11/21/24
July 26, 2004
Masters of the Mic: SI.com takes a look at the best broadcasters in the booth. Who are you favorite announcers in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, College Football, College Basketball, Tennis, Golf, and everything else
McCarver?! McCarver?! Come on! I don't even know how McCarver has time to be a color man, he's managed to be the first person ever to get his entire head and shoulders up Alex Rodriguez's ass.
posted by jerseygirl at 09:16 AM on July 26, 2004
Nice to see some love for Uecker, who is of course my favorite announcer. One of my favorite moments in Uecker history came during the 2002 season, when the Brewers absolutely could not get any worse, no matter how hard they tried. Davey Lopes lasted 13 games into the season as manager, and his assistant Jerry Royster took over. Anyway, losing had become a pretty commonplace thing, and I remember one game in early August, the Brewers getting killed by the Dodgers, and about the fourth inning Uecker starts talking about having lunch with one of his co-stars from the "Mr. Belvidere" series. For the next five innings of broadcast, he barely called the game, occassionally mentioning a strikeout or a wild pitch or a pop-up, and instead talked about his experiences on the show, and his relationship with the other actors. It was funny and sad at the same time, and somehow a totally appropriate commentary on the state of the franchise at that point in time.
posted by rocketman at 09:57 AM on July 26, 2004
L.A. represents! Chick Hearn- every broadcast he made sure that you knew exactly what was going on, even if you didn't know the rules of the sport. In his later years, he fumbled names a bit (Dexter Fisher). But he always called a good game, and was never a homer. Chick wouldn't hesitate to tell the audience when Magic threw a bad pass, or Kobe took an ill-advised shot, or Shaq took a stupid foul, or if the Lakers were just playing like crap in general. Vin Scully- what can you say about Vin that hasn't been said before? The man calls a quality game. Favorite Vin tidbit from this season is from when the Dodgers played at Fenway, in which Vin observed that it appeared that Johnny Damon arrived at Fenway by raft. Good times.
posted by lilnemo at 11:45 AM on July 26, 2004
Danny Gallivan belongs at the top of any hockey play-by-play list, especially one that doesn't include Foster Hewitt. At least they gave solid props to Howie Meeker, who paved a lot of ground for color analysts in every sport in the last 30 years with his use of video and actual learned criticism of game plans and strategy. And I'm glad Jim Lampley has finally found a niche in boxing. He bounced around for a long time, and now that he's primarily a boxing guy, he's gotten very good at calling fights. (Where's Max Kellerman on that list? He was as thoughtful, passionate and witty a boxing analyst as there was, especially when he was on ESPN with Brian Kenny.)
posted by chicobangs at 11:57 AM on July 26, 2004
I would've put Jack Buck as one of the top baseball play-by-play announcers and replaced his Kirk Gibson call with the 1985 NLCS call "Go crazy folks, go crazy!"
posted by gyc at 02:18 PM on July 26, 2004
Chuck Swirsky is outstanding as the Toronto Raptors' play-by-play man. He has some great catch-phrases. After a great play, he yells, "Are you kidding me?" After a mean dunk, he growls "Sick, wicked and nasty!" or "Chris Bosh just gave Theo Ratliff a Spalding facial!"
posted by Scott Carefoot at 04:01 PM on July 26, 2004
"Chris Bosh just gave Theo Ratliff a Spalding facial!" I misread that as "a Splashing Facial"... now that would be good!
posted by dusted at 04:21 PM on July 26, 2004
I'm amused he included Dick Irvin as a colour man. He tells stories but he never states an opinion, never dissects a play. I find him useless. I was glad to see Bob Cole and Harry Neale listed. They're often slagged for, essentially, being old. But I like them. I also like Joe "Holy Mackinaw" Bowen: he's effective and infectious without being self-consciously macho. And I like his radio side-kick, colour man, Jim Ralph. He comes up with groovy observations: one night he mentioned Pronger and Zubov were the best in the NHL at knocking down air borne pucks with their sticks when working the point on the power play.
posted by Philfromhavelock at 06:01 PM on July 26, 2004
McCarver?! McCarver?! Come on! I don't even know how McCarver has time to be a color man, he's managed to be the first person ever to get his entire head and shoulders up Alex Rodriguez's ass. I'm with you. His voice is 'arrogant idiot' personified. And he won't shut up. Ever. I felt so befuldled when I read this; doesn't everyone know? Swirtsky is great and scores high on the unintentional comedy scale with sentences like: "Mo Pete takes it hard to the hole and serves up a facial." Vin Scully is absolutely my favorite though. "And Darryl takes one to the wall, the Mets go up by a run.... Of course his favorite ice cream is Strawberry."
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:01 PM on July 26, 2004
Yeah, Vin Scully is my favorite. When I was growing up, they would carry the Dodgers on the radio here. His voice is one of the things that reminds me of summer. (Actually, here in the home of the Diamondbacks AAA team, a radio station joined up with the Dodgers radio network a few years ago, so I can still tune in and hear that voice).
posted by eckeric at 03:51 PM on July 29, 2004
Scully must be an acquired taste. When I first moved here, I had a Dodgers game on in the background. At the exact same time, my girlfriend and I asked "Does that guy EVER shut up?"
posted by dusted at 04:03 PM on July 29, 2004
His #2 baseball color man is Tim McCarver. How? Why?