Best/Worst Sportscaster??
While sitting here watching curling (with the rest of MGOBLOG nation) I was wondering how Andrew Catalon got the gig as curling announcer because clearly even after a week of curling action he knows absolutely nothing. So here are my votes for best/worst announcers in major sports:
Best: Brent Musburger, Seems like a decent guy, plus he has his own drinking game: http://www.fanblogs.com/ncaa/005660.php
Worst: Kirk Herbstreit, Duh.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:44 PM ^
Norway vs. Sweden cross country rivalry just got compared to Michigan vs. OSU.....
February 21st, 2010 at 1:47 PM ^
Bill Raftery (ONIONS!!), Gus Johnson
Worst: Pam Ward, Dick Vitale, Most announcers on BTN
February 21st, 2010 at 2:44 PM ^
Worst announcer is Dream Job winner: Mike Hall on BTN
Runner up: Boom goes the dynamite guy.
February 21st, 2010 at 3:26 PM ^
Agree with you a 1000%
February 21st, 2010 at 1:48 PM ^
I don't mind Herbie. He's no worse than Gary Danielson when it comes to blatant sucking up to a player/team/conference.
Pam Ward has so many gaffs she has to be on the list. Wayne Lavarrie on BTN is much the same.
Lou Holtz when he is allowed in the booth on week nights is horrible.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:48 PM ^
understand is how lavarrie became so bad as an announcer... its not like he was new to it when the BTN started... the guy did football and basketball games on ESPN+ forever...
February 21st, 2010 at 4:08 PM ^
I agree. I actually kind of like Herbie. Aside from the Les Miles incident I think he has done a pretty good job.
February 21st, 2010 at 5:47 PM ^
Herbstreit is very knowledgeable, very articulate, and one of the best, even if he is a buckeye. It seems like he goes out of his way to be impartial (which I know irritates some OSU fans).
Pam Ward... she just has an uncanny ability to suck any possible drama or excitement out of a game.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
I was wondering how Pam Ward got the gig as college announcer because clearly even after a decade of college football action she knows absolutely nothing.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
i hate musberger....screw ohio state
February 21st, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^
uhhhh, Musberger has called some pretty big ones for us and has always seemed to like us. He went absolutely crazy over A-Train and Perry, and he's pretty entertaining to listen to. When he gets into a discussion with whoever his partner is (usually Kirk), it's actually interesting, which is more than we can say for the dozens of groups of other announcers who just pick the most stereotypical topic they can think of to interrupt coverage of the game.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:36 PM ^
You know it's a big game when Scotchy McMusburger and Herbie are on the scene.
His pregame narration is also some of the best. There are a number of the pregame "hype" vids with Musburger narrating that still bring out the goose bumps.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:54 PM ^
yeah, and when they start piping in the BCS theme towards the end of the season, then you know it's war. I wish we'd have pulled in bigger games the last few years because I miss having that kind of hype.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^
A lot of people have always felt some pretty strong animosity for Musberger. I don't know what's behind it.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:51 PM ^
I wish Musberger would expand on his comment at the end.....
February 21st, 2010 at 4:04 PM ^
Mushmouth Musberger...there are times I am convinced that he isn't even watching the game. He has comments that in no way reflect anything from the game.
February 21st, 2010 at 3:07 PM ^
fucking terrible. Hacky, sensationalistic, clueless jackhole.
My nightmare is a Musberger-Vitale combination. I'd cheer for the meteor.
I miss Keith Jackson.
February 21st, 2010 at 3:27 PM ^
when i saw the title of this thread, my first thought was, "best: keith jackson; worst: musberger."
February 21st, 2010 at 4:05 PM ^
Best team ever: Keith Jackson and Bob Griese.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^
Ward is the worst. She's so bad, no one else is close. IMO, the only reason ESPN keeps her is to punish teams in games that they don't want to broadcast, but have to due to contractual obligations.
Edit: Best was Keith Jackson. I'm for raising ticket prices a few dollars per game and giving him a bunch of money to announce the OSU-Michigan games every year.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:58 PM ^
Keith Jackson was the best.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:58 PM ^
Davie just doesn't have a clue of what's going on. And then well, Pam Ward just is stupid...
February 21st, 2010 at 1:59 PM ^
As far as college basketball guys go, I think Bob Knight has to be among the best. Not only is his commentary spot on, but he's entertaining.
Musberger and Gus Johnson were the first two on my list...for WORST announcers. I can't stand listening to either one of of them. Pam Ward is pretty bad too, but if I had to mute one of them, it would probably be Johnson and then Brent, especially when he's calling a tOSU game.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:33 PM ^
I agree, Knight is the best basketball announcer by far.
Pam Ward should end the discussion for worst.
February 21st, 2010 at 1:59 PM ^
Besides his ridiculous tradition of wearing the head of a mascot, he provides almost nothing to the commentary table.
Herbie actually isn't bad. Despite his osu homerism, he's fairly objective at times.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^
First of all, he makes it fun. And also, he doesn't do games. At least not in the past few years.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:02 PM ^
For football play-by-play announcers only:
Best Ever-- Keith Jackson, although I was a little too young to appreciate Howard Cosell
Best Active-- Brad Nessler, although Dan Fouts is coming on strong
Worst: I have to go with Larrivee. Not only is he annoying as all get out, but he's a Michigan jinx. (I blame him for the Horror).
February 21st, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
I agree - Keith Jackson was the best ever, and won't ever likely be passed. It was awesome when Michigan gave him his own winged helmet as part of his last broadcast at the Big House.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:05 PM ^
Brenneman called The Horror, didn't he?
Anyway, I can't stand Musberger. He's good for at least 5 "Shut the fuck up, Brents" a game.
Eddie Olcyzk for hockey is absolutely awful. Least favorite color guy in any sport, easily.
Best: Gus, Ron Franklin, McDonough. There's not a lot of color guys that add much to the experience other than Raftery. Collinsworth is good too.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:17 PM ^
I haven't checked back, for obvious reasons. But it doesn't matter, it's still Larrivee's fault.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^
Gus & McDonough are good calls - McDonough did a great job of the ND game this year (I believe that was him? I didn't see the game on TV so I'm not totally sure).
February 21st, 2010 at 2:55 PM ^
Yeah, that was McDonough and Millen (who's actually pretty good on TV).
I want general competence and then an ability to rise to the moment. Or balls to the wall I'm a fan of this sport and I am excited to be here (Gus).
February 21st, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^
As long as he's not general managing the NFL, or calling someone a "studbolt", Millen is admittedly pretty good.
February 21st, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^
Millen was very hot cold during that game.... with 22 seconds left and us about to snap the ball at the ND 5 yard line at the end of the game, there was a long pause, and then he said, "He's gonna throw to the end zone."
yeah, I looked that up haha, McDonough did a great job though
February 21st, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^
Um, best Keith Jackson. Worst, Pam Ward. Debate over.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:05 PM ^
I think Herbestreit is good. Worst is definitely Pam Ward. Jackson would have to be the best.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:07 PM ^
im so sick of having to listen to her go "well if we take a look at the time of possession"
February 21st, 2010 at 2:08 PM ^
Hammond and Haden, hands down
February 21st, 2010 at 2:10 PM ^
Between Keith Jackson and Ernie Harwell.
They gave you the information you wanted, but without feeling the need to fill every second of the game with the sound of their own voices. They let the game tell the story.
EDIT: Worst = Pam Ward, because... yeah.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^
Keith Jackson - best
Verne Lundquist - funniest to listen to
Pam Ward - by far the worst
February 21st, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^
Baseball- worst is Joe Buck. His anti New York bias is pretty thinly veiled.So much for objectivity. But even worse is how he fancies himself as a comedian. Even tried to do an opening monologue comedic style on his HBO show. After 2 episodes HBO said they will retool the show and take out the comedy. Unfunny dork.
Best- After watching him on NBC's game of the week back in the day I have to say Vin Scully.
February 21st, 2010 at 4:31 PM ^
Full disclosure I am from Missouri.
While Joe Buck will never be his father, how can you say he is worst? Tim McCarver (aka his baseball partner) is MUCH, MUCH worse.
And Troy Aikman for football? I don't get it.
Buck clearly would work best with a loud mouth who knows what he is talking about (clearly McCarver fits the first, but not the second). Pairing him with an idiot (McCarver) and a robot (Aikman) is epic fail. Clearly he's not good enough to carry a booth by himself (ala his father), but he's not the worst ever.
Best - Gus Johnson
Worst - Pam Ward / Tim McCarver
February 21st, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^
Its been a while and I dont know where he is now, but I hated Van Earl Wright. He was a sports anchor in Detroit and then a sportscaster for Fox Sports. He tried so hard to be Dan Patrick on the local evening news.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^
After him, Kraft was no longer the cheesiest.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:24 PM ^
I love watching the highlights of this years UM v. nd game but Millen's commentary is terrible. Even with all the praise he rightly heaped on TF.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:28 PM ^
It was amusing to see "Fire Millen" signs at the ND game. I agree that he is the worst, but maybe that's because every time he speaks, I cringe without even listening to what he's saying.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:29 PM ^
Pam Ward is indeed truly awful, but if we're allowed to go local, then I'd still rather listen to her than Hawk Harrelson.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:35 PM ^
She really is bad. Thank God we were able to invent a mute button.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:33 PM ^
is the WORST ever. the epitome of stupidity.
February 21st, 2010 at 2:46 PM ^
Stan Van is too busy coaching to announce right now.