Radio announcing evaluation

Submitted by 1.21 Jigawatts on
This is my first topic post, so please be gentle. What did everyone think of the crew on Saturday? I felt that Dan did a fantastic job and fit right in. Jim reminded me of Blaha a bit, severely delayed on many calls. Being his first play by play game, he gets a pass in my book. Overall I think by the end of the season he will be descent. Thoughts?

Bando Calrissian

September 1st, 2014 at 7:12 PM ^

I listened to most of the 4th on the radio, and it was interesting. Brandy needs to figure out the balance between color and PBP. He sounds a bit awkward at times, but it wasn't a bad start. That being said, the banter between the two of them was pretty entertaining. Hate to say it, but Dierdorf is a much better, much more polished color guy than Brandy ever was, which I guess shouldn't be surprising given his history in NFL broadcasting. 

In total, it's a bit of an uneven broadcasting team right now, but it'll get better.

WolverineHistorian

September 1st, 2014 at 7:18 PM ^

I flicked the radio on after TD's because of the delay and then listened to the post game recap.  I thought they were OK.  It takes a little getting used to because Brandy has been the color guy forever and Frank Beckman is the guy I associate the words, "Touchdown Michigan!" with.  I like both guys so much though that I enjoy listening to them talk about anything.  

I'm not sure how much my opinion matters considering I actually like Matt Shepard's broadcasts for the basketball games and I think I'm the only one on the planet that doesn't hate Brent Musberger.

egrfree2rhyme

September 2nd, 2014 at 1:13 AM ^

I actually really like Matt Shepherd... makes the games exciting and relates well to Michigan fans.  Great bball announcer.

I only saw the highlights from Saturday with the radio commentary but I thought Brandstatter sounded fine.  I'm sure he'll improve with time but I think he'll end up being really good.

Don't like Musberger... he was really exciting up until maybe 2002ish but I know I feel like he just chitchats with Herbstreit all the time.  Musberger and Danielson was a much better combination.  I remember in 2006 during the last couple of drives of Michigan - OSU Brent was talking about the USC-Cal game or something like that.  Just doesn't get into the moment as much as he used to, which is a shame.

Anyway, Gus Johnson is my favorite play by play guy.  He's so enthusiastic and makes every moment feel as big as important as it is to the fans of the teams involved.  Fantastic announcer.

Space Coyote

September 2nd, 2014 at 10:00 AM ^

Musberger was one of the better PBP guys, which is why he got to where he did. Unfortunately, he has seemed to lose his touch recently. He was good and always had enthusiasm, but he has seemed to mail it in more recently when trying to get outside the PBP action, IMO. He still isn't even close to one of the worst, he just mixes in being pretty good still with some really bad commentary, which makes it hard to listen in long sperts.

Blueisgood

September 1st, 2014 at 7:19 PM ^

Hopefully he gets better with more games under his belt. It was definitely awkward at times. It was weird not hearing that same ole familiar voice calling the game though

bigdemo

September 1st, 2014 at 7:21 PM ^

A sentence on describing the play before jumping back to doing color. He seemed to be working hard to tee Dierdorf up, which is unnecessary...

In fairness, listened to last 10 minutes of a blowout game when most announcers start to ramble.

winterblue75

September 1st, 2014 at 7:21 PM ^

I thought they did a good job for being their first game together. I was just glad that the feed through the TuneIn app was actually behind the TV, so I just had to pause my DVR for about 10 seconds and boom! TV with radio feed was synced up

Don

September 1st, 2014 at 7:24 PM ^

Brandy sounded a bit hyper and forced at times, but he was OK. Dierdorf was smooth but entertaining.

I was pleasantly surprised at what I didn't hear—I thought there was a danger that they could spend too much time on their Bo anecdotes and stories, but that wasn't the case at all.

Raoul

September 1st, 2014 at 7:24 PM ^

As a debut effort, I thought they did pretty well. Based on the first game, Dierdorf will be quite good as the Michigan color guy. I disagree with Bando on Brandstatter. I always thought he did a very good job of quickly analyzing plays and providing good insights. I have my doubts that he'll ever be as good at play-by-play as he was at color. The OP is spot on about Brandstatter being slow about calling the plays, and he also wasn't consistent about providing details about formations and personnel prior to plays, which is important on a radio call. It'll be interesting to see how much he improves over the course of the season.

Chaco

September 1st, 2014 at 7:40 PM ^

I thought Brando and Beckman were a good combination.  That said I thought the team did well but not awesome:

- good football knowledge displayed

- Brando was late on some play by play or abbreviated it to the rough equivalent of "he runs for 4 yards".  I think the shift will be hard for him but think it is more fair to assess after say week 4 than week 1

- Dierdorf clearly has good knowledge and brought that to bear - but at times I thought he was pretty rough on some players/coaches.  Maybe it is just me - but with college players I always think of them as someone's 18 year old son and think the comments should stay a little more positive.  I always aprpeciated guys like Spielman and Bill Curry and Bob Griese/Keith Jackson because they seemed to reflect this ethos.  Don't get me wrong, from what I could tell Dan D was RIGHT in his assessment; but maybe could have been more diplomatic.

champswest

September 1st, 2014 at 7:53 PM ^

announcers, so I turned on the radio. However, the radio was so far ahead of the TV broadcast that I couldn't continue so I switched off the radio. I thought that I had heard Ira say that they would be synced together this year.

ijohnb

September 1st, 2014 at 7:55 PM ^

Like Brandy and mean no disrespect, but it was not sufficient for a big time program radio play by play. Brandy does not know really what to say so he just says it in a really "excited" fashion to compensate, and it is not Blaha-like where the excitement sounds organic. He needs to improve quickly or I don't think it will last.

In reply to by ijohnb

robpollard

September 1st, 2014 at 9:14 PM ^

Brandy was late, wrong, and not descriptive on multiple occasions during the quarter or so I listened. For instance, he blew the id on Smith's TD run (he thought it was Green).

On commercial breaks, I turned over to 1130 to listen to Purdue-WMU. I have no idea who the announcers were, and I'm going to guess they were WAY down the totem pole to be doing a game for two struggling programs. Still, the play-by-play guy for that sixth-tier game sounded much more prepared and competent than Brandy.



Hopefully Brandy improves quickly, b/c I like the idea of two former college teammates announcing games for their alma mater. But I was not impressed by game 1.

ijohnb

September 2nd, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^

is, I am not sure they can get "corrected," ya know?  Color to play by play almost never happens.  Really, can you remember the last time it did?  There may a random time here or there that it has, and perhaps even less frequent instances where it has worked, but it is really not a common transition.  I was stunned and a little troubled when they announced Brandy as play by play.  There are some "either you have it or you don't" aspects to PBP that I am not sure he will catch on to.  Play by play is like the narrative to a story whereas color is kind of like the dialogue.  In a good story, the narrative has a built in forward momentum where the next sentence kind of just rolls off effortlessly from the last one, Keith Jackson-like.  Not sure Brandy is or will be that kind of announcer.

Hannibal.

September 2nd, 2014 at 12:01 PM ^

This.

PxP is just a rare talent.  I'm sure that there is a lot of hard work that goes into refining it, but you either have that talent or you don't.  I didn't listen to the broadcast, but I'm not surprised to hear that Brandy didn't sound too good. 

ESPN for about 15 years has been filling holes by taking sideline reporters and studio hosts and turning them into PxP guys (and gals), and with maybe one or two exceptions, they have all been mediocre, at best.  Even Chris Fowler, the best studio host in the business, is mediocre as hell doing PxP. 

robpollard

September 2nd, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^

Brandy is not young -- he has literally decades of habits as a color guy that he has to discard. Pair that with the fact he will still be doing color 16 times a year for the Lions, it makes it twice as hard to "flip the switch."



Here's hoping, but we'll see.

In reply to by ijohnb

panthers5

September 1st, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^

This is spot on. Brandy is not a play-by-play announcer. His voice, cadence, ability to paint a picture with his words, etc are just not very good. It is a real shame that this program has a play-by-play man who is average at best. Brandy is a fun color man, but Michigan deserves better.

michelin

September 1st, 2014 at 8:08 PM ^

to have radio announcers who are head and shoulders better than the TV announcers.

I always enjoyed Brandy.  Dan Dierdorf is in a league of his own.  We should be proud he is not only our announcer but also a UM alum.  His professionalism casts in sharp relief the mediocrity of TV announcers like Galloway, Smith, Spielman.....I could go on.

Indiana Blue

September 1st, 2014 at 8:52 PM ^

I was able to listen to the radio call while at the game.  I thought they did a fine job calling the action.  It was wonderful having the call "live" at the stadium once again!

I love getting the stats and the fast info on injuries while you're at the game.  Otherwise you get essentially no information from the PA announcer.  Dan was pleading for more run calls as he kept saying "they should run until th eother team proves thay can stop it".  Certainly a concept he was taught by Bo.

Go Blue!

QVIST

September 1st, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^

I hate to say it, but Brando is just too mushmouthy for PBP. One needs to be smooth and quick to do football, and he simply is neither. He wasn't really capable of painting the picture, so to speak. Plus, he kept saying "Northfleet", which was disappointing.
He's a nice guy and very important to the program, but he's merely a color commentator. He doesn't have the tools for PBP.
The banter between him and Dierdorf was funny, though. Brando did a very awkward thing where he blurted "HEY" followed by silence, and Dierdorf was just like, "uhhh...what? You can't just say 'hey' with nothing after."

AlwaysBlue

September 1st, 2014 at 10:53 PM ^

"touchdown Meechigan." He had a bit of a lyrical announcing quality, kind of like Harwell in painting the picture from the get go. Brandy has none of that and while DD brings a great eye he's rather dull. I still prefer the new duo and their Michigan history over a more seasoned play-by-play guy though. A lot is riding on Brandy and his ability to improve the actual game calling and drive the energy of the broadcast.

Blue in Time

September 2nd, 2014 at 9:55 AM ^

Brandy's a natural color guy. PBP? He's gonna need some practice. It was frustrating not to hear who made the tackle, or what the pickup was on offense. I love the guy, and it's clear that he loves Michigan. I thought Dierdorf was great, but they're going to have to work out the division of labor.

Gucci Mane

September 2nd, 2014 at 4:44 AM ^

It was his first game, I'm not going to make any judgments till a few more weeks. Hearing him compared to Blaha is scary, I can't even listen to a game that he does, it amazes me he has a job.

Sllepy81

September 2nd, 2014 at 9:15 AM ^

had to synch the online feed with the tv since online was about 10 seconds behind my tv. I've never listened to a radio broadcast before of a UM game. Always been a fan of Dan, I might do this weekly now, beats the TV guys any day. Felt like I was at bar listening to buds discuss the game, no awkward moments which matters the most to me.