)
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