Good Announcers?
Lance
> David Cleary (dcl...@fas.harvard.edu) wrote:
> : With all the criticism of baseball announcers appearing in various
> threads
> : recently, I've been wondering: is there a baseball announcer out
> there who
> : is widely accepted as being excellent?
Although there has been alot of wailing about them, Bob Costas and Joe Buck
are the best of the younger generation. Costas has a love and a feel,
almost a reverance, for the game that you rarely see anymore. So many
announcers, such as Al Michaels or Tim McCarver, view doing the Series as
something to promote themselves or their careers. Costas has the same
excitement in him that all of us had as little boys who wanted nothing
other than to play the game ourselves.
While Joe Buck was somewhat irreverant on the Fox broadcasts, over the
course of a full season doing the Cardinals games on KMOX, he is excellent.
Of course, he learned at the feet of his Hall-of-Famer father, Jack Buck,
whom I regard as the greatest announcer I have ever heard.
Remember in the early 1990s, CBS had the World Series and Jack Buck and Tim
McCarver did the games. During the 1991 Atlanta-Minnesota Series, that
bottom-feeding jackal, Rudy Martzke of USA Today, led the charge against
Jack, bitching constantly about his style of announcing. It seems that
Rudy and his boys wanted someone with a more New York style of
broadcasting. Of course, the story not very often told was that in
1973-74, Marzke, now the sportscasting critic at USA Today, was the PR man
for the Spirits of St. Louis basketball team of the old American Basketball
Association. Rudy fashioned himself the king of all he surveyed and was
somewhat miffed when Jack Buck did not treat him with such reverance, but
rather treated Martzke as the pompous ass he was. Rudy had a long memory,
and when he got the chance, led the drive to force CBS to dump Jack as
their #1 announcer for baseball in favor of the talentless (but East Coast
like) Sean McDonough.
Lance
Jack Heraty
"Lance" <lb...@altamont.net> wrote:
I thought the announcer for the Spirits was none other than Bob
Costas, in his first job. Not true?
I'm not sure about the rest of your post (I like Al Michaels on
baseball quite a bit - I have no doubt he loves the game), but I just
want to add my two cents in agreement that Martzke is totally
worthless, and his criticism of Jack Buck was uncalled for.
When Buck was announcing Monday Night Football with Hank Stram, I used
to turn down the sound on the TV and listen to them on the radio, so I
didn't have to endure the pontifications of a certain non-stop talker
who also used to be an offensive lineman and became a truly offensive
announcer and his sidekick, Mr. Third-Wheel, late of the New York
Giants. I have no problem with Michaels, but those other two I'd like
to send on a slow boat to China.
--
Jack Heraty
spr...@ix.netcom.com
Don't take the world serious.
"Baseball is dull only to dull minds."
- Red Smith
NO to radical realignment!
Mike Marcucci
Jack Heraty (spr...@ix.killspam.netcom.com) wrote:
: "Lance" <lb...@altamont.net> wrote:
: >> David Cleary (dcl...@fas.harvard.edu) wrote:
: >bottom-feeding jackal, Rudy Martzke of USA Today, led the charge against
: >Jack, bitching constantly about his style of announcing. It seems that
: >Rudy and his boys wanted someone with a more New York style of
: >broadcasting. Of course, the story not very often told was that in
: >1973-74, Marzke, now the sportscasting critic at USA Today, was the PR man
: >for the Spirits of St. Louis basketball team of the old American Basketball
: >Association. Rudy fashioned himself the king of all he surveyed and was
: >somewhat miffed when Jack Buck did not treat him with such reverance, but
: >rather treated Martzke as the pompous ass he was. Rudy had a long memory,
: >and when he got the chance, led the drive to force CBS to dump Jack as
: >their #1 announcer for baseball in favor of the talentless (but East Coast
: >like) Sean McDonough.
I agree with your comments about Martzke, but I have to disagree on
McDonough. He is still very young, only 33, I believe and displays, what I
consider to be real announcing skill. He is comfortable in several sports,
and exceptional in baseball. I havent' watched him too much on national
broadcasts, but has done very well over the past 7 or 8 years when I've
watched him on Red Sox telecasts. Since shedding the awful Bob Montgomery
for the somewhat more palatable Jerry Remy, the quality of his broadcasts
have increased substantially.
: >
: I thought the announcer for the Spirits was none other than Bob
: Costas, in his first job. Not true?
: I'm not sure about the rest of your post (I like Al Michaels on
: baseball quite a bit - I have no doubt he loves the game), but I just
: want to add my two cents in agreement that Martzke is totally
: worthless, and his criticism of Jack Buck was uncalled for.
I'm a Michaels fan myself.
: When Buck was announcing Monday Night Football with Hank Stram, I used
: to turn down the sound on the TV and listen to them on the radio, so I
: didn't have to endure the pontifications of a certain non-stop talker
: who also used to be an offensive lineman and became a truly offensive
: announcer and his sidekick, Mr. Third-Wheel, late of the New York
: Giants. I have no problem with Michaels, but those other two I'd like
: to send on a slow boat to China.
Or a very fast one, given China's current political atmosphere. Buck and
Stram were awesome. Are they no longer doing the game? I haven't listened
to MNF on the radio yet this year, but Hank Stram was/is a phenomenal
analyst. He basically predicted every play- "look like there's something
going on the right side there," boom- run right. It seemed like he could
have gotten more specific, but held back. Isn't that what Buck was
criticized for, calling the plays before they happened? I seem to remember
a play at the plate in 91 or 92 postseason when he called safe immediately
and the umpire called the runner out. A lot of the media reporters were
really killing him for that.
Mike
David Loewe, Jr.
On Tue, 28 Oct 1997 12:50:20 GMT, spr...@ix.killspam.netcom.com (Jack
Heraty) typed frantically:
> "Lance" <lb...@altamont.net> wrote:
>
>>> David Cleary (dcl...@fas.harvard.edu) wrote:
>>Remember in the early 1990s, CBS had the World Series and Jack Buck and Tim
>>McCarver did the games. During the 1991 Atlanta-Minnesota Series, that
>>bottom-feeding jackal, Rudy Martzke of USA Today, led the charge against
>>Jack, bitching constantly about his style of announcing. It seems that
>>Rudy and his boys wanted someone with a more New York style of
>>broadcasting. Of course, the story not very often told was that in
>>1973-74, Marzke, now the sportscasting critic at USA Today, was the PR man
>>for the Spirits of St. Louis basketball team of the old American Basketball
>>Association. Rudy fashioned himself the king of all he surveyed and was
>>somewhat miffed when Jack Buck did not treat him with such reverance, but
>>rather treated Martzke as the pompous ass he was. Rudy had a long memory,
>>and when he got the chance, led the drive to force CBS to dump Jack as
>>their #1 announcer for baseball in favor of the talentless (but East Coast
>>like) Sean McDonough.
>>
>I thought the announcer for the Spirits was none other than Bob
>Costas, in his first job. Not true?
Young Bob Costas did play-by-play for the Spirits on KMOX. Rudy
Martzke was their Public Relations guy. Two different jobs.
>
>I'm not sure about the rest of your post (I like Al Michaels on
>baseball quite a bit - I have no doubt he loves the game), but I just
>want to add my two cents in agreement that Martzke is totally
>worthless, and his criticism of Jack Buck was uncalled for.
>
>When Buck was announcing Monday Night Football with Hank Stram, I used
>to turn down the sound on the TV and listen to them on the radio, so I
>didn't have to endure the pontifications of a certain non-stop talker
>who also used to be an offensive lineman and became a truly offensive
>announcer and his sidekick, Mr. Third-Wheel, late of the New York
>Giants. I have no problem with Michaels, but those other two I'd like
>to send on a slow boat to China.
--
"There are _still_ FOUR lights!"
Jean-Luc Picard