| Bruce Drennan | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 1, 1950 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
Bruce Drennan (born May 1, 1950) is an American sportscaster in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been a radio and television sportscaster for 39 years.
The Chicago native went to Cleveland in the spring of 1978. During the early 1970s, he had been an evening sports call in show host on WMRO 1280 in Aurora, Illinois. Bruce first emerged on the Cleveland airwaves as an afternoon drive sports talk show host on WBBG Radio.
His opinionated 'tell it like it is' style made such an impression that he landed the Cleveland Indians Color Analyst position on WUAB teaming with Joe Tait. Bruce held this position for the 1980-82 Cleveland Indians seasons.[1] During this same period, Bruce also called the play by play of Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball on WUAB, working with former NBA star Austin Carr.
Bruce was then hired to host a post-game talk show on WHK Radio in Cleveland, the flagship home of Cleveland Browns football.
In 1984, Bruce was hired by WWWE Radio as a morning drive sports anchor and weekend talk-show host. In the late 80's, Bruce's 'in your face' entertaining style landed him the position of WWWE Sportsline Host, replacing the legendary Pete Franklin.
Prior to obtaining the morning drive anchor position at WTAM, Bruce also hosted his own talk show on TV-29 in Akron for three years.
Bruce then moved to night-time talk as the show host for the flagship station of Cleveland Indians baseball and Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball.
In 2001 Bruce moved to WKNR to host morning drive sports talk.
Drennan returned to broadcasting as the host of a sports talk show "All Bets Are Off With Bruce Drennan" on SportsTime Ohio. The show is a call-in type venue that allows listeners to call or email to express their feelings about sports in Cleveland. It is a radio-formatted show broadcast on TV. He always begins and ends the show with his phrase "I love ya Cleveland!
On May 5, 2010, Drennan attained internet notoriety with one of the more dynamic rants in recent sports rant history, on his show "All Bets Are Off." The source of his rant was the recent performance of the Cleveland Indians, who had earlier that day lost to the Toronto Blue Jays. Much of his ire in the rant was directed at Russell Branyan, whose swing he deprecatingly mimicked on several instances. Also not spared were Grady Sizemore, Matt Laporta, and Luis Valbuena, whose name was memorialized several times by Drennan's repeated phrase, "Ohhhhh, Valbuena. Ohhhhh. Valbuena." Drennan also opined that Cleveland should "send [Valbuena] back to the Mets." The video has since been removed from Youtube due to a Major League Baseball copyright claim.
In September 2004 Drennan's home in Strongsville, Ohio was raided by FBI and IRS agents as part of an illegal sports-gambling scheme. He subsequently lost his job at WKNR because of the investigation and served as the mid-morning talk show host and Program Director for sportstalkCLEVELAND via the Internet.
In April 2006 Drennan was charged with two counts of filing false tax returns. He later agreed to a plea bargain and served five months in prison.[2] [3]