Rate the announcers!

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

So, I've been alternately appalled and pleasantly surprised by the announcers around the league this season, and I think we should devote a thread to them.

Here are a few I can remember to start us off:

Clippers - good natured and fair, but more like an old-school comedy duo (gag man and straight man) than basketball call and colour. Terrible lack of knowledge of the Spurs. Overall, quite fun. (Who are they?) B+

Lakers and Sacto - both utterly biased, derogatory and snide towards the Spurs and ridiculously over the top about the wonder of the home teams. Unlistenable! Made me want to smash their faces in. The worst in Homerism. F

New York - fantastic! Realistic, balanced, fair and funny. Clyde has a smooth, whimsical voice, an excellent knowledge of the game, and an amusing vocabulary. The call guy does his job. A

[m33p0]

tommy heinshon of the celtics gets an F. not only does his voice hurts the ears, he's a homer through and through.

[samikeyp]

Detroit- Good for the most part...enthusiastic and a minumum of homerism. Although George Blaha went a little nutty against the Spurs in Detroit last year when Chauncy Billups dropped his shoulder into Bruce Bowen then kind of stumbled because Bruce didn't move and Blaha yelled "Bowen punched him!!!" :lol

Chicago- The guys on WGN are bad. Too much "We'n and Us'n"

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

New York - fantastic! Realistic, balanced, fair and funny. Clyde has a smooth, whimsical voice, an excellent knowledge of the game, and an amusing vocabulary. The call guy does his job. A

I developed a good deal of respect for he and Mike Breen as they covered the last Spurs game. They know what they are talking about, but what's more amazing is how they can cover the Knicks and keep a straight face. I don't how you can honestly cover a Knicks game without talking about how godawful Isiah is for this team but they managed to do it (although spending nearly two minutes discussing the color of Clyde's suit was pushing it.)

I did notice that whoever was calling the camera shots has a pretty good sense of humor. At two different points I can remember they started discussing how the Knicks were playing so well against the Spurs after poor showings against a number of mediocre teams. So they wondered aloud about what the problem could possibly be, never pointing fingers, but whenever the subject came up the camera switched to a nice long close-up of Isiah Thomas.

[PacerFan]

Clyde and Breen are great. I do like Joel Myers and Stu Latz of the Lakers though, they are entertaining and not too biased. I agree Heinshon is the worst. The Grizzlies, Nuggets, Jazz, and Heat all have real bad, homer announcers as well. Knicks, Hawks, and Kings have the best crews IMO.

[urunobili]

New York - fantastic! Realistic, balanced, fair and funny. Clyde has a smooth, whimsical voice, an excellent knowledge of the game, and an amusing vocabulary. The call guy does his job. A
Mike Breen i can stand... the guy with him pissed me off badly... really one sided towards New York the whole fucking game... not professional... even was treating the spurs as if they were a sub par team :pctoss

[PacerFan]

Clyde Frazier? I hope your not serious, I hate the Knicks with a passion but even I enjoy listening to him.

[PacerFan]

Clyde Frazier? I hope your not serious, I hate the Knicks with a passion but even I enjoy listening to him.

[ElNono]

Celtic's Heinshon *always* stood out as an annoying homer to me. Now that the Celts are loaded, I can't even begin to think what it's like to listen to that guy. I just hope we get the SA broadcast on NBALP when we play them.

[urunobili]

Clyde Frazier? I hope your not serious, I hate the Knicks with a passion but even I enjoy listening to him.
did you listen to the guy during the Kniks @ Spurs game???

[bdubya]

Detroit- Good for the most part...enthusiastic and a minumum of homerism.

It's a shame Bill Laimbeer isn't doing any games this year; he managed to be a total homer and very balanced at the same time - admitting it any time the Pistons got away with a no-call, but laughing about it too.

Boston is the worst, IMHO. The Utahrds are pretty hard to take, too. GSW stands out as pretty good.

[duncan228]

Miami and Boston have been the worst for me over the years I've had LP.

I can tolerate a lot of homerism, it's not surprising that color guys would favor their own teams. But when it's so over the top that they can't see anything positive about the opponent it gets to me.

I enjoyed the Clippers call, I thought they were fine.

[PacerFan]

I did watch a little of the Spurs and Knicks and thought that the announcers were pretty fair. I think they might have got to you because the game was close?

For the record the Clipper announcers are Mike Smith and Ralph Wahler

[PacerFan]

Tony Feuerentino and Eric Ried do the Heat games. They are on Dwade's nuts like no other. Even this year despite them being beat like a pulp those guys make every game out to be "the big game" and proceed to be huge homers. Sun Sports (The network Miami is on) needs to take a page from the Magic in Matt Ghoukas. He is usually one of the best.

[BeerIsGood!]

I have to say that I really do like the Clippers' guys. I thought it was pretty damn funny how they showed a shot of the color guy acting like he was texting on his cell then immediately going to a clip of Eva reading a text from her phone and laughing. That shit was funny.

Clyde Frazier and Mike Breen are my favorites among opponents in the league. The GSW crew is good, too.

I think the main thing to remember is that all of these guys are paid to be homers. They are supposed to be homers, but the best ones don't let their homer status keep them from realizing when their team makes mistakes or gets away with bad calls. The absolute worst ones actually advocate injury and are mean spirited towards the opposition, i.e. Portland.

[Barbarian]

I don't know the names of the announcers for the Jazz but I can't stand them at all. I literally have to watch those games on mute.
BTW. Since Joel Myers use to do Spurs games and now does Lakers games, doesn't it make you wonder how many of these guys are really rooting for the team they cover?

[baseline bum]

So, I've been alternately appalled and pleasantly surprised by the announcers around the league this season, and I think we should devote a thread to them.

Here are a few I can remember to start us off:

Clippers - good natured and fair, but more like an old-school comedy duo (gag man and straight man) than basketball call and colour. Terrible lack of knowledge of the Spurs. Overall, quite fun. (Who are they?) B+

Lakers and Sacto - both utterly biased, derogatory and snide towards the Spurs and ridiculously over the top about the wonder of the home teams. Unlistenable! Made me want to smash their faces in. The worst in Homerism. F

New York - fantastic! Realistic, balanced, fair and funny. Clyde has a smooth, whimsical voice, an excellent knowledge of the game, and an amusing vocabulary. The call guy does his job. A

The Lakers announcer (Joel Myers) was the Spurs play by play guy for a couple of years. :lol

He sucks badly. I love the Clippers play by play guy (Ralph Lawler), but it was way better when Walton was his color guy. Boston is by far the worst, with Sacramento being a pretty distant second.

[samikeyp]

yeah Meyers verbal fellatio of Kobe gets old quick.

[FromWayDowntown]

I love the Clippers play by play guy (Ralph Lawler), but it was way better when Walton was his color guy.

Those games were always the best to listen to. Walton gushing with his usual hyperbole -- my all-time favorite was the night that Walton called Corey Maggette "clearly one of the 5 best defensive players in the league," only to later call him "clearly one of the 5 best defensive players ever." The best part was listening to Lawler deal with those things as if Walton ever meant them.

Still, Walton used to crack me up with statements like "I don't know about you, Ralph, but my seatbelt is firmly and securely buckled" as a relatively close game came down to the wire. I guess Lawler has some thing about telling fans to fasten their seatbelts, and Walton would almost always beat him to the punch.

[FromWayDowntown]

yeah Meyers verbal fellatio of Kobe gets old quick.

Good call, partner.

[samikeyp]

:lmao

[SpursDynasty]

I'm getting tired of Sean Elliott.

[ancestron]

I always dug Tom Tolbert. He had a bit of a lisp but he usually had some really insightful stuff to say, not the usual commentator BS.

[SouthernFried]

How do other fans feel about Sean? Guy cracks me up...total homer, but with a sense of humor. But, he sees things out there...when someone else is doing the commentary I find myself thinking "what game are you watching?"

When I'm mad at the Spurs...so is he :)

[ancestron]

I like Sean for the most part. It is a treat to have a former Spur as the color man. He really understands the game on so many levels.
Sometimes I think he goes too far when he makes fun of people, or dogs on people's ablities or inabilities, and sometimes he doesn't pay the opponent's enough respect.
I remember the Orlando game last year when Howard beat us at the buzzer with the alley oop, Sean had already crossed Orlando out as a win in the second quarter when they were showing the schedule on the screen.

[ludda]

BOSTON is one of the worst, i remember during the game vs the Jazz where the Celtics barely won, they kept inferring that the Jazz were lucky the game was so close.

[freemeat]

Clyde and Breen are great. I do like Joel Myers and Stu Latz of the Lakers though, they are entertaining and not too biased. I agree Heinshon is the worst. The Grizzlies, Nuggets, Jazz, and Heat all have real bad, homer announcers as well. Knicks, Hawks, and Kings have the best crews IMO.

The Knicks crew is pretty good.

I have to disagree about Joel Myers and Stu Lantz though. Lantz, especially, is a complete retard.

All he does is project what players are "saying" when they score or make a play.

Kobe makes a jump-shot and you have to hear something like, "and Kobe says 'take that' Paul Pierce" or some stupid shit. It's like clock-work getting something really dumb out of that guy.

[PacerFan]

I hear you and respect your opinion. I just think that is a case of an old man having fun and trying to be funny. He doesn't strike me as an all out homer who is a complete idiot. I understand how that could rub people wrong, I however tend to enjoy it.

[FromWayDowntown]

I'm getting tired of Sean Elliott.

Sean must have said that he thought Dwight Howard was good or something.

[freemeat]

AXgt2i6ldIE

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Mike Breen i can stand... the guy with him pissed me off badly... really one sided towards New York the whole fucking game... not professional... even was treating the spurs as if they were a sub par team :pctoss

I think you were hallucinating. Clyde wasn't homerish at all - he was smooth, funny, and called the game fairly. Were we listening to the same broadcast?

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

So far I think Clippers and the Knicks announcers impress me the most.

The Mavs and Trailblazers announcers have been annoying from what I remember.

The Laker ones got on my nerves the most though.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

The Lakers announcer (Joel Myers) was the Spurs play by play guy for a couple of years. :lol

He sucks badly. I love the Clippers play by play guy (Ralph Lawler), but it was way better when Walton was his color guy. Boston is by far the worst, with Sacramento being a pretty distant second.

Yeah, I remember Joel Meyers, used to like him when he did our games. I have to say the whole Lakers crew are just shite - Bucher is also on Kobe's member.


I think the main thing to remember is that all of these guys are paid to be homers. They are supposed to be homers, but the best ones don't let their homer status keep them from realizing when their team makes mistakes or gets away with bad calls. The absolute worst ones actually advocate injury and are mean spirited towards the opposition.

:tu

[m33p0]

i like the way bill walton would make a call saying that the refs got it wrong only to be proven otherwise by the replay and then follow it up by praising the refs as if he never doubted them for second.

[Que Gee]

The Warriors guys are real good. Take a listen tonight if anyone can. They get on the Warriors just as much as they would get on a visiting team. They let it be known when "their" team is getting thumped. Not afraid to call out BS calls by refs either, which more announcers need to do.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

The Warriors guys are real good. Take a listen tonight if anyone can. They get on the Warriors just as much as they would get on a visiting team. They let it be known when "their" team is getting thumped. Not afraid to call out BS calls by refs either, which more announcers need to do.

Hmmmm, I had high hopes, but I thought the Warriors guys were only okay, and quite homerish at times. Especially during the fourth Q, they were total homers. D+

[baseline bum]

Those games were always the best to listen to. Walton gushing with his usual hyperbole -- my all-time favorite was the night that Walton called Corey Maggette "clearly one of the 5 best defensive players in the league," only to later call him "clearly one of the 5 best defensive players ever." The best part was listening to Lawler deal with those things as if Walton ever meant them.

Still, Walton used to crack me up with statements like "I don't know about you, Ralph, but my seatbelt is firmly and securely buckled" as a relatively close game came down to the wire. I guess Lawler has some thing about telling fans to fasten their seatbelts, and Walton would almost always beat him to the punch.

One time Lawler mentioned Corona as a sponsor, to which Walton replied that he badly needed one to stomach the way the Clippers were playing at the time.

[Armando]

Heat announcers are the worst.

[freemeat]

I'd rather smell a dirty fart than have to listen to Stu Lantz talk. He's a complete moron.

[lefty]

Heat announcers are the worst.

" Kaboom !" (just to annoy you)

[freemeat]

Ah...and the guys no one has mentioned yet:

Jay Howard and Bill Schoening

I grew up listening to Jay Howard. He was great. One night, when I was about eight years old, WOAI had a contest. You'd call in at halftime with the number of times he said "bang" on a made three-pointer. I won (the answer was 3).

I didn't like Schoening at first, but he's really grown on me a lot. I actually listened to a game when Manu was sitting last week and realized that I miss the occasional "that's a manu tres!"

[Armando]

" Kaboom !" (just to annoy you)



:lol

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

The Cavs crew were appalling, especially the colour guy Austin "AC" Carr. Not only did he talk utter bullshit the whole time (like saying that Duncan's glaring would have drawn a tech "in the old days" - patently false given that the refs have never been more tech happy than they are today during the entire history of the NBA), but then he repeated and kept repeating, with reference to Manu, that the Cavs "outta bust him one in the keister" or "put him down" when he got hot. The other guy wouldn't touch what he was saying at all, which was a minor credit to him.

Austin Carr, you are a fucking joke and you should NOT be an announcer. :flipoff :stfu

F-------

[T Park]

Sometimes I think he goes too far when he makes fun of people, or dogs on people's ablities or inabilities, and sometimes he doesn't pay the opponent's enough respect.
I remember the Orlando game last year when Howard beat us at the buzzer with the alley oop, Sean had already crossed Orlando out as a win in the second quarter when they were showing the schedule on the screen.



That really should've been a friggen win.

[remingtonbo2001]

I like Sean for the most part. It is a treat to have a former Spur as the color man. He really understands the game on so many levels.
Sometimes I think he goes too far when he makes fun of people, or dogs on people's ablities or inabilities, and sometimes he doesn't pay the opponent's enough respect.
I remember the Orlando game last year when Howard beat us at the buzzer with the alley oop, Sean had already crossed Orlando out as a win in the second quarter when they were showing the schedule on the screen.

Sean does that alot. I remember a few games against cellar dwellars, that Sean was already calling wins before the game even started.
Spurs would then find a way to loose. I think he's stopped this year.

[T Park]

Not only is Austin Carr an idiot, but he sounds horrible,

[Newton]

New York - fantastic! Realistic, balanced, fair and funny. Clyde has a smooth, whimsical voice, an excellent knowledge of the game, and an amusing vocabulary. The call guy does his job. A

Could not agree more

[baseline bum]

Those games were always the best to listen to. Walton gushing with his usual hyperbole -- my all-time favorite was the night that Walton called Corey Maggette "clearly one of the 5 best defensive players in the league," only to later call him "clearly one of the 5 best defensive players ever." The best part was listening to Lawler deal with those things as if Walton ever meant them.

Still, Walton used to crack me up with statements like "I don't know about you, Ralph, but my seatbelt is firmly and securely buckled" as a relatively close game came down to the wire. I guess Lawler has some thing about telling fans to fasten their seatbelts, and Walton would almost always beat him to the punch.

Walton's rants against Olowokandi during the Clipper games back in the day were classic.

[remingtonbo2001]

Ah...and the guys no one has mentioned yet:

Jay Howard and Bill Schoening

I grew up listening to Jay Howard. He was great. One night, when I was about eight years old, WOAI had a contest. You'd call in at halftime with the number of times he said "bang" on a made three-pointer. I won (the answer was 3).

I didn't like Schoening at first, but he's really grown on me a lot. I actually listened to a game when Manu was sitting last week and realized that I miss the occasional "that's a manu tres!"

It took me awhile to get used to Schoening as well. I used to love listening to Jay Howard. I think Bill has really grown into the position.

"that's a Manu-tres" is gold, btw. Best catch phrase he's come up with.

Wish I would've heard his call against Cleveland. :spin

[Allanon]

Chick is still the best in my opinion. Stu Lantz was and is an OK sidekick.

Clippers were great with Walton going all crazy.

Chicago and Boston have the biggest homers.

Elliot's not funny.

Joel's too much on Kobe's knob.

Tom Tolbert gives good insight but he's kind of boring.

Jeff Van Gundy's a funny dude even though he looks like a deadbeat.

My favorite crew: The TNT crew - Ernie, Kenny and Chuck

Best NBA Broadcaster: Marv Albert

NBA on ABC sucks, bring back the NBA on NBC:
m-WA4xEal2s

[Louie Vega]

Come on !!!!! Bill Land and Dan Hughes did a hell of a job for the Spurs on the rodeo road trip! And they were going crazy in that last game vs the Cavs when Ginobili had 46 points! They were going bananas!!!!

[baseline bum]

Chick Hearn is easily the cream of the crop. I don't know how he never went national. Marv Albert is the only other announcer who can even be mentioned in the same sentence as Chick, but he's clearly a step or two below. One of the cool things about moving to LA was getting to watch his play by play for the last three years of his career. I remember a game against the Spurs in '02 or so where he was really sick to the point of barely being able to talk, and he still went out there and called the first half. He is missed by anyone who had the fortune to hear him call a game. He's easily the most unbiased, knowledgeable, and entertaining play by play man the game has ever seen.

[remingtonbo2001]

Bill Land is beginning to grow on me.

[lefty]

" I'll take a good offense over a good defense anytime "

Then 5 minutes later :

" Defense wins championships " :donkey :donkey :donkey

http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/img/th_mjackson_160x191.jpg

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Allanon - that youtube clip was a nice flashback.

Marv Albert with Jeff van Gundy would be a good combo.