Best CBS hoops play-by-play guy?

[Big Dog]

Honestly, if exciting things are happening, I want Gus Johnson on the call. Enberg is WAY past his prime. Nantz is over-exposed between golf, football, and hoops. Lundquist is okay, but doesn't do the legendary call well.

Gus's call of the final minutes of the Vermont win over Syracuse, and in particular his use of his Al McGuire-borrowed phrase at the end of regulation in yesterday's LVille-WVU game ("Holy Mackerel") were a couple of my favorite calls of the tournament.

Regardless though, contrast all of these guys with ESPN's embarrassing collection of bums. The worst offender of course is Mike Patrick. Patrick has single-handedly deprived the word "sensational" of all meaning. He uses it to describe everything and everybody (the same is true for his NFL games). Combine him with Vitale, and you have the worst pair in the country, which is why I haven't watched an ACC tournament game in years. My stomach turns just thinking about it.

Enberg used the word sensational during yesterday's Illinois-Arizona classic, and it was so appropriate. Its a word to be used sparingly.

Another Patrick favortie? "Tremendous".

[DFW HOYA]

Quick thoughts on each:

1. I think Enberg's OK, except he was at a much higher level in his NBC days.
2. Verne Lundquist is underrated for hoops, but his real specialty is football, having served as the play by play voice of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970's. To this day, most Cowboys fans turn the TV sound down and listen to the radio simulcast, which was a promotional message started during Lundquist's years at the microphone.
3. Agreed, Jim Nantz is overexposed. Not on the level of Curt Gowdy or Brent Musberger in their prime, but overexposed nonetheless.
4. Gus Johnson is a yeller. I'll take Dave Sims over him anyday.
5. Mike Patrick would be much better if he weren't stuck with Dick Vitale and the ESPN Conference (aka ACC) games. (And he's no Jim Thacker, either...)
5. Craig Bolerjack? Eh....

Two announcers I'd like to hear do an NCAA game: NHL voice (and Georgetown law alumnus) Gary Thorne, and former Big East play by play man Len Berman. In the early 80's on the syndicated Monday games, Berman was great.

[HoyaTejano]

I think the weirdest combination I heard during the tournament was Brad Sham (voice of our Dallas Cowboys) and John Thompson in the early rounds.

I feel Enberg is trying to out-Enberg himself that it becomes a form of self-parody. Dan Patrick is hyperbole.

For my money I still am a fan of Verne Lundquist and Raftery.

[Big Dog]

It may just be that Enberg isn't as comfortable with his partner as some of the others. There's a big age gap between Enberg and Bilas. Its just too bad Al's not around anymore.

"All love affairs end. Eventually the girl is gonna put curlers in her hair."

[Eurostar]

Lundquist and Raftery were terrible during the UNC vs. Villanova game. They were outwardly pro-UNC.. you could tell they wanted a UNC vs. Illinois final. And their decision at the end that the travel was a good call was absurd. I dont know where they learned to count steps. Also "With a Kiss!" might be the most annoying signature phrase in sports.

[aggypryd]

I can tolerate just about any of them if Raftery is doing the game...

[RDF]

DFW brought up the man who I grew up with--Len Berman. Listening to him and the Raf was truly a treat. Mike Gorman wasn't bad with Raf either.

Craig Bolerjack reminds me of a modern day Gary Bender and I liked his voice--called '82 and '83 Final 4 and was very solid--still is as NBA announcer.

Gus Johnson's good and genuine. He might yell a bit, but at least it's enthusiastic and not annoying like a Vitale.

For my money, the best play by play guy in the business right now is Dan Schulman and he should be the Voice of the Big East--period. He understands how to set up his partner and also is knowledgeable about the teams playing the game and doesn't stray off topic of teams involved in the game. I like him and Len Elmore or Bill Raftery, but can't stand him with Vitale because I despise Vitale calling games.

Jay Bilas has done a nice job and is really improved as an announcer and always good in studio.

Nantz is okay, but I don't like how he misses entire CBB season and shows up at Tournament Time.

Lundquist is hitting rock bottom.

Ian Eagle isn't to bad in my opinion. He does a good job of being excited by not obnoxious and works with Jim Spanarkle to form a solid team of announcers.

[TBird41]

To be honest, none of them could hold a candle to the combo of John Thompson and Kevin Harlan (who toned it down in JTII's prescence) during the Illinois-Arizona game. That was an enjoyable broadcast.

[the_way]

TBird41 said:

To be honest, none of them could hold a candle to the combo of John Thompson and Kevin Harlan (who toned it down in JTII's prescence) during the Illinois-Arizona game. That was an enjoyable broadcast.

Oh yeah, Kevin Harlan and JTII are a great combination. I hated it when TNT replaced JTII with Doug Collins as Kevin Harlan's partner. I thought Kevin Harlan and JTII had great chemistry when they did the TNT games.

I was quite shocked to see a Big East veteran in Bill Raftery call a game as terrible as he did for the UNC-Wisconsin game. Every move Sean May made, whether it was a lay up or if he scratched his butt, Raftery went head over heels in complimenting him in very Vitale'ish manner.

I really like Gus Johnson. I love it when he gets excited in the last minute of a close game. ITs like he channels the audience's anticipation of whats going to happen next. And then he goes "Holy Toledo!!!".

[BubbleVisionBiff]

I know the thread is on the best, but let me comment on the worst. Did anyone else wonder how long it was going to take Nantz (and Packer) to realize that Sparks' foot was dangerously close to the 3-pt line? As soon as he shot it, I said to myself that they were going to have to look at replays if it went in.

In fairness, Nantz and Packer are looking live at floor level and didn't necessarily see the angle viewers saw. But if CBS producers can harangue Bonnie Bernstein into haranguing Roy Williams two years ago, they can't whisper into Nantz' ear within 30-45 seconds that it was an awfully close shot, and let's see a replay?

CBS did eventually do a good job with the blow ups of replays (God was his foot close!). Just seemed like 3-4 minutes (and innumerable replays) elapsed before Nantz said "Oh, the officials are going to take a look at this."

And Len Berman calling Trent Tucker bombs from the corner at MSG in the early-to-mid-80s was a thing of beauty.

[KHoyaNYC]

Gus Johnson and Craig Bolerjack are both very good and very underrated.

[Big Dog]

I'm impressed with Gus leading the way in the poll so far.

How many African-American national play-by-play guys are out there anyway? Dave Sims is one. I'm talking across sports. How come no one ever talks about this?

[the_way]

Big said:

I'm impressed with Gus leading the way in the poll so far.

How many African-American national play-by-play guys are out there anyway? Dave Sims is one. I'm talking across sports. How come no one ever talks about this?

Very good point!! There are a few black color-commentators, but very little if any black play-by-play guys. Now there are black head anchors like Greg Gumbel and James Brown in football. But you are right, very little play-by-play guys on the National scene. And Gus Johnson has been around for a while. He worked in D.C. on channel 5 for a while, and he is a graduate of Howard. He just recently started doing the bigger games in basketball and football. Dave Sims has been around for a while too.

[SFHoya99]

Big said:

I'm impressed with Gus leading the way in the poll so far.

How many African-American national play-by-play guys are out there anyway? Dave Sims is one. I'm talking across sports. How come no one ever talks about this?

Is it any lower than the US % of African-Americans? Color men tend these days to be former athletes, so you expect a disproportionate amount of them to be African-American since a disproportionate number of athletes are African-American.

But play by play guys aren't generally athletes; they are usually picked for some knowledge of the game, their voice, clairty, grammar, pace, ability to bring the right level of excitement, etc.

With the US not having a huge % of African Americans (12%, right?), are they truly underrepresented? What % of African-Americans are college educated? Almost all play by play men have a degree, I'd bet. If there is a bias, is it in the educational system and not the hiring system?

Gus Johnson and Bolerjack are vastly superior to anyone on that list. I don't know how Nantz gets so many votes. Both he and Bob Costas have gotten so sappy they should only do the Olympics.

[the_way]

SFHoya99 said:

Is it any lower than the US % of African-Americans? Color men tend these days to be former athletes, so you expect a disproportionate amount of them to be African-American since a disproportionate number of athletes are African-American.

But play by play guys aren't generally athletes; they are usually picked for some knowledge of the game, their voice, clairty, grammar, pace, ability to bring the right level of excitement, etc.

With the US not having a huge % of African Americans (12%, right?), are they truly underrepresented? What % of African-Americans are college educated? Almost all play by play men have a degree, I'd bet. If there is a bias, is it in the educational system and not the hiring system?

Gus Johnson and Bolerjack are vastly superior to anyone on that list. I don't know how Nantz gets so many votes. Both he and Bob Costas have gotten so sappy they should only do the Olympics.

Thats bogus. Its not a % thing. There aren't that many black color-commentators out there even though there is a large percentatge of black players in football and basketball. Most of the former black players are sideline reporting. How long did Lynn Swann do sidline reporting before he ever moved up into the booth. The play-by-play thing is a good ole' boy network. The fact that there are so few blacks, male or female, doing play by play on the national scene has nothing to do with education. There still exists a good ole' boy network out there that needs to broken.

[SFHoya99]

I see no reason for play by play announcers to correlate in any way to the racial distribution of athletes.

You've got numbers, somewhere to back up your claim? I'm not saying there isn't racism/old boys network or whatever, but I think sometimes people forget that only 1 in 10 people in this country are African-American, and there's really no reason for their to be a lot of black play by play announcers.

Education has everything to do with being a pbp announcer. I never, ever, want to hear someone with say, Magic Johnson's grasp of the English language doing pbp.

[RDF]

Way had a good point on Lynn Swann who adds so much more to a telecast than Bob Griese it's not even funny. Griese is lost and talks about things that were in vogue back in late '80's and early '90's and Swann has to jump in and correct him half the time with the proper names, formations, etc..... vastly superior to anyone at ABC. Gary Danielson is good and Dan Fouts used to be before he worked with Keith "Fake Retirement" Jackson.

[StoneColdHoya]

Every time Jim Nantz opens his mouth, I expect to hear something along the lines of "Well, the action's moved to the north end of the court. Let's go to Billy to see how things are going there." Billy (in hushed tones): "Well Jim, looks like they've got a tough lie here - Izzo is calling for a pick and roll, but with the basket location today I'm not sure this is going to work..."

Of all the CBS guys, I'd vote for Gus Johnson. He has a great voice, knows when to let the action speak for itself, and knows when to pipe up and get excited. On other networks, I'd vote for Mike Tirico - he does a great job on ESPN College Football games handling Corso (over-emotional) and Herbstreit (over-analytical), and playing them off one another to get some decent analysis.

[KHoyaNYC]

People may not remeber this, but I really liked Nantz when he did College Football for CBS. He was great.

[ShimmyJr]

gus johnson has been doing ncaa games for at least 5+ years