Ernesto Diaz Gonzalez (born 1939) (in Spanish) is a Puerto Rican sportscaster who has worked since 1962 on Puerto Rican television. Diaz Gonzalez has narrated various sports such as baseball and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

, but he is better known for his narration of BSN and Puerto Rican men's national team basketball games. Ernesto Diaz Gonzalez is also known by the Puerto Rican public as "Ernestito".

Biography

Ernesto Diaz Gonzalez grew up as a fan of

cockfighting A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

. His father took him to watch cockfights at a local cockfighting arena when he was about 11 or 12 years old. Later, Diaz Gonzalez attended university, where he began learning some phrases that he would later use during basketball game transmissions. By 1980, Diaz Gonzalez had been hired as a special-events sportscaster by Telemundo Puerto Rico, which had

Junior Abrams Juan Ramón Abrams Jr, better known as Junior Abrams (born April 25, 1956 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican television and radio sportscaster, actor and show host. Biography After years of radio broadcasting experience on WRAI AM with H ...

as their main sportscaster and sports news reporter. In 1985, Diaz Gonzalez moved to Telemundo Puerto Rico's rival station canal 4.

2014 Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame Controversy

During its 2014 induction ceremony, the Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame was to induct Diaz Gonzalez as a sportscaster, along with former baseball players

Bernie Williams Bernabé Williams Figueroa Jr. (born September 13, 1968) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and a musician. He played his entire 16-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the New York Yankees from 1991 through 2006. ...

and

Carlos Baerga Carlos Obed Ortiz Baerga (; ; born November 4, 1968) is a Puerto Rican former Major League Baseball player. Baerga was known for his superb hitting abilities during his first stint with the Cleveland Indians in the early-to-mid-1990s, accumulatin ...

, and former basketball player

Jerome Mincy Jerome Alfred Mincy Clark (born November 10, 1964) is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player who was born to Shelly and Willie Mincy at Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico on November 10, 1964. He played in the NCAA with ...

. Diaz Gonzalez, however, did not accept the induction, alleging that he had felt shunned by the Hall of Fame for 15 prior years. (in Spanish)

Personal

Diaz Gonzalez is married to Norma Hernandez, who inspired him to use some phrases during basketball game transmissions.

Phrases

Diaz Gonzalez has coined some phrases during televised basketball games that have become popular in

Puerto Rican Spanish Puerto Rican Spanish (''español puertorriqueño'' ) is the variety (linguistics), variety of the Spanish language as characteristically spoken in Puerto Rico and by millions of people of Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent living in the ...

jargon. Some are: *"Gulu gulu y pa' fuera" (loosely translated to "round and round and it goes out")-when someone's shot goes around the rim and then drops out. *"Y va seguir!" ("He-or she-keeps it going!")-when someone has scored many points and makes another basket *"Agua pa' los gallos!" ("throw water at the cocks")-when a team has scored the basket likely to secure the game for them. Diaz Gonzalez was inspired to use this by his days attending cockfights, where a beaten cock would get water thrown over it. *"Echale" (loosely translated to "put it in")-when someone makes a three-point shot. *"De lagrimita!" (loosely translated to "by a tear!") when a shot goes in after almost being missed

Youtube channel

Diaz Gonzalez has begun his own Youtube.com channel, where he downloads videos of past BSN basketball games.

References