worst and favorite sports announcers

[alocispepraluger102]

cant stand these guys:

joe morgan

bill walton

brent musberger

john sterling

dick vitale

adore:

pam ward(awesome deep voice+doesnt wear a hairpiece).

Edited November 12, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[Noj]

Can't stand:

Joe Theisman

Reggie Miller

All time favorites:

Chick Hearn

Vin Scully

[7/4]

Phil Schaap.

[T.D.]

cant stand these guys:

joe morgan

bill walton

brent musberger

john sterling

adore:

pam ward(awesome deep voice)

I hear ya'. Especially Musberger and Sterling, who are absolutely intolerable. Morgan isn't far behind, and I'm sure I'd put Walton in the same company if I ever watched basketball.

As I've aged, it's more difficult to tolerate any kind of TV announcing, and I now generally watch with the sound off. Radio's no savior, as ESPN Radio often has Morgan/Miller, and the abominable Sterling gets heavy NYY radio time.

On the positive side, various college football and "regional" NFL tandems seem much more reasonable, but no specific names come to mind apart from Verne Lundquist and Don Criqui. Jim Kaat (recently retired) used to be great in baseball; he and Ken Singleton (little substance, but inoffensive and a classic voice) were a good team on Yankee broadcasts.

In general, announcing appears to improve a lot the further you get from big-money hype. For instance, I really dug what I've seen of ESPN's coverage of NCAA hockey tourney.

Dunno much abt. Ward's play-by-play, but I useta like her in the ESPN studio (I haven't had cable for a long time). No, hold it, I think I heard her on some college event (forget which sport), and she was solid.

There are some pro hockey announcers I like, notably Mike Emrick, but the fact is that even the best announcers can get to sound stale if you become overexposed to them.

Edited November 12, 2007 by T.D.

[JSngry]

I once heard Bob LAnier doing the NBA finals on radio (early 90s, I think), and was...memerized. It was like hanging out a bar watching a game with an ex-player, and in the very best sense.

[Big Wheel]

Hate Joe Buck and Tim McCarver calling baseball. Generally think Al Michaels is acceptable as an announcer but I get the sense that he's a moron as a person. On the subject of announcers, I got a kick out of this Bill Simmons quote about Keith Jackson:

Since I firmly believe Marv Albert should do every big NBA game, Pat Summerall every big NFL game and Keith Jackson every big college football game, no matter how old they are, and only because it feels like a bigger game when any of them is involved, I feel totally comfortable saying this: Listening to Jackson is like driving with my mother at night. In other words, maybe he can’t really see anymore, and he might drive over a few curbs, and maybe he’ll even send a pedestrian diving behind a parking meter … but it’s always exciting, and you always get home safely in the end.

[sal]

Pretty much any of the football (soccer) announcers on the Spanish networks.

[Noj]

For aloc...

[Dan Gould]

Worst announcers have to be

Joe Morgan

Tim McCarver

Dwayne Staats for worst voice (total "pukey" announcer) though I have no idea where he works these days

Bob Griese is pretty bad for NCAA, and not only because he never gives any proper credit to Florida State.

I can't identify any favorites because like others, I tend to play music or even watch in silence instead of listening to the commentary. Sometimes that leads to confusion because you miss something important when a play is being reviewed but that's well worth the much more pleasant sounds of good music or blissful silence.

[alocispepraluger102]

For aloc...

fun reading. a new bookmark. thanks. :bwallace2:

[Joe]

I can hang with most announcers, even the Waltons and Crosses (Irv AND Randy) of the world, as I can always just snap on the radio and listen to my local guys (Brad Sham, Eric Nadel, etc.)

But what I cannot abide is the "guy / gal in the stands" beating administered by the likes of Ahmad Rashad, Jim Gray (human offal) and, the grandaddy of them all, from my pov, the absolutely execrable Pat O'Brien, the man who almost single-handedly ruined every NBA Finals viewing experience I had in late 80's / early 90's.

[Noj]

Jim Gray has zero class.

[Jim Alfredson]

Bill Walton is horrendous. I can't stand Musberger, mainly because he's such a Wolverine fanboy.

When the Pistons games are carried locally it's usually a tag team of Greg Kelsor and George Blaha announcing and I prefer listening to them, even if the actual picture quality is not as good as ESPN. Sometimes Pistons games are on both channels and I always go with Special K and Blaha.

George calls the Michigan State games, too. Strange looking dude, but a great voice and a good understanding of the game(s).

[Noj]

I despise Doug Collins, the Laker hater supreme.

[Ted O'Reilly]

An up-and-comver to look for is Dan Shulman, who has been doing ESPN baseball on radio these days. A Torontonian, he's intelligent, articulate and informed. Does other sports, too, and is excellent!

[Jazzmoose]

I don't really follow sports anymore, so I don't even know who still works and who doesn't, so think of this is an "all time" thing...

LOVE

Vin Scully. I don't care if he's talking about baseball, or just three hours of Farmer John's Pure Pork Sausage, nothing says summer like Vin Scully.

Lon Simmons. Would be my favorite, and his dry humor makes it close, but damn it, there's Vin Scully...

Howard Cosell. Yeah, I know. But even dead, I bet he'd be entertaining.

HATE

Brent Mussberger. Pompous ass kissing piece of shit dork. Just makes my skin crawl.

Dick Vitale. Sorry, I guess I just don't get it. Personally, I would be embarrassed to be him.

[rachel]

Jim Gray has zero class.

YES! He's an annoying gnat the just keeps buzzing and buzzing and buzzing and never shutting the eff up. Remember the Pete Rose interview? Dude, we all know (and knew at that time) that Pete probably bet on baseball, but you're not getting the answer from Pete so move on already!

[Hot Ptah]

I generally like Kevin Harlan's work.

[rachel]

Dick Vitale. Sorry, I guess I just don't get it. Personally, I would be embarrassed to be him.

I used to like be amused by him in the past, but he's become such a Bobby Knight homer that it's just embarrassing. Well, he's always been a Bobby Knight homer, but especially in recent years how can someone not be objective and agree, even to a small extent, that Bobby has crossed the line in the past.

[Guy Berger]

I despise Doug Collins, the Laker hater supreme.

Collins is one of my favorites for basketball, actually. I was not aware that he hated the Lakers but that is a big plus in my book. Bonus points if he hates the Knicks too.

As far as the ragging on Bill Walton -- yes, he is generally awful from a content standpoint but anybody that makes so many classic unintentional one-liners can't be truly bad in my book. John Stockton as a "monument to western civilization", enough said. (Myself and Darko 20/20 catalogued them in last year's NBA playoffs thread -- maybe someone can dig it up.)

Awful basketball guys -- most of the people on ABC/ESPN. Breen is OK and from a content standpoint Hubie Brown is great (though also "grate" due to his voice).

Guy

[Guy Berger]

I generally like Kevin Harlan's work.

Yes, not quite at the Marv Albert level but very good.

As far as Musburger -- in general, he's terrible, but ever since the "proctology exam" crack he made during the Reggie Evans/Chris Kaman I think he gets to start with a clean slate.

Guy

[Noj]

I had the pleasure of yelling "yeah, suck it Doug Collins!" every time the Lakers won playoff games during the three titles of the Shaq/Kobe Lakers, so it's all good. All that jackass talks about is what the team playing against the Lakers needs to do to win. He even does it now that we're the perennial 8 seed.

[alocispepraluger102]

Bill Walton is horrendous. I can't stand Musberger, mainly because he's such a Wolverine fanboy.

When the Pistons games are carried locally it's usually a tag team of Greg Kelsor and George Blaha announcing and I prefer listening to them, even if the actual picture quality is not as good as ESPN. Sometimes Pistons games are on both channels and I always go with Special K and Blaha.

George calls the Michigan State games, too. Strange looking dude, but a great voice and a good understanding of the game(s).

love blaha's broadcasts of michigan state football.

blaha has a style all his own.

[GARussell]

It was like hanging out a bar watching a game with an ex-player, and in the very best sense.

That's how I feel about Joe Morgan! I don't understand why some here dislike him so.

My favorites:

Dizzy Dean & Pee Wee Reese

Curt Gowdy (pre-1970)

Giulio Caravatta (BC Lions)

Charlie Jones

Harold Johnson (Charlotte guy who did the Charlotte Hornets of the WFL)

Don Dunphy

Lyndsey Nelson

My dislikes:

Tim McCarver (by far)

Chris Schultz (CFL studio analyst on TSN) - as much fun as a trip to the principal's office

Sterling Sharpe

Eli Gold

Al Michaels

Bryant Gumbel

Edited November 13, 2007 by GARussell

[alocispepraluger102]

chris schenkel was another one, may god rest his soul, and dick enberg, once a fine broadcaster, who stayed in the business too long.