Are your teams commentators horrible? What are the leagues worst?

[westkoast]

I was curious if anyone on this board feels one or both of their teams commentators are horrible?  And also to get everyone's take on who is doing the worst job in the booth this year for the nationally televised games most of us watch.

The reason I bring this up is I am trying to watch the Clippers/Raptors game only to be reminded the reason I don't watch the Clippers every game is because the commentators are so horrible.  They are by far the worst homers out of any I have heard and they make statements like "I love how Brevin Knight pushes the ball, he does what Steve Nash does for PHX"  WTF?!#$?!

[ziggy]

Out of the 4 Blazer announcers my opinions

Mike Barrett  -  TV Play by Play  -  he fricking sucks, I hate him.  The unbelievable homer.  Complains about officials all the time.  Some of his most pathetic calls:  defender for other team flops on an offensive foul and Barret says "Fisher goes down like he was shot by gun"; "Next time Brandon Roy gets a call will be the first time" is fine, the first time, but on the 83rd time it is now just whining.

Mike Rice  -  TV Color  -  I like Rice.  He is a homer, but he has fun, is funny, and is very perceptive about players and situations.  He is honest, not afraid to point out problems with Blazer players, and gives props to the opponent.

Brian Wheeler  -  Radio Play by Play  -  Typical Radio play by Play homer, but he does a great job of calling a game, very good radio voice, calls a good game.

Antonio Harvey  -  Radio Color  -  The least homer of the bunch, but also the least talented.  Not funny, not perceptive, doesn't offer a lot of insight.

How I miss Snapper Jones.

The worst local announcer I have ever heard though is the Hornets TV Color guy Gil McGregor.  I have watched him 5-6 times, and it is always the same thing.  An excessive and overt homer, Hornets players can do no wrong and the opponents are incompetent, and untalented, and the officals are the take.  Absolutely Pathetic.

[rickortreat]

Comcast replaced Steve Mix and ex-Sixer with Bob Salmi. Mix was more enjoyable to listen to by far.  I don't know why they made the move and everyone is being quiet about it, but I don't like it.

Marc Zumoff is the play-by-play guy and he does a pretty good job.  I rarely listen to the Radio play by play, but Todd MacCullough does that and he is very good in that role, has a decent sense of humor and a good understanding of the game.

[jn]

The Wolves TV announcers are Tom Hanneman on play by play and former Rocket/Warrior Jim Peterson on color.  They both seem like good guys but they are terrible homers, with Peterson having becoming worse about that the last couple years.  He does offer some quality insight but the homerism is over the top.

Not even sure who does the radio announcing these days.  The last time I listened it was Walter Bond, a really likable guy bounced around the NBA for a few years and Chad Hartman, an annoying guy who made it because his father Sid is a local sports institution. 

[westkoast]

Paul Sunderland - He was the Lakers TV guy after Chick passed and he did a horrible job.  They actually canned him after the first season was up     Not because we all loved Chick so much and no one could replace him but he was just down right bad.  He messed players names up, he tried to use Chick's mannerisms, and he just didn't have the knowledge of the game.  When I have to hear a guy talk for over an hour I want to have the feeling he knows what hes talking about.  

Stu Lantz - Long time Chick Hearn sidekick and a pretty good commentator.  He learned from Chick and you can tell by the way he tries to be as unbias as possible.  He is not quite as blunt and fair as Chick was (he won't come out and say THE LAKERS STINK)  but as far as home team commentators go he is pretty good.  Very knowledgable about the game and since he has been in the league for a while he has good relationships with a lot of players on all teams.

Jack Haley - Not a play by play guy but he did do the pre/post game and half time for Fox Sports West.  You may remember him as the guy who warmed up Michael Jordan's seat in the 72-10 season.  If you don't he will remind you every single time he touches the mic.  He will also remind you he played with Michael Jordan, about 10 times a night.  He had a huge ego and often cut other people off or would talk over them.  I actually seen him at a rims/tire place in Orange County and he was an arrogant prick.  Not quite sure why as I think of him as a nobody but so be it.

Lawler (Clippers guy) - HORRIBLE.  I cannot stand to watch Clippers games with the sound on.  Tonight was an exception as I was doing things around the house but still wanted to hear the game.  The Clippers players are all all-stars.  Chris Kaman might as well be the White Wilt Chamberlain and Corey Magette is not only the greatest defensive player of all time he could beat Michael Jordan 1 on 1.  The homerism with this guy is unmatched to the point where you want to root against the Clippers just out of spite.  Maybe WOW or Reality can chime in about this guy.

Paul Whestfal - Very knowledgable about the game (obviously) but it seemed like either he wanted to play devil advocate or had a bone to pick with the Lakers (he did do Clippers commentating for a bit as well).  Not that I mind one of the guys not being a homer but it seemed like he had trouble giving them credit.  He would always focus in on the negatives.  In his defense he was across from Jack Haley and they HATED each other.  I almost feel like he wanted to crap on the Lakers to spite Jack Haley who was a super homer.

Out of the nationally televised games...Bill Walton is good for the most part.  Sometimes he gets on my nerves but I think he is funny.  Snapper Jones was another guy who I liked.  I also like Reggie Miller when he is on the side lines.  As far as half time guys go I think Kenny Smith is awesome.  I respect his opinion.  Ones I dislike?  Marv Albert, Jeff Van Gundy, and Tom Tolbert.  I can't stand them.

[westkoast]

Comcast replaced Steve Mix and ex-Sixer with Bob Salmi. Mix was more enjoyable to listen to by far.  I don't know why they made the move and everyone is being quiet about it, but I don't like it.

Marc Zumoff is the play-by-play guy and he does a pretty good job.  I rarely listen to the Radio play by play, but Todd MacCullough does that and he is very good in that role, has a decent sense of humor and a good understanding of the game.

I remember a while ago I heard Todd MacCullogh, I think it might have been on Sirius or one of those channels where you can hear the local guys and I thought he did an excellent job.  I guess he did move on after the NBA.

[JoMal]

Good topic, westkoast -

For the Kings, they have some interesting media people-

On radio, I think we may have the absolute best this side of Chick Hearn in Gary Gerald. He also does NASCAR for ESPN. Not only fair, but he paints a picture with his play-by-play. Never a homer, he calls the games as he sees them and he sees everything. Usually he does the games solo, but once in a while an ex-King stops by and he gets their comments to make sense and fit into the broadcast. He has been the voice of the Kings since they came to Sacramento in 1984 and has gotten better with age. I honestly have to say that when Gary steps down, the radio shows for the Kings' games will suffer greatly. If there is a place in the HOF for guys like Hearn, then Gerald should be enshrined as well.

On TV, we have a little different take. Play-by-play is done by ex-New Yorker Grant Napear who has called Sacramento home for over twenty-five years. A huge Yankee/Giant fan who has his own afternoon call-in show on the same station, he at times is blustery, highly-opinionated and downright annoying to many Kings' fans, including a guy who works for me who just this morning told me the Kings should fire him. I would certainly not call him an out-and-out homer, as he often praises great plays by opposing players and goes into the realm of gushing for guys like Lebron, Kobe, Duncan, and just last night, Jefferson of the Nets, he also can get highly animated when a play goes against the Kings that looks wrong. He also will say that it was the right call if it was. He will criticize the Kings when he sees them just standing around and not running anything. Grant is now a staple of the Kings in Sacramento, as much as Gary Gerald is on the radio. I personally find him interesting and never, never dull, which is often the curse of announcers. About fifty percent of other Kings fans would like him to go away, though. His New Yorker attitude takes some getting used to the insecure people who make up much of Sacramento's fan base.

His sidekick is none other then Jerry Reynolds, the "other" celeb hick from French Lick Indiana. And he IS a hick. Downhomerisms rain down once he gets his "Jerry" on, such as calling Peja's three point shots (when he was with the Kings) Serbian layups. Lately it has been the Francisco (Garcia) Kid and his key shots at the end of games. Can't say he doesn't know his basketball, though. He can cut through the nonsense and get to the crutch of a play and how it evolved pretty well, but I have to say his "I'm just another hick from Larry Bird's hometown gets old after a while.

The Kings also have a post game show on local cable hosted by Jim Kozamore, called 'The House Party'. On it, Kozemore is good and informative - one of those little guys who could never play basketball will the big boys, but sure knows how to talk about it.

Currently, he has Kayte Christensen as his co-host. Any of you guys ever see her? She currently is on the Chicago Sky. Man, I can't take my eyes off those long legs and she likes short skirts. At 6'2", she towers over Kozemore, and she wears spiked heels, which must make her about 6'7". I 'think' she does a fair job breaking down the Kings' game, but I honestly don't listen much. Did I say she was cute?

[westkoast]

What do you guys think about the nationally televised games and their commentators?  We haven't had any Sunday basketball games yet so we've been spared from some of them but ESPN/TNT of course have nationally televised games on during the week.

Also...do any of you have Sirius?  You get every basketball game on it and it is actually very cool for games you normally wouldn't get to hear.  I've been listening to it a lot for out or market teams.

[Skandery]

What do you guys think about the nationally televised games and their commentators?

Since us Missouri folk don't even have a team, I couldn't participate in this thread until now.

My favorite comentator (and he is color comentator) is, always has been, and will always be Hubie Brown.  No one breaks down a play like the Hubester . . . . <channeling Hubie Brown>. 

"So now Deron Williams can penetrate the lane and have the option of kicking it out to Okur for the three point shot; and then you also have Boozer down low for a chance at the offensive rebound or a dump off." 

I wish I could type in slight-Jersey-accent.  In his old age he is prone to making some mistakes with people's names, his most egregious and most repetitive mistake was continuing to call Cedric Ceballos:  Cedric Maxwell.  Other than that, for my money, there hasn't been a better guy doing color since I've been watching the NBA.

I always seem to like color comentators, such as Snapper Jones, Mike Glenn, and Tom Tolbert, moreso than play-by-play guys like Marv Albert, Dick Stockton, and Bob Neal.  I find most of the play-by-play guys kind of dry.  I will say that the one sensationalist play-by-play guy Kevin Harlan with that signature call "Up High, and DOWN hard" is okay, although I think he does football now.  Is it Stockton who usually does the games with Walton and Snapper because I can respect that guy's patience.  Nothing is funnier than poor play-by-play guy mediating Snapper and Walton unless of course its Ernie Johnson mediating Barkley and Kenny in the Post-game show.  I wish Ernie did play-by-play, something tells me he'd be AWESOME.               

[WayOutWest]

By far the best national TV announcer is Hubbie, the ex-Grizz coach that Mr. Logo hired.  As knowledgable as anyone and very unbiased.  The worst is the ex-Bulls coach and MJ mouth piece coach, I foget his name, but he's insta-homer.  Bill Walton cracks me up the same way Reality does, he's knowingly being an idiot to get a reaction.  I've seen plays where some 5th string center accidently banks one in and Walton will go on about "shades of Kareem, Malone like, Chamberlinesque...".  Walton is a riot.

I really like Stu, he's very unbiased and knowledgable, I have yet to see a local announcer who's better.  There are guys who are definately more talented than Stu but none bring the combination of honesty and knowledge like Stu.

[Lurker]

On radio the Spurs have some guy who is adequate...at best.  They had a long time play-by-play guy named Jay Howard who was "the voice of the Spurs" but got into some sort of contract squabble with the radio station and was fired.  There were times I would watch the national telecasts and listen to Howard.  Even though it was a radio call (so much more detailed) it really added to the visual enjoyment of the game.

TV announcers in general are bad IMO.  They need to just shut the  F*** up sometimes and let the picture tell the story.  And it starts with the producers at the top...they can't handle a period of silence so the announcers start filling in dead spots with way too much BS.

Having said that the Spurs local TV guys are Bill Land on play-by-play and Sean Elliott does color.  Land is a very fair announcer and shows his homerism in the level of excitement in his voice.  "AND IT'S A 3 FROM THE CORNER BY BOWEN!!!!"  vs  "Okur spots up for a 3 and hits it."  But overall he is mostly unbiased.  Focuses a lot on the top 2-3 things each team is doing right or wrong in the game.

Elliott on the other hand is still too close to the players.  He will talk about things that happen on the team plane.  He will make fun of the way they are dressed if on the IR.  Although it does get funny sometimes.  For example the other night against Phoenix he start gong on about Brian Skinner's goatee (6-8" long strangly hair with read tips on the bottom couple inches - has anyone seen it?).  He said that if he woke up and saw that in the mirror he would slit his throat.  Later he said something about Skinner must have dipped it ketchup during lunch and not cleaned it off.  Not quite as funny when written.  

[westkoast]

By far the best national TV announcer is Hubbie, the ex-Grizz coach that Mr. Logo hired.  As knowledgable as anyone and very unbiased.  The worst is the ex-Bulls coach and MJ mouth piece coach, I foget his name, but he's insta-homer.  Bill Walton cracks me up the same way Reality does, he's knowingly being an idiot to get a reaction.  I've seen plays where some 5th string center accidently banks one in and Walton will go on about "shades of Kareem, Malone like, Chamberlinesque...".  Walton is a riot.

I really like Stu, he's very unbiased and knowledgable, I have yet to see a local announcer who's better.  There are guys who are definately more talented than Stu but none bring the combination of honesty and knowledge like Stu.

Doug Collins is his name.  He is HORRIBLE as well.  How many times do you have to let people know you coached Michael Jordan?  Nothing is worse then when he does a Lakers game and just butt kisses Kobe like no other with the Michael Jordan comparisions.  I mean you guys know I am a Kobe fan boy but jesus he makes me want to root against him just so I don't have to hear him talk for 5 minutes about his fade away jumper. 

WOW please don't tell me you like Lawler....that might be harder to handle then your dislike of Titos.

[JoMal]

Slightly off topic, but do any of you also wish to silence forever - like perminently - the ESPN Monday Night Football crew?   

[jn]

Actually JoMal, right now I love the MNF crew because they ARE NOT THEISMAN, MADDEN, MICHAELS OR MCDONOUGH!  I'm sure Kornheiser will eventually wear me down but I've always like Tirico and I'm coming around to Jaworski.

As far as national announcers I'm not as high on Hubie as you guys if only because of his constant efforts to get listeners to pretend they're someone else. To wit,

"Okay, let's say you're Andre Miller.  You're leading the break.  You've got Andre Iquadola on one wing and Sam Dalembert on the other.  Do you look to AI because he's the finisher or do you reward the big man for running?  And if you're AI do stay wide to let Miller try and take it himself.  Let's say you're Dalembert, regardless you have to run hard and stay wide.  And if you're Mo Cheeks you have watch the whole thing and figure out if you need to change the lineup."

He does the same thing talking about himself.  "Okay. I'm Tayshaun Prince with a wide open look at a three."  You are? Really 

Stockton is 20 years past his prime.   

[Skandery]

Okay, let's say you're Andre Miller.  You're leading the break.  You've got Andre Iquadola on one wing and Sam Dalembert on the other.  Do you look to AI because he's the finisher or do you reward the big man for running?  And if you're AI do stay wide to let Miller try and take it himself.  Let's say you're Dalembert, regardless you have to run hard and stay wide.  And if you're Mo Cheeks you have watch the whole thing and figure out if you need to change the lineup."

He does the same thing talking about himself.  "Okay. I'm Tayshaun Prince with a wide open look at a three."  You are? Really 

. . . and you don't like that.  Oh man.   

jn, you do Hubie better than I do.