This year's best sports broadcaster is a man who only lived four days in 2010. With his signature call “Just another Halo victory,” Rory Markas, the Angels' radio and television play-by-play announcer had brought the games home to audiences since 2002. In January, Markas was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his Palmdale home. He was 54. The four-time Golden Mike recipient also worked for KTTV 11 news, offering coverage of fires and natural disasters; he hit a career high in 2002 when he called Darin Erstad's game-winning catch during the final play of the Angels' World Series victory over the Giants. In a radio interview following Markas' death, friend and fellow announcer Terry Smith said, with a slight quiver in his voice, “He could show up at the ballpark or at the arena four hours before the game or four minutes before the game, and there would be absolutely no difference in his performance. . . . Few people in our business have that ability. And I know I'm not one of them.”
