I hate to admit it but Troy is very good. I’m not a big Joe Buck fan but they are a pretty good team.
Tim McCarver was excellent as the Mets announcer. When he went national he seemed to give in to his verbal excesses and he wasn’t nearly as good. Or maybe he was ruined by Joe Buck.
The all time best was Phil Rizzuto. Sure he wasn’t the best play caller. Sometimes he stopped paying attention*. He left the games early to beat the traffic. But he was the most entertaining announcer ever.
*Announcers may or may not do this now but they used to keep their own scorecards and refer to them during later at bats. When one of his broadcasting partners asked what the code “ww” meant he was told “Wasn’t watching.”
As do the Yankees. On their TV team they have revolving announcers. Michael Kay is the only non-player.
Ken Singleton is a legitimate announcer. So much so you wouldn’t know he was a former (excellent) player. He usually does play by play not color.
John Flaherty stopped playing and went to the booth. He is a natural. He also sounds more like a professional broadcaster than a former player.
David Cone, Al Leiter and Paul O’Neill all work as color commentators on games throughout the year. I find them all entertaining in their own way and each has a good rapport with the play by play. At times they have 3 in the booth. Each of these three were a bit shaky in the booth when they started but all add to the broadcast now.
This post I agree with completely. I am surprised, in a good way, of the Chris Collinsworth love. I have always liked him, but most people I have talked to about this subject seem to abhor him. I think he is one of the best at what he does.
McEnroe is an excellent tennis announcer, as is his brother.
I like Golic a lot, and give him much credit for putting up with the snivelling, wimpy, whiny, weaselly and snotty Mike Greenberg. I know it is part of their “act” but Greenberg insults him constantly. Just once, i’d like to see Golic stomp that little bitch like a grape.
Others I will add in the good column: (Some of my choices are retired)
Troy Aikmen (agree with the others in this thread - he is good)
Moose Johnson
Howie Long
Terry Bradshaw
Frank Gifford in his prime on MNF
Don Meredith in his prime on MNF
Charles Barkley - it is hard to see how you could dislike such a politically incorrect guy. I love his honesty.
Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek - loved this duo on the NBC baseball game of the week. Yes, it was a thousand years ago, but i did like them.
Terrible
Shannon Sharpe - I heard he isn’t coming back this season. I can’t believe it took them this long to can him… But it was interesting to know what happened to “Mush Mouth” from the Fat Albert gang. As an analyst, I honestly couldn’t say if he was good or bad in content, since I couldn’t understand a word he ever said.
Phil Simms - i can’t stand listening to him and I think a lot of it has to do with his accent. Phil Seeeems drives me nuts, and I don’t think he is very insightful.
Michael Strahan - i cannot understand the appeal of the “big ugly”. I hate his lisp, the gap between his teeth and his perma-smile.
Bill Walton - gawd, I hate him. Another “big ugly”.
Bob Trumpy - awful, grumpy, old Cincy Bengal who always seemed pissed off.
Tim McCarver - i never heard him do a broadcast as a local commentator. But his national career was painful.
Dan Dierdorf. - what a maroon! What a gull-I-bull! What a nin-cow-poop!
The one good thing about being a Mets fan? They have the best TV booth in baseball. Gary Cohen (not a former player) and Ron Darling are both Ivy Leaguers, and while Keith Hernandez was drafted out of high school, he’s clearly a literate, thoughtful guy. More importantly, they’re all very knowledgeable and it’s a relaxed, friendly environment. I could go on.
Cris Collinsworth is excellent, I think. Troy Aikman lets his pro-Cowboys, anti-Giants bias slip from time to time, but I admit he’s a pretty good broadcaster. Mike Golic is affable and fun to listen to, though not the place to go for serious analysis.
I was surprised to see a nomination for Trent Dilfer above. I literally have to mute the TV when he comes on; he’s just too stupid.
Ron Darling was quite a revelation for me when he started doing the post-season games for TBS… unfortunately that means he isn’t around for the World Series when we’re stuck with Joe Buck and friends.
First, VERY few ex-jock sportscasters have ever been truly awful. MOST of them have been amiable wastes of space, but none has ever been so dumb, so inarticulate or so annoying that he interfered with my enjoyment of a game.
But very, very few have ever told me anything about a game that wasn’t already obvious. Very few have ever taught me anything about the game that I didn’t already know. I do NOT hate Troy Aikman or Phil Simms or even the much-abused Joe Morgan. I just don’t see what any of them brings to a game that a cub reporter or a new graduate from radio/television school couldn’t bring for a lot less money.
That said, a few former jocks were such good play-by-play men that most people eventually forgot they ever WERE jocks! Marty Glickman was a world-class track star and Pat Summerall was a pro football player. But both became such capable play-by-play men that many younger whippersnappers didn’t remember them as athletes.
Among color commentators, I think John Smoltz is very good.
Steve Stone (baseball - White Sox/Ex Cubs) -no one better. He sits next to the totally worthless Hawk Harrelson. Stone is Wise. Stone is Good. Trust Steve Stone. No one better in the game.
Bill White was the perfect straight man for Rizzuto’s lunacy. He would calmly keep the play-by-play on track while Rizzuto was prattling on about Cora’s cannolis or one of his several superstitions. For awhile, he thought if he talked about golf while the Yankees were batting they would score.
With the current crop, it’s funny how goofy and affable Paul O’Neill comes across. It’s hard reconcile with the guy who looked like he wanted to murder the umpires and maybe a few random fans too when he was on the field.