Announcers

[NY Fan]

TRU Equally useless; FS1 only slightly less. None hold a candle to SNY!

 

[Jonathan14]

Yeah, I simply had to turn off the volume several times during this game! I mean, what are they getting paid for the game or talking about their own lives and everything else besides the action on the court? I’m guessing Peacock won the contract for the big east this year and and maybe years to come but it’s pretty rough listening to these two.

I agree completely. I thought the combination of announcing and directing made last night's game vs. Villanova really hard to watch. As a former player, Meghan McKeown must have some insights to share, but she doesn't edit herself at all, so what comes out is a rambling stream of often conflicting statements. I think she'd be twice as good if she said half as much.

One thing I really enjoyed about Candace Parker's commentary is that she used basketball terminology and explained what she meant, so listeners unfamiliar with certain expressions or concepts could learn. McKeown must have used the term "rhythm shooter" 97 times last night, and I'm still not convinced she knows what it means. Is everyone who makes a shot other than a layup a great rhythm shooter?

I also think the director cut to replays way too often, sometimes missing the beginning of live action. It was very herky jerky.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Well, it was Kenny Albert
He learned from his dad how to call a game

(Speaking of Olympic Hockey)

Yes, and he has more than a trace of the Albert voice.

There are announcers who do women's basketball pretty well. Some are ruined by their color commentator and others are terrible and ruin their largely competent color commentator.

My wife was wondering if we could teach Tara Lipinski and Johnny Wier how to color commentate every sport. They are so good at what they do, some might find it repetitive but you have different events with different audiences (ice dance / pairs / singles) and after all the action is mildly repetitive. But they describe what you are watching without overwhelming it.

If you really want my complaint - it is announcers who are so busy talking that they call "out of bounds" a foul, don't know who the foul was on because they were not looking or listening, etc. Happens a lot. The one announcer I particularly like as either color commentator or game call - and the only announcer that does both, so far as I know - is Brenda VanLangen.

 

[Urshurak]

Announcers this season have been pretty poor. UConn deserves better than that.

I do like that one guy that says “You bet!” After almost every 3 point shot. Cracks me up every time.

 

[Bald Husky]

Announcers this season have been pretty poor. UConn deserves better than that.

I do like that one guy that says “You bet!” After almost every 3 point shot. Cracks me up every time.

Ryan Ruocco

Announcers this season have been pretty poor. UConn deserves better than that.

I do like that one guy that says “You bet!” After almost every 3 point shot. Cracks me up every time.

 

[Vancat]

as long as they don't inflict us with Monica McNutt.

 

[Linart]

Listen to one of the men's games. The announcers are so much better (Thank you, Donny!) It's actually insulting to women's basketball. It's like they feel that women's basketball is so boring that the fans would rather listen to them jabber.

 

[Dugway]

We certainly know what Meghan McKeown's favorite word is; 'physicality'.
Over/Under Challenge: Did UConn make more free throws in that game than the number of times that Meghan used that word?

"The physicality that Villanova is playing with ...."

"She has become a name stay in their program, and part of that is the physicality that ..."

"She is countering the physicality with her own physicality ..."

Ugh! We all should recognize that this was not really even a word. John Madden made that word up in a broadcast about 25 years ago, and other announcers just started to use it. He also made up the word "Three-Peat" as well. "You see there is a repeat, well first you win the championship, then the next year you repeat, they are now going for the three-peat". Madden was loveable because he was a big oaf but let's be honest, he was not a ninth grade English teacher!

For what it is worth, there is no such word as Trickeration either. There is no Verticality....

 

[Huskee11]

Listen to one of the men's games. The announcers are so much better (Thank you, Donny!) It's actually insulting to women's basketball. It's like they feel that women's basketball is so boring that the fans would rather listen to them jabber.

They certainly do jabber. That is the biggest problem in my view.

The second biggest problem is that very little of what they say is useful or interesting. It rapidly becomes annoying background noise.

It all makes sense if they have been told to never allow there to be one second of dead air. Yet we know that many of the greatest announcers are or were very comfortable allowing the game and the fans to breathe a bit.

There are exceptions. I do like Ryan and Rebecca. And surprisingly, some of the announcers doing lower level Division One games on ESPN+ aren't bad.

The thing I don't get - who is it at these networks who selects the announcers, guides them, critiques them, etc.? How do they train? Isn't there someone in charge to give them guidance? Who are they trying to emulate? Could someone please tell them that less is more?

How could those people in charge think everything is just fine?

 

[FanSince17]

They certainly do jabber. That is the biggest problem in my view.

The second biggest problem is that very little of what they say is useful or interesting. It rapidly becomes annoying background noise.

It all makes sense if they have been told to never allow there to be one second of dead air. Yet we know that many of the greatest announcers are or were very comfortable allowing the game and the fans to breathe a bit.

There are exceptions. I do like Ryan and Rebecca. And surprisingly, some of the announcers doing lower level Division One games on ESPN+ aren't bad.

The thing I don't get - who is it at these networks who selects the announcers, guides them, critiques them, etc.? How do they train? Isn't there someone in charge to give them guidance? Who are they trying to emulate? Could someone please tell them that less is more?

How could those people in charge think everything is just fine?

I suggested in an earlier post that the "industry" is having growing pains. Things are happening fast. Last night I watched parts of 7 women's college basketball games. (mostly keeping up with Tenn and Ole Miss) That's insane. I used to be a transportation guy. Some days you were happy to have a fanny in every seat.

 

[fomalhaut]

Poor announcers aside, what I cannot understand is horrible technical glitches, like losing the onscreen scoreboard for half a quarter at a time. Tru-TV is affiliated with TBS/TNT, and Peacock with NBC, all of whom have been broadcasting sports for decades. Are they just trying to run the streaming services on the cheap?

 

[Bills Fan]

They certainly do jabber. That is the biggest problem in my view.

The second biggest problem is that very little of what they say is useful or interesting. It rapidly becomes annoying background noise.

It all makes sense if they have been told to never allow there to be one second of dead air. Yet we know that many of the greatest announcers are or were very comfortable allowing the game and the fans to breathe a bit.

There are exceptions. I do like Ryan and Rebecca. And surprisingly, some of the announcers doing lower level Division One games on ESPN+ aren't bad.

The thing I don't get - who is it at these networks who selects the announcers, guides them, critiques them, etc.? How do they train? Isn't there someone in charge to give them guidance? Who are they trying to emulate? Could someone please tell them that less is more?

How could those people in charge think everything is just fine?

As a contrast to the constant jabber I so enjoyed the telecast last night of the USA women's skater's Gold Medal performance as the TV announcers let the air breath. Silence is so welcome when watching a sports event w/o meaningless story telling, especially about personal issues, They identified the highlights of the performance as they happened, but other than that allowed us to appreciate what we were watching, w/o bringing up past performances that they had some connection with.

Just let us know basically who is coming in and out of the game and who fouls are on. Otherwise, we have eyes. Give me C. Parker on every game and I would be very happy!

 

[tomcat]

During the Villanova game, at one point a foul was called on a Villanova player. No shooting, just a ball turnover. Think the announcer explained what happened? Nope, and it was not readily apparent to viewers (at least not to me) what had happened. Just suddenly, UConn had the ball back, and the announcers (better than those calling Villanova, but still not great) just kept talking and talking.

To a certain extent, this is caused by the fact that so many games are being broadcast now that announcers are being hired with (it seems to me ) minimal training and little to no experience. The firs chair is usually a sportscaters and the second chair someone who played women's basketball.

 

[FreeDogs]

I know that this has been discussed before, but today’s announcers were absolutely awful. Never identified the fouling players or what was the cause of a turnover. They just continued to talk about anything and everything that was not about the game action. Really, really miss SNY.

This has been the worst year in 32 years of watching the women play on TV for announcers. Id rather have no announcers and watch it like I was in the gym.

 

[OldSchooler]

While this thread is still open, I just want to give a shout-out to Kenny Albert for the job he and his companions are doing behind the mic in bringing us the play-by-play for the men's and women's Olympic hockey games. Hockey is the fastest and definitely the most challenging of all sports to describe, and Albert is among the best. He gets that from his father, Marv Albert, who was the radio voice of the NY Rangers for many years. I used to watch Rangers games on TV, turn the sound down, and listen to Marv Albert give the radio play-by-play. He never missed a single player touching the puck. Even more amazing, if the radio broadcast resumed 5 or 10 seconds after a commercial break, he would catch us up on every player who touched the puck before his mic went live.

 

[WiseWillie]

Yep...listen to Bob Joyce who is excellent

I've tried that but there seems to be a lag at least on my tv between the radio and tv. Maybe someone has a way to rectify this.

 

[mainerhuski]

I watched part of the Red Sox v Twins game today & the Twins’ announcers were horrible. At one point they were talking about one player’s brother-in-law’s auto skills & some other relative who was a gymnast 🤦‍♀️

 

[OldSchooler]

I've tried that but there seems to be a lag at least on my tv between the radio and tv. Maybe someone has a way to rectify this.

Usually it's the radio transmission that is broadcast on a several seconds delay. If you have a smart TV, sometimes you can play with the pause/play button on your remote until you have the video synchronized with the radio broadcast.

 

[TWG236]

Try downloading the Varisty app? It allows you to sync the tv and radio broadcasts. I’ve been able to sync several games, but because I don’t have cable, and only use the internet, sometimes the tv is so far behind the radio it’s hard to sync.

 

[Pharos]

Yes, and he has more than a trace of the Albert voice.

There are announcers who do women's basketball pretty well. Some are ruined by their color commentator and others are terrible and ruin their largely competent color commentator.

My wife was wondering if we could teach Tara Lipinski and Johnny Wier how to color commentate every sport. They are so good at what they do, some might find it repetitive but you have different events with different audiences (ice dance / pairs / singles) and after all the action is mildly repetitive. But they describe what you are watching without overwhelming it.

If you really want my complaint - it is announcers who are so busy talking that they call "out of bounds" a foul, don't know who the foul was on because they were not looking or listening, etc. Happens a lot. The one announcer I particularly like as either color commentator or game call - and the only announcer that does both, so far as I know - is Brenda VanLangen.

Ms Lipinski and Mr Wier are very good at what they do. They explain. They limit hype. Their knowledge of what they are announcing is very high level and accessible. An example of announcing from a different world: BBC announcers of Wimbledon regularly keep silent and let their audience just watch.