Which sports announcers (any sport) do you LIKE or HATE?

[PanthersATL]

Thoughts from the Huddle is that everybody pretty much likes (in no particular order): Tony Romo, Greg Olsen, Skip Caray, Chip Caray....    folks seem to hate Troy Aikman, Booger, and whoever is the fourth string FOX commentary team that gets stuck calling the Panthers games.

Here's one person who has some praise for Joe Buck: 

https://defector.com/its-time-i-lived-my-truth-i-love-joe-buck/

While not a sports announcer, I have respect for Ryan Seacrest's hosting abilities. Like Dick Clark before him, having years of radio experience is a fantastic introduction to being able to be a professional host. Don't overshadow the event, hit the post, get out on time.  (Things that Tyra on DWTS is still struggling with, but that's in a different thread)

I don't know if the sports announcing booth should require former players/coaches to be on the microphone. It's certainly worked for when FOX NFL started, and CBS and everyone else seemed to follow their lead. But those folks are due to retire eventually -- who would be next in line to step up?  The Mannings are too entertaining to be locked into "making football picks"....

[LinvilleGorge]

Gus Johnson just makes watching college football more fun.

I always despised Dick Vitale. The guy just came across as thinking that he and his commentary were bigger then the game. 

But the worst announcer of all time might be Bill Walton. What a complete pompous fuging ass. No one cares about your trips to the desert or Grateful Dead concerts or whatever the fug else you're barely coherently rambling on about. We're trying to watch a fuging college basketball game and all you're doing is acting like the game is an annoying distraction from you telling your completely unrelated and irrelevant stories. Go fug yourself. I hate the guy on a personal level because of this poo. It's just blatantly apparent at how arrogant and self centric he is.

Well, that was a pretty solid rant.

[PanthersATL]

I do like pretty much all the grand slam tennis commentators (mostly - there's one british-sounding guy I don't care for, but he doesn't cover the big matches). 

John McEnroe and his brother Patrick are usually entertaining when the match itself is not.  While he's knowledgeable, I'm not a fan of Darren Cahill's attempts to add personality to his talk, as we think he tends to talk down to the audience and his partners along the way. (ex:  he calls Chris Evert "chrissy", which sounds belittling)   

[Brooklyn 3.0]

Like: Smoltz, Michael Kay, Paul O'Neill, Jim Nantz, Greg Gumbel

[Anybodyhome]

Down to a person, just about everyone on the NHL Network is very good. No big egos and no idiots who think they're bigger or better than the other guy.

Football guys are a problem. Everyone seems deathly afraid of calling a bad cell exactly what it is- a bad call. Aikman is boring; Romo is as overhyped as they get and Jim Nance is nothing but a huge Cowboy and Tom Brady nut-hugger. Hell, the 2 best guys doing football right now are both named Manning.

And I do like Joe Buck.

[PanthersATL]

1 hour ago, Anybodyhome said:

Hell, the 2 best guys doing football right now are both named Manning.

And I do like Joe Buck.

tonight's Manningcast is supposed to have Al Michaels in the first quarter.  

[Happy Panther]

jonathan vilma makes me want to punch something

[Davidson Deac II]

Most of them don't really bother me, but I did get to the point that I couldn't stand listening to Dick Vitale.  Over the last few years of his career, there was to much rambling and very little discussion of the game he was working.  Ironically, if you listen to his early years, he was insightful, and competent.  But he became a Duke obsessed caricature.  Even some Duke fans got tired of it.  

Edited November 15, 2021 by Davidson Deac II