04/19/24
September 13, 2002
Who Needs Dennis Miller?: Especially when you've got Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose idiosyncratic commentating style has been perhaps the brightest aspect of the late-summer test series between England and India. Somewhere between homespun and surreal, his analogies and similes provided the first reason in years to abandon the chummy, plummy cake-fed boys of Test Match Special and listen to (as well as watch) Channel 4's coverage. One example: "[Romesh Kaluwitharara is like an Indian three-wheeler which will suck a lot of diesel but can't go beyond 30." Can a commentator win you over to a sport?
I find tennis to be a bit boring (especially the men's side), but John McEnroe can usually hold my interest long enough to make it to the next commercial at least. And before he was hired by the Jays as a manager, Buck Martinez was absolutely the best television guy in baseball. He knew the game inside and out, and would often call the next play before it happened: "It's going to be a pitchout and the runner is going to caught dead to rights." And it he would be right 90% of the time. When he was let go by the Jays this year, I was kind of hoping he'd come back to Blue Jays tv broadcasts. Oh well.
posted by grum@work at 10:18 AM on September 14, 2002
Agreed with McEnroe, I have no interest in the game at all, but love listening to his analysis. David Lloydd, the ex England cricket coach was a fantastic commentator before he got the England job, full of passion and enthusiasm which he communicated really well. He just seems a bit of an old sourpuss these days.
posted by Fat Buddha at 02:45 PM on September 14, 2002
Absolutely. Foster Hewitt almost singlehandedly created the Canadian love affair with hockey, first on CBC radio and later on CBC television.