Townsend Bell who does IndyCar coverage for NBC sports. He still drives when he can scrape together enough money.
Jim Fox, who does LA Kings broadcasts is very go din my opinion.
In the NFL I really like Mike Mayock who does NFL Network games, but he only played two seasons of the NFL, so I guess it counts, right?
I’ll second (third, fourth) Troy Aikman and Chris Collinsworth.
I don’t really watch the NFL much these days but from what I can tell…4th and 5th to Mr. Aikman and Mr. Collinsworth, respectively.
Trent Dilfer I know nothing about as far as his commentary goes. I have a post, above, about how I feel about “Shaq.” Barkley? Yeah, he’s never been one to hold his tongue on much of anything, has he? But I like him. I actually always liked him more off the court than on it.
In golf broadcasting, I’ve always appreciated Nick Faldo, both for his golf acumen and his often acerbic candor.
Mark Grace was a heck of a lot of fun when he was broadcasting for the DBacks. Too bad he flamed out.
The Tigers used to have two of the best there ever was, George Kell and Al Kaline.
He’s on the BBC during Wimbledon and, while I’m not really a big tennis fan, I’ve always found him interesting to listen to. The same goes for Michael Johnson, who also works for the BBC during the main athletics events.
In soccer, Stan Collymore, Martin Keown and and lately Gary Neville are IMHO the best analysts. Or maybe the best communicators.
Fernando Valenzuela, but you have to speak Spanish. He is really good.
Rick Manning isn’t bad.
I think Chris Spielman is the best CFB analyst.
From the esports side, Sean Plott (Day[9]) is a former professional Starcraft player and is now one of the biggest (if not the biggest) English language Starcraft commentators and game analysts. There’s also dignitas_Apollo, but he’s still more of a player than a commentator, though he definitely does both.
Growing up in Wisconsin my dad always had Bob Uecker on the radio during Brewers games. (Whether or not they were televised.)
From what I remember, he was pretty good.
Ray Hudson for European soccer. Extremely colorful and poetic. He generally makes me spit out my drink laughing several times per game. Someone once had a tumblr blog dedicated to his quotes:
Good Lord! I hope you’re being sarcastic. Hawk is the WORST. “Can of corn” my ass.
Steve Kerr and Stacey King are both excellent from the Bulls. Aikman is outstanding, but I can’t stand Collinsworth.
Yeah, he is not what I would call “Good” so much as he is massively entertaining.
This is going back a bit, but I have fond memories of Bob Montgomery calling Red Sox games. It was awesome hearing him call a PawSox game last year.
Really? I’m the first one to say Steve Stone?
Yes, Cris Collinsworth again - articulate, insightful, always prepared, everything you’d want.
Boomer Esiason on radio, same summary, and can talk sports other than football knowledgeably too.
Dennis Eckersley is maybe not as prepared, but he knows baseball, especially pitching, explains it well, and his enthusiasm is infectious. Jerry Remy, who has the regular Red Sox color job, has had personal problems that detract from his performance lately, unfortunately.
Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper for the San Francisco Giants (Kuiper does the play-by-play). Top ranked by AwfulAnnouncing latest MLB fan polling.
Alongside Jon Miller (who does most of his work on the radio broadcast), the Giants have an embarrassment of broadcasting riches.
Uecker is a legitimately excellent announcer. How he is as a commentator/analyst I don’t know, as he’s busy announcing. They’re very different skills.