The White Sox announcers are the worst I have ever heard

The Game Room
1

What the hell is up with this “he gon” crap? Are you in New Orleans? No. The south? No. You’re in Chicago…talk like it.

I am a Brewers fan, so I’ve never heard them until just now, so unless I am missing something (and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong here) these are just the worst guys ever. They’re not compelling, they aren’t entertaining, and I know that home announcers are allowed to be biased, but these guys just give no credit to anyone that isn’t a Sock and are the worst with this stupid catchphrase

Ok…rant over.

2

Nope - you nailed it. They are the absolute worst in the MLB.

3

I wasn’t familiar with the White Sox announcing crew, so Googled “he gone White Sox” and found that you’re not alone:
http://www.heavethehawk.com/index.php

Now, I’m a lifelong Yankee fan, so I’ve been putting up with John Sterling’s ridiculous catch phrases for decades. I understand how grating that stuff can be!

4

They, and Hawk Harrelson especially, are terrible. “He gone!” is annoying, but not as much as this is.

5

I’ve heard nothing from Hawk Harrelson that’s as bad as this.

6

I wanna add that he says a “ducksnort” instead of a bloop single like everyone else in the world says

Thank God I’ll never have to hear that again…or at least for a very very long time

7

Don’t forget, “You can put it on the boooooaaarrrd…yes!” It’s bad enough to almost make me feel bad for White Sox fans. But I still don’t. Fuck 'em!

8

OP, you can put it on the message board… yes!

9

And “can o’ corn” for every routine fly ball.

Amazingly, Harrelson has had the job for at least two decades (having gone through several partners in that time). I know some Sox fans who do like him, but I wonder if he has pictures of Jerry Reinsdorf with a goat or something…

10

Chicago has a long tradition of “homer” announcing, dating back to Whispering Joe Wilson, Jack Brickhouse, and Harry Caray. Hawk plays strictly to the home crowd. For a long time Sox games were only on local cable TV so nobody else cared. Now some of the games are on WGN so road fans hear him and get bent out of shape. It’s nothing new here. He’s been doing the Sox since 1982 and will continue until he drops dead.

11

Put it on the board, yes! Growing up I seem to remember watching Frank Thomas and Ryne Sandberg on WGN all the time. Whatever happened to all those WGN broadcasts? Did the cable company drop them? The announcers were annoying, even Harry Caray, but at least we got to see more baseball.

12

Back in the day, every single Cubs game (and, later, some Sox games, too) was on WGN (both the Chicago broadcast version of that station, as well as the satellite version).

Today, Cubs games are split between WGN, Comcast Sports Net (a local cable sports channel), and WCIU (another local Chicago station). Looking at the Cubs’ broadcast schedule for the rest of the year, it looks like only about half of their games are on WGN these days. (TV coverage for the Sox is pretty similar, though even more of their games are on Comcast Sports Net.)

13

In the early 90s, I remember ESPN having games Sun, Tues, Wed, and Fri nights (with double-headers on Wed and Fri), plus getting TBS (Braves), WGN (Cubs, some Sox), and WOR (Mets). Add that to the CBS Saturday afternoon games and the local games (Brewers), and there was a lot of baseball on tv for just the cost of basic cable. I’m sure it’s selective memory, but I don’t remember ESPN being as bad with the same 6-8 teams then like they do now. Especially the Sunday night games, it seemed like they made a point to have a game at nearly every stadium each season.

14

I like Hawk. He brings some enthusiasm and fun into the game. If your audience is rooting for the Sox anyway, why not do a little cheerleading.

15

Steve Stone - Best announcer in baseball
Hawk Harrelson - Worst announcer in baseball

They even each other out.

16

I’m just chiming in to say that Harrelson sucked as a ballplayer and GM too. :wink:

17

Agreed, except for the evening-out part. Hawk’s suckitude is too much for Stoney to overcome. Other Chicago homers like Caray and Brickhouse, and the current Cubs TV team of Bob Brenly and Len Kasper, may show a rooting interest, but they at least respect the opposition and appreciate the nature of a sporting contest. Not Hawk. He can’t bring himself to say a positive word about the opposing team or a negative word about the Sox. An opposing player could make the most spectacular catch of the century and Hawk will say, “Our guy really hit that ball well, he oughta be standing on second right now. Dang it!” He also bitches about the umpires constantly. It’s one thing to call an ump out for missing a call, but Hawk’s incessant and childish whining takes it to the next level.

As for all the tiresome catch-phrases, I strongly believe that if Harrelson were to be replaced by a sound board with about a dozen buttons, nobody would be able to tell – except that he’d complain about the umpires less.

18

Over the three game set against my Brewers one of the Sox players (dunno who) robbed one of the Brewers of a homer, great play and was told as such.

In that same exact game our shortstop made a spectacular catching grab that was out of his reach and over his head and a wicked bad angle, then threw out the guy at first (trying to steal second) for a double play…and it was crickets about that play. Not a thing was said about how great of a play it was.

I’ve spent a lot of time listening to Kaspar and Brenley, and I agree that they are homers for the Cubs, but they at least respect the other teams

19

It is a damn shame Stoney got run out of the Northside.

20

I’m not a CWS fan, but I actually like Hawk. I like “he gone” and “you can put it on the booooooord…yyyyyyesss!!”

John Sterling, mentioned above, however, is only slightly less annoying than his counterpart Suzyn Waldman.

And Brewers fans, you got Bob Uecker so you’re pretty darn spoiled in terms of announcers.