Best CFL TV Announcers Ever
DCKJRK
Who were the best CFL announcers on CBC and CTV? Of All Time.
When we could get CFL games WEEKLY on ESPN in the States, we always would get
CTV's feed with Pat Marsden calling the games. I guess he's a morning show host
on a sports station in Toronto I hear.
The CBC casts I can only remember Don Chevier(SP?) doing play by play. Terry
Evanshen(where is he now, anyone know??) and coach Ron Lancaster(THE BEST
QB EVER) did the color with him I do think.
Is David Archer doing TV work still up there?
The Stampeder
Ron
escapes me) of Regina did an excellent play by play.
Ron
DCKJRK wrote in message <19990705221732...@ng36.aol.com>...
melle...@my-deja.com
dck...@aol.com (DCKJRK) wrote:
> Question for you fans of the CFL:
>
> Who were the best CFL announcers on CBC and CTV? Of All Time.
>
> When we could get CFL games WEEKLY on ESPN in the States, we always
would get
> CTV's feed with Pat Marsden calling the games. I guess he's a morning
show host
> on a sports station in Toronto I hear.
>
For play-by-play, I would pick Dale Isaac, who I believe did some for
the CFN (Canadian Football Network) - or was it CTV? Can't remember
now.
The best colour commentary was done by Ron Lancaster and the combination
of Ron Lancaster/Leo Cahill.
Absolute worst of all time in all categories is Pat Marsden.
--
Carl Mellesmoen melle...@usa.net http://surf.to/cfl
"Do or do not - there is no try." - Yoda
"Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is,
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Ryan Doraty
>Absolute worst of all time in all categories is Pat Marsden.
No, the worst all time is Danny Kepley. All he ever did was sit and preen
himself in front of the camera, he never had any great insight and he was
95% wrong when he made calls, ie. wrong player, blaming ref's, saying that a
player caught a ball when he didn't. Just an over all bad announcer.
As for the best - it's hard to pick out of an overall bad crop. Nobody from
the CBC. TSN - has the best crew but nobody really stands out as great.
Ryan
Daryl Turner
"> In my opinion, Ron Lancaster did the best color. Jack Wells son (first
"> name escapes me) of Regina did an excellent play by play. Ron
That would be John Wells.
IMHO, Don Wittman also did a great job.
Chris Walby is fun to listen to as a colour guy.
Daryl
Orville said Make like a hockey player and puck off.
-*- ASTG 0.7
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Ravi Ramkissoonsingh
> >Absolute worst of all time in all categories is Pat Marsden.
> No, the worst all time is Danny Kepley. All he ever did was sit and preen
> himself in front of the camera, he never had any great insight and he was
> 95% wrong when he made calls, ie. wrong player, blaming ref's, saying that a
> player caught a ball when he didn't. Just an over all bad announcer.
As bad as Kepley was (and may still be for ESPN), the absolute worst
had to be Joe Galat. As bad of a head coach and general manager as Galat
was, he was an even worse colour commentator.
> As for the best - it's hard to pick out of an overall bad crop. Nobody from
> the CBC. TSN - has the best crew but nobody really stands out as great.
> Ryan
I agree with a previous poster that the best broadcast crew included
Ron Lancaster and Leo Cahill who along with Don Wittman formed an
incredibly entertaining trio from 1981 to 1985 on CBC.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ravi Ramkissoonsingh
M.A. Student, Department of Psychology
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario
Email address: rram...@ccs.carleton.ca
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dennis Prouse
Ramkissoonsingh) wrote:
>
> As bad as Kepley was (and may still be for ESPN), the absolute worst
>had to be Joe Galat. As bad of a head coach and general manager as Galat
>was, he was an even worse colour commentator.
>
I don't know, Ravi -- the fans in BC would dispute this statement.
From our perspective, he was WAY worse as a general manager. At least
when he was on TV, he wasn't busy destroying our franchise.
Ted Soutar
Touche! LOL :)
My votes for best all time go to the following individuals and teams:
Best Play by Play: Chris Cuthbert - hands down. Pat Marsden & Don
Witless were/are brutal! Johnney Esaw used to be pretty good, but then I
was just a kid - what'd I know?
Best Colour Commentary: again, an easy pick - Ron Lancaster - This man
exudes class in everything he undertakes. Walby's good, too. Cahill was
a boob IMO. Ditto Joe Galat. Frank "Pass the pork rinds" Rigney was far
too pretty for TV. :) And that toupee! I've seen better rugs in VW's!
Best Host/Announcer: Now this one's tough. I'd have to say Ernie
Afaghanis. He always invected a sense of dignity and humour to the
broadcasts. Al McCann was great too.
Best of the modern era goes to TSN's studio crew of John Wells/Darren
Dutyshyn/Rod Smith, combined with Chris Schultz (Gawd aren't you glad he
finally lopped off that ridiculous ponytail?), and Glen Suitor (Gawd
aren't you glad Tillman's GM'ing again?) & GAWD aren't we all glad Marty
York is doing something else?
Kirk Dooley
>
>>Absolute worst of all time in all categories is Pat Marsden.
>
>No, the worst all time is Danny Kepley. All he ever did was sit and preen
>himself in front of the camera, he never had any great insight and he was
>95% wrong when he made calls, ie. wrong player, blaming ref's, saying that a
>player caught a ball when he didn't. Just an over all bad announcer.
>
color announcer, Kepley was a Hall-of-Fame linebacker. (Don't get me started
about jocks who go from the field right to the booth without much training. I
have a broadcasting degree--did play-by-play of Northern Arizona University
football on the campus' cable TV station in 1985--and couldn't get arrested once
I graduated. You know your job search is going to be tough when you get a
rejection letter from Boise, Idaho telling you to try a smaller market.
Unfortunately, Timbuctu, Oregon wasn't hiring at the time.)
>As for the best - it's hard to pick out of an overall bad crop. Nobody from
>the CBC. TSN - has the best crew but nobody really stands out as great.
>
>Ryan
>
From what little I've seen here in the USofA here's my 2 cents (3 cents
Canadian, BTW) worth:
PBP--Don Whitman (with Dave Hodge & Chris Cuthbert not far behind)
Color--Ron Lancaster (with an honorable mention to Alex Karras, who did CFL game
for an ad hoc US syndicated network in the early 70s--he may not have been
great, but he was funny)
Kirk Dooley
Mesa, AZ
"Make something idiot-proof, and someone will invent a better idiot."
Daryl Turner
(rmdor...@SPAMnortelnetworks.com) wrote:
>> Absolute worst of all time in all categories is Pat Marsden.
"D> No, the worst all time is Danny Kepley. All he ever did was sit and
"D> preen himself in front of the camera, he never had any great insight
"D> and he was 95% wrong when he made calls, ie. wrong player, blaming
"D> ref's, saying that a player caught a ball when he didn't. Just an
"D> over all bad announcer.
James Curry was worse than Kepley, by far.
Daryl
Playing hockey with a warped puck.
Jeremy M. Draude
> James Curry was worse than Kepley, by far.
>
I was waiting for someone to mention him. I'd rather see Tillman back in the
TSN studio before Curry back in the booth.
I may be the only one saying this, but I really liked the TSN panel of Less,
OB and Marty (hey, York always picked the riders to win).
Suitor is the best colour guy of the 90's with Archer close behind (Ronnie
was the best alltime though..) Am I the only one who thinks Walby stinks?
Jeremy M. Draude
Official Person, Dan Farthing Fan Club
http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/wilger/dandan
Krammerhead
>
> >
> > James Curry was worse than Kepley, by far.
> >
>
> I was waiting for someone to mention him. I'd rather see Tillman back in the
> TSN studio before Curry back in the booth.
>
> I may be the only one saying this, but I really liked the TSN panel of Less,
> OB and Marty (hey, York always picked the riders to win).
>
> Suitor is the best colour guy of the 90's with Archer close behind (Ronnie
> was the best alltime though..) Am I the only one who thinks Walby stinks?
No, I think Walby stinks too.
Krammerhead
melle...@my-deja.com
"Jeremy M. Draude" <jer...@myriadgate.net> wrote:
> I may be the only one saying this, but I really liked the TSN panel of
Less,
> OB and Marty (hey, York always picked the riders to win).
I liked them too. I wish they were still together. I'll always
remember Less Browne holding a razor & can of shaving cream up for Marty
to see, when he had to shave his moustache after not going .500 on his
picks for the season. The interplay between personalities on that panel
was something to see - similar (although not to the same degree) to the
Wittman-Lancaster-Cahill trio.
> Suitor is the best colour guy of the 90's with Archer close behind
(Ronnie
> was the best alltime though..) Am I the only one who thinks Walby
stinks?
I think Walby has things to say, but sometimes has trouble being
articulate.
Paul Woods
melle...@my-deja.com wrote in message <7m5htj$ifq$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
>In article <Zzqh3.28280$g02....@news.rdc1.ab.wave.home.com>,
> "Jeremy M. Draude" <jer...@myriadgate.net> wrote:
>
>> I may be the only one saying this, but I really liked the TSN panel of
>Less,
>> OB and Marty (hey, York always picked the riders to win).
>
>I liked them too. I wish they were still together. I'll always
>remember Less Browne holding a razor & can of shaving cream up for Marty
>to see, when he had to shave his moustache after not going .500 on his
>picks for the season. The interplay between personalities on that panel
>was something to see - similar (although not to the same degree) to the
>Wittman-Lancaster-Cahill trio.
>
Witt-Lanc-Leo was the best booth unit ever, by far. But the best
play-by-play was a guy CTV used in the '70s and '80s, mostly for games out
west, named Dale Isaac. Fantastic deep voice and created a real sense of
excitement. I think he was/is based in Regina. I've always wondered why no
one brought him back after CTV dropped the CFL contract. He usually worked
with Frank Rigney, who was OK on colour.
Among the current crop of play-by-play guys, Wittman can still do the job
(and it's shameful how he has been relegated to lesser assignments by CBC).
Cuthbert does his homework and sounds excited at appropriate times.
On TSN, Rod Smith has good pipes and knows the game as an ex-player. John
Wells has been seemingly uninterested and out of touch for years, it seems.
He makes far too many mistakes on player names and routine information. He
and Leif Pettersen get my vote as the worst duo ever, although Leif seemed
to perk up a bit when he was paired with Rod Smith.
TSN's current colour/studio guys are all competent but no one really shines.
Personally I think Schultz should get in the booth more than Suitor. Dunigan
has potential but looked awkward and nervous last week.
TSN's panel from two years ago was always worth watching, especially when
Marty and Leif were on together since Leif always appeared to be restraining
his impulse to wring Marty's neck. Less Browne was the weakest link by far.
Darren Dutchyshen, once you got past the lipstick-like lips, brought more
personality to the show than Duthie does.
The all-time worst colour guys, both courtesy of CBC, were James Currie and
Joe Galat.