March 24th, 2011 at 11:35 PM ^
Are you kidding me? Best EVER! COLD BLOODED!
March 24th, 2011 at 11:38 PM ^
Kill yourself. I'm serious.
March 24th, 2011 at 11:43 PM ^
That was an overreaction...
March 24th, 2011 at 11:38 PM ^
your comparing one of a handfull of anouncers that is so good he actually makes the game better to an anouncer that is so bad she makes the game worse !
March 24th, 2011 at 11:42 PM ^
Fuck the heck...? No.
March 24th, 2011 at 11:42 PM ^
Ward sucks. Johnson is great. Other than that, though, they are EXACTLY alike.
March 24th, 2011 at 11:46 PM ^
Discuss.
March 24th, 2011 at 11:54 PM ^
my feelings.
I have to say; you can't argue with the ratings. Obviously, you guys are representative of the demo that advertisers want. I truly had no idea that Gus Johnson was popular, and I really do not understand why anybody thinks he's so good. I honestly do find him unlistenable. Cliche'. Phony importance. Dumb. Low-brow.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:03 AM ^
do the finals in sports apparently: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xdTYVxzEwI
March 25th, 2011 at 12:06 AM ^
gus johnson is march madness. jim nantz is my afternoon nap.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:06 AM ^
So being excited at a basketball game is dumb and low-brow? Boy you must HATE student sections.
It doesn't get more cliched and phony than Jim Nantz. He is faux high-brow and highly scripted. He sucks the life out of a broadcast.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:09 AM ^
Washboard abs...irresistable
March 24th, 2011 at 11:50 PM ^
March 24th, 2011 at 11:55 PM ^
troll harder, I don't buy this
March 25th, 2011 at 12:10 AM ^
There's a lot to comment on. As someone who watches a shitload of sports and broadcasters, I can tell you right now that Nantz is one of the best in the game.
It always makes me laugh when people complain about Joe Buck, when Nantz is just as emotionless and gets less publicity.
Do you want to know the truth?
There is no such thing as a bad announcer. Maybe it's all the sports I've watched, all the radio I've heard, all the TV I've seen. Every announcer is capable of moments of emotion, so there goes the Nantz / Buck "monotone" excuse. ("ROCK CHALK CHAMPIONSHIP, KANSAS TAKES THE TITLE!")
Gus Johnson is a good broadcaster, but he isn't the best. He makes a few errors during his broadcast. I was actually reading an article on the NY Times about him the other day, he makes a few technical errors and makes a few slip-ups every game, but every broadcaster does that.
No one shows more emotion than him though at the end of a game.
To sum up, Gus is good, but is the love for him a bit overrated? Yes. He's a very emotional broadcaster and he gets you excited. But he's not the best. I always laugh when I read people saying he should be the lead voice of CBS. No he shouldn't. That's Nantz's job, and there are better people at CBS doing football and basketball than him, including Verne Lundquist.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:12 AM ^
that you watching sports is gonna be a good argument for saying how good an announcer is considering that there are probably a lot of people on this message board who watch just as much as you.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:26 AM ^
PRobably true, since there isn't cable here.
The point is Johnson is good, but he's not the best. Nantz in my opinion is better. And I'm 26. :|
I like every broadcaster though and rarely criticize them. Never did understand hate for Buck or Nantz either, they're professional. Dont' have to holler at the top of your voice to call a good game.
Nantz's repeated ad hominem attacks on the Fab Five have been anything but professional.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:55 AM ^
I stopped reading after you said, "I dont think theres such a thing as a bad announcer". I feel like Rod Allen's name might belong somewhere in the bad announcer conversation. Some of the things he says are funny, but the guy doesn't know more about baseball than the average Tigers fan.
That's dirty... Dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty.
Actually, I like the announcers like Gus and Rod and Harry Caray, who's real emotion shines through and are genuinely excited / upset at the game. Vitale used to be that, but somewhere around the mid 90's he turned into a characature of himeself. Listen to the Vitale announcing any of the Fab 5 games from their freshman year and you'll hear good coaching analysis along with a crap load of emotion and compare that to any Vitale game from this year where the emotion is just heaped on like another joan rivers plastic surgery.
As for the "professional" announcers like Nantz and Joe Buck, these are the guys I can't stand. The "I'm a professional announcer" shtick is just lame and condescending. Listen to an Ernie Harwell or Curt Gowdy or even Dick Enberg broadcast... it sounds as professional as you can get and there's still an emotion to the announcer that makes you feel like you're at the game, included and they're excited to be there as well. Buck and Nantz feel like I'm watching a Ken Burns documentary and being lectured to on the importance of this replay.
Give me Doc Emerick on an NHL game, Uncle Brent on a college football game (unless Keith Jackson is available), or Jon Miller (minus Joe Morgan) on a MLB broadcast.
I don't mind announcers who let emotion show, I like the others you mentioned in the first paragraph. I don't like Rod because he doesn't seem to know that much about baseball. I was watching the Tigers this week and Brad Penny threw a 76 mph curveball which Rod proceeded to call a splitter.
Rod Allen is a "color" commentator. He's there to do the expert commentary around Mario Impemba's play-by-play. I actually like the Mario Impemba/Rod Allen team. I think that they are doing a good job at the impossible task of replacing Ernie Harwell in the minds of Tiger fans.
The Dick Vitales of the sports-broadcasting world are performing a substantially different function from people like Jim Nantz, Dan Hicks, Dick Enberg, Mike Tirico, or Joe Buck.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:16 AM ^
Using the responses so far I'm going to extrapolate and say that the entire world disagrees with you.
BOOM! INDUCTION'D!
March 25th, 2011 at 12:16 AM ^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jze7T-_41lc
Gus Johnson is the American version of that Spanish 'goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool' guy
Glorious
March 25th, 2011 at 12:18 AM ^
I don't.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:18 AM ^
Taylor for 3...GOT IT...TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME OUT BUTLER!
March 25th, 2011 at 12:18 AM ^
Wisco is coming back and Gus is getting excited. I'm excited.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:21 AM ^
Not you again.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:28 AM ^
OHHHHHHHHH OLADIPO!!!!!!
Even though it's Indiana, enough said.
Don't forget the "HAHAAAAAAAAAA!" at the end of that.
(Yeah, I've seen that commercial about 100 times, it's burned into my memory permanently. I'm sure I'm not the only one).
P.S. PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURE
March 25th, 2011 at 12:40 AM ^
I'm torn here. On the one hand, there is really nothing objectively better about one announcer than another. I mean, diff'rent strokes, right? It's all a matter of taste. You like mutton, I like PB & J. You like Matisse, I like Keith Haring. You see what I mean.
On the other hand, Section1, you cannot be serious.
Also, there is this.
March 25th, 2011 at 12:53 AM ^
I think Gus Johnson is as great as the next MGoGuy. Bill Simmons had a great tweet regarding him tonight though:
March 25th, 2011 at 12:57 AM ^
Way late to the party as I was watching the games but this post, in conjunction with the one directly below it on the board regardin jerseys, have to be the two worst back to back posts by seasoned vets on this board to date.
1. I love talking about jerseys. Especially when we're talking about a school with more tradition interladen with their jerseys than any other school in the country.
2. Gus vs. Pam Ward? I 100% thought this was a joke when I read it. How do you not love Gus? Even if you don't like him, even more remarkable is that you were completely clueless of Gus' widespread popularity as one of the best! That's what really struck me as surprising from that post. This literally boggles the mind coming from someone who I assumed followed sports closely.
I'm not going to ban the OP. But I thought about it.
Honest to God, Brian; I had no idea that there was this Gus Johnson fan club thing out there in cyberspace. I really do think he's awful. I don't get it. I wasn't looking for this reaction.
you're asking for it
Pam Ward is death to the ears, and needs to be secretly given Castor Oil before announcing Northwestern vs Iowa on Espn 3 on so she makes a big Dookie in her panz on air n getz FIRED!!!
Brian, if you're looking for someone to ban, how 'bout this bigoted twerp?
one of his best calls. Cooold bloooded!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEGP6nBiub8
Sorry wouldnt let me embed.
Saw this pretty funny list of the worst announcers on yahoo a while back. It includes Pam Ward, Digger Phelps, and of course Lou Holtz
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/post/Turn-it-off-The-50-worst-announcers-…-?urn=top-137612
Dumbest comment in Mgoblog history not related to Michigan football. Who exactly do you think you are? Are you Pam ward?
Maybe you prefer Mike Patrick and Dick Vitale at a Duke home game.
Gus Johnson is Jesus of March Madness.
Pam Ward is the Ben Stein of announcing.
OP ever