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re: Best radio team sports network broadcasts in the South
Posted on 5/16/20 at 5:03 pm to EssexTiger
Posted on 5/16/20 at 5:03 pm to EssexTiger
Though I have not heard all the mentioned announcers, I have heard many. My impression over the past 50 + years is that the iconic line from Chinatown movie should add sportscasters to “politicians, old buildings and whores all become respectable if they last long enough”. I have heard many baritone voiced, enthusiastic, poorly trained homers announce games without the least attention to “details”such as down and distance. I, for one, enjoy some of the more recent announcers who are well versed in how to paint an accurate picture of the action.
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Posted on 5/16/20 at 5:09 pm to LSU - Mill Valley CA
quote:
for one, enjoy some of the more recent announcers who are well versed in how to paint an accurate picture of the action.
What? Do you not realize that these older guys HAD to "paint the picture" because there was almost no TV.
They had to transform the visual of the game to the listening audience.
Every game is on TV now and the new generation wasn't even raised with the experience of listening to almost every game on the radio.
This post was edited on 5/16/20 at 5:51 pm
Posted on 5/16/20 at 5:30 pm to RD Dawg
John Ferguson and Walter Hill on a Saturday night in Tiger Stadium. Next...
Posted on 5/16/20 at 6:07 pm to InGAButLoveBama
quote:
Never will understand why Kennedy was let go for Eli Gold.
He wasn't. Kennedy was let go after the '87 season and Forney was brought back. We he called for punter Greg Gantt (Bama punter in '72 Punt Bama Punt) in the '88 opener against Temple, I believe the decision was immediately made to replace Forney.
Posted on 5/16/20 at 6:18 pm to WRhodesTider
Ooops my bad. Good catch. I think Kennedy was a bit broken hearted over his replacement from interviews I have read.
Posted on 5/16/20 at 6:26 pm to EssexTiger
Not the south- but I loved loved loved listening to Larry Zimmer call the CU Buffalo games on KOA. I like Doug Moreau on the LSU broadcasts a lot as the color guy. But I’m not really a guy who listens to other team’s radio so I don’t really have a great frame of reference.
Posted on 5/16/20 at 7:17 pm to EssexTiger
As a Vol, I grew up with John Ward and loved him calling both basketball and football... as others have mentioned, the older guys understood the need to paint a mental picture for the fans...
Posted on 5/16/20 at 9:00 pm to EssexTiger
I remember Jim Fyffe calling an Auburn basketball game against UT. John Ward got sick before the game and Fyffe’s call was used on both networks. He called the game straight down the middle. Classy move and much respect for Ward and UT to let him do it.
Posted on 5/16/20 at 9:19 pm to bigman334
quote:
Munson, Fyffe and the "give him six" guy.. no equals
THIS ^ x 100
Posted on 5/16/20 at 10:38 pm to Irons Puppet
quote:
Eli Gold has a great voice, but his play by play for Football is hard to listen to. He rarely knows down and distance and you can not tell how much yardage each play produced.
This. He's ok if you are also watching the game, but if you happen to be somewhere and actually need to listen to the radio he's God awful.
Plus in big games he's admitted he scripts his endings ("The roses in this grand old stadium are once again crimson") so they don't come off as naturally flowing as some of the other guys. It's like sometimes he forgets he's the Alabama play by play man and not a neutral play by play man.
Posted on 5/17/20 at 2:07 am to BamaDude06
Jack Cristil is the best that ever was. I grew up listening to him as a non-MSU fan, and he called a football game like it he saw it.
When the game was good, he celebrated it. When the game was bad, he called them all out....coaches, players, you name it.
When the game was good, he celebrated it. When the game was bad, he called them all out....coaches, players, you name it.
Posted on 5/17/20 at 4:05 am to BamaDude06
quote:
Plus in big games he's admitted he scripts his endings ("The roses in this grand old stadium are once again crimson") so they don't come off as naturally flowing as some of the other guys. It's like sometimes he forgets he's the Alabama play by play man and not a neutral play by play man.
He should’ve have been fired on the spot for his call of 2nd & 26. It was so vanilla and canned. Any other SEC play by play guy would have nailed it but Eli Gold treated it like a mundane play. He admitted that when he makes calls like that, he does it with the mindset that it will one day be played in the Bryant Museum so he wants it to fit the moment. Chris Stewart would’ve made an epic call.
Looking forward to the day when Eli’s boring day arse is sent packing.
Posted on 5/17/20 at 4:19 am to EssexTiger
I miss Hawthorne to be honest. Sure Blair is more polished but Jim was so authentic and idiosyncratic.
Any baseball game that ran past 11PM was must-listen radio.
Any baseball game that ran past 11PM was must-listen radio.
Posted on 5/17/20 at 7:07 am to Bill Parker?
I did not have the opportunity hear Jack Cristil so I just found and listened to some archive clips of his broadcasts. I appreciate now how good he must have been. I also went back and listened to Cawood Ledford call the 1979 Indiana vs UK basketball game. He was even better than I recalled if that is possible.
Posted on 5/17/20 at 7:16 am to Auburn80
I wonder if that was the game where I saw Ward isolated from everyone in Memorial Coliseum under headphones. Perhaps he was monitoring Jim's call of the game. I never did reconcile why he was broadcasting from afar off the floor.
Posted on 5/17/20 at 7:39 am to EssexTiger
There was something about being a kid and hearing Munson on a Saturday afternoon that made you instantly ready for bonfires and Trick or Treating. It’s like when you started hearing his voice again, you knew the year was about to hit it’s sweet spot.
And then when I started going to games regularly with my dad, he’d turn on 750 AM as we drove over through the rural landscape and the pregame stuff would come on and you’d hear that voice and it gave the experience of just driving this surreal quality that culminated in Athens seemingly just popping up in the middle of nowhere.
I like Scott Howard just fine but Munson was magic
And then when I started going to games regularly with my dad, he’d turn on 750 AM as we drove over through the rural landscape and the pregame stuff would come on and you’d hear that voice and it gave the experience of just driving this surreal quality that culminated in Athens seemingly just popping up in the middle of nowhere.
I like Scott Howard just fine but Munson was magic
Posted on 5/17/20 at 7:48 am to tylerdurden24
Posted on 5/17/20 at 9:29 am to FairhopeTider
quote:
He should’ve have been fired on the spot for his call of 2nd & 26
Were you listening to the NC game on the radio?
I rarely listen to the broadcast at all anymore with the delay (don't have an IMG radio) and don't listen while attending.
Posted on 5/17/20 at 9:31 am to RD Dawg
Ferguson was the best! 
Posted on 5/17/20 at 10:04 am to EssexTiger
Grew up near Louahvull and Cawood was a master at his craft, literally nothing he couldn't do color on. I think his PBP guy was Conlin (??). Great broadcast team
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