SWC75
Bored Historian
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Upon Further Review is having a theme day- =most and least favorite broadcasters. I thought I would be a fun subject for a post on our board, (I'll post it to both the basketball and football boards but the subject is general in each case.)
First locally: When I first started following sports Bill O'Donnell was the voice of the Orange. i still remember his deep, authoritative but friendly voice and his famous sign-off: "Good Night Sport". He moved on to the Baltimore Orioles in the mid 60's to be Chuck Thompson's partner and died of cancer in the 80's. I recall the reactions to his death were full of reverence for him as a broadcaster and a man and thinking how lucky we were to have such a guy in our town for the time he was here.
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/4715f825
Bill was replaced by Joel Mareiness, who was a classic local "homer" full of colorful phrases and clearly rooting for the team, beloved by local fans but not the sort of guy the networks were looking for. Old time fans recall Joel saying that Vaughn Harper "went up the invisible ladder" for a rebound. I remember when he called a tipped pass interception by shouting "inconception". I thought he'd invented a new form of birth control. I still remember when the technology failed him in one road game and he had to broadcast the game from a telephone, able to see only the one basket. Eventually a security guy ordered him off the phone and he got in a scuffle with the guy. Later he did the Chief's games and tried to catch foul balls with a fisherman's net. He'd be interviewing a guy after the game and get a having cream pie in the face. Everybody loved him except Jake Crouthamel who decided he wasn't what they wanted in the Dome and replaced him with Doug Logan.
It took me a while to warm to Logan because I loved Mareiness so much but he did a professional job and made a good team with Jim Ridlon. Then he was canned and the "Voice of the Orange" was a revolving door for a while. I always regretted that our national championship season was voiced by Mark "One and Done" Johnson, who had no history- and no future with the program. I've always felt Doug Logan in 1987 had the statement "AND SYRACUSE WINS THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!" in the back of his throat ready to go and I wish he't finally gotten the chance to say it 16 years later. Instead we got Johnson who always sounded to me as if he was narrating a used car commercial.
Now we have Matt Park who is likeable and more than competent. I hope he gets the chance to call a national championship for SU.
With the Chiefs the first broadcast crew I remember was John Harmon and Jack Morse and they are still the best. They were different. Harmon was the classic "southern gentleman" broadcaster like Mel Allen, Red Barber and Ernie Harwell. Morse had a minimalist, clipped manner of describing the action but told good stories and had great chemistry with Harmon, despite or maybe because of their differences. Dan Hoard was the best since, professional but with a dry sense of humor. And the bets since him was Jason Bennetti, whose style has been copied by Kevin Brown who has become more interesting to listen to as a result.
I'm not a hockey fan so I'll let the hockey fans comment on the guys who do the crunch. I am, of course familiar with Bob MacElliott, who did both the Crunch and the Chiefs. He was competent but I never warmed to him.
Bob Costas and Mike Tirico are obviously excellent but their time as play-by-play guys locally was limited. My biggest memory of Costas is doing the 1972 NOT when we with a front line averaging 6-3 almost beat Maryland, with a front line that averaged 6-10. At one point he he shouted to Bob Dooms, our 6-5 center, "Make a good pass Bobby- please!". The biggest thing I remember about Tirico was his predicting that our 1989 team, with derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglas, Stevie Thompson and Billy Owens, was going to lose in the NCAAs to Colorado State. They were never in it and we won by 15. But both were and are excellent and obviously deserve their success.
Nationally, my all time favorite is Jim McKay, who had a great feeling for both sports and people and knew when to talk and when not to. I think Jim Nantz is very good. Pat Summerall was good. Al Michaels is good.
Vin Scully is the model for modern broadcasters but I think talks a bit too much, citing things like ironies that seem very obscure. But he can paint a picture with the best of them. Jim Buck is OK but his father Jack was much better. Lindsay Nelson was always the "voice of college football to me", even more than Keith Jackson later became. Ray Scott was great in the old days, doing Packer games. I never liked Curt Gowdy much. He seemed like a likable guy somehow he never seemed very sharp to me and kind of droned on a bit.
The only pro team I've listened to much is the Mets. I actually gravitated to their broadcasts because I liked the broadcasting team better than the others that were available. The Red Sox guys put me to sleep. The Braves guys hyped everything to the sky and complained that ever call that went against the braves was a tragic injustice. The Yankees had Phil Rizzuto talking about pizza places and Bill White calling for chin-music But the Mets' broadcasters analyzed the game and I could learn something from them. And they were entertaining to listen to. Ralph Kiner, (who went he wasn't saying "Kinerisms was actually pretty sharp), Tim McCarver and Steve Zabrisikie. I didn't think Fran Healy quite came to their standard. These days I think Howie Rose and Gary Cohen are as good as it gets. Friendly and informative is what does it for me.
The ones that get the most reactions are the color guys because they have to pout on a show. Don Meredith pulled it off but he spawned many imitators so didn't. The worst was Alex Hawkins, whose "commentary" was reduced to nothing but hoops and hollers. Tim McCarver and Dan Dierdorf have their detractors but I like both of them tremendously. McCarver focused on analyzing the game in detail as it went along and had a great influence on many guys who came afterwards that some people admire more. Mets player used to complain aobut his criticism and a couple of them, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Bobby Ojeda are now commentating on the Mets and doing the same thin. Dierdorf was authoritative and interesting. I also loved Paul McGuire who had a sense of humor about the game, (I still remember him using a telestrator to point out where a bouncing fumble was "This is the ball- go get the ball!")
My least favorite color guys have been Howard Cosell and Dick Vitale who thought the show was all about them and barely cared what was happening with the game.
So, which ones do you and have you liked and which ones do you and have disliked the most?
First locally: When I first started following sports Bill O'Donnell was the voice of the Orange. i still remember his deep, authoritative but friendly voice and his famous sign-off: "Good Night Sport". He moved on to the Baltimore Orioles in the mid 60's to be Chuck Thompson's partner and died of cancer in the 80's. I recall the reactions to his death were full of reverence for him as a broadcaster and a man and thinking how lucky we were to have such a guy in our town for the time he was here.
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/4715f825
Bill was replaced by Joel Mareiness, who was a classic local "homer" full of colorful phrases and clearly rooting for the team, beloved by local fans but not the sort of guy the networks were looking for. Old time fans recall Joel saying that Vaughn Harper "went up the invisible ladder" for a rebound. I remember when he called a tipped pass interception by shouting "inconception". I thought he'd invented a new form of birth control. I still remember when the technology failed him in one road game and he had to broadcast the game from a telephone, able to see only the one basket. Eventually a security guy ordered him off the phone and he got in a scuffle with the guy. Later he did the Chief's games and tried to catch foul balls with a fisherman's net. He'd be interviewing a guy after the game and get a having cream pie in the face. Everybody loved him except Jake Crouthamel who decided he wasn't what they wanted in the Dome and replaced him with Doug Logan.
It took me a while to warm to Logan because I loved Mareiness so much but he did a professional job and made a good team with Jim Ridlon. Then he was canned and the "Voice of the Orange" was a revolving door for a while. I always regretted that our national championship season was voiced by Mark "One and Done" Johnson, who had no history- and no future with the program. I've always felt Doug Logan in 1987 had the statement "AND SYRACUSE WINS THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!" in the back of his throat ready to go and I wish he't finally gotten the chance to say it 16 years later. Instead we got Johnson who always sounded to me as if he was narrating a used car commercial.
Now we have Matt Park who is likeable and more than competent. I hope he gets the chance to call a national championship for SU.
With the Chiefs the first broadcast crew I remember was John Harmon and Jack Morse and they are still the best. They were different. Harmon was the classic "southern gentleman" broadcaster like Mel Allen, Red Barber and Ernie Harwell. Morse had a minimalist, clipped manner of describing the action but told good stories and had great chemistry with Harmon, despite or maybe because of their differences. Dan Hoard was the best since, professional but with a dry sense of humor. And the bets since him was Jason Bennetti, whose style has been copied by Kevin Brown who has become more interesting to listen to as a result.
I'm not a hockey fan so I'll let the hockey fans comment on the guys who do the crunch. I am, of course familiar with Bob MacElliott, who did both the Crunch and the Chiefs. He was competent but I never warmed to him.
Bob Costas and Mike Tirico are obviously excellent but their time as play-by-play guys locally was limited. My biggest memory of Costas is doing the 1972 NOT when we with a front line averaging 6-3 almost beat Maryland, with a front line that averaged 6-10. At one point he he shouted to Bob Dooms, our 6-5 center, "Make a good pass Bobby- please!". The biggest thing I remember about Tirico was his predicting that our 1989 team, with derrick Coleman, Sherman Douglas, Stevie Thompson and Billy Owens, was going to lose in the NCAAs to Colorado State. They were never in it and we won by 15. But both were and are excellent and obviously deserve their success.
Nationally, my all time favorite is Jim McKay, who had a great feeling for both sports and people and knew when to talk and when not to. I think Jim Nantz is very good. Pat Summerall was good. Al Michaels is good.
Vin Scully is the model for modern broadcasters but I think talks a bit too much, citing things like ironies that seem very obscure. But he can paint a picture with the best of them. Jim Buck is OK but his father Jack was much better. Lindsay Nelson was always the "voice of college football to me", even more than Keith Jackson later became. Ray Scott was great in the old days, doing Packer games. I never liked Curt Gowdy much. He seemed like a likable guy somehow he never seemed very sharp to me and kind of droned on a bit.
The only pro team I've listened to much is the Mets. I actually gravitated to their broadcasts because I liked the broadcasting team better than the others that were available. The Red Sox guys put me to sleep. The Braves guys hyped everything to the sky and complained that ever call that went against the braves was a tragic injustice. The Yankees had Phil Rizzuto talking about pizza places and Bill White calling for chin-music But the Mets' broadcasters analyzed the game and I could learn something from them. And they were entertaining to listen to. Ralph Kiner, (who went he wasn't saying "Kinerisms was actually pretty sharp), Tim McCarver and Steve Zabrisikie. I didn't think Fran Healy quite came to their standard. These days I think Howie Rose and Gary Cohen are as good as it gets. Friendly and informative is what does it for me.
The ones that get the most reactions are the color guys because they have to pout on a show. Don Meredith pulled it off but he spawned many imitators so didn't. The worst was Alex Hawkins, whose "commentary" was reduced to nothing but hoops and hollers. Tim McCarver and Dan Dierdorf have their detractors but I like both of them tremendously. McCarver focused on analyzing the game in detail as it went along and had a great influence on many guys who came afterwards that some people admire more. Mets player used to complain aobut his criticism and a couple of them, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Bobby Ojeda are now commentating on the Mets and doing the same thin. Dierdorf was authoritative and interesting. I also loved Paul McGuire who had a sense of humor about the game, (I still remember him using a telestrator to point out where a bouncing fumble was "This is the ball- go get the ball!")
My least favorite color guys have been Howard Cosell and Dick Vitale who thought the show was all about them and barely cared what was happening with the game.
So, which ones do you and have you liked and which ones do you and have disliked the most?
