Favorite broadcaster

[Huggy]

Another great hockey voice (might have missed him if he was mentioned here): the late Dan Kelly, the voice of the Blues for many years who did such a great job on the 1987 Canada Cup. Kelly's son John sounds just like his dad on the Blues' games these days.

 

[I Should Coco]

Chicagoland division:

Always enjoyed Wayne Larrivee's call of Bears games on the radio (before he defected to the Packers).

Not a Cubs fan, but Pat Hughes is a pro's pro who somehow managed to keep fans informed amid Ron Santo's ramblings.

White Sox haven't had great announcers, but John Rooney was there when I used to listen to games working in the dairy cooler at Jewel. He stayed on through the 2005 World Series season, then went to the Cardinals and promptly called another World Series champion's season.

 

[FileNotFound]

I grew up in a part of Missouri where you could follow the Cardinals and Royals equally, so Jack Buck and Denny Matthews were the voices of my childhood. I'm partial to them. Matthews makes me sad because he has hung on far too long, but it did warm my heart to hear him call the AL pennant clincher in 2015 after all those years of watching ****ty baseball.

I once heard Bob Costas as a fill-in on a midseason Cardinals broadcast, and he was transcendent. Just such a good play-by-play guy.

But for the overall feeling of "Man, I'm glad he's calling this game," it's gotta be Al Michaels. He just sounds like the guy you'd like to sit at the bar and watch the game with. Knows when to talk and when to shut up.

 

[playthrough]

Reds fan bias here -- Marty Brennaman. He wouldn't get hired today with his brutal honesty.

Seconded on Al Michaels, I am genuinely excited when SNF comes on just because of him. Tirico is very solid but it's a letdown for me when he's filling in.

 

[garrow]

Definitely Harry Kalas. Between Phils' games and his NFL Films work, he tops the list for me. I can still hear him saying "Rico Brogna"........

 

[Songbird]

"Rico Brogna"

... will always get to have this.

 

[WriteThinking]

I've probably not listened to anyone regularly enough for them to become a real favorite since Chick Hearn, whom I loved. But I've always liked Bob Costas. And, I know he falls into the color analyst category, but I've always thought John McEnroe was the best at tennis. So smart and insightful, I tended to think of him as the lead broadcaster no matter who was on with him.

 

[DanOregon]

Rewatched an old master copy of a 1974 Cowboys-Raiders game on YouTube (worth googling) - 1. I'd forgotten how great Cosell was. Arrogant, of course - but more often than not, absolutely correct with his facts. 2. Gifford was really bad with play by play, not sure he had a bad spotter (missed names) or not (I think his spotter was future TV exec Terry O'Neil), but describing the end of the third quarter as the first? Weird. 3. Alex Karras probably tried too hard to replace Gifford, but he worked well in the booth. (Prescient Cosell comment during the broadcast - "I don't think people realize that John Madden is really a funny guy, I'm surprised nobody's tried to bring that out of him more.").
I wish the hot take artists working today were half as correct as Cosell was. He really should be honored by Canton. Shoot, the honored a guy who made his career doing a half-assed impression of the guy.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Haven’t seen Foster Hewitt mentioned

 

[heyabbott]

Marty Glickman. The voice of my youth.

 

[Tighthead]

Rewatched an old master copy of a 1974 Cowboys-Raiders game on YouTube (worth googling) - 1. I'd forgotten how great Cosell was. Arrogant, of course - but more often than not, absolutely correct with his facts. 2. Gifford was really bad with play by play, not sure he had a bad spotter (missed names) or not (I think his spotter was future TV exec Terry O'Neil), but describing the end of the third quarter as the first? Weird. 3. Alex Karras probably tried too hard to replace Gifford, but he worked well in the booth. (Prescient Cosell comment during the broadcast - "I don't think people realize that John Madden is really a funny guy, I'm surprised nobody's tried to bring that out of him more.").
I wish the hot take artists working today were half as correct as Cosell was. He really should be honored by Canton. Shoot, the honored a guy who made his career doing a half-assed impression of the guy.

I've watched the 1992 NFC Championship game on YouTube a few times. cowboys -Niners, in the mud, Madden and Summerall.

It's really striking how good they are, and with fewer distractions and interruptions. Clean screen, very few sideline interruptions if any. The content is the game and the commentary - very few graphics packages or prepared material.

Summerall understood that we have eyes. "Aikman drops back...Emmitt Smith...he's in"

They also rarely broke down penalty calls. I find some local hockey broadcasts are as much officiating commentary as game commentary.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Eric Nadel, Brad Sham and Chuck Cooperstein are the Dallas entries. I'm too young for Verne Lundquist but going by what I was told, he's in the mix. Ralph Strangis was very good on Stars hockey but he had some unspecified issues and punched out too soon.

Local guy Mark Followill is making a name for himself in U.S. soccer as well as Mavs TV calls on the local Death Bally channel.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Rewatched an old master copy of a 1974 Cowboys-Raiders game on YouTube (worth googling) - 1. I'd forgotten how great Cosell was. Arrogant, of course - but more often than not, absolutely correct with his facts. 2. Gifford was really bad with play by play, not sure he had a bad spotter (missed names) or not (I think his spotter was future TV exec Terry O'Neil), but describing the end of the third quarter as the first? Weird. 3. Alex Karras probably tried too hard to replace Gifford, but he worked well in the booth. (Prescient Cosell comment during the broadcast - "I don't think people realize that John Madden is really a funny guy, I'm surprised nobody's tried to bring that out of him more.").
I wish the hot take artists working today were half as correct as Cosell was. He really should be honored by Canton. Shoot, the honored a guy who made his career doing a half-assed impression of the guy.

All of us kids did impressions of the guy back in the day. It took us growing up to appreciate his insight.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Haven’t seen Foster Hewitt mentioned

"Coming to you from high in the gondola overlooking Maple Leaf Gardens." Southern Ontario Wednesday night version of HNIC, a staple of my youth.

 

[heyabbott]

Rewatched an old master copy of a 1974 Cowboys-Raiders game on YouTube (worth googling) - 1. I'd forgotten how great Cosell was. Arrogant, of course - but more often than not, absolutely correct with his facts. 2. Gifford was really bad with play by play, not sure he had a bad spotter (missed names) or not (I think his spotter was future TV exec Terry O'Neil), but describing the end of the third quarter as the first? Weird. 3. Alex Karras probably tried too hard to replace Gifford, but he worked well in the booth. (Prescient Cosell comment during the broadcast - "I don't think people realize that John Madden is really a funny guy, I'm surprised nobody's tried to bring that out of him more.").
I wish the hot take artists working today were half as correct as Cosell was. He really should be honored by Canton. Shoot, the honored a guy who made his career doing a half-assed impression of the guy.

Cosell should be in Canton.

In hindsight he’s the greatest sports broadcast journalist and analyst since TV became ubiquitous Not necessarily the best but the greatest.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

 

[HanSenSE]

Feel similarly spoiled growing up in Northern California. Of course, nobody touches Bill King. And it's the only place Harry Caray's routine didn't work.

Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, Al Michaels, Hank Greenwald and Jon Miller on Giants radio. Much the same cast on TV, but Kruk and Kuip are wonderful.
Simmons was a good football announcer too ("Gets away again!"). I appreciate Greg Papa, but comes across as a homer doing 49ers radio.
Tim Roye and Jim Barnett are a good pairing on Dubs radio. Bob Fitzgerald on TV? I'd rather follow the game on Twitter.
Didn't follow hockey closely and the Seals were barely on radio, so no memories of that, so the only local voices I know for pucks are Dan Rusanowsky (radio) and Randy Hahn (TV).

 

[DanOregon]

Rusanowsky is tremendous on the Sharks. Don't forget Joe Angel did a stint with the Giants before heading elsewhere, they also had Lindsey Nelson post Simmons and pre-Greenwald. The A's had Wayne Hagin before he went to Colorado and the A's current announcer, Ken Korach is really quite good - but they all pale next to Bill King. I liked Papa on the Warriors and the Raiders.

Special mention for Barry Tompkins - longtime Pac-12 football and hoops guy (and a dozen other things) - always admired how prepared he was for whatever he was doing.

 

[dixiehack]

For best college pxp I’m necessarily working off incomplete information, and it seems like a lot of the legends are gone. But Paul Rogers of Louisville probably has the best combination of longevity and still-sharp skills. And as you’d expect given where he lives, good on horse racing too. If Cards fans love a UK grad, he has to be doing something right.