Gus Johnson Gets the NY Times Treatment

Johnson gives me an ear-ache. That personal bias aside, do you think a major OTA network would give a prime play-by-play assignment to a black announcer? The only one I can recall is Greg Gumbel doing a couple of Super Bowls for CBS before Nantz took the primary NFL job.

I know Bill Russell and (I think) Magic Johnson did some color on NBA Finals back in the day and can't recall if Mark Jackson does NBS Finals now. Clark Kellogg has the color spot on CBS after Billy Packer retired. Not sure if Joe Morgan ever did a World Series on TV (I know he and Miller did ESPN Radio for a few years). Can't think of anyone else off the top of my head.

 

I think Gumbel doing the highest profile spotting event in America on multiple occasions indicates that they would.

 

Larry Bird, BABY!

 

Loved the profile. It gave you insight onto what makes Gus Johnson the kind of announcer he is. Best graf:

This is reflected in his style, which Johnson described as: “Emotional. Passionate. Noncritical. Fair. A little crazy. A lot crazy. A little wild.” For years, he tried to sound witty, like ESPN anchors, or let the pictures speak for themselves. Yet his best success came when he acted like himself.

 

Outside of Johnson and Gumbel, I can't think of that many black pxp guys. Paul Olden comes to mind, but, of course, he's got the Yankee Stadium gig now.

Russell worked for ABC when it had the NBA package in the early 70s and was doing a show in afternoon drive on KABC radio. But if you want to go way back, wasn't Jackie Robinson part of ABC's MLB package in 1965?

 

In terms of PXP:

- Mark Jones at ESPN
- Mike Tirico
- John Saunders (I think he still does some NBA games for ABC, although I'm not 100 percent on that)
- Ron Pitts

 

Of those, only Tirico seems to get anything close to really high-profile assignments.

 

1. Joe Morgan did World Series for NBC in '90s with Bob Costas.
2. Isn't that Gus' voice as the announcer in the Buffalo Wild Wings ad where weird stuff keeps the football game going?

 

If only Bryant Gumbel's career had panned out.

 

Did James Brown ever do play by play or has he always been a studio guy?

 

Yeah, I'd say the Masters, US Open, British Open and NFL are high-profile.

Curt Menefee has also done pxp. So I think there are actually several black pxp guys who've done very high-profile work.

For once I wish we could keep race out of it. Does it really have anything to do with Gus Johnson's work? Why must he be "the only good" or "the only high-profile..."? The fact is he isn't, and race really doesn't relate to this discussion ... in my opinion.

 

Dave Sims is a very solid play by play guy.