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Let's Talk Play-By-Play

T

Tynosaur

With college football rolling along, here's a subject most all of us can argue about...who's the best play-by-play announcer you've ever heard. No limits...no reason to limit it just to college football.

After this past weekend's fantabulous ending to the Millsaps/Trinity game in Jackson, I'd have to say the nameless play-by-play guy and his color guy did one heck of a job calling that last play. Homers? You bet! Exciting? Tremendously so! Have you seen it? Nooooo? Well, here it is:

http://hotair.com/archives/2007/10/28/video-trinity-vs-millsaps/

As an alum of the Majors, it was hard to see us lose, but achieving football immortality of a sort ain't all bad!

As for my best play-by-play guy, I'd have to say Jack Cristal of Mississippi State is hard to beat and apparently immortal. On the national level, Keith Jackson and nowadays Al Michaels get my vote.

How about you?
 
I like Cristal for a local kind of guy. Me thinks Michaels is horrible, living off his "do you believe in miracles" days for the last ten years. I still get shivers when I hear Dick Enberg doing a football game, just his style. I don't want to say Joe Buck but he seems to be everywhere, has somewhat grown on me.
 
I agree about Jack Cristil at MSU, he's the best local that there is. Ron Franklin of ESPN and Verne Lundquist of CBS are my favorite national football PBPers.

Baseball, John Rooney of the Cardinals and Dan Shulman of ESPN Radio do the best job; I have finally come to the realization that the reason Tim McCarver sounded so good with the Mets for all those years is that he was sitting next to Ralph Kiner.
 
I've seen that ending several times this weekend. My niece recently graduated from Milsaps and was not happy, but even she appreciated the spectacle.

As for play-by-play, I grew up listening to John ward, so that's my radio guy.
For television, all said and done, I gotta go with Keith Jackson.
Although the list of guys I enjoyed listening to and watching extends far beyond those two.

I think Joe Buck does a good job.
 
One thing John Ward did well was to remember that, especially on radio, the audience is coming and going all the time. Few things are as important as the score and how much time is left.
Grew up listening to Stan Torgerson doing Ole Miss and Jack Cristil doing State.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Coach Dave Dunaway doing the play-by-play for the Greenville High Hornets on WJPR. Coach Dunaway was my 7th grade principal, and did a weekend evening shift at the local easy listening station. His theme song was "Dear Hearts". His son Dave, Jr went on to do middays at JDX before the big Bill Tanner "walk out", then he was a screaming night jock with Y-100 in Miami.
 
One person that I thought was FAR too underappreciated as Tom Stocker. I wish he would've gotten his shot when Jack Buck died.

There's a name that likely will mean almost nothing around here, but the Green Bay Packers play-by-play guy for about 30 years had been Jim Irwin. He had done the radio PBP alongside Max McGee's color commentary and most of the time, during a Packer game, you'd turn down the TV and listen to the radio broadcast. You've likely heard them in old Packer highlights, with Jim's clipped delivery and Max's drawl. To a Wisconsinite, Jim & Max means the same as Harry Caray or Johnny Most or Vin Scully to their respective fans and Jim was great at what he did.

That reminds me...I need to find the radio broadcast for SB XXXI somewhere....

I love what Joe Buck does, but there's one thing that bugs me that he does. If there's a close call at the plate or on the football field and the color commentary person decides to take a position and the replays show that the color guy is wrong, Joe won't point out that the replay actually shows the other way. He'll defer to the color person until that color guy decides that he was wrong. I get respect, but it makes him look a little dense when he does that because he keeps setting up the replay and says NOTHING about how it shows the opposite of what the color guy says.
 
(TWEET!!!)

"ILLEGAL SHAKING OF THE HEAD ON #RADIOSAUR...FIFTEEN YARDS AND LOSS OF DOWN!"
 
radiosaur said:
No one has mentioned Jack Eaton?
Click to expand...


Speaking of Jack, saw him last week - he's working on his latest hip replacement - #4 he said. Still writing poetry for tigers and tires and t-shirts - OH MY!!
 
radiosaur said:
No one has mentioned Jack Eaton?
Click to expand...

Great Ceasar's Ghost! He was one of the best. I've got some old tapes of him and they are fun to listen to every now and then.
 
Eaton was good

Stocker was good and not appreciated at all.

Dave Wo, Lapides and Marky B. are all examples of how not to broadcast sports.
 
BookerT said:
Eaton was good

Stocker was good and not appreciated at all.

Dave Wo, Lapides and Marky B. are all examples of how not to broadcast sports.
Click to expand...


I'd go with that. My picks would be Eaton for best PBP, Stocker for most unsung.
 
I'll throw a name out there - mainly because he added quite a bit of himself to his broadcasts.

Don Poier.

I enjoyed listening to his calls of the game more than actually watching them - he was so descriptive. And as I stated above, he really threw himself into it, the proverbial true fan. He loved doing play by play and you could tell.
 
On numerous occasions, I have told Jack that he should publish a book with his poems with the proceeds going to his favorite charity....or even better, release a CD with him reciting the poems. It would be an instant classic! He always says "Nah....no one would be interested in that". I disagree....what say you?......would you buy it?
 
I gotta go with Zeke on this one. Granted, I may be a just a bit biased, but Don Poier was a brilliant broadaster, a fantastic person, and a great friend. He basically taught me damn near everything I know about the sport of basketball. The day we lost Don was a horribly sad day in everyone's life within the Grizzlies organization, and I would imagine, with the Memphis listeners as well. I wouldn't be where I am today were it not for Don (and his wonderful wife Barb as well). He was one of those people that you could honestly say....'if there were more people like Don on this planet, it would be a far better place.'

Aaaah, what fond memories of listening to Grizzlies away broadcasts on the radio while watching the TV broadcast sitting at the bar at RP Tracks. PBR anyone? On me. Just go in and ask for Mike Oliva. I think I may still have a tab there.......

JPS
 
Don Poier was a incredible person, fantastic to know and to be around. Sad how you forget when people are not around. Stocker was very underaprecaitd by everyone in the area, including the birds I think. Cardinals should have given him a shot, just a solid guy.

What you talking bout Willis? Everyone knows Lapides INVENTED sports talk in Memphis. And the orld for that matter. WOJO? hahahahahahahahahaha....sad really.

Big Jack was great but seriously, did anyone ever notice that what was happening on the court/field wasn't what was coing out of Jack's mouth? But I loved me some Big Jack
 
I remember only too well one Saturday night at Reelfoot Lake years ago. I was sitting in my car in front of one of those ageless fish camp motels listening to the Tigers play. I don't remember who but I had somehow picked up WMC way up there in the NW corner of the state and could hear Jack pretty well. It was an exciting game and was in the second half when I picked it up. By the radium glow of the minute hand on my wristwatch, I stared in amazement as 27 minutes ticked off and Jack NEVER GAVE THE SCORE!!! I swear it before God and three other responsible witnesses. I nearly beat in the dashboard on my used Olds 98, cussing Jack like a sailor just off a three month voyage.
That's why I can't put Jack in my pantheon of great broadcasters, though he was fun to listen to as he accused referees of unspeakable acts with barnyard creatures over the years and spoke glowingly of Spook Murphy ad infinitum.
For those who just hated his airwork, well...you don't know Jack!
 
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