Favorite / Least Favorite Sports Announcer/Analyst

[Andarvi]

Keith Olbermann > all.

joke?

[Talus]

I can tolerate pretty much most of them.

Favorite for the NFL though: Aikman & Buck.

Least Favorite for the NFL: fellow Cowboy Daryl "Moose" Johnston. That guy fucking blows. If he ever calls a Cowboys game, he is so biased. Or if he calls a Redskins game, he is biased against the Redskins. Rivalries never die.

[Azkarin]

I don't know the names of who I listen to most of the time but the WORST is by far the crew announcing tonights BCS game (also all the other games on FOX). These guys are just horrible.

[Akiyama]

Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis were from tonight and yeah. God awful. It's amazing how Thom made Trinity's play seem so boring and most of the game seem so dull, when in fact, it was really good for about the first 17-19 minutes or so when it was tied at 10.

[Selamis]

The Good:

Pat Foley: Former Chicago Blackhawks play by play man until they stupidly fired him back when Bill Wirtz had the team. He's currently announcing for the Chicago Wolves......Hawks need to get him back, watching the Hawks for most of my 25 years, I associate his voice with their team. New owner, new company direction (home games on tv, among others), get Pat back!

Gary Thorne and Bill Clement when they were together for NHL games before ESPN got rid of the license during the lockout, probably the best if not one of the best play by play and color commentator pairs in hockey.

Pat Summerall, his voice is golden.

The Bad:

John Madden, for every reason known to man.

Ron Santo, he's the John Madden of baseball. God, if I have to listen to him talk about how he got a fax or email from some buffoon wanting to say he listens to Ron's broadcast everyday....just shut up, and call the damn Cubs game. Provide facts, talk about situations you face when they come up in present time, enough with the fan mail crap.

Phil Simms, does anyone else think he's overly dull when he's announcing on CBS?

The Middle:

Joe Buck, sometimes he's really great and does a fantastic job, then other times I want to punch him. Namely, when Randy Moss pretended to moon Green Bay fans, Joe Buck was on his high horse preaching against Moss.....it's not like he actually did it, it was pretend, don't go throwing your opinion around on how he should be dealt with, jerky.

[Kurp]

Play-by-play:
Favorite- Al Michaels

Can't stand- Joe Buck (guess I'm in the minority, but I can hardly stand to listen to him anymore)

Talk Show/Analyst/Etc:
Favorites-
Dan Cole (local Twin Cities, but I love his show)
Jim Rome (he annoyed me for a long time, but I think he's great now)

Much hate-
Steven A. Smith.

Short list, because pretty much everyone has been mentioned already

[Duwie]

I'm surprised only one person has mentioned Tony Kornheiser(sp).. he is like, the shittiest announcer ever. Most of his games are like this; (insert team) scores a touchdown! so, who would you take? Peyton Manning or Tom Brady? And the extra point is good! Are the patriots going undefeated? I think they're the best team in football this year.

[wyrmtung]

I cannot stand:

Bill Walton - Historical revisionist. Says, "great pass" prematurely to balls that ultimately result in turnovers. And likes to talk about everything BUT what is going on in the game. Hey, Bill, don't let that awesome block and fast break interrupt you. You just go on ahead and finish your story about how the Grateful Deal had an orgy with you and John Wooden.

Bryant Gumbel - What made the NFL Network think this bore was a play by play guy? His monotone voice sounds half asleep. Watching him do a game is like watching C-SPAN.

Tommy Heinhson - He doesn't get a Tommy Point from me. Biggest homer and blowhard in all of sports. It sucks that his team is good now.

[wyrmtung]

Can't stand- Joe Buck (guess I'm in the minority, but I can hardly stand to listen to him anymore)

I can barely tolerate Buck but pair him with Tim McCarver and I just want to gouge my eyes out.

[Reggie_Asura]

i'm kinda surprised most of the responses are national type guys so far,

personally i've been blessed when it comes to sports announcers growing up in L.A. got to listen to Chick Hearn call Laker games through the mid 80's to the day he died. one of, if not the best, radio basketball announcers of all time. At the same time growing up listening to Vin Scully call Dodger games was more then just listening to a baseball game, each game in itself was like a baseball education since he had been doing Dodger games for the last 50+ years he's seen it all and done it all, including call some of the most memorable sporting moments in the 20th century(Jackie Robinson breaking into the majors to Hank Aaron's record breaking home run to Kirk Gibson's home run against the A's in '88).

now that i live in Phoenix listening to Al McCoy call games for the Suns is almost as good and getting to hear Diamondback brodcasts from day 1 was a treat(Greg Schulte is the radio play by play man for the Diamondbacks and he does a decent job)

pretty much anything i hear over the T.V. is usually terrible because they don't stick to the game enough imho they talk about a lot of stupid other things that have nothing to do with the action that's going on on the field/court. though Keith Jackson doing college football was always great and when they weren't too old for it the team of Pat Summeral and John madden was great for the NFL for a long time.

[Viq]

Tommy Heinhson - He doesn't get a Tommy Point from me. Biggest homer and blowhard in all of sports. It sucks that his team is good now.

I think Tommy's homerism comes from still having the mentality of a coach. If you can learn to ignore his comments about the refs, then you can get some pretty spot on analysis on basketball from him. Of course, you could listen to Grande and Max on the radio and get all that and more.

I don't know how I forgot to add Ken Rosenthal to my list. He was a longtime writer in Baltimore before making the jump to Fox. I ran into him in Boston during the post-season. This guy broke down the Brewers farm system in one breath, then talked about the Orioles front office issues in the next, followed up by breaking down some deep single-A guys for the Sox. He's a walking baseball encyclopedia.

[Norelco]

I dislike Joe Buck when he's announcing for Yankees/Red Sox games. He is insanely biased towards Boston in my opinion.

p.s. Rick Jeanarret is the announcer for the Buffalo Sabres. He's fucking great. I'll post some clips later of him on youtube. He's insane.

[Trichocyst]

I work for NFL Films so I'm kinda biased towards guys I know. Although... The MNF guys made me want to hurt myself and John Madden just needs to retire. My least favorite call guy is by far Chris Wheeler (and those of you in Philadelphia can back me up) and Gary Matthews Sr. isn't much better.

Harry Kalas ftw.

[Quixon]

I can tolerate almost anyone except Skip Bayless and Stephen a. Smith. I turn the channel whenever either of them is on.

[Soarian]

Harry Kalas ftw.

Amen, how the hell did I forget to list him. I guess I should also add Merrill Hoge to the bad list. He used to routinely picked the Eagles to finish below .500 and lose every week during the time they won all those division titles. The guy has some kind of grudge against Philly I swear.

[Norelco]

Colin Cowhert sucks.

[Tyche]

Colin Cowhert sucks.

Big ten fan? Anywho, as I said, the dude picks college games against the spread better than anyone on the radio (cept erik kusselius, come back plz ).

[Norelco]

Colin Cowhert sucks.

Big ten fan? Anywho, as I said, the dude picks college games against the spread better than anyone on the radio (cept erik kusselius, come back plz ).

Naw. They air his ESPN radio show here in Buffalo from 11 to noon every day before Rome. I just hate his voice, I hate his sense of humor, and he constantly bags on the sport of Hockey, which is a big no-no. People here in Buffalo are Hockey-crazy, including me.

[Mizango]

Skip fucking Bayless makes me want to kill orphans. I'd probably put Charles Barkley, Brian Baldinger (NFL announcer on Fox) and Jim Rome up there with him on my list of nuisances.


PTI is made of win though.

[Tyche]

I really doubt hockey fans make up 2% of the demograph he's talking to. This goes for just about every ESPN radio show though. I can't recall the last time tirico or mike and mike broke down hockey.