Vin Scully -- one of the greats in the booth.
So I had a good time at Dodger Stadium yesterday. Got to see a grand slam, back-to-back bombs and even Tommy Lasorda, if you count seeing the top of his head from, like, 20 rows up as actually seeing Tom Lasorda.
Anyway, I’m a big fan of going out to the ballpark — can’t get those Dodger Dogs at home, ya know — but I have to say I did wish I could hear Vin Scully somehow. BSlim sort of stole my thunder the other day when he mentioned the need for real journalists doing the sports talking, and I wanted to second that.
First of all — Slim’s right: Why so many freakin’ guys on every NFL panel? Watching eight guys at a desk, I feel uncomfortable for the guys trying to get a word in. Then I’m disappointed when they do.
I mean, I like Bradshaw. Collinsworth. And in baseball I’m a fan of Joe Morgan and Steve Stone. But really — the greatest announcers have always been non-jocks. And there’s a reason for that: JOCKS ARE DUMB.
Okay, not always. I mean, Tony LaRussa has a law degree, for crying out loud. (I sure hope we get HIM in the booth some day.) Still . . . the greatest announcers were announcers first and foremost: Scully, Harry Carray, Ernie Harwell, Marv Albert, Howard Cosell (Yes, Howard Cossell), Jon Miller — I could go on, so I will: Brent Musburger, Al Michaels, Chris Berman, Bob Costas. Yeah, I know some of those guys annoy you. But so what — they’re good. They’re the real voices of sports. And they don’t (didn’t) just regurgitate cliches and sentence fragments.
I mean, seriously — have you tried watching an Angels game on TV? Painful.
Some ex-jocks can be articulate. I like Rick Sutcliffe. Sometimes I find myself not hating Bill Walton. And Pat Summerall and John Madden were terrific. But far more ex-jocks are like Tim McCarver than Bob Uecker.
Seems like there’s more former jocks in the broadcast booth these days, and it’s sad. But I guess that kind of jibes with the direction of the country right now. We prefer the louder, less intelligent voices to softer but more analytical ones.
Wait I agree with most of this but Chris Berman and Joe Morgan are an abomination from the dark lord Satan hisself. I could tell you why but Mose from the office does it so much better @ http://www.firejoemorgan.com
Walton is the best because you don’t even know if he is joking or serious half the time which is the highest of high comedy, he’s like Norm McDonald in the booth.
No way, man, Joe Morgan is awesome. He’s a great analyst, who’s almost always right. A great compliment to Jon Miller.
I can see where Berman might get on your nerves, but he’s original.