Worst Announcers

[MaineRed]

Saw this linked on another site, It is a blog that covers sports, mostly Cleveland sports and they had a piece on their least favorite sports announcers/anchors.

http://myteamsarecursed.blogspot.com...oooooo-ya.html

Who are our least favorite people on sports TV today abd why do we feel the way we do. Time for the list technique.

1. Stuart Scott - The guy puts the "B" in Buffoon. Is there anything less fresh than his awful catch phrases like "hater in the house" and "cooler than the other side of the pillow?" The suits are bad, the glasses are worse. Watching Stu-ya with Emmitt Smith and Steve Young live at the Monday Night location is train wreck TV at its finest. How he has stayed on ESPN this long is a complete mystery. Sports Centers with him are unwatchable.

2. Joe Morgan - Wins the Cal Ripken award as the single most overrated sports color man in history. Count how many times he repeats himself during a game. Here is a vintage Morgan take: See, that pitch was a sliiiiiiider, because his out-pitch is a sliiiiider, so he decided now was the time to throw a sliiiiiiiider, which is his best pitch." John Miller has been carrying him for years.

3. Stephen A. Smith - Someone, anyone, please explain to me why ESPN thinks this guy is a talent. Because he talks fast? Because he says "the bottom line" a lot? Because he was once the link to Allen Iverson in Philly? The one-time Larry Brown mouth-piece has lost all credibility since his quick rise and even quicker fall at the worldwide leader. The worst show in ESPN history (next to Bonds on Bonds) has to be Quite Frankly. What a joke! Screamin A. must go.

4. Chris Berman - You have to give credit to him as being the original and longest lasting guy at ESPN. That said, talk about someone who's schtick is as tired as his Green Jacket he wears during baseball season. The schwam? Old bit. Nicknames for players? great in the late 80's and early 90's, except its 2007. Things you can count on: Death, taxes, and Chris Berman quoting Maggie Mae at the end of September and The Boys of Summer at the end of August. But mad props to the infamous "your with me, Leather" story. Stuff of legend.

5. Fred McLeod - Nationally, he isn't known, but he is the Cleveland Cavaliers TV play by play man. This is a guy who left Detroit with a reputation of being a homer. It was well deserved. You would think Lebron James is fouled on every play and never walks. He is ridiculously excitable and equally as cheesy. In the second quarter of Sunday night's Cavs/Suns game, Freddy boy watched Steve Nash travel and screamed "he shuffled the shoes!" Look up cheese-dick in the dictionary and there's a picture of him.

6. Chip Carey - The man dubbed by my brother "Cheesy Cheerleader Chip" has gladly taken advantage of a career essentially built on being the grandson of Harry and the son of Skip. His work in the AL division series was panned brilliantly by the New York Times' Richard Sandomir for his lack of knowledge and stretching of the truth. You would have though he was the Yankees announcer that series. Long before that, he was a homer for the Braves, a homer for the Cubs, and now back to being a homer for the Braves.

7. William C. Rhoden - Ok, he's not really a TV personality, but he has spent years on ESPN's the Sports Reporters. Plain and simple, the guy is a reverse racist who takes the African-American side of every story. Nobody loves bringing the race card up more than Bill. Only he could make Mike Lupica seem like a pleasure to be around.

8. Skip Bayless - ESPN did its best to phase him out, you only see him now on ESPN's first take (which has less viewers as Quite Frankly did) and First and Ten. There is nobody more outlandish and ridiculous. He is a classic local sports talk radio kind of guy. he says things just to be outrageous to see if anyone cares. Unfortunately for the Skipper, nobody does.

Not even sure I could narrow it down to the top 8, but I'll try:

1. Stuart Scott. Pretty much agree, word for word with what was said about him above.

2. Johnny Miller. Man I hate this guy. He is so smug. What is most annoying is how the entire NBC golf team cowers to him.

Miller: "headed to the right isn't it Rog?"

Rog: "started out right John but it actually is going to end up four fairways over, to the left."

3. Chip Caray. Really upsets me that I wasn't able to put him first but Scott and Miller are that bad. His horrid performance has been well documented. If he were a player he would have been shipped to the minors a long time ago. He is the Pete Rose Jr. of baseball announcing. But nobody in charge has figured it out. Nepotism gets blamed. But nobody is handing the Junior Rose an A-Rod contract. How does such a bad announcer get a top gig?

4. Mike Tirico. He wants to be involved in every issue known to man but pretty much refuses to give an opinion on any of them, even though he now has a radio show. He goes out of his way to be neutral and I feel like he thinks his target audience are sports fans who just returned from 20 year journeys to Mars.

5. Gus Johnson. He screams, for the entire game. A QB doesn't drop back to pass. He DROPS BACK TO PASS, GOING DEEP, INCOMPLETE. I-an, not Ian, I-an Eagle is just about as bad. If I was forced to work with either I would just drive myself straight to jail, because I would choke both of them before the game was over.

6. Chris Berman. Agree with the comments above. I loved the nicknames and the schwam. Then I turned 14. Lost all respect for Berman when he was dropping his silly nicknames while working the US Open Golf Tournament a couple of years ago. He will be watching the Masters with Gary McCord if he goes anywhere near Augusta with that crap.

7. Tim McCarver. Not a real big fan of Joe Buck but without him it is scary to think where McCarver might go some of the time. The guy knows his baseball. He just sees a lot of things that don't actually happen. Not sure why he isn't a NBA ref.

8. Dick Vitale. Like Berman I once thought Dukie V. was the coolest thing on earth. I had all his books, videos, cityrock basketball and everything else with his name on it. Then got my license and started dating girls. Vitale would have his lights knocked out by a co worker in any other profession. He wouldn't last as a fry cook at McDonalds with his enthusiasm. Guy needs to relax. Sad thing is he isn't just passionate about hoops, it is everything. Baseball, tennis, Notre Dame football, everything.

Anyone missing?

[Highlifeman21]

My worst 8, in order.

1. Chris Berman
2. Stuart Scott
2. Stephen A. Smith
4. Tim McCarver
4. Joe Morgan
6. Billy Packer
6. Brent Musburger
7. George Grande

Obviously, I had 3 pairs of guys that I could easily swap.

[MaineRed]

Forgot about Grande.

Have to say I love Brent Musburger. But at the same time I understand why others wouldn't be able to stand him.

I could have eaily listed Stephen A. but I don't consider him to be an announcer. He is just an extremely angry man who is on TV.

[Caveat Emperor]

Originally Posted by MaineRed

5. Gus Johnson. He screams, for the entire game. A QB doesn't drop back to pass. He DROPS BACK TO PASS, GOING DEEP, INCOMPLETE. I-an, not Ian, I-an Eagle is just about as bad. If I was forced to work with either I would just drive myself straight to jail, because I would choke both of them before the game was over.

Gus Johnson is a frigging joke.

You're giving him way too much credit in your example, because at least "going deep" is kind of an exciting moment in the NFL. He'll raise his voice for any ordinary or pedestrian occurrence:

"McNabb looking, THROWS OVER THE MIDDLE!!! And Westbrook is stopped for a two yard gain."

Its unbelievably annoying. I can only imagine the pain his friends and family go through in day-to-day existence with this waste of oxygen.

WAITER: "And for you?"
GUS: "I'll have the HOUSE SALAD!!!"

Originally Posted by MaineRed

4. Mike Tirico. He wants to be involved in every issue known to man but pretty much refuses to give an opinion on any of them, even though he now has a radio show. He goes out of his way to be neutral and I feel like he thinks his target audience are sports fans who just returned from 20 year journeys to Mars.

This guy redefines bland. He was probably my least favorite of the ESPN college announcers, and his game hasn't improved since going to Monday Night Football. I can only imagine he lives in a house with gray walls, beige carpet, and one metal folding chair in the middle, with a white noise machine going in the background.

To this list, I humbly add:

Joe Theismann - Possibly the worst "Jock Apologist" of all time. Whenever he called the game, nothing that went wrong was ever the player's fault. The player was always executing correctly, but the gameplan was flawed. Theismann would go out of his way to quickly provide cover fire for any player that came under criticism for play on the field. Nobody, until Kornheiser, ever called BS on him because of who he was -- and because of that, he got away with saying some unbelievably dumb stuff for years.

[max venable]

SKIP Carey is absolutely tops on my list (of least favorite).

George Grande makes my list.

I turn the channel whenever Stephen A. Smith comes on (loud-mouth know-it-all).

Bill Walton wears on me, too.

Can't stand Sean McDonough's voice and demeanor (plus I think he's idiotic).

Mark May drives me nuts...he's anti-Buckeyes and and comes across as holier-than-thou.

Just to name a few.

[guttle11]

Gus Johnson is the man during March Madness. Not so much the rest of the year.

Pam Ward tops my list. Consistently calls players by the wrong name, is usually way off on the spot, and just generally shows nothing more than an infantile knowledge of football.

[MWM]

Heck, I think MIke Tirico is the best in the business. Maybe he's a bit boring, but compared to the trend these days of the personality trying to become the show itself, I'll take Tirico any day of the week. He does what he's supposed to do, and doesn't try to do more. I like that.

Billy Packer is the worst in any sport, with McCarver being a close second. Whoever the Washington Nationals TV guys are are probably the worst I've heard for an individual team.

Musberger is so bad I can't believe he's been around so long. Oh how I miss Keith Jackson.

Mark May is just awful.

And I know this won't be popular here, but Thom Brenneman deserves to be on this list. I've had the "pleasure" of hearing him do some college football this year, and he's just flat out bad. I'd say this regardless of his work with the Reds.

Rick Sutcliffe is next to McCarver when it comes to baseball. I swear he must be drunk.

Jeff Brantley is pretty close, if not worse, than the Nationals' guys.

[camisadelgolf]

Stuart Scott is cheesy, but he doesn't put all his focus on pretending to know more about a topic than he actually does, which is what 90+% of ESPN broadcasters do (and is a huge pet peeve of mine).

[MaineRed]

Originally Posted by MWM

Heck, I think MIke Tirico is the best in the business. Maybe he's a bit boring, but compared to the trend these days of the personality trying to become the show itself, I'll take Tirico any day of the week. He does what he's supposed to do, and doesn't try to do more. I like that.

I don't think as many announcers "are trying to become the show" as you let on. Jim Nantz, Al Michaels, Vern Lunqist and most newtork play by play guys fit this category. If you want to compare Tirico to guys like Stephen A. and Stuart Scott, I'm with you. They make it about them. But as far as calling games I don't think Tirico deserves any extra credit for what you described. He is far from the only one like that.

Here is a typical exchange on the Mike Tirico show:

Kirk Herbstreit: I like so and so to win

Tirico: Really?!?! I'm surprised to hear you say that.

KH: Well who you got?

MT: I'm going to have to gather a little more info before I can make a call. Team A plays great offense. Team B plays great defense, we'll have to wait and see what happens on Saturday, RIGHT HERE ON ESPN.

KH: We are 9 weeks into the season, you haven't seen enough of the two teams?

MT: In fairness to team A and team B ..........

That is why I don't like him. He has no balls. He'll go out of his way to jab Mike Golic (a friend of his at ESPN) during MNF but he won't do what every other radio personality in the world does, SHARE HIS OPINION. He is much too worried about upseting someone. If he gets questioned by a co-host he backs down quicker than Eric Mangini going back for seconds at an all you can eat buffet.

This past Monday Tirico went on various shows and discussed whether he should say, "submarined" when a guy who played at Notre Dame got tackled in that nights game, as a jab at Golic for the loss to Navy. Navy, submarine. Get it?

Then when Allan Rosum got tackled on a kick-off return he broke it out. And man did it sound stupid and rehearsed. In fact I doubt anyone from Notre Dame would have even picked up on it if he didn't stupidly share the fact that he was going to do it. I was so embarassed for him at that moment.

I bet the majority of NFL players see those 3 MNF dorks coming and roll their eyes.

[Cyclone792]

1. Brent Musberger
2. Brent Musberger
3. Brent Musberger
4. Brent Musberger
5. Brent Musberger
6. Brent Musberger
7. Brent Musberger
8. Brent Musberger

That pretty much sums it up for me.

[MaineRed]

Oops. Wrong thread.

[Danny Serafini]

Tom Hamilton is the baseball equivalent to Gus Johnson. "BALL THREE!" Sorry Tom, it's not actually that exciting.

Mark May is an embarrassment. Everyone has their biases, but professionals do what they can to hide theirs. May doesn't bother.

She's not an announcer per se, but how does Jeanie Zelasko keep a job? She's just terrible.

I may be the oddball, but I like Stephen A., at least in small doses. The one hour radio show is probably the perfect amount of time for him.

[Roy Tucker]

Lately, I've enjoyed the ESPN Thursday night college guys, Chris Fowler, Doug Flutie, and Craig James.

Fowler does decent PBP, Flutie actually makes intelligent comments and doesn't have a swelled head, and well, James is little too Terry Bradshaw-ish, but he loosens things up.

I think what I like the most is that the 3 of them seem to genuinely like each others company. It's like sitting with 3 guys on barstools watching the game.

[dabvu2498]

Originally Posted by Roy Tucker

Lately, I've enjoyed the ESPN Thursday night college guys, Chris Fowler, Doug Flutie, and Craig James.

Absolutely. Those guys have a good time and seem to enjoy calling games with each other. All three of them also have some fairly intelligent things to say.

As far as worst:

1a. Dick Vitale
1b. Billy Packer

Dave Campbell is my favorite guy doing color commetary on baseball right now. Dude is an encyclopedia.

[registerthis]

Gotta second the Billy Packer nominations.

A good drinking game is to watch any college b-ball game that Billy is calling and take a sip of bourbon every time he says the phrase "Get up there, big fella'!" You'll be passed-out drunk by halftime.