Brandstatter vs Rutgers
Listened to the first quarter of the Rutgers game on the radio. When Rutgers scored their touchdown, Brandstatter was having a discussion with Doug Karsch re Nordin's kicking & all of a sudden he starts describing the long run for the TD, --he might go all the way or something like that, but he said it was Blackshear with the ball & I didn't find out till much later, that it was Pacheco who was the runner. I did not tune in again till late in the 3rd quarter, while I was in the car. I decided to listen to the game on XM with the Rutgers announcers doing the game.
It could be worse for us, we could have these guys. They made Brandstatter & crew sound like the BBC describing a Test Match at Wembley or wherever they play cricket. There was a PBP guy and a color guy talking about the game, and every once in awhile a 3rd voice would chime in from somewhere. I figured they had 3 in the booth. Eventually it was revealed that the 3rd voice was the sideline guy, but he would throw in his comments whenever he had an opportunity--they never called on him, he just piped up when he felt moved to do so. It all sounded like three guys in a bar, watching a game on TV & making their comments on the action. The color guy even ripped the QB when he threw that late interception--after Sitkowski had gone 70 or 80 pass attempts without an INT.
Granted that it was only vs Rutgers, but maybe we don't have the worst. Although it would be nice one Saturday if Brandstatter had to go to a wedding or something & we might get a fill-in like Dickerson or even Doug Karsch to see what they could do.
November 12th, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^
Yes please....
November 12th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
Brandy flubs calls. I don't find him awful to listen to though.
I get frustrated when he fails to give me down and distance and he gets caught watching plays rather than describing them in sufficient detail.
It's not the end of the world to me when he mistakes players as long as he corrects it after the fact.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^
Listening to Blaha compared to Brandstatter is night and day. Blaha is about 1000% better. No idea why they can't get Matt Shepard or Dan Miller to do it.
Will Tieman is even more talented, although he has one of the most annoying voices I've ever heard.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:01 PM ^
I love Brandy. Think he is great color guy. Never understood why he didn't graduate to national broadcasts.
But as a PBP guy? Just not his gig. Sadly he is embarrassing himself. But then, it was a Dave Brandon idea so there's that...
November 12th, 2018 at 10:51 PM ^
I too love Brandy as a color guy.... But his play-by-play is on listenable at best.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
One of the problems any UM football network PbP guy will have is the need to frequently seque into short commercial messages between actual plays. I guess it's a big part of the income flow supporting the broadcasts. I think it pretty unique to the football broadcasts. Brandy handles that about as smoothly as possible. But it adds to the PbP challenge. He's very busy up there in the booth.
November 12th, 2018 at 3:07 PM ^
Blaha is a moron.
He and his partner continuously make comments on how Michigan and Ohio state are the privileged teams in the big ten....even when MSU isn’t playing either.
November 13th, 2018 at 4:08 AM ^
No disrespect of the great George Blaha will be tolerated!!!
November 12th, 2018 at 3:40 PM ^
Blaha is an idiot. He literally makes up rules and ignores other rules. Then he whines about crap, a lot more than the average radio guy.
He is good at describing the play, but he is a homer to the fault where he isn't near rational.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:24 PM ^
Curses on your house for suggesting Matt Shepard.
November 12th, 2018 at 5:37 PM ^
Dan Miller is a big Sparty guy, but then again Blaha went to UM and ND.
November 12th, 2018 at 7:03 PM ^
I listened to a lot of the MSU/OSU game on the radio on Saturday and Blaha was terrible. He gets depressed when MSU is losing and gives up on giving detailed calls on plays. It's unprofessional. And their color guy is one of the worst I've ever heard. He just seems like a fan sitting in the booth that cheers big plays and he contributes nothing to the broadcast.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:42 PM ^
Doesn't Blaha invert the time like instead of saying 3 minutes 31 seconds to go, he'll say 31 and 3 or something? Or is that only when he does basketball?
November 12th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
I am tired of these Brandstatter bashing threads. It is very apparent that many don't like the way he calls a game. I personally like him very much as his voice is synonymous with Michigan football. He may not be the best at play by play, but it doesn't bother me as much as it does many others.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
Yes, but the point is he's not a real professional play-by-play person. He's a color commentator in a job he's not well suited for, regardless of his long ties to Michigan football. I agree with those who think Michigan deserves better. All they have to do is find a good play by play guy, move Brandstatter into the color slot, and give Dan Dierdorf a friendly pat on the back, and wave goodbye.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:02 PM ^
Dierdorf is good too. There's no reason not to get a pro PBP guy and have a three man booth.
November 13th, 2018 at 4:10 AM ^
I don’t think Dan works if he knows Brandy is not doing the PBP
November 12th, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
So you like not knowing how the game is unfolding in real time?
November 12th, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
I do laugh (or cringe) at that sometimes. I just respect his contribution to Michigan football and don't like to see him get publicly bashed for his shortcomings as a play by play guy.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
Yeah, how many times are we going to beat this dead horse?
November 12th, 2018 at 2:24 PM ^
agree, i know I can avoid the thread blah blah blah but it’s just getting mean and repetitive. Starting a new thread each week to beat on the guy is unkind at this point.
I listen to him as I drive around to my kids soccer games and he’s alright.
November 12th, 2018 at 5:03 PM ^
Not as much as Zach's gonna beat Courtney.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:02 PM ^
Goggles, Brady Hoke had great contributions to Michigan Football. He was a legendary assistant coach and his loyalty is unquestionable. That said, he was a mediocre head football coach at best. Brandstatter is in a similar boat... great color man but poor play-by-play. You don't keep people in a position just because he is a good guy.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^
I agree. If you don't like the way he calls a game, don't listen to game on radio. It is on TV as well. Brandy does a lot for the University, and he loves Michigan Football. As far as I'm concerned, he's doing a good job
November 12th, 2018 at 5:32 PM ^
If you don't like it, don't listen? This is your solution? Hilarious.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:51 PM ^
I agree both that he is better as a color analyst (the same was true of the late Frank Gifford who transitioned from analyst to PBP), but that he is also far from the worst. I was an early adapter of satellite radio and over the years have listened to many, many different broadcasters from schools all across the country, and there are many that are worse. I also like Dierdorf.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
They need to move JimB over to do color with Dan. Then Dickerson should be PBP.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:16 PM ^
Dan Dickerson? I think he is an excellent baseball broadcaster (A+), but have never heard him call any other sport. I'd be very excited to hear it.
I think this all goes to show how difficult play by play calling really is. The great like Jackson and Michaels make it look so easy and everyone in the bar thinks they could do a good job, but its incredibly challenging.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
Calling different sports isn't a challenge for play-by-play guys. Joe Buck does football and baseball. Matt Shepard does Men's hoops, but also fills in on Tigers games and does a perfectly acceptable job on Lions games in the preseason. Dan Dickerson does the Tigers but has also done plenty of other sports including college hockey - pretty sure he does the GLI or Duel in the D for Fox Sports. Brad Nessler does football and basketball. Just a few examples off the top of my head.
Play-by-play is a shtick in itself. Once you've figured it out, the games themselves are interchangeable.
November 13th, 2018 at 4:16 AM ^
Joe Buck sucks at both to me though. Shep does it all and is pretty good at it.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:40 PM ^
Dickerson filled in for radio PBP in the late 90's a few times when Beckmann was doing Tiger baseball on TV. Dickerson is very solid at calling a football game and I would love for him to do UM football games.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:31 PM ^
Dickerson was good on Michigan football/WJR back then.
I think he also did some fill-in radio games on WWJ during the late 80s/early 90s, that weird time when both WJR and WWJ would broadcast Michigan football on radio. Dale Conquest (the name came to me) was the primary WWJ play-by-play guy then.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^
"Sack time!" Sounds like a call made in a really bad sports movie where the actors can't even play the sport. Either that or I imagine Robbie Timmins turning out the lights and hiding in the closet. He's an amateur trying to learn a very difficult job well into his 60s when he was perfectly fine as the color guy.
Dickerson is the best PBP guy in town. A hangup might be that he calls Tigers games and would be unavailable at least through September. Dan Miller is another amateur who gets way too emotionally invested in the team and in the game. There is a difference between bringing an objective excitement and enthusiasm to the game and going full EMO, especially when the team is the Lions.
November 12th, 2018 at 9:53 PM ^
Dickerson is excellent.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
In response to the thread title: I think the line would open at Brandstatter -0.5.
November 12th, 2018 at 4:12 PM ^
That was my first thought as well. I think your line is a little generous to the Scarlett Knights.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
Love where Brandstatter’s heart is at but he’s not good with play by play. Dierdorf is great with the color commentary. Wouldn’t mind them finding a new play by play and having both of them chime in with the color.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^
This.
Especially the number of times Dierdorf seems to take off. He had a problem getting to New Jersey... what?
November 12th, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^
It's almost like he's getting the late-in-his-career Vin Scully treatment, where he only has to do home games.
November 12th, 2018 at 5:01 PM ^
I would be fine with this. Keep Dan around. If he can make a road trip, fine. If not, have Jim do color.
I good play-by-play announcer would be such an addition to the booth.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
I assume Dierdorf will retire again soon and they will replace him with Jansen. I just have a funny feeling.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:03 PM ^
Greatly hope Dierdorf does not retire. He is a treat to listen to and some games with him are better than no games with him. Feel like he is a knowledgeable friend of Michigan football in the living room with me when I am watching the games on TV and listening to him. Brandy does not bother me but personally not worth the effort to synch up the internet radio broadcast to TV when Dierdorf is not there.
November 12th, 2018 at 8:37 PM ^
I was thinking the same thing but on his podcast a few weeks back, he mentioned his interest in joining the coaching staff.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
Lord's Cricket Ground in St. John's Wood (London NW8) is the home of English cricket, though there are many cricket grounds in the UK. https://www.lords.org/
The Oval in Kennington (London SE11) is also particularly significant in UK cricket history.
November 12th, 2018 at 2:20 PM ^
'Kay. Thanks for checking in!
November 12th, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
I'll take Brandstater 100, Rutgers 0.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:55 PM ^
What about a mini-Brandstatter?
November 12th, 2018 at 2:04 PM ^
Yeah it would finally be a good game. Mini-Brandstatter 24- Rutgers 14.
November 12th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
He is terrible . Gets worse e Rey game . Messed up the damn coin toss
November 12th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
He is terrible . Gets worse e Rey game . Messed up the damn coin toss