The announcer last night for Phoenix-LA

[ndmb]

Was just downright awful. He referred to Ogwumike multiple times as Oogabooke and once as Ogoogoomake. He referred to Phoenix as the Suns more times than he called them the Mercury, literally. The WNBA says it's trying to get franchises into the black, finding someone to commentator who knows all of the All-stars in the game he's casting might be a better start than digging up one of the officers from Ellis Island.

It (almost) distracted me from Diana's best game of the season.

 

[VAUConnFan]

The announcers used for women's games has always been a sore point with me.

Diana's best game of the season could not have come at a better time. LA almost stole that one.

 

[easttexastrash]

DT was simply the best last night. That was probably one of the best performances of her career.

LA really did a good job Griner. They are the only team that can put multiple athletic players with size on BG and take her out of the game. Kudos to the Sparks. They accomplished that but forget to game plan for DT. .

The announcer was horrendous! I wasn't sure why he wasn't corrected by AMD. It was embarrassing for the WNBA.

 

[VAUConnFan]

There was a time when the better teams could beat Phoenix regardless of how well Ms Taurasi played. Such was not the case this season.

 

[ndmb]

One of the things that can't be overstated here is the coaching of Bronello. One of the special things about Taurasi is that as she goes, so goes the team. Her attitude for a few years in the WNBA was night and day from her attitude when she was at UConn, and it affects her team. She (and the team) started to get some baditude in the fourth quarter; Bronello had the patience to bench her for a few minutes and bring her back in when she was ready to dominate again. I'm sure Corey Gaines was a great guy, but I don't think his "let's all be friends" coaching style was a great fit for Taurasi.

 

[EricLA]

Don't disagree with the OP regarding the announcers. One thing that stood out to me in all of the games is how close they were. I fully expected Phx and Minny to trounce LA and SA.

 

[UConnCat]

One of the things that can't be overstated here is the coaching of Bronello. One of the special things about Taurasi is that as she goes, so goes the team. Her attitude for a few years in the WNBA was night and day from her attitude when she was at UConn, and it affects her team. She (and the team) started to get some baditude in the fourth quarter; Bronello had the patience to bench her for a few minutes and bring her back in when she was ready to dominate again. I'm sure Corey Gaines was a great guy, but I don't think his "let's all be friends" coaching style was a great fit for Taurasi.

Taurasi wasn't "benched" and I didn't see any "baditude," whatever that is. Brondello gave Diana about a minute rest with 7 mins left in the game, just like she did in the 1st half (DT played 36 mins). It paid off as Diana came back and scored 9 of the Mercury's last 17 points. Opponents always try to frustrate Diana by playing her very physically. Last night was no exception but Diana maintained her composure throughout the game.

 

[ndmb]

Taurasi wasn't "benched" and I didn't see any "baditude," whatever that is. Brondello gave Diana about a minute rest with 7 mins left in the game, just like she did in the 1st half (DT played 36 mins). It paid off as Diana came back and scored 9 of the Mercury's last 17 points. Opponents always try to frustrate Diana by playing her very physically. Last night was no exception but Diana maintained her composure throughout the game.

When I talk about baditude, I'm referring to the fact that Taurasi has led the league in technical fouls six out of the last seven seasons. Diana's intermittent negativity had been particularly bad the last few seasons (frankly, if Diana hadn't gotten suspended twice last year, there's no way in hell that she doesn't win MVP), and Russ Pennell and Brondello have had a huge impact in turning it around. Under Gaines last season, the Mercury were 10-11, since then, they've gone 38-9, and an overhaul of the team's attitude and effort on defense has been a huge part of that transition. Last night was a textbook case of Diana's frustrations starting to rise, Brondello sitting her for a few minutes, and Diana coming back ready to win.

I love watching Diana play, and she lead a team like no other player in the world, but she's also the player that stays on the ground to try to make a point about a foul call. She's turned it around a lot this year, and I'm thrilled.

 

[easttexastrash]

I would like to hear less giggly talk between Lobo and this guy. Last night was bad but at least they talked almost soley about the game and not a bunch of silly stuff.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Was just downright awful. He referred to Ogwumike multiple times as Oogabooke and once as Ogoogoomake. He referred to Phoenix as the Suns more times than he called them the Mercury, literally. The WNBA says it's trying to get franchises into the black, finding someone to commentator who knows all of the All-stars in the game he's casting might be a better start than digging up one of the officers from Ellis Island.

It (almost) distracted me from Diana's best game of the season.

He was the worst, obviously one of the Suns announcers. He is not, I'm pretty sure, the fellow that does the locally Fox televised Phoenix games, of which I saw a couple. That announcer knew the team. This was strictly an internet / NBA TV production, it was not on TV locally. Game 3, if necessary, will be on the local Fox station so I expect better. Annie Meyers does both, and actually was pretty good in the couple of games I watched this season.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

When I talk about baditude, I'm referring to the fact that Taurasi has led the league in technical fouls six out of the last seven seasons. Diana's intermittent negativity had been particularly bad the last few seasons (frankly, if Diana hadn't gotten suspended twice last year, there's no way in hell that she doesn't win MVP), and Russ Pennell and Brondello have had a huge impact in turning it around. Under Gaines last season, the Mercury were 10-11, since then, they've gone 38-9, and an overhaul of the team's attitude and effort on defense has been a huge part of that transition. Last night was a textbook case of Diana's frustrations starting to rise, Brondello sitting her for a few minutes, and Diana coming back ready to win.

I love watching Diana play, and she lead a team like no other player in the world, but she's also the player that stays on the ground to try to make a point about a foul call. She's turned it around a lot this year, and I'm thrilled.

I don't agree particularly; while I attended only 5 games last season and saw about 5 this season on TV, I followed games closely in print, both on the net and the Phoenix paper which I get several times a week.

Diana gets frustrated quite easily, sometimes justly, sometimes for effect, and sometimes for no good reason at all. I didn't see Brondello sitting her for it last night, I wouldn't call it negativity and, well, I just don't think coaching has calmed her down and while I do think her marginally better control has helped, it isn't particularly what has turned the Mercury around. She actually plays better when she is mad enough but not too mad.

There also wasn't truly anything wrong with the team's attitude on defense under Westhead and Gaines - they didn't much play it not because of attitude but game-plan. The fact that they now play defense, the fact that Griner has matured in her second season, the fact that Bonner is better used, and most importantly that Taylor is back and playing, combined with the simple "We have Diana and the other teams don't" explains the success of my favorite WNBA team.

 

[Gate81]

Dear NBATV, Please don't ever let that guy work the broadcast for a WNBA game again. Or at least, he needs to first publicly apologize to the Ogwumike family and the Mercury for completely messing up and not doing his homework, not to mention not having enough trust in a "fellow" woman broadcaster who knows a lot more than he does!

BTW for all you Bonner fans, guess who is her sister (with the same birthday)? One hint: UConn recruit but Stanford player mentored last year by none other than Chiney Ogwumike!

 

[Striper69]

The guy was the WORST!

 

[VAUConnFan]

BTW for all you Bonner fans, guess who is her sister (with the same birthday)? One hint: UConn recruit but Stanford player mentored last year by none other than Chiney Ogwumike!

That would be Erica McCall at Stanford.

 

[Gate81]

yes, not quite the string bean of her sister but very "jumpy." She played in the SF Pro Am league this summer and people were wondering who she is! Others there included Rashanda Gray and Brittany Boyd of Cal.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Was just downright awful. He referred to Ogwumike multiple times as Oogabooke and once as Ogoogoomake. He referred to Phoenix as the Suns more times than he called them the Mercury, literally. The WNBA says it's trying to get franchises into the black, finding someone to commentator who knows all of the All-stars in the game he's casting might be a better start than digging up one of the officers from Ellis Island.

It (almost) distracted me from Diana's best game of the season.

With so many more sports outlets than years ago, it was inevitable that the networks would run out of qualified announcers. I still miss Foghorn Leghorn announcing college football games. Oops, I mean Keith Jackson.

 

[pap49cba]

Missed this one at the time....

Kara Lawson @karalawson20 · Aug 22
The Suns pull it out, did a good job guarding Ohgamookey.......

 

[RadyLady]

Missed this one at the time....

Kara Lawson @karalawson20 · Aug 22
The Suns pull it out, did a good job guarding Ohgamookey..

LOL, was wondering why this old thread was resurrected...now I know why.....